Before I can even think about what the smell is, Ace releases the boat and leans down, getting on his hands and knees and peering underneath the side. He flinches and reels back, gagging and coughing. He looks to me, and before he can tell me not to look, I drop to my knees and peer in. What I see is horrifying enough to have me tumbling back, a scream ripping from my throat.
There is a body under there.
Human, unmistakably.
Decaying and twisted, jammed beneath the boat.
A man, clearly, as I could see the scuffs of hair that were once a beard.
I am still screaming, even as Ace drags me away. He pulls me to his chest, muttering curses as he tries to calm me down. It takes a few minutes for the shock to wear off, and then I pull back, pressing a hand to my chest. “What the fuck.”
“His boat must have capsized here, and he must have died when it did.”
“And nobody found him,” I whisper, my voice hoarse. “Ace, nobody fucking found him.”
The dreadful silence that follows makes me drop to my knees and dry retch.
His body has been here, for God only knows how long, and nobody has come.
What does that mean for us?
12
A WRACKING SOB RIPSfrom my throat as I sit on the ground, head in my hands, horrified.
It’s not just the fact that there is a dead body lying there, a body that has been here this whole time, but the fact that nobody has come for him. Nobody has looked, nobody has found him, or is it that wherever the hell we are is so far away that it is impossible to find.
“Hey,” Ace says, squatting in front of me. “Grace, look at me.”
I lift my head. “Nobody came for him, Ace. Nobody fucking came for him, so that means nobody is coming for us.”
“We don’t know that. This man might not have anyone looking for him, this man might have died on impact and people are still wondering where he is. Just because they didn’t find him here doesn’t mean nobody has looked or that nobody ever goes past. The ocean is huge, and he may have been far away from where he was meant to be. There are explanations.”
He’s trying to make me feel better, I know he is.
He makes valid points, but the thought that we might never be found is crippling.
“We have people looking for us,” Ace goes on.
“How do you know?” I yell, my voice high and shrill. “My father wanted to give me away, Ace. So, what makes you think he’s going to fucking look for me?”
“Maybe your father felt that way, but those other girls, their families didn’t...”
That hurts, like a punch to the chest.
