You sat back, taking in a few shuddery breaths. Your companions, Cry and Pewdiepie, sat at the opposite end.
“You all right there?” Cry wheezed.
“Yeah,” you say. “I’m fine.”
It was clear by your tone you were not “fine”. You were much worse than “fine.” There were damn sharks drawing closer and closer to the only form of safety left to you!
The sun’s relentless shine bore down on your neck and back. You were curled over, hugging your knees to your chest. You were still in shock over the shipwreck caused by a massive storm that swept away nearly all your friends. But you were not the only one who suffered. You look up at the two men. Their clothes were torn and ragged. Cry’s face was protected due to his trusty mask, but Pewdiepie was sunburnt. His eyes were watery and red-rimmed, his lips chapped. None of you had eaten in over 48 hours, and the last drop of fresh water was gone.
You glared at the ocean, its glistening surface taunting you, tempting you.
“Chairmode?” Pewdie murmured.
“What?” you ask, holding back the bite in your voice.
Your stomach dropped. Slowly, you comply and crane your neck around. There was just water and three shark fins. What was he-
There, in the far-off distance, was a darker strip of…dare you think it?
You hear jostling as Pewdiepie stood up. He covered his eyes with the back of his hand, his eyes squinting.
“How can you be sure?” Cry asked. His voice was scratched and raw, just hearing it made your heart twist. He needed water, you all did.
“Well, what else could it be?” Pewdiepie snapped. “Listen, we can’t just sit and wait around to be shark bait. We have to do something!”
“Like what, exactly?” Cry growled. He rose to his feet, his knees nearly giving out underneath him. “Look around us, Pewds! We’re trapped! So, unless you still have Marzia’s torso with you, we’re screwed!”
“Cry!” you exclaim. Pewdiepie’s mouth twisted into a deep frown, his eyes starting to redden further. You saw Pewdie’s fist curl and uncurl.
“Stop! Just stop it!” you shout, springing to your feet. “This is not helping!”
Cry’s head slightly turns towards yours then goes back to Pewdie. You hear him sigh.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You shouldn’t have,” Pewdie replied, his voice warbling.
“We’ve all lost people. People we care about. We’re all we have left right now,” you said, looking between the two of them.
Cry turns completely and nods, then his eyes fix on the distant horizon.
“So, how do we plan on getting there?”
“Fancy a swim?” you asked jokingly.
You saw Cry’s eyes crinkle. Even Pewdiepie grinned, eyes cleared.
A sharp hit from the right side of the boat sent all three of you into the left side. Another strike came from underneath then another from the stern. You fell down, dazed in the sudden frenzied state of the sharks. Blow after blow hit the boat, keeping any of you from achieving decent footing.
You sat up, staring at the water. All the sharks were gone. You stood cautiously, turning about, expecting to see large fins. There was nothing. The water had fallen completely silent. Pewdiepie and Cry both stood, looking about. Pewdie had a dumbstruck look on his face.
“Well, shit,” you hear him mutter. “Where’d they go?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t want to,” Cry answered. “This may be our only opportunity to get to land. Do we still have those paddles?”
“Two.” You hold up the two remaining paddles, both horribly scared after fending off the sharks.
“Pewds and I will begin,” Cry said as he took them from you. “You be our look-out.”
His eyes crinkled again. You took a seat at the bow as the two men began the painfully slow crawl forward. The sun scorched your back and your face. The sound of the water running past the paddles was almost soothing. It was hard to notice, but the darker strip of land was starting to become more distinct. The island appeared small, but hopefully it was inhabited. Your mind wandered as you thought about what you would do when this nightmare was finally over. The first thing to be done was using a bathroom. Then drinking as much water as fucking possible.
“How’s it looking?” Pewdie asked.
“Good. No signs of any sharks.”
“You know, I never thought I’d be so close to dying by shark,” Pewdie commented.
“Well, we’re not out of the woods yet,” Cry replied amiably.
“Uh, Cry, in case those two holes in your mask are broken, we’re on the ocean, not in woods.”
You heard Cry give his trademark chuckle.
You couldn’t help but smile. You were all going to be safe. You would not have to worry about sharks, or the sun, or thirst again. This would all be over soon.
A huge blow rocked the boat, nearly capsizing it. You had fallen against the rim of the boat. Things blurred and darkened. You feared you were about to black out when a shout called you back. You shook your head and tried to get your bearings.
“What the fuck was that?” Pewdiepie shouted.
“You okay?” Cry’s strained voice calls to you. You nodded, still shaken. Gripping the boat’s edge, you stood back up, your weight shifting. You swayed and were about to take another fall to the ground when two arms steadied you. You focus in on Cry’s mask, his blue eyes.
“Why don’t you sit down?” he suggested gently. You shook your head, about to reply.
Something slammed into the boat with the force of a semi. You were sent flying into the air and slapped onto the water. You feel you were about to black out again, but the need to breathe overtook that. You pushed against the water and surfaced, sucking in as much air as possible. You swung your head around, desperately trying to locate your friends. A bopping form caught your eye from about five meters away. Swimming towards it, you also saw the boat. Remarkably, it was still floating. The body was facing down in the water. You spin them around to the air; it was Cry. He wasn’t moving.
And something caused the water to pulsate by your foot.
Adrenaline kicked in. You took Cry’s arms and wrapped them around your neck. Kicking your legs and using one arm to swim, you pulled the both of you to the boat. At one point, your head dipped underwater, causing you to suck in a large amount of sea water. The weight of you both was too much. Your neck was suddenly relieved of its burden, and you broke the surface of the water once more. You hear Cry gasp and sputter.
He nodded, still breathing heavily. He pointed to the boat, and you two began swimming to it. A large amount of splashing caught your attention, and you saw Pewdiepie surfacing as well. You felt Cry give you push, urging you to keep moving.
When you arrived at the boat, you were unsure of how to get in. Cry reached up and pulled it down a little while you pulled yourself up and into it. Quickly, you got up and went back to get Cry.
He was swimming back to Pewdiepie, roughly six meters away from the boat. You prayed for him to hurry, begging whatever deity or spirit or being to help him. Cry got to Pewdie, and they both started back. That was when you noticed the large amount of red liquid trailing behind Pewdiepie like a watery paint.
In the distance, twenty-two meters away, a large shark fin appeared. It was large than the others, and judging by its speed, it was also much faster.
“Hurry up!” you couldn’t help but yell. They were nearly at the boat, but so was the shark. You knelt down as far as possible, reaching for their hands. You grabbed both Cry and Pewdiepie.
“Pull him up!” Cry said between gritted teeth. Your eyes shot up; the shark’s fin was right there! Without thinking, you took both of Cry’s hands and yanked. He shouted and cursed, but he made it into the boat. You hear Pewdie cry out, pleading for help. Cry goes back to the edge, and all you saw were rows upon rows of teeth. Wrapping your arms around his chest, you pull him back onto the ground. The bloodcurdling screams of Pewdiepie pierced your skull. Cry’s fingers clawed at your steel grip, howling for you let go. You squeezed your eyes shut.
Screams shifted to gurgles then all that remained was the jagged tears of flesh. Cry stopped resisting, and you both laid on the bottom the boat, completely still. You felt his heart beating, still beating. After a period of time, the splashes of water disappeared. The lap of water against the boat’s edge was all that remained. You released your grasp and sat up, your mind so thoroughly confused you could hardly breathe. A deep ache settled in your chest. Cry sat up as well, but then he resembled a statue.
It was not before long you noticed the stream of tears rolling down your face. You made no move to wipe them away. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Cry hunch over, his entire frame shaking. You fully turned to look at him. His hands were underneath his mask, gripping his face. His trembling grew more and more, and a sob broke through his chest.
“Cry,” you start, your voice nothing more than a hoarse whisper. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
His hands slid down from his face, and he was suddenly drilling his eyes into yours.
“You’re sorry?” he muttered, his voice so low, it was barely perceivable. “You, you are sorry. Well, you know what? I’m sorry, too. I’m so fucking sorry!”
You cringed but did not try to defend yourself.
“I told you. I fucking told you. ‘Him!’ I had said. ‘Pull him up!’ Yet, what did you do? You let go! You let go of him! You let that fucking shit of a monster kill him! You killed him! You killed-!”
His voice caught in his throat. His head dropped, as if something had severed his head from his neck.
“Why?” he whispered. “Why me?”
He roared, head thrown back, “WHY THE FUCK DID YOU CHOOSE ME?!”
How could have you answered? Did he expect a reply? His blue eyes were ice chips that drove to the center of your brain. You and Cry stared at each other, neither knowing what to do. Then Cry slumped over, his shoulders shaking. You reached out, and he fell into your arms, trembling and crying. His chest heaved, and terrible noise issued from his throat. His arms wrapped around back, tightening. You were the only thing left to him, and he was the only thing left to you. You held onto him firmly, refusing to let go of yet another friend.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking, I just…” you trailed off, unable to think of a satisfactory reason. His arms tightened further.
“It’s going to be okay. It’ll be okay. Okay?”
You buried your head into his neck, trying to stifle the rising fear, the anger, the misery, the pain in your throat.
“It’s going to be…” Cry took in a shuddering breath and continued softly, “It will be all alright. Because we have to live for him, right? For him, for Marzia, for Russ, for Scott, all of them. We have to.”
He was right. There was no going back, no undoing what had already been done. You had to live for all the friends you had lost.
And you had to live for Cry.
“Thanks for pulling me up.”
