Source: Pixabay
Every now and then, the wave would crash on the beach, bringing the tide to the shore before making a retreat. He lay, sprawingly, on the sandy floor, anticipating the tide to come again. He loved the ebb and flow of the sea. Not just that, he loved how the flowing water tickled his skin, lullingly, and the rhythm it created. Coming to the beach house was the best decision he had made that year. It provided him the peace that seemed to be missing in his life.
Contrary to what most people believed, being the sole heir to billionaire parents was not always a destiny studded with happiness. Even though his parents, Chief Ameh and his wife, Ada Onduka, owned the popular Onduka Group, he mostly led a life of depression. Chief Ameh would like for his son to take over the family business some day, but Adeyi had a different plan. He wanted to pursue a career as an artist. This little difference had led to moments of tense standoff between father and son on many occasions. That was not all. Mrs Ada was beginning to feel old. She could barely wait to carry a grandchild in her arms. But a thirty-year old Adeyi still believed he was very young, and had his whole life ahead of him. Besides, he hadn't found the right one for him. The pressure of conforming to the life his parents wanted for him was seriously weighing him down.
Yearning for peace of mind, he had decided on vacationing at his parents' opulent beach house in Victoria Island, Lagos. Here, he was not within reach of his father's scornful gaze at dinner. Also, his mother wasn't there to disturb his concentration with relationship talks while he painted. As far as he was concerned, his vacation was turning out greatly for him. However, a sound like a cough had startled him. It came from the sea. As the sound rang out again, he sat up to find out what that was. Something orange was floating on the water. It seemed like a human with a life jacket. Soon, the wave brought it closer to shore, and he could see clearly that it was a woman. She had to have been a victim of a boat mishap. Immediately, he stood up, and jumped into the sea. Grabbing hold of the woman, he pulled her out of the water and laid her on the beach.
"Hey, are you okay? "Can you hear me?" he asked.
She wasn't unconscious but she was extremely tired and dizzy.
"Are there others?" Adeyi asked again, looking far out into the sea to see if there were more like her. He saw none.
She was cold, and needed to be kept warm. After taking the life jacket off her, he carried her on his shoulder into the beach house where he laid her on the sofa before turning on the heater. Then he got her a clean towel. A glass of water and glucose was enough to get her sitting up.
"Thank you," she muttered, gingerly, taking another gulp.
Adeyi was relieved that she could talk, "Are you okay? Would you like something to eat?"
She nodded positively. He went to the kitchen, some of the sandwich he had for breakfast was still there. He brought her that.
He sat beside her, and watched her eat. The way her eyes glinted sparked something inside of him. For the first time, he began to see sense in his mother's advice.
The food seemed to have given her the vigour she needed to tell her story.
"My name is Hannah," she began, "Some men were trafficking me and other women out of the country," tears welled up in her eyes as she hesitated.
He patted her on the shoulder, "Hey, it's okay, Hannah. You're safe now."
Hannah rubbed the tears off her eyes, "Then there was a mighty storm, and it wrecked the vessel we were in. The men abandoned us on the sinking ship to escape on a lifeboat, leaving us only a few lifejackets. I managed to grab hold of one, and jumped off the ship. That's all I could remember."
Listening as she recounted her story, Adeyi admired her fighting spirit. But it was more than just her story that he admired. He had been with many women before, but there was something different about this one. Something that made his heart race. Maybe this was it. Maybe he had found whom he was looking for.
This is my submission for the Inkwell community weekly prompt, Shipwreck.
Thanks for reading!