“Leah! Leah sweetie, pass me the rain jacket next to you would ya’ please?”

“No problem daaa… whoa! Ow, that hurt! Here, take it!” The ol’ ship began to wobble more and more as the waves rose higher in the sea getting bigger by the minute. A storm blew in out of know where, big black clouds began building up as they sank down from the dark sky, lowering to the sea.

Boom! Thunder cracked between the clouds. Seconds after lightning flashed down into the whirling sea below. It seemed like it just barely missed the ship. I was used to storms. After all, this was my sixth year being at sea with my dad. I loved it out here on sea, especially in a storm. But never in all the six years that I have sailed has there been a storm nearly this big, and never has one just formed out of the blue.

“Leah, please go under the ship deck. It is far too dangerous for you out here!”

“No dad! I’m staying with you!” I shouted back at him as I held tightly to the old wooden hand railing that stood up against the side of the ship.

“Leah, please listen to me! It is too dangerous for you out here!” He shouted back at me with concern in his voice. Just then another thundering boom rose in the clouds.

“You promised!” He had sworn on a sailors wooden leg that the next storm that hit I could steer the boat. I wasn’t about to blow off one of the best opportunity’s I could ever have. He had to let me steer this boat!

“No Leah! Do as I say and get under the ship deck!” He said furiously. He was mad, real mad. Lightning bolted down once more from the black nightmare in the sky. I jumped.

“Fine!” I turned around and stocked off the deck down to where my old, beat up mattress was laying. Mazy was sleeping on top of it and hadn’t woken once through the storm. Mazy is the ship dog. It really fits her too. She loves it out here on sea, just like me.
The ship raddled some more and sent me crashing down on top of poor ol’ Mazy. She woke up with a grunt.

“Sorry Mazy, this storm is real bad. Can you believe that dad wont let me steer the boat? This is my perfect opportunity. I’ve been waiting my whole life for this! I’ve trained so hard! It’s not fair Mazy, it’s just not fair!” I scared Mazy a little when I shouted like that. She groaned and then picked herself up and moved to my dad’s bed. He got the bed only because he was bigger than I was.
I thought of a plan. If my dad wasn’t going to let me steer in the storm, than at least I should be able to watch the storm. I climbed up the rickety ladder up to the deck very quietly so that my dad wouldn’t hear me. We had a little look out spot on the boat that you see in all of those old pirate videos; only ours was a little shorter and had a ladder to the top of it rather then a rope. I climbed the ladder up to the little look out stand and hoped and prayed that my dad wouldn’t see me on it.
The storm was beautiful from up here, with all of the black clouds surrounding the ship. I loved it! Thunder bellowed from the beautiful clouds above. As I stood there holding onto the wooden rim around the stand, lighting struck the tall wooden lookout post snapping it in half.

“Ah! Daddy, help me!” The post that was split in half hung about ten feet above the deadly sea. I hung on with both hands as the rest of my body dangled in the air. Every time the waves rose my feet went in the water.

“Leah! Leah, hold on! I'm coming!” He spun around so fast that his right hand spun the wheel in circle after circle. The boat began to turn left quickly. My dad got off balance and tripped, flinging himself into the side railing.
“Whoa! Dad!” The dramatic left turn caused the post to swing left, throwing me onto the ship deck right as my dad tried to reach out for me.

“Leah!” The rain was at so much of a slant and was coming from every which way that anytime you tried to look up, the darting rain pellets flew into your eyes like bullets. I tried to squint to see where my dad was. He was hanging over the raining with his feet in the air, as if he was about to fall off of the ship.

“Dad! Hold on! I’ll be right there!” I screamed as I tried to pull myself out from under the wooden post that had fallen on top of my legs. I saw something orange on the post. As I looked at it closer I could feel something warm getting closer and closer to me. It was fire. I hoped it would stop burning in all of this rain but it didn’t. It seemed as if it was just getting bigger and bigger the more the rain fell on it.

“Aw! Leah help!” He yelled in pain.

“Stay there daddy, I’m coming!” It was no use. I couldn’t get the burning post off of me in time to save him. Seconds later I herd a small splash.

“No! Dad! No, no, no, no!” I managed to get the burning post off of me and ran to the edge of the boat. It was too late, way too late. I saw my dad in the water close to the boat. The waves were carrying him farther and farther away though. I grabbed the lifesaver from the pile of ropes and other tangled things to my left and threw it into the water. I threw it too far away from him. There was no way for him to grab it. He kept drifting away from the boat until he was behind it and no longer in throwing distance. I ran to the back of the boat.

“Dad! Wait dad! Don’t leave me! Dad!” I was sobbing. I was waiting for a response. A minute passed and there was still no response. I could still see his head bobbing in the distance, and then it kept getting pulled under.

“Leah!” I could just barley make out my name.

“Dad! Don’t leave me dad! Don’t leave me!” I waited a little longer.

“Leah! Get to la… don’t worry about m… I love you!” He said as he went in and out of the water.

“Dad! I love you too dad, and I’m sorry! I’m… I’m… I feel horrible! This is all m… my fault da… dad, and I’m… I’m just really sorry! I lo… I love you!” And that was that. That was the last words I would ever hear from my dad again. I repeated them over and over again in my head even though I knew the last part that he said wasn’t true. Leah, get to land. Don’t worry about me. I love you. I love you too dad, I love you too.
I turned around to where the broken post was. The fire had stopped thankfully. The storm mellowed down a bit too. I was thankful for that. But there was nothing in the entire world that could make this horrible day any better. Nothing.
I guess it is time for me to steer the boat now. Wahoo. Sounds like a whole ton of fun. Not! I really don’t want to steer the boat anymore. Not after what I did. Why did I do such a thing? What’s so fun about steering a stupid boat in a storm anyway? I hate storms. Hate them, hate them, hate them! How was I going to live at sea alone? When would I ever get to sleep? How will I know which way is home? This is really, truly a nightmare!
I was so tired of crying, that I just decided to lay down for a bit to rest my head and loose my thoughts. All of my thoughts. Which I was sure were not leaving my mysterious mind anytime soon. I managed to craw down to my bed under the wet ship deck. I had totally forgotten about Mazy when I went down there. She was sleeping. Knowing her she probably slept through the whole storm. I truly wished I could be her right now. I lay my head down on her worm belly, and tried to sleep. I shut my throbbing eyes and berried my face into her light brown fur.

*
*
*

I woke up to the sweet smell of my dad. It smelled like home always did. I sat up in my little bed type thing on the ground wrapped in my father’s arms. “Dad? Dad you are choke… dad! Dad you’re alive! You’re alive! Am I dreaming, or is this real? Dad?”
“Sweetie, I’m right here you don’t need to yell. Why wouldn’t I be alive? Are you feeling all right?” He unwrapped one of his arms to feel my forehead.
“Of course I’m alive! But you weren’t! You fell of the ship deck in that horrible storm! I tried to save you but it was too late. You drowned and it was all my fault! I killed you! You’re not alive! His is all a dream! I’m dreaming! You’re dead! You’re dead! You’re de-“ He cut me off before I could finish my word.
“Leah, I’m fine, see? I’m fine.” He pointed to himself to prove to me that he was alive. “I think you just had a nightmare sweetie but it’s over now. It’s all over.” He was trying to calm me, and it worked. It was a nightmare! This was the happiest moment of my entire life! It was a nightmare! I got out of bet and jumped with glee. This was so great!
My dad interrupted my happiness and asked me if I wanted to steer the boat because a little storm was starting to form in the distance.

“Are you crazy? There is no way I am steering in another storm!”
I yelled at him as if he had lost his mind.

“Okay, you missed your chance.” He said with a weird expression on his face. He got up to go make breakfast. I told him that I would be up in a minute. When he was gone, I lay back in bed and closed my eyes again, still very grateful for my dad being safe and alive. I was thinking that maybe this whole sea adventure just wasn’t the thing for me. I thought that maybe I would go back to Alaska to be with my mom and let my little brother Ed carry on with this whole sailing stuff. It just wasn’t it for me. Clearly.




The End