At the Bottom of the Bay

Chapter Ten

It was exhilarating.

The wave, she would find out later, breached every building on the boardwalk, and Barren Street beyond, causing approximately fifteen thousand dollars in damages to various businesses and the few homes nearby. On Main Street, it hit the diner and the pharmacy, and the bookstore across the road. The McQuarrie fish shop, so far to the south, only caught the edge of it, enough to tear out the scraggly bushes on the property and leave behind piles of seaweed.

It should have killed Sofia, she supposed. When the wave retreated again, it should have dragged her back out to sea, buried her out there. Instead, it deposited her on the wooden boards of the boardwalk, almost gentle, left her spluttering and coughing up sea water, before she lost consciousness.

She woke before Miriam could call an ambulance, or drive her to the hospital herself. It wasn't luck that did the trick, but hot hands holding her face delicately, lifting her from the depths.

"You're okay, Sofia. I've got you." Kelsey, ever reassuring, clad in a fresh sweater, glasses crooked, the bruise on her cheek already faded to a faint yellow. Her eyes glowed, two spots of light in the shadow of her face, and the sky was a pure white light behind her head.

"Why are you here?" Sofia croaked.

Kelsey tilted her head, eyes scouring her, and Sofia could feel it, feel it like tines of a fork, a pitchfork, raking over her body. "I had a feeling," Kelsey said slowly, "that you needed me."

That made Sofia laugh, watery and low. "It's a wonder you ever leave my side."

Kelsey smiled. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't."

The sound of wailing interrupted the moment (Sofia would selfishly be glad for that later). Kelsey helped Sofia to sit up, and she spotted Miriam nearby, making a show of checking over the front of Lantern Light while watching them from the corner of her eye.

The boardwalk was busy, busier than Sofia had ever seen it. Store owners assessing damage, neighbours offering a hand. Down on the beach, a young woman stood with her hands over her mouth and wailed again.

Sofia winced at the sound, swiping sand from her cheek. With her right hand. No pain came, and she looked at her once crooked fingers wonderingly, wiggling them in the now useless splints.

"Josh!" the woman screamed. "My son, please–" She grabbed at someone nearby, a man in a rain slicker and high boots. "Please, my son is out there!"

Fishermen gathered, asking questions, offering assurances that they would find the boy. A few broke off, running for their boats to start the rescue.

Kelsey didn't seem bothered. She petted Sofia's hair soothingly, saying something Sofia couldn't be bothered to listen to.

The little girl, Janet, Josh's sister, stood by the bench again, little hands on the seat back, facing out to sea. Even from here, Sofia could see how her shoulders shook.

Sofia stood, wet shirt tangling around her legs, her toe sticking through a hole in her tights, and stumbled toward her, aware of Kelsey following, a little ball of fire in her wake.

"Hey," Sofia said, and Janet turned to look up at her. A few yards away, her mother broke down in the arms of a fisherman, screaming incoherently.

"Hey," Sofia said again, dropping to her knees. "You alright?"

Janet shook her head. "I couldn't hang onto him."