Chapter Text
One hugely successful beach cleanup later, and Blink and his friends were out on the water, just like it was meant to be. Sarah and Mush being there was new, but surprisingly, they fit right in without making things weird.
Being one surfboard short was a little inconvenient, but like he'd told Mush earlier, they were just screwing around anyway. It was his turn at the moment, and Mush was hanging off of Sarah's board chattering away. Blink watched them talk, and wondered what conversation could possibly be so interesting that they weren't doing anything.
"Blink!" Jack hollered much louder than he needed to, startling him out of his thoughts. Blink looked where he was pointing to see the beginnings of a wave that he probably should have noticed on his own. He nodded a "thanks" to Jack and shifted to a crouch, feeling the sturdy fiberglass under his knees and feet.
Through a combination of luck, skill, and Jack's heads-up, he managed to catch the wave, although a bit awkwardly. Wonky or not, Blink was never one to turn down a wave.
"Your turn," he announced, paddling over to trade off with Mush when he was finished.
He found himself really liking this guy, much more than he expected, and for some reason, sharing his only board with a near stranger didn't bother him as much as it normally would.
Besides, while Mush was on the board, Blink had the chance to do something he sometimes forgot to enjoy, and just swim freely. He was a strong swimmer, and letting the waves carry him without a board was always more fun than he remembered.
A little ways away from them were Crutchy and David, who'd apparently gone off alone "so they weren't all crowding the same waves," but it didn't look like the two were doing much surfing. Probably waiting to make sure the new guy wouldn't be weird about them. If Blink started gambling, his dad would kill him, and then probably kill Racetrack for being a bad example, but if he was going to gamble, he'd bet anything that Mush would be normal about it. He just seemed like a good guy, and Blink wanted to trust him.
Still, trusting someone to not be the worst kind of dickhead wasn't the same thing as trusting them not to be annoying on purpose. Blink smiled evilly to himself and ducked under the water to sneak around and make a nuisance of himself to the lovebirds.
Maybe not a great idea, in hindsight, since apparently David had no problem kicking people in the head.
"Sorry, I'm sorry!" He stammered, but Crutchy just smirked.
"Serves you right!"
Blink huffed indignantly, but he wasn't about to argue with the guy whose board he was currently dangling off of. He winced and tried unsuccessfully to blink the saltwater out of his eyes.
"You alright?" He ignored Crutchy's question in favor of rubbing at his eyes, which was apparently the wrong thing to do, if how much it hurt was anything to go by.
There was something on his face, something burning. He was used to saltwater in his eyes; that happened all the time. He was not used to this.
"I can't see," he announced, and impressed himself with how calm and collected he sounded. He absolutely did not feel calm, that was for sure.
"Shoot, how hard did I kick you?"
Blink reached up to wipe at his eye again, but that made it worse.
"I don't think it's from you. It's… shit, my eye!"
"What's wrong with your eye?" Jack paddled over, followed by the rest of their little group. Blink resisted the urge to touch his face again. His hand was starting to hurt now, so whatever it was, it could spread easily.
"I don't know!" He was starting to panic, because whatever it was really hurt .
"Let's get out of the water," Mush suggested. He slid off the board and pushed it towards Blink.
Blink nodded uneasily and tried to push himself onto his surfboard, but it was hard to focus on anything, and he slipped a few times.
Someone grabbed him, he wasn't sure who, and hauled him onto his board like a wet sack of potatoes.
Judging by the voices right next to his head, it was Mush who'd grabbed him, and Mush who was now doing most of the work getting both of them to shore.
"I think it's a jellyfish," Sarah said. She sounded scared, which kind of irritated Blink. It was his face that had the supposed jellyfish all over it. No reason for anybody else to freak out. He shook the water from his eyes and the panic from his head. He couldn't see out of his left eye much at all, but that might have had more to do with how much it hurt to open it in order to see.
"I'm gonna go get someone to call for help," Jack decided, then clearly (loudly) swam off, presumably towards shore where everyone who could call for help would be.
"Hey, are you alright?" Mush sounded about as confident as Blink felt, but at least he could see, right?
"I don't know what way we're facing," Blink managed to say finally. His chest felt tight, so either he was panicking, or having a heart attack. Maybe both, who could be sure?
"Alright, I…I got you anyway," Mush said. "Just don't fall off, okay?"
"Yeah…I can do that." Was breathing normally so difficult? Blink was pretty sure it wasn't, but he was also starting to feel like this absolutely terrifying string of moments was going to last forever, so maybe nothing else was real anyway.
"I've got the other side," Spot said, close enough to make him jump. "Jeez, your eye's all…gross."
"Thank you for that very helpful comment, Spot," Blink hissed through gritted teeth. "I had absolutely no idea ."
"I think…they're going to find a phone," Mush grunted, interrupting whatever argument might have started. Blink both appreciated the update and felt bad for not helping much. He was starting to feel… weird, like his body wasn't his anymore. He felt like he was floating, which, this being the ocean, he was. But this particular floating felt weird. He was more aware of the motion and the fact that the water beneath them could be as deep as anything, and he had no way of knowing for sure what was there.
Or maybe it wasn't that deep, because it looked like Mush was wading through the water and dragging him now, so maybe Blink should get up and help or something.
The problem with that idea was that he wasn't entirely certain which way was up, and which was…not up. Somebody had a hold on him, though. Probably everybody, considering how many hands seemed to be all over him. He couldn't see where Spot was at all, but Blink stumbled after whoever it was, hoping they knew where they were going, and why they were going there, since he sure as hell had no clue what was going on.
Next thing he knew, he was sitting on something that wasn't sand, some guy he didn't recognize messing with him, and then he threw up.