I had a feeling I wouldn’t die today. I have a sixth sense!
Look, I escaped from that coffin that was sinking.
I quickly knot the cord of my life jacket to Eve’s cord. Whether alive or dead, we’ll stay together.
I look at her. This vest is specially designed to keep a person’s head above water. Is she really dead? If so, it means she’s the third person I’ve seen dead in the last few hours.
People have started to drop like flies around me. It’s not good for my morale.
I can hear every heartbeat in my ears, and only now do I realize how tired I am. Thank God I don’t have to swim anymore. It’s wonderful that a clever person invented life jackets, otherwise I don’t know how I would cope now.
Just the thought that beneath my feet there are hundreds, maybe thousands of meters of water…
That thought has the power to drive anyone insane, whether they’re fearful or brave. There’s an abyss beneath me. Only the life jacket can save me.
“Don’t you dare give up, Tiberiu!” I encourage myself with a feeble voice. “The hardest part is over.”
But I’m not stupid.
I clearly realize that we are two specks of dust floating on an ocean. The human mind can’t comprehend what ‘as far as the eye can see’ means. It’s abnormal!
The sea is nice only when you look at it from the shore. We’re used to feeling something solid under our feet. If we don’t have anything, we lose control, we lose our minds.
I’m unable to think about anything specific anymore. All I want is to feel the earth under my feet. I want to lean on something, on anything.
Anything but a shark fin.
Lord, if you help me get out of this alive, I promise… I swear I’ll never board a plane again in my life! I’ll go home by ship or by train. I want to go home! Straight home!
And I’ll never be a nitpicker again! I’ll love the cold! I’ll love the snow! I’ll love the chill, the cough, and the colds and rheumatism!
I’ll become a monk and dedicate my life to You, Lord!
Help me, don’t abandon me!
Please!
“Wasser,” Eva moans and opens her eyes wide. “Wasser…”
She’s alive. It’s a miracle! Surely it’s a sign from God.
“‘Water? You’re right, water as far as the eye can see. But we’re alive, Eva!” I shout to her. “Aren’t you glad you’re alive?”
A wave suddenly covers us, and I swallow a mouthful of ‘wasser.’
Salty, damn it!
I have to keep my mouth shut. I talk too much for a man.
Okay, I won’t talk anymore, but I’ll think. Intensely. Let me recap:
One: I’m alive. We’re alive.
Two: The water is warm. Surely we won’t die of cold.
Three: We don’t even have to swim. The life jackets keep us afloat without any problem.
Well, that’s a wonderful thing! All we have to do is sit quietly on our backs and wait for the rescue teams. If I judge by the sun, it’s around four in the afternoon now, and I’m sure someone has already raised the alarm.
I don’t know how well organized the travel agency where Jean-Louis works is, but it’s clear that somewhere in the world an air traffic control tower is missing a plane.
Probably right now someone is worried about where we are. Someone is desperately trying to contact Jean-Louis by radio.
The logical next step is… search, isn’t it?
I’m sure the Malaysian authorities also have some rules for situations like this. Some protocols, something.
“‘I think we’ll be rescued in a maximum of two hours,” I announce to Eva. “I’m sure the Malaysians have dropped everything and already started looking for us with planes and helicopters. Someone will come here any moment now and throw an inflatable boat at us. Maybe even a few bottles of Coca-Cola… Maybe even a cold beer can.”
Eva ignores me. She keeps her eyes closed and stays silent. She’s pessimistic. She doesn’t believe me. God, how negative people annoy me!
“You’ll see!” I promise her.
Sunset comes, but the rescue teams don’t. I’m starting to lose my patience.
I have a vague sense of unease. The darkness rolling over the waters frightens me. Plus, from all this rocking up and down, I’m starting to feel the spicy ham and onion sandwich in my stomach. I feel nauseous. I shouldn’t have eaten it!
I rub my palms together and notice that the skin on my fingers is wrinkled. It’s as if I’ve been washing clothes for days on end. As if I’ve been soaking my hands in brine. What if the skin on my fingers starts to peel off?
I’m so tired that I doze off for a few seconds. A wave hits me in the face. Three seconds of sleep and then… splash!
And sleep again.
And splash!
Although it’s dark, I start to see all sorts of underwater apparitions floating around. No, it’s not an illusion. I’m convinced that somewhere, just below us, there are giant creatures getting ready to take a bite out of us.
Maybe right now, two sharks as big as two trucks are lurking in the darkness, underwater, about ten meters below us, and are carefully eyeing our feet.
I clearly hear one of them saying to the other:
“Bro! Take the skinny girl on the right, and I’ll take the guy on the left.”
“Aren’t you a bit too smart?” the other one asks nervously and grins, showing his three hundred and fifty diamond-hard teeth. “I suggest you take the skinny one and let me feast on the other one. Anyway, he’s not that fat, so we’re even.”
“Oh, screw you!” the other shark snaps. “I found this one first! Mine!” he shouts, darting towards my feet with his mouth wide open.
“Take her!” I shout at the top of my lungs and wake up. “Take the skinny one!”
Eva screams in terror.
I look around. Not a single shark. Not even a fin. Damn nightmare!
Thank God it’s morning!
* * *
It’s evening again. The second evening.
I feel something I never thought I’d feel: thirst for… water.
I want fresh water, drinking water. I don’t want whisky, I don’t want beer. Just water. Clear water.
I try not to move anymore. If I don’t move, maybe the thirst will disappear.
A voice from somewhere deep inside me whispers that only tomorrow will I truly understand what thirst means. Right now, thirst is just circling around us.
“Wasser,” Eva moans.
“Yes, I know!” I grumble. “Thanks for reminding me.”
“Wasser.”
She annoys me. What does she think? That I have a water bottle somewhere hidden?
“Wasser.”
I swear I’ll kill her! I swear! I can’t stand it anymore!
Suddenly the sky dresses in a wonderful orange color, and God offers me the most beautiful sunset of my life.
Probably, the last one.
* * *
It’s noon. The sea is calmer than ever. No sign of rescue teams. Not a cloud in the sky. Up everything is blue, down again blue. Our yellow vests are the only spots of color.
No matter how inattentive an aerial searcher may be, it’s impossible to miss us. But nobody’s looking for us. Not even the damn sharks are looking for us.
“Tiberiu…” I whisper, scared. “Don’t upset God.”
No, I don’t want sharks. If even one shark were to attack us, even just one, even a sickly one, even a baby shark, we’d still have a terrible death.
“The shark doesn’t start with your throat,” I kindly inform Eva.
Nonsense! There probably aren’t even any sharks in this part of the Pacific! It’s just a myth! There are no sharks around here! They don’t exist! They don’t exist!
To avoid going crazy, I try to think about something else. It’s not hard. Thirst has returned and won’t leave me alone. I’ll think about thirst.
Such thirst… Even a beer from the fridge would be good now. Forgive me, Lord! Yes, I would settle for a beer instead of water. Or some mint tea with ice.
“Wasser.”
Nonsense, poor thing. The sun has fried our brains.
Thanks to the vests, we lie on the water on our backs. Only our heads and the vests stick out of the water. When the sun is high in the sky, you feel like your brain is starting to boil.
It’s high in the sky now.
* * *
Another day, same juice.
Here and there, clouds begin to gather. It would be wonderful if it rained. Water!
But it doesn’t rain. The clouds dissipate quickly.
“It’s wonderful weather to look for two people floating in the Pacific,” I mutter angrily. “Where the fuck are the planes?”
What planes? I haven’t even seen a bird. There’s not a soul in the sky, but I bet below us, beyond the water’s surface, things are entirely different.
Oops! This time it’s not a dream. Twice something touched me under the water. Twice I screamed in fright. Eva doesn’t even have a voice to moan anymore. She opened her eyes and closed them again.
What could have touched me? Something…
That something left, but I’m afraid it’ll come back. I’m sure it’ll come back.
“Eva,” I whisper, “hug your legs as tight as you can under you. Move as little as possible, hear? Fold your arms over your chest.”
“Wasser,” she whispers.
She has an absent look. She closes her eyes again. Her lips are cracked, and by the way she looks, I’m afraid she’s gone mad. Maybe it’s better this way.
We’re parched. Probably if the sharks were to bite us, no blood would even flow from us. Only red dust would flow.
I start to wish for death. A bullet in the head would be a relief.
Lord, I don’t want to live anymore, I don’t want You to protect me anymore!
Kill me!
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