Avril Overboard

CHAPTER 5

Freddie sent some men to give hot water and a towel to Avril. He also gave them bottled water and some cakes for the girls to eat. 

After the men delivered those things, Chidi helped massage Avril's body. Then they ate the cakes and spread the blankets to lie down. It was actually noon time but they were exhausted and needed that rest. 

Avril looked over to the Chinese girl sleeping soundly at the other end of the room. She looked sad even in her sleep. Avril wished she understood Chinese so she could at least talk to her and give her soothing words. She never had friends but she knew what it was like to loose a loved one. That feeling of pain and loneliness. 

Avril sighed and looked at the ceiling. Her mind wandered around and she tried to not be worried. After about an hour, she too drifted off to sleep. 

When they woke up in the evening, they were taken to the kitchen to cook whatever they wanted. Freddie was really kind to them and they soon got free as the days went by. 

The ladies knew they had little hope of going back home soon and they couldn't ask Freddie anything concerning that topic. They were afraid he would go back to being vulgar towards them. 

After a week, the ship passed by a deserted island. The captain's plan was to stop but they decided to continue the journey. 

Freddie had gone down to make a very important business call regarding Avril. He was going to negotiate the cost for her and he wasn't going to get anything less than a million dollars, just as he had told Paolo. 

The ladies had climbed up and stood by the railing, watching the water and looking out for dolphins that occasionally swam out for oxygen. Suddenly, they began to hear men raising their voices. 

“is that an argument?” Avril asked 

“they must be drunk” Chidi said and they looked back at the blue water. 

The argument persisted until the girls were sure it had turned into a fight. 

“Ahh men! Can't they just settle things amicably?” Nana said and shook her head. 

“I'll go check it out” Avril said and took two steps then she fell. 

“oh my God! Are you okay?” Nana asked 

Avril stood up immediately. 

“this is the second time this week” Avril stated with horror written on her face 

“what's the second time this week?” Chidi asked

“that I'm stepping on my foot. When that occurs, then something bad is about to happen to me. This happen six days and just now. It also happened six days before and the day my parents died”

“don't worry. Nothing bad will happen. Come, let's go back inside” Chidi said and held her hand. They began to walk away when suddenly they heard a gunshot and shouts from the men. They screamed and bent down immediately, covering their heads. 

“run... Let's go inside!” Nana screamed and they tried to run through a lean way, around the outside of a cabin when the door flung open and two men rushed out with their hands tightly holding each other's collar. Avril was right in front of them and the force in which they pushed themselves out, flung her over the railing and into the water. Her friends screamed and began to cry 

“Avril! Help! Help us! Please help us!” they cried. The two idiots who were fighting didn't even realize what they had done. They continued to fight and kick each other. 

Avril tried her very best to swim to the surface but it felt like something was holding her legs. Because of her unexpected fall, water entered into her mouth and nose. She had lost her balance in the water and all her swimming tactics had become foreign to her. 

“God, please help me” she prayed as she lost control of her consciousness. 

On the ship, some other men had rushed out to stop the two men from fighting since the issue had been resolved inside. Two parties were having a clash and the two men outside were part of it. 

They saw the girls screaming and crying. 

“help! Our friend fell into the water! Help!” Chidi cried to them. 

Their eyes widened. They knew that Freddie's favourite was the one they were referring to. 

With speed like that of light, two men jumped into the water and swam down looking for Avril. They searched until they needed oxygen. They came back to the surface, took in air and dived back in. They continued the process and didn't find any trace of Avril. They climbed the ladder back to the ship all exhausted. 

Avril's friends were on the floor crying. They knew the implication of what they were in. Avril had drowned. She was gone. Even the Chinese girl cried her heart out. Even though she hadn't had a proper conversation with Avril aside gestures, she had grown to like her. 

Freddie came out after hearing too much noise. He didn't come out at first because fights were common among his men. But non persisted so long without being resolved. 

He came up and saw the ladies on the floor crying. Only one thing could make them cry. One of them was being hurt or killed. And he had ordered his men not to lay a finger on them anymore. 

“what's happening here?” his voice thundered and his men shuddered. Non answered him. He looked at the girls and didn't see Avril. He looked at his men who were wet as if they had gone for a swim. He saw one of the pair of flip flops Avril always wore. 

“what happened? Where's Avril?” he asked with a raised tone. No one answered him still and then he had understood what happened. His 5 million dollars was gone!

***

Two days later, Avril's body was washed ashore on the deserted island. Her skin had turned blue and wrinkled. Her feet had big bruises as if she had repeatedly brushed them against a rock. 

She suddenly began to cough out water and slowly, she opened her eyes. 

The sky was very bright and clear with no clouds in sight. She closed her eyes as the light hurt them. Few seconds later, she could open them well but her vision was still blurry. She noticed she was lying down on sand and water occasionally moved up to her shoulders. 

“I'm alive” she said to herself 

“I made it” she said to herself again. She felt unexplainable joy in her heart. She had thought she would die in that ocean. 

She looked around and saw huge rocks all around. She noticed the beach was empty and too quiet accept for the animal sounds. 

“how in the world did I make it here, alive?”

“did someone save me?” 

She tried to sit up but couldn't so she just laid down there and tried to gather as much energy as she could find in her weak body. 

Suddenly she began to hear mighty footsteps which shook the ground. The rocks too shook. Her heart failed her as it began to run marathons in seconds. She didn't even know what it was that shook the ground. She tried to sit up still but to no avail. 

A black huge shadow began to tower over her. She saw it and knew whatever was coming towards her wasn't human. 

Could it be apes? Big giant killer gorillas like in the movies? Is King Kong real? 

She looked up and saw what it was and even wish it was King Kong compared to it. She let out a very long and loud scream that got the island birds flying off then she blacked out. 

Whatever she saw, reached down, carried her with just one arm and slung her over its shoulder then began to walk back the direction it came.