Any Port in a Storm: Chapter 5

Hey Readers,

I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far.  I haven't gotten a single comment or like or any indication at all that anyone is even reading it!  lol  I am enjoying the hell out of it myself.  I know nothing has happened yet smut wise, and it might be a while yet, but it is coming.

I should be switching to the present tense going forward, though I am sure there will be some past tense sprinkled in here and there as appropriate.  I hope the transition isn't too weird.

Take care and happy reading.  :)

Grim

Tony's Story

For hours we endured hell on Earth.

I was sure we were done for.  More sure than I'd ever been about anything before.  I felt tiny to the point of insignificance in the face of the terrifying power and majesty of nature at her worst.

We were pounded mercilessly by wave and wind and rain.  Our senses assaulted by thunder and lightning and the roar of high rise tall walls of sea water crashing over and around us.  The primordial elements were relentless, not even giving us time to reflect or pray or weep at our plight.  Surviving from one moment to the next, from one wave to the next, demanded everything we had.

I lost consciousness briefly.  I thought I'd lost Ashley at one point.  In the darkest moments I even came to welcome the still embrace of death as it would be an end to this seemingly endless torment.

But...we survived!  Somehow, we survived.

Gradually the rains eased, the lightning and thunder became more distant, the wind lost its ferocity, and the swelling waves shrank.  Before we knew it we bobbing gently in a calm sea.

We were quiet for a long time.  Exhausted and sore and incredulous at making it through.  All was darkness as night had fallen.  We watched the flickers of lightning recede off into the distance.  Eventually the clouds parted and the grand glory of the starry heavens was unveiled above us.

With the last of my strength I threw and arm over the tubular side of the dinghy and hauled myself aboard.  Thankfully it had ended all of its tumbling and turning right side up, though it was full of water.  I help Ash up and without a word spoken we both succumb to our bone deep fatigue.

Ash's Story

How we survived that storm I will never know.  Our guardian angels must have been working overtime.  I guess it just wasn't our time.

When I awoke in the flooded interior of the dinghy I couldn't even remember how I'd gotten there.  Every muscle in my body was sore, I was chilled to my core, and my eyes, nose, and throat burned.  Tony was next to me slumped over the side.  For a second I thought the worst until I saw his chest rise and fall with a long breath.  I was relieved to see he was alive and seemingly uninjured.  It was near dark but the horizon was just beginning to take on an orange glow.

While I was raised Catholic I am not an overly religious person, but for that one brief moment of gratitude I find my faith and thank God for seeing us through.  I didn't know then that the storm was only the beginning of our misery.

As the light gradually brightened and the brilliant sun broke the horizon I peered out around us in every direction.  Nothing...nothing but sea and sky for as far as the eye could see.

Looking around the dinghy I saw the boat had also taken its knocks.  The outboard had been torn from the transom leaving a U shaped hole through which sea water was freely flowing in and out of our half submerged boat.  One of the paddles that were affixed to the side was gone and I saw the locker where I had pulled the radio out of was unlatched.  Peeking in I could see it had been cleaned out of its contents.  The hand radio itself, which I had clung to through the first moments of the storm, I knew was long gone.

Not knowing anything else to do I slowly untied myself and took off the life jacket, my aching muscles protested my every movement, then made my way to the stern.  Holding a section of the jacket over the jagged section the motor had been torn from with one hand I started to bail with the other.  One small handful at a time I pulled the water from our vessel.

Tony's Story

I woke the next morning to the sound of water splashing.  Splash...splash...splash.

I groaned as I forced my weary body to respond to its commands.  As I did so I heard the splashing stop.  My eyes cracked open to see it was light out.  The rising sun illuminating a beautiful calm day.  It was hard to believe that the fury of nature had ripped through here only hours ago.  Sitting up I look around.  At the back of the boat sat Ash holding a life preserver against the transom.  Relief was written all over her lovely face when she saw I was okay.  I felt the exact same way seeing her.

Slowly a smile grew and she says, as if this were just any other day.  “Good morning dear.  Sleep well?”

We laughed, oh how we laughed!  It was a nonsensical hysterical laugh.  A laugh not born from humor but from disbelief and humble gratitude.  We hugged a long time and said again and again how happy and lucky we were to be alive.  For just this instant we allow ourselves the luxury of jubilation, though we both knew our ordeal was not over.

In truth, our ordeal was just beginning and the jubilant mood did not last long.

We eventually bailed out the boat and as the heat of the sun truly began to beat down we at last were able to take stock of our situation.

To say I was annoyed at Ash leaving one of the lockers open...IN THE MIDDLE OF A GOD DAMN STORM...would be an understatement.  With her mistake potentially meaning the difference between life and death it took everything I had to contain my frustration.

Looking into the empty stowage space I gritted my teeth.  “So...the radio's gone...flare gun too...no way to call or signal for help.  First aid kit gone...patch kit gone...bailing scoop gone...”

She sensed my annoyance and was not impressed.  “I didn't mean to!”

“Mmm hmm.”  I answered tersely.

“The other locker is fine.”  She said, finding the scantest of silver linings.  “We've got some water, a pack of emergency rations, and those big beach towels we stuffed in there last time we...”  Her voice faded off before she then said.  “Besides, why wasn't that stuff strapped down or something?”

“Because the locker hatch should have been...CLOSED!”  I screamed the last word, unable to hold back my fear fueled anger.  “THAT'S WHY IT HAS A FUCKING HATCH!  Hatch stays closed, supplies stay in.  Don't leave it wide open during a storm and everything stays put.  Not too fucking hard...”

“Don't yell at me!”  She protested.  “I didn't mean to.  I was scared...I was trying to radio the ship...”

I take a long deep breath and push down the fear.  “Sorry...sorry baby, fuck.  I'm just...we can't...what are we going to do?”

“I don't know.”  She buried her face in her hands.  “I'm sorry.  I'm sorry I left it open.”  She began to cry.

I took her in my arms.  “Stop.  It's okay.  We'll...think of something.”  I sighed.  “It's my fault for trusting that Captain Kyle.  Don't blame yourself.”

At her wits end from the harrowing experience she completely broke down and sobbed into my chest.

“Come on now.  Crying isn't going to help.”  I stroke her shoulder.  “We survived the storm, we'll get through this.  We'll be rescued.”

“Why'd this happen to us?  I...I just wanted...a nice vacation.  Just us.”  She blubbered.  “I just wanted to start a family.  I just wanted a baby...”

“Stop.  Come on now, this isn't helping.  We have to keep our heads now Ash.”

“I just wanted a baby.  You're always so busy, this was the time...this was our time...to start a family.  We never got to have a family...”

“Stop it.  Be strong.”

Still she wept.  “We're going to die out here.  Just us, alone..and I never...I never even got to...”  Wracked by regret she heaved a heavy sob.  “...ohhh Tony!”

I felt for her, I truly did, but it was neither the time or place to be dealing with these sorts of hum drum marital issues.  “God damn it!  Enough about the baby!  Baby this and baby that all the god damned time!  Who cares!”  I hold her by the shoulders and look into her eyes.  “Come on Ash.  I need you strong right now.”

I knew that instant I'd made a mistake.

Ash's Story

“Who cares?”  I gasped.  “Who cares!?”  The tears stopped flowing as I stared deeply into my husband's blue eyes.  “I care Tony.  I do.  Don't you?”

It was in that moment I saw it.  In the crucible of fear and stress the truth had at last been forced out of my husband.  He didn't want a child!  Not now, not ever.

He tried to smile and comfort me.  “Come on now Ash.  Of course I care.  Just...right now isn't the time.  We've got to keep it together.”

“You...don't want...”

“Come on.  I'm just stressed.  I didn't mean anything.  We've got more important things to worry about right now.”

“More important?”  It was an icy dagger straight into my heart.

He lets out a frustrated breath.  “We have to focus on survival now.  On rescue.  Nothing else matters if that doesn't happen.  Come on.  Be strong now Ash.  We can do this...together.”

My whole world had been rocked.  I'd dedicated over a decade of my life to this man.  The best and most fertile years of my life.  Had he told me this early on I might have accepted it, I wouldn't have been pleased but I may have grown to accept it.  We were a good match after all.  But to keep me living in hope all that time!?  I felt like such a fool.  Such a damned fool.  All the delays and putting it off and excuses, it was all so obvious!

“Be strong?”  He said again with an apologetic voice.

Slowly, reluctantly, I nod.  “I'm...I'm okay.”  I sniffled and wiped the tears from my face.  “Sorry.  Just...it's been...a hard day.”

He hugged me.  “I know.  I know.  We'll get through this.  You'll see.  We'll get through this.”

“Sure Tony.”  I said in a low strangely calm voice.  “Sure we will.”

That was 16 days ago now.  16 long hot tense days.

The water was gone.  Despite our experience with the storm we now prayed for rain.  For the first few days we would occasionally try to paddle but there was nothing to guide us and nothing to aim at.  Besides the clouds in the sky the only thing we saw in those weeks were the fins of the odd shark that would pass by.  We bobbed on an endless featureless ocean unable to tell if we were moving or stopped dead in the water.  With the oar and the big beach towels we did our best to give ourselves some shade from the hot sun.

As the sun rose on that 16th day I knew it could be our last.  If rain or rescue didn't happen in the next day or two we were done.  With an open cloudless blue sky above us and nothing on the horizon the prospects did not look good.

I lay there and dream of the life that might have been.

Tony's Story

The fear of imminent death combined with abject boredom was a strange combination.  16 days is a long time when there nothing to do but wait and hope for a miracle.  I had never felt so powerless in my life.  At least through the brutal storm there was something to fight against.  I'd take that again over this long lingering nothing.  

I knew I had hurt Ash that first day.  I did my best to assure her that everything would be fine.  I told her the yacht had a tracker and that people and planes would be looking for us.  I told her that we would be rescued and that once we were safely home we would figure everything out.  She agreed but I could tell something had changed in her.  If we got through this I swore to myself I would never take her for granted again, that I would always be open and honest.  She deserved that.

The sun was just reaching its zenith and we were laid out side by side beneath our jury rigged sun shade, using our life jackets as pillows, when I heard it.  A distant shrill squawk, followed by another.  It was the sound of a gull or some form of seabird.

Ash and I look at each other as if to check to see if the other heard it too, that we weren't imagining it.  It was the first living sound we heard that wasn't our own since we last saw Kyle.  As one both of us bolt upright and begin scanning the horizon.

“There!” I yell, pointing out port side.

A small black shape could just be seen sprouting up out of the water in the distance.  

It was an island!

“Oh my God!  Oh my God!  Thank God!”  Ash says with an almost forgotten hope returning to her voice.

I pull the towels from our only oar and paddle toward the dark thumbnail sized shape for all I was worth.