Waves | 𝑶.𝑷.

Part 16

𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡, 𝐒𝐲𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚
𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑:

Heidi stood up on the front of the jet ski with Jake clinging to her back.

The two were silent, the only sound being the jet ski pounding over the waves, engine revving.

The radio was running hot against Heidi's chest as she broke over the top of waves. Her head spun from side to side looking around befoe she turned the jet ski and rushed off in another direction.

"Boys, where we going exactly?" She asks down the radio.

"Just off of the back of Tama." Reidy's voice replies.

Heidi looked up straight in front of her, eyes narrowing to see if she could see over the top of the breaking waves. As she drove, Jake was looking out behind her. The go pro attached to the front of the ski caught the interactions between the two lifeguards as they searched for their fellow lifeguard who had left Tamarama beach on a rescue board.

The weather was getting worse as January went on, it had been two weeks since Heidi's birthday and storms were brewing off of the coast, pushing large swells into the beaches along New South Wales. It was a surfers paradise and Tamarama was deadly - not the place to go for a spontaneous midnight swim...

Rain pounded heavily, the waves were unforgiving and visibility was close to zero.

"There!" Jake shouts, standing up now as well.

Heidi slowed the ski as they approached Harrison on the rescue board and off-duty lifeguard Harries, who had paddled out from Tama after hearing Harrison and Glick talking in the tower.

Body retrievals were always daunting, but the conditions of this one were making it a lot worse.

Heidi killed the engine on the ski before looking over her shoulder, Jake had jumped down onto the mat to help pull the body up onto the ski.

Waves pounded against them, Harrison was being tipped off of his board and Harries was struggling to keep his under control, as the boys struggled with the body, Heidi was watching the approaching waves and swearing to herself.

"We're about to get pounded boys!" She calls out.

"Swap with me!" Jake replies.

She handed him the life jacket before swapping places, Harrison and Harries - who were already struggling on their boards - were struggling with trying to get the body onto the ski. Heidi glanced at the approaching waves over her shoulder before jumping into the water at the end of the mat, not even thinking about the consequences of what was known to lurk beneath the waves. She took a deep breath before pushing herself underneath the water to hoist the body onto the mat. With Jake reaching down holding the mans arms, she resurfaced and shook her wet hair from her face before climbing onto the mat and laying next to the body with one arm holding onto the mat and the other holding the man.

The ski was wobbling with each wave that washed underneath it. Waves broke and rushed over the top of the mat, leaving Heidi clinging on and shaking wet hair from her face.

"We're sitting bait out here!" Heidi calls out to Jake. "Can we get back to Bondi?"

Harrison and Harries were holding onto the side of the ski sat on their boards, but with each wave the ski and its occupants washed closer to the rocks. Shaking her hair from her face again, Heidi let out the breath she'd held as the wave washed over the top of the mat again before she glanced over to the nearby rocks.