500 words a day

578 words 17th July 2009

He was sure she would have been happy if it had worked out as planned. After all, who wouldn’t love it? A surprise trip to Venice, fine dining, a proposal. For 3 months he’d planned it and managed to not let on. Often he’d wanted to just blurt it out, but hadn’t. He hadn’t told anyone at all in fact apart from Graham at work, yesterday, just before he left work.


         Now, things having gone slightly wrong, they were floating in the Adriatic, huddled together, surrounded by a few other survivors of the crash and a lot of bodies, bits of bodies and debris and luggage that had spewed out when they crashed into the sea.


         Jeanie had been thrilled when they arrived at the airport. He still hadn’t told her where they were going and she revealed on the pane, that she’d assumed it was an internal flight as he had no idea he’d got her passport from her Mum. She only found out when they checked in, she squealed and started crying, as she nearly always did when he planned something nice or gave her a present.


         She still had no idea about the hotel, overlooking the Grand Canal, or of course, he ring, which was still in his trouser pocket. He’d checked it once he realised that they were both still alive.


         Now, obviously, Jeanie wasn’t squealing with delight or smiling or excited. She was crying, sometimes, she was looking terrified and she was freezing and shivering as she huddled close to him. There’d been no waning of the crash and no time to get the lifejackets which apparently were under the seats. But since crashing he’s managed to find one floating amongst the detritus and Jeanie wore this. He was holding onto a suitcase which seemed to be incredible light and at no risk of sinking.


         They’d been in the water for most of the day, he only knew that because they’d set off that morning at 6.30 and now it was dark, so he estimated it must be about 9 or 10 in the evening.  The darkness and the blackness of the sea beneath them was actually the most frightening. As the light vanished over the horizon, the sea started to swell and the waves lifted them up at least 20 feet before they rolled precariously down the other side. SO far they’d managed to keep from going under or being submerged but it felt more and more dangerous and as it was totally dark now, harder and harder o see when the next wave was coming.


         They learned ate a while to try and just float on their backs, and go with the swell, only occasionally did this result in a wave engulfing them. Once, they lost each other after a huge wave lifted them and threw them up in the air before tossing them own into a waiting chasm, only to be rolled over y another big wave. When he surfaced he couldn’t see or hear her. He shouted and shouted until he was hoarse then, heard a faint screaming in the distance. It took half an hour to find her and when he did they were both so exhausted and terrified it was even harder to stay afloat. He tied them together with some clothes floating in the sea. He’d lost his suitcase float but managed to tread water and keep afloat by holing onto Jeanie from time to time.








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Steve Wybourn





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