Page 72 of F*ck You

“Do you have any idea how big this ocean is? How dangerous it is to go out on your own when you have such little experience?”

“Doesn’t matter,” I rasped through the splashes of the strengthening waves. The boat rocked as it tried to throw me off balance. “I know where he’s at. If he couldn’t make it back here, then I know where he is. I’m going to go find him, mostly because I’m not sure if he could’ve made it there in the first place.”

He nodded before checking the compartment for supplies, which revealed two snorkel masks and breathing tubs. “Alright, let’s go find him.” He slammed the compartment shut and moved over to where I was. He grabbed the cord and, with one fell swoop, he gave it yank and the engine roared to life. I gripped the edge of the boat as we crashed over the growing waves. This little boat was not in any way equipped to handle this weather, but we weren’t going far.

Within seconds, we were sailing through the waves. Despite how small this boat was, I was grateful it wasn’t a canoe, because I would have been capsized before I even got started.

The waves got stronger the farther out we went, and I became truly terrified. This was the first time I’d been out on the water like this. Even though I wasn’t necessarily on my own, I was still the one guiding the trip, and everything counted on me doing this right. I worried how upset Larsen would be with me if anything happened to his boat, because with my luck I would end up wrecking it, but I pushed the thoughts from my mind, reminding myself that the most important thing right now was to make sure he was alright.

We kept an eye on the water on each side of the boat in case we saw anyone—or more specifically, him.

I screamed with excitement when we reached the rock formation where I knew the cave was. The fact that we didn’t pass Larsen on the way in worried me, because if he wasn’t inside, then where else would he be?

Pulling the boat to a stop against the rocks without crashing into them or being carried away by the waves again, I cursed when I struggled to keep the boat upright.

“Go,” Chase said. “I’ll figure this out and then join you. He should have some rope in here to tie this off with.”

Despite my ache to check inside the cave, I refused to leave him on his own. Instead, I stood on the rock and did my best to hold the boat next to it. I almost lost it several times as it pitched hard and nearly out of my grip, but eventually we managed to work together to get the boat tied off to what seemed to be a sturdy rock. Neither of us knew if it would fully hold, but it was good for now, and when I had to duck to avoid being hit by a massive tree branch soaring into the ocean, we hurried away.

After placing the snorkel gear on our faces, I led the way, sliding down the rock face and into the ocean with a splash. Holding onto the rocks to guide us, we ducked underneath the rock face like I remembered doing all those weeks ago, and I sucked in a large gulp of air when we resurfaced on the other side.

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