The Diamond Fist (2)

To recap on the last chapter, Liam realised that his friends had disappeared after diving off the headland into the sea as part of a dare.

12th February

Chapter 2

Liam

“Shit!” 

I bit the inside of my cheek. My heart felt like it was being squeezed, my hands shaking —and it wasn’t from the cold. “N-n-no, no, they're not gone, they're not gone.” Clenching my hand into a fist, I called out hopelessly. “Medo! Jasmine! Lukas! It’s not funny, come back!” 

People didn't just disappear like that.  They had to be somewhere. They had to be somewhere, somewhere near!

“Come back!” 

 I took off my bag and began to run towards the cliff. They were probably being silly in the water, too lazy to get out. The water was perfectly warm and calm. They were still there. They were there.

It was only then that I noticed how dark the beach was with the only light coming from the stars and the lampposts emitting an orange in the distance. When did it turn dark? When did this situation become like this? I couldn’t remember. “No, no, they’re just around the corner, they’re here, they’re here—MEDO!”

With my heart feeling like it would burst and my airways closing, I opened my phone as I ran up the steady ascent of the cliff and I scrolled through the contact list. “Who do I call, who do I call, please let them answer …  Lukas!” I pressed the call button.

Silence … 

There was no reply.  Their phones are still in their clothes, stupid. They wouldn’t answer. Idiot.

Spitting out every swear word I knew, I surveyed the area. I was on the top of the cliff now with a view of the bay in front of me. They weren't in the water. Maybe they were walking along the road. That would make sense!  “Please, please let them be there, please, please, please let them be there,” I begged

I arrived at the top of the cliff and they weren’t there. I surveyed the area. They weren’t there either. They weren’t anywhere to be seen.

The world had stopped spinning.

They weren’t here anymore: they’d literally dropped off the face of the Earth.

I called someone—who? I didn’t know; I didn’t feel it–it was as if my brain was switched onto survival mode, don’t think, just do. Just do. Keep breathing, moving, doing, surviving.

“Hello? Hello?”

“Ahlan wa sahlan—”

“Bolees! D-Do you -- you speak English?” I’d forgotten all my Arabic; what really mattered now was finding where they were, what had happened, hoping, praying—

“Yes, I speak,” the man replied in a thick, heavy accent.

“I'm in Sharm, Shra--no, Sharm El Sheikh and my friends were—they were s-swimming and now they have disappear--”

“Lifeboat is coming—”

“No—yeah, okay, yeah, thank you,thank you—”

“Where are you now?” 

I quickly gave him the details of my location and closed the phone. And waited. 

What if these policemen couldn’t speak English that well? What would I do? I was far from fluent in Arabic. How would I explain th—No, calm down, Liam! I told myself they would be fine and that they were here somewhere. They were here and thought it would be a hilarious joke and this joke just went awry. 

I’d just call out for them and they’ll hear me. Oh, they’ll hear me all right, I don’t need to worry about where they are and I don’t need to panic and I just—

“LUKAS!” I roared. “COME BACK! IT’S NOT FUNNY ANYMORE!” 

Only the sound of the waves gently tumbling into the beach could be heard, seeping into the water and bubbling away slowly. Maybe a cricket in the distance, or two. But nothing else. The silence was deafening. Nothingess. The sound of nothing, pure nothing, piercing my eardrums, ripping it apart and roaring before nothing. Once again.

I ran my fingers through my hair, tugging at the roots and felt my heart rise to my throat. I walked back to where I left the barbecue; the fire had long been extinguished. In a fit of rage, I threw the barbecue at the cliff, the coal out. “How could I be so stupid, GODDAMMIT! What douche would even dare their friends to do that!?” I called their names again. 

As always, the only reply was silence.

I found myself bursting into tears. Don't let them have disappeared! Let them just say something from behind the trees! I wiped the tears that spilled with my hands that were violently shaking now, before buckling over, my knees sinking into the sand.

The distant sound of wailing became louder and louder.

The police.

The sirens stopped wailing, the lights stopped flashing and the officers wearing desert camouflage stepped out of their their similarly coloured Jeep into the orange light. “Inta kalemtina?” The man asked if it was me who called them.

“Naam, ana--ana k-k-kalamtoko.” I forced myself to stop shaking and stared hard at the ground so the tears wouldn't show as I stepped into the light.

“Inta mish—You are English; do you want to speak English?”

“Yes, y-yes please.” I explained to the policeman the whole situation as the second wrote everything down. He paused and pointed at the lifeboat emerged in the distance, its lights flashing white and red. “They arrived,” he said in Arabic. “They will be searching for them,” he added, in English. 

“Where they …” he mimed someone drinking.

“No. No, they were not d-drunk." I had begun to shake once again. “The weird thing... Weird thing is that they were going to swim back. He--They, they can swim. Swim well. I know. Look at the sea. It's - it's fine. They can swim. The sea -- 's not stormy.” I turned to hide the tears that welled into my eyes again. 

He nodded. “What do they look—they are…” he frowned at the lifeboat and spoke into his walkie-talkie. The sound of static before some garbled speech that I could barely understand because it was mixed in with all the static. 

He told me that they would contact me soon and to:

-  Go home

-  Try not to panic

-  Wait

He also took down my school’s and my own address before he left (adding that he needed it as he might speak to me) and suddenly I was alone once again. 

I buckled and my knees sank into the sand once again. My shaking hands wiped the tears away, and suddenly I was all too aware of what I had done. They were gone. Gone gone gone.

____

A/N This chapter wasn't in any of the older drafts so I would appreciate any comments on this ^^

To the previous chapter (1):  http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/work.php?id=98633