Read Not Without Hope for Free Online Page A

five thirty. Sunset was approaching in an hour. The water got rougher. It seemed louder now, too, random waves crashing against our backs, pushing us underwater as we tried to hold on to the boat. Will spoke up: “We’re gonna lose sunlight. We gotta start thinking about tonight.”
    It was clear now we wouldn’t be rescued before dark. Will began to take charge. He asked Marquis if he had an emergency beacon that could transmit our position. The answer was no. Will kept asking questions: Did Marquis have any flares aboard? Did he have a CB radio that would work? Could we get to the drinking water? Where were the life jackets located?
    “We need as many supplies as we can get,” Will said.
    We had been in the water about forty-five minutes. We had wind jackets, wind pants, sweatpants, and jackets, but they were soaked through. Already, we were all shivering. I think everyone was starting to think to themselves, This is real. Oh my God. There’s a good chance we might not make it out of this.

 
    W ill kept asking questions, but we were all scared, cold, and in shock. It took awhile for Marquis to answer. Water flew into his mouth, and he would have to spit it out before he could speak. He told Will that the life jackets were in the storage closet at the center console, now above the steering wheel on the overturned boat. I remembered seeing something orange when I put my backpack in there; I figured they were life jackets, but I hadn’t thought much about it.
    “Okay, I’ll try to get them,” Will said.
    The bin sat at an angle, three or four feet wide and high. There was other stuff inside, like my book bag, a case of beer, chips and pretzels, the bumpers that Marquis used when he docked the boat. Without life jackets, there was no way we would make it through the night. Not in this water, in this cold, in these crashing waves. Will edged toward the center of the boat and went under. He came up quickly the first time.
    “I can’t see anything,” he said.
    He took off his green wind jacket and wind pants, thinking this would make him less buoyant so he could more easily get underthe boat. He had lost his flip-flops when we fell into the water. All he was wearing now was a tan or gray T-shirt and his swim trunks.
    Marquis took off his T-shirt, wind jacket, and wind pants, stripping down to his swim trunks. He let his clothes go—they weren’t a priority at the moment. He went under for about two seconds and came back up. He didn’t say anything. He went under again. This time he came back in about three seconds. Again, he didn’t say a word. He tried a third time and resurfaced after about five seconds.
    “I can’t get under,” Marquis said.
    Will looked at me and asked, “Nick, will you try? Can you get under there?”
    I was scared shitless. Will was one of the best swimmers I knew. Marquis was a ridiculous athlete. I had just watched them fail at trying to get under the boat. Corey was saying, “Oh my God, I can’t believe this!” It freaked me out.
    Not that I couldn’t get under there. I was just scared to try. Scared for my life. I had never done that before, never opened my eyes in salt water. I was sick. We had no life jackets. I was freezing and petrified.
    “No, I can’t,” I told Will, kind of stuttering. I was embarrassed. It was one of the first times I ever said no without having tried something.
    Will rolled his eyes at me.
    He was determined to get the life jackets. He was a take-charge guy. When he was in the sixth or seventh grade and his mother didn’t want him to play football, he filled out the forms anyway and told his parents, “You need to sign; I’m playing.” When he was fourteen or so, he and his father pushed away from their dock one day, and the boat wouldn’t start. Finally, they got the engine going, and his father asked Will what he would have done if they had remained stranded, just drifting off the dock.
    “Dad, don’t worry about it,” he said. “I would