Maelstrom Ch. 00: Prologue

"Evie, I'm so sorry." Nona said through the phone.

"What for?" Eve asked, her heart already sinking in preparation for the bad news that she knew would come from the sadness in her friend's voice.

"He's dead, Evie, your dad died this morning. Babe, I'm so sorry."

Eve felt like her whole world had just crashed around her, even the water around her seemed to still as she stared into the horizon, tears clouding her vision.

"Evie? Eve, are you ok?" Her worried voice came as if from far away.

Eve sunk to the polished wooden deck of her small sail boat. "I should have been there," her chest grew tight and she struggled to take in a long, ragged breath, "he shouldn't have been alone. I should have been with him."

"Babe, there's nothing you could have done. He wanted you to do this - even if he couldn't be with him."

She couldn't deny that Nona was right -they'd planned the around the world trip ever since she was a little girl, and for her eighteenth birthday, they'd finally saved just enough money to do it. And then her father fell ill, two days before they were due to set sail.

"What am I going to do?" Eve sighed, it was so clear before. Everything they had to do was all planned out, save every penny, buy a boat, then sail around the world. They had to make the trip - it was her mother's dream before she'd died. They were to scatter her remains in the oceans all over the world; the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian. Everywhere. All the places she'd always wanted to visit. All the places she'd never see.

"You're going to come home, come to the funeral and then take your dad's ashes along with your mum's and scatter them together. That's what he'd want."

"Thanks Nona, I'll do that. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"I'm here for you babe, you know that. Just don't overdo it out there - be safe. And I'll be waiting for you when you make port."

"Thanks. I'll be back in two days, maybe less if I can. I love you."

"Love you too, babe." Her best friend for the last fifteen years replied. Wrapping her arms tight around her to ward of the chill that crept into the air as the sun began it's descent into the white line where the sky and the ocean met, Eve hung up the phone and climbed down into the small galley. She looked at the photos that lined what little wall space there was - ones of her when she was younger, the only photo ever taken of her and her mother, pictures of her and her dad. Remains of a childhood that she could barely remember.

Eve walked over to the small bedroom and crawled into the bed. She didn't want to deal with this. It was just too much for her to handle. Every memory she had of her and her father together replayed in her mind - taunting her of a future that could never be until she finally cried herself to sleep.

****

Eve woke just as her head banged against the floor, followed closely by the rest of her body. She blinked a few times to clear her groggy vision as she placed her hand against the wall to help balance herself as she tried to climb to her feet. Running up the stairs, she heard the storm outside - it was going to be a long night.

She climbed the ladder, struggling not to fall again as the boat passed a large wave, then pushed the hatch open and crawled onto the deck. Wind howled around her and rain soaked her clothes, sticking them to her body, weighing her down as she struggled to gain control of her boat. Sailing in a storm was dangerous, but she'd do the best she could to make sure that this wasn't the last storm she ever passed through.

Suddenly, the ship struck rocks that she swore hadn't been in her path moments ago. Wood splintered around her and she fell into the water as her ship - the last thing her father would ever buy for her, sank into the black depths of the water. Rain pounded harshly onto her skin as she fought to stay above the water. She spotted a piece of wood that had come from her boat, and she swam towards it, using up the last of her strength. She grabbed a hold of it and hauled herself onto it, before drifting into an exhaustion-fuelled sleep.