Seawater churned all around me, up my nose, down my throat, in my eyes. I couldn’t breathe without choking. Jennie swam toward me, crying and bleeding and screaming. She grabbed my hand and tried to talk, but her words came out all ed up, and I couldn’t understand anything she said. Her head wobbled, and she splashed face-down in the water. I pulled her up by her hair. “Wake up, Jennie, wake up!” The waves were so high, and I was afraid we’d get separated, so I shoved my right arm under the strap of her life jacket and held onto her. I lifted her face up. “Jennie, Jennie!” Oh God. Her eyes stayed shut and she didn’t respond, so I shoved my left arm under the other strap of her life jacket and leaned back with her lying on my chest.

The current pulled us away from the wreckage. The pieces of the plane disappeared below the surface, and it didn’t take long before there was nothing left. I tried not to think about Graham strapped in his seat.

I floated, stunned, my heart pounding in my chest. Surrounded by nothing but rolling waves, I tried to keep our heads above water and forced myself not to panic.

Will they know we crashed? Were they tracking us on radar? Maybe not, because no one came.

The sky darkened and the sun went down. Jennie mumbled. I thought she might be waking up, but her body shook and she puked on me. The waves washed it away, but she trembled and I pulled her closer, trying to share body heat. I was cold, too, even though the water had felt warm right after the crash. There wasn’t any moonlight, and I could barely see the surface of the water around us, black now, not blue.

I worried about sharks. I freed one of my arms and put my hand under Jennie’s chin, lifting her head off my chest. I’d felt something warm just below my neck where her head rested. Was she still bleeding? I tried to get her to wake up, but she’d only respond if I shook her face. She wouldn’t talk, but she’d moan. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I wanted to know if she was alive. She didn’t move for a long time, which freaked me out, but then she puked again and shivered in my arms.

I tried to stay calm, breathing slowly in and out. Handling the waves was easier floating on my back, and Jennie and I rode them as the current carried us. The seaplanes wouldn’t fly in the d