Alright, here's the next update. I have had this written for about a week, but I just wasn't happy with it. So, I've been tweaking it. I don't know if I am still fully happy with it, but I don't know if I ever will, so I'm just going to post it.
I don't know if events like this could ever happen, but it's a story, so we'll go with it! hehe.
Hope you enjoy! Keep the reviews coming. I love them all! :)
Joelle woke up a few hours later, her stomach churning. She crawled out of bed, every muscle in her body aching, and managed to get to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and saw that she had color in her face again, which she was grateful for, but she felt nauseous. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes, trying to will the pain in her stomach to go away, but was not lucky enough for it to happen.
She walked to the galley and took out a bottle of water and took a sip of it. She felt her stomach reject the fluid almost immediately, and ran to the bathroom to vomit it up. When she was done, she splashed some water on her face, feeling better almost immediately.
She walked up to the wheelhouse where she saw Sig smoking a cigarette, mumbling under his breath.
"Hey." Joelle said softly, taking a seat on the bench behind her uncle.
"How are you feeling?"
"Great." She lied. "I feel so much better after my nap."
"You wouldn't be lying to me to get back on deck, would you?"
"Would I do that?" She asked innocently.
"Yeah. Now which is it?"
"I feel fine Uncle Sig." She said, shaking her head.
"You ready to get back out there then?" He asked, pointing to the raging storm that the rest of the crew was working through.
"I can't believe you have them out there still."
"Can't keep the pots onboard. It's too dangerous."
"We could have kept the pots in the water until the storm passed, but you're too bullheaded to listen to us."
"Time means money, and if we aren't making any money, hard to spend the money, right?"
Joelle shook her head, smiling to herself.
"Just get out there." He said, waving her off.
Joelle went downstairs and started to get ready to head out on deck. She took a deep breath as another wave of nausea rushed over her. Once the feeling went away, she pulled her hood up over her head, and then walked out on deck.
"Well, well, well. Look who decided to grace us with her presence." Matt said, smiling at Joelle.
"You feeling better?" Norman asked her quietly, eying the camera guy.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just keep working."
Joelle took over from Jake, hooking the crane to the next pot that needed to be prepped to go overboard. The boat was rocking heavily, and the wind was blowing so hard, it was hard to hear everything going on on deck.
"We've got some big waves coming!" Sig yelled over the hailer. Joelle held onto the tied down pot as the wave hit, nearly knocking her over.
"Bring it on!" Edgar yelled, slamming the pot that they were busy prepping shut as he tied the door closed.
"Why would you say that?" Joelle asked him, knowing that he couldn't hear her over the wind. She groaned as the next wave came over, knocking Jake on his ass. He quickly stood up again, laughing.
Joelle quickly untied the pot that was hooked onto the crane and led it over to the launcher after the previous pot was set. Once it was secured to the launcher, she unhooked the crane and ran back over to the remaining pots. They were close to finishing, which Joelle was grateful for, but didn't let her guard down at all.
"Keep the pace up! The faster we get done, the faster we get off deck!" Edgar yelled over the rain and wind. It was hard to hear him, which Joelle knew was a bad sign, and she only wished Sig would pull the plug on everything.
They all worked quietly, trying to finish as quickly and safely as possible. Joelle started to lead a pot over to the launcher when she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Jake was watching her as she stopped walking, the pot still going to the launcher without her. He watched her grab her stomach, and her face turned pale white almost instantly.
"Joelle?" He said softly to himself. Nobody seemed to be paying attention to either of them at that point, just going about their job as fast as they could.
It was then that he saw Joelle's eyes roll to the back of her head and collapse. As she collapsed, a large wave went crashing over the side of the boat, taking Joelle with it.
"Joelle!" Jake yelled, running as fast as his legs would carry him through the water that was drowning the deck. Everyone then noticed Joelle under the water, and went to her aid as well. He immediately lifted her head above water, and it was then that they noticed blood coming from her head.
"Let's get her inside!" Edgar yelled, lifting his niece. As they were walking towards the wet room, Sig came running out of the wheelhouse, screaming for them to come to the wheelhouse. Edgar lifted the limp Joelle to Sig, who carried her immediately inside. The rest of the guys followed close behind.
Sig quickly took Joelle's raincoat off, and it was at that moment Joelle started to have a seizure. Sig turned her on her side so she wouldn't choke, and he then noticed a large gash in the side of her head, blood pouring out of it.
"Grab me a towel!" Sig yelled, his heart pounding a mile a minute. A towel was shoved in his hand by Nick, and he immediately applied pressure to Joelle's head.
"Let me take this over!" Norman said, moving Sig's hand. Joelle stopped seizuring, her body going limp.
All of the guys were silent, looking at each other, not sure what to do next.
"Check to see if she is breathing! Do something!" Edgar screamed, moving Sig out of the way. He immediately felt for a pulse, and then put his ear to her chest, hoping to hear something.
"Her heart isn't beating! Call the coasties!" He said, starting to do CPR. Adrenaline was taking over at this point, and he ignored the fact that the person he was doing CPR on was his niece. Sig went to the radio and started to dispatch for the coast guard to head out their way.
"This is Sig with the Northwestern. We need a chopper out here immediately. We need some medical help right now!" Sig yelled into the radio.
"What is the status of the patient?"
"Their not breathing. We are administering CPR right now, and their bleeding from the head badly. We need help." He knew the rest of the fleet was listening at this point, and he didn't want them to know who it was on the boat that was injured.
"Wait, I saw someone do this on some medical show I watched." Nick said, moving Edgar out of the way. He then made a fist and punched Joelle's chest right over her heart once. Edgar immediately listened for something, and he was relieved when he heard a faint heartbeat.
"It worked! Sig, tell them to hurry!" Edgar yelled, tears forming in his eyes at that point.
The rest of the fleet was silent as they listened to radio at what was happening. Keith sat silently, not doing a thing, listening intently, trying to find out who it was, and if they were okay. As soon as he heard Sig's voice on the radio, he knew what was going on was not good.
"What is the ETA on arrival? I don't know how much longer they will hold on." Sig's voice was clear as day over the radio, and Keith could tell he was extremely worried.
"Please don't be Joelle." He said to himself quietly as he watched the guys on deck working. They were just getting out of the storm, a long ways from where the Northwestern was fishing, and were just starting to bring up their first pots of the string.
"We are about ten minutes away now. How is the patient?"
"Breathing, but not conscious, and is bleeding profusely from their head. They lost a lot of blood."
Keith couldn't help but think about how Sig was wording his words. It was as if he knew that Keith was listening to him, and didn't want him to know who was injured.
"Just don't be Joelle." He said to himself softly again. He stared at Crosby as he worked, oblivious as to what was going on. He took a deep breath as he listened to the events play out over the radio.
"She's seizuring again! We need them here now!" Sig yelled over the radio, and Keith's suspicions were proven at that moment. He felt as if his heart stopped beating himself as he threw the pen he was holding down on the counter.
"What's going on up there?" Gary Soper yelled through the radio into the wheelhouse.
"Nothing. Go ahead and launch the pot." He said.
"We would if we had a pot. You completely missed the last pot we were supposed to bring on deck."
Keith looked around, realizing what he had done, and turned the boat around, ignoring the comments that were being made down on deck. He kept listening to the radio, hoping that the Coast Guard would make it to Joelle in time.
"We have the patient on board. Please stand by and we will let you know when we make it to Dutch." Sig heard the Coast Guard say to him after what seemed like an eternity.
"Please do. We are heading that way now." Sig said over the radio. Sig dropped the radio down as he watched Edgar and Norman walk back into the wheelhouse from outside after helping get Joelle into the rescue basket. They were soaking wet, and shivering, but nobody seemed to care. Sig looked around the wheelhouse and it was then that he noticed the amount of blood that was covering his floor. He collapsed in his chair, stunned by what just happened.
"We'll drive the boat back to Dutch." Nick said to Sig, who was staring off in space.
"No, I got this." Sig quietly said, not moving.
"Sig, you go downstairs. I got this." He said, putting his hand on his shoulder.
Sig nodded, stunned. Edgar and Norman were sitting on the bench not moving, both staring at the blood on the floor.
"We have this." Matt added, trying to get the brothers to move out of the wheelhouse. They knew that they needed to get out of the room, which only held the memories of what had just happened.
After coaxing, the three brothers headed down the stairs in silence. Sig went to his room, shutting the door behind him, and sat down on the edge of his bed. He looked down at himself, and noticed he was covered in blood as well, but didn't move to remove it. It was then that he broke down, bringing his hands to his face as the tears fell. He felt as if he had let his sister down at that point, and wanted nothing more than to go back in time and not let her work on the boat in the first place. He always knew it was too dangerous for her, but gave into her anyway. He laid down in bed, and stared at the ceiling, reliving the events of what just happened over and over again in his head. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fall asleep.
Hope some questions have been answered, but I know all of them haven't. Hope to have questions answered in the next couple chapters or so.
Oh, and yes, Katrina will be making more appearances in this story. Just to let you guys know that one as well. :)