Row, Row, Row You’re Boat

She hated Summer with a deep passion for many reasons. One of the biggest reasons, was that in Summer, besides the baking heat, it would only go dark later in the evening, which made it hard to go to sleep, and Molly needed her sleep to function.

Nine O’clock in the evening, the last of the sun’s rays were disappearing behind the clouds, beyond the horizon. Tonight was different from other nights, however. Molly had been dragged to a beach party; she had begged her friend not to take her. She had lost that argument. Now she sat watching the sunset over the waves, her eyes drifting off in time with the tide that swam in and out. She was sat uncomfortably, a piece of driftwood acted as a pathetic excuse for a seat, while she sipped on some vivid red cocktail, minding her friend Sara’s metal leg, that she didn’t want to get wet.

Molly sighed to herself. Only 9pm and she was ready to sleep for a week. Further along the coast, she could hear the distance cries of laughter from the party. She had distanced herself from the crowd. One sip of the strange looking cocktail every few minutes. It had become a ritual for her.

Thankfully, just when she was beginning to lose hope, Sara reappeared like an ant in the distance walking towards her. Her swimsuit had ridden up. Every part of her outfit had some kind of wrinkle Molly would have ironed out. Sara was the kind of person who didn’t care. The closer she came; the more Molly could read her lips. She was smiling and laughing, her long brown hair tangled and wet from swimming in the sea.

“You should have come in.” She said, grabbing her cocktail drink sitting on the sand, and pressed it to her lips “It was refreshing.”

“I bet it was.” Molly answered sarcastically. “I’d sooner be on dry land Thank you very much.”

Sara smirked, sitting on the bumpy driftwood seat to clip her prosthetic leg back into place.

“Besides, who would mind your things?” Molly added.

Sara gave her that look that meant she was no fun, but she couldn’t get angry at her.

Each of them sat watching the party from afar sipping their drinks. The mumbling from the music on shore vibrated through their bones. They talked about nothing. Molly could feel her eyelids getting heavier by the moment the more she drank. She couldn’t keep her eyes open. Molly felt herself lying upon the driftwood, her legs curled under her.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Sara barked, batting Molly’s legs away from her.

“You can’t sleep here.”

Molly sighed and spoke while her eyes were firmly closed. “I think it’s perfectly reasonable. Why? What time is it?”

Sara pulled her mobile out of her bag. “Just turned 10.15pm. Told you, the night’s still young.”

Molly jumped from her sleeping position with a start. “Seriously? I’m going back, I can’t be bothered...” She started to say.

“What? Now? You can’t...”

The sound of the party cut her off. There wasn’t laughter anymore, but screams, terrified screams. The sound carried. They both stared at each other at the same time and without negotiation, each girl darted towards the shore.

In bare feet, Molly ran alongside her friend. The closer they got to the party the crazier it was. A massive crowd of teenagers like them were gathered around the shore. They couldn’t see what was going on, or what they were screaming about, but it caused quite a stir.

The DJ stopped the music and the eerie sound of the waves crashing onto the shore became ear piercing.

Sara was smaller than Molly and skinnier. She nestled in between everyone’s legs and pushed her way through, calling out, although her questions were muffled in the commotion.

“What’s going on over there?” Molly could vaguely hear her say. Each time she edged closer she was elbowed in the head by drunken boys, with bottles in their hands.

“Should we call the cops?” Someone cried out.

Most people screamed no and shook their bottles of cider in the air in protest, after all, them being here would cause more trouble. Molly saw a gap over by the side of shore and called Sara to follow her. Through crushed legs and banged arms, Sara finally found herself out of the crowd looking breathless. Racing over to where Molly was stood, just around the corner from them all, she struggled with the sand pulling her inward.

“Thanks.” Sara managed to say, standing next to Molly catching her breath back.

“You can see it all.” Molly calmly said although her voice shook. “Look.”

A few meters away lying on the shore, hair splashing in the water, was a lifeless body, floating upwards. Even from the distance they were stood, they could tell their eyes were open but not alive.

“Is that?” Sara questioned, her hands shaking, looking right at Molly who was staring at the lifeless body shaken herself.

Molly nodded. “I think so.”

“She told everyone she couldn’t make it tonight…” Sara continued.

11pm. Not even Midnight. Both girls stood watching everyone freak out on the shore. There were arguments forming now, two groups divided. The ones who wanted to phone the police and end this mess, the others who wanted to stay and sort it out on their own, by throwing the girl back into the ocean for others to find her. Molly suggested a third option to her friend. Leave the party now and pretend they were never there. Sara looked at her stunned, as if she had suggested to kill her Grandmother.

“We can’t leave now!” She spat. “Besides, it will look too suspicious. No, we’re in this together now, try to blend in? Surely that’s not too hard for you?”

Molly would regret this. She screwed her face up and nodded. “Fine.”

“I’m going back down to the shore, see if anyone saw anything.” Sara called from halfway down the beach, leaving Molly standing alone.

Molly could only follow her. She had no way out and no ride back home. Home for her was at least a twentyfive minute car ride away. Molly shuffled in the sand, her sandals sticking to her each step of the way. She hated Summer, especially sandy shoes.

Sara’s small frame was getting squashed with the crowd, who were now drunkenly shouting at each other. One side of the beach held people who wanted to call the police, the other side debated among themselves about how to carry the body back out to sea. Molly saw her struggle to let her voice be heard. People kept elbowing her in the jaw or bashing her with bottles.

Molly looked at the time on her phone, safe in her short’s pocket. 11.45pm. Sara had given up apparently. By the time Molly had staggered over the sand hills, Sara was sat on her own, staring at the sand particles as if they were her friends, crumbling them in her hands.

Molly sat beside her.

“It’s impossible. It’s like a mad house down there and I was bruised several times, look.” Sara pointed to the purple mark on her chin. She let out a big sigh. “I just wanted to help; you know. Do something good. I feel bad and nothing about it makes any sense.”

Sara looked at Molly who looked back with pitiful eyes.

“I’ve got a solution.” She said calmly. “It may just work, come on.”

“You’re not trying to get a ride back home are you, because if you are, I refuse.”

Molly shook her head getting up from the sandy hill, brushing debris from her back. She stretched out her hand. “Come on.”

Sara exhaled and smiled ever so slightly, jumping up to take Molly’s hand.

“I’m thinking…” Molly started saying, eying up something on the horizon. “That somewhere here are people, outsiders who hate being part of a crowd and know things. It’s strange the sorts of useful information you can find out from stoners.”

“Wait? What do you mean?” Sara asked.

Leaning on the caves that spilled over into the waves, stood a person in shorts and bare feet. They let their toes dip in the water as they stared at the chaos that unfolded. They looked unfazed by it all. Molly and Sara made their way towards them. They were shy as they first saw them, turned their head in the opposite direction.

Molly was the one to pluck up the courage to speak to them.

“Hey.” She said casually.

Sara observed as if watching a lecture, her eyes glassy.

The person hummed to themselves and put out their hand to say hello.

“I was wondering.” Molly started by asking. “You haven’t seen anything along this coast, have you?”

Like a dog opening to its owner, the person’s head shifted and looked beyond the horizon.

“Only this lot fighting on the beach. It’s giving me a headache. I came down here for peace, now I just hear screams.”

“About them.” Sara chimed in. “Do you remember seeing anything strange before everyone started screaming?”

They shook their head. “Just the usual, drinking, music, kissing.”

Sara lowered her head in disappointment. “It’s okay, thanks for your help”.

They straightened up. They flung away themselves away from the cave wall, recalling what they saw. “Saying that though…”

There was hope in both girls’ eyes.

“I saw something a bit odd, an old rowing boat just up from the bay over there.” They pointed across a thin line of coastline where sand had disappeared. “I thought it was weird because they’d been chained up behind, just thought someone drunken was inside it, but now…”

Both girls’ mobile phones vibrated. Midnight.

Sara smiled. “Thank you! That’s useful!”

The person just stood there like a bean pole, absently watching.

“I suppose we should say something to them?” Sara wondered, looking back at the chaos that was now unfolding. The kicking, the punching and the throwing of bottles was a mix up of madness and teenage hormones.

Molly shook her head looking at them with disgust, “Better not. Let’s keep it just between us.”

The crying from the shore was continuing. Fights, fist fights were being held between the two formed groups. Those who had chosen not to tell anyone, started throwing people’s mobile phones into the sea in a rage, so nobody could dial the police. The girls listened, horrified by the words people were saying. There were even psychopaths willing to cut the body into parts before throwing her into the ocean. They soon realised they could be in danger; a storm was brewing on the beach and it wouldn’t be from the waves crashing down.

“Nutters…” Sara muttered to herself. “Psycho’s the lot of them.”

Molly agreed. “The sooner we find this boat, the sooner we can get out of here.”

The girls tracked their bare feet and one metal foot across the sand, until the edge of the sand met with the water. They could walk a few meters out before they would have to swim.

Molly hated swimming, or rather water in general. Washing was the only exception. She knew however, she would have to swim to find this rowing boat. Sara hurried back on herself without consulting Molly. In one hand she ran with her metal leg and hurried towards the person chilling out at the cave. She mumbled something to him, something about trust and trusting them to look after her leg. Soon enough, Sara raced back, more energy to spare and caught up with Molly who was waiting at the start of the water’s edge.

“Didn’t want it to get water damaged.” She said casually.

The girls trod along the water. Their sandals getting wetter the more they ventured out. Every now and again the waves would wash past them and a few inches rose around them. Ankles, knees and then the bottom of their waist. Both were pulling themselves through the waves as if it were a living thing.

They had no idea of the time because they had left their belongs on the shore, but judging from how long they were trudging through the water, it was at least 45 minutes. Sara looked behind her. She was surprised how far they had travelled and the cave look like just a black dot now, the groups on the beach fighting like ants.

“We’re so far away.” Sara murmured, squinting far into the distance.

Molly tapped her shoulder. “I think we’re going to have to start swimming from now on, my feet can barely touch the bottom.”

Sara nodded. Both girls began to paddle, one hand in front of the other kicking behind them.

“I don’t know why you never want to swim.” Sara asked between strokes. “You’re a really good swimmer.”

Molly didn’t answer, she was too busy looking at something bobbing up and down just a few meters away from them.

“I think that’s its Sara!” She cried. “I think I see a rowing boat!”

Sara had a glint in her eyes as she bobbed around in the water. Time seemed to slow and race at the same time. The girls had been swimming for at least an hour and the coast was but a memory to them now. Then Sara saw it, just ahead. It was small, abandoned, and damaged but it was definitely a rowing boat.

Both the girls swam just a couple more meters, to find them face to face with the boat.

On first inspection, Sara couldn’t see that much damage to it. The wood looked like it had seen better days and as they boarded it shaking their wet hair off the side. Sara saw it, drops of blood on the bottom of boat, barely visible but she could see it.

Sara was soaked, one wrong move and she could have slipped and bumped her head. Carefully, she crouched, inspecting the area for anything else that looked unusual.

Nearly 1.30am in the morning. They were shattered and Sara noticed marks possibly made by the oars. Pieces of rope laid frayed on the floor.

“Look at this!” Came Molly’s voice from behind.

As Sara swung her head around, she was faced with a full head on collision with the oar handled by Molly.

Sara hadn’t had time to react and was pushed with all the force Molly could manage, landing on the bottom of the boat headfirst.

Time ticked on by. Molly sat perched at the front of the boat, Sara lying by her feet with oars by her side. It was 2am by now, soon enough, the sun would be coming up, after all, it was the Summer. The only thing she liked about it.

Oars picked up; Molly paddled towards the shore taking her time. The night at this time was so pretty to look at. She could hear the party or whatever it had been turned into since they found Emily. Molly was fascinated by how quickly one group could turn on one another and it was all her own doing. How society could break down so easily.

It took the same amount of time to row back to shore as it had to swim out. Just as her boat touched the sand, the sun started to rise.

Molly didn’t have a reason for the things she did, she just did them. Pushing the old rowing boat to the edge she walked towards that person waiting by the cave.

“Thank You for looking after that for my friend, I’ll be taking that.” She said calmly as if she’d casually dipped into the water for a swim.

Molly sighed.

“Isn’t the sun beautiful at this time of day.”