The ship’s sail fluttered in the wind as Becca sat at the back of the boat, steering the brilliant giant through the waves. This was the first time she had been out on the water since it had happened, and she felt squeamish as she sailed farther and farther away from the shore. Looking back towards the sandy beach it all came flooding back, every memory she had been trying to hide from jumped forward and played across her thoughts like an old film. She wanted to stop it, but she couldn’t; it all came slamming back like a wave against the shore.
It had been four months earlier. Becca and her little sister, Bailey, had been sailing with their parents that day. Ever since they were both very young, their parents had been taking them on sailing trips around the world. This particular trip was only a local one, but the two sisters enjoyed it all the same. The forecast for the day had been picture perfect, it promised blue skies and bright sunshine, but it was wrong.
Once the family got far enough out, away from the traffic of other boats, they stopped for some snacks. Their mother had packed them in a small picnic basket, and she picked them out with dainty hands. Today, the sisters were curled up in towels eating strawberries dipped in sugar after a cooling swim. That’s when the first raindrop fell. It landed on Becca’s cheek and slid down her face towards her chin before she wiped it off. She looked up at the sky, and her gaze was met by gray clouds that soon broke open and dropped their water straight towards the salty ocean and their isolated boat. Becca and Bailey huddled together and held each other close as the rain fell in huge drops, while their parents tried to turn the boat around.
It was too late, though. The wind and rain caused massive waves to be sent straight over the sides of the boat, and before they knew it everything changed. Becca and Bailey went flying overboard, crashing into the sea like the rain drops from the sky. The last thing Becca heard were Bailey’s screams of terror before everything went black and all sound became muted.
Now, everything was different. Becca had awakened to the sounds of beeping machines. She glanced around to find herself in a hospital bed. Her mother was in a chair next to her, sound asleep. Becca woke her up, and her mother told her everything through bloodshot eyes and a tear stained voice. Becca had hit her head on the side of the boat, and once they got to shore she had been rushed to the hospital. She had been unconscious for nine days. The rest of her family had fallen off the boat, too. When the rescue guard had come for them only three out of the four were huddled up against a buoy that had been close to their now sunken boat. Bailey was found the next day, washed up on the shore, but she didn’t make it. It broke Becca, her parents, and shattered her world forever.
Now Becca sat on the sailboat as it raced over the gleaming waves and she let the tears fall down her face. How had her life come to this? How had it so easily come apart at the seams? Becca slowed the boat and let everything come out. She let all of her pent up emotions and tears fall down her face freely. She felt like she couldn’t breathe and would never be okay again. After a few minutes, when her breathing had finally slowed down and her tears came to a stop, she glanced up towards the sky. She wished more than anything that Bailey could be here with her, to hold her hand and tell her everything would be alright, but she knew she was gone forever. She knew that she would never see her smiling face again, never see her eyes gleam as they sailed out into the open sea.
As Becca watched the clouds float by, something familiar appeared among them. Becca instantly recognized the warm green eyes that had belonged to her sister. Bailey’s face was outlined in the clouds and she was smiling down on Becca. Becca felt her heart warm, knowing now that her sister would always be watching over her, no matter where she was. For the first time in months Bailey felt like everything might be okay, she no longer felt sunk by the intense emotions that had plagued her all this time. She laid back and just breathed, glad to know her sister was out there somewhere and that she could always find her in the clouds.
Writings of an Aspiring Novelist 