| |
Alexandra woke up on the shore of some unknown island spitting out salt water. The storm was over, and she was now alone. So alone, and she had never been alone in her life. It was scary to be alone. She could not remember if the ship sunk or if it stayed afloat, and kept on its planned route towards Shizimad's harbour. It was the middle of the day, and her left leg was broken.
A piece of the ship was sticking out of her thigh, and her blood was mixed in with the sea water. The salt water stung the wound, and she felt uncomfortable. Tearing a long piece of cloth from the bottom of her shirt she tied it around her thigh above the wound and then pulled the piece of wood from her thigh, blood still seeped out of the wound. Even though some of the blood flow was slowed by the tourniquet, she still lost a lot of blood.
She was dizzy and a bit disoriented. A moment later, to her it was like a moment but the sun had gone down and then rose again while she was still passed out, she came to. It was the middle of the day, and her cuts and bruises were aching. Her left leg was throbbing. The sun’s heat made her situation unbearable, and it was so hot that her sweat dried before it could come out of her body.
The sun was low in the sky and roasted her skin leaving sunburned patches through the rips in her clothing while she lay half in the sea, and half on the grey muddy clay. As she lay there she contemplated the day’s events while some of her blood added red hues to the water or maybe all of it as she was not sure how much blood she had lost. Looking out into the sea through tired eyes she could see a ship emerging from the mist.
She could not tell if it was the ship that her friends, and their daughter were supposed to be on. As it got closer she could see them waving. They looked so happy that they were coming to see her. Alexandra ran or limped into the water as a small boat was lowered from the ship, and dropped into the sea. It hit the water with a splash that sent a spray of water onto the side of the ship.
After everything was settled Alexandra noticed that the boat contained her friends, Siren and Kevlin. The boat was moving very fast for only being powered by oars. She felt happy once again, but her joy turned to fear as the boat left the edge of the water’s surface, and headed for her. Alexandra did not understand what was happening, and then the ship, and the boat were gone.
*
Fear made her stiffen up and soil her under clothes as she realized that the boat was not a boat, but a creature with a large fin that rose about three and a half feet out of the water. Alexandra had never seen such a creature before and did not know how to react. It was obvious by the creature’s aggressive behaviour that her life was on the line.
She needed to get a hold of herself or die. Alexandra did not want to die. The creature brushed her left side nipping at her as it went by, but only managed to get a hold of her clothing and tear it from her. While the creature struggled to get the clothing out of its teeth, Alexandra started to run toward the shore but with her broken leg she could not move very fast so her attempt was only a half hop, half drag.
Fear almost made her heart stop when she heard the creature splashing behind her, the splashes continued for a good hour or what seemed to be an hour or maybe it was an eternity. Alexandra did not know how long it had been nor did she have any concerns for the passage of time. She just wanted to get out of the water and onto the land. Just as her right foot was placed onto the soft sand of the shore Alexandra felt like a thousand needles were being stuck in her flesh as she was lifted off of the ground and pulled into the water.
No matter what she did to the shark it would not let her go. She knew that her strength would soon be gone and that would mean that she did not have much time left to live. Alexandra did not know how long she had been under water, but could not hold her breath any longer. Her lungs addiction to air forced her to open her mouth, and attempt to breath. All that happened is that she took in a fair amount of water. She felt numb, cold and desperately needed to take in some air. The shark kept drawing her closer, and closer to the bottom of the sea.