Sofia laughs. “Are you serious, Isa?”
“No, no. I’m not.” I shrug, making Sofia laugh harder.
“Oh my God, you two are perfect for each other,” she says, rolling her eyes.
Sofia lays her head back against the inflated pillow on the tube. I can’t help but laugh at the penis standing up on the top of her head. I lie back on my pillow as well.
My eyelids start to feel heavy. Each time I blink, it feels like I’m adding half a pound to each one. The soothing sounds of the river flowing and the birds chirping, combined with the knowledge that I’m safe with Valentina and Sofia, is the perfect recipe for a quick nap. And so I do.
* * *
“Isabella! Wake up!” Valentina shouts as she shakes me awake, startling me.
“What the hell, Val? I was having the best nap.”
“We’re approaching the rapids!”
I immediately perk up. Suddenly, the river doesn’t feel as safe as it once did. We all look ahead like meerkats, trying to see when to brace ourselves. I can see the part where the water begins to get rocky, and it is quickly approaching. If I were by myself, I would be terrified. But since I’m with Val and Sof, I somehow feel better. As if we are on this adventure together, and we’re going to go out together. Everyone else has gone through just fine, so why won’t we?
Just as quickly as it approaches, we start getting rocked by the choppy waves, shaking us up in every direction. We hold on to the handles on the edges of our tubes and keep our legs inside for extra stability. The river is creating a ripple effect between us. When Sofia gets pulled away, Val and I follow suit. When Valentina gets jerked to the left, Sof and I follow suit.
“Ow!” Valentina yelps.
“What happened?” I shout.
“I think this area is a bit shallow. Watch out for rocks!”
I look down into the water and notice the taller rocks passing by. It is only a matter of time before we all get bruised butts from hitting so many of them. But, for the most part, we are able to navigate through the rapids. We start to settle down, feeling more confident in our abilities. Valentina laughs, enjoying the ride now that it isn’t as scary. Her amusement makes me laugh too. Then Sofia joins in. It isn’t so bad and certainly isn’t like Splash City.
“Iceberg, straight ahead!” Valentina shouts.
A large boulder begins to make an appearance, and it is heading right toward us. If we don’t move out of the way, we’ll slam right into it and get stuck between the rushing water and the rock.
“We need to move!”
In unison, we all start to paddle away from each other, but we can’t seem to move. The boulder continues to be in our path. Now I am beginning to panic.
“Why can’t we move?” I shriek.
“We’re still hooked!” Sofia screams.
We forgot Daniel’s instruction to unhook ourselves before entering the rapids—the most important rule. Sofia quickly unsnaps herself from Valentina and starts working on unsnapping from my tube.
“It’s not unlocking!”
“Let me try mine,” Valentina cries out.
I watch as they both desperately try to unhook from my tube. The boulder is too close at this point. It is time to brace for impact. Within a second, my tube smashes into the boulder. The sheer force breaks the hooks and sends Sofia and Valentina flying down the river. I try to push off, but the river pins me into the rock. This must be how theTitanicfelt. I try again to pull away, this time managing to slide around it slowly. When I reach the edge, the water pressure shoots me out and causes me to flip over, off the tube and straight into the water.
“Isa!” they both yell.
I alternate between having my head above the water and being fully submerged. The river is deep enough at this point that I am not too worried about slamming into another rock, but my legs keep bumping into smaller ones, giving me nicks and scrapes. I need to get a grip on something. I don’t even know where my tube is anymore. The river looks completely different from this angle. The water begins to slow down, which helps me calm down, knowing the rapids are nearly over. However, I still can’t seem to keep my head above water and continue bopping up and down like a hopeless buoy.
“Isabella!” Valentina shouts, her voice sounding close by.
“Val!” I try to shout but choke on the river water and dip back into the water.
As I float underwater, for a moment, everything is still. I feel peaceful. As if I have nothing to worry about anymore. Something in the universe is telling me that everything will be okay. Or it’s my brain preparing for my untimely death.
