UNDER THE WAVES (ZARA)

Zara had never tried to go too deep waters with floaters or anything. She never even tried swimming long enough, not at least if it was just her waist-high. Some part of her says that she can swim, but that part seemed to be buried long behind her memories.

And now, more than just the unimaginable pumping of her heart but the jitters that tickle her toes and freeze her fingers was everything she needed to deal with, just with the thought and the feeling that she can't even reach the ground, can almost take her consciousness away.

However, she needs to get over these obstacles not only for her sake but also for the people she's with and her friend Ella. She was the one who convinced her to be part of this craziness. Well, she knew it's not crazy for Ella and her to be aiming for free boarding and scholarship, but she was supposed to be fine in her life, and maybe it was also because of her that Ella considered joining. Yet, she will be the spineless one. She needed to show her fierceness; she needed to be wild and free, just what she wanted for everyone to see.

Even though deep inside her, she was that innocent little girl who was actually afraid of the world, who actually dreams of a fairytale life and to be a damsel in distress and will just be waiting for his charming prince. She needed to hide that personality.

She needed people to see her tough, feisty, and wild. In her home, she needed to be the father he had - who adopted her, hate seeing kids who cried, weak, and scared. So, she needed to be what her father wanted her to be. She had to hide all the weaknesses and fears she knew because she knew that her father was much scarier than any of those things.

And water, water is the first thing that reminded her of her father too. The real one was a fisherman. She can't forget that last moment with him on his boat. His father insisted for her to stay on the shore. However, she sneaked out and rode on the boat with him.

She thought everything would be fun, being in the midst of the sea and looking at his father gathering all those fresh fishes. Then tomorrow, her father will bring all of them to the market and, of course, brought him back with her favorite bread, the largest bun she can even use as a pillow if only she doesn't eat it.

Those are Zara's beautiful memories of her birth father. After her mother died, her father was the only person she got in her life.

However, that night she sneaked out to be with him in the boat without him even knowing what's ahead and what could happen to be in there.

Little Zara, who was just six years old at that time, was curling herself sneakily under the compartment inside his father's boat without his father's knowledge. His father was alone in his fishing boat, and Zara was excited and happy about everything she witnessed on what her father would do. It was part of her dream to be like his father, which also means being a fisherman or maybe a fisher girl.

However, the boat suddenly moved, and its movement gradually increased, which gave uncomfortable feelings to little Zara's stomach. The swinging of the boat made her want to puke. She had decided to get out from inside the little compartment she was hiding and call on her father.

"Appa!" Zara called over her father, who was busy holding on to some stuff and keeping it in place. Since the waves are swishing and whipping the boat wildly, things inside the boat can easily get thrown on the water, and that also goes with Zara.

"Zara? Why are you…? Wait! Just stay down and hold tight!" Her father was screaming at the top of her lungs just to make sure that Zara had heard him and got his instruction.

However, still, he failed.

Instead of doing what his father asked, Zara did the exact opposite.

"Appa! What did you say?" Zara stood up and moved towards his father, so she would be able to hear what her father said. As soon as she stood up, the wind and the waves never considered little Zara. She was wobbling, falling every time the boat racks. Yet, she never stopped walking towards her father as she saw him moving his mouth and was saying something that she couldn't hear, taken over by the loud swooshing of the wind and splashing of the wrecked water. She felt the need to hear what he was saying, so she kept moving on.

However…

Without noticing…

A big splash of waves pushed Zara out of the sea, and the next thing she knew was that she was fighting over the big waves to pull herself up. In contrast, those waves were inconsiderately pushing her down again and again.

She, however, is someone who was taught by her true father to never give up and just keep on fighting.

She continued kicking her feet and kept herself calm and steady because she knew that her father would be coming to save her.

And she was not wrong. Unhesitatingly, his father jumped out of the boat as soon as he took some rope and tied himself to the boat, and in his hands was the only life jacket that he used to wear moments ago...

He swam towards Zara and slipped the life Jacket on her.

Little Zara had started to feel calmer after because she was already in the hands of her father. The place that she knew, where she can get the best security in her entire life.

However, the storm was not done yet and they are still in the water. Her father swam her way back to the boat with Zara behind him. She was holding her father's shirt as she floated with him.

Nevertheless, another unexpected set of big waves threw their wooden boat towards them and abruptly, her father pulled her over and covered her with his body.