The Swim series - Book One

Chapter 7

It was smart of them to split us up. Claire and I were worth a whole barbecue dinner if caught together, but if found alone, we were worth nothing at all. They'd doubled our teams job and the amount of time it would take to find us. Would our team come up with the same idea? I highly, highly doubted it.

"Alright, keep your phone on" Jackson told Landon before he left.

He escaped around the back of the shed with Claire, while I took off into the trees with Landon.

Brett's theory about me being smaller and therefor much easier to move was proved wrong during the first few seconds. I was so exhausted, and my brain was so fried from the sun, that I was a stumbling, sliding, falling mess, that needed more break stops than I was capable of asking for.

Landon was bored by this game and it was obvious. He really didn't seem to be in any sort of rush at all. When it was obvious I couldn't run he settled for a faster paced walk. But was that slow enough for me? No. So he had to adjust his plans again.

"Sorry..." I kept saying, when I fell over, or fell on him.

Landon was so much taller than me that I couldn't really look at his face. It was so high above me that it was completed blinded by the sun.

I needed to sit down, I needed water. And I needed someone to airlift me out of this hot box, before I crumpled over and died. I thought of this horrible movie I'd watched with my father once, about two backpackers who went missing in the outback. How long did they last? A day or two? I think one of them became so overwhelmed by the heat, that he drank something poisonous in an effort o die more quickly.

"Sit down. Take a break" Landon told me, when we made it down to the very bottom of the tree line. I could see the river in the distance and our poorly built shelter, that I was actually shocked to find still standing.

Landon sat down first and opened his backpack up, retrieving a bottle of water. When he noticed I didn't have anything he gave me an ugly looking, and then threw an extra water bottle across at me.

"Did you bring a hat?" he frowned at me, already knowing the answer.

Well no Mr Sun Safety, and news flash, neither did you.

I opened the water bottle and took a tiny sip before spitting most of it straight back up. My thirst was saying yes you need water desperately, but my stomach was saying no, no, no.

Not now, I told myself. Now is not the time to be sick. Not in front of this boy who you've already made a fool of yourself in front of before. No. Pull yourself together. Make it through one more game.

Landon took his phone out of his pocket and started to tap away. I assumed he was texting Shell. Good. Let her tell you where she is. I didn't care about winning a barbecue dinner. I just wanted this game to end quickly.

I'd always been somewhat of a fainter. When I first moved to Queensland I was sent home from school sick so many times, that on particularly hot days, my father just didn't bother sending me.

I didn't really feel faint though. Just out of it and sick. Landon had offered me a break but it didn't really feel like a break. I was afraid that if he allowed me to sit here for any longer, then I'd be unable to get back up.

"Let's go" he muttered eventually. He packed up his bag and got back onto his feet with ease, while I stumbled backwards against the tree, and used it to push my way off the ground.

Landon gave me a strange look that sort of blurred from side to side. No. Don't faint. Not here. Not with this boy.

"Are you alright?" he asked, but when he said it, it wasn't in a caring manner. He was bothered to be stuck with me in the first place, and now I was acting strange.

"Yes. I'm fine" I said. "It's just hot" I pointed out the obvious.

He stared at me for a few more seconds before turning and leading the way.

We ducked under the last of the trees and then moved around the back of my teams shelter. Please, don't hide me in there... I thought. We'd be lucky to make it out alive.

Landon didn't approach the shelter. Instead, he continued to walk around the side of it. Down towards the water, and then out towards the mangrove trees. I spotted the skid marks in the sand, before my eyes made contact with the kayaks.

There were two of them. Bright yellow with fading orange flecks. Jackson and Claire were pushing out the first boat but the second had been left aside for us.

Boats. Boys. Guards. Water. My mind continued to connect the dots.

"No" I said so quietly that Landon didn't have a chance of hearing me.

I couldn't. I wouldn't. It would be dangerous to try.

I didn't need to ask what the plan was because the plan was bright and obvious. The Yellow team weren't going to keep us hidden on the camp ground. They were going to hide us out on the water, where our rescue would be close to impossible.

But there were no life jackets. I looked around and I couldn't see them. Claire was already in her boat and holding a paddle, and arguing about something I couldn't hear. But she was in. And she was agreeing to this. Which meant that short of causing a very ugly scene, I was going to have to agree to this too.

What? No! Emily, what are you talking about? The more rationale side of me attempted to break her way through. Turn around now and run!

I couldn't explain, because explaining might mean questions. Questions hurt. And whether good intentioned or not, questions often made me want to cry.

So be vague. Tell Landon the very least amount of information. Make him understand, that this isn't an option for you! Speak. Talk. Open your mouth. Do something! Run!

Landon took his shoes off and threw them into the front of our boat. Without saying anything he turned around and waited for me to do the same.

He's a National swimmer...

If anything he goes wrong, he can help you...

No, Emily, stop it! You cannot get into this boat!

My trauma was so life altering, that rather than acknowledging it, it was just easier to pretend that it's not there. Take your shoes off, accept the hand into the boat. Don't act different, or afraid, or as petrified as you are. Just shut up and go along with it, because it's just too hard to explain.

Landon helped me into the back of the boat and then began to drag me out onto the water.

Don't be sick. Don't look down. He's asking you to sit in a boat. Nobody is asking you to swim.

"Hurry up!" Jackson called out. HE was far off in the distance with Claire. And then Landon jumped in and I braced myself for what that was going to do to me. The boat shook from side to side, and with it went the last piece of my composure.

I was crying when we pushed off. Silently, but the tears were there. I was lucky Landon had his back to me, because if turned around he'd assume I was a complete lunatic.

But wasn't I? Wasn't this the final proof of it? I was willing to risk my life, rather than to open my mouth up and speak?

Help.

No.

I can't do this, so please don't make me.

Hide me somewhere else, because I don't know how to swim.