*****
After boarding the plane, Nicole took a sleeping pill. They had been in the air several hours before the turbulence woke her up. The turbulence had been bad but suddenly the plane made a steep drop. Nicole gripped her arm rest before inhaling deeply and muttering “I hate flying.”
One of Mr. Chatham’s associates, an older gentleman maybe in his late 50’s or early 60’s, gave her a warm smile “So do I…so do I. I’m Phillip Bell by the way, Mr. Chatham’s accountant.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Nicole Donleavy. I’d shake your hand but then that would mean I’d have to let go of this armrest. I’m a little too freaked out at the moment to do that.”
Phillip chuckled “Mr. Chatham’s plane was just inspected right before this trip. I know the turbulence is a little rough but I’m sure it will even out in a little while. You are perfectly safe and this is coming from a gentleman who abhors flying.”
Nicole relaxed just a little…but only a little. She looked over at Mr. Chatham and his other associates. They were pecking away on their laptops. She couldn’t understand how they could remain so oblivious to everything when the plane was moving so erratically.
Phillip followed her eyes and said it loud enough for Davis to hear him “I heard Mr. Chatham bark at you earlier. I promise his bark is worse than his bite.”
Davis ignored Phillip. He’d been typing up notes from the audits for several hours and was probably why his headache was getting worse. He needed to finish up before they landed.
The plane lurched hard to the right. Then, a couple of moments later, there was a loud CRACK. It sounded as if a gun had gone off. The attendant, having difficulty walking in the cabin, went to check with the pilot. When she came back her face was white as snow.
“Ok, everyone please put on your seatbelts. Mr. Chatham, it appears that we’ve lost our right engine. The pilot has called it in and we’re looking for the nearest place to put the plane down for servicing. We should be able to do that with just the one engine.”
Davis started to rise out of his seat to go talk to the pilot when there came a loud and shrill whistling noise. It sounded as if it was coming from the left side of the plane. It was so loud that Davis couldn’t hear Phillip speaking to him. The plane began lurching before it suddenly dropped like a rollercoaster. There was a ‘whack...crack…and then BOOM!’ Nicole’s eyes were wide as saucers. She hoped she was wrong, but this plane felt like I might be going down. That was crazy. Mr. Phillips had just reassured her the plane was fine. This had to be her over imaginative mind. She tried not to be calm. Then, the pilot came over the intercom. “We’ve just lost our left engine. Please put on your life preservers and make sure you’re buckled up. We’re over water and I’m going to try to glide her down. It’s going to be a rough landing.
It may have only been seconds but felt like forever. The descent was fast and terrifying. Her heart was in her chest. Nicole was in a full blown panic. She tried to look out of her window to see what was happening but it was too dark outside to see anything. Her stomach was in her throat as the plane continued to descend.
Moments later, the plane crashed into the water. It split apart on impact. It felt like Nicole’s body had been slammed onto concrete. The impact knocked out all of the lights but one. However, it flickered on and off. Something hard smacked up against her head and it hurt like hell. Nicole tried to get her bearings. When she looked back at the tail of the plane, it was completely gone. Phillip, the flight attendant, and Davis’s other associates were all in that part of the plane. She was wet and the water was quickly filling up what was left of the cabin.
“Unhook your seatbelt Nicole!”
Nicole couldn’t see him but she heard Mr. Chatham’s voice. Although she wasn’t a strong swimmer, she knew she had to get out of the plane. The water was filling up fast. Her head was killing her but she’d deal with that later. Nicole pulled and pulled but the seatbelt was jammed.
“It’s stuck!”
She jerked it but couldn’t get it to unfasten. Somehow, Davis made his way over to her and ripped it open.
“Go…swim as hard and as fast as you can!” Then, he turned around and went in the opposite direction. She was frozen in place. Her eyes were starting to adjust to the dark and she could see Davis grab something before he started heading back towards her. When he came back he yelled.
“Move Nicole, NOW! Start swimming. Kick as hard as you can!”
That shook her out of her shock. She kicked as hard as she could. She kicked and kicked and kicked but it felt like something was trying to swallow her back inside. She kept kicking until finally the pressure to pull her back inside lessened. She was getting tired but kept kicking and moving her arms. It was hard to see or hear anything with the rain falling except for the whizzing and gurgling sound of the sinking plane. Once she thought she was far enough from it she turned around and saw it go completely under water. What happened to Davis? She couldn’t see him. Nicole started screaming “Mr. Chatham! Mr. Chatham! Please answer me. Mr. Chatham where are you? Anybody!”
Nicole was alone and surrounded by water in every direction. The rain stung as it pelted her skin. “Mr. Chatham!” There was still no answer. Nicole was terrified she was going to die in this ocean. Her legs were starting feel like lead. Her movements were slowing. Still, she looked around desperately trying to see or hear anyone.
After what seemed like an eternity, Davis broke through the water. His lungs were on fire. “Nicole!”
Relief washed over her. She screamed out “I’m over here.”
“Keep talking I’m going to swim to the sound of your voice.”
“I’m over here. Mr. Chatham, please hurry my legs and arms feel so heavy.”
Davis made it to Nicole. He’d gone back to the plane to get the emergency inflatable raft. He knew if the plane crash didn’t kill them the sharks might. “I went back for the emergency raft.”
“Thank god. I don’t think I can hold myself up much longer.” They waded water while he opened the raft. Once it inflated, Davis helped Nicole get onto it before he climbed on board. Davis frantically searched for the emergency box held within the raft. He knew there should have been some flares inside of it. It was hard searching around in the dark and rain but he found them. It took him a moment but he was able to fire two shots into the air. Then he found a tarp like contraption inside the box. They could use that to protect them from the rain. He moved over to Nicole then covered them with it.
“Are you ok?”
He didn’t’ get an answer from her. Davis located the flashlight and pointed it in her direction. Nicole was out cold. She had what looked like an ugly gash on her forehead. Davis felt for a pulse. It was there and beating strong. She must have passed out. He checked her cut; it wasn’t very deep. He put direct pressure on it before wrapping it up from the supplies in the emergency kit.
Davis was exhausted but came out from under the tarp and got up on his knees. The water was too choppy to stand up in the boat. As tired as he was he had to find the emergency radio. He thanked god when he found it. Otherwise, this situation could quickly go from disastrous to impossible. Davis tried the radio. Nothing happened. He tried it again….nothing. The radio was dead. Davis yelled into the night “damn, Damn, DAMN!”
He took a deep breath and started calling out into the darkness for everyone that was on the plane. He called out for what seemed like hours until he was too exhausted to call anymore. Finally, Davis crawled back under the tarp with Nicole and passed out from exhaustion.
Chapter 4
Nicole gradually started to wake up and all the events of night before started flooding back. Feeling nauseous, she slowly opened her eyes and tried to sit up. She must have moved too fast because she threw off the tarp, put her head over the side of the boat, and threw up. Nicole’s body stayed half thrown over the side of the boat until her stomach settled down. After a while, she wiped her mouth and sat up to assess her situation. Nicole looked aroun
d and all she could see, for as far as her eyes could see, was the ocean. Everything was so calm which was completely the opposite of the night before. The only sound she heard were the waves butting up against the boat guiding it to who knew where. If Nicole hadn’t been in this situation, she would have been in sheer awe of the beauty before her. The sky was so clear not a cloud anywhere in sight. The sun was beaming down on them warming her skin. She touched her head where she felt a dull ache and felt the gauze. Davis must have wrapped it for her. Nicole’s mind immediately switched to thinking of him. Where was he? She looked frantically for him for just a second before seeing him on the opposite side of the small raft. Davis was laying so still with his eyes closed. Nicole crawled over to him and was relieved when she saw the rise and fall of his chest. She tried to wake him but couldn’t. She gave up trying and just hoped he’d wake up on his own.
After a few hours of drifting, the sun was starting to get hot so she took off her jacket. There hadn’t been enough time for her to put on her life preserver. Her eyes landed on something that looked like a radio. She crawled over to it and prayed that it worked. With trembling fingers, Nicole tried it but it didn’t work. She tried it several more times and each time nothing. Nicole could only hope that the missing flares in the case were because Davis had managed to fire them off last night. She prayed that the pilot was able to send a mayday and that someone would find them soon. Finally, she gave up and sat for what seemed like hours before she fell back to sleep.
*****
“Nicole….wake up.” Davis shook her. “Nicole…wake up, there’s land up ahead.”
Somewhere in the background Nicole heard someone calling her name. She bolted upright hoping that she was home in her bed and this was just a bad dream. Fully awake now, she realized she was still on the raft.
“Nicole, there’s land up ahead. I’m going to need you to help me get this raft over to it.”
Not yet fully alert, but her mind was clear enough for her to understand what Davis was trying to say. She whispered “What do you need me to do?”
“Do you think you can swim from here to there?” Davis pointed toward the island.
“That seems like a long way away? Do I have a choice?”
“We don’t have anything to navigate this raft to the beach. I can’t pull it with you in it. It’ll be too heavy and we can’t stay out here.”
“Maybe we should just leave the raft behind and swim for the island.”
“We don’t know if anyone is even on that island. If there isn’t, there are things on this boat that could save our lives.”
Nicole hadn’t thought for one second that the island could be deserted but she understood. They needed to get the raft to the beach.
“It looks like it’s getting late in the day so if we are going to do this let’s do it. I don’t want to be caught in this water at sundown.”
They jumped into the ocean, each grabbing a hold of the rope that was tied to the end of it and used it to pull the little boat.
The current was strong and they were swimming against it. However, this time it wasn’t raining. They had that going in their favor. It took them just over an hour to reach the shore. They were so exhausted that they just dropped onto the warm sandy beach not able to move another muscle. As much as they wanted to stay put they couldn’t languish too long. Time wasn’t on their side because the sun would be setting soon. Davis was the first to get up.
“We’ve got to get moving.”
He reached out his hand to help her up. Stubbornly, she grabbed it and stood up. Her legs felt like jelly but Davis held onto her until she was steady. Nicole couldn’t ignore the beauty of the island. If ever there was a paradise this was it. There were lush greens and trees everywhere with coconut, bananas, papaya, and who knew what else on them. The sand was still warm from the heat of the sun beating down on it all day. Although the sun was going down the sky still had an orange purplish hue.
“We need to find a spot and get a fire going.” Davis pointed to a tree he thought they could sleep under. It wasn’t too close to the jungle but gave them a little bit of covering. Neither spoke as they made their way over to it.
There was no telling what dangers lay ahead in that jungle. “We can’t explore this island until tomorrow because it’ll be nightfall soon and I don’t want to get caught in there at night. We almost certainly shouldn’t go anywhere without each other at least until we know what we’re dealing with here. And, we should probably sleep in shifts.”
Nicole was barely listening to Davis. She was looking past him toward the jungle “Do you think anyone else is on this island besides us?”
Davis couldn’t be certain if Nicole was talking to him, or thinking out loud. He tried to follow her gaze and that’s when he noticed her eyes. They were simply incredible. He couldn’t tell if they were brown, grey, or green but they were stunning. And her hair, which had escaped the bands of her pony tail, was starting to dry. It hung wildly over her shoulders. She stood there with the sun setting behind her and the water from the ocean glistening on her caramel skin looking ethereal. If he’d been a photographer he didn’t think he could create the beauty that stood before him if he tried.
Davis continued to study her. He couldn’t ignore the wet dress that was clinging to every single curve. Nicole wasn’t stick thin like the women he dated. No, she had a figure made for a man to worship. From the arc of her neck, to the fullness of her breasts, to her slim waist that curved into a firm round ass. Yes, she was made for a man to devour. Simply stated, she was quite gorgeous.
Davis caught himself ogling her before she noticed him. He reminded himself that beautiful women were all just like his ex and were nothing but trouble. He just hoped this one could at least be somewhat useful and tough enough to deal with this situation.
They didn’t have much time and needed to get set-up for tonight. “I don’t know if there is a resort on the other side of those trees or if no one has ever been here. I’m just hopeful the pilot was able to get off the distress signal. Since it’s too late to explore, we need to get set up for tonight.”
Nicole understood. She hoped this was an island getaway, but so far, unless there was something on the other side of those trees, they were quite likely the only people on it.
Nicole started walking towards the jungle “I’m going to need a little bit of privacy.”
“What are you doing? I just told you we shouldn’t be caught in that jungle when the sun goes down…and we shouldn’t go anywhere alone. Were you not listening? I have no idea how fast the sun is going to set and we still need to gather some wood for a fire. The jungle is a no until tomorrow.”
Anger bubbled up inside of her. She was tired of men treating her as if she were a child that disobeyed her parents. Before she spazzed out on him, she took a couple of deep breaths, then calmly responded to him. “Davis, as a woman, I need some privacy. That means that I’ll need to go into that jungle. However, I’ll stay very close to the beach.”
It dawned on him what she meant. Women always seemed to be more trouble than they were worth. He looked up at the sky. “Well damn. I guess that means I’ll have to go in there with you.” Davis looked around and found a big stick. “We’ll need this as we walk through it. Follow me and stay close.”
They headed into the jungle careful not to stray too far from the beach. Nicole pointed out a spot. It wasn’t too far from Davis but gave her some hint of privacy. As she walked towards it, she heard him in the background, “Make sure not to give some snake a golden shower.”
Her earlier assessment of him still stood. He was an asshole. A gorgeous asshole but still…an asshole.
After a few moments, Nicole emerged from the spot and started walking back towards Davis. She stopped short “Do you hear that?”
Davis heard it too. Nicole turned and quickly walked around him...which was even further away from the beach. Davis wanted to throttle her. What the hell was she doing? “Nicole!” She ignored
him and kept walking faster toward the sound. After a few moments, they broke through a clearing to find a small waterfall that pooled out into a crystal clear lagoon. You could see straight to the bottom. Nicole went to dip her hands into the water before Davis stopped her. He wanted to make sure it was safe first. He looked around before dipping down to drink the water. “It’s fresh.”
Nicole bent over and grabbed handfuls. After drinking her fill, she started taking off her shoes “You think it’s safe to get in?”
Davis looked up at the sky. He didn’t want to risk it. What part of it’s going to be dark soon did she not understand. She was exasperating. He didn’t know what kind of wild animals, if any, were on this island. “No, drink your water and let’s get back to the beach. We can come here tomorrow.”
Nicole said nothing, but the alpha male thing was going to driver her crazy. However, he had a point. They didn’t know how much daylight they had left. That was why she laced her shoes back up. They headed back towards the beach.
Pieces of Me Page 2