Cooper Davis
felt like he's been smacked by a Mac truck and drug forty miles. Eight hours; he
had eight hours until he had to go on deck. Signing up to be a greenhorn on a
fishing vessel to catch cod was a mistake. He knew that, but it was a mistake
that would lead to his dream of owning a bed and breakfast with his girl, Sage,
a reality.
He pictured
her as he drifted off. Her face made the pain bearable. Every ache was soothed
by her smile. He heard her singing, as she did every morning as she made
breakfast. She was a natural morning person, forced to be a night owl to keep
her job. But not for much longer, soon she'd make her own hours and he was
going to make that happen.
Sage's
cheery voice was soon interrupted by a ringing. It was faint at first, but grew
louder. Then it was ear-splitting. Cooper bolted up, quickly taking in his
surroundings. He was still in his bunk on the Fancy Nancy cod boat, Sage a thousand miles away.
“Oh my god.
Oh my god. Oh my god,” came a chant from the floor. It was Gavin Hart, Cooper's
bunkmate and fellow greenhorn.
Cooper
hopped out of his bunk and grabbed the survival suits. “It's okay, kid. Just
put on your suit. Probably another drill.”
But Cooper
knew it wasn't another drill, his heart thumbed against his chest so violently,
he was afraid it would explode.
Taking a
deep breath, he peeked his head into the galley. Smoke hazed throughout the
cabin as Captian Mullis ran through the galley to get back to the wheelhouse.
“Put on your suit, Davis and then up on deck and get the life raft ready. We're
gonna need it.”
“Yes, sir,”
Cooper nodded and grabbed for his suit.
“There's a
hole,” Gavin whimpered. “I caught my suit on that nail we're always complaining
about and now there's a hole in my Gumby suit.” He looked at Cooper tears in
his eyes. “My mother begged me to stay home. Said I'd die out here. She's right.
I'm going to die, aren't I, Davis. I'm never going to see my mother again or
Suzie. The whole reason I came on this stupid boat was for Suzie. I want to
marry her.”
Cooper
rolled his eyes. “No one's going to die today.” He threw his suit at Gavin. “Put
mine on.”
Gavin shook
his head. “I can't. I can't move.”
“Yes you
can,” said Cooper, helping Gavin slip his feet into the full suit. He pulled
the kid up, shoved his hands into the arms, pulled the hood up and zipped the
suit as Gavin started to cry.
Cooper
grabbed his chin. “You are not gonna die, Hart. Listen up. You're going up on
deck and get that life boat ready. Then you're going to get in the damn boat
and you're going to live. The minute you get on land you hug your Momma and
kiss that girl. You hear me?”
Gavin nodded
as Cooper pushed him out the door. “I expect to be in the life boat as soon as
I get my suit on. I'm counting on you, Hart.”
The kid gave
Cooper one more determined nod before running toward the stairs. Cooper turned
and reached for the holey survival suit. With one foot in the suit, the boat
listed to port side, causing Cooper to tumble. His mind raced as the boat
didn't right itself. It was going down.
Ditching the
suit, he struggled to make his way out of the bunk. Captain Mullis lay near the
stairs. Water filled the galley as Cooper made his way to the Captain, who was
already in his survival suit.
“Captain
Mullis wake up!” yelled Cooper.
The captain
mumbled and Cooper could smell the unmistakable scent of whiskey. Captain
Mullis was drunk.
“You stupid
son-of-a... -- what have done?” yelled Cooper.
The cold
water felt like tiny shards of glass stabbing Cooper's socked feet as he pulled
the captain up the fun house stairs. Defying gravity, he made it to the top,
just in time to see two more deck hands crawl out of the engine room, smoke
billowing out from behind them. Neither had on their Gumby suits.
The men
pulled the captain the rest of the way out of the stair case, inflated his life
vest and threw him over the side of the boat and into the frigid waters near
the life boat.
The boat
groaned as it tilted even more, threatening to completely capsize. The men
looked at each other, terror on every brow.
“We have to
swim for the life boat,” said Cooper.
“Are you
crazy?” said one of the men. “We'll die of hypothermia. It's better we stay on
the boat. The Coast Guard is coming. We'll be safe here.”
An explosion
from the engine room rocked the ship again, causing the men to stumble. Cooper
fell towards the water, grabbing at anything in his path to hold on, but it was
no use. He hit the water, the cold causing him to lose his breath instantly.
He tried to
remain calm, tried to remember where the surface was. His fingers instantly
went numb making it hard to swim, but he reached toward the light as hard as he
could, breaking the surface just in time to see the boat sinking beneath the
waves. The two deckhands still clinging to the fragmented ship, trying to stay
out of the water.
He tried to
yell at them to get away from the boat, that the suction would take them down
too, but he lacked the air and strength to get his message across. He couldn't
help them now, he had to find the life boat. He had to make sure Gavin was
okay.
Twirling in
a circle, he finally spotted the bright red boat. It was a good hundred yards
away from him. He could just make out the Hart kid pulling Captain Mullis into
the raft. “Good” he thought, “the kid made it to the raft.”
He turned
his focus on Sage. He had to get back to her. Mustering up all the strength he
had left he swam toward the boat. “I must get back to Sage” were his final
words before everything went dark.
