june 20, 2019

- Tom -

Andy was sleeping under our shelter, she fell asleep a few hours ago and I was sitting on the beach just watching the horizon. I've been having a hard time sleeping lately, obviate reasoning behind that is being stranded on an island.

I looked behind me, seeing Andy turn over in her sleep, she curled up and turned again. Then again. My forehead creased, she turned over again, "Andy?" I called, maybe she woke up and she's having a hard time getting comfortable.

I watched as her chest was rising and falling much more quickly than it should have been. I got up and knelt next to her, gently putting a hand on her shoulder.

Her body jumped at my touch and she sat up in a panic, practically screaming as she gripped onto my arms tightly.

"Andy, it's me!" I put my other arm around her, rubbing her back, "It's me, it's Tom, you're safe. You're okay." Her body started to relax but I still felt her heart racing against my hand.

"I.. I had a nightmare." She croaked.

june 20, 2019

- Andy -

"What was it? If you don't mind me asking." Tom asked as he sat up straight next to me, after a few minutes of breathing exercises (thanks to Tom), he took his hands away and I turned toward him.

I thought back to my dream. Remembering how real it felt, I shivered and Tom quickly put his hand on my back and gently rubbed it. "I was swimming in the lagoon.. It was normal, it was happy.. Then, the next thing I know I get pulled under water by a current. I swam back to the surface but I wasn't in the lagoon anymore, I was in the ocean, back in the sea on the night we got stranded here." My hands gripped the sand, "I felt the water filling my lungs again.. I was trying so hard to swim but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get back to the surface."

Tom gave me one of those looks, I first thought it was a pity look but it turned to something else. "I was having those kinds of dreams the first week we were on this island." He muttered.

"You were?" He nodded. "You do a good job of hiding it." I laughed a little, he cracked a smile.

"I can't be afraid of the ocean forever, what happened to us was a freak accident. It was the last thing that I thought would happen on that cruise and it would be almost impossible for it to happen again."

"I haven't stepped foot in the ocean since that night."

"What? No, no, that's just absurd." Tom said dramatically. "I'm going to change that, not right now because it's the middle of the night, but tomorrow I'm going to make sure you get back in the water."

"Uh, huh." I rolled my eyes with a small laugh, "Sure."

june 21, 2019

- Andy -

I was sitting in the sand with my arms wrapped around my knees, Tom was waiting for me at the shore but I shook my head and stayed put.

He jogged over to me, "C'mon, get up." He said with a hand out.

"Nope."

He raised an eyebrow, "Just get up."

"Nah."

"Andy."

"Tom."

He sighed, "Alright, guess that leaves only one thing left to do." My brows furrowed when I looked up at him with a confused look.

"Wha—" Tom grabbed me by the arms and pulled me up, "Hey, I—" Before I knew it, he threw me over his shoulder and began walking to shore. "Tom! Put me down!"

"Fears are only in your head, I'm going to make you learn that."

~~~

"I wanna go back to the dry sand." I grumbled. "My feet are cold and it's getting dark." Tom had made me stand on the shore for an hour now, nothing else but standing. Our feet were sunken into the sand, the water rushing up to our ankles and receding back to sea.

"Shush."

"Bu—"

"Shush. Just relax and listen to the waves."

i literally hate feet so having that gif saved in my phone triggers me lol, i hope you're enjoying the story at least because it's getting hard to find motivation to write it