CASTAWAY ⚓ R.C, J.M

N I N E

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K O O K   P E R S U A S I O N

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A heavy pressure kept Harley under. It weighed down on her chest forcing her below the water. The icy chill sunk into her skin and stabbed at bone. The cold shot at her brain with numbing frostbite washing her conscious away. She fought to break the surface. She fought to breathe, but she couldn't. Her eye squinted through the haze, the shadow above shifting to reveal a flash of light only temporarily. 

She jerked, her chest constricting. She couldn't suck in another drip of air. Each holding an echo of a scream, bubbles erupted in the water above racing to burst at the surface.

Harley's drowsiness was disturbed by the lack of pressure. Instead of forcing her under, it reversed itself and dragged her upward. She gulped in a deep breath as soon as the water poured away. Eyes wide open and shivering, she stared  up at the figure gripping onto her shirt collar. Dark brown eyes like oak held her in place with a steely glare. The rest of the figure took the shape of a thousand brush strokes, no defining features. A myriad of colours, flesh tones and neutrals, gathered the strength to shake her numerous times, their face coming closer. An incoherent, staticky voice filled her ears bringing tears to her eyes. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she knew it was supposed to hurt her, because it was. 

Before she could say anything or react to the terrifying  form, she was pushed beneath the surface once again.

Harley woke from her nightmare groggy and out of breath. The ticking of a porcelain alarm clock filled the air.

11:48

She had been asleep for quiet a while, that explained the silence that inched through the shack. No voices carried down the hall. Mr Routledge wasn't reprimanding John B or rushing him to get to school. Harley laughed in her head at the morning ritual John B and his dad had. It was entertaining to watch over a hot drink after waking from restless slumbers filled with unnerving and creepy nothingness. Her dreams held so much and nothing at all, spiralling her morning mind into chaos sometimes.

It didn't take long to get up and ready, Harley's nightmare ebbing away as she pulled on shorts and a random white tee. She padded out of her room and headed into the living room expecting to see Mr Routledge sat at the table. Since the incident with the boys forgetting to meet her at the Wreck and the fight with Rafe, he had moved some of his work to the dining table so that she wouldn't be alone the last few days. She had found it very endearing and kind of him.

Unfortunately, today he wasn't perched in his usual seat hunched over a map, and writing numbers and degrees along the side whilst rapidly flipping through books and news articles. Harley never asked what he was doing in fear of being a distraction, so she would watch intently and speak when spoken to.

Harley peered out of the large windows by the sofas and didn't see his truck and so assumed he had gone off to work or another meeting. 

Feeling a pang of hunger, she pulled a couple of waffles out of the cupboard and popped one into her mouth. She spun around to take a seat on one of the plush chairs, only to have the life scared out of her by John B bounding through the mesh door. Harley's waffle almost fell from her mouth as her heart thudded in her chest.

John B chuckled smiling brightly at her. "Are you okay there?"

"You scared me." Harley tilted her head to the side watching him grab some items and a red cooler box. "Don't you have school."