What I do in My Spare Time

CHAPTER ONE

They had been moving smoothly across the Pacific Ocean. Everything was going well until the storm hit. It was sudden. So sudden, they didn’t know it would happen. The clouds were a normal shiny white with the glare of the sun. Then all of a sudden, the clouds went dark. The sun hid behind the clouds and the clouds let out some rain. They were pushed by the wind, which made the rain worse.

14-year old Alex Brown was with his brother and his father on their sixty-foot vessel called “Seaworthy.” His brother, Timothy Brown, was two years older than him. His father, Nathan Brown, was thirty-six years old and worked almost his entire life out at sea.

“Tim, go get the wheel!” His father yelled. Tim did as he was instructed. Nathen yelled to turn hard to port. Tim did so. He tied the wheel in place and ran down to the deck with Alex and his father.

“Guys, get below deck. We did all we can up here.” Alex, after making sure a rope was tight enough, turned and followed his brother and father below deck. He barely made it before a giant wave came across the ship and it almost capsized. After they steadied themselves, Alex's father told them to go on without him.

"I think that wave made a few things loose. I'm going back out."

"But you'll never make it alive!" Alex yelled.

Timothy put his hand on Alex's shoulder. "Trust him. He'll make it."

Alex looked up to his father who nodded and turned around, running outside to face the weather. Alex and Timothy ran deeper into the boat, down to the storage room. They knew the entire map of the boat because they lived almost half of their lives out at sea.

After their mom died, they had no choice but to go with their dad at sea. Timothy learned how to steer and drive the vessel, and they both learned how to work the sails.

“Shoot.” Timothy said heading down the stairs to the storage room. The stairs were wet.

“Crap… crap… crap…” They reached the bottom and were greeted with water about two feet deep.

“This isn’t good, Timmy.” Alex said. There was a bit of fear in his voice. They both knew the ship was doomed now. They watched as the water climbed the steps. And inch per minute.

“Yeah, we need to find where the hole is. We might be able to seal it.” Tim said. With that, he pulled off his shoes and socks and waded into the water.

Alex did the same, but was hesitant at first. He would never be like his brother, he always thought. Tim was tough, brave, and smart. Alex was only half of what Tim is.

After Alex got the courage to go into the water, he followed Tim to the deep side of the room. Boxes, papers, and other miscellaneous items were floating around the room. Alex saw a painting that must’ve fallen off the wall, a bunch of empty cans and trash (probably from the trash can on the bottom floor).

He kept on walking through the water, and when the stairs came to go to the bottom, he had to start swimming. He kicked his feet off the step and dove to the bottom of the stairs. He opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness at first. Then he started to see the bottom of the stairs. And there at the bottom was a giant hole on the floor.

Alex gasped… which didn’t go well. He sucked in more water than he was supposed to, and desperately tried to swim to the surface. His lungs felt like they would explode.

Finally, he reached the surface and took a deep breath and tried to get as much air as he could before he yelled to Tim.

“Timmy! I found the hole!”

There was no response.

He’s probably underwater searching, Alex thought. Then again, he’d have to be under for a long time. Tim when under before Alex did.

Now Alex started to get worried. He didn’t know how to seal the hole himself. He also didn’t know where his brother was. He decided to go get his father to help. He swam out of the room and back to the stairs leading back above deck.

He reached the door leading to the poop deck and grabbed the handle. It was locked from the outside. He wiggled it some more, hoping it would magically open, but he knew it wouldn’t.

So he turned around and headed to the door leading to the bow. He tried this door, and it was locked, too.

“C’mon…”

He turned around and started running to the poop deck door again. As he was running, he looked down the stairs he came from. The water level was much higher.

He reached the poop deck and grabbed an emergency axe from the wall. He swung it as hard as he could at the window. It shattered into a million pieces. Alex threw down the axe and reached his hand through the door. He reached the handle, unlocked it, and opened the door. He was out.

“Thank God…”

Then another wave attacked the ship. Alex lost his balance and fell over and slid to the edge of the “Seaworthy” while it was slowly capsizing. Alex knew the ship was doomed this time.

He reached his hand out, grabbed a bar, and pulled as hard as he could to lift his body up. When he was in reach of the door, he opened it and managed to crawl inside. He closed the door behind him, and ran to the bow door. By now the ship was completely tipped over on its side. He looked back to the poop deck. Water was pouring in through the smashed window and was rushing towards him. He felt the water rush past his feet, and almost tip him over. He watched as water filled the view from the bow door. Then the window broke and water started pouring in. Slowly at first, but then it picked up speed, and Alex was knocked over and the water took him down.

He tried to swim up to get air, but now there was no air, just water. He opened his eyes to see if he can see anything, and reached out to see if he could grab anything. He reached the bow door, and swam to it.

Alex wasn’t going to make it. His lungs were killing him. He needed air.

He managed to stick his arm out the window. Okay, I have a chance, he thought. He found the handle, unlocked it, and kicked the door open.

Right when the door was no longer an obstacle in his way, he bolted as fast as he could outside, and popped his head above water. But he barely got a chance to breathe because another giant wave crashed against him, and he went back under.

He kicked his legs as hard as he could, and he managed to pop his head out again. He got a tiny breath before the wave pushed him under again.

While he was under water, he swam to the boat and latched onto it. He went to the surface again and this time no wave knocked him over.

Read more if I publish the book!