“Breathe! Come on...” Georgina nudged her small chin up. “Breathe!” she shouted into the child’s ear. “I said breathe!”
The girl choked and began to struggle, kicking and slapping at the water and Georgina while she coughed up water and air.
“Stop it!” Georgina held her tighter. “Hold still or you’ll drown us both!”
The girl gasped twice, then began to struggle and kick, shaking her head from side to side and saying, “Let me go! Let me go!” She kicked Georgina in the stomach and tried to move away.
Georgina hissed. “Stop it!”
Finally the girl stilled, staring up at her with frightened eyes.
“I’m not going to hurt you. But if you don’t hold still, you’ll drown both of us.”
The child stared at her for a long tense moment.
“Do you understand?”
The girl nodded.
Georgina glanced around to get her bearings. The fog hovered right above them. She could see the rocks to her left, but they were more distant. The water was moving faster. It felt colder on her legs and the current was stronger.
She could hear the sea rushing against the island’s rocks. The sound grew louder. Closer. The current was carrying them away from rocks and the cave.
Georgina clamped her arm over the child’s bony chest so she was pinned against her body. Then she began to swim, taking one-armed strokes that were deep but difficult. It was like swimming through mud.
When the stitch in her side became so sharp that breathing was hard, she paused and treaded water to rest. She stared blankly at the water and the white fog surrounding them.
This seemed so futile. And she was tired. The child coughed and Georgina looked down at her. She knew she needed to keep the girl’s head above water.
And my own.
She almost laughed out loud. Keeping her head above water...
“Seems that’s all I’ve done lately,” she muttered.
She felt the girl’s stare and looked down at her. This was Georgina’s own little snippet of irony. No one else but her bankers would understand.
So she began to swim again in the same hard-fought, side-arm strokes. Her breath grew short and sharp. It felt as if the tide and current were giant hands trying to hold her back and keep her from reaching the shore.
To get her bearings she glanced left, right, then back over her shoulder. A faint glow of yellow light spilled through the mouth of the cave, making it look for one crazy moment like a cynical smile. She stared at it, knowing that smile would slowly and eerily disappear as the tide filled the cave.
The fog rolled up and down with the sea like shades on a window. One moment she could catch a snatch of black rocky coastline. The next moment there was nothing but a cocoon of mist.
She didn’t swim on. She knew to wait until the fog lifted high enough for her to see the cave. Then she could gain some perspective. And when that mist finally did lift a bit, the light from the cave had grown smaller; the smile was narrow now and upside down like a frown.
Amy had to be inside the cave. The lantern was still there. But the tide was rising and it would trap her. She took a deep breath and shouted, “Amy!”
There was no answer.
“Amy!”
Still nothing.
“Amy!”
The air sounded as if it carried a distant voice. Or she thought it did.
“Amy!” she screamed as loudly as she could.
