by Tracy Kiser
Lana ducked into the small cabin below deck where the bedroom was. She slipped off her shoes and climbed into the bed, pulling the soft covers up over her head to block out the sunlight streaming in. All of the muscles in Lana’s body went limp. She had been on edge ever since they had left the marina the night before. Lana could feel the stiffness of her body slowly releasing and before she knew it she had fallen asleep to the gentle rocking of the boat.
Still on deck, Aiden could feel his eyelids growing heavier. He knew that Lana needed to rest. Aiden had to stay awake. He had to keep the boat on course. Aiden shook his head to try to force the sleep out of his eyes and his mind. A couple more hours, he thought as he felt the wind caress his face.
* *
“Daniel, get over here, now.” Sarah’s demand ran through the telephone lines. Her fingers tightened around the cool receiver.
“What?” Daniel grumbled. “Who is this and what time is it?”
“It’s Sarah and eight thirty and I need you to come over now, Daniel. It’s an emergency.” Sarah had returned to the kitchen and found the house phone. She hadn’t known what to do after reading Lana’s letter. She only knew that Daniel had a boat and if Lana was on her way to the Bermuda Triangle then a boat would definitely come in handy.
“Sarah, calm down. What happened?”
“Lana’s gone. She left me a note saying that she went to find Tom.” Sarah found herself pacing the kitchen, the tile cold against her feet. Her whole body had lost all warmth when she had realized that her daughter was gone. She shivered uncontrollably. Sarah took in a deep breath and tried to keep herself from breaking down.
“Okay, I’m on my way over. Give me twenty minutes.” Sarah heard rustling noises coming from Daniel’s side of the phone line. Knowing he was coming lifted a small bit of the weight off of her shoulders.
“Wait, could you swing by the marina on your way here? You’re the only one I can think of that owns a sailboat, check to see if she took yours,” Sarah explained with tears choking her voice, ones that had not yet reached her eyes.
“I’ll drive by there; make some coffee for me, will ya? I’m going to need something to wake me up besides you screaming into my ear.” Daniel attempted humor to help calm Sarah. She knew it was his way but it sent a fire of rage jolting through her bones.
“Don’t try to be funny right now. I’ll make more coffee but just hurry up,” her voice cracked.
“I wasn’t joking and I’m going as fast as I can. Be going a lot faster if you would stop yelling at me.”
“Sorry about that,” Sarah said trying to sound calm. “Will you please be here as quickly as you can?” Her turn to attempt something other than what she felt.
“Much better. Important to stay calm in an emergency situation. Be there soon.”
Sarah pushed the end button on her phone. Her hands were still shaking. Sarah hoped that she and Daniel would be able to find Lana before she had gotten too far, but something inside of Sarah told her it was too late. Sarah readied the coffee maker and started a new pot brewing. She waited for Daniel to arrive, holding back the tears as best she could.
* *
Lana struggled in her sleep. Within her dream it was storming. She was surrounded by the darkness, a death shroud that enveloped her in fear, lit only by the lightning striking the water sending electric currents skimming across the top of the waves. Lana’s arms were outstretched reaching for something, a lifeline of sorts. The dream forced a decision upon her, an ultimatum: save herself or save her father. Lana shattered into a million fragments, pieces of light reflecting each part of who she was. She floated in the water outside of her body, watching herself turn into a puzzle. The pieces re-aligned and created a new version, a version that shimmered in the moonlight with bright glowing eyes.
A swirl of colors rained down upon her body, dying her skin in streaks of cerulean and gold. Lana stared at her new body in amazement. In the back of her mind she heard someone calling her name. It had the tone of a shout but the softness of a whisper. Lana began swimming toward her new-self. The waves tried to hold her back as the water droplets morphed into stone and she was climbing, not swimming. A mountain grew steadily in front of her. The image of her new-self floated to the top of the massif and joined another that was already waiting for her. Lana heard a voice whisper and echo on the inside of her skull.
“It’s meant to be this way, come to me.”
* *
The coffee pot was filled with a fresh brew. Sarah sat staring at the device, lost inside of her mind, when Daniel knocked on the front door jarring her into motion. Walking to the front door, Sarah planned on screaming at Daniel. She wanted someone to blame for all of this and the anger she felt threatened to flow over the edges. He had been the one to teach her daughter to sail. He had known that Lana was reading the damn logbook. Yet he had waited to tell her all of this until it was too late.
Sarah saw Daniel’s shadow streaming in through the glass panes of the door, distorted on the floor. She unlocked the front door and swung it open. She looked at Daniel and all of her anger disappeared from her tense body. Sarah collapsed in heaving sobs; Daniel barely caught her in his arms before she hit the ground. He held Sarah as her body shook violently.
“My daughter,” she sobbed. “My baby’s gone.”
Daniel tried to console her, his heart beating unsurely within his chest. He gently rubbed her back and held her tightly against him, keeping distance between her body and the hardwood floor. Her heartbeat reached his chest. It reverberated through them both. Sarah clung to Daniel with all of her strength. With lungs constricting, Sarah tried to control her breathing. She knew that breaking down right now wouldn’t help find her daughter, but she couldn’t seem to stop the emotion from overflowing.
Daniel didn’t move. He sat in the middle of the doorway with his arms around Sarah. While she was trying to persuade herself not to break down, Daniel was praying that he could help her when she did. It was an after-shock to them both, almost as if they were re-living the day that Tom was pronounced lost at sea, never to return.
* *
Her body flinched and Lana awoke, quickly sitting up in bed, the tiny room below deck surrounding her. She felt claustrophobic, the heat licking her skin. Kicking off the covers, Lana swung her legs out to place her feet on the floor. Lana slipped her shoes on then moved slightly to the ladder to go to the top deck.
Hand over hand, she emerged from the bottom of the sailboat, Lana saw Aiden sitting up by the center mast, dead asleep. The sun was beginning to set and the sky was turning a rosy orange with white wisps accenting the beauty. Lana walked over to Aiden, bent down, and shook Aiden’s shoulder.
Aiden gasped and his entire body convulsed in the knitting of muscles. His eyes widened taking in the sight of Lana. He blinked rapidly then turned his head to look around the boat.
He didn’t know where he was, and then, it all flooded back in. The moonlight, the promise ring, sailing toward the triangle. “Shit,” Aiden cursed under his breath. He stared at the sun hanging low in the sky, a yo-yo making its descent. “How long have I been asleep?”
“Beats me. I just woke up.” Lana replied, a jagged edge to her voice. She tried to push down her anger, Aiden had been awake for longer than she had and he had to be three hours past exhaustion.
“I’m sorry, Lana. I didn’t even realize that I fell asleep.” He brought his hands to his face and rubbed the sleep from his eyelids. He kept his face covered and shook his head, disappointed in himself for letting Lana down.
Lana felt her cheeks flash red. The heat rose quickly. She didn’t want this trip to take any longer than necessary. She couldn’t waste time when finding her father was on the line. Every minute counted. She knew that her father had survived these ten years on his own, and the thought of ‘what’s another day’ did cross her mind, but what if he didn’t have another day? She couldn’t take that chance and arrive too late.
Aiden saw the frustration
in her eyes. He saw her chest expand as she took a couple of deep breaths. He mentally counted and remained silent, letting her work this out and cool down a bit before speaking. The last thing Aiden wanted was to anger Lana; he knew this trip was already stressful enough for her. He softly drummed his fingers on the wood of the deck, distracting himself from jumping up and taking Lana in his embrace to make her realize how sorry he was for falling asleep, if it was only for a brief time.
“It’s fine. I just hope that we haven’t drifted too far off course.” Lana’s gaze rose to the ocean and she turned her head to look all around her. The water cooled her anger-heated body.
“Lana, really,” Aiden began softly, his voice a feather brushing over Lana’s face, “I didn’t mean to. Please don’t be angry with me,” he pleaded.
She sighed. “Go downstairs and get some real sleep. I’ll get us headed back in the right direction.” Lana stood up and walked over to retrieve the map from a closed compartment near the front of the sail.
Aiden mimicked her sigh while watching Lana fight back her urge to be mad. He felt horrible for falling asleep when he was supposed to be sailing the boat. He knew he had disappointed Lana, and he understood why she was angry. This trip meant the world to her. She believed her father was alive. Aiden knew that Lana was nervous about the reality of her father’s situation. The anxiety was painted on her face even now. The last thing that Aiden wanted to do was ruin this trip for her. He hoped that he hadn’t been asleep for too long.
Aiden stood up and walked to the ladder that led below deck. He climbed down into the small room and crawled into bed. It was still slightly warm from Lana’s body heat. He pulled the covers up to his chin wondering if Lana had determined how far off course they had drifted yet, how far Aiden had allowed the boat to drift while he was sleeping. He imagined Lana above cursing to herself, the waves hearing how his name rolled off of her tongue with dissatisfaction. With guilty feelings overtaking his conscious, Aiden fell into a dreamless sleep. He tossed and turned as Lana stood on deck staring out across the deep water, the color of moonlit steel.
Using all of the limited tools that were available to her on the boat, Lana had found that they had only strayed an hour off course. She felt relief wash over her like rain, forcing the worry and the anger to stream down her body and off into a pool of her former disappointment. Lana had feared they had drifted two or three hours away from their destination. Now, realizing that Aiden hadn’t messed up as big as she had originally thought, Lana felt a pang of guilt for being so cold and slightly cruel toward him. At least she had kept her tongue from lashing out. While he was sleeping, she’d be able to get the boat back to where it needed to be.
Chapter 14
Daniel held Sarah as close as he could. The two didn’t move for what seemed like hours. Sarah had stopped shaking, but Daniel could still feel her heart beating against his chest. She sat quietly with her tear-streaked face nestled against the curve of his shoulder. Finally, Daniel shifted and stood up. He bent over and scooped Sarah up in his arms. One arm reached around her torso and supported her head, which she laid on his shoulder. The other arm cradled her legs, right at the knee. Sarah didn’t even try to resist. She didn’t have the strength. Carefully, Daniel carried Sarah to the couch in the living room, away from the descending sunlight that danced across the walls.
“How could this of happened, Daniel?” She whispered, her voice strained from the sobs that had wracked her body earlier. “I can’t believe Lana ran away to find her father after ten years…ten years.” An image of the note Lana had left flashed up beneath Sarah’s eyelids. It stung like a knife. Barely an explanation and Lana had left Sarah to find comfort in an empty house that was filled to the ceiling with fear and worry.
Daniel gently moved his hand to caress Sarah’s check, comforting her as well as he knew how. Just like he had all those years before, the feelings he had back then rearing up in his soul.
“I just want her to be here, Daniel. I want her to come home.” Sarah begged, as if saying this to Daniel would conjure up Lana right there in the living room.
“Sarah, it’s okay. Ssshhhh.” He wrapped his arms around Sarah and brought her closer to him. He sat in the corner of the sofa with Sarah gently poised in his lap. Her arms had come up and wrapped around his neck. Daniel could feel her clinging to him for sanity. He wished he could bring Lana back right at that moment, if only to hear Sarah sigh with relief.
“What if the same thing happens to her as Tom? What if she never…comes back?”
“That’s not going to happen. Lana’s a good, smart girl and she can handle the toughest situations. She will come home, Sarah. You have to believe that she will come home.”
Daniel’s voice was a warm blanket to the cold hollow void that had filled her stomach. “How do you know? What makes you so sure?”
“I just know,” he said softly. “She has to realize for herself that Tom’s gone and she can’t rescue him from where he is. She needs the chance to let him go without people around her telling her to. This is her chance, Sarah. It’s her realization.”
* *
Lana had directed the sailboat back on course while Aiden slept below deck. He came up looking cutely disheveled. Lana took in the sight of her boyfriend, his dark brown hair a mess. His clothes had a slight wrinkle to them. She had never seen him look more adorable; the feeling of regret filled her chest. She knew that he deserved an apology for her cruel behavior a few hours earlier.
“Honey, I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have fallen asleep. I know how important this trip is to you and I don’t want to be the one to mess it up. I just want to be here for you. That’s why I came. Please don’t be angry with me,” Aiden quickly rushed through all of the words in his head, the words he had spent an extra five minutes below deck trying to rehearse. When he stopped, Lana was smiling.
“Aiden.” He watched her beautiful eyes light up in happiness, the ire completely gone from them.
“Yes?” The brows above Aiden’s sparkling green eyes came together in confusion.
“Shut up,” Lana laughed. “You didn’t ruin anything. We were maybe an hour off course, but now we’re directly on our way to where we need to be.” She gestured to the miles of seemingly endless ocean that lay in front of them, as if pointing to where her dad was patiently waiting.
“So you’re not angry with me?” Aiden double checked, with hope in his voice and a smile on his face. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and raised his shoulders in defense of what could come as an answer to his question.
“No, babe. Everything is going great. Besides, how can I stay mad at you when you look so adorable?” Her head bobbed at Aiden’s wrinkly attire.
Aiden’s slightly tan face flushed with pink undertones. He held his hands out to Lana. She rushed over to him and placed her hands in his. He lifted them to his lips. Lana’s smile widened as she watched him kiss each hand once.
“Just to be safe, can we not do that again?” Lana teased, stepping in closer to her boyfriend.
“I’ll try my best,” Aiden promised pulling Lana’s body to meet his, delicately kissing her soft pink lips.
* *
“Do you need anything, Sarah?” Daniel gently asked, the breath of his voice caressing her cheek. They had shifted on the couch. Daniel was still sitting in the corner of the sofa, but Sarah had laid down, stretching out her tense muscles. She had her head on a pillow in Daniel’s lap, her body facing him instead of the otherwise empty living room.
“I don’t know, Daniel. I feel like I don’t know much of anything anymore.” Daniel heard the strain that still hung in her voice. She had calmed slightly, but the war keeping herself under control was still raging below the surface.
“What do you mean?” Daniel urged.
“I’ve been laying here wondering if Lana really is chasing a ghost. Or if, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, if Tom’s really alive.” When the words escaped, Sarah felt ashamed of sayi
ng them, but the past few hours had her mind reeling with doubt and she had begun questioning everything.
“Sarah…” Daniel coaxed.
“Seriously, I know it’s idiotic, but that stupid book had to come from somewhere. And if he is still alive somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle then it would make sense why he would send it, or get someone to send it for him.” Sarah sighed. “I sound like a crazy person. But,” Sarah looked up at Daniel, “if Lana could figure out exactly where he went and who knows what else then he would have thought about that. Tom would have known that his logbooks would allow us to find him. And, damn it, I’m starting to think that Lana might actually be able to bring him home. And if she does, what does that make me? A wife that would leave her husband out there to die?”
The couch shifted as Sarah moved slightly attempting to hide her eyes from Daniel. The sun had gone down and the room seemed pitch black although the sunset created a hazy glow in the living room. Daniel stayed silent, thinking about the possibilities. Could all of this make enough sense to be true? Did he want it to be true? He glanced at Sarah, did she?
“The only thing that gets me is that it has been ten years. What if he sent that book off years ago and it’s just now getting here? That’s a long time to wait, a long time to hold on to hope.”
“Tom always was stubborn, if he’s still out there, he’s still hoping,” Sarah smiled for the first time since the day before. It quickly disappeared. A jolt of guilt shot through her as if she had been struck by lightning, how could she smile when her daughter was in the middle of the ocean by now, or hurt, or lost, or worse. “But…”
“What?” Daniel inquired when Sarah didn’t go on, the silence weighing on him. If Sarah was talking, then she was working things out, which was better than breaking down. He wanted to keep her talking so that she would have an outlet for all of her feelings, even if the conversation wasn’t exactly what he wanted to hear. It wasn’t what either of them wanted to hear.