Austin is really starting to panic now. It has absolutely nothing to do with Mitchell knowing he was following him, but his paralyzing fear of the water. He keeps hearing his parents' voices trying to coax him into the water in the middle of the day - telling him sharks feed mainly at night - and now here he is, in the middle of the water, at night, in a raging storm.
He tries to take gasps of air to calm himself but swallows a mouthful of salty water in the process. He can just make out the dark shape of Mitchell desperately trying to swim. He looks as though he's just managing to tread water and Austin notices he doesn't have a life-vest on. He's thankful he managed to grab one and this realization appeases him ever so slightly.
Turning completely around, he scans the horizon for any sign of land. To his enormous relief, through the breaks in the choppy surf, he sees an island roughly a quarter of a mile away. Using the life-vest as a kind of raft underneath him, he starts kicking his feet as hard and fast as he can. Amazingly, it seems to be working and the island is getting bigger as he gets closer. He is chanting in his head, "Just keep kicking....just keep kicking."
At last the storm seems to be moving away; the rain and wind easing up and the thunder fading. Austin allows himself to glance behind him but he has lost sight of Mitchell all together now. Although, it's so dark he could be anywhere.
Something suddenly scrapes his knee and he flinches in fear, but then he realizes, with immense joy, that it's the sandy bottom. He puts his feet down and starts wading towards the shore, relief flooding through him....when he hears it.
Not more than a dozen feet behind him in the water, comes the most blood curdling scream he has ever heard. He stops dead and a cold fear runs through his veins. Silence. But the silence is soon broken by frantic splashing and Mitchell's terrified voice shrieks, "AUSTIN........HELP ME!!!"
Austin is only a few feet from dry land now and his instinct is to keep running and never look back. Instead, he forces himself to turn around. The clouds are moving away fast and the moon is visible again, casting an eerie yellow glow across the water. There are just a few ripples - maybe his mind was playing tricks on him and he imagined Mitchell's voice. But then the water suddenly erupts into a frenzied splashing, and Austin jumps violently. He can make out thrashing arms and legs, a large dark shape, and the dreaded pointed fin.
Chapter 19
Mitchell had taken all his friends away, humiliated him in front of his whole school, pretty much changed his life actually, and even though Austin is deathly afraid of sharks, he plunges back into the water.
There is a drop-off about four feet from the shore and he suddenly finds himself swimming instead of wading. Mitchell and the shark are fighting each other just a few feet in front of him. Austin can see he seems to be trying to punch the sharks head with his fist while the other arm is.....where is the other arm? The shark has his other arm gripped firmly between his pointed teeth, and Mitchell's body is being thrashed from side to side.
Within seconds, Austin somehow finds himself straddling the sharks back and thumping the creatures head with every ounce of his strength.e HHjvclkdjkdlfjd He remembers reading somewhere that a shark's most sensitive areas are its eyes, gills and snout, and he starts jabbing them repeatedly.
Mitchell is still screaming but he seems to be slowing down as his strength starts to ebb away. Austin is also starting to feel extremely weak, and he has a terrifying image of them both dying, right here in the water, when suddenly the shark decides to give up. He releases Mitchell's arm, and with a huge splash of his tail, disappears into deeper water.
Grabbing Mitchell's uninjured arm and throwing it around his neck, Austin heads agonizingly slowly towards the shore, thinking at any moment the shark will grab his foot. It doesn't, and he finally reaches dry land, dragging Mitchell's heavy, limp body onto the sand.
Austin kneels on all fours, trying to slow his breathing and stop his head from spinning, when he glances over at Mitchell. He is lying on the sand, unmoving. There is a huge, dark pool of liquid spreading around him. Austin forces himself to crawl closer and take a look at his arm, but immediately wishes he hadn't. In the dim light of the moon, he can make out a thin piece of flesh is the only thing keeping the limb attached to his body. Austin turns his head away, vomits, and passes out.
When he comes to, it takes a few minutes for the horrific events to filter back into his numb brain. He lies still, hoping it was all a nightmare, but as he wiggles his fingers in the grainy sand, he realizes it was real. He pushes himself wearily onto one elbow and notices a faint light starting to glow on the horizon. This realization brings on a new panic as he remembers the state Mitchell was in before he passed out.
With an intense feeling of dread, he crawls over to Mitchell as fast as he can and, ignoring the hanging flesh which used to be his arm, Austin puts his fingers on his neck, trying to find a pulse. Mitchell is completely motionless and deathly pale, and for a moment Austin thinks it's too late. But then, just when he's about to give up, his fingers detect the tiniest flicker. He's still alive. Immediately a boost of energy soars through him and he leaps up. He suddenly remembers the whistle and to his immense surprise, his fingers close on the metal, deep inside his pocket. He blows it as hard as possible and then screams at the top of his lungs, "HELP! HELP! Over here, someone - HELP!"
Chapter 20
The next few days are a complete blur. Austin is whisked away to a local hospital in the Keys for observation and then his parents are there to take him home.
He is so tired. He feels as though he could sleep forever. But whether he's awake or asleep, the terrifying images keep invading his mind. His parents insist on taking him to a counselor, saying his reaction to the trauma he experienced is perfectly normal. They say he needs to talk about his experience in order to get over it. But he doesn't want to talk about it.
Inevitably, he has to eventually return to school. Everyone says the sooner he gets back to his normal routine, the better. His mom drives him the first day, as he can't face riding the bus.
He walks into his first period classroom without making eye contact with anyone. He just doesn't want to socialize. But, as he approaches his seat, everyone stands and they start to clap. At first, he wonders vaguely what's going on, and as he looks around at all the faces, he realizes they are clapping for him. Everyone is patting his back and saying things like, "Great job, Austin," and "How did you do it?" and "You saved his life, you know!"
Wow! Isn't this just what he always wanted? He is finally popular. But, he just feels numb. Mia sits next to him at lunch and she seems to understand he isn't ready to talk because she just says, "I want you to know I think what you did was amazing, and you're really special. So, when you're ready to talk, give me a call. I'll wait for you." She hands him a piece of paper with her number on it.
A few weeks go slowly by, and Austin is still feeling a depressed numbness, when one evening he overhears his mom talking to someone on the phone. At first he's not really interested, but he keeps hearing his name and curiosity starts to get the better of him. Finally, she hangs up and comes into his room.
She sits on the edge of his bed and puts her hand on his shoulder. "Austin, that was Mitchell's mother on the phone. He wants to see you."
He glances at her, a puzzled look on his face. Austin knows Mitchell was pretty badly hurt by the shark, and he knows that everyone is saying that he, Austin, saved his life. But, he hasn't figured out how he feels about his worst enemy yet. He thinks maybe he is suppressing all his emotions because he doesn't know what to feel. Should he feel sorry for him? Why would Mitchell want to see him? To call him 'naked boy' again?
He looks away from his mother and shakes his head, "I don't think so, mom."
"Listen to me. I found out some information from Mitchell's mother today that I think may surprise you. She told me that Mitchell's real dad walked out on them when he was three. He doesn't even remember him and has no contact with him at all. Mitchell and his mom have
been living with his step-dad since then. The guy's an alcoholic and is very abusive - both mentally and physically. Mitchell is constantly put down at home and sometimes, he has even been physically beaten. His mom told me he would hide in his room and have to listen to his mother receive the same kind of abuse. Mitchell was terrified to be in his own home for all those years. Can you even imagine?"
Austin can't imagine. Home has always been his safe haven, his place to be when the turmoil outside becomes too much. He thinks what it would be like to not have those precious experiences he has shared with his dad, with his family. No, he can't imagine it.
His mom is silent for a while, probably thinking the same as Austin, but then she continues quietly, "Mitchell's mother told me she always felt a tremendous guilt for what she was making her son go through - but she was too scared to leave. She tried to compensate by buying him clothes and gadgets, but of course, the internal scars are too deep.
"Anyway, she called because she wanted to tell us that Mitchell's step-father left last week - for good, saying he didn't want the hassle of looking after an injured step-son. She feels an enormous relief and thinks this will be the end of a horrific chapter in Mitchell's life. But, he's asking to see you, and she was practically begging me to take you to the hospital. Will you go?"
Austin is shocked and saddened to hear about Mitchell's horrible home life. "But, why did he take everything out on me?" he asks shakily.
His mom sighs, "It's not easy to understand how people's minds work, but I think he was probably trying to make up for his lack of self-esteem at home, and you were a great target. You had lots of friends, and were maybe a threat to him, and he knew you had a good life at home. He was probably more jealous of you than anything else. Nobody's asking you to be his best friend - but will you just go to see him?"
"Yeah, I guess I will," I reply wearily.
Chapter 21
Mitchell is sitting up in the hospital bed, watching TV. One arm is hooked up to a drip and where the other used to be, is a white bandaged stump. The color is back in his face, and if it wasn't for the stump, he would look fairly normal.
He doesn't notice Austin walk in at first and he stands at the door, hovering awkwardly. He gives a little cough to announce his entrance, and Mitchell jumps slightly then gives Austin a very tentative smile.
Austin forces himself to walk closer to the bed, but he doesn't smile back. Somehow he finds his voice and hears himself saying, "Hi - how are you?" then he immediately looks away frowning and says quietly, "Sorry - that was a stupid question. I'm really sorry about your arm."
There is an awkward silence for a few seconds and then Mitchell blurts out, "Listen Austin, I'm really, really sorry for everything I did to you. I don't know why I did those awful things and if I could go back and change anything, it would be that. I know I made your life miserable - and I want to thank you for saving mine. If I was you I don't know that I would have bothered."
Austin doesn't look at him but murmurs, "No, it's fine. Really - it was nothing."
"NOTHING?" Mitchell says, his voice rising. "Dude - I would be dead if you hadn't made the choice to get back in that water and drag me out! It was NOT nothing! You're the bravest person I know, Austin."
Austin allows himself to feel just a hint of pride for the first time since the accident. After all, he had confronted his two worst enemies in one go - Mitchell and a shark - and survived. He suddenly feels as though a huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders and he smiles for the first time in weeks. It's as though these past experiences have given him an understanding he didn't have before, and he will somehow be able to handle whatever life throws at him from now on.
He turns to Mitchell and smiles at him for the first time ever. Mitchell breaks out in a huge relieved grin and asks awkwardly, "Friends?"
Austin pauses briefly then nods, "Friends."
Mitchell looks down at his bandaged stump, then back at Austin and with a weak smile he says, "Shake on it."
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