Ophelia Adrift

by Helen Goltz

  I stood on the rock looking out to sea for any movement. All I could see were the boys coming up for air and diving under again. I could hardly breathe for the fear coursing through me.

  I began praying over and over, ‘please don’t take Ophelia from us, please bring her back, please bring her back.’ Then I started praying for Harry’s safety. We might spar a lot but he was my other half; I couldn’t be without him.

  Then I saw her.

  She was much further out than where Adam, Chayse and Harry were diving. She appeared, floating on her back eerily lit by the moonlight.

  Over the noise of the waves, I screamed as loud as I could to get Adam’s attention when he came up for air and he turned to follow my directions. He began swimming towards her. I did the same when Harry and Chayse surfaced. Chayse followed Adam and Harry began to swim in. Tears streamed down my face, I didn’t know if she was dead or alive but at least we had her. I ran down the rock as quickly as I could without losing my footing. I don’t know how Adam tore up it so quickly before. I raced to get the towels and came back with them. I gave one to Harry who came ashore shivering, and watched as Chayse and Adam swam in with Ophelia’s limp form.

  As they got into depths they could stand in, Adam carried Ophelia in while Chayse raced to me to get jackets and towels to warm her.

  Adam placed her down on the towel; he and Chayse shrugged off the towels putting them over Ophelia instead. She was deathly pale. I hugged Harry and then released him. He didn’t say anything, but he squeezed my hand reassuringly for a moment. I couldn’t watch and I couldn’t look away.

  Chapter 28

  OPHELIA

  I don’t remember much about the days that followed ... if a short or long time had passed. They said I had a fever and I lay in my bed waking every now and then to different faces and either the sunlight or moonlight peaking through the front windows. I glanced out at the sea sometimes and it looked calm, like a different sea to the night I was there.

  I felt too weak to get up, but I tried a few times. I’m not sure how many days and nights passed but I felt disconnected from my body. Uncle Seb sat with me for hours, working away on his laptop in my room; sometimes I would wake up and Adam would be in the chair. He slept there for a few nights; I woke and watched him before drifting off myself. Harry came to visit and told me about his latest bike ride; Holly was there holding my hand and giving me advice in between complaining about Chayse; Chayse came and complained about Adam; and Peggy came and brought my homework. She said “I know what you’re thinking ... you don’t want to fall too far behind.” And this time she actually did know what I was thinking. My new friends were so important to me that I didn’t want to repeat a year, I wanted to go into senior with them, so I did have to do some catch-up, soon.

  Even Argo and Agnes leaned their beautiful heads on the bed quilt and watched and slept with me.

  Jack never came. I never want to see him again.

  ADAM

  In her sleep she called out for Jack and her parents—all the ghosts. I wanted to kill him. When Seb returned on hearing of Ophelia’s accident, I told him the full story. Holly, Harry and I showed him the history, the press clippings and videos. He was more open to it than I thought, but was angry at himself that he had been away. I think it brought back a lot of painful memories for him too.

  Chayse and I even talked about what we could do to prevent Jack from coming back. We hadn’t come up with anything yet but we both survived the talk—I guess that’s something.

  Ophelia has been bed-ridden now for four days but the doctor said she was fine to start moving around again, just in time for the weekend. She was pale and weak; the doctor said it was both physical and emotional. I think she was in love with Jack and now she’s lost three people she loves in the space of a few months. I don’t know where you go from there, but I’m here.

  HOLLY

  It’s funny—Ophelia has only been part of our lives for such a short time but she’s filled a big space. I don’t know what I would have done had she not survived. I know I would have blamed myself for not acting quicker—when Chayse wanted to go in—but I guess we didn’t know what was coming. Peggy thought Jack would pull her into the water but I thought that was ridiculous. What would I know? At least I raised the alarm in the first place, that’s some consolation I guess.

  One good thing that has come from it is that Chayse and Adam are actually speaking without knocking out each other’s lights. Sebastian is really pleased about that too. And, wait for it ... Chayse sat and had a real conversation with me. Even bigger news—drum roll please and a bit of percussion—I was able to put words together and talk back. Yep, there’s hope for me yet when it comes to hanging around Chayse Johann. Or maybe it was just because I was so distracted by what happened to Ophelia that I forgot to be speechless in his presence ... whatever.

  I dropped in every day on my way home from school and this afternoon Ophelia moved over and I lay on the bed beside her. We talked about everything. She asked me how we knew and I told her about Peggy recognising his name on her assignment—I didn’t say his name aloud—and how we checked out his photo and made the connection. She told me she really, really loved him. She still did but she didn’t know he was going to try and drown her.

  I suggested that maybe he was so in love and so keen to show her his world that he wanted to take her to the next world and that was just a necessary part of it. Jack thought she was open to it and understood the risk. We both thought about that for a while. Ophelia described the terror of hitting the water and I told her how Adam, Chayse and Harry ran to save her. She cried at the thought of the three of them risking their lives.

  Chapter 29

  OPHELIA

  I can’t believe how good they all are to me—Uncle Seb, Adam, Holly, Peggy, Harry and Chayse—I haven’t done anything to deserve it but I am so grateful and touched. It blows me away. I tell them all the time, but they shrug it off, but I’ve learned to tell people how you feel in case you don’t get another chance to do so.

  Adam invited me to go for a dusk walk with him and the dogs on the beach and I accepted. It was weird; despite all that had happened, I still love the beach, the sand, the view and I couldn’t wait to be back there inhaling the salt air. I wouldn’t be going anyway near the water though except to walk in the firmer sand.

  “Ready?” Adam asked reaching for his baseball cap on the peg near the front door. The dogs and I were already outside waiting.

  “We’re waiting on you,” I told him with a look to the dogs. I shook my head and they agreed. Adam laughed.

  “C’mon bossy.” He took the dogs’ leads from me and hung them over his shoulder on the towel already hanging there. We crossed the path and straight onto the beach. Magic.

  The dogs expressed how I felt; happy to be free with our feet in the sand again.

  Adam glanced my way. “Okay being here?” he asked.

  “Sure, it’s great actually,” I said.

  He nodded. Adam got it, it was in his blood. We walked along talking about nothing for a while. But I had to tell him ... I had to tell someone and Adam was my ‘brother’ and I trusted him. I can’t believe the nights he slept in the chair near my bed until Uncle Seb came to check on me and roused him, sending him to bed. They didn’t have to keep a vigil but they did.

  I cleared my throat.

  “Adam, I want to tell you something that happened, but I can only tell you if you promise me it will stay between us. I mean really promise me ... you can’t tell Uncle Seb and swear him not to tell.”

  Adam looked at me. “Is it something I’m going to be able to keep to myself? You haven’t seen him have you?”

  I shook my head. “It’s nothing like that but it is important, I think.”

  “Okay,” Adam said. “I promise.”

  “No, I mean really promise because if you break this trust without me agreeing, I will never, ever trust you ever again,” I said.

  The dogs ran up to
us, each one trotting around us with pleasure before taking off to chase each other again.

  Adam crossed his heart. “Okay, I’ll keep it in the vault but if it puts you in danger, then I’ll be on your case to tell someone.”

  I smiled and offered him my hand to shake. Agreed.

  ADAM

  The kid is killing me. Now she wants me to swear to keep some secret ... after all that has happened, I can’t imagine what’s next! She offered her hand and we shook.

  “Spill it,” I directed her. She gazed up towards the lighthouse, drew a breath and bit her lip. I waited patiently.

  “You remember how quickly we descended when Jack dived in and took me with him?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Frighteningly quick. Chayse, Harry and I didn’t have a chance. I saw you in the light that was coming from him; you were floating then you were heading deeper,” I told her. “I thought you had drowned ... you gave me the fright of my life.”

  “Me too,” she assured me. “There’s probably no way that the three of you could have reached me or saved me. You were all really brave to try, especially you with the curse and everything,” she said, and studied me for a reaction.

  “Chayse had my back,” I admitted reluctantly.

  “And Jack had all the power,” she said.

  “So, Lia, how did you get free?” I asked.

  We all wanted to know this and what happened but the doctor said not to force her to talk in case it traumatised her. He figured she would tell one of us or a counsellor in due course.

  “This is the secret I need you to keep,” she said with a look around. “Jack wouldn’t let go of my hand. I struggled and pulled but I don’t know whether he was protecting me by not letting me go or trying to ... you know.”

  I nodded. I wasn’t going to run the guy down, that would just make her defend him.

  She continued. “When I had almost blacked out from no air ...” her hand went to her chest in fear as she said the words. I instinctively reached for her hand and took it. My large rough hand swallowed her small white hand but she held on tight.

  “I saw ... it was Meg who saved me,” she said in the quietest of voices.

  I stopped and turned to face her.

  “What? Meg ... Meg as in Sebastian’s Meg?”

  Ophelia nodded. “I saw some photos of her and I knew she drowned, Uncle Seb told me. It was an accident but no-one knew what she was doing on the rock.”

  I drew a sharp breath. This was huge and I knew now why she didn’t want me to say anything to anyone.

  She tugged her hand away, looped it through my arm and pulled me to continue walking.

  “It was Meg. Her hair was trailing all around her in the water and she looked so beautiful. She struggled with Jack and then others joined her. Other girls, all young and beautiful like they were preserved that way. But they weren’t fighting him, it was Meg who pulled away with me, the other girls, they grabbed him like they wanted him for themselves. Jack’s face was distorted in anger, but I was only seeing bits and pieces, I was blacking out by then,” she drew a breath.

  “Meg had her arms around me and was pulling me to the surface, but I wasn’t going to make it—my chest was bursting. Then she let me go, and pushed me further upwards and I felt myself breaking free of the water and floating. That’s all I remember.”

  My mind was racing; my heart rate was matching it. I tried to filter and sift through all the things she had just told me, like shuffling a deck of cards—all the scenarios.

  “Adam,” she said, “do you think Jack has ... you know ... drowned all those women?”

  “Lia, did he ever threaten you?” I asked.

  “Never. He was a total gentleman and we fell for each other. I could have walked away at any time, I’m sure.”

  I nodded.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked.

  “I don’t know Jack, but I think from what you have told me that Jack has been looking for love, for the life he lost since he died. Each one of those girls he loved and wanted to be with; they wanted to be with him. It’s just the consequences were fatal,” I said.

  Ophelia nodded. “But Meg, she wasn’t under his spell, was she?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess we never will. Maybe she felt she owed it to Uncle Seb to get you safely back. Maybe she regrets going with Jack, if that is what she did.” I whistled to get the dogs’ attention and we turned to walk back. “I don’t know Lia,” I exhaled. “Hell, this is freaky. Whether we believe Jack did that to the other women or not, we have to stop it. We have to make sure he can never come back—we can’t take the risk that he could do that to you again or to anyone else, ever.”

  “He told me I was the love of a century,” she said not making eye contact. “I wonder if he said that to everyone.”

  “No,” I said. I didn’t know but I wanted her to feel better about herself. “I think you captured him as much as he captured you.”

  She drank in my words, wanting to believe them.

  “Those women,” she started again, “their families don’t know why they died. Uncle Seb said Meg was a good swimmer, he couldn’t understand her death. Could she really have fallen for Jack?”

  I frowned. “It’s possible. I think Sebastian and Meg met at school didn’t they?”

  Ophelia nodded. “They were each other’s first loves. Maybe that’s why she got swept up ... she wondered what it was like to be with someone other than Uncle Seb.”

  “Sounds familiar,” I said, thinking of Vanessa and trying not to sound bitter. “We could do some research and find out who the other women were ... see if you can recognise them.”

  She nodded. “Yes, there will be media clippings and photos of past drowning victims.”

  “Meg saved you,” I said amazed.

  “Saved by an angel,” she smiled. “You will keep this between us Adam, won’t you? At least until I find a pattern to it all and I’m ready to tell Uncle Seb, and maybe Holly.”

  “Until we have some evidence,” I said, with emphasis. “You’re not in this alone, Lia. In fact I don’t want you doing any of this on your own. We’ll research it together. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she nodded.

  “It’s just a bonus for you that you get the pleasure of my company,” I added.

  Caught off guard she laughed aloud and that was just the effect I was hoping for.

  JACK

  I saw her holding his hand on the beach. I don’t know why she let go of mine. Sure, she was frightened and panicked but I told her I would look after her.

  She hates me now, but she won’t always. I’ll wait.

  I can wait, I have nothing but time on my side and I love her. I will love her forever.

  THE END

  Next in the series, Ophelia Aground

  As Ophelia recovers she begins to form a deeper bond with Adam, but all that is about to change. Jack is waiting, planning his return to her if he can get past Adam and Chayse. Will the town’s history of drownings be put to rest once and for all? And who are the unlikely couple who suddenly find themselves in love?

  About the content of this book:

  Ophelia Adrift is fiction; the story is derived from my imagination, but where locations, characters and incidents are based on experience, history or established locations, they are used fictiously. The fictious character of Jack is named after a real person—the real Jack Denham or John Denholm as he is called in some historical records—but his traits and actions are created from my imagination.

  I have used the real Norwegian-built barquentine La Bella and its crew as my muse. The La Bella ran aground in 1905 on what is now known as La Bella Reef, near the Warrnambool breakwater in Victoria, Australia. Of the twelve men aboard, five survived. The La Bella remains on La Bella Reef for divers to discover.

  The story of the La Bella hero, William Ferrier is acknowledged in this novel and the accounts of the shipwreck are true as featured in historical records and news clippings from the
era. Other characters while they may bear the name or surnames of the crew on board the La Bella—Jack Denham, John Denholm, Chayse Johann and Adam Ferrier—their stories are fictional. The manner of the death of the book’s protagonist, Jack Denham is accurate in keeping with the accounts of the shipwreck.

  Jack Denham was buried on the 23 November 1905 at Warrnambool cemetery. However, there are discrepancies in archived newspaper records with some listing the La Bella ship’s boy’s name as John Denholm. Mr. Clive Rayner, Secretary, Warrnambool Cemetery Trust advises there is a listing for John Denholm buried on that same day, 23 November 1905 in an unmarked grave in the Church of England Section, Compartment 28, Grave 17. In all likelihood they are one in the same given it was 1905 and methods of record keeping were subject to inconsistencies. My sincere thanks to Mr. Rayner for his assistance in locating Jack Denham/John Denholm’s grave.

  I have taken great care to be respectful to any living descendents in the telling of this fictitious tale and despite the quirky theme, I hope it will highlight the beautiful south-western region of Victoria, Australia and its fascinating history.

  About the author

  After studying English Literature and Communications at universities in Queensland, Australia, Helen Goltz has worked as a journalist and marketer in print, TV, radio and public relations. She was born in Toowoomba and has made her home in Brisbane.

  Visit her website at: www.helengoltz.com

  Or Facebook at: www.facebook.com/HelenGoltz.Author

  Follow on Twitter at: @helengoltz

  Other books by Helen Goltz

  The Mitchell Parker series (crime thriller):