Ruin by Jette Harris

Author:Jette Harris [Harris, Jette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

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Heather laid lengthwise across the bottom of the boat, legs propped on the edge, head on Charli’s lap. Charli lay perpendicular, shoulders resting against one side, legs slung over the side opposite. She had been talking about the flight she had the next day to Venice, for a study abroad program, but they had fallen silent.

Heather was just beginning to feel normal. She opened her mouth to tell Charli as much, but—

BOOM!

She shrieked and rolled. Charli gave a scream and pitched forward. The world turned upside-down in a flash of color, and they hit the cold water.

Pain filled Heather’s body as every muscle worked to get her back to the surface.

“Heather? Heather!”

Charli paddled frantically a few feet away. Heather knocked her shoulder against the boat as she came up, causing a blinding flash of pain. She reached out and pulled Charli toward her.

“Get under!”

They dipped below the surface and rose slowly under the shell of the canoe.

“Heather—”

“Shh!”

“Oh, God…”

Treading water caused searing pain to radiate around Heather’s torso. Every time she stopped, the relief came instantly, but she would sink. She attempted to reach her good arm up and grab the seat nearest her, but it felt like the muscles around her ribs were tearing. She let go with a cry of pain.

“Heather?”

She just needed to stop moving. “Stay here. Don’t move until someone comes.”

“Heather?” Her voice grew panicked.

Taking a deep, painful breath, Heather stopped moving and sank below the surface. She drifted slowly. The pain faded with every inch, but her lungs ached for air. As soon as I touch the ground, I can come back up and start again. She kept expecting to hit the soft silt of the lake bottom, but it never came.

She heard voices above her, one deep, one high.

It’s time to go back up now.

But she didn’t want to move. Her lungs screamed for air, but it felt like her limbs were frozen.

The voices faded.

You should take a breath now. It’s OK. It’ll work. Heather wanted to shake her head, but it didn’t work. The bottom should be there any second… Then you can go.

Hands grabbed her. Strong arms wrapped around her body. She opened her mouth to scream, and water filled her lungs. Water rushed around her as they shot back toward the surface. As soon as her head broke free, she choked and gasped, vomiting water. Pain racked her once more.

“Heather?” Byron’s voice came from the opposite end of the canoe, with Charli’s crying in-between.

She coughed. “Yeah?”

“Are you OK?”

“No!”

“Are you hit?”

“No.”

Soft murmuring. Water sloshing. Byron’s voice came closer. “I got her, man.” Another pain of hands on her, taking her hips. “Heather, put your arms around my neck. Get on my back.”

The first set of hands, just under her arms, helped her stay afloat as Byron turned his back to her. She hugged her left arm to her chest and wrapped her right around his shoulders. The hands disappeared.

“You get Charli,” Byron said. He lifted the edge of the canoe and pushed away from it.

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