Tide (Story)

Short story from the Time Out AU

Story
Point of View: Marvi Mullen

“Marvi, hurry up!”

“I’m coming!” yelled the eight-year-old as he finished tying his shoelaces and took a sprint to catch up with the group. The wind blew through his light blonde locks, and the summer sun shone brightly on his pale skin.

“I told you we weren’t gonna wait for you,” a little girl teasingly said.

“I know, Sam,” Marvi said. He chuckled and jumped out of excitement. “I can’t wait to see the boats either.”

“Marvi?” Sam asked, her eyes widened in wonder. “What are… boats like?”

“Have you never seen… a boat before?” It was supposed to be curiosity, but it sounded a little more judging than Marvi planned. Sam shook her head with what seemed to be shame, and Marvi immediately felt bad.

Two hands grabbed his shoulders. “Now, easy there, Marvi,” his older sister, Lori, told him as if their age gap was much more than only three years. Before he could respond, Lori had already turned to Sam. “It’s okay to have never seen a boat before. I promise it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”

The little girl smiled. “I have seen toys. And pictures. But never real boats.”

“Real boats are really cool,” Marvi stated. “I wish I could be on one sometime.”

 

Though this was his third time, the boats were still as incredible as ever. Little Marvi sat next to Sam and Lori on the shore, watching the boats passing by. Marvi had Sam’s eyes and mouth never seen so far open. Tides crashed onto the shore, but they were sitting meters higher than the water could get.

As the last boat passed beneath the bridge and sailed away into the horizon, Sam said: “I never wanna get up again.”

Janna, the group elder, tried pulling the girl up. “But it’s getting dark, Samira. We have to go home.”

“I wanna wait here until the boats come again. And again!”

“Hey little bear,” Lori said, as she grabbed her little brother’s shoulder. “Mama’s waiting for you at home.”

He looked to the girl next to him, yelling at the eleven-year-old standing there waiting patiently for her to finish. Then he looked up to his sister and stood up. “Yeah, let’s go.”

They stood up and said goodbye to their friends, and would’ve continued their way home if Marvi wouldn’t have asked Lori to wait for him just a little.

“I need to tie my shoes.”

Lori sighed but smiled. “Take your time, Mar.”

As he sat down on the cold stone bench, his attention dwelled off to Janna and Sam, who was still refusing to get up.

“I don’t wanna go home! I want to see more boats.”

“Sam-”

“I want to go to the boats down there!”

“Samira? Samira!”

A scream, followed by a splash. Marvi didn’t take the time to finish tying his shoelaces and turned around, running to the shore.

Marvi witnessed the little girl lying in the water, freaking out and struggling like crazy, submerging and surfacing, yelling something he couldn’t understand. Every muscle in his body screamed to help her, but his whole body was frozen. The voice in his head was yelling, crying, screaming, but not a single body part responded. His arms, his legs, his head - everything was switched off. As if he couldn’t handle what he was taking in.

And then there was Janna.

Old, big Janna, who dove into the water with an elegant dive, leaving her thin jacket still on the shore. Janna, who carefully laid Sam onto her stomach and made even the crying Tamara quiet for a second. Janna, who for a second made everyone believe it was going to be just fine.

But Sam never stopped writhing. Janna tried to swim, but Sam’s struggling made it near to impossible for her to move. She paddled with one hand towards the staircase, while holding Sam with the other. It was a pointless effort.

The last thing Marvi saw was Janna’s facial expression, a mixture of tiredness, loss, and defeat, before the current submerged the two.

And there he stood.

Inbetween the adults, moving to see what there was left to see. Inbetween his crying friends. But Marvi didn’t move, didn’t cry. He only stood, as if he turned to stone right then and there.

“Little bear.”

And with that voice, the soothing, low voice of his sister, it was as if he regained consciousness. The little boy gasped for breath, not realizing he had held it the entire time.

“Sam…? Janna…?” It was more of a statement than a question, but Lori seemed to understand. Her only response was a barely noticeable nod.

“We should go home,” she said as if nothing was wrong, as if tears weren’t streaming down her cheeks. “Mom is probably worried.”

Marvi didn’t answer but took his sister’s hand. He looked back one more time, as his eyes fell on the thin jacket still laying on the shore. Then, trying to push away his tears, he turned his head to his sister, as they silently made their way home, his shoelaces still left untied.