Chapter 8: Part 2

We had been sailing all day and well into the night, and there was no sign of land anywhere. I could tell that everyone was getting hungry. I couldn't help but worry how much longer we had left until we would begin to fall apart. Yet through it all I kept hearing that still small voice to trust, so that's what I did.

I felt a small pressure of liquid plopping and sliding down my cheek. I quickly opened my eyes and saw the dewlike raindrops. I haven't seen rain in so long. The coolness of the water slowly flowed down the sides of my arms and legs. It was a welcome reprieve from being in the hot sun constantly. My appreciation for the rain quickly turned to fear as I could feel that the boat was lurching every which way. I ran past everyone else who was crouching or trying to bunker down as the boat continued to rock. I saw Aaron struggling with the helm and rushed up to help stabilize it by grabbing hold of it.

"Thank you!" he said, yelling over the rage of the storm.

"Are you okay?" I yelled back. The wind began to pick up, and the rain that once brought sweet reprieve was now beating down on my skin.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I don't think we're on course anymore. This storm is really doing a number on us, and I'm not sure how much longer we can hold out." Suddenly one of the people from our group came running up to us. Drops of water were constantly falling from her physique, and her body was shaking violently, almost as if she was about to have a seizure.

"Jasper, sir, I saw some rocks up ahead." A surge of hope began to swell up.

"Rocks? Are you sure?" I yelled back. She nodded confidently and turned back to continue to help the others with the sails. I turned to look at Aaron and could tell that we were on the same page. Land was just up ahead. The only problem was that this storm showed no signs of stopping. The wind continued to pick up and blew even stronger. The rain from the sky was no longer falling vertically but was instead blowing sideways with the wind, to where it was now difficult to keep our eyes open.

"How am I supposed to steer us away from the rocks, Jasper?" I could hear the strain in Aaron's voice. So far he had always been good at keeping his cool, but this time I could tell he was terrified.

"I—I don't know, just give me a sec." I looked around, trying to see what we could possibly use to help us steer this ship, but nothing we had could possibly work. Have everyone grab onto something. There was that still small voice again. No way, if we hold on to something here on this ship, then we will all perish. Trust me. No matter what scenario I played in my head, I could not think of a way to get us off of this ship. The ship itself was beginning to break apart. The sails were ripping from the strain of the wind. The mast was beginning to develop a crack at the base and appeared that it would topple over at any second. Multiple holes had appeared on the deck. No matter what we could try to do, the ship was going down.

"Everyone, hunker down!" I yelled the command at the top of my lungs. Everyone turned around to look at me as if I was the one who was crazy. To be fair, I was. "Hold on to something, anything—we're going to crash land on the beach!" The group hesitated, but the first two figures to grab onto something were none other than Meesh and Noah. Huh, I guess they do listen. Soon everyone else followed and grabbed onto whatever they could find. Our little ship was tossed up and down as the waves reached ungodly heights. The wind and the rain continued to wail down while the ship groaned under the strain of the force. The rocks from earlier moved closer and closer as our ship began to pick up speed. I braced myself against the starboard side of the ship.

A loud, resounding crash reverberated as our ship made contact with the rocks. The ship began to spiral as we kept bumping into rock after rock. The hull of the ship was completely gone and had started to take up more water. A few screams and grunts from our group could be heard as we took the brunt of each shockwave. The world spun around me—wood splintering, water spraying, the cold biting through my wet clothes. I gripped the railing with every ounce of strength I had left.

Eventually, our ship came to a standstill. I stood up and could see that our boat had washed up on the beach. This was our chance.

"Everyone off the ship now!" I ran over to where Noah and Mishael were and grabbed them up in my arms. I jumped over the side of the ship as my feet landed on the soft, wet sand. The sound of the others from our group getting off the ship could be heard as I turned around. The ship that carried us all this way was now completely unrecognizable. The white paint was practically stripped, revealing the rotten wood underneath. The sails were all torn to pieces, and the planks that were originally held together by a hope and a prayer were completely decimated.

The rain and the wind died down until it eventually stopped. The sun broke through the clouds, and I couldn't believe it. We were somehow all still alive. I gently placed Noah and Mishael down and plopped down on the now cold and wet sand. A subtle chuckle in my chest rose up until it formed into a full blown laugh. Mishael looked at me as if he was worried.

"What's so funny, Jasper?" I stopped my laughing and tousled the top of his head.

"Nothing, kid. Life is just funny sometimes."