“J-jessica? Where are we?”

“A-are we in the middle of the ocean? Why are we in the middle of the friggin’ ocean?!”

Jessica moves her arms up and down and successively flails her legs front to back. They were in the middle of nowhere; in the middle of the vast and wide ocean, not knowing where to go and what to do. Tiffany, on the other hand, was having a slightly different experience.

“J.. je.. j… jess…”

“Tiffany? Where are you?” Jessica looked left and right but all she could see was the moonlit waters of the torturous sea. “Where are you? Tell me where you are!”

“Jessi… I… I… can’t…. can’t… swim…” Tiffany tried to call for Jessica’s help, but the flailing, thrashing, and struggling made no difference as she continued to sink. “Jes…”

“Tiffany?”

Jessica saw something sink somewhere near her. She immediately swam towards it and tried to grab hold of what she thought was Tiffany, but it already sank beyond her reach. Not losing hope, Jessica dives underwater and she sees a figure with lifeless arms and legs. She knew at once that it was Tiffany. She pushes herself with her feet and her arms as she dove deeper and deeper into the ocean. But Tiffany was sinking as fast as she was. As she was losing her stored oxygen, Jessica kicked and pushed harder as she headed deeper into the ocean. Then, as Tiffany was inches from her face, she grabbed one of her hands and started to swim upwards. Even though Tiffany’s weight was drastically decreased because they were underwater, Jessica still struggled a great deal because of fatigue. Besides that, the increased pressure under the water also gave her a hard time. But Jessica persevered through these obstacles. Her free hand was still pushing her upwards and her feet were still kicking. She kept swimming and swimming, but her breath was down to its last strand. Jessica doesn’t know how far the surface was, but she still kept swimming. Then, Tiffany’s fingers started to slip from hers. Her feet and her hands stopped moving and as she tried to grasp for air, the oxygen-less waters kept her from doing so and bubbles formed from and rose up to the surface. Then, the sight of the bright moonlight above slowly faded. Her eyes started to close, and soon, both of them were in jeopardy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few hours later, Jessica opened her eyes. She coughed out the water from her lungs and spat them out of her system. Her hands started to move and as she lifted them, soft, wet sand fell through her fingers. She was dazed for a couple of seconds; just staring at the moon above her. Then, she remembered Tiffany. She stood up, but struggled to balance on her feet. Weariness just forced her on her knees. But she didn’t give up. She stood up and started to walk the shorelines of an island unfamiliar to her knowledge.

“Tiffany! Where are you!?” Jessica screamed with her best effort.

Jessica’s feet sunk down in the sand every time she took a step. For her, every step seemed climbing a mountain, but she continued on.

“Tiffany! Where are you!?” Jessica yelled out once more as she trudged on the sandy shorelines.

After a few more steps, Jessica sat on her , finally giving up.

“Tiffany, I’m so sorry,” Jessica said to herself as she buried her face in her arms. “I tried my best,” she told herself as tears came out her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

Jessica could not believe that something she had created in her imagination was suddenly gone. She wasn’t really the type of girl to cry at such things. She usually just stays silent and stares blankly at the sky. But this time, she was crying like thousands of onions were being peeled and chopped before her. She bawls for a couple of minutes more before she finally stopped. If she hadn’t she would have literally ran out of tears. She finally lifts her head, but she just stared blankly at the indiscernible horizon in front of her. Then, she notices something further along the shorelines. She quickly stands up and walks quickly towards the figure.

“T-t-tiffany?” Jessica calls out as she starts to run. “Tiffany! I’m coming! Don’t worry!”

The girl who was worn-out a while ago suddenly starts sprinting like she was aiming for an Olympic medal. In a while, the figure was finally at her feet. It was Tiffany and she immediately kneels down near the girl.

“Tiffany! Wake up!” Jessica screams as she softly slaps the lifeless girl’s face. “Tiffany! Wake up!”

Jessica tried everything she could, but it seemed like she out after losing oxygen.

“I-I need to give her CPR,” Jessica told herself. “But, isn’t it too late?”

Jessica thinks of the amount of time that she has wasted and she thinks that it might have been too late to try and bring her to consciousness, but she decides to try anyway.

“Please make this work.”

Jessica places her right hand’s palm on top of her left hand’s back and interlocked her fingers. Then, she starts to push Tiffany’s chest as she counts to ten. After doing so, she grabs Tiffany’s upper and lower lips separately and opens them. As she was about to put her lips on hers, she suddenly stops. She recalls all the moments when she woke up the past couple of days. Afraid that she would wake up once more when she attempts to make her lips and Tiffany’s make contact, she lets go of Tiffany’s lips. But as she wasn’t able to think of any other way, she holds Tiffany’s lips once more and closes her eyes. Her lips were slowly inching closer to Tiffany’s and finally, she could feel the soft tender lips of Tiffany’s, which were now against hers. She opens her eyes and realizes that she was still in dreamland. As she came back to her senses, she breathes air into Tiffany’s mouth. After doing so for some time, she puts her hands together and pushes on Tiffany’s chest once more. She continued doing CPR as she was taught when she was in her freshmen years, but it seemed like it wasn’t working.

“Wake up Tiffany! Wake up!” Jessica shouted at the lifeless girl and started continuing CPR hastily with her eyes tearing up. “Don’t do this to me!”

Now, Jessica starts to pound Tiffany’s chest in frustration, shouting “Wake up!” each time. Then, she puts her head down on her chest and sobbed, cried, and wept.

“Wake up… please…” Jessica cried out as she pounded Tiffany’s chest one last time.

Suddenly, the chest her head was on started to expand and Tiffany started to cough out water. Jessica was shocked and astounded at the same time, but she had enough presence of mind to lift her head up and attend to Tiffany. She immediately kneels near her and puts Tiffany’s head on her lap.

“Tiffany, are you okay?”

“W… where am I?” Tiffany muttered as she coughed some more.

“You’re okay!” Jessica unknowingly screamed out loud as she hugged Tiffany’s head.

“What happened?” Tiffany asked as she sat up.

“Well, it doesn’t matter now. What’s important is that you’re okay.”

The two converse and talk with each other for hours, oblivious to the situation that they’re in. Jessica was just so happy that she was able to keep Tiffany’s existence alive.

“You know, it’s not so bad here,” Jessica told Tiffany she lay down on the soft and sandy shoreline. “I mean, with the cold breeze and the million stars above, it’s kinda sweet. Don’t you think?”

“As long as you’re with me, everything’s fine, everything’s sweet, and everything will be okay,” Tiffany uttered as she lay down beside Jessica and held her hand.”

The two looked at each other and smiled, as if they were newlyweds on their first night together. Jessica had been seeing Tiffany for quite some time now, and this was her second happiest moment with her. She was in her happiest state when they first met.

“I have a feeling that I’ll be waking up soon, so I’ll try to take you to someplace else; somewhere safer.”

“Do I close my eyes again?”

“Yes,” Jessica replied to Tiffany as she held her hands. “And we count to three again.”

“One”

“Two”

“Three”

The two open their eyes after counting, but the sea was still there and so was the thick forest deeper in the island.

“It didn’t work?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Am I losing control over my dreams?”

“No, that can’t be possible. This is your dream right?”

“But, the storm, the loss of electricity in the yacht, and us being here; I never planned all of those. And to top it off, I can’t just go anywhere I want now. It does seem like I’m losing my powers.”

“What do we do?”

“Since I’ll be waking up pretty soon, why don’t we make shelter and find food for you so you’ll be okay when I’m gone.”

“Let’s do that.”

The two girls head into the forest, hand in hand. Jessica was leading the way and Tiffany was behind her. They decided to look for food first before trying to make shelter. Then, they found a banana tree along the way. It was quite short, so it would be easy to take its fruits.

“I think this would be enough for you until I get back,” Jessica told Tiffany as she grabs hold of the bundle of bananas.

“I think so too.”

“Should we head back to the shorelines?”

“We should. It would be safer for me there.”

“Then we should take some of these banana leaves for your temporary shelter.”

Lucky for Jessica, there were banana leaves lying on the ground so she did not have to take it directly from the tree. It would have been quite difficult for her to be able to take the leaves from the tree especially because she didn’t have the right tools to do so. Now, the girls head back to where they came from, with Jessica carrying the heavy banana bundle and Tiffany dragging two large banana leaves behind her. As they arrived, they immediately looked for the perfect spot to tie the leaves tight. They found a tree with a large trunk slightly farther from them and they headed towards it, carrying their load. Jessica tied the leaves to the trunk, facing each other, creating a roof that would be enough to shade Tiffany from rain in case it does. Then, they went under the self-sufficed haven and they continued their conversation.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve met, Tiffany.”

“Shhh.”

“Tiffany! Did you hear what I–”

“Shhhh!” Tiffany silenced Jessica once more as she clamped with her hands.

“What is it?” Jessica mumbled behind Tiffany’s palm which was covering .

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That!”

Tiffany was pointing out a strange noise coming from the forest behind them. The two stepped out of the banana leaf shelter and tried to trace where the sound was coming from. Then, something caught their attention. A set of bushes started moving violently, like something terrifying was about to come out from it.

“Jessi–”

“Oh crap,” Jessica muttered to herself as she opened her eyes.