by R. T. Martin
Before the shark had time to pull her away with the board, Maya ducked her head underwater and undid the strap. No sooner had she done it than the rubber leash was tugged out of her hands by the shark.
Popping her head out of the water, she saw Kai dragging the surfboard, with Paige still on it, up onto the shore. She breathed a sigh of relief and stared swimming again.
The shark didn’t make another pass at her, but Maya didn’t feel truly safe until she was completely out of the water on the dry, jagged rocks of Ripper’s Cove.
Chapter 11
Once she made it to shore, Maya rested her pounding head in her hands, the world spinning once more. Even though the rocks were poking her in the back, she lay on the beach. Maya was grateful that both she and Paige had made it to dry land alive and mostly in one piece. Her only regret was that she’d lost a perfectly good surfboard in the process. Still, she would trade a surfboard for her life and the life of her friend any day.
“That was pretty impressive,” Kai said. “I’ve never seen anyone take on a bull shark before.”
“Thanks,” Maya said flatly, staring at the spinning sky.
“If it’s not too much trouble,” Paige said. “I’d like to get to the hospital.”
“Right.” Maya tried to jump up, but only managed to get to a seated position before turning around and throwing up.
“Should I try again to get an ambulance?” Kai asked, looking with concern at both Paige and Maya.
Paige turned to her friend. “You clearly need to see a doctor too.”
“I’ll be fine,” Maya replied in a soft voice. “But I think if you could drive us to the hospital now, that would be good, Kai.”
Kai helped Paige up. By putting most of her weight on Kai, Paige was able to hop on one foot.
Maya tried to stand again, but the world went fuzzy as soon as she lifted her head.
“Just lie down, and I’ll come back for you once Paige is in my car,” Kai said.
Maya didn’t need to be told twice. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
“You need to stay awake,” Kai said sharply.
Maya groaned but opened her eyes.
Once he got Maya and Paige safely in his truck, Kai drove all three of them to the hospital a few miles away. Paige used his phone to call her dad and Maya’s parents and tell them what had happened.
Maya tried to focus on her knees rather than the world flashing by her outside. Kai and Paige were chatting more casually than Maya would have thought possible given what they’d just been through, but Maya didn’t join in on the conversation. She shut her eyes to keep the nausea at bay. Her head throbbed with every bump they went over. Maya was so tired. All she wanted to do was sleep.
A sudden pain jolted Maya awake. Kai was yelling her name and smacking her arm to try and get her to wake up.
Maya groaned and blinked a few times. Flashing lights to her right told her they were almost to the hospital. Her eyes fluttered shut again and Kai’s yells drifted farther and farther away.
* * *
Maya woke up in a dark room to a whispered conversation floating off to her left. She recognized her parents’ voices but not the others.
Maya looked around at the closed curtain hanging around her hospital bed. She thought about reaching out for the curtain, but her muscles ached and even lifting her arm felt like an impossible task. So instead she said in a croaky voice, “Hello?” Her word came out so soft even she could barely hear it. She cleared her throat and tried again, louder this time.
The curtain opened a crack and a smiling doctor looked in at her. “Hello, Maya. How are you feeling?”
Maya shrugged. “Like I was hit by a bus.”
The doctor gave a soft chuckle. “Well, that doesn’t seem surprising given what you’ve been through. Can you tell me what day it is?”
Chapter 12
Maya was diagnosed with a concussion and told she had to stay overnight for observation. By the next morning, Maya was out of her mind with boredom. Her parents were sitting in the dark hospital room with her, but seemed to be taking the doctor’s “minimal talking” suggestion to heart. Maya also wasn’t allowed to listen to music, watch television, read, or focus on anything for an extended period of time. She had started to look forward to the regular check-ins from doctors and hospital staff just for something to do.
Maya sighed and rolled over in her bed. If she craned her neck slightly, she could see a sliver of the doorway from where she was lying.
After a while of watching visitors and doctors make their down the hallway, a large white cast and the wheels of a wheelchair came into view. Paige knocked on the doorway gently and then let herself in.
Maya’s parents greeted Paige and left to go find some coffee.
Maya smiled and sat up. “Hey,” she said. She hadn’t realized that her friend was still in the hospital. “Are you trapped here too?”
“For a little while longer,” Paige smiled at her. “They just wanted to make sure there wasn’t an infection, but they’re releasing me at noon. My dad’s at home getting the living room ready. Since I can’t use stairs for a while, I’ll basically be living there for the next few months.”
“Ah, that makes sense,” Maya said as Paige wheeled herself alongside Maya’s bed. “So you’ll be sleeping on a couch, and I’ll be trapped in dark rooms. What an exciting pair we make.”
Paige looked over at her, concern in her eyes. “Sorry about your concussion. I hadn’t realized you were hurt when you came back out to the sandbar to get me.”
“There’s no way I was leaving you out there,” Maya shrugged. “Sorry about your leg.”
“It’ll heal just like your head. Then we’ll be able to hit the waves again.” She chuckled a little. “At least neither of us got eaten by the shark, right?”
Maya let out a puff of laughter. “True. Very true.”
There was another soft knock on the doorframe, and Maya turned to see Kai standing there holding a surfboard under one arm and a plastic to-go container under the other.
“Mind if I come in?” he asked. Paige waved him in. Kai stepped forward, putting the container on the bedside table between Paige and Maya. “I was in here to get my appendix out a year ago. The food’s terrible, so I brought you some breakfast.”
Paige popped the top. “Hey! Bacon!”
“And an omelet,” he smiled.
Paige immediately started in on the food, but Maya still wasn’t very hungry.
Kai smiled at Paige’s enthusiasm. Then, turning to face Maya he said, “I brought you this.” He laid the board out next to her on the bed. “I won it at a competition, but I figured you deserve it more.”
Maya looked at the board. “You don’t have to give this to me.”
“Yeah,” he replied. “I kind of do. If I had just let you surf with us, this wouldn’t have happened. That’s not a mistake I’ll repeat.” He put his hand over his heart. “Promise. I told some of the others what happened. They thought it was awesome, and uhh, well, they’re gonna call you Shark, but you can surf with us any time.”
“They’re going to call me Shark?” Maya raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah.” He pointed to the board. “I was up late last night, so I painted that.”
Maya flipped it over to see a painting of a cartoon bull shark with a surfboard between its jaws.
Maya couldn’t help but laugh. “I love it.”
“Well,” Paige said, chewing on a strip of bacon. “I vote we never go to Ripper’s Cove again. All in favor say ‘aye.’”
“Aye,” Maya said.
About the Author
R. T. Martin lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. When he is not drinking coffee or writing, he is busy thinking about drinking coffee and writing. He is left-handed and has made exactly one good tiramisu.
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