CHAPTER 5

Harsh sunlight assaulted her eyes. Bella clutched her head above her right temple, feeling the burn sear beneath the skin into bone.

"You're bleeding, don't move."

She stopped her movements on command, allowing herself to relax at the sound of Edward's voice. He seemed to know what he was doing. After all, he pulled her from the plane.

The memory of her mom's figure floating into the darkness, returned full force form her subconscious. Suddenly she couldn't breathe.

"Sh, Bella it's Ok" his hand stroked her hair back behind her ears. "You're safe."

She breathed deep, concentrating all her anxiety into her clenched hand around another; at least she was holding onto something. She let out an unsteady breath. She became aware of the sounds of lapping water beneath her.

"Thank you" she whispered before opening her eyes to meet his. He was kneeling beside her with an open first aid kit, worry etched on his freckled face. For a moment she was content to sit and stare, not say anything at all. Any other time previously, she would have blushed and shied away from an encounter; but not after last night.

Why did he save me…why did he go back?

"Ouch" she winced as he applied cool salt water to the wound.

"Sorry. The salt will draw out anything bad. It will sting though." He continued to gently dab the area with wet gauze.

"How did it happen?" her voice was cracked and dry.

Edward sat back, letting out a breath he had been holding. "You were, um," he rubbed the back of his neck, staring into another corner of the boat "you were trying to rescue your mom, and didn't see a piece of metal piping had fallen from the roof – hit you square in the head."

Her throat tightened. Tears began to sting behind her eyes. Edward shuffled uncomfortable with the bandaging, searching for something to say but ending up leaving them in silence.

"Thank you" she managed to mumble, their words carrying more weight than their sound. Edward made some sort of half-hearted nod, busying himself with applying the last of the bandaging on her forehead before heading to the corner of the lifeboat. Both knew it wasn't the right time to revisit last night, not yet. Everything was still fresh. They were still in it.

She attempted to sit up and scan the perimeter, but her head was throbbing. Coming to her knees slowly, she noticed other debris littered the lifeboat; a couple backpacks, a couple nondescript boxes, a soaked cardboard box.

"I've been dragging things into the boat while you've been asleep"

He had pulled his shirt sleeves of his oatmeal crew-neck sweater to bunch at his shoulders.

"How long have I been out?"

"Just a couple hours. Sun came up 2 hours ago."

She nodded, pulling her knees into her chest.

The waves lapped languidly beneath her. Debris still scattered the surface; the only evidence last night even occurred.

Bella was afraid to speak, afraid to voice her fears. She watched as Edward organized some of the debris in the lifeboat, taking inventory of the flares they had. He stopped for a moment to stare up at the horizon.

"How long do you think it'll be before someone finds us?" her voice was barely above a whisper, yet the ocean carried it like an empty echo-chamber.

Edward was afraid of the awful truth, that he didn't know if anyone ever would find them. He peered up at Bella's brown eyes.

At least he wasn't alone.

"Soon" he managed to choke out.

They both were smart enough not to dwell on their situation; whether they were wise, or just too tired, they didn't find it any use talking about the uncertainty of their fate. Instead, they made use of the time they had. The rest of the day Bella and Edward hauled small suitcases, bags, seat-life-preservers, and other valuable wreckage into their large life boat. The faded red boat itself could have fit at least 12 more people; a fact that wasn't lost on Bella and Edward.

They didn't say much during the day. Both of them watched the sun dip below the horizon, and a chill washed over them with the clear night sky.

Bella stared up in amazement at the innumerable stars spattering the heavens. A long hue of blues, purples and greens traversed the sky.

Edward quietly shuffled himself closer to Bella's trembling form. She inched closer, leaning her head onto his shoulders. They watched the sky, feeling weightless, rocked by the waves, and encased by cold. Edward draped an arm across Bella's shivering form.

She shielded her eyes to the rays of heat pelting on her face. Her entire body felt enveloped in sticky hot sweat.

Her mouth had been open in her sleep, and she instantly regretted it. Her tongue felt like sandpaper. She opened her weary eyes to see Edward still asleep next to her. It must have been around 8 am.

His eyes were red rimmed, but his face was flushed – his body sweating unbeknownst to him. He looked incredibly uncomfortable.

Bella was so thirsty; never had she felt so thirsty in her life. She reached out weakly, tugging on Edward's sweater so that he fell forward onto her stomach. She shielded him, leaning forward onto his form so that her dark hair encased them both.

An hour later she awoke to the sun beaming down onto her- heating up her dark hair. It was uncomfortably warm; but she didn't mind the boy lying on her legs, shielding his face from the sun.

She lazily opened her eyes, spotting that copper popping up from her lap. Her hand instinctually reached for the color, running her hands through the soft, long mane of hair.

Edward moved against her legs with hesitation, as if he was warring against getting up.

"What…what time is it?"

"It's probably 10. We've slept through the morning."

Edward moved abruptly to a sitting position, blinking his eyes wildly. They stared into the distance before them.

"I'm so thirsty" Bella swallowed, grabbing her throat.

"I know" Edward looked at her, grimacing. "I haven't thought of way to purify the water yet" he looked onward guiltily

Bella shook her head "It's not your responsibility. I feel like dead weight, I haven't done anything-"

"It's okay, you're recovering" Edward made a moved forward. He seemed slower to Bella than yesterday; weaker.

She felt a lump in her throat "Edward" she called out.

He turned at the sound, as if on instinct. It was then Bella saw the glorious small green sliver in the distance behind Edward's form – the color looked so similar to Edward's green eyes, she got distracted.

"Look!" Bella pointed to the small mass. Edward whirled around. Both grinned, realizing that in their fates had instantly changed.

Edward nodded, smiling. He stood, shielding his eyes to get a better view.

"It looks like the current is taking us right to it!"

It was unspoken – the feeling of relief. The realization that their fates, their current thirsts, their futures - although uncertain, had better odds than only 24 hours prior.

Bella blinked, trying to mentally push her headache onto a back-burner. "How do you know all this…stuff?"

He breathed in deep through his nostrils, his neck and shoulders becoming stiff, eyes serious. "My dad."

Bella immediately regretted asking.

"What happened? How did…how did any of this happen?"

"I…don't know. When the plane went down, the first class cabin started filling with water, but the raft devices had already been inflated and ejected out I guess – because when I swam out one was already out there."

Bella watched his adam's apple drop. "But you came back. Why?"

He dropped his gaze before fixing it on the green mass ahead. "My parents. I knew they were gone, …it was..."

He continued to stare at the horizon. "I was a coward for getting out, and leaving them behind. I went back in through the emergency exit door to retrieve…" he trailed off, but his expression never changed. "I wanted to bury them properly if I had the chance." He lowered his head. "But then I saw you, and you were the only person alive. And you were holding your mom and trying to get the other exit door open. And this huge piece of metal fell on you – and, well I didn't even think about it. I just knew I had to get you out."

The vision of her mom's form fading into the dark replayed in the deep recesses of her memory, forever ingrained. She recalled waking, finding a few people alive, but crying for help. They were injured.

"People were shouting."

"Everyone had drowned by then, I guess. At least, anyone I saw underwater."

"And your parents," Bella suddenly felt guilty for deterring Edward from his mission – a proper burial for his parents.

"I'm …so sorry…" the tears were unmerciful, and fell without hope of stopping. She remembered the woman with her graceful copper curls, the adoring way her husband looked at her – they were a family. Just like her mom –

She let out a small yelp and buried her face in her hands.

"Please, don't cry – it doesn't make any sense to cry over that – you're alive." He enveloped her in his arms and rested his head onto her strawberry scented hair. He breathed in deep, finding a sense of calm and completeness in the smell. Bella wrapped her arms up and grasped his shoulders.

"I'm so, so sorry Edward. For everything. - "

"I'm sorry too Bella, about your mom."

They stayed still as the mid-day sun beat down on them. Edward eventually took the tarp and covered them in protection as Bella cried into his shoulder. He rested them both into the crux of the lifeboat, spent, drained, waiting until they felt the tug of sand beneath their lifeboat….