Tangled Ripples Read online

  Tangled Ripples

  by Erin Thedwall

  _

  Tangled Ripples

  © Copyright 2017 Erin Thedwall

  All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America

  No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief written quotations in critical articles and reviews. For permissions requests, write to the publisher at the address below.

  Emerald Rose Publishing

  [email protected]

  www.emeraldrosepublishing.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and other incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any similarity to or identification with the name, character, or history of any person, product, or entity is entirely coincidental and unintentional. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  ISBN 978-0-9990526-0-0

  eBook ISBN 978-0-9990526-1-7

  First Edition

  Cover Art by Laura McGinn

  lauramcg.net

  Dedicated to

  Tom Gerencher

  Forever lighting my way

  ˜

  { Chapter 1 }

  The darkness overpowered Arista, leaving her feeling helplessly amazed. She never realized how much she had taken her sight for granted. How much it hurt losing the ability to see and instantly know what was around her. Instead, the world was blacker, darker, and colder than anything she had felt before. As her senses slowly trickled back, worse than not seeing, she knew she would soon be unable to breathe. Her hands grasped her neck, wanting to stop the changes taking place beneath her flesh.

  There wasn’t much time left.

  I will die if I don’t make it to the surface.

  She frantically kicked her legs to propel herself toward the water’s surface. Surrounded by the pitch-black water, she had no idea how much farther she needed to travel. Instead of easily gliding through the water as she always had, her body felt heavy. She realized her remaining air wouldn't be enough. She pushed through the water with more ferocity despite the burning in her lungs. Her need for air turned more desperate. It became harder to fight the desire to open her mouth and let the water rush in.

  As her breathing slowed, Arista pushed her dark hair out of her eyes to see the moon for the first time. Though mostly obscured by a hazy ring of clouds, the moon was still bigger and brighter than she had imagined. The water glittered and danced underneath it, bouncing shards of light all around. As it hung over her in the sky, those feelings of regret and remorse washed away. She slowly moved her arms and legs treading water, soaking in the moonlight for several minutes.

  The icy water numbing her limbs pulled her back to reality.

  I have to keep going.

  In the distance, she saw the outline of a dark shadow sitting on the water. Her legs ached with a deep throbbing pain. Each kick sent an agonizing burn through her whole body, but she couldn’t give up — not yet. She swam towards the shadow, but soon realized the distance was deceptive in the darkness. It was much farther away than she had first thought. The exertion caused her arms and legs to shudder and she wanted to stop and drift in the water. It felt like hours passed before she finally made it.

  Disappointment and worry overwhelmed Arista when she discovered the shadow was nothing more than a buoy sitting idly on the water. With each passing minute, the water felt colder.

  As the water began to brighten, she thought her fear was deceiving her. There was a faint light ahead. Although every inch of her body screamed and pleaded to turn back, she forced herself to swim harder. Kick faster.

  But the burning was unbearable.

  I have to breathe.

  Her heart pounded more with each passing second, pulsing all the way to her fingertips. Black spots appeared in front of her, spinning and growing before her eyes. Teasing and taunting her to let go and breathe. She tried to hold out, but it was too much. She gave in to the panic.

  Just a quick breath.

  Arista opened her mouth and the water streamed in. The immediate feelings of relief and comfort gave way to a wrenching pain as the water ravaged her lungs.

  She was close enough to the surface that her instinctive desire to survive pushed her the rest of the way. Her head emerged and she coughed up water, in turn swallowing deep gulps of the cold night air. After all that work to get there, she couldn’t even enjoy it — the pain was far too great. Instead, she spent her first moments out of the water wishing she had never left.

  I didn’t come all this way to die in the water.

  The moon broke free of the clouds, surrounded by a tapestry of glittering stars. Against the horizon, she spotted yet another shadow. This one appeared much larger than the buoy. She hoped it was a ship — that would be her only chance to survive the night.

  It took all her remaining strength to pull herself out of the water and onto the edge of the buoy. Her skin tensed against the breeze that blew across her. She felt even colder out of the water with her body exposed to the air. Arista pulled her knees up tightly against her chest as she stared at the shadow, willing it to come her direction. Hoping someone would see her.

  Then, the world went black.

  …

  Gavin Payne was steering his boat toward the Michigan shoreline when the shout came from the deck. There’s no way he could have heard that correctly; no one would be in the water this late at night. He cut the engine to investigate. He and his friends had departed Chicago earlier that evening to venture across the lake to his house in Michigan for a laidback weekend of drinking and fishing. Apparently, they weren’t off to a relaxing start.

  The moon cast its light across the deck, where Derek and Jay were leaning over the edge of the railing. He strained his eyes in the darkness until he finally saw the outline of a buoy bobbing back and forth.

  “Watch the boat,” he yelled. “It doesn’t need another scratch.”

  Gavin stood next to them and looked over the side. They had thrown a woven rope hammock over the railing and lowered it to the base of the buoy. Although he couldn’t see well in the dark, it did look like a person. Derek used a pole to try to push whatever it was off the buoy and into the netting. After several attempts, he finally succeeded and they pulled the hammock back into the boat.

  Gavin kneeled on the deck and pushed aside the woven netting. A deep knot formed in his stomach and his heart sank with the wrenching realization. It was a person.

  A woman.

  She appeared to be their age, in her mid-twenties or so. Her eyes were closed and her dark hair spilled across her face in tangled knots. Her lips were blue from the cold and her fingers were starting to turn the same icy shade.

  “Grab a blanket,” Gavin said to Jay, who ran below the deck. “She’s freezing.”

  Derek kneeled next to Gavin and together they pulled the rest of the netting away.

  “How on earth do you think she ended up here?” Derek asked, as they freed her hand and stiff fingers from the last of the hammock cords.

  “Who knows, maybe she fell overboard from a boat,” Gavin responded. “How did you guys even spot her?”

  “Jay was playing with the light, looking for fish that come to the surface at night. I don’t know, I was still finishing my beer. Then he noticed the buoy was off-kilter.”

  Gavin hovered close above her, trying to block the wind from hitting her. He lifted her head into his hand to keep it off the cold deck and she stirred slightly.


  “Ple…”

  “Did you hear that?” Gavin asked, turning back to Derek. “I think she said something.”

  Derek shook his head, so Gavin leaned down and pulled her closer.

  “Help…” she whispered, the word barely crossing her lips.

  Gavin furrowed his brow, not believing his own ears. “Come on,” he said. “We need to get her inside.”

  Jay returned with a small fleece blanket that they carefully wrapped around her. Derek and Gavin lifted her up and carried her into the small cabin beneath the deck. Jay folded down the tiny frame that served as a bed and they laid her gently on top of it.

  The three men stood there watching her, unsure of what to do next.

  “We should phone this in to the Coast Guard,” Gavin said, breaking the silence. “See if anyone’s been reported missing.”

  “Or maybe we wait,” Derek said, eyeing her cautiously. “You don’t just end up in the middle of the lake on a buoy. Maybe she didn’t want to be found.”

  “Then why would she have climbed onto the buoy in the first place?” Jay responded. “I’m with Gavin, let’s call it in.”

  “Let’s at least wait until she wakes up and see what she wants to do,” Derek argued.

  “That’s if she wakes up,” Gavin said. He squatted by the side of the small bed. Her hair was soaking wet, the ends stiff from the long exposure to the frigid temperature in the lake. The flesh on her arm remained cold to his touch. “She’s still freezing. I think there might be another blanket in the bridge, and we should grab a towel for her hair. We need to make her warmer.”

  Gavin tucked the blanket around her as tightly as he could. “I’ll go see what I can find,” he said, darting up the few stairs back to the deck.

  He rustled through a bin shoved in the corner of the bridge. To his relief, there was another blanket and a sweatshirt. He paused in front of the radio, wanting to follow his instinct that she needed more help than they could offer. But perhaps Derek was right, maybe they should wait. Gavin shook his head at the idea and an image of his parents floated into his mind.

  He had been leery of boats since their accident six years earlier. He had only bought this one a few months prior after his friends convinced him to spend more time on the lake. His heart ached at the thought of someone witnessing his parents’ accident and not calling for help. It could have saved their lives.

  His hand was paused over the radio when Jay barreled into the bridge.

  “Gavin, you need to get down there. I can’t stop him by myself.”

  The pair raced back to the cabin. Derek had his back turned to them, bent over the girl on the bed. The blanket had been tossed on the ground.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing!” Gavin yelled, shoving Derek away from her.

  “You said we needed to warm her up. I can’t think of a better way,” he said, grinning as he struggled to pull his shirt over his head. Gavin pushed him to the ground, knocking him into a nearby chair.

  “Jay, take her into the bridge,” Gavin said through gritted teeth. He stepped closer to Derek, who was getting back to his feet. Gavin shoved him back down. “You’re not going near her.”

  “And who made you boss?” Derek growled, scooting backwards on the floor to put some distance between them. Even from there, Gavin smelled the alcohol on his breath.

  “My boat, my rules,” Gavin said, leaving the room and slamming the door behind him. He pushed the bolt into place as Derek rushed the door, pounding his fists against it.

  “You’ve got to be kidding! Let me out of here!” he yelled, beating on the door.

  Gavin walked into the bridge as the engine revved back into action. Jay had set the girl on the floor, covering her with both blankets. He looked at Gavin and shrugged as he turned back to the wheel to keep the boat on course.

  “I wasn’t sure what else to do with her,” he said.

  “That’s fine for now. We should get the Coast Guard out here before anything else happens,” Gavin said. He stood next to Jay where the black marine radio sat on a shelf. After untangling the cord, Gavin pressed the button on the handset. He frowned when he didn’t hear the expected clicking sounds. The screen on the main unit faintly displayed the coordinates on its orange surface. He hit the button several more times to no avail, and then knelt in front of the radio for a closer look. When he pressed the call button again, the entire unit went dark.

  “Piece of crap,” he muttered as he yanked it from the shelf. He flipped open the battery cover and groaned at the corroded surfaces. Jay looked over from behind the wheel.

  “You never replaced the batteries?”

  “I didn’t think about it. I haven’t needed this thing yet. It’s only the third time I’ve even stepped onto the boat since I bought it. I don’t think I have any batteries either.” Gavin sighed as he glanced back at the woman lying on the floor. “Why don’t you drop the two of us off and then head back to the city with Derek. I’m sure he’ll come to his senses when he sobers up, but I don’t want him near her in the meantime. I’ll get some help once we land.”

  Jay nodded in grim agreement. Gavin knelt next to the young woman. He unwrapped the blanket from around her long enough to slide his sweatshirt over her head. Her dark hair tumbled out in wet waves and, as he moved her head to the side, he saw three jagged lines scratched from her jaw down to her neck.

  Those had better not be from Derek.

  He wrapped the blankets back around her. She was still so cold. The boat hit a patch of waves and rocked violently, so Gavin lifted her into his arms to brace them both against the wall of the cabin. He felt her heart, faint but still beating.

  When they reached the shore, Jay helped Gavin carry the woman off the boat. Derek responded as they walked past with a flurry of profanities, banging his fists against the locked door. Gavin wished Jay luck and watched from the dock as Jay turned his boat away, headed back to the city. Gavin turned back with his mystery girl held tightly in his arms and carried her into the house. As he turned the knob on the front door, she moved lightly against him. She was already regaining some color in her face.

  He carried her into the bedroom and tucked her into bed.

  ˜

  { Chapter 2 }

  Even before opening her eyes, Arista knew something was different. She awoke surrounded by penetrating warmth and, as her eyes blinked open, saw a warm yellow glow. Her vision took a while to adjust enough for her to see the navy blue blanket wrapped around her. She was happy to be warm and out of the water, but that sense of calm vanished when she realized she wasn’t alone.

  A young man sat only a few feet away from her, fast asleep in a chair with his arms crossed and his chin resting against his chest. Arista lay there racking her brain, trying to remember how she ended up there and who the man could be. But it was useless; all she remembered was the water.

  Without making a sound, she wiggled her toes. They ached, but she could move them. Her legs felt intensely sore all the way up to her hips. She ran a hand along the inside of her legs, expecting to find an extended scar from the transition. Surprisingly, her skin was smoothed over. She flexed her legs and tested her muscles all the way up through her neck. Satisfied that she wasn’t injured too badly, she turned her thoughts to escaping.

  She sat up quickly, hoping to leave without the man noticing. A wave of pain ricocheted through her head and spread throughout her body as soon as she moved. The room spun and black dots hovered in front of her eyes. Dizzy, she put her hand against the side of her head and fell back onto the bed, accidentally letting out a soft moan.

  That’s when the man sitting across from her opened his eyes. Arista shut her own eyes and held her breath. He got up from the chair and walked next to the bed, standing over her. She kept her eyes closed, hoping he would think she was still asleep. He gently brushed the hair out of her face and pulled the blanket up closer around her neck. Arista cautiously opened one eye halfway. He stretched his arms over his head and y
awned before sitting in the chair again. He ran his fingers through his sandy blonde hair as he settled back in.

  He doesn’t seem dangerous.

  She didn’t know where she was or who he was, and yet she somehow felt safe. But it couldn’t go on like that. She needed answers, so she decided to take the risk.

  “Who are you?” she asked, slowly propping herself up on an elbow to face him.

  “I should ask you the same question,” he responded in a gentle tone. “I found you in the middle of the lake last night and, honestly, you’re lucky we found you at all.”

  He pulled his chair closer to the end of the bed, watching her intently. “I’m Gavin…now, who are you? You’ve been asleep ever since we came to shore and I didn’t find any ID on you.”

  She hesitated before answering, still too exhausted to come up with a good lie.

  “I’m Arista…I ran away from home and I just…ended up there,” she said after a pause. She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  Gavin raised his brows over puzzled brown eyes. Arista knew he wasn’t convinced she was telling the truth, and she couldn’t blame him for that. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms again.

  “What do you mean you ended up there, in the middle of the lake? Did you fall off a boat or something?”

  She thought for a moment before answering. The whole truth wouldn’t do any good when Gavin was already skeptical of her story. She reached up and touched her neck. The small ridges that had formed under her ears were reminders of where she came from.

  “No, I didn’t fall off a boat. I was swimming for an awfully long time…,” she responded, drifting off. She stopped talking and looked out the window for the first time. She saw the sunlight glinting off the water, reflecting back at her from its mirrored surface. It calmed her nerves to see the water so close by.

  “Where are we?” she asked, turning back to face Gavin once more.