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He motioned to the radar, “I plotted out a course that got us out of the storm’s way, and once we get there, I can adjust it to wherever you’d like.”
His smile was unconvincing, and there was something odd about him. I had thought it was strange to find a spare captain roaming around. The more I studied him, the more I realized my suspicions might be correct. “Um, you know,” I started with my voice small, “I think maybe I overreacted. This storm isn’t anything to mess around in, and maybe—” My voice trailed off because I could tell he wasn’t listening to me. His jaw dramatically dropped like the hinge had broken all the way off, and he seemed frozen. “Casper. Is everything okay?”
“Ah, it’s Jasper,” he seemed to pant, eyes locked on the sea. “Actually, there’s a slight irregularity with the course I set,” he seemed a bit befuddled in his words, before the panicked inflections poured in and he screamed, “If you could kindly prepare to be shipwrecked!”
My eyes flew to the windshield, doubtful I’d even see anything.
Pancakes with guacamole!
A biblical sized tidal wave—giant as the tallest skyscraper—was heading our way! Grasping for the radio, I turbo dialed, trying to find the frequency for the coast guard. Calling out, “Mayday, Mayday!” It was no use! We were out of time; the wave was rolling in like a collapsing house of cards, and we were clearly going to be on the bottom. Tears flooded my eyes, burning the sockets.
This wasn’t how I was supposed to die!
I hoisted myself onto a wood-paneled door, clinging to the edges with a death grip as it buoyed on the waves. Having no recollection of how I had come to find this door, I fought back tears of terror, frantically searching for something familiar in the dark night. Apparently, I was in the sea all alone.
“Evie!” A deep voice rasped from somewhere near me. Turning to follow it, I could barely make out the shadow of a man swimming closer. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Jasper’s voice was breaking in-between pants for air. “I was looking all over for you.” Now within arm’s reach, he held out his hand. “Here, take my hand.”
Sliding my hand into his, I squeezed it with everything I had while stuttering out, “I-I won’t let go.”
He offered a bemused smile while his eyes stayed locked with mine. “This isn’t the movie The Titanic. We aren’t drowning. Look—” He rotated my floating door one hundred eighty degrees to face the opposite direction. Now I was looking at a beach.
Not a regular beach with brown sand, or even smooth white sand. This sand was so white, it almost seemed transparent, and sparkled under the light of the stars which didn’t seem possible because it was so dark out. The trees that rose from the sand resembled palms, but they also glistened blue and green under the starlit sky. I was about to ask where we were, but his voice provided the answer to my question, “We crashed right by an island, and it’s shallow here. You can walk to shore.”
“Island? There’s no island in the bay,” I muttered, but I was clearly staring at an island that was so vibrant with bright colors they seemed to seep into one another as if painted by a divine hand while a lone mountain waterfall glistened in the moonlight as if it was filled with crystals.
I must have hit my head harder than I thought.
I rubbed the huge gash on the back of my head, while hoping to stop my mounting dizziness as I slid off the door. My feet met a sandy bottom. I started to ask if I was dreaming, but the pain in my head was too strong to be fake. “Where am I?”
I was still holding Jasper’s hand, as he guided me to shore, and his lips turned down on the ends. “Do you remember what happened?”
Tracing my memories, it didn’t take me long to find one that stung. My sister’s mean words clung heavily around my heart like a winter cloak I couldn’t take off.
Evie! You always ruin everything! Just for once, I wanted a day that was about me. Is it too much to ask the spotlight be on me for my wedding? Why did you even come to my wedding when you knew those photographers were going to come and make it all about you! You don’t even have a real job! You are so worthless. All you know how to do is stand around and have people take pictures of you. Seriously, I hate you for ruining my wedding!
Swallowing the sting in my throat, I pushed that way out of my mind and focused on something else. While I was running to the dock, I overheard some guys talking about the thief who got away with their treasure map. I had no idea who they were, but they gave me the creeps with the way they spoke. They ran in one direction, and I was scared of them so, I took off the opposite way.
When I ran into Jasper on the docks he was acting suspiciously. I had wondered if maybe he was the guy with the treasure map. Being the creative type, my curiosity was always running wild, and I daydreamed about running away with this handsome stranger and treasure hunting. Before I could talk myself out of it, I let him convince me to go out in this storm, but I hadn’t for a moment believed he was going out to help me. He was up to something, and I had a pretty good guess what that was. I had momentarily romanticized how it would feel to find some treasure and perhaps stop a thief—all to prove my family was wrong about me.
Getting real, it was a bad idea, but it was too late to turn back now. I needed a plan. I wasn’t going to let him see I was onto him, so I purposely acted naive, “Uh, the last thing I remember is running away from my sister.”
“You don’t remember anything that happened after that?” His face tilted toward me, but it wasn’t unfriendly. We were on dry land now, and I instinctively dug my numb toes into the sand, soaking up the stored heat. Slowly, my feet dried off and a mild warmth flowed up through my body, aiding my temperature’s recovery. I was hyper focused on my extremities, making sure I could feel each one, when Jasper’s voice cut off my thoughts.
“Do you remember meeting me on the docks?” He pressed, his voice holding more urgency.
I studied his face. He was handsome, in a ruggedly mysterious way with dark hair and complementary dark eyes. The way he looked back at me, with his eyes burning into mine, made me further suspect he was still hiding something.
Maybe he was dangerous?
I wasn’t sure what to say, because I wanted to get more information out of him before I confessed to what I did know. I surely didn’t want him to suspect I knew who he was. I weighed my options on how to proceed until I remembered a low budget film I had done in high school where the main character had amnesia. It seemed like a silly trope, but it ended up being the perfect tool for the main character to play dumb. Since I was going for clueless, I leaned on that role, “Oh, eggs and bacon!” I screamed out as my hand fled over my mouth. “I don’t remember you, but I totally played this role in a movie once and I know who you are!”
“Err . . . the guy you—”
“Married!” I cut him off because I wanted to make my act as believable as I could. I rushed to explain everything to set him up, “I totally must have amnesia and I forgot you are my husband!” In my effort to convince him, I grabbed his arm and gave it a hearty squeeze. “It’s going to be okay because I was in a movie once with this very same plot, and I know exactly what to do to get my memory back.”
“Err, what?” He glared at me like I had lost my marbles.
“It’s okay.” I squeezed his hand again, feeling him stiffen at my touch. I knew this whole act would only work if I did everything I could to make him think I was a ditz who wholeheartedly believed this. “I’m going to get my memories back, and trust me, this all ends so amazingly well.” To reassure him, I squeezed my face into a sweet smile but inside I was dying more than a little.
