by S. E. Smith
*.*.*
Tyrell grinned as he pressed the send button on the last updates he was giving. This was great! So far, in one day, he had over one thousand hits on most of the sites. If it kept going, he might make two thousand by tomorrow.
#VoD Voyage of Defiance living up to its name.
#VoD Almost died today. Huge storm at sea. Lifeline saved me.
#VoD a journey of discovery. Who am I?
#VoD Makayla risked life to save me from being swept overboard.
#VoD follow our journey.
Tyrell released his breath when the videos he had created confirmed they had uploaded. The posts he had scheduled for his Page would go out several times tomorrow. They included video, pictures, and links to the other sites.
He looked up and smiled. Makayla was lying on the bench seat, sound asleep. He retrieved the blanket off the bed and climbed up the steps. Walking around the console, he draped it over her. Tomorrow would be another day. He wondered what it would bring.
Sitting down beside her, he stared out at the dark landscape far off to their starboard side. He could make out the faint lights from the tall condos that lined Miami Beach. They were about to leave it behind. His eyes flickered to the compass. They were still heading south.
Crossing his legs at the ankle, he stared down at Makayla. In her own way, she was responsible for him living his dream of adventure. He was doing the things that other NG photographers did. He had found a story and was recording it. Looking down at his phone, he turned it on and opened his photo app.
He scrolled through them, laughing at some of them, deleting a few that were fuzzy or not very good, before he paused on the one of her standing at the helm. He had taken two pictures; one had been of her standing there, but the other had been a close up of her face. His finger hovered over it before he enlarged it enough to see the tear on her cheek. He frowned, enlarging it even more as he realized that inside the tear, there was another image.
“What the…,” he whispered, lifting his phone closer to him. Inside the tear was a perfect reflection of the storm clouds, a streak of lightning, and the sail of the Defiance. A shiver went down his spine at the clarity of the shot. “This one is going to go viral.”
Chapter 25
Hillsborough High School, Tampa:
Tisha looked around the crowded lunchroom for a place to sit. It looked like she was the first one there today. Grabbing a quick lunch, she picked out a spot at the end of one of the long tables. She smiled at Sheela, one of the girls in her English Honors class.
“Hey, Tisha,” Sheela said with a smile. “Do you remember that girl that was always sitting with you last year? She had long, dark brown hair.”
Tisha nodded as she set her tray down. “Yeah, Makayla. Why?” She asked, sliding onto the bench.
“I was watching this video that my cousin sent me. He thought it might be interesting because it’s about this bro and this white girl. They’re, like, sailing around the coast of Florida to get back to Tampa. This girl wanted to come home and the bro made the mistake of falling asleep on her boat. I swear it looked just like the girl that hung with you last year.”
Tisha bit into her apple and shrugged. “Send me the link and I’ll look at it,” she said. “As far as I know, Makayla’s still over on the east coast.”
“What about Makayla?” Laura asked as she, Debbie and Audrey came up behind her.
“Sheela said she thought she saw Makayla on a video about this girl and guy who are sailing around the coast,” Tisha mumbled around the food in her mouth. “I told her Makayla’s still over on the east coast.”
“She’s moving back,” Laura said. “She’s going to stay with my mom and me for a while.”
“What’s the address? I’ll look it up,” Debbie said, pulling out her laptop.
Sheela told them how the guy had fallen asleep on the sailboat after being at the hospital with his grandmother all night due to a drive-by shooting. This girl had stolen her grandfather’s sailboat and was sailing around the coast, trying to get back home.
“Holy Moly!” Debbie whispered, staring at the pictures. “It’s Makayla! That’s Makayla!”
“What?” Tisha muttered, scooting closer to the screen. “Click on the link,” she demanded. “What’s she saying? Turn up the volume.”
Debbie quickly slid her finger across the touchpad and increased the volume. She also enlarged the video that was playing. They could see Makayla standing behind a large wheel and hear the voice of a guy in the background.
“So, if you had one piece of advice to give your friends, what would it be?” He asked her.
Makayla made a face at the camera before she turned her head to stare out at the ocean. For a moment, the camera panned out to what she was looking at before returning to her. A sad smile curved her lips.
“You’re asking the wrong person to give advice. I’m the crazy white girl, remember?” She replied with a shake of her head. “I don’t honestly know. How can someone who doesn’t even know who they are, what they want, give advice to someone else? Besides, we’re all different. What I would tell someone might not work for them.”
“Okay, let me rephrase that,” the guy said. “What advice would you give yourself if you were talking to the you from your past? And, what advice would you give me?”
Makayla chuckled and turned her face toward the camera again. This time there was the light of amusement in her eyes. She tilted her head as she stared at him.
“My advice to me would be to check for stowaways before borrowing a sailboat,” she said with a smug grin. “My advice to you would be watch out where you fall asleep.”
Tyrell turned the camera toward him and raised an eyebrow. “Or at least pick a cruise ship size boat,” he said in a mocking tone. “This is Tyrell Richards aboard the Defiance signing off for now.”
“Wow!” Laura muttered, staring at the screen in disbelief before she grinned. “Are there more?”
“Yeah!” Sheela said. “You should see all the stuff he is posting. The video about the storm? There’s no way I’m going out in a little boat. They were both almost killed.”
By the end of the lunch period, news that one of their own was on a death-defying adventure had spread. The video of the storm and their struggle to survive soon became the talk of the campus.
“Why would she do something like this?” One of the students asked Laura. “What if she doesn’t make it?”
“She will,” Laura said, glancing at the picture of Makayla standing in front of the helm in the yellow foul weather gear with the storm raging around her. “She’s a fighter. She’ll make it.”
“Hey, another tweet just posted,” someone yelled. “She threatened to throw him overboard.”
Audrey laughed. “That sounds like Makayla,” she said, checking her phone. “Oh, this is good!”
“What?” Debbie asked, glancing over Audrey’s shoulder.
“He doesn’t know how to swim,” Audrey replied before she burst out laughing.
*.*.*
By late the next afternoon, they were in the lower Keys. She wasn’t sure which island they were on, but they had passed the Seven Mile Bridge. She grinned when she saw people standing along it, waving to them. She hesitated at first before waving back.
“People sure are friendly down here,” Tyrell said, smiling. “I can see the bottom! Look at that fish.”
Makayla shook her head. “You’ve been saying that for the last hour,” she commented, lifting her face to the breeze. It had been another hot day. “I have to admit, I did like the turtle you saw.”
“That thing was like something out of a Jules Verne story,” Tyrell said.
“Jules Verne? I didn’t know you read him,” she said, tilting her sunglasses and looking at him from over the top of them.
“There was an article on him in National Geographic, about the inventions in his stories that came true,” Tyrell said with a shrug. “It sounded interesting, so I thought I’d read one
of his books. I ended up reading all of them. He was a cool guy for his time.”
“Yes, he was,” she said. “I think I’m going to have to start reading more of those magazines. I saw them at Henry’s house.”
“Your granddad has good taste in reading material,” Tyrell teased. “If he ever wants to get rid of them, pass them my way. I’m trying to collect them all.”
“I’ll let him know,” Makayla replied dryly. “How about we call it an early day? We can hang out here tonight. We’ll tie up to one of the anchor buoys and maybe I can teach you how to swim.”
Tyrell leaned back and made a face at her. “I don’t swim, I sink,” he said with a shake of his head. “No thank you. I like looking at the fish from up here or on my plate. I don’t need to be in the fish tank with them.”
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid!” Makayla said, holding her hand over her heart as if she was shocked. “Don’t you know that they have underwater photographers, too?”
Tyrell shook his head. “I have to leave something for the other guys,” he said with a straight face. “I’ll leave the underwater stuff for them.”
*.*.*
“Okay, I’m ready,” Tyrell said, standing on the back of the Defiance, a huge grin on his face and white streaks of suntan lotion marring his dark complexion.
Makayla turned from where she was snorkeling behind the sailboat, waiting for Tyrell to finally get the courage to join her. They had anchored up just off of Lower Sugarloaf Key. Tomorrow, they would make the turn around the peninsula of Florida. After their scare yesterday, Makayla had come to the decision that Tyrell needed to know at least the basics of swimming. Even with a life vest, something as simple as treading water was important.
She gasped and coughed on the saltwater that she swallowed when she saw Tyrell standing on the back of the Defiance all decked out in a pair of Henry’s shorts and half the life vests onboard the sailboat. Her eyes ran down his body in disbelief. He had strapped a life vest to each arm, winding the straps around and around until he could secure them tight enough. They looked like a pair of oversized kid’s floaties on his arms. He was wearing another life vest around his chest, but it was the other two he had around his calves that drew the surprised laugh from her.
“What are you doing?” She finally gasped out, looking up at him.
Tyrell’s grin turned to one of uncertainty as he listened to her cough. The smile finally died on his lips as he looked down at the water. Makayla could tell he was about to change his mind.
“I don’t know about this, Makayla,” he started to say, looking back at her.
“Come on,” she said, kicking her feet and arms back and forth. “Look at me. See, if you move your arms and legs back and forth, it keeps you up. It’s just like riding a bike, once you get the rhythm, you’ll be fine. And I have to tell you, with that many life vests on, there is no way you’re going to sink. I hope you remembered to take the PLB’s off of them. I’d hate to have the entire Coast Guard down on top of us for just a swimming lesson,” she teased. “It will be alright, Tyrell. The water really isn’t that deep.”
“It doesn’t look like it is,” he agreed with a crooked grin. “Okay, what do I do first?”
“I was going to suggest that you use the ladder and work your way from there, but I don’t think you’ll be able to do it with all the life vests on,” she said, frowning. “I think you should just jump.”
“Jump?” Tyrell repeated, swallowing as he looked at the distance to the water. “What if…? Jump, I can do that. Yeah, I can jump.”
“Tyrell, you have to move to do it,” Makayla laughed.
“I’m working on it,” he grumbled. “I just need my feet to listen to what my brain is saying. It hasn’t made it down to them yet, cause they don’t seem to want to move off the back of this boat.”
Makayla rolled her eyes at him. “How about counting to three? Or, if you want, I can come push you in,” she suggested with a mischievous grin.
Tyrell swallowed and shook his head. “I’ll do it. I just need a minute is all,” he complained.
“I’m counting to three,” Makayla warned. “If you don’t jump by then, I’m coming up there and pushing you in.”
“I don’t need no help!” Tyrell yelled back.
“One…”
“You just stay in the water,” Tyrell said, sweat beading on his brow.
“Two…” Makayla said, swimming toward the side of the sailboat where the ladder was attached.
“Makayla, I mean it,” Tyrell yelled, his eyes widening as she moved closer.
“Three!” She said at the same time as there was a loud splash.
She turned in the water, laughing at Tyrell. He had jumped in, and was floating like a bobber on his back. Shaking her head, she swam over to where he was lying on the surface, trying to keep his head up.
“You look uncomfortable,” she commented, swimming around him.
Tyrell tried to glare at her, but it wasn’t easy with her moving in circles around him. “At least I’m not sinking,” he muttered.
Makayla grabbed the life vest on his leg and started turning him around in a circle for fun. She waited until his head was facing her. She grinned at him in amusement.
“You know, you’ll never learn to swim like this,” she said. “I’m going to take the life vests off that you definitely don’t need first.”
Tyrell shook his head. “I’ve changed my mind, Makayla,” he said. “I don’t think this is a good idea after all.”
“It is an excellent idea,” she retorted, moving down his body to his legs. “You live on the coast of Florida. It’s practically an island, if you think about it. Everyone should know how to swim. Plus, you never know, National Geographic might offer you this awesome gig underwater.”
Tyrell tilted his head to look down at her and scowled. “Or they could send me to the desert.”
“They have oasis’ in the desert,” she said, popping off the clip on the life vest around his left leg and pulling it away.
“Whoa,” he hissed as his body tilted. “Wait a minute.”
“Too late,” Makayla chuckled, releasing the other one. “Now, you really do look like a fishing bobber.”
“Ha-ha!” Tyrell muttered. “You should try out for comedy central.”
“I will the next time they open auditions,” she said. “Okay, kick your feet back and forth like me.”
Tyrell gave her a skeptical look, but began kicking his feet back and forth and moving his arms as much as he could with the life vests still attached to them. After a few minutes, she moved to his right arm.
“Okay, time to lose another vest,” she said in a calm voice.
“But, but…,” Tyrell tried to argue, but she was already pulling it free.
“That’s it, kick while moving your arm,” she said.
“Where are you going?” Tyrell asked in a panicked voice, slowly turning until he could see her.
Makayla swam over to the sailboat and tossed the vests into it. She quickly pulled herself up the ladder and retrieved the mask and snorkel she had set out for him before jumping back into the water and swimming back over to him. She smiled as she paused in front of him before reaching for his left arm.
“Now, for this one,” she said. “I’ll leave it so you can hold onto it. Once you are ready, or until I lose my patience with you, you can practice kicking your feet and moving your arms. If your face goes under the water, hold your breath and kick back to the surface. I brought you a mask and snorkel so you can practice looking around with it, too. Here, put it on.”
She saw the fear in his eyes, but he didn’t protest when she handed him the mask and snorkel. She quickly removed the other life vest from his arm, staying close in case he panicked.
He slid the strap for the mask over his head and pulled it over his eyes. She swam around behind him to make sure that it was snug, but not too tight. Next, she adjusted the snorkel and showed him how to breathe through it.
“Okay, now just lean forward until your face is in the water,” she explained, adjusting her mask and snorkel and showing him what she meant. “Alright?” She asked, lifting her hand to show a thumb’s up.
Tyrell nodded and carefully lowered his head. Almost immediately he looked back up with wide, surprised eyes. “It’s beautiful,” he tried to say with the snorkel still in his mouth.
Makayla laughed and nodded. “Yes, it is,” she admitted. “We’ll snorkel like this for a little while longer before we work on removing your life vest.”
Tyrell nodded and lowered his face back into the water. They spent the next two hours gradually working on his swimming skills. It took her a half hour to get him out of the vest, another half hour to learn to float on both his back and his front, ten minutes to dog paddle, and the next fifty minutes keeping an eye on him as he floated around the surface watching the fish.
“Okay, I’m all wrinkled and I think I’ve swallowed enough saltwater for the day,” Makayla said, swimming toward the boat and pulling Tyrell behind her.
“This is amazing,” Tyrell said, holding onto the life vest with both hands and kicking his feet. “Can we do it again tomorrow?”
Makayla paused and thought for a moment before shrugging. “Why not?” She said. “Tomorrow will be Wednesday. If we make it to Tampa by this coming weekend, you’ll still have time to make it home before school starts on Monday.”
Tyrell’s face fell. “Yeah, I forgot about school,” he said. “Doing this… It’s easy to forget about the real world.”
Makayla grabbed the ladder and pulled herself up out of the water. Stepping over the side, she nodded and turned to grab the life vest Tyrell held up to her. He pulled himself up and handed her the mask and snorkel as well.
“It is,” she agreed, turning on the freshwater hose and rinsing the equipment before she motioned for him to turn around.
“Damn, that’s cold,” he complained, shivering.
Makayla chuckled as she quickly rinsed herself and turned the hose back off. “Yeah, but it’s better than being covered in salt. What do you want for dinner tonight?”