Droplets (DROPLETS Trilogy Book 1) (2 page)

I was captivated by it and could not pull my eyes away.

The shiny form stayed there in the same spot, just below the surface, tempting, and captivating me. Though I saw no eyes, I felt it watching me. The form continued to ripple in the water looking at me with that invisible stare and I gazed back. I was drawn in by it with acute curiosity.

Not thinking, I stuck my hand out as if to beckon the peculiar form back to me. Quick as a blink, the glowing form turned around, plunged into the depths of the ocean, and was gone. 

Stunned for a moment, my hand froze in midair while my mind raced. What could that have been? What sort of
thing
shined silver like the moon, but within the ocean?

A shiver ran down my spine. My palms grew sweaty and my legs wobbly. I had no idea what I had just seen. I knew I was clearly awake, everything felt too real and alive to be a dream. For a moment I stood not knowing what to do or where to go. It was strange to stay out here by myself, yet I could not calm down. 

The minutes passed and my mind slowly began to regain control. I told myself to settle down, knowing I wouldn’t be able to show my face to my father or brothers if I was this wired.

After what seemed like days, my heart returned to its normal rhythm. I took a steadying breath and made my way along the length of the deck to the cabin.

I didn’t know what I had seen in the water, but I wouldn’t think about it until later. I had to get inside and act normal; the weird murmur would just have to wait to consume my thoughts completely.  

2. Storm

Glaring at the horrid red clock across the room, my eyes tried to focus. The numbers on it continued to disappoint me. It was two o’clock in the morning and I was still unable to fall asleep.

I needed to calm down, but I couldn’t. Every time I closed my eyes I saw the odd shiny form in the water. It flickered behind my eyelids, taunting my existence. The very presence of the fantastical murmur threw everything I thought to be real into doubt and I would go crazy tossing and turning the thoughts over in my mind. Quickly, the fear of the unknown would take hold and I would open my eyes once more.

Nothing I could think of described what I had seen and heard. There was no concrete answer for the combination of the two. I had never heard anything make a sound so pure, and yet so chilling; nor had I ever seen a form that was so beautiful. The only thing that compared to it was the reflection of a full moon glinting off a slowly moving river. Yet, there was something more to it. The feeling of being watched had been too real for me to now disregard. It had felt conscious and calculating, as though it followed my every move. It had felt
human
.

The thought sent a sudden shiver of fear down my spine and I pulled the comforter on my bed up to my chin, while curling into a tight ball. I tried to get rid of the eerie thoughts.

I jumped from subject to subject, trying to think of anything to make myself fall asleep. My brain would not cooperate, however.

Frustrated I rolled onto my stomach and tried to place my limbs in a comfortable position that would tempt them into sleep. It didn’t work. Both my brain and body were far from rest. Yet, sometime in the night, my exhausted mind finally drifted off.

I was outside. A cold wind hit my face, chilling me to the bone. Across the air, a sound rose above the wind. I wanted it to stop, but it only pressed harder against my ears. It was coming from right behind me, getting closer and closer. I could feel its breath on my neck as it continued to move in a tune, unaware of my stiffness. Slowly, the murmur began to change. It gradually became a voice that sang words rather than notes. It was breathtakingly beautiful and yet part of me was more scared than I had ever been before. Tears sprung to my eyes at its beauty, and I knew that if it asked me to do anything, I would. I was its prisoner, stuck in a web of lyric and melody. But then, just as I was about to surrender everything I knew to it, the words drifted away and a loud whirring took its place. The murmur sounded angry, whereas before it had been calming and peaceful. It was loud, desperate, and almost violent. I wanted to run but couldn’t. I looked down at my feet on the deck and urged them, willed them, to move, but my body wouldn’t respond. Then the deck began to tip, and the sound that had once been a murmur grew louder. It was almost deafening. I looked into the water and saw the silver form waiting for me. A loud scream escaped my throat as I hit the icy water…
.

My head smacked something hard and I opened my eyes to a soft blur. Confused, I sat up and waited for my eyes to adjust. I groaned, realizing my forehead had smashed into the wall beside my bed. I rubbed the spot on my head that had been hit; and hoped it wouldn’t bruise.

A loud droning buzzed in my ear: a continuous, deafening roar.  It grew louder, filling me with fear as I remembered my dream. Goosebumps rose on my flesh and I rubbed my arms to ward off the cold. Fear filled me as I thought about having to relive the nightmare.

The
Lady Marie
was tipping from side to side. The tremendous roar was coming from outside, and the soft rain from earlier had turned into thundering pellets. We must have hit a rough patch of weather; it wasn’t the first time this had happened.

With an exhausted yawn, I looked at the clock across the room, which dictated it was five in the morning. I had been asleep much longer than I thought. Shivering, I pulled my comforter up to my chin and again drifted off to sleep.

It seemed mere minutes before I woke again. Frustrated, I looked across the room to see what time it was, but my clock was not on the dresser. I searched the room, but could not focus because the room was moving, as though jumping up and down. The walls swayed about making my eyes dizzy and my head spin. I tried to search the room for the missing clock, but it was moving and swaying and I was too dizzy to see it.

The wind outside screamed in cacophony with the constant thud of the waves hitting the side of the boat. The gray, dull light seeping in through the window seemed to squeeze me, trapping me alone in my bed as I was jostled about by the continuous rocking.

Trying not to panic, I forced my mind to stay calm even though my heart was racing within my chest. If I let myself, I could conjure up millions of visions of us drowning at sea. My hands felt like ice and I tried not to give into the visions wracking my mind.

Not wanting to be alone, I jumped out of bed, changed into a pair of jeans, threw on a coat, and hurried out of the room. Staying calm while being by myself would be an impossible task, I needed others to distract my fears.

“…and now I don’t know what to do. I’ve never been in a situation like this.” Dad sounded worried.

“Ah, come on we’ve been through worse than this.” Derek assertively said. Though he sounded confident, there was an edge to his voice as though he, too, was nervous.

“No,” Dad grumbled. “All we can do is wait it out. That rock took off the whole rudder, we are at the mercy of the storm now.”

Took off the rudder.
I stood in the hallway bracing myself against the rocking of the ship. Did that mean we could no longer steer? How would we get home? Panic threatened to take hold, but I pushed it back knowing it would do no good. I had to trust my father, the seasoned sailor.    

“Once the storm is over we can fix it, we just have to wait for it to finish.” Sean’s voice was low, but his words rang with optimism. Of course he would be the one to find the silver lining in all of this. Dad grunted in agreement.

In the silence, I decided it was time to make my presence known. Acting like I had just walked down the hall and hadn’t heard everything they had been saying, I stepped into the room.

In unison they turned and smiled at me, attempting to hide the truth. But I could see the stress in the worried lines on each forehead.

Good morning,” Derek greeted kindly. His twin sat beside him holding a thermos, and he smiled softly at me; with effort I smiled back.

“Don’t worry about the storm, everything is going to be fine,” Dad reassured as he reached for my hand and pulled me towards the table.

I nodded, knowing my voice would betray how scared I really was. I took a seat at the table across from my brothers. Both of them were eyeing me with careful expressions. Suddenly a great crack of thunder split the steady thrum of the rain. We all jumped in our seats, and I bit my lip, a nervous habit. Sean grasped my hand under the table and gave it a gentle reassuring squeeze.

“Sheesh! Your hand is freezing! Is there any circulation going on in that little body of yours?”

I shrugged, “I’m just a little nervous is all.”

Dad cleared his throat, “Everything is going to be fine. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if it is over in a couple hours. It came in so fast; it will probably leave even faster.”

The storm did not leave quickly. It wasn’t gone in a couple hours; in fact it had yet to leave when eight hours had passed.

My nerves were shot and my muscles incredibly stiff from being flexed and stressed for so long. I really tried to relax and pay attention to the card games we played, but I could never get rid of the nagging fright. It was impossible to settle down and not worry.

Dad, Derek, and Sean were beginning to get as nervous as I was. They couldn’t believe the storm had gone on for this long. They knew we were being blown far off course and charting into unknown areas.

The card game we had been playing for the past three hours had practically become unmanageable. The
Lady Marie
was now rocking so much that the cards were sliding right off the table. As though the sea had heard my thoughts, it began to toss the ship even more than before. Dad threw down his cards with a sigh and we all followed suit, watching them slip onto the floor. We swayed with the motions of the boat, rocking backwards as the
Lady Marie
climbed a wave, crested, and then in a breathtaking moment plunged back to the water below. Each wave knocked the air from my lungs, jolting all thought, aside from survival, from my mind.

Unexpectedly, a huge jolt hit the front of the ship. Dad was sent sideways out of his chair onto the floor and Derek tumbled backwards while Sean grabbed the table and held onto it in order to stay up right. I was thrown forward, my mid-section hitting the edge of the bolted-down table and I let out a large yelp of pain. 

I looked about and saw that I was on a slope above Dad and my brothers. I waited for the
Lady Marie
to go crashing back down into the waves, but it didn’t move. She stayed tilted up and motionless. Creaks and groans resonated throughout the cabin while waves hit the outside of her with throbbing pounds.

Dad was still lying on the floor, a mask of horror upon his face. He looked at the boys.

“She’s been hit,” tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them.

My frantic voice filled the strained moment. “What do you mean she’s been hit?”

Dad would not meet my eyes. He seemed to be trying to communicate something secret with my brothers.

“What’s going on?” I pleaded, “Dad, look at me, please tell me what is going on!” He still had not turned.

“Dad!” I shouted. Finally he looked at me. What I saw in his face frightened me even more.

“Lissie, I need you to go into your room and stay there,” Dad held up a hand as I began to protest. “Derek, Sean, and I are going to go up on deck to check the damage.”

“Damage! What damage? How do you know there’s damage?”

“I think,” the words came from Derek, his voice strangled as if he couldn’t believe he was saying this, “I think we have run aground.”

I tried to wrap my brain around the words. He couldn’t possibly mean them
for
real
. He had to have been joking. But the waves were there as proof, pounding the side but no longer moving the
Lady Marie
. Choking on my own words, I spoke.

“Do you think she will go down?”  The answer I received was a shrug from one brother, and a bewildered shake of the head from his twin.

Struggling to do as Dad said, I braved the thought of sitting by myself in my room, and began to walk down the now sloping hall.  I could hear the others following me, though they turned and climbed the stairs that would lead them to the deck, rather than go to my room. I stumbled on through the darkness, jumping every time a wave hammered the
Lady Marie
’s side.

Sitting on the floor with my back against the wall, I began to worry. I had no idea if anything was going to happen to them while they were up there. The minutes ticked by slowly and I rocked myself back and forth.

I was past frightened now: I was terrified. I couldn’t wait to be back home on solid ground. If only this storm would stop, then we could just relax and fix the problem.

My body continued to shake; I could hardly take the stress of being by myself anymore. With shaking hands, I crawled under my bed to pull out the clock that glared brightly in the room. I determined that I would wait five more minutes before going up.

I watched the clock as it slowly ticked off the minutes. Finally, the five minutes were up; I dashed to the door and ran for the stairs.

The great spattering of the rain swept over me as I stepped out on deck. I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head as the water began to forcefully pelt my face from every direction. I had hardly been on deck for more than a few seconds, yet was drenched from head to toe.

My eyes searched the deck through the sheet of rain and found Dad and Derek leaning over the edge and Sean nowhere to be seen.

They were yelling at one another over the rain. I slowly walked towards them, slipping slightly with each step. I was able to hear over the rushing storm what they were saying.

“We can’t reverse her off the rocks. She’s stuck.” Dad’s voice was furious and frustrated.

“We’ve got to do something! Every minute she’s getting weaker. She’s not going to be able to stand these waves much longer. Eventually they’re going to crush her!”

“What do you want me to do, Derek? We can’t back her up or we might lose the motor as well. If we get in a lifeboat we’ll drown for sure. We can’t call for help because there’s no signal. So what do you want me to do?” He was beyond frustrated, “All we can do is sit and hope she holds.”

Fear gripped my body as I listened to them. Wanting to find solace, I looked for Sean. As I searched the deck I turned about to look for him and a massive gray shape in the distance caught my attention. I stood transfixed, peering through the rain at the large form which stretched across the horizon. It looked like an enormous cloud that was moving ever closer. I strained my eyes even more to see what it was exactly. Slowly, chills spread over my wet skin and my eyes widened as understanding hit me: a massive wave was headed straight for the
Lady Marie
.