“Stupid winch!” I sucked on my thumb as the winch lost its grip and unwound, the boat slipping back into the water. “Everyone on my boat, my gas, my food, and me trying to pull the boat in, it’s dark, everyone else left me, but not me, oh no, Brian is waiting, but that doesn’t matter!” I muttered to myself as I grabbed the winch and cranked with my left hand.

Taking my thumb out of my mouth to lock the winch in place I thought I could finally let go of it without it coming back to smack me. “Ghaa!” The winch and gear tried to eat my hand. I looked down in the twilight to see my hand bleeding and thumb already swollen. Closing my eyes I realized that holding it only made it hurt worse. The clink of the winch unwinding made my eyes fly open to see the boat splash partway back into the water.

Ignoring the boat and rusting trailer that had just smashed my hand I walked around to the passenger side of my old army truck and reached in the window. A pile of towels and t-shirts lay on the front seat. Grabbing the first thing my hand fell on I pulled out one of Brian’s tees and held it to my bleeding hand, as my glasses fell to the jeep floor.

“Where is a good boy scout when you need one?” I opened the door with my left hand and proceeded to rummage around with it looking for the first aid kit I kept under the back seat. Reaching in further behind the front passenger seat, my sandal slipped and I fell, clipping my hip on the frame of the jeep before hitting the pavement with my head.

Fighting the tears from my eyes, I checked my new diamond ring to be sure it wasn’t scratched. Sighing, I remembered that I had put the first aid kit in the boat just in case. Wiping a tear from my cheek I stood up and limped over to the dock. Carefully I went down the wet sandpaper covered planks. With my luck I’ll fall through… I thought at the sound of the boards creaking.

With the sun gone down and cloud cover, the closest light was across the access road and down a ways, making it hard to see the boat just a few feet away from the dock. Holding my bleeding hand to my chest I checked my grip on the dock with my sandals and jumped.

Water enveloped my head as I landed. Hand stinging, I shot it out of the water followed shortly by my head. Biting my lip to keep my cool, I waded in water up to my waist until I essentially walked into the side of the boat. “Where did I leave my glasses?”

Climbing up the side of the boat while in the water with only one hand was a lot harder than I had thought it would be. After scrambling and slipping for a minute or two I fell into the bottom of the boat in a heap. I couldn’t help the tears. I crawled over to the space under the wheel and pulled out the beloved first aid kit. Brian had given it to me used it almost every time he came out on the water. Somehow he always managed to get cut when he went out on the lake.

I unclasped the lid and pulled out gauze and liquid antiseptic. I sat in the driver’s seat and balanced the bottle and gauze in my lap as I slowly unwrapped the shirt from my hand. Moaning, I gently pulled it away to reveal a gigantic thumb and hand that looked like it had just come out of a tree shredder. My teeth to gripped the lid and twisted off the top of the antiseptic bottle, and spit it into my lap. I ground my teeth as I poured the antiseptic over the back of my hand.

“I HATE YOU!” I yelled to vent my pain and frustration, as I brushed a clothe across my hand to get any grit off.

“I hate you too.” My head snapped up at the sound of a man’s voice.

In excitement I stood, “Bri-“ it was not Brian. “Who are you? Where are you?”

“I’m standing next to your trailer. Live ‘cross the street and saw your poor luck. D’ya need some help?” I had the mental image of a knight on a white horse riding up to save me.

Thankful the night hid my tears, I sighed. “Thanks, I do. I have an old trailer as you can probably see, and the winch has been temperamental lately. It just chewed up my hand and won’t stay put.” I sat back down in the pilot seat.

“Stay where ya are and see to your hand, I’ll take a look at it…” Carefully I wrapped my hand finger tip to wrist with my left hand while trying to ignore the rocking of the boat from the stranger trying to crank the boat up into place.

“Thank you…” I slipped a spare t-shirt from the glove box on over my tomboy one-piece.

“Sorry, name’s Jack. If you drive it back onto the trailer, I’ll re-hook it and crank it up. A peg fell out of the winch. I’ll find a stick that will fit while you back it out.”

“Thank you. You’re a life saver. I’m Sarah by the way.” Pulling the keys out of my cargo pants I started up the boat engine.

“She sure sounds nice, what she is?” he asked. I could hear the snap as the hook come off the boat and I purred the boat back out into the water.

“She’s a custom. My brother designs and builds boats for a living. This was one of his first.”

“She’s beautiful.” I idled the boat in the water while he rummaged around looking for a replacement peg. “Hey, I found a stick that fits. Take’er out.” Grateful to Jack I steered the boat out one handed. Steering and shifting speeds with one hand would be tricky for most people, but I had grown up in boats and it only slowed me down a little. Flipping on the lights, I took her out to the middle of the tree lined cove of the lake and came back. I cut the throttle at just the right moment and slid perfectly onto the trailer. Finally something was going right tonight.

“She’s really sleek!” a click followed by clacks and Jack was cranking the winch. I chucked at him, thinking he had said that the same way my Uncle Johnny had said the same thing.

“Careful you don’t get your hand too close to the gear or we’ll match.” His chuckle was just barely audible to me. Putting away the first aid kit, I watched how smooth his movements were. I couldn’t make out any features other than a floppy hat, a tight muscle tee and cargo pants. I flipped off the lights and cut the engine.

“Gimme the keys to the truck and I’ll pull ya out. Wouldn’t want you to fall back into the water,” Jack said with a chuckle.

I felt too pathetic to resist. “Thanks.” I tossed the keys to his outline next to the car and sat back down. I was so tired I could have fallen asleep right there. As the jeep’s engine started and the trailer moved, my thumb began to throb. Slowly he pulled the boat out, letting the water drain out of and off the boat.

He stopped a little ways down the road and got out of my jeep. “You alright up there?” He was standing next to me in the boat. When had he gotten there?

“Ee, I’m fine.” I shook my head. “Thanks so much.” The Jeep was still running. He grabbed my wrist and led me to the back of the speed boat. I looked around and realized we were next to the bathrooms and the lighted picnic bench. Jumping down, he took my hand and waited for me to jump. My legs collapsed under me as I landed and I stumbled into him. My elbow going directly into his stomach.

“I’m so sorry!” He was folded over in two. “I think I’ve just been cursed with clumsiness today.” I didn’t know what to do.

“I’m fine…” he looked around and spotting the picnic table in the grass next to the restroom headed for it. I followed feeling helpless.

“Brian might have left some ice in the cooler in the boat… I could make an icepack…” I felt like a jerk, he had helped me so much then I repaid him by landing my elbow in his gut, hard.

“I’m fine.” He sat down then his arms shot out around my waist and pulled me to him. Shocked I didn’t know what to think, and realized my head was pounding in harmony to my thumb. “You are beautiful…” He was looking me up and down like a visitor to the zoo.

I was annoyed. I was in pain. I was mad. Who did he think he was to pretend to be hurt to get me away from my truck. I awkwardly made a fist with my left hand ready to let him have it. “Let me go.” I said, my engagement ring flashing in the light.

“Oh, but we’ve hardly even gotten to know each other.” His lecherous hands were starting to creep. My head felt light.

“I said, Let. Me. Go… Now!” His hands were going even higher and I brought my diamond ringed fist down awkwardly on his cheekbone. Even when his head rocked back, his floppy hat hid his face in the dark. He laughed, let go and watched me stumble back a few steps until my back was against the bathroom door.

“Touchy girl aren’t you?” I gripped the doorknob with both hands behind my back and watched him stand wondering how he would react to the blood that gently dripped down his cut cheek. He drew a hand up to his cheek, “That wasn’t very nice Sarah…” He took a step closer and before he realized what I was doing, I had the bathroom door closing in his face, and before he could turn the knob, it was locked.

In the dark room I heard him swear and try the handle over and over. “Your loss Sarah!” I didn’t dare move. After a minute or two of fighting to keep the rattling door shut, I heard him walk off. “Thanks for the boat!” Only when my truck peeled out did I dare to move away from the door and crouch in the middle of the dirty bathroom and cradle my hand.

I don’t know how long I cried for, but it was long enough that when I was done, all I wanted to do was go to sleep. If I went to sleep maybe I would wake up and this would all be just one very realistic nightmare. Then I realized that if I went to sleep and he came back… well the thought made me shake. Slowly, I walked to the door and paused. There was no sound from outside except the crickets.

Unlocking the door I half expected to see Jack’s profile in the light. When he didn’t materialize out of the dark I checked the road. My jeep and boat were both gone. That meant that my wallet, and cell phone were gone too.

Not daring to take stock of myself, I just started walking. There was a parking lot next to the park at the other end of the access road, maybe it had a phone. Stumbling along the forest lined road, I realized that one foot was walking on the gravelly pavement without a shoe but didn’t care.

I walked along the road and hardly even noticed when I made it to the parking lot. Trees obscured the park in dark shadows. After Jack, if that was even his real name, I didn’t go near the trees, no matter how familiar I was with this park. There were two cars in the parking lot, but no payphone.

Staying under the two lights in the middle of the parking lot, I slowly approached the first car hoping both that there was and that there wasn’t anyone inside. I wanted to call Brian. He would hold me, and kiss me, and let me cry, and tell me that in just a few weeks I would be his and he would be mine, and that everyone else could just disappear.

The car was an old beater covered in rust. I approached from the passenger’s side, thinking that if there was only one person there they would likely sit in the driver’s seat. I took a few deep breaths before I stepped up to it. Empty. I sighed, it probably belonged to Jack.

I turned around, wishing Brian would pull into the parking lot looking for me. Focusing in the dim light I could see movement inside the other car at the far end of the parking lot. Come to think of it, I realized that there had been two silhouetted heads mashed together since I had entered the parking lot. Great, my only chance at getting help was to interrupt a couple that had come out to the middle of no-where to park.

Well, my appearance should stop their anger. I imagined what I must have looked like, wet, dirty, a missing sandal, a wrapped hand that throbbed harder just by thinking about it, and scrapes all over. I look like I belonged on a runway, I thought sarcastically.

Again I approached the car from the passenger’s side, assuming that the pigtailed silhouette would be a girl and therefore less threatening. As I got closer, I realized the car looked familiar to me. It had two silver stripes down the length of the ruby red car. It was a mustang, and had the shiny look that only new cars had. The license plate read, “jst4me,” yup, this was definitely Cara’s brand new Mustang GT.

Interesting, Cara had left the boat party for a business dinner of eating some guy’s lips, in an abandoned parking lot. With a faint smile of irony on my lips, I knocked on Cara’s window. The two jumped about a foot before springing apart. The thunk of the car doors being locked was the only sound. After my experience tonight I couldn’t blame them.

I knocked again on the window, “Cara, roll down your window.” I could see her whisper to the guy who whispered back then the window rolled down. “Cara, I’m so glad to see you…” with the tinted window down I could see inside the car. My hand began to throb as I could saw the guy. I could see Brian. My Brian. “What..” Brian and Cara? I thought he said she was annoying…

“Sarah… I… I c-can explain…” Cara sputtered. I backed away from the car and fell over the curb landing on my back and hitting my head on a gravel sidewalk. Lights flashed in my eyes, as I heard car doors open and shut.

“Sarah, what happened to you?” I wasn’t sure which one said it, but I didn’t care. I looked up at Cara on my right and Brian on my left. My Brian couldn’t even look me in the eyes.

“Give me your phone.” I looked up at them. When neither moved I slipped my good hand in Brian’s pant pocket and pulled out his phone. Four missed calls, I now knew why he hadn’t answered. All I could do was wonder why all this had happened.

Flipping it open I dialed 9-1-1. “Hello, I want to report a stolen truck and boat, and an attack.”