The Day Before

When we got to the cracked window, my eyes were practically falling out of their sockets. The little fountain of water was gone, in it’s place was a waterfall of water pouring out through the crack. The water was falling from probably the third floor, that’s how big the crack was. There was pool of water near the front doors, leading all the way up the beginning steps of the stairs.

“Shit.” Eli said, his eyes locked on the waterfall.

“Eli!” Charlotte called, worry clouded her eyes. They had a whispered conversation, finally pulling apart, only to see Eli walking towards me.

“We need to talk.” he said while pushing me in the direction of our rooming stores.

“How’d you get here, to Dadeland?” he fired the first question, his eyes looking ahead.

I looked up at him, stunned. But, then my mind wandered over to the waterfall, so I didn’t hesitate any longer to answer his question.

“Inflatable tube. You didn’t see it while you were shooting at me?” I said surprisingly, calm. I didn’t want to make him feel bad, God, that was the last thing I wanted. He flinched for a second, and I bit my lip, mentally scolding myself.

“No, I didn’t. Inflatable tube, huh?” he rushed out his sentence quickly. Stopping in front of the store’s doors. I saw Dash looking out of Aeropostale’s display window, his head cocked to the side.

I pretended that he wasn’t there, praying for Eli to not see. I spoke, to keep him concentrated on me.

“We can’t take boats. It’s out of the question.” I said, remembering the kid with the buzz cut and his blond girl, and their exploded boat.

“I think there are bombs underwater, boats trigger them, something about the weight or motor…” I continued, trailing off. Eli gave me a raised eyebrow, “No boats, then.” he concluded, with his mouth a thin line. “How do you know about this weight/motor problem?” he fired another question, looking at me. It wasn’t the kind of look like he gave me before, this one of authority.

“There were these two people, they were on a boat and asking me to go with them. I declined, so they left. A few minutes later, I heard a scream and then an explosion happened. I passed by them on my inner tube and nothing happened to me…” I replied, not going into the details. I wanted to tell him about ‘The Government’ but he looked so preoccupied and serious that I held my tongue.

“Let’s go back then.” he said, not taking a second glance at me, striding away. I was still standing by Hot Topic when he was a few feet away from me. Eli was playing some type of Good Cop, Bad Cop role and I didn’t find it at all necessary. I followed behind sluggishly, arriving at the cracked glass much later than he had.

He was already talking to everyone, who were in a tight circle. Benji let me in, stepping aside to make room.

“…We need to make teams and go all around this mall, to try to find inner tubes--” Eli was saying, his voice smooth.

“Wait-- Inner tubes?” Benji said in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? Are we going to Rapid’s or the beach or something?” he continued, still in shock. “Fuck that, I say we take the boat that’s floating near the back.” he narrowed his eyes at Eli. I felt a fight brewing and Charlotte looked at them worriedly. “Guys…” she warned. “No boats.” Eli said flatly.

“Three reasons why we should take a boat,“ Benji said through gritted teeth, three fingers outstretched, “One: It’ll be faster, Two: we’ll all fit, and Three: we’ll have time left over to do what we want before this place is underwater.” he folded his finger for every reason. Eli shot a glare at me and I shrunk away. “No. Boat.” Eli said through gritted teeth, also. The tension in the air was rising, you could slice the amount of testosterone with a plastic knife.

Ruth and Cove stepped back, leaving me and Charlotte wedged in between Eli and Benji.

“Alright, I don’t know what kind of beef you two are grilling against each other, but you need to stop it right now!” Charlotte yelled, in between their glares. I thought that was a weird metaphor for their bickering or per say, verbal fighting, but it calmed them down enough for me to try something.

“I-I have an idea.” I said aloud. Everybody looked at me and it fell silent, the only thing that could be heard was the water falling and splashing in it’s own pool.

“Everyone who wants to go in the boat, raise their hand.” I called out, thinking this would work. Benji’s hand shot straight up, he looked at everybody hungrily, finally eying me. I kept my arm to the side and waited for another hand to shoot up. Ruth’s hand did so, and everybody looked at her in disbelief, especially Cove. “Benji has good reasons…” she mumbled, timidly letting her hand fall to the side.

“And now, everyone who wants to take inner tubes?” I asked, watching Charlotte’s hand go up, then came Cove’s timid hand, and Eli mumbled a response, I extended my arm out. So, that’s…four against two. “I guess we have a winner.” I said with a shy smile, as if to say ‘Go, figure!’ Benji looked sideways and Ruth clapped her hands together, going along with the decision.

“Alright then, we need teams of two.” Eli said in that same smooth, low, voice. “Cove and Ruth. Violet and…”

“Me.” Benji and Eli said simultaneously. Charlotte looked halfheartedly at the result when Eli said ‘Violet and Me.’ She bit her lip and waited for them to settle down.

Eli looked at Benji and Benji looked at Eli.

“Fine then, Benji and Violet…” he strained out the sentence and with a final sigh finished off with, “Charlotte and me.” Charlotte’s eyes lit up and I curiously looked over at her, she was currently smiling at Eli. Eli had this twinkle in his eye that I couldn’t quite comprehend.

And so it was Benji and me.