The Dusk

The Sun is Still On (Jacob)

While rounding the corner, I watched Ember push out with her hands, twirling her fingers slowly to move the rocks out of our way. Connor helped against currents, moving his hands in a similar motion to hers, imitating a rhythm they've created in our countless hours of training. Ben carefully steered the boat, constantly monitoring the speed and direction. At last, we cleared the scattered rocks, and Ben resumed a moderate speed, heading east as we celebrated.

"We did it!" Ember cried.

"And that's a successful dub for Ember, Connor, and Ben, finally clearing the stupid bay exit that we apparently couldn't do until today!" Sam stated, in his fake sports announcer voice. The rest of us laughed.

"That was the worst deep voice I've ever heard," Drew remarked, stifling a snort.

"Hey! That's coming from you, who makes a horrible rendition of Your Man by Josh Turner!" Cam laughed.

"I thought it was cute! Even... with the voice cracks!"

"Oh Andie, that boy could be dumber than a box of rocks and you'd still think he's cute!" Bryn teased.

"Well..."

"Yea, that's right, I'm cute even if I'm dumb."

While most everyone was laughing, partly from Drew's joke and partly as a stress relief from the stressful exit, I noticed Andie wasn't, which was strange because she loves to laugh and loves Drew more than anything. If not, then I guess all of my perceptions are completely off and everything's fake. I wonder what would happen if there were to be a breakup, especially between Andie and Drew. They've been together the longest, and have had virtually no large, drawn out fights. Whatever, I'm sure it's nothing. Perhaps she's just overloaded with emotions right now.

As we were scooting along down the coast of eastern North Maluku, the group searched for places to explore, or at least a place to park the boat if we needed to take refuge and stay the night. Thick jungles lined the coast, with small stretches of sand that became even smaller at high tide. The sun began to make its way west, and Ben drove on, until I spotted something.

"Ahoy!"

"Seriously Jacob! That was my line. I did not bring this hat for nothing," Connor pouted, pulling out a comically large pirate hat and eye patch. "CACAW! CACAW!"

Ember turned into a parrot and perched on his shoulder, helping him further authenticate his costume. Sam pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the funny sight, and then a powerful gust of wind swept Connor's hat into the air.

"HEY! MY HAT!" Connor yelled, scrambling to grasp it out of the air. I tried to control the wind, but it was incredibly weird. It felt like a weight was on my chest, and I was back in basic training. I stopped the wind, but not without obvious struggle, and floated it down with a teasing look to Connor.

"What just happened Jacob?"

"Why did you say 'ahoy'?"

"Yeah, why did you say ahoy? That was totally my li-"

The sky went dark instantaneously. It was like someone turned off the sun, or cut the power- it was so abrupt. We panicked and looked around, hoping something just covered the boat.

"The boat stopped moving-"

"-it's still late afternoon-"

"Why did the boat stop moving if the power is still on? It doesn't make any-"

"-I can still hear the engine running-"

"-oh Lord oh geez oh gosh oh L-"

The dialogue faded as I began to look at the sky. There was no bird or large aircraft blocking the sun- I could still see it. It just looked as if someone had thrown a massive black sheet over the entire area where we were. In fact, it almost looked like...