¶. We quickly swam our way to the side of the ship, from where we were, it looked abandoned. The planks were splintering apart, overgrone barnacles decorated the bottom of the hull, and the ropes along the side were dyed green. I tried grabbing the rope, but my hand would slip every time I tried to grip it. Eventually, Lucas got annoyed with my clumsiness and pushed past me. He slipped the first few times, he quickly turned red while he struggled.
¶. When I looked back, I saw Jack was struggling to stay afloat. Between jagged breaths, he asked, "how can you guys swim with your shoes and jumpsuit on"? Before I could think about it, Evan chimed, "cause we got the skillz". Though it was a stupid quip, I couldn't help but laugh. Evan seemed a bit happier after my outburst. Jack, on the other hand, began undressing himself. I shouted, "Dude, stop what're you doing"! Lucas looked back and his eyes lit up, "pass me your clothes"! We all looked at him weird, but he quickly used the clothes to grip the rope and made his way up the ship. Once on top, he threw us back the clothes and one by one we made our way up the ship. When it was Jack's turn, we all laughed at the odd image. He gave us all a sour look, "turn around"! We did as he asked, but kept snickering. Lucas interrupted our laughs, "Alright, we should search the deck see if we can find weapons or something. Just in case". In case of what, I don't know, and Im praying I don't find out.
¶. I could tell from the way Evan's eyes slanted that he was upset, but I'm not sure why. I quickly chimed, "Evan and I will take the back half, you guys take the front". Both Jack and Lucas shruged and went on their way. Evan shook his body like a dog trying to dry himself. I tried shielding myself from the water, but most droplets penetrated my defenses. "Dude, weak"! Evan raised an eyebrow, "how many times do I have to tell you to stop making up slang? You're not good at it". I put on a fake surprised face, "I am shocked and appalled by the mere allegations"! Neither of us could hold it together and quickly broke out laughing.
¶. We went to our half of the ship and searched the barrels and debris for anything we could use, unfortunately it was mostly empty save for rope, spare planks, and random bits of iron we didn't know the use of. Evan took a seat against the railing and stared at the drifting clouds. I let out a sigh and sat beside me. "I'd ask what's eating you, but I have a clue". He shook his head, "it's nothing serious, I just really wanna smoke". We sat in silence for a few minutes until Evan spoke again, "I'm sorry for being a prick when you woke me up first. I just, I didnt know what to think". I shrugged his remarks off, "it's okay, I'd probably be the same way". We waited for the clouds to drift some more then I stood up and stretched, "alright, we should get back to Jack and Lucas". Subtly, he rolled his eyes when I mention Lucas's name. "Hey come on now, what's wrong with Lucas". He quickly raised his arms to surrender, "nothing's wrong with the guy, I just don't like his attitude".
¶. "You've known him as long as I have, he's just a serious type, but he means well and he has a good heart". Evan quickly picked up half the iron pieces and a plank, I grabbed the other half and we went back to the center of the ship. Jack and Lucas were waiting for us while staring at the clouds. Lucas quickly jumped to his feet, "what'd you guys find? What took you so long"? We showed him the iron and wood, but he reacted like we expected, with a sigh. "That's good enough, I guess we can use them as weapons while we search the bottom of the ship". Evan chimed, "I think you mean the hull". Lucas rolled his eyes, "whatever let's just go". We formed a diamond with Lucas in the front and Jack in the back, and slowly made our way inside the hull of the ship.
¶. From our first impressions, it looked like the hull was used solely to hold more empty barrels, but the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and goosebumps ran along my arm, it felt like someone was carefully watching our every move. Suddenly, I heard a small object crash, the sound came from the left side, so after we all exchanged glances, we made our way to the sound of the crash. Right when we stood in front of the spot, a barrel get thrown in Lucas's face. He fell to the ground, so I stepped over him to try and protect my friend. Unfortunately, while I tried stepping over him, I tripped over what felt like a banana peel onto the would be assailant.
¶. I fell onto something soft and cushiony, but I couldn't see what it was because my eyes were covered by the object. When I lifted my head, I saw Meredith's eyes filled with fear. I quickly stood up and started apologizing and tried justifying the accident. Meredith's tearful eyes quickly ran to hug me, so I stood awkwardly while she started crying into my shoulder. "I was alone for so long"! Lucas stood up, "I'm fine, don't worry about me". Meredith quickly broke away from hugging me and started apologizing to Lucas, but he didn't seem to care. Meredith took a look around, "Is Jamie here with you"? Jack shook his head and answered, "it's just us". A silence stood over the room, until Evan awkwardly asked, "now what do we do"?
¶. It all seems pointless. Mindlessly going from one room to the next only to barely escape seemingly random dangers. It doesn't feel real. We shared a dejected look, except Jack, he stood to the side as if he was waiting for us to decide on our next steps. After about another minute of silence, he asked Meredith, "didnt you take sailing lessons in highschool"? Meredith's eyes scrunched together, "yeah but that was only for a small schooner, there's no way we can operate a ship this size with no experience". Evan interjected, "layoff her Jack, there's no need to put her on the spot". Before Evan could finish his sentence, Lucas interrupted with, "Jack is right. we don't have any other options, are we going to just drift in the ocean forever. We know our friends are out there ". Meredith looked queezy while Evan and Lucas began arguing. She looked at me, and I could tell the enormous pressure we put on her was crushing her. I set her aside, and told her, "Meredith, I trust you. If you don't think we can do this, I understand". Her eyes lightened, and she shook her head. "We can do this, but it won't be easy".