The Girl With Five Watches

41: Collapse

"Hold on Jimmy," instructed Sara. let me check the time. She checked her remaining watches. "It's almost seven, and I saw in the lobby that the Little Beach Ferry starts taking passengers to the man-made island at eleven. But I need to go down to the dock to reserve tickets which open in half an hour."

She could tell I was disappointed that we couldn't spend the entire morning together in bed. And I will be honest, I could've easily spent the day giving her pleasure. I wanted nothing more than get better at sex and show her my love. But going on a Ferry Ride seemed nice.

"I guess that sounds fun." Not wanting to let her go, I kissed her several time while trying to distract her from leaving."

"I promise babe, once we get back later today, I'll make sure my mouth does all the pleasure-giving." She wasted no time in hopping out of bed and getting dressed. Moments later, she was out the door.

Lying in bed, my stomach began to hurt and slowly made loud growling noises. My stomach was hungry. Was it wise to wait for her to return and have breakfast together? Would she be mad? Looking at the drawer on the side that she slept, I saw there were two opened granola bar wrappers. Maybe she already had breakfast. While exploring the room, it came to my attention that there were robes in the bathroom waiting for us. A shame she was not here. Putting it on, I headed straight to the lobby for the breakfast buffet. It was interesting that they let me roam around the lobby in my robe and not say anything. My mind was blown by the fact that the hotel had a two-story dining room. And on each floor, you could have different options for food. That went without saying that I was likely to eat more than I probably should. I'd be fat by the end of this honeymoon.

I couldn't believe they had a flavored water bar with over one hundred options. For the next ten minutes, I literally tried every flavor. Maybe this could hold me over for breakfast. Or not. My stomach was still angry after sampling all of that flavored water. Deciding to get the orange flavor, I began fully pouring it into my cup. Once my cup was full, a trip was made to the waffle bar and I made a large stack of waffles. There was more to be enjoyed, but I could always come back for seconds. Once seated, my hands slowly started pouring syrup onto that warm and delicious food. That all stopped when the table began to shake. Rumble! The plate and cup began shaking. Rattle! With the table shaking, my glass of water fell. It had shattered. The floor was dirtied with water. My plate of waffles made it to the edge of the table. To get another glass of water or not to get another glass? Not. These warm and smooth waffles deserved my attention.

After swallowing my first bite of waffles, the fork began shaking and fell to the floor. One by one, things slowly began shaking and it was lasting longer than a few seconds. Every table in the room began to shake. Different reactions came from different people. Crash! Many objects on the wall began to fall to the floor. Shattered glass laid all over the ground. Crap, what was this? My heart began pounding. Was this an Earthquake? Why was this my first time experiencing this? Shatter! One of the windows was now broken. After another couple of minutes, things began to slow down. Nothing in the room was shaking, but there was a mess.

"Don't step on the glass!" someone shouted with a broom in their hand.

My appetite was gone. There was no desire to finish my waffles that would put me in a food coma. And all over the lobby, people were panicking as they had never been in an Earthquake. It was over. Why were they in panic? My question was answered with everyone gathered around the television watching one of the most disturbing news reports ever.

"It is unclear of the magnitude that Little Beach experienced moments ago," began the news reporter. "Reports are coming in that parts of the Little Beach Dam experienced some destruction."

Why was I carrying a spoon with the grip of my wrists? Where did I even get the spoon?

"This just in, the Little Beach Dam is slowly collapsing. Evacuations are already being made. And please bear with us as we just received more breaking news. We now join Gary live in the copter. What can you tell us, Gary?"

"Yeah, this really isn't going to be a great day for Little Beach." My own eyes couldn't believe it. The dam was actually collapsing. "Now, how could this be devasting? You may not see it right now, but the dam was separating the beach water from the lake water where the ferries resided and took the Little River Route.  Now that the dam is collapsing, the river which is connected to the beach is connecting itself to several other forming rivers. The most concerning connection that the Little River is making is the connection to Arrow Hill where a new river is being formed."

The newscast jumped to another helicopter closer to Arrow Hill.

"I'm currently located at the intersection of Little River and the new Arrow River. The good news out of all of this is that out of all six ferries, only one is on this route. From what I can see on the camera, only two people are on this boat.  The current of the river is currently pretty powerful. We don't know what it could do, but it does look like it leads to Arrow Waterfall which is about an hour or two away. It's the waterfall we should be worried about as the impact of the fall could be with great impact."

The spoon in my hands was beginning to bend with the strength that I was unaware of. Was Sara one of the ones on that ferry? All I could do was pray that she wasn't. But she was. The helicopter was close enough to get to her face for a brief moment. The spoon was officially split in half. All my stomach wanted to do was puke. My entire body became dizzy. Sara was on that boat? Would this be the end of her? The end of us? Would this marriage last less than twenty-four hours? Not on my watch. A shame that I didn't have any watches. I couldn't let Sara die. Something had to be done? But what? It became clear that nothing would be solved by staying in the lobby. 

Running outside was an eye-opener. The parking lot was split to the bone. Many of the cars were destroyed. It was likely that our new car was gone. But Sara's life was on the line. Her own life. Looking around me, several buildings were completely devastated. It was amazing that the hotel was still standing. The town's emergency alarm was going off. How long was it going off? None of this was helping. Not even the fact that the coast guard had made their appearance. No, not even them. Sara was still in danger. God help me. By the grace of God, my sight caught notice of a moderate-sized fishing boat at the beach. Crap, a boat! Maybe I could really rescue Sara. It was crazy, but it had to be done. Wasting no time, I found my way to the boat. The fisher of that boat was pulling in his boat to the shore.

"Excuse me," I announced trying to catch my breath after a hard run. "I need your boat."

He looked at me as if I were stupid and began laughing. "You realize the damn just collapsed? I'm sorry, but I have to pull this boat in. Wish I could help."

In that moment, my head came full of pressure. A force in my body that had never been felt before, took over. "I don't care if the dam collapsed! My wife is on the ferry and I need your boat to rescue her!"

He looked at me not sure what to say. He clearly wanted to get to safety. Who could blame him? If Sara were with me, we would be running to safety. Still feeling this new pressure, I took a breath and tried to calm down.

"Look, can I just borrow the boat? I got married yesterday and don't want to lose my wife. She means everything to me." He looked at me in silence. "Can you imagine what it would be like to lose someone you love like this?"

Licking his dry lips, he glared the keys in front of him and his face somewhat despaired. "You're going to need help navigating these waters."

He was on board. Sara was going to be rescued. She just had to hang on tight.

Can you believe this chapter? This is crazy! Hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to comment, vote, and share!

Should Sara have stayed in the hotel room that morning with Jimmy?

Is Sara going to be safe?

Will Jimmy be able to rescue Sara?