The Death of Me

18

***Ariel***

"Ricardo!" We all clenched our teeth and looked at a confused Ricardo.

"You pressed the release button!" I yelled, as the life boat drifted farther and farther from the cruise.

"Way to go jackass!" Even Rocco was pissed.

"What do we do now?" Irina asked, her voice shaking with uncertainty.

"Thanks to Ricardo, this will be our coffin now." I replied.

"If you didn't run away from me, we wouldn't be in this mess." He pointed his finger at me.

"Well if you didn't chase me like Hulk, I wouldn't have run away." I crossed my arms.

"Now is not the time to argue guys, lets find a way to survive as long as we can before help comes." Irina yelled, assuring us. "Does anyone have their phone with them?" We all scanned our bodies and pockets before nodding. Nobody had their phone with them. "Let's just gather our food to see what we can survive on."

We all searched ourselves for any food or snacks.

"I only have a chocolate bar." I threw the bar into the middle of the boat.

"I've got a pack of cigarettes." Ricardo threw the box into the middle.

"I've got a box of mints." Irina tossed the box into the middle.

We all turned to look at Rocco, who clung onto his salsa snack with protection.

"Fine." He placed his food into the middle.

"Rocco." Irina raised her eyebrows at him as he pouted like a child. He exhaled in defeat and pulled out a jar out of his pocket.

"Why do you have a jar of pickled onions in your pocket?" I asked, my face twisted into a scowl.

"Why do you not have a jar of pickled onions in your pocket?" He grinned as if he was a mastermind comedian. I nodded my head, ignoring his idiocy and turned to everyone.

"We need to find a way to get to land, any suggestions?" I asked.

"I went to a wilderness survival camp when I was a teen, let me handle this." Ricardo bragged.

"You mean that camp you stayed at for 3 days before you came ba-" Rocco said, stopping after seeing his brothers threatening look.

"I'm going to need something to make a sail." Ricardo continued. We all turned to look at Rocco, who was wearing a suit with a coat. He groaned and took off his jacket, handing it to Ricardo.

"This isn't enough, we need more fabric." He looked at me and Irina, who were both wearing short dresses.

"No." Me and Irina explicitly refused.

Ricardo did some work and made a sail, using the oars to build the structure. "Now we wait." He sat down, as everyone waited in silence.

Rocco reached down under a bench and pulled out a box as everyone watched. He opened the box which contained packets of emergency food.

"Rocco you're a genius." We exclaimed as we examined the food. We were taken aback by the boat rocking back and forth.

"Sharks!" Rocco screamed, jumping into Ricardo's laps. We looked down to see sharks under the surface of the water, circling our boat.

"They can't eat us, can they?" Irina questioned.

"Don't ask me, ask Mr wilderness here." I punched Ricardo's shoulder. Rocco grabbed the food packets and tossed them far away from the boat.

We looked at him with anger. "That was our food!" I said as we all chased Rocco, shaking the boat.

************************************************
We all sat in silence, shielding ourselves from the cold.

"I'm tired." Rocco complained like a child.

"Its freezing, I hope we don't get hypothermia." Irina shivered in her dress, as Rocco wrapped his arms around her.

It was midnight when we got onto the life boat, so Irina and Rocco tried to go to sleep on the benches which lined the boat. I sat in silence, trying to make sense of everything.

"Ariel." Ricardo saw the distress on my face and tried reaching forward.

"Don't talk to me." I said before laying my head on Irina and going to sleep, the icy air making my body shiver and bones ache with pain.

*********************************************

The next morning...

The sky roared loudly, waking me up from my rough sleep. It was daytime, although the sky was covered in dark clouds. Last night when everyone was sleeping, Irina told me everything about the incident with Ricardo. I couldn't help but feel guilty that I didn't trust him.

I realised I was blanketed with Ricardo's shirt. I looked over at him to see him sleeping shirtless in -30 degree weather.

He gave up his shirt for me, just so I could be warm.

I slowly went over towards him, being sure not to tip the boat over. His skin was cold to the touch and goosebumps covered it. I wrapped him in his shirt.

"No." He said, his eyes still closed.

"No Ricardo. You'll die." I tried warming him up with my body.

"Ariel, I'm sorry abo-"

"Shh, It's not your fault." I ran my fingers through his soft hair, trying to comfort him. I placed a peck on his cheek and laid my head on his body, feeling weird showing affection. But I liked it.

The boat aggressively started shaking, waking everyone else from their sleep. The sky threatened us with thunder and the water moved violently, the waves getting bigger and bigger.

"Shit. A storm." I said as we all looked at each other with uncertainty.

"Tell us the plan Mr wilderness." Rocco taunted, and we all looked at Ricardo.

"Don't fucking look at me." Ricardo replied. "We're dead." He said calmly as we all watched the waves increase in size.

We weren't afraid of death. We were all raised and taught that danger is around every corner for us. Because we're the mafia, we were prepared for death even in our mothers womb.

The water now filled the tiny boat which got tossed around by the menacing water.

"I'll see you guys in hell." Irina said as we all smiled.

"Ricardo" I whispered to my self as I grabbed his hand and held it tightly.

He kissed my hand and wrapped me in his arms tightly, keeping a protective hold on me as a giant wave drowned the boat.

I felt my lungs fill with water, as we got violently thrown around by the waves. Ricardo still had his hold on me, before I started to see black dots.

And then, all I saw was darkness.

After 2 years of searching through the oceans, Ariel, Irina, Rocco and Ricardo's bodies were never found. It was confirmed that they had drowned.