6

I'm heaving. My knees are jelly. I sit down. The same rocks that trapped me inside this claustrophobic cave. "Fuck," I whimper. My lungs constrict. I can't help the cough that forces through my throat. 

Xavier is by my side then. He's brushing my hair from my face. The dyed blue colour is almost black in the depths of the tidal cave. "What's wrong?"

He's already got Malachi on the phone. They argue back and forth for a few minutes. "Can I bring her to the centre or not?"

"What have you so obsessed with that kid?"

Xavier ends the call. "I'm taking you back to the centre. You need to get checked out."

At the recovery centre, Xavier introduces me to the doctor on duty. He tells me that Dr Thrope is responsible for taking care of all the beach staff and beachgoers. That he's been working here since the beach was foundered and that he's basically a fossil. 

"Xavier tells me that you are here for a check-up?" Dr. Thorpe asks me, while I sit on a examining bed and sway my feet. He touches his stethoscope to my chest. 

"Yeah," I say. All of this is so embarrassing. If I'd only known how to swim, I wouldn't be in this situation. I would never have gotten stuck in that cave. 

"Dad,'' Xavier says. His thick brows pinched. "I mean, Dr Thorpe, she almost drowned. Malachi told me that she'd be okay. That she didn't need to see a doctor. But, I think he was wrong. I think there's something wrong with her lungs. She was having a hard time breathing while we were in those caves."

"You were in those caves again?" Malachi walks into the centre, his wet suit unzipped and hanging around his waist. He's got a surfboard tucked underneath his arm. "Didn't you learn anything? She almost drowned you in there."

Xavier darkens. He looks murderous. "We both know there wasn't anything any of us could do about those waves."

"Yeah?" he scoffs. "Maybe a professional swimmer like herself should have known those caves are trouble. High tide or not."

"Malachi" Dr. Thorpe sighs. "What did I say about speaking to your brother like that? Xavier, I think you should take Landon home. She needs rest. Going into those caves put a  lot of stress on her lungs."

Xavier is a statue of marble when I get into his Jeep. He doesn't look at me before he starts the car. "Put on your seat belt."