Emma’s Savior

~After four Weeks~

“Natasha! Natasha!” Natasha’s baby sister, Emma, called out to her from the front of her door.

Natasha heaved a loud sigh and yanked the duvet off her face. She stared at the ceiling and answered…

“Emma, can you please stop the habit of screaming my name every morning? I have an alarm that can wake me up.”

“But the alarm takes time to ring! Mum is calling you! Wake up!” Emma yelled and began to knock on the door.

“I’m coming, okay? Stop hitting the door.”

“Okay! I’m going now!”

Natasha heard Emma run off, and she heaved another sigh and sat up weakly. She brushed her hair backward with her hand because it got in her face.

Since she left Leo’s house and got to her parent’s house, all she did everyday was sleep, eat, and sleep again. She didn’t even bother checking her social handle. She just wanted to be alone.

She always locked the door to her room because she knew Emma would always want to come in, and she didn’t want that. She was dealing with depression.

She got out of bed, and still dressed in her pajamas, she headed out of the room to see her Mum.

Getting to the living room, the aroma of pancakes filled her nostrils and she sniffed in very hard. She guessed her mother was in the kitchen.

“Hi, Mom.”

Mrs. Olivia Miller looked at Natasha and grinned widely. “You’re up. How are you today?”

“I’m me today, and yes I’m up because you sent Emma to wake me up.”

“Well, she does better than your alarm clock.” Olivia giggled.

“Where is she anyways?”

“She’s outside, playing with your dad. Can we talk for some minutes before you go and greet your dad?”

“Yes, we can.” She dragged her feet on the tiles as she headed to the fridge to grab a bottle of cold water.

“I know you don’t like the idea, Natasha, but I think it’s best if you go on a vacation. Get out of this place and clear your head. I hate the way you are all depressed and you keep locking yourself in. I don’t expect you to be up and doing immediately, but please try to overcome this phase. I beg you.”

“Mom, you know my reply to this. This isn’t the first time you’ve told me to go on a vacation but I don’t want to. There is nothing to clear my head about. I need to accept the reality that I am barren and I’d never have kids of my own.”

“Oh please, don’t say that. You can’t just come to such a conclusion. You were married for just five years. Haven’t you heard of those that got pregnant fifteen years into their marriage?”

“At least their husband stood by them. Who wouldn’t get fed up anyways? I can’t blame him.”

After drinking some water, she put the water bottle back into the fridge and shut it.

“I’m going back to my room.” She said

Before she could step out of the kitchen, Emma ran into the kitchen with a travel brochure in her hand.

“Mom! I saw this on the table. Since we are on holiday, I’d love to visit the beach, mom!”

Olivia sighed and looked at Natasha.

“This is where I want you to go. We opened a new resort in San Juan Island. You can spend a few days there with Emma. Since we had her, you never took her out because you were always busy. Don’t you think it’s time to make it up to her?”

Emma looked at Natasha and pouted. Natasha heaved a loud sigh and bounced her head.

“How do I turn you down now that Emma is in the picture?”

“Please don’t say no. I have never been to the beach and my friends keep talking about it at school. Even during swimming lessons, they keep saying they have swam in deeper waters like the sea before.”

“Hmmm.” Natasha bent over and brushed Emma’s silky hair.

“Don’t worry then. Your wish shall come to pass. Should we go today?” Natasha asked, and Emma’s face brightened.

“Yes! Today! I’d go and pack my bags!” Emma chuckled and ran out of the kitchen.

Natasha looked at Olivia and saw her grinning widely.

“That was emotional blackmail, but it’s good. I’d go and prepare too.” Natasha uttered with a faint smile.

*

~At The Resort-

When Emma saw the beach, she hurriedly changed into her swimming suit. She couldn’t wait to swim with the other kids she saw at the beach.

Natasha also changed into something light. She wore a bikini with a shirt tie-dye string. She looked super young, hot and sexy in it.

They got to the shore, Natasha held Emma’s little hand and they both began to drag their feet in the sand, which was so soothing to the sole of their feet.

“Emma, are you sure you’re good at swimming?”

“Of course, Natasha! I always come first in swimming competitions with my peers! Please let me swim here too. It has always been my dream.”

Emma squeezed Natasha’s hand, hoping she would say yes to her.

“Fine! But don’t go too far into the sea, okay? My eyes are on you. I’d be right here.” She pointed to the sun lounger next to her and Emma nodded.

She gave Natasha her sun shades and ran off to meet the other kids swimming.

Natasha put on her sunglasses and laid on the sun lounger. She placed her hands under her head and closed her eyes. She had applied sunscreen on her body before heading outside at all.

As she felt the cool breeze blow against her skin, memories of Leo came rushing into her head.

Though she was a bad swimmer, Leo was a lover of the beach and they went there at any small opportunity. He always did the swimming, while she did the watching.

She tried swimming one of those times, but she was too scared and gave up. For some reason, she didn’t like being inside water.

She shook the thoughts of Leo off her mind and decided to enjoy the moment.

“Emma! Emma!! Emma!!!”

Natasha heard screams all of a sudden. She sprang to her feet and looked up to see that all the children were out of the water and panicking. They were all staring at the water.

“Emma?!” She called and ran as fast as she could to the sea.

“Where is she?! What happened?!” She asked the children, staring at the sea in great fear.

“She was swimming and all of a sudden, it was as if she was sinking.” One of the kids narrated.

“And you couldn’t pull her out? Oh my… Emma!! God!”

She looked around for any adults, but she couldn’t find any at that moment. She was very close to jumping into the water, when instantly, a man, dressed in an expensive white suit jumped into the water without hesitation.

He swam a little bit deep into the sea before he found Emma and pulled her out.

“Oh Christ! Emma!” Natasha called, rushing to this man. He placed her on the sand and gave her one minute of CPR and five rescue breaths.

He was still giving her the one minute CPR, when Emma coughed out water, back to life.

The man fell to the ground on his butts, breathing heavily. He was glad that she was safe. Natasha lifted her up and embraced her tightly.

“You’re okay now.” She whispered as Emma began to sob on her shoulder.

Natasha looked at the man that had just saved her sister’s life and said,

“Thank you so much, sir! God bless you. You are a lifesaver. If not for you, something else could have…”

“How can you be so careless, hun?! Why would you let your daughter swim alone in the sea?! What kind of mother are you? This girl is still very young! What does she know about swimming in the sea?!” This man yelled and sprang to his feet.

His expensive-looking white suit was drenched with water, and his pants were super dirty, they had turned brown. Natasha stood up, carrying Emma up with her.

“I never knew she couldn’t swim. She told me she was the best in her class, and…”

“And you let her go into the sea? Without thorough supervision?! You even hesitated to help her! What’s wrong with you?!”

“I can’t swim! Can you please stop yelling? You’re beginning to humiliate me in front of these people.” She looked around and saw people staring, but old and young.

“You think if I could swim, I wouldn’t have jumped in to save her immediately? If you didn’t intervene, I would have jumped in to save her eventually. I’m really glad you helped me save her, but you have no right to talk to me anyhow, sir. I have learnt my lessons.”

“Y’all don’t cherish what you have until you lose it! If you can’t take care of your child, why bring her into the world in the first place?!”

This man angrily removed his suit and threw it in the sand. Two men ran up to meet him with a new neatly parked suit set. These men were dressed in black.

“I’d take a shower first.” The man said to them and walked away.

Natasha heaved a sigh and continued patting Emma. “Let’s get you inside, Emma.”

*

~ At Night ~

After Natasha laid Emma to sleep, she walked out of the house and stood on the beach sand again. She realized that Emma had a muscle pull which didn’t enable her to swim back to the top.

While she stared at the sea, the words of the strange handsome man rang in her ears again.

“If only I did have a child.” She muttered to herself.

“How is she?” She heard a familiar voice behind her. She couldn’t doubt that it was the voice of Emma’s savior.

She looked back at him and saw him smoking. His left hand was buried in his pants, while his right hand was holding the cigar.

“She’s better now, thank you. She had a muscle pull and…”

“What’s your name?” He cut her short.

“Natasha Jones.”

“Keep your eyes on your kid well. I just came to ask about her well-being, that’s all. Enjoy the rest of your night.”

He turned to leave and Natasha stared at him. She felt that he was a weird man.

“Thank you for today! What’s your name?!” She asked, but he didn’t reply, neither did he look back.