Adrift To Reconcile

The storm had been raging for three days, and Korina was sick of it. Unable to sleep, she decided to get up and take a break from the incessant rocking of the boat. She hadn’t slept well in ages, that was for sure.

The ship was only a few days out of Marseille, but some kind of current had carried them far past their intended course, and they were now lost in uncharted waters. They had enough food, they were still one day ahead of schedule, but this journey had been an absolute nightmare.

Korina made her way down the creaking wooden stairs of the ship towards the hold where all the passengers were confined during this trip. The hold was small, barely large enough for all thirty passengers to fit. The Captain had promised that it would be safer for them all to wait below deck rather than on deck during the voyage; natural light might attract whales or sharks or other predators that could attack their ship. But after three days with no daylight, Korina felt like she would go mad if she didn’t get some fresh air soon.

She turned a corner into what looked like the kitchen area, and as she did she bumped into someone with more force than she’d intended. They both fell over onto the floor, Korina landing on top of them and losing her breath as a result of being knocked backwards by whatever it was that she had hit. She pulled herself up off the person beneath her to find that it was Marguerite sprawled out on the floor with her.

Marguerite stared at her unblinkingly in silence for a long moment before dissolving into hysterical laughter. “I thought you were dead!” She wheezed between fits of giggles. “You scared me so much!” She lifted a hand up and wiped away tears from underneath her eyes as they finally subsided into regular chuckles instead of uncontrollable laughter. “I mean… You almost killed me!” She continued laughing again until she caught sight of Korina’s face. She suddenly stopped laughing and looked at her with concern instead. “Are you okay? Did you hit your head?” She reached out and pinched Korina’s cheek lightly to see if she was conscious.

Korina swatted her hand away indignantly and stood up from where she’d fallen onto Marguerite below deck. “What am I doing? Why did I even do that? What is wrong with me?” She muttered to herself as she shook her head in wonderment at how calm Marguerite was under these circumstances; it was ridiculous! They had just been talking about how dangerous this trip was earlier today! How could Marguerite be acting like nothing happened? It wasn't normal!

Marguerite rolled onto her stomach and propped herself up onto her elbows so that she could look up at Korina while they talked without having to crane her neck at an uncomfortable angle while on the floor. She grinned at Korina in an utterly manic fashion before wrapping her arms around Korina's legs in a tight hug and burying her face into Korina's knees while continuing to squeeze tightly as though trying to climb inside of Korina's body through sheer force alone if necessary. “Thank you so much for saving my life! I thought I was going to die!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!” She squealed in delight against Korina's legs as though this was all some kind of game instead of something incredibly serious that could have ended badly for both of them if things went poorly. This display confused Korina immensely; why would Marguerite act like this when they were both stuck on a boat together in dangerous waters where there were very real chances that either or both of them could die? That seemed odd... It seemed strange... It felt wrong somehow...

But before Korina could stop herself from doing so, she found herself smiling back at Marguerite as though this situation wasn't anything serious either since it seemed like Marguerite didn't mind it being so serious after all... "I-It's not a big deal!" Korina stammered nervously as she watched Marguerite bounce joyfully up and down excitedly on the floor beneath them while hugging onto Korina's legs relentlessly like some kind of weird little spider monkey that couldn't let go no matter what happened next... "I mean... We're going to be fine too!" Her words trailed off awkwardly into silence as she wondered why Marguerite didn't seem worried about anything right now either when they were supposed to be trapped on a small boat together in wickedly rough seas with no way off until they reached port two full days later... That sounded horrible! Why wasn't Marguerite worried about how awful this whole situation really was?! That didn't make sense at all!

"Thank you so much!" Marguerite exclaimed once more before letting go of Korina's legs and leaping to her feet with excitement while clapping happily like some kind of child who'd just received exactly what they wanted for Christmas in time for Christmas Eve instead of acknowledging any possibility whatsoever that anything bad might happen anytime soon with every passing minute! "This has been such a fun trip!" She chirped happily as she bounced across the room before spinning around and looking back over her shoulder with another giggle before bounding down another hallway where most likely more people stayed during the trip instead of only staying below deck during their entire voyage through supposedly dangerous waters...