The Boat

Bonnie woke to the sound of water lapping. She tried to open her eyes, but everything was black. It took her a few seconds to realize she was still wearing her sleep mask. She reached up and pushed it up over her forehead, sitting up in the process. It was still dark, but she could see enough from the moonlight to know she was once again, at the lake. As Bonnie took in the view, she initially thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. The only thing she could see, in any direction, was water.

Bonnie stood up in a panic. The little boat leaned to one side as she took a step forward. Losing her balance, she stumbled and landed up against the side of the boat. Her head hung over the edge, as the vessel leaned precariously, threatening to capsize at any moment. Bonnie scrambled back into the middle of the boat, her heart racing, her breath fogging the cold night air in front of her. The gravity of her current situation was starting to sink in.

"Oh, fuck" she whispered, as she looked around the inside of the boat. There were no oars in sight. "How the fuck did I get all the way out here without oars!?" She shouted into the darkness, the sound of her voice echoing around her. Even if she had oars, she wouldn't know which direction to row. This lake was one of the biggest in the country, and also the deepest. 

"Help! Can anyone hear me?" Bonnie shouted into the darkness. She waited, listening to her own voice echo back, but no response came. She tried again in several directions, but the result was the same every time. This must mean that she is way out there, in the middle. In the deepest part. In the most dangerous part. "Well, shit. This is really bad."

Bonnie thought about her new bedtime routine. She'd done everything right, according to her internet research on sleep hygiene and preventing her little sleep-expeditions. She had a nice relaxing evening, no screen time, low stimulation. She had a nice cup of tea and was in bed at a reasonable hour. She even purchased new bed sheets. They were very luxurious, and incredibly expensive, and she had truly believed that all these things would keep her asleep, and keep her in bed. She had also installed more locks on her front door, adding a security chain at the top, as well as a new deadbolt at the bottom, just to be safe. And yet, here she was waking up in the middle of the lake, in someone's stolen rowboat, with no fucking oars. She rubbed her hands over her face. "This cannot be happening."

Bonnie sat in the rowboat for a long time, listening to the emptiness that surrounded her. She sat still for so long, both of her legs fell asleep from the hard wooden plank that served as the little vessel's only seat.  As the sun finally rose above the treeline, her eyes landed on the shore to her left. It was still quite far, but at least she had a direction to work toward. Her brain finally snapped out of the daydream and sprung into action. There had to be something useful here. As her eyes scanned around her little floating prison, she spotted an oar floating a short distance from her. "Yes! come to Mama!"  She leaned the top half of her body out of the boat in an attempt to grab for it, and before she knew what was happening, she was underwater.

The lake water stung her eyes as she opened them in surprise. The murky water that surrounded her made it difficult to see, but she could just make out the shadow of her little boat on the surface above her. Bonnie kicked her feet to get herself back to the surface, as she could feel the sting in her lungs of her oxygen supply running low. Her head breached the surface just in time, she gasped and took in as much air as her burning lungs would allow. Now she was lost, and cold, and wet.

Recalling the reason she ended up in the water in the first place, she spun herself around looking for the oar. As her eyes landed upon it, she was struck by the realization that the waves she made when she fell in, coupled with a strong morning breeze, had sent the boat floating in the opposite direction. "Crap." She muttered as she spit out a mouthful of lake water. 

Bonnie grabbed the oar and began swimming as fast as she could toward the boat. Tossing the oar inside, she grabbed the handle at the side of the boat. She kicked her feat rhythmically along with the waves, allowing her body to become naturally buoyant, floating up and down with the boat through each wave. When she felt a larger wave hit, Bonnie kicked as hard and fast as she could, hoisting herself up into the boat. She threw her body across the bottom and grabbed for the handle of the opposite side, attempting to spread her weight through the bottom or the boat to keep it from capsizing as she pulled the rest of her body over the edge and into the boat. She immediately began to shiver. The water had been much colder than she had expected. 

Grabbing the oar, Bonnie started rowing herself toward the shore. After a few minutes she was close enough to see that this part of the shore was uninhabited. It was not familiar to her, so this would have to be the western side of the lake. Bonnie hadn't yet explored this side of the lake, so finding her way home would prove challenging. Especially since, yet again, she found herself to be without shoes. At least this time she had her pajamas on, so she had to remind herself that it could be worse.

After several minutes of rowing and shivering, Bonnie arrived at the shoreline. She was face to face with a sheer cliff that towered above her. 

"You have got to be kidding me." She muttered as her little boat coasted along the edge of the cliff face. "Okay, think, Bonnie. This is the western side of the lake, so just keep rowing your way south until you can find a place to disembark." 

What felt like an eternity had passed since Bonnie had woken up in the rowboat, and the sun was up now, finally warming her skin. Her white pajamas clung to her body, still dripping water around her feet as she continued rowing along the shoreline. Bonnie's eyes fell upon a small embankment of trees that crested right at the edge of the water. This was it. This was the spot she could get out of this God-forsaken boat and find a road, a trail, a house, anything that would help her find her way home again. 

As the little boat coasted up to the embankment, Bonnie stood and planted a foot on the shore, grabbing at a tree branch to steady herself to she could pull her other leg from the boat. The tiny vessel rocked back and forth, threatening to toss her back into the water. She pulled her leg free just in time to see it float back out, away from the shore.

"Okay, well. Now I'm fully committed." She muttered as she watched the little boat float further and further away, until it became nothing more than a spec in the gleaming water before her.

Bonnie turned and looked around. There were no signs of a road or trail, nor were there any houses nearby. She decided the best course of action would be to keep walking along the shore in the direction she knew to be south, and hope for the best. That was, until she spotted the wolf.

Bonnie caught a glimpse of the wolf out of the corner of her eye. She knew right away what it was. She watched it out of the corner of her eye, as it stalked her from several feet back. She knew if she started to run, it would most likely chase her. 

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. This is so bad." She whispered to herself as she looked around frantically for a way out of this situation. At that moment, she heard an engine approaching as the wolf took off and darted into a nearby cave. Bonnie's eyes grew wide as she spotted a middle aged man on a four wheeler speeding toward her. His trucker hat proudly announced him as "FBI - Female Body Inspector". Bonnie wasn't sure if she should be grateful for the rescue, or if she should turn and run. Her mind raced with thoughts of which animal could do more damage to her, the wolf, or the man.