Laughing Fate (43 page)

Her inner drill sergeant barged into her imaginary fortress and kicked out all the other personified emotions. He let the inner goddess stay (Puck thought he had a crush on her) and started barking orders at Puck. ‘Stop feeling so sorry for yourself! All you’ve done this entire week is mope around and cry in your pillow!’

“
Have not,” Puck murmured sullenly.

Her drill sergeant poked a finger at her and insisted, ‘You’re scared shitless! You have a good man who loves you-

‘Who’s freakin hot,’ added her inner sex goddess.

‘
Who wants to marry you! So what do you do? You freak out and begin this nauseating pity fest where you ignore all your friends and family and dream of isolating yourself on a freakin planet! Stop telling yourself that you’re not good enough! You are the master of your fate, the captain of your soul. Start acting like it!’

Maybe he had a point…Puck listened to her subconcious’ ranting and raving and lectures. She decided to shelve the whole matter completely. She was the captain of her destiny dang it! She was tired of moping around and wishing that she could be with Potter. Besides…maybe if she was able to work out some of her problems then she could be with Potter. It bore some thought anyways.

But more importantly, Puck didn’t have it in her to give up. Okay, so maybe she had let her emotions get a little in the way. Puck ignored the snickers coming from her inner fortress. She was made of stronger stuff than this. She could conquer any problem! She was Puck by God! First maybe she should call her shrink.

****

It struck in the middle of the night. Surfing fever. Puck had been dreaming that she was out surfing with her dad and she had caught a giant wave. She had ridden the wave with perfect skill, ripping along like a pro. She had woken up with the need to go to the sea. She glanced at the clock and grumbled at the time. It was only 3 am. Should she go back to sleep? Puck closed her eyes experimentally and tried to fall back asleep. After half an hour of trying to force herself to sleep, Puck rolled out of bed and prepared to go on an impromptu surfing trip.

Potter would not have liked her decision. Good thing they were broken up and he would never know about it. Puck laughed weakly at that thought. She shoved all thoughts of Potter aside. She’d had her first session with her new shrink the day before. It must have cured her, because she was feeling good enough for an adventure. Plus she hardly ever missed the big stupid oaf. In fact she didn’t miss him at all! She never even thought about him or his stupid smile or the way that he smelled anymore. 

She wondered briefly if this was a good idea. Her shrink had warned her about making bad decisions…Puck shrugged and fished out her bikini from where she had stuffed it. This was a great idea. She needed some fun. Besides, she had improved greatly in her surfing. She wasn’t anywhere as good as in her dream, but she wouldn’t drown if she went by herself. Of course, if Potter was here he would say that drowning was not the only danger. He would probably start lecturing her on the dangers of sand again. Puck snorted and dressed warmly over her bikini and grabbed her beach bag, which had everything she would need inside. She would just be careful, and it didn’t matter what Potter thought about this trip because she didn’t care about him at all. She barely even thought of him.

She tip toed across the house, not wanting to wake up Perri, and left a note on the table where Perri would find it in the morning. She probably wouldn’t understand, but once surfing fever struck it had to be answered. Puck locked the door behind her and grabbed her board (the used surfboard NOT the one Potter had made for her), which had been leaning against the house. She quickly threw on the surf rack and tightened the ties, making sure her board was secure. She knotted it the way Potter had shown her and then drove to Trinidad. She stopped for coffee; chatted with the clerk (It was a middle aged balding man who seemed lonely), and then headed for the beach.

It was still dark outside, and Puck felt a little rush of fear- which was quickly followed by excitement. She loved doing things that were slightly dangerous. Not that this was dangerous, she reminded herself. She grabbed an empty bottle and stuffed her note inside for her parents. This note was filled with anger towards certain unnamed men and their stupidity.

She stepped out of her car and felt the wind tear at her clothes. It was a stormy early morning, the waves that she could see through the darkness looked large and intimidating. Maybe she should have checked the weather report? Puck left her board on top of the car and walked closer to the shore. It was hard to see the waves through the dark, but they definitely looked menacing. The loud roar of the ocean seemed to be a warning to back off. Puck hesitated, not liking the small voice of caution that was telling her to just go back home. She couldn’t go home with out even getting wet. This was her first adventure in a really long time. It was her first single adventure…the first time in almost a year that Potter wasn’t there to yell at her about dangers. Not that she thought of him at all.

The waves appeared to be maybe fourteen feet, the storm making them wilder than was normal. If it was daylight, they wouldn’t appear to be half as scary, Puck thought. It was the darkness that lent the air of danger. Puck stood a while longer in indecision. She had to admit to herself that she was not experienced enough of a surfer to go out. With the stronger waves, the rip currents would be stronger as well, and she had never been very good at spotting them. It would be wise to go home. Puck sighed and kicked the sand. She was done with being a coward! All she’d done for far too long was mope around missing some nameless brute. Well not today! She would not go home in defeat.

****

Potter stared at his phone through the small slits in his eyelids. It was 6 am, who could be calling him? He grumbled and reached for his phone, letting his eyes drift back shut. Last night he had spent with his buddies at Brad’s house. They had drunk a little too much, played football a little too hard, and had been just a little too loud for the neighborhood. The cops had been called to break up their party a little after midnight. Needless to say, Potter was not happy with whoever was calling him.

“
Hello?”

“
Potter?! Thank God! Puck is gone!”

Potter sat up, adrenaline rushing through his body. “Why are you calling me? We broke up. What do you mean she’s gone?” All traces of sleep disappeared as he contemplated everything that could mean.

“She’s gone! She left me a note saying she was going surfing at Trinidad, she left around four in the morning!”

“
Oh is that all?” Potter asked, relief chasing the fear away. Puck must have found herself another surf partner. He felt a stab of jealousy but did his best to ignore it. He had to get over her, she obviously had. The important thing was that Puck was safe. Early morning surfing was the best way to start a day- leave it to a non swimmer to make a big deal about nothing. Potter let his eyes drift shut and was about to end the call and go back to sleep when Perri’s shouting got his attention.

“
There’s been a tornado warning issued for the coast! I tried calling her cell phone, but she’s not answering!”

“
A tornado warning, we don’t get tornadoes. Are you sure you heard the weather report correctly?”

“
YES! Turn on your TV if you don’t believe me! Why aren’t you worried? She’s out there all by herself in a storm! GO SAVE HER!”

Potter frowned and turned on his TV. “What do you mean by herself? Didn’t she take someone with her?”

“NO, YOU IDIOT!”

Potter felt his earlier alarm return full force. She was alone out there? And in the middle of the night? What was she thinking??? Potter felt the blood drain from his face when he saw the tornado warning flashing along the bottom of the page. She was alone out there in the middle of a storm? The surf report was for fifteen to eighteen foot waves, that was way too big for a beginner! Not to mention that sharks fed at night, that any psycho could come along and kill her, and that rip tides would be extra strong during the storm…She was in so much danger right now that it just boggled his mind.

Potter could still hear Perri yelling at him over the phone, but he didn’t have time for that right now. He hung up the phone and ran out of his house at a break neck speed. He shot out of the driveway, his little Jetta speeding the entire way to Trinidad. How long could Puck continue to narrowly escape disaster? When he found her he was going to shake some sense into her. Then he was going to hug her to him and force her to accept his proposal. Then he was going to kill her.

He spotted her jeep in the second parking lot he drove by. It was a popular beach with mild waves usually, a surf point that he himself had shown her. He pulled up next to her jeep and jumped out to look for her. He scanned the waves for her, but didn’t see anything but massively huge waves. The wind clawed at his clothes, an aggressive force that seemed to enjoy reeking havoc.  The sun had turned the sky into a red and purple inferno. There was something wrong with the air. Potter stared up into the sky and noticed a sort of static electricity in the air. It all felt wrong. This was going to be a bad storm. Why would Puck come out in this kind of weather?

Potter remembered that his friends had mentioned that Puck was acting strangely at the diner. What if she was in danger because of him? He should never have let her break up with him! He could have prevented this if only he had been able to convince her that she needed him!

Potter ran up and down the beach searching for any signs of Puck. His frantic calls were whisked away by the wind, his voice grew hoarse with trying to outshout the roar of the sea. All those other ‘adventures’ of Puck’s were nothing compared to today. After he had thoroughly searched the beach, Potter ran back to his car to call Perri. She had already called the gang and was riding with Tony to meet Potter.

“She’s not here.”

“
What?”

“
I think we need to call the coast guard,” Potter said, choking on the words. He felt warm tears fall down his cheeks and angrily swiped them away. He didn’t have time for this right now.

“
Don’t say that!”

“
Perri- this isn’t like the other times. It’s bad out here. I found her Jeep, but both her and her board is missing. The waves are too big for her…I ran up and down the beach but I couldn’t find her. We need help.”

“
Okay. I’ll call.” Perri’s voice sounded broken. Potter stared at the phone in his hands and prayed that everything would turn out okay. He wouldn’t give up on Puck. She had to be okay- he would have felt it if she was hurt, wouldn’t he? When the search party reached the beach they found Potter tirelessly searching the shore for Puck.

****

Several long hours later there was still no signs of Puck. The coast guard was still out there searching the waves for a body, but so far they had not found anything. Potter had refused to leave the beach and had stayed to continue the search on dry land. Panic and despair and a small glimmer of hope had merged into a manic energy that rolled off of Potter. At this point there wasn’t much to do. It was pretty clear that Puck had gotten in the water. Perri verified that Puck had taken the board with her when she left.  Unless someone had abducted her, then she was in the water still. A search of the Jeep had revealed her purse tucked underneath the seat, a change of clothes, and dry towels. Potter’s small glimmer of hope was vanishing with every second gone by.

Potter sank down in the sand, his head in his arms. Tears mixed with the rain pouring down his face. He was soaked through and shivering with cold and yet he felt nothing. He lifted his head and stared out at sea. If his beloved ocean took Puck away from him he would never surf again. He didn’t think he could stand to live in this town without Puck by his side. He watched the coast guard ship bob in the water for a second and then closed his eyes. This was not how their story was supposed to end. He was supposed to grow old with Puck, to wake up next to her every day for the rest of his life. She was not supposed to be taken away from him. How he hated fate if this was what she had in store for him. He could not imagine a world where he would be okay without Puck.

“
You need to get out of the storm,” Steve said quietly.

Brad put his hand on Potter’s shoulder and squeezed slightly. “Puck will be mad if you kill yourself searching for her. She’ll be rescued in no time and be yelling at you for being so stupid.”

Dave frowned at Brad and silently shook his head in warning. “Look Potter, they have your cell number, if they find anything they’ll call you. It’s not doing any good to wait here for news.”

Potter ignored all of them. He tried to imagine what Puck had been thinking. Why would she go out on such a bad day? She must have been thinking that it would be a grand adventure. Something didn’t make sense though. Puck knew how dangerous the sea could be. She might not be an experienced surfer, but she had been raised around the sea- she knew the hazards. Potter couldn’t believe that she’d try surfing waves as big as this. He thought again of how depressed she had been lately. He had been glad when he’d first heard how badly she was hurting. He was glad she hurt as bad as he did! But if this was the result of their break up then he would never forgive himself.