The Tsimtsum groaned and creaked under Jiahao's feet as he ran towards the engine rooms. He was a sailor and knew that the loud groans were not a good thing.

"What's going on?" Jiahao asked a frantic engineer.

"Our engines are overheating. We need to stop, she won't last much longer. The coolant system broke," replied the engineer

Jiahao cursed under his breath and thanked the man for the information before taking off in he direction of the captain's station at the helm.

"Captain!" he called frantically barely stopping before he slid past the entrance. Captain Dong looked up at his arrival. He was a stern man who worked on ships all his life, his father had been a sailor and then he became one. "Our engines are overheating. The engineers say that she's going to explode if we don't stop."

"What do you mean she's going to explode?" Dong asked Jiahao.

"The engineers said the coolant system isn't working so we can't cool down."

"How long do we have?"

"I didn't ask, sir. I came straight to you. But the engineers said not very long."

"Tell the crew to drop the anchor."

"Right away, sir." Jiahao saluted the Captain and ran towards the anchor where two men should be in case something like this came up. He came to a stop though as the ship lurched forward. The lurch threw him off his feet and face first on to the ground. He could guess that was the explosion.

Jiahao pushed himself up and ran to the starboard side of the ship looking down into the water that seemed to be rising all too quickly and eagerly. Two other crewmates came up beside him drawn to the side by the explosion.

"The captain has ordered us to get as much weight as possible from below deck," said one of the men.

"That means releasing the animals and throwing any cargo we have overboard," Jiahao replied.

The second man shrugged indifferently, "If that's what it means so be it. I'd rather live than die."

"The animals could kill us just as easily as the water can," Jiahao pointed out.

"I'll take my chances. We can get to the lifeboats after." The other Chinese scoffed.

"What about the passengers?"

"They are not our concern."

Jiahao thought for a moment weighing the pros and cons of the actions and decided he would probably die either way. He slammed his hand on the railing in frustration as he came to his decision.

"Fine," Jiahao growled out after a moment. The man who had ended up on the right side of Jiahao handed the sailor a crowbar

"Use this to pry the locks open," he told Jiahao roughly.

Jiahao nodded stiffly and the three men made their way down to the cargo hold where the animals were caged and held for the long trip to Canada. Their feet pounded against the deck as they rushed against the sea and its determination to consume the ship.

Time was not on their side it seemed, however the animals were content to ignore them in place of escaping from the rushing water that had made its way to the cargo hold.

The water was quick and when the last animals had been released it already reached up to Jiahao's chest. Soon it would consume the boat. He knew this. He accepted this. This moment was his inevitable death. All in one moment he accepted that he would die here to the water that he had so loved.

The sea was vicious and the Tsimtsum was in no way able to handle it with a hole in her hull.

Jiahao wished to see the sea once again from the top before the boat sunk. He wished to look down on it as the waves frothed white. He wanted just for a second to be able to pretend he was not going to die to the waves.

And he did. He stumbled back on deck as waves sprayed on it. He continued to stumble until he reached the side of the boat and then he watched. He watched the waves draw closer. He watched them consume the boat. He watched and he waited for his fate. The waves were beautiful though. They were a mixture of blues and greens that swirled ever so slightly. They would be calming and inviting if he did not know what was bound to happen.

And then it happened. Finally, the water had reached the deck. Slowly at first then all at once as the sides were pulled under. Next he was drowning. His lungs were gasping for air that would not reach him. His throat burned harshly and water forced it's way down his throat, filling the gap that air could not. He closed his eyes for a final time, the picture of what the sea looked like to him moments before still in his mind.  

This was written for school and the last little bit was cranked out in like 10 minutes. It could only be 800 words at max but I did end up going over by like 20 to get the last sentence finished. I forgot about this I was waiting till the thing was graded before posting. This was written end of last school year. 

-Scarlett.