Bondi Blues | Bondi Rescue

Part 9

"What's on your mind, Charlie? I can tell something's up." Deano said caringly as we crossed the street and walked toward the beach that had become like a second home to me... Actually, it was more of a home to me than my own house was - the only place that might have a shot at outdoing it was the diving pool.

"I dunno Deano, I know it's only been a few days, but Liam hasn't called me at all. Neither have my mum or dad. I'm worried something happened." Deano gently asked, "Are you one to worry easily? You don't cross me that way." I sighed and finally opened myself up to the lifeguard I felt closest to. "Deano, I had really bad anxiety when I was younger. I used to get really severe panic attacks. Once I went away I got over them, but the anxiety is still there sometimes. It's there when I dive, and it's there when I walk into work every day."

Deano and I walked in a comfortable silence before we got to the cliffs near Ben Buckler, the northernmost headland at Bondi. We sat on the rocks, and Deano divulged, "When Liam said goodbye to us, he told us to look out for you. He told Chappo and I special little signs to look out for, and I've seen quite a few of them since your brother left. I'm worried about you, Charlie."

I swallowed hard and asked nervously, "What did Liam tell you?" Deano shook his head and said, "I'm not telling you. You can come to me when and if you're ready to tell anyone about it." I got a bit heated and snapped, "Well what's the use in that if you already know? What if I didn't want you to know?" I was almost positive we were on the same page when Deano said, "Charlie, it's nothing to be ashamed of. So many people go through it. I went through it."

I paused and looked up at Deano in shock. If we were talking about the same thing, I was surprised to say the least. Deano looked at me sadly and revealed, "I was attacked randomly after a night out at the bar. I got a few teeth knocked out, a really nasty concussion, and a lot of bruising on my face. After that, I got really depressed and anxious. I was scared to go out and I was always sad. They eventually found the bloke, but that didn't make me feel any better. Then I decided to do something for me. So I focused on my health and my fitness. That was my release that I could control, and something that I could do to let out my feelings and my frustration."

The gentle sound of the waves crashing against the rocks soothed me as Deano opened up to me, probably in hopes of me opening up to him. Well, he had succeeded. "I'm so sorry, Deano..." He smiled down at me sincerely and replied, "Don't be. It helped me find who I am and I've grown from it." Deano paused, and then gently asked, "I've told you my story, now what's yours?"

I took a deep breath and whispered, "The only one who knows about the extent of this is Liam." Deano shifted so that he was facing me, and he said, "Charlie, I think you know me well enough by now to know that you can trust me. I'm here for you. I'll keep saying it until you believe it, I'm here for you." I looked into Deano's eyes and gratefully whispered, "Thank you."

I gathered myself and began from the beginning, "I was bullied really badly when I was younger. Once I got into around Year 10, I was getting into competitive, elite diving, and I was getting made fun of for it. I was getting made fun of for surfing, for having a dad who had a bit of money, and for just being me. Everything about me was a target. I was really stressed out with school, diving, and everything, and I... Did some things that I regret." I stopped there, and Deano looked at me and softly said, "Like what, Charlie?" I shook my head and looked down.

"That's another story for another time, Deano. For now, I'll tell you this. I have depression and anxiety, and Liam knew that him leaving me could cause me to dip under again." Deano replied, "Do you feel like it has?" I answered, "Not yet, but I have the same feeling I did before I went under the last time."

Deano had decided that this was enough for one day, and he walked with me back to my house. As we stood at my door, he said, "If you ever need me, I'm a phone call away, Charlie." I thanked him, and he drove off in his car as I locked the door to find Gonzo and Reidy sitting on the barstools in the kitchen.

"There you are! We ordered pizza for dinner, our treat." Reidy smiled. Gonzo added, "Seriously, thanks again for doing this." I smiled and replied, "No problem, you guys are great. Did you get everything unpacked?"

Gonzo and Reidy looked at each other, then back to me. Reidy spoke up and said, "So I convinced Gonz that it would be fun to wait for you since you still had to put your room together, and I thought we could help each other." Reidy must have been surprised when I said, "Yeah, sure, that sounds good. Who's room do we do first?" Gonz smirked and said, "I can't wait to see what Mr. Andrew Reid over here has brought in to your house."

And with that, we all went in to Reidy's new room and began to help him unpack. The last year as a trainee had been absolutely amazing, and the next week would tell me what my fate was in terms of my lifeguarding future.

*

"If you're in this section of water in front of me, move over to the red and yellow flags! This is a non-swimming area, it's very dangerous!" I said through the megaphone for what must have been the fifth time. "Gotta love the stubborn ones." Bisho mouthed dryly, causing me to huff a breath out in frustration. Just as I was about to turn around to go sit in the buggy, I saw a head out the back of Backpacker's, bobbing up and down. I picked up my radio and said, "Charlie to Bondi Central?" After a second, Deano's voice came over the radio and said, "Bondi Central, what's up?" I replied, "There's a guy out the back of Backpacker's who looks like he's struggling, is he the only one?" Deano replied quickly and said, "Yeah, mate, I'd get out there."

I stripped off my blue long sleeve shirt and grabbed a rescue board, running out to the water and plunging in. I began to furiously paddle out, and I got pummeled by wave after wave. I decided to do something a bit risky that I'd never done before, because this guy out the back didn't have much longer.

Jesse's POV

I was in the Tower with Deano and Hoppo when Charlie had radioed in about a guy in Backpacker's. We'd completely missed him as we scanned, and Deano told her to get out there. She was getting absolutely whammed by one wave after another as she tried to go over the top of them.

"C'mon, Charlie..." I mused quietly as the three of us watched intently. What happened next surprised us all.

At the next wave, Charlie grabbed the sides of the board, took a deep breath, and barrel rolled under the wave. She popped back up, and Deano exclaimed over the radio, "Did Charlie just barrel roll under that wave?!" Bisho spoke back from his radio and affirmed it, saying, "Yep... She's just full of surprises." Hoppo said to us in the Tower, "She knows she doesn't have enough time to keep hopping waves... Hopefully she gets there in time."

After rolling through at least three more waves, she got to the guy and picked him up. He ended up being a backpacker from the States who thought he was a lot better of a swimmer than he was, and he got pulled out into the rip. As we switched up shifts, we all gave Charlie a pat on the back for the tough rescue she pulled out. Hoppo grabbed her as she passed us all heading out and asked disapprovingly, "Barrel rolls?" We all froze, and Hoppo resumed, "That was risky... But you pulled it off. Good job, Charlie."

Charlie's POV

I had spent a few hours at the tower with Bisho, Maxi, Box, and Chappo. Our patrol for the day was almost finished, as lifeguard service was about to end for the day. The phone rang, and Box picked it up.

"Where's the guy? Near Ben Buckler, North Bondi? Yeah, we'll launch the ski, thanks mate."

We all looked at him eagerly as he turned and said, "There's a guy out near Ben Buckler, we gotta go." Box got up and looked at me, saying, "You ever done a ski rescue up there?" I shook my head, and he motioned for me to get my gear on. I put on a wetsuit top and a lifejacket, and Bisho launched the ski for us. Before long, we had hopped all the waves and were on the edge of the bay.

"Bondi Central to jetski?" I heard Chappo's voice, with some unusual gruffness and raspiness in it. "Jetski here, what can you tell me?" Box asked as he sped out toward Bondi's northern edges. We heard Chappo sigh as he said, "Box, mate, it's a body retrieval..." Kerrbox muttered a curse under his breath, turning to me with a look of panic. "If I knew it was this..." He trailed off, and I stopped him by saying, "Box, it's fine. It's part of the job, I need to see it."

What we came up to soon after that was something that I could have never prepared for.