Page 9 of Wild Life

I squinted to make out the crew. Some were securing items with rope. Others were bolting the hatches shut to keep water from seeping in.

The captain was pulling on the crank to deploy the storm anchor, as Malcom ran over to help him. Chains clanked over the booming thunder.

“Maris!” Eli was busy tying a rope with another crewmate. “Get back inside,” he bellowed.

He really didn’t know me if he thought I’d sit idly by while our vessel was in danger. I had learned how to tie knots on previous voyages and would put my skill to work.

I ran to the edge and pulled on the ropes. Eli grabbed my arm. “Do you have a fucking death wish? Get back inside! These ropes are heavy, and it’s too dangerous for you!”

I jerked my arm from his grasp. “I’m not leaving.” Just because I was a woman didn’t mean I was useless. Fuck him for thinking so.

The boat dipped, and I lost my footing on the slick wood.

“Maris!”

I couldn’t stop sliding. I caught the railing and held on tight, trying to pull myself away from a wicked sea that had sprouted tentacles, ready to grab me.

The boat swayed harder this time, and my hands slipped off the bars.

And suddenly, I was falling. I could clearly see images from my life passing by: prom, graduation, my first car, my first apartment…the faces of my parents, happy and smiling, like they had been waiting all this time to hug me. With my arms wide open, I flew toward them—toward love.

And for the second time in my life, my limp body crashed hard into a wall of coldness before everything went black.

Chapter 5

True-Crime Stories – Episode 158: “Revenge of the Caveman”

Maris

They say when you’re caught in a current, the best way to avoid drowning is to go with the flow. To lean back and give in. To imagine your limbs are weightless like air and succumb to the strength of the water. To not fight it when it tries to pull you under.

As torrential as the waves were, my body was surprisingly still and at peace. Like I was resting on grass on a warm summer day.

My skin no longer registered the ocean wetness, even though I was certain I was drowning. Instead, I was wrapped in warmth and dryness. I had experienced this once before, except all of it had felt wrong. This time was different. This time, I was comfortable. Like I was at peace. I didn’t have the rock in my stomach that I’d had when I was in the hospital after the car accident. I was floating. I could also make out the muffled chirps of birds and the rustling of leaves overhead. A deep voice crooned a lullaby in the distance, the melody soothing me.

It was the freest I had been in a long time.

I scrunched my lids tighter, hoping to hold on to it all for a moment more. My physical body, ever the traitor, was already awake, and my nerves were buzzing.

The last thing I remembered was water. Lots of water. So much that it filled my nostrils and mouth.

The boat!

I blinked my eyes open, and they stung against the light.

What the fuck?

Overhead was a mosaic of dried leaves intertwined together.

Where the hell am I?

I pushed onto my forearms, but the throbbing in my neck sent me crashing back down. I patted my body, registering that it was swaddled tightly with…a blanket?

Attempt number two.I tried again to sit up, shutting my aching lids, moving slower this time as my neck protested. My hand rubbed the back of it to release some of the knots, and the blanket over me shifted. A light draft hit my chest, and my eyes flew open. My tits, bare in all their pointed glory, shone back at me like they were far too happy to be free in this new environment.What in the—

My heart stopped in my chest as I lifted the tattered sheet, and my stomach dropped.Where the fuck are my panties?

Panic rushed through my veins.

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