Waves of Despair

The storm roared and churned with a dangerous ferocity that seemed almost alive in its wrath. Dark clouds swirled overhead, and the wind howled as though it was sealing the fate of those who were on the raging water. The icy drops of rain were a constant shock as it poured down seeming to match the sea’s anger.

The one called Coyote, who was responsible for getting everyone across the water and to their new home, was looking around with determination. He knew that if he showed no fear, they would trust that they were safe.

He had done the run more times than he could count. He had seen people cling to hope as fiercely as they clung to the raft itself. They would be down to their last bit of faith as they screamed their prayers to the angry skies, then, they’d see the shore.

They’d see the shore and their hope would be restored in full as their cries of mercy would turn to shouts of thanks.

However, as the raft buckled underneath the angry water, he knew the odds were grim. The storm raged with a vengeance that was unlike anything they had encountered before.

“Hold on!” Coyote shouted above the roar of the shrieking winds and the rattling of thunder.

His eyes scanned the crowd, watching families huddled together, their faces pale with fear and exhaustion.

Coyote knew he had pushed the limits. He’d allowed way more people than he normally would have but he had to. It was their last run.

Turning, he looked over at his partner Wolf who made his way around the crowd to stand next to him.

“We need to turn around and try again tomorrow. I can’t even tell if we’re at the halfway point its too bad out here” Coyote whispered trying to be heard by his partner over all the commotion happening around them.

Wolf shook his head quickly.

“No, we keep moving. I’d rather we take our chances on the water than having to try taking off from shore again without being spotted.”

Coyote knew that his partner was somewhat right. They were in just as much danger trying to hide everyone on shore and risk another take off but he couldn’t shake the bad feeling he had. Something was off.

The thunder boomed overhead, and Coyote’s thoughts turned grim. He had made a promise to his wife that it would be the last run. They’d escaped 6 months prior, but Coyote hadn’t ever relaxed long enough to enjoy the peace that comes with living in a home that he didn’t have to worry about his family’s well-being every second of the day. He’d made it three days before impulsively hopping on a canoe to go back to the mainland for Wolf and his family. Knowing that coyote made it over safely with his loved ones allowed Wolf to push his wife and four kids into the small canoe and out to the water that very same day.

Ever since then they had been going back and forth between freedom and chaos to save as many people as they possibly could before the guards were tipped off and the part of the shore they used shut down. Up until their current run everything had ran fine.

He thought back to his wife’s last words telling him that he would never get enjoy their new peaceful home if he was always running to the chaos of the sea. His family was afraid for his future, and he was afraid for everyone else’s.

Coyote knew that even in their new home he would never be at peace in his heart knowing there were so many others who were still living in fear day by day. He hoped that they really did make it, and he could finally spend time with his family, but he felt the dread sitting like a ball in the pit of his stomach. Something horrible was going to happen.

“We keep going” Wolf spoke decidedly.

Coyote stared at him in confusion. His partner had been acting off ever since they’d hit the shore. Coyote told wolf multiple times there were too many people, and it would be bad to put them on the raff when they didn’t know if they could beat the storm. Wolf was adamant that they would fit as many people as possible since it was their last run and they owed it to everyone to try.

Coyote agreed because he couldn’t bring himself to make anyone have to watch peace and hope slip right through their fingers as everyone sailed off and left them behind.

Even now his friend wasn’t watching everyone and making sure they were safe like he normally did he was looking at the water as if he was expecting the storm to do something else.

“What aren’t you telling me Gabriel?”

Wolf looked at his partner through squinted eyes. They were never supposed to use their real names no matter what.

“You aren’t telling me something” Coyote added as the dread he was feeling grew to a loud roar inside of him.

It was telling him to do something other than stand on the raft but there was nothing else he could do. They were in the middle of the water with fourteen other people he was responsible for.

“My family and I are sleeping in tents and they’re happy as can be. Like its some mansion. I refuse for that to be how they live. We didn’t escape just to barely survive day by day. Planting vegetables and scavenging for materials to build huts.” Wolf spat angrily.

Coyote was shocked. Their families were happier than they had been in years because they knew that they were safe and the rebels weren’t going to choose their home to set fire to in the middle of the night. They were safe from the constant bullets flying all around them as they lay on their floors day by day just trying to make it to the next one. That was surviving. They were laughing and playing and talking about their futures. The locals accepted them and helped when they can. They were once again a part of a community and Coyote knew he would give up any possession he had to see his family as happy as they were.

An intense cold chill went through his body as his mind repeated his partner’s words.

“What does any of this have to do with right now?” He asked trying to make it all make sense.

A massive wave landed over the raft sending them tilting. Coyote slipped, sliding to the opposite side of the raft where the refugees caught him before he fell off.

His wife’s words of the chaotic sea drifted through his head once again as the raft leveled itself on the water and he stood.

He had promised himself that he would get everyone to safety, but the storm’s ferocity and Wolf’s choices threatened to unravel everything. The waves crashed over the sides of the raft in a slow effect, as if the world was slowing down with each hit.

The cold spray stung Coyote’s face as he fought to keep everyone calm and the raft steady. His mind once again raced through the countless journeys he had made, through all the near disasters he had successfully avoided. If he could get through the storm, he would have one last chance to enjoy the promise of their better tomorrow.

He made his way back to Wolf who shook his head immediately.

“We’ve done enough Amil. We’ve gotten so many families over. We deserve something for all e have sacrificed.”

Coyote knew that Wolf had done something extreme just by the way he’d said his name.

A bright light flashed quick from a distance and Coyote watched in horror as Wolf pulled a flashlight from beneath his large sweater.

Everyone was throwing questions at them rapidly and Coyote was overwhelmed as his mind tried to catch up with what was going on around him.

“What boat is that, can they help us?”

“Why are they flashing their light? Is it the Rebels? Are they here to take us back?”

The questions kept coming as Coyote and Wolf made eye contact. Without any look of remorse Wolf turned it on and off rapidly in the direction of the extra large vessel that was now moving in their direction.

His heart broke as realization finally dawned on him that his best friend had sold them out. His stomach lurched violently as the storm chose that moment to surge.

“You’re safe. They are just going to take them back to the mainland. They are paying us enough per person to live the rest of our lives happy and in a nice home” Wolf explained still clicking the light on and off.

Coyote hit it out of his hand and watched as it flew into the water.

No amount of money would ever allow him to live at peace with something like that.

The boat erupted in screaming accusations and anger as Wolf started blowing a whistle and flashing another light he had hidden under his sweater. There was no way the vessel could hear through the storm, but Coyote tried to pull it away from his friends mouth anyways.

“You brought us out here just to give us back?” A man screamed wrapping his hands around Wolf’s throat.

The raft tilted and the two fell down while the water tilted them as it rode a large wave.

Coyote struggled to keep his own balance as he tried to calm everyone down. The people around him, desperate to hold on, collided with one another, their fear turning into a dire need for survival.

“Stay calm! Stay calm!” Coyote shouted, but his words were lost in the boom of thunder and the crashing of waves.

His heart dropped as another wave hit and more water accumulated at the bottom mixing in with the icy drops of rain that was already flooding their fragile vessel.

As he looked around, he saw terror in the eyes of those he was trying to save. A young girl, clutched tightly at her mother's side, looked up at him with a mixture of hope and desperation. Her eyes seemed to ask questions he didn't know the answers to anymore.

Would they make it?

Will the journey be worth it in the end?

Should they turn around?

Was the boat really the Rebels coming to collect them?

Coyote’s heart ached as he looked out at the sea. He had always managed to navigate through the storms before, yet the sea seemed intent on swallowing them whole. He had no idea how he could maneuver the storm and keep away from the vessel that was back to flashing its light looking for them in the darkness. The fear he currently held in his heart was even more intense than when he first did the journey with his family.

Two men had managed to wrestle the flashlight and whistle from Wolf and were arguing aggressively about not wanting to chance capture.

Wolf screamed in frustration as the boat’s light started shifting away from where they were. He plopped down angrily as everyone looked at them both in confusion.

They hadn’t yet realized that he had sold them off. Thinking he just wanted out of the storm and onto the safety of the vessel. To them they had all decided it wasn’t worth the risk. To him they were standing in the way of him sleeping in a warm bed or a thin sleeping bag.

Wolfe slowly grabbed the laser out of his pocket and pushed it repeatedly behind him as everyone else focused on removing as much water from the raft as possible. When the light landed on the raft and the boat started towards them once again, everyone stared at him as he sat back relieved, the laser falling from his hands and onto the floor.

The man from before lunged at Wolf trying to throw him over and the raft erupted in chaos as multiple people tried to separate the two and others panicked watching the large boat getting closer.

Coyote felt himself being pushed to the side as he tried to get the men from off of Wolfe who he still cared about. He did not want to see his best friend thrown over, regardless of his bad decisions. Coyote tried to steady himself, but the combined force of the storm, the slick wet wood beneath his feet, the scared crowd, and the jerking of the raft was too much at once.

He was knocked over.

Hitting the water, Coyote immediately felt the hostile grip of the chilling darkness pulling him down.

He struggled to get back to the raft, but the chaos around him was overwhelming. Wave after wave sending him tumbling under before he could take a breath. He came up just in time to see his best friend go over as well, just as he was pulled back down.

The wind and rain were making it hard to see around him as he bobbed up and down with the angry sea right before another wave took him under.

By the time he was able to break the surface and catch his breath, the raft was barely visible.

In those final moments, as the cold and darkness enveloped him, Coyote’s thoughts raced through the memories of his journeys. He thought of the families he had helped, the lives he had saved, and the hope he had tried to give them. He didn’t know if Wolfe made it back on the raft or if he would take his chance with trying to alert the Rebels for rescue. Either way if the raft wasn’t captured Wolf was a dead man.

Coyote thought of the chaos he had hoped to leave behind; The war-torn island that had driven his people to risk everything for a chance at a better life.

He was supposed to be their guide through the menacing waters, but in the storm’s cruel twist of fate, and the betrayal of his partner he had become another part of their struggle.

As the darkness closed in and the roaring storm became a muffled silence, Coyote’s final regret was the same as his last hope; that somehow, everyone might find a way to survive, even without him.