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My training told me to seek out anything that could float if the boat overturned. I had a life vest on from the yacht but did not see any other flotation device on the rubber dinghy. “Think, Hayes. Think hard,” I whispered.
I did my best to keep my eyes open due to the saltwater spray blasting them. I stared into the distance each time a swell lifted me above the horizon to see if I could locate land. Between trying to stand as tall as I could while also hanging on for dear life, I was certain this was a fight for my life. All I spotted in the darkness were more waves and rain falling sideways and continually soaking me. There had to be something I could hold onto besides the air-filled rubber boat if it flipped. I knew the dinghy would float but was also afraid staying attached to it could cause me to drift far out to sea. My father had told me something about staying or bailing in a storm but I couldn’t recall the rule.
With the wind blowing north from what I could tell, I hoped that I was being blown toward shore, but the boat was like a toy on a vast and swirling ocean and it was impossible to know what direction I was headed. The padded seat from which the driver would sit and steer had a visible red sticker on the edge of the seat cushion. I shielded my eyes and leaned as closely as I could to the label. The tiny tag readflotation devicein black letters. I ran my fingers along the bottom edges of the seat until I located a loop for a finger to remove the cushion. I pulled hard until the Velcro gave way to my strength. It wasn’t much, but between the cushion and my life vest, I felt they would keep me afloat.
I could barely hear myself think due to the howling of the wind. Salt water pelted my face making it hard to see no matter how often I wiped my eyes. When the boat lifted with another swell I frantically looked around to see what was beyond the waves. Suddenly, I noticed lights in the distance. A town twinkled and from miles away. It was another fifteen seconds before I bobbed higher and confirmed what had to be safety. The lights were not from another boat because there were too many of them. It had to be the coastline and civilization.
The next time I rose from a valley of convulsing waves, the lights were visible for only a second before I noticed a flash of sparks and then every single light of hope disappeared into darkness. Perhaps I was disoriented but I swore I was moving away from where the lights had been. Once again, panic raced to my brain, my breath became short while pressure crushed my chest. I was headed for another full-blown panic attack.Jump!
I held the cushion to my chest and fought the unsolicited advice screaming in my brain.You’re a strong swimmer, Hayes. You’ll die if you float further into the ocean. Jump!I couldn’t see beyond a foot in any direction. I had no idea where the sailboat had gone and wondered if it had time to reach Hilton Head Island and the protection of the harbor. When I’d jumped onto the dinghy, music still blasted from the deck at the bow of the yacht. Were the guests too drunk to have noticed the incoming weather? The change in weather had been sudden but surely the captain would have noticed. The storm now raged all around me and it hadn’t been more than ten minutes. I wondered if Phillip was even concerned about my whereabouts.
The wind was so strong that I could no longer sit up in the rubber boat. I gripped whatever I could find and held on for dear life, riding the waves like a bull rider in a rodeo. The ocean churned so violently that when a swell forced the small craft upward, I almost flipped out of it. Dropping back down into the abyss would find me and the dinghy vertical until we slammed into another rising wave.Get the fuck off of this rubber bathtub!My inner voice was scaring the hell out of me. Could a person survive in the open ocean that was like a giant roiling bucket of water?Jump or die, Hayes. Your choice.
“Leave me the fuck alone!”I screamed as loud as I could. The wind made the effort sound like a whisper.“Help! Help!”I hollered, gripping the cushion as tight as I could while I secured it to the vest I had on using the extra strap lengths on the vest. Now I could hold on with two hands and make sure the extra flotation device stayed with me. Immediately after tying double knots to the cushion, the dinghy went up again with such force that the decision was made for me. I was flying through the air like a discarded rag doll from a moving car, waiting for the wall of water below me. It wouldn’t be any colder because I was already soaking wet, but I still braced myself for impact.
I eventually came down but it wasn’t water that waited for me. Flipping head over feet at least two times after being ejected from the boat, my head slammed directly onto something solid.I told you to jump.
Finally it was quiet and peaceful. No raging wind or soaking rain after the brief but terrifying moments of being tossed in the air. All was calm and I felt like I was in a warm and inviting place. Floating and fading away. No more fear. No questioning my next decision. All was fine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Bo
Ihesitated, knowing I should at least check their status, but all I could do was stare at the body. They had to be dead based on their position on the shore. This wasn’t the first dead person I’d seen. Memaw had been motionless like this when I found her in her recliner that one evening after hanging out with a buddy. She’d actually looked asleep and that was exactly what I thought she was. Confirmation of her death only came four hours later when I came out of my bedroom and she hadn’t moved an inch.
Here I was one year later and another human being was motionless in front of me. The person’s skin was very pale, almost blue. The muscular arms protruding from the life vest made me think the body was male. Their short, sandy-blond hair was matted to their head with pieces of grass and sand dried on. I was frozen to my spot and focused on the yellow vest. I watched carefully and noticed the vest slowly expand and then fall, repeating the motion every few seconds. I freaked the fuck out until the reality dawned on me. The person was breathing.
“Holy shit! Holy shit,” I muttered, still not moving, firmly planted to the ground. I quickly looked around like help would be there until I realized nothing was moving on the river except the current. Life had been slapped hard the previous day and people nearby had their own issues.
I took a step forward, fixated on the vest.In and out, in and out.I decided that I wouldn’t get closer if the breathing stopped. Why not avoid doing anything if I didn’t have to? A person’s mind does weird shit when it’s confronted with something shocking like coming upon what appeared to be a lifeless body on your property. I wanted to run. I wanted to help. What if I ignored the body? I had horrible visions of a rotting corpse in my yard. There was destruction everywhere, so maybe I should bury the body temporarily? Would they think I killed him? Many other horrifying thoughts raced through my mind until I told myself the person on my land desperately needed my help.
“Just two more steps, Bo,” I mumbled. I stood over the person and stared, knowing the next move was the hardest. I inched closer. “Just bend over and touch him,” I breathed, goosebumps erupting across my skin. I’d decided he was definitely a male based on his legs that were muscled like a man’s with a dusting of hair below the knees. He was small but certainly not a woman based on the masculine physique and a hairstyle that looked like a typical man’s cut. I supposed he could have been a chick. I suddenly remembered Tess Hicks from gym class. That chick was as tough as an ox and damn near as big, and she wore the same haircut as this person, so I could’ve been wrong.
Kneeling down beside the body, I extended a hand to his neck. He was cool but not cold. There was definitely a body temperature associated with life. I gently pushed him. “Hey, mister,” I whispered. I slapped the side of his neck to wake him and blood dribbled from out of his hair. I instantly fell back on my ass.“Fuck!”I yelped, scooting back quickly to get away from him.
I scrambled to my feet and ran to the shack to fetch towels for his injury and an excuse to regroup. I knew I was the only person for miles to help the stranger but I was still terrified. He might be on death’s door and I could end up killing him if I helped. Or worse, I could do nothing and then he’d die because of that decision.He’s breathing, Bo. Just go back out there and roll him over.
The thought of what I may find by rolling him over also freaked me out. I knew what water could do to flesh and I had a mental vision hit my brain of a half-eaten face.Somebody loves that person, Bo. He has a home somewhere. Grow a spine and do what you can.
I ran out the screen door and leapt off the deck, having decided his life was in my hands now. I would do my best for this person regardless of the outcome. He hadn’t moved. Of course, wouldn’t that have been great if he sat up and said,all’s cool, dude.I had a million things going on in my mind, and one of them was that I needed to roll him over. I was just too afraid to do so. I kneeled beside him again and placed my hand to his neck, ignoring the drying blood. I pressed his skin where I thought a vein would be and waited for something, anything, that would clue me into whether he was alive.
Thump, thump, thump.I felt a slight rhythm on my finger. He had a pulse. “You’re alive,” I whispered, keeping my hand on his skin as if I needed more evidence, one beat at a time. I leaned over his body toward the opposite side and gripped the bottom of the vest with one hand, and the top of the vest near his neck with the other. Then I gently tugged, trying to roll him onto his back but he was limp so I needed more leverage and came to the other side of the body. I gently lifted and then rolled him over, placing a protective hand behind his head. I couldn’t see the injury but knew I had to protect his head before laying it softly on the damp earth.
On his forehead was a deep scratch and had a large lump just above the wound. This was probably the source of the blood that had come from his hairline earlier. He looked like he’d been hit with a bat. Impressions from twigs and small rocks left tiny indentations on his pale cheek. Despite his condition, he was stunning.
My heart immediately broke for him. Of course, I would have given my all regardless of his looks, but something about his beauty and helplessness pulled at my heart. For some strange reason I had an overwhelming need for him to know that I was the man who’d save his life. His hero.And where the fuck had that come from?
I removed debris from his face and pushed his hair away from the wound, wiping the dirt and mud away, and uncovering the attractive face beneath. I felt protective of this stranger and believed he would’ve hated to be seen in this condition. “I’m going to carry you inside. Will that be okay?” I gently spoke, brushing sand from his lips. He was obviously unconscious and I wasn’t sure if you were supposed to move injured people that were in this condition. One thing I did know was I couldn’t leave him exposed to the harsh sun.
I undid the fasteners on the vest and noticed he also had a seat cushion tied to him that hadn’t been visible when he was face down. I instinctively knew his man had been on a boat during the storm. Had he been thrown overboard? Had he been alone, and if not, where were the others? I stood and surveyed the ground along my shore’s bulkhead, making certain I hadn’t missed additional bodies. Finding none, I tried to figure out the best way to get him into the cabin and out of the sun. His bare skin was covered in grit and leaves with smudges of some kind of grease on his legs and arms. He needed to be examined for other signs of injuries and he needed cleaning.
Standing above the stranger, I wondered if I could lift his dead weight directly from the ground or should I attempt a 911 call. Certainly, they’d be better equipped to assist him than I. I ran for my cell phone and then returned to his side before trying to reach emergency services. The line was silent. There were no special broadcast messages, no recordedsorry but you’re fucked, nothing, zip. My phone didn’t have any service.
The weather was warm, and if I didn’t see the devastation every direction I turned, it’d just be another sunny day. Being that it was Memorial Day, most folks probably had the day off. Since a projected category-four storm had just pummeled the coast, most people were assessing damages and probably reporting emergencies. Somehow I had managed to sleep through the worst of it and thank God I had because the aftermath around the shack was pure destruction. With my location on the island being hidden by acres of trees and brush, and miles from the nearest town, I was low on the totem pole for emergency responders.
By my estimation the stranger was at least thirty pounds lighter than me. I was tall at six-two and figured he was at least four to five inches shorter. Both of us were lean but I was bigger across the chest and had thicker thighs than he did. He appeared to be around five-nine and a buck-fifty in the weight department.
I pulled him upright and his head fell backward, before bobbing to one side. He was definitely out and seemed to have no clue he was being manhandled. I squatted in front of him, placing his arms over a shoulder and hugged him tightly before standing. I hopped slightly, distributing his weight evenly across my left shoulder. I could feel his dangling arms smacking my back as I strode across the messy front yard, his feet knocking against my knees. He wasn’t exactly light, but I was able to carry him up the front steps and inside.
While still holding him over my shoulder, I grabbed two bath towels from the back of the bathroom door and carried them and him to the bed. I gently squatted by the bed and rolled him onto the mattress. He made no movements and that worried me. He was breathing but other than that, there were still no signs of consciousness.
