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We walked down the slippery dock past leftover fish guts,planks, and barnacled hulls until we caly, it wasn’t a shit heap like the rest of the boats seemed to be It was just a small boat with seats and a tiny cabin at the front that had just enough rooot to see this place

We climbed in, covered ourselves and the ca dry wasn’t going to be easy) and roared out of the harbor at such a speed that so at us to slon

Once ere out of the bay and into the open ocean, things got wild and fast I was hanging onto my seat for dear life while Dex had to repeatedly yell at Whiz to take us down a few knots With each e hit, the wetter we got If Dex’s cas, there would be hell to pay

Finally, Whiz got the hint Or rather, Matt took over the wheel and let Whiz and Tony finish the rest of the ruh speed that Dex was able to start shooting the shoreline

We were quite a ways off fro white surf, and stretches of pastureland and beaches were quite photogenic And on the other side of us off on the horizon was the faded speck that was the Tillahthouse Terrible Tilly

I pulled the poncho tighter around me I felt miserably damp and just a tiny bit seasick with each lurch of the boat To turn my mind off of it, I watched Dex as he lined up the shots, adjusted his ca to need me to be in the shots?" I asked above the roar of thee bag-type attire, but I could have used sootten seasick before

"I think I’ his eye on the viewfinder "These will probably just have soave me a quick, curious look "Are you OK?"

I was about to anshen Whiz decided to shove the bottle of rum underneath my nose

"This will fix you up!" he yelled, slurring already

Well, that was enough to get ot up to my feet unsteadily, as the boat rocked all over the place, and made rabbing o I felt unco

I walked to the opposite edge of the boat, where the Pacific stretched tosky, and went down on onna hurl!" Whiz yelled from the front

"Shut the fuck up," I heard Dex tell hi the two

Iand leavemy lunch over the side

The bottoripped the edge with my hands and put rey surf beneath , but so them out, like my ears had a di ocean, concentrating on the myriad of muted, cold colors and the shapes the crea with each crest and fall The waves of nausea continued to pass throughthat felt worse was the uneasiness and panic that also coursed through my veins I was fearful and I didn’t knohat of

I closed ine, the boys, and sound of the waves subsided until all I heard was the throbbing of my own heart in my head

"Perry"

It was a female voice

I opened my eyes and looked All I could see was the ocean

"Perry," it said again It was eerily fa from in front of me From the waves

"Perry, are you OK?"

Could I be hearing things?

I slowly turned and looked at the rest of the boat Dex’s back was to hthouse, which was now co while Whiz was yapping to hi attention to hi me in his peripheral vision

"Perry, help ain from the direction of the water My eyes widened and heart slowed I had no choice but to look back over the edge of the boat

In the water, it looked like so beneath the waves At first it looked like a passing shadow of a crest, or manipulation by a white cap But the

Was it an arertips I could see a hand just below the water’s surface

I tried to screa, to move But I couldn’t I could only watch a hand reach out of the water, turning froreen and white, but it was real, with blue veins running up the arm

And then the ar water I was riveted to the spot where the head should be I could see the swirling shadows beneath it

One of the hands started wagging a finger at er I had that sae with ht above and peering down at the body

The head broke through the water

It wasin the water, eyeing reen fluid

"Save me, Perry," she said My h a freefall My ed out of the water and grabbed hold of my poncho with both hands

I let out a scream that shook my bones to theirof the boat

The water rushed up to greetblack before it was about to s rabbed from behind and pulled back up, just as my face could have kissed the waves

I fell backwards into the boat Soht me

"Perry!" they yelled and the boat ca ripping me hard from behind with both hands, while Dex had his hands onme It literally felt like forever before my eyes could actually focus on hi worried and being pissed off