Undercurrent

Chapter 13

"Nina! Nina!"

Zach's voice somehow sounded both miles away and right next to my ear all at once. I tried to look at him but my eyelids seemed determined to stop me.

"Nina, can you hear me?" A hand shook my shoulder roughly. "Can you open your eyes?"

Stupid question. If I could open my eyes, didn't he think I would do it? It's not like I'd just lie here, eyes closed, as if I'd decided to take a nap.

"Come on, Nina!" Zach's voice started again, but it sounded strange. I started to pick up on the echoes of the cave and feel the sand underneath my fingers. My eyelids finally started to flutter and I looked up to see the blurred form of Zach leaning over me.

At least, I'd thought it was Zach. Until, that was, my eyes got used to the darkness around me and I could make out that the figure in the darkness was much taller than Zach and from his silhouette, I worked out that he was wearing skinny jeans. Definitely not Zach's style – he was still stuck in the baggy ones he'd worn as a kid.

"Nina?" I was beginning to lose count of how many times I'd heard my name in the last couple of minutes. "Are you alright?"

Another stupid question. I decided not to answer but tried to shuffle myself into a seated position; I thought that might be a little more dignified than staying sprawled on the floor. As I started to pull myself up on one of the nearby rocks, I felt a hand close around my arm, helping me to move upwards, and found myself looking into a familiar face.

Ollie.

"Are you insane, Nina?" he said, anger replacing the worry that had been in his voice only a moment ago. "What the hell do you think you're doing, wandering on the beach in a storm like this?"

"I.. erm, I..." my voice trailed off as I tried searching through the cloudiness of my mind for an answer.

"Don't you know how bloody dangerous it is down here when the weather's bad? You could have been killed!" He seethed.

I almost laughed in his face. Of course I knew. I was prepared to bet that I knew better than him how dangerous a beach was in a thunderstorm. It was something I knew far more about than I'd have liked.

"What are you doing here?" I asked indignantly, trying to shake his hand off.

Ollie looked startled by my reaction and quickly let go of my arm. "Just trying to get you out of here," he said. "The storm was picking up and I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"How did you even know I was here?" I narrowed my eyes at him, panic rising in my chest. "Were you following me?"

"No!" He looked affronted and flustered all at once. "No, I – I remembered you'd said you were working at your mum's café today so I thought I'd come and see how your sketches were getting on. I brought mine too." He held up the plastic folder where his sketchbook sat, almost like he was using it as evidence. "I was coming along the coast path when I saw you down here, on the rocks. I couldn't leave you could I? Not with the weather like this."

"Oh. Right." My breathing had started to steady a little at this point and I was beginning to feel really stupid for being caught down here in the middle of a storm. It was such a reckless thing to do – not like me at all.

I suddenly remembered why I was here in the first place. "Erm, you didn't see anyone else, did you? When you got here, I mean?"

I could hear the frustration in Ollie's answer, though the anxious edge to his voice was still there. "No, of course not. Thankfully, not many people are daft enough to want to go down to the beach when the weather is hideous. Apart from you, obviously."