Something in the Water

“Quiet, please!”

Reyna rolled her eyes. It was the last day of her second year of college and her professor had given the class take one last final exam. Two rambunctious boys in the back of the classroom were mimicking flatulent noises with their mouths, but stopped quickly after the professor threatened to excuse them from the room. She took a deep breath and completed the final question. After turning in her paper to the professor, she left the classroom, finally free from studies and homework for the next eight weeks.

At the lockers, she took out her phone to text her best friend, Liv.

“Done with my exam. Going home to pack. Meet me at the lufthaven at 6.”

Reyna was excited about the summer. She was going to take a historical trip through Rogaland, where the first king of Norway lived and ruled. She heard it was a beautiful and scenic country with many ruins and historic locations that would further her knowledge of Norway. Her European history professor recommended the trip, suggesting it would inspire Reyna when writing next year’s paper.

After the short walk home, Reyna began to pack her things. One suitcase should be enough, she thought. It didn’t take her long to pack a few outfits and her history books and journals. She had three hours left to kill before she had to be at the lufthaven, and decided to spend it researching more about Rogaland.

RING, RING.

Reyna was jolted to attention. “Shit,” she mumbled. “Hello?”

“Where are you?” the girl on the other line asked.

“Shit, yeah, I’m sorry. I got carried away. Sorry Liv. Coming now.”

Frantically, Reyna grabbed her suitcases and ran out the door of her little apartment. It wasn’t long before she flagged down a taxi.

“Lufthaven, please. I need to be there in twenty minutes.” The taxi driver laughed. “I’ll try.”

Twenty-five minutes later, Reyna was at the airport, where Liv was waiting for her at the front. “Come on, we have to rush!” Liv pleaded.

Luckily the lufthaven was pretty empty on a Tuesday evening, and the girls had no trouble getting through the building quickly. They made it on the plane mere minutes before it had to take off.

“Whew! That was close. You almost made us miss the plane!” Liv scolded. Reyna let out a loud sigh of relief. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.”

During the fifty-minute flight, Reyna watched the beautiful Norwegian country side drift by hundreds of miles below her. Liv was reading a lufthaven magazine while listening to music through her headphones.

Around 7:00, the airplane landed. The girls took off and went off to get their luggage. After a very short Taxi drive to the hotel, Liv and Reyna immediately fell asleep.

“Wake up!”

Reyna pulled the pillow over her head and moaned.

“Oh, come on!” Liv pulled Reyna’s blanket off the bed. “The bus leaves for Haugesund in an hour!”

Reluctantly, Reyna rolled herself off the bed. She was never a morning person, and Liv’s chipper, high-pitched voice made waking up even worse. Liv had already gone downstairs to the breakfast bar, and was thoughtful enough to bring back a plate of biscuits, jam, and eggs for Reyna.

“Geez, are you hungover? You only had a single Aquavit on the plane.”

Reyna really needed some quiet to help her headache. “Shhhhh.”

“Lightweight. Remind me never to go drinking with you.”

With full stomachs and a light rain jacket, the girls made their way downstairs to the hotel bus stop. It was very convenient that the hotel offered tours and buses for visiting tourists. It wasn’t long before the almost empty bus arrived in Haugesund.

As the girls got off, Liv looked at their tour brochure. “Okay, so we have one hour before we have to be back at the bus. What do you want to do first?”

After a moment, Reyna replied. “Harald’s Monument.”

Reyna’s major at the university was European history. It only seemed logical to visit important historical monuments and locations.

Harald Fairhair was a key figure in the history of Norway. He had united all of Norway into one kingdom in 872 AD, where he ruled as king until 930 AD. Seeing the face on the statue of the man who accomplished such an amazing and important feat was exciting for Reyna. She took out her phone and snapped a picture. Far off in the distance, a bus sounded its horn.

“Already?”

Liv shook her head. “Weirdo. You would probably stay here all day looking at old stuff.”

Reyna smirked. “Hey! You have a degree in tourism and hospitality. Aren’t you supposed to be supporting my interests?”

“If I had a job in tourism and hospitality, sure. But I really just want to enjoy my summer vacation. Flirting with boys, going to bars, eating good food, and taking a hike to a waterfall.” Liv pointed out. “See? We can have fun. So, when we get back tonight, we are going downtown and you are going to get drunk. I’m going to build up your tolerance.” All Reyna could do was roll her eyes and laugh.

Next stop was Himakana, the beautiful mountains and cliffs that looked over miles of the vast, green country-side of Norway. Reyna hated hiking, but they had agreed that for every “boring” thing Reyna wanted to do, they would do one thing that Liv wanted.

There was a breathtaking waterfall along the trail leading up the infamous cliff in Himakana that Liv wanted to see. Besides a degree in tourism and hospitality, she was also taking a photography certification class. Liv desperately wanted a picture of the waterfall that she would then submit to Norway’s nature magazine.

After an hour of hiking and heavy breathing, the girls reached a massive cliff. Tourists would hang off the edge and pretend they were falling off, when in reality there was ground a foot or two below them. It was quite silly and cliché, but the girls decided to do it anyway.

Nedstrand was the last destination for the day. It was mostly a port for boats and ships, but it had a small section of beach for people to swim and sunbathe. At one part of Nedstrand was a dock where tourists could take a boat ride out into the beautiful fjord. After paying 45 kroner, the girls felt the crisp sea breeze in their faces as the boat glided across the shimmering sea. The stood against the rails at the front of the boat, taking in the beauty of the gently rocking waves and the schools of fish right under the surface of the water.

Suddenly the captain of the small boat shouted, and the vessel jolted against something in the water. The girls barely had time to scream before they were thrown into the sea.