Shipwreck Island by S. A. Bodeen

back, and he had to put his shoulder against it, all of his weight with him, in order to get it to budge.
    As soon as it opened, his face was whipped with drenching gusts of rain and seawater, which stole his breath. He didn’t see the sail anymore, and there was a slight green glow from the helm, where the captain was hunched over the instrument panel. Marco swung his flashlight around and the beam let him catch a glimpse of a white face.
    â€œJohn!” he screamed, his words lost in the wind. What was his new stepfather doing?
    John must have heard, or else seen the flashlight’s glow, because he looked over at Marco. With one arm, he held on to the rigging for dear life, while in his other hand he held a rope.
    Marco wiped the water out of his eyes. What was he doing with—? And then his gaze went to the end of the rope and saw orange. Life jackets. John had come up to get the life jackets.
    Ignoring the pounding of his heart, Marco stuck the flashlight in the deep pocket of his board shorts, and the beam shone straight up. With one hand he grasped the hatch, and then he stretched himself out to get as far as he could. The pitch of the boat kept throwing him off balance so that he could barely stay on his feet. Why do I have to?
    He dropped to his knees. Immediately, he felt much steadier, and much less likely to get blown away. John followed suit. He dropped down and began to crawl toward Marco, one hand gripping the rope with all the life jackets. The boat hit the top of a crest and dove, sending John surging toward Marco.
    Marco reached out and grabbed John’s arm, pulling him toward the hatch and the stairs. John managed to get a grip on the hatch and rest for a moment. He looked drenched and out of breath, but he yelled at Marco, “Get inside!”
    Marco faced inside and went down a few stairs, but held out his hand for John to grab on to. Instead, John handed him the rope with the life jackets. “Get those down!”
    Marco grabbed the rope and yanked hard. Then he yanked again, harder, and the tethered life jackets slid partway down the stairs. With that hand free once again, Marco held out his hand to John. “Come on!”
    John took the hand and let Marco pull him inside. John shut the hatch and stood there, panting and dripping. Marco headed down the stairs, kicking the life jackets ahead of him as he descended, John right behind him. When they reached the bottom, John said, “Thank you. I don’t know if I would have made it.”
    Marco nodded, too out of breath to say anything.
    Together, they took the life jackets in to the others. Sarah’s eyes widened as she saw them. “Why do we need those?”
    John said, “Just to be safe.”
    Yvonna said, “It’s good to have them just in case. We don’t need to put them on.” She glanced up at John. “Right?”
    John scratched his chin. “I think we should put them on.”
    â€œWhat?” Sarah looked up at her dad.
    Marco said, “It’s bad out there.”
    Yvonna narrowed her eyes at John. “What were you thinking taking my son out there?”
    â€œMom!” said Marco. “He didn’t know. I followed him.”
    â€œAnd it’s a good thing he did,” said John. “Now let’s put these on.”

 
    11
    Sarah tried to stop crying, but she couldn’t help it. Ever since the lights went out and she’d had to put on that sodden, stinky life jacket, she just gave up and sat there on the cabin floor, wiping her nose and sniffling.
    The day, to put it lightly, had been a disaster all around. First she had spent most of it dizzy, nauseated, and throwing up, and now it seemed she was doomed to spend the rest of it huddled on the floor of a shuddering sailboat in the middle of a horrific storm, waiting for one final blow to send them all to the bottom of the abyss.
    The thought brought fresh tears, which crumpled her face and caused her