It started off as the holiday of a lifetime then very quickly turned into a nightmare. Overall it became a life altering experience. In anticipation, I read the cruise brochure many times leading up to the holiday. It never mentioned sinking ocean liners, being set adrift or succumbing to incest.
Firstly, let me introduce my family. My husband's name is Curtis. He is 40 years old and works in finance. I can't really tell you anymore about his career as the mere mention of stocks and shares puts me to sleep. He has a full head of grey hair which makes him look very distinguished. My lovely daughters name is Lydia. She is 20 years old and studying marine biology. Lyds as she is more commonly known, is according to my husband, the spitting image of myself at that age. I must admit she is disarmingly cute and has a toned, athletic body due to the fact she spends half her time in the water. Whether it is scuba diving, free diving or just plain paddling in the ocean. Lyds is a true water baby.
Mark is eighteen and a few months. He recently celebrated his birthday. As a result of two days of being hung over, he had vowed never to drink again. Mark is also an outdoors type. He could quite happily climb to the top of a mountain and never come back down again. He is quite a loner but always has time for his mother. My name is Lynette. I'm thirty-seven this year. I have naturally curly brown hair the same as my daughters. As Curtis is usually working, I'm a lady of leisure. I spend most of my spare time volunteering at the local hospital information desk. When I'm not there I'm either at my yoga class or reading. In an effort to look my best in a bikini I had recently started kick boxing. I don't do any fighting but its one hell of a cardio workout. I have a full womanly figure, curvy and sensuous. I will admit I'm a bit of an exhibitionist. Nothing major like streaking, but I have enjoyed men's eyes burning into my ass as I've paraded around the deck in my bikini.
The first few days of the vacation were fantastic. I'd spent most of the year in dreary England and coming to the Caribbean was a dream come true. The weather started to take a turn for the worst as we were enjoying our evening meal. Mark's vow not to drink had been broken ten minutes after getting on the aeroplane. He said it was to calm his nerves as he didn't like flying. Once on the ship he was rarely seen without a beverage in his hand. I don't blame him really. He had a whole new world of exotic tastes to savour. Unfortunately he wasn't accustomed to spirits and had fallen asleep under the full glare of the sun. This left him feeling queasy all afternoon. He had come for the evening meal under protest. As the waves started getting higher, Marks face became greener and greener.
I offered to help him to his cabin. There was no way he could sit next to his sister whilst she ate paella without emptying the contents of his stomach. It was certainly an effort to traverse the liner in such a choppy sea. Once into the cabin Mark lurched into the bathroom as a wave slammed into the side of the ship. He was flung clear across the room. We collided in a heap as a klaxon blared out for us to board the life boats. Mark reached into a drawer and pulled something out and slipped it into his pocket. We ran upstairs to the top deck as quick as we could manage. The deck was a scene of pure chaos. Mark handed me a life jacket and started putting one himself. A steward was pointing us in the direction of a life raft as another wave hit. The next thing I remember is losing my footing and then blackness.
I coughed myself awake. I slowly opened my eyes whilst spitting out what felt like a lung full of salt water. I was extremely disorientated, cold and wet. Another wave hit me in the face to add to my displeasure.
"You're awake!" I heard Mark cry out.
"What happened?" I gasped
"Hold onto this," he replied.
I took a breath and looked around. I was in the ocean with Mark. There was no other vessels to be seen. He had joined our life jackets together with his belt so we were practically joined at the hip. My youngest child had saved my life and was telling me to cling to a piece of the smashed life raft to aid buoyancy. Panic twisted in my gut. What about Curtis and Lydia?
"Are you OK?" he asked
"Think so, just a little dizzy."
"Please grab hold of the wood."
"Did you see what happened to your father and sister?" I asked fearful of the answer
"No. Some of the life rafts had already been launched. The restaurant is much nearer the deck. They would have been out much quicker than we were."
I knew my son was trying to allay my fears.
"So where is everybody else?"
"No idea. We were getting thrown about by the storm too much for me to notice. Hold on to this wood, Mom. We need to get to dry land. We're going to have to swim for it."
"What, Where?"
"See that speck in the distance. That's where we are heading."
"That's miles away. We'll never make it."
"Well it's either swim for it or stay here and hope we get rescued. We need drinking water so we can't stay here for long."
"OK. OK. Are there sharks in these waters?"
"No."
"You're lying, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am," Mark laughed in spite of the situation "If Jaws can't motivate you to swim then nothing will."
I laughed at his dry humour. The thought of being bitten in half got my aching body moving. I grabbed the wood and, together with my son, I kicked my legs in the direction of the speck.
After a few hours we were exhausted but we kept paddling on.
"I'm thirsty." I moaned
"Me too." Mark replied
"This dress is chafing me."
"Yeah, its the salt water. Take it off if you want"
"What?"
"Its a strapless dress. You can take it off without removing your life jacket."
"But..." I began
"Please do not argue with me. Eventually the chafing will start to bleed. And you know what blood attracts"
I couldn't argue with his logic. I managed to yank the drenched material over my breasts, down past my waist and off the end of my legs. Mark beckoned for him to pass it to him. I did so and he began to rip it in half.
"What are you doing?"
"The sun is getting higher. We are going to shade our heads with it."
I nodded in agreement. I was really glad I was with him. Although he was generally a shy young man, Mark surprised me how easily he took charge and had a plan to survive this crisis. He made me feel proud to be his mother.
The speck gradually came closer. It just looked like a small island. Hopefully it would be inhabited and we could arrange a rescue. I think this small hope was the only thing that was keeping my legs pumping. Mark had is mind set on getting to the island so said very little. I was feeling very insecure so tried to find things to talk about to take my mind off our perilous situation.
"What happened to your clothes?" I asked when I noticed his trousers were missing.
