Day 244 - Undercurrent Story

Undercurrent Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

Zach couldn’t find Eloise anymore and he was starting to get fairly worried about it. It was night and from where he stood, the beach looked plenty dark and the ocean looked darker. The endless up and down motion of the waves made it nearly impossible for him to see any great distance in any direction.

She had been swimming near him and he had kept an eye on her, but then he lost her for just one second and when he found her again she was heading further and further out. The waves had picked up and she became smaller and smaller and the darkness set in and suddenly he couldn’t see what happened to her next. It wasn’t as if he was really going to be able to do much of anything, even if he had seen her get into trouble, but it made him feel better just to know where she was. He was too far away now anyway. He would never cross that gap in time.

Even if he could have stayed close, or could have crossed any gap quickly, Zach was just kidding himself when he thought he was about to go and do anything heroic.  Eloise was a swimmer. Zachary wasn’t. Zach liked the ocean, but Eloise was alive in the water. Eloise swam like she was meant for it. Zach liked the waves and could boogie board from time to time, but he just wasn’t comfortable out there. Not like she was. Not like he’d need to be if she really did get in trouble out there in the ocean. He was no lifeguard. He wasn’t going to battle any currents or any real waves.

This just made him feel worse. They both knew he wasn’t going to be the one to get them out of any trouble if there was trouble to get out of. He wanted to pretend that he was the manly man at this point. He wanted her to want to pretend that a little bit too. It would have been nice. Not that his ego was that fragile, but it would have been nice to get to play the part, even if just a little bit.

But now she was gone. Where had she gone? Why had she gone? Zach thought it was pretty clear that earlier they were flirting. They drank and danced and hung out with friends. But as other people began heading to their hotels for the night, Zach and Eloise had stayed out. Zach and Eloise were friends. They had been friends for years. But tonight it just felt different. They flirted. They laughed. And they talked about the ocean. They agreed that if they went back to their respective hotel rooms to get bathing suits it would only wake their roommates up. They both agreed that the obvious solution was to go swimming in their underwear.

That had to mean something. It had to.

Zach took it to mean something.

Why hadn’t she?

Why had she swum away?

Moments were too easily lost. Dawn and a new day and a moment of sobriety could ruin everything. Zach had decided to let momentum carry the night. He thought Eloise had too. But maybe he was wrong. Or maybe he had misread what the momentum was really leading to. Maybe they were having fun and taking a first step. Maybe that was momentum of a sort. Or maybe she just really wanted to go swimming in the ocean that night.

Zach didn’t know the answer. She wasn’t there to ask. And even if she had been there he couldn’t have asked. If he asked, then he probably already knew the answer was that there had been no momentum.

Zach stepped on something and felt a very sharp pain in his foot. He had cut something. He was could tell he was bleeding.

He was torn. He knew he should stay in the water and wait for her. But he was bleeding and he really thought it was a bad idea to just stand there and bleed. He didn’t think there was anything predatory nearby to be attracted to the blood, but he couldn’t be sure. He also wasn’t sure what the salty water and any possible germs would be doing to his open wound. Zach wasn’t a hypochondriac, but he also really didn’t want to be the guy that lost his foot to some ocean infection just because he had been stupid and bled in the water for an hour while he could have been off saving his foot.

Zach shamefully headed back towards shore. He proved to himself that he wasn’t brave and told himself that was why Eloise was gone.

As Zach tried to tie his socks around his foot and help control the bleeding, Eloise finally appeared. She began to sarcastically harass him for ditching her in the water, but then she saw the blood and instantly she was all concern and apologies.

Eloise helped Zack limp back to the hotel and the concierge found a first aid kit and soon Zach was on the mend. Eloise played nurse and then held her arm around Zach’s body as he struggled down the hall and to his room. At the door to his room, Eloise apologized again for swimming off and leaving him behind to suffer such an ignominious fate. Zach laughed and hugged her and thanked her for her help. He was embarrassed and now too sober and wasn’t willing to risk himself by trying anything else. He smiled as she walked away towards her room. It wasn’t what he wanted, but it wasn’t nothing. He told himself it wasn’t nothing. He just wasn’t sure what it was.