Bridge Across the Ocean by Randy Boyd

Author:Randy Boyd [Boyd, Randy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: West Beach Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Twelve

The darkness underneath my eyes fought against a morning sun brighter and more fierce than usual and my body felt as if it were strewn about in some seemingly unnatural pose. This is no bed, my brain tried to tell me. But I was too tired to investigate. I closed my eyelids tighter, desperate to hold onto the darkness, but suddenly the earth shook violently and a voice cried out:

"Derek, are you asleep? Are you all right?"

I bolted up. Sunlight stung my eyes, causing temporary blindness. When I could focus again, there was no roof, no walls, only endless blue. What I dreamt was a bed was actually a sailboat, and like the fresh sea breeze smacking me in the face, it all came back to me: taking the boat, trying to stay awake, trying to escape, but to where? Nowhere. Anywhere. Luckily, I steered to the island…the island! I jerked around. It was there; I made it. The boat was floating in the cove now. And Rob—he was treading water, hanging onto the side.

"You okay?" he was asking.

"Fine," I mumbled.

"What were you doing way out here?"

"How long…how'd you find me?"

He climbed into the boat. "I looked all over for you."

"What time is it?"

"Maybe around seven, probably a little later now. I was awake all night. After the sun was up a while, I figured you'd still be sleeping and I didn't want to wake you or anything, but I had to talk. Anyway, you weren't in your room and I started to worry that you'd taken off or something."

"Still here," I said, rubbing my face, trying to rejoin the living.

"I looked everywhere. I went to Eriz's hut, but he didn't know where you were. I think he was kinda mad I woke him. After that, I started going up and down the beach and that's when I saw your shoes in the sand near the sailing shack. Right away I figured you must have come here."

"You swam out here?"

"I didn't dare take another boat and risk Gerard finding two missing. It wasn't that bad a swim…actually, it was kinda hard. I had to stop and rest a lot. But I didn't care." He paused, averting his eyes downward. "How was Diablo's?"

"Diablo's…" I paused, savoring the night that ended not more than a couple of hours ago. "Pretty incredible."

"You loved it?"

"I loved it."

"Wish I could have gone."

"I'm starting to get seasick. Why don't we move over to the island?" We used our hands to paddle to shore where we tied the boat to a tree and walked inland to a grassy clearing facing the coast. "So everyone's still asleep?" I asked, sitting on the ground with the ocean ten feet below.

"Except for some workers." He sat down next to me. Was it my imagination or was he was farther away than usual? "Maybe I shouldn't have come here," he said. "Maybe I should've let you sleep."

"Actually, you don't know how glad I am to see you."

"You mean you're not mad at me anymore?"

"Mad? I've never been mad at you, Rob.

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