Free Isabella's Last Request by Laura Lawrence

anyway.’
                  ‘I know you loved him Izzy, and it was his loss when he walked away from you, but I don’t want the same thing to happen with Josh. I’m just trying to look out for you Hun.’
                  ‘I know you are Livs, you always do. But I guess now I’m dying I can go a bit wild, eh? It’s not as if there will be many repercussions. Oh, look! The lines moving, I think we can go in.’
     
                  That was the end of that conversation, typical Isabella needing to get her own way and win the argument by dropping in the death situation. How am I supposed to top that?
    Luckily, the rest of our day trip was most enjoyable. Swimming with dolphins was one of my favourite things so far on this holiday, but I actually loved the rays and fish too. It sounds silly, but all the animals seemed genuinely happy there. The dolphins frolicked around us doing tricks, and they really sounded happy, clicking and giggling as we splashed.
    Isabella didn’t enjoy the snorkelling with the fish. In her defence, it was almost ice cold compared to the humid sunshine all around us. Also, she’ll not often admit it but she hates the thought of fish swarming around her. She has the most irrational fear that the fish will suddenly all swim at her face, or they’ll decide she looks like human fish food. Isabella is slightly claustrophobic too so the constrictive face mask and the life jacket freak her out. At least she didn’t have a panic attack this time.
    Living in Cornwall makes it very hard to be scared of swimming, especially when there are hot surfer dudes to impress. I’ve always been a bit of a water baby, learning to surf almost as soon as I could swim, so after the Spain incident I spent most of my time with Isabella while she took surfing lessons. Isabella is now a confident swimmer and surfer, but she’d still rather sunbathe than swim. She always comes to the beach with me, but only to show off her exceptional figure in her smallest bikini to give her the nicest tan.
                  So while I was drifting through the lazy rapids and getting up close and personal with the colourful sea life, Isabella decided she was going to work on number 92 – sunbathe until you change colour. I have to say, when I found her sleeping on her stomach, I almost didn’t recognise the lobster that was now Isabella.
                  ‘Wake up Izzy. You’ve definitely gained the right to cross off 92 now, at least roll over.’
    An irrational thought floods through my mind when Izzy doesn’t stir. What if the heat was too much for her? What if the excitement of the hot air balloon, following by champagne and the dolphins caused her to have a heart attack or caused her organs to fail? I find myself giving her a little kick in the ankle and give a silent prayer when she wriggles and groans at me. I hope the elation I’m feeling is because I know she’s okay and not because I just realised my first instinct was suspecting Isabella was dead, was to kick her.
                  ‘Livs, what time is it?’
    Isabella tries to roll over to face me, before the pain of sunburn stops her in her tracks.
                  ‘Hey Iz, it’s getting quite late now, I may call Ollie if you’re ready? Isabella, your back looks awful, I’m so sorry I was gone for so long! I got distracted.’
    Izzy gingerly manages to roll into a sitting pose. It’d appear she’s burnt her legs too. It doesn’t look like she’s bothered putting on sunscreen today.
                  ‘It’s my own fault, but hey, what’s a bit of skin cancer? I think you’re right though, time to call Ollie. I’m starving.’
    By the time we get to the “All you can eat” restaurant, Isabella is as red as a tomato with a very definite line drawn down the side of her body, where the white meets the red. I can tell she’s in a foul mood because of the constant pain,