by Lena North
The water was beautiful. We were snorkeling close to a reef, and there were fish everywhere, looking curiously at us as if they wondered why a bunch of strange-looking creatures suddenly had shown up in their home.
Staff from the cruise ship served us a late lunch on one of the smaller islands, and they told us repeatedly to stay on the beach and not stray into the trees.
“This is a nature reserve with restricted access, so we must take care not to disturb flora and fauna,” the young girl apparently in charge said in a voice that I thought was slightly condescending.
I blinked. They’d taken us to a place with restricted access? No one else seemed to care, though, and I assumed that since we stayed on the beach we were following the restrictions and didn’t think more about it. Then my mother took the plate out of my hand and gave me an apple.
“Vitamins, honey,” she murmured, but I saw her glance down at the belly I was already sucking in as much as I could.
“Of course,” I mumbled, waved at my friends from the boat who waved pieces of pie and cake back at me, and started eating.
The guides packed our things, and there was plenty of food left over. Mostly, it was fruit and vegetables, but there were a couple of pies too, and I saw them toss a whole plate of sandwich-meat into the bag. One of them walked away and returned without the bag, and I raised my brows.
“Excuse me,” I said quietly as the man passed me. “Are we allowed to leave the left-overs here? I thought it was a nature reserve.”
“It’s food,” he grunted. “Comes from nature.”
I opened my mouth to protest when Mom butted in.
“My little tree-hugger,” she chirped and looked around with an embarrassed smile. “Always saving something or the other.”
The people around us chuckled and started moving toward the boats. I didn’t know what to do, so I followed them, not feeling good about myself. I should… do something. Tell them to go and get the trash, or at least the plastic bags.
“Maribelle,” Mom snapped. “Don’t make a fuss.”
“Just don’t,” Arriette, said. “You always do, and it always destroys our time together.”
I sighed and walked with them to the water, thinking that I could send an anonymous email or something, reporting the incident. We all had wifi in our suites on the ship, so I’d type something up the second I got back.
Waves were coming in, and a few of the boats returned to the ship immediately after lunch with the guests who were tired. Most stayed, and so did I. The water was beautiful, and I moved slowly, following a small group of fish in unusual shades of blueish gray. After a while, I heard thunder in the distance and turned to go back, hoping that we wouldn’t get drenched on our way to the ship. It would take us more than an hour and the boats were open so it wouldn’t be a very comfortable trip.
It wasn’t thunder I’d heard. It was the boats, and they were already some distance away, and they were moving fast. I shouted and waved, thinking that someone would look back and see me. Surely someone would miss me?
They didn’t turn, and when they were dots on the horizon, I stopped screaming. I had a vest on although it wasn’t a good one and also too small so it barely kept me floating. I was in the middle of the ocean, and they had simply left me there. When I looked around, I saw the island where we had lunch and started swimming immediately. It was some distance away, but there was nothing else to do, and I tried not to think about sharks or other horrible animals that could come from beneath me as I moved through the water. After a while, I didn’t think at all. The island was a lot farther away than it had appeared and even as I swam and swam, it didn’t seem to come closer.
The sun had almost reached the horizon when I felt sand under my feet the first time. A wave caught me and pulled me away from the beach, but I kept pushing forward. I was so close, and I wouldn’t give in. The next wave rolled over me from behind, and it forced the vest over my head. I pushed it off me, spun around in a way that made me hit my back against the bottom and scrambled to get my head above water. Then I felt sand under my knees. Finally, I could crawl up on the beach where we’d been hours earlier.
I sat there, staring out over the water, waiting for the boats to return and trying to figure out how long time it would take them. They would all be back at the ship by now. I’d been in the water for a very long time, so they must be, and when they realized I was missing, they’d go back out again. They had an hour to go, so any time, I should see them. I had no way of signaling, but they’d see the island. They’d know this was where I’d be because there wasn’t anywhere else I could be.
I stared so hard at the horizon my eyes burned, and I barely dared to blink. I still felt calm and confident, but as the hours passed, I started to worry. When the last sliver of the sun had disappeared below the horizon, I finally let the tears come.
They wouldn’t come for me in the dark.
I’d have to spend the night alone on the island.
***
I woke up and got to my feet immediately. The sun was below the trees behind me, so it was early still, but the rescue boats would be there, looking for me.
The ocean was calmer so I could see further than I had the night before.
There were no boats.
Had they been there already? Why hadn’t they come to the island to pick me up?
Tears pooled in my eyes as I stood there, scared and confused, all alone on an island in the middle of nowhere. I’d looked at a map before going on the snorkeling tour, so I knew we were at the northern part of what simply was called “the Islands.” This had been the part of the journey I’d looked forward to the most so I’d read up on the history of the area and planned what I wanted to see on the day trip to the town of Croxier. I also knew that none of the small and medium-sized islands in this area were inhabited by humans.
My belly suddenly growled, and I sighed, but then I remembered the trash I’d seen them leave behind the day before. I could go looking for that, see if it was still okay to eat, and then go back to the beach. The guide had only been gone five minutes, so if I hurried, I wouldn’t miss them when they came for me.
***
I’d been on the island a week when I broke down the first time.
I crouched beneath the trees by the beach, screaming and crying and cursing God and everyone else. Why didn’t they come to find me? How could I have missed them? Perhaps they had found the vest I’d pushed off when I got to the island and thought I’d drowned. What would I do?
No one heard me, and after a while, my anger turned into despair. The food had lasted that first week because I’d rationed it, and I had a few apples still, but after that, I wouldn’t have any food. I’d found a small brook, so I had water, but if I couldn’t find anything to eat, I would starve.
I cried through most of the cold night, and when I woke up, the sun was high above the treetops. A bird chirped as it ran over the sand in front of me when I walked down to stare at the horizon like I did every day.
“Okay, Bella,” I said to myself. “Choices.”
I used a small piece of wood to draw in the sand in front of me.
1. Find a way to survive
2. Die
3.
I couldn’t come up with any other options, so I leaned forward and used my hand to wipe out the number three and stared at the other two. Then I leaned forward and slowly drew a line through option number two.
I would not die, goddamn it.
There had to be a way to survive.
***
The second time I broke down, it was worse.
I’d found a few berries and had climbed up a tree to steal eggs from a nest. I cried as I opened the first egg, hoping I wouldn’t find a small baby-bird in it. Raw egg shouldn’t have tasted that good, but it did, and I gulped all three of them down. There was a plant that I vaguely remembered was edible, and I’d tried the root. It tasted like shit, but I didn’t get sick
, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt and it became my daily meal.
There had been a few plastic utensils in the trash bag, but I didn’t know what to use them for, so I put them aside. There had been three other plastic bags filled with rotten food, and I washed them and made a small roof to sleep under.
I’d decided to explore my surroundings, and stood there staring at several other small islands. If I could make a raft, perhaps I could make my way from island to island, and eventually reach an area where there were people? Then I saw the current between my island and the one closest to me. The water swirled, and a branch or something looking like it came floating. It moved fast. Too fast. If I got caught in that current, I’d be swept out in the open ocean, and from there, it would be hard to get back. Was it a risk I could take? I didn’t even have a raft, so I didn’t think so. The sun was high in the sky, and I squinted at it, and then it hit me.
I didn’t know how long I’d been on the island. It was more than two weeks, I thought. Three? Four even? The days had become blurry, and I knew I was doomed. I didn’t get enough food, and I didn’t know what else to do.
I’d crossed out option two, but it was coming.
There were no tears this time, no curses. I just sank down on my knees and stared blindly straight ahead, not seeing anything and utterly ready to give in. I could jump, I thought. The rocks beneath me looked jagged and sharp. If I jumped, I’d die. It’d be quick.
I was trying to find the courage to do it when I saw something flicker on the island in front of me.
Someone had lit a fire.
It was too far away for me to see any people, but it was a fire, I was sure of it. Deep in the forested part, almost in the middle of the island under some trees, there was another human being. I screamed and jumped until I managed to calm down. They wouldn’t see me, of course, they wouldn’t. But I saw them, and when I sank down on my knees again, I smiled.
I would build a raft and find a way to get across that current.
I still had option one.
Find a way to survive.
***
The third time I broke down was the worst because I’d had such hope.
After some planning, I’d used the plastic utensils to cut the plastic bags into long thin strips. I’d braided them, and used the plastic ropes I’d created to tie a few driftwood logs together. It was an overstatement to call it a raft, but I was small, and if I stretched out on top of it, it resembled what I imagined a surfboard would feel like.
This had taken me three days, mostly because I’d spent several hours each day up on the cliff, watching the water. I’d figured out that the tide increased the flow, so trying to cross over to the next island would be best in the middle of the day. It wasn’t far. If it hadn’t been for the currents, I might even have made it without the raft.
When I woke up the next morning, the sky was covered with thin clouds, but there was very little wind. It seemed like a perfect day, and I didn’t want to delay, so I waited until I thought it was safe, took the paddle I’d fashioned out of another piece of driftwood, and set out.
The currents were a lot stronger than I’d thought, and I started drifting almost immediately. Then one of the logs fell off, and the raft became hard to balance on. When I was halfway across, the clouds split up, and the sun burned against my back. I still had hope because I was moving in the right direction and the raft might drift past the island I was aiming for, but I should be out of the currents close enough to be able to swim back.
Then a wave hit me from the side, and I fell off the raft, screaming from fear although mostly from pain because of how the wood scraped my right arm, over the shoulder and down my back.
I still held on to one of the logs and started kicking my legs to keep moving toward the island. Big rocks were lining it, and the water swirled around them. I had planned to be up on the raft and simply jump off it, landing with grace and making my way up. That wasn’t going to happen, and I wasn’t close enough anyway.
I’d almost passed the island, and everything hurt. My legs felt numb, the currents weren’t only pulling me along, they were pulling me down too, and the only thing keeping my head above the surface was the log I was holding on to, but I could feel my grip slipping, inch after inch.
Fight, I thought. It’s just for a short while longer. Keep kicking your legs, Bella. Keep fighting.
I refused to give in and tilted my head back to hold my face above water. Then it suddenly seemed to get easier. A wave crashed into my back, and I twisted my head around. I’d passed the island but not far at all and in front of me was a stretch of sand. Pulling on my last resources, I let go of the log and started swimming.
When I felt sand under my knees, I started crying. I made it out of the water but had nothing left in me, so I lay there on my belly. The waves washed over my feet, and I couldn’t move. I tried to crawl further up, but it was too hard. My head started spinning, and I knew I was about to faint.
Then I saw him. He sat under the trees, watching me.
“Please,” I rasped out. “Please help me.”
He didn’t reply, and everything went black.
***
The sun was still burning my back when I opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was the man. He hadn’t moved, and I was still on the beach with my feet in the water.
“Please,” I whimpered. “I fought so hard to get here, please help me.”
He didn’t move, and that was the moment when I gave up. I’d had such hope, assuming that another human being would help. I was exhausted, dehydrated, malnourished and bleeding, and he wouldn’t help me, so I knew I’d die there on that beach.
I knew option one was gone.
All that remained was option two.
Die.
I started crying silently, and our gazes locked.
His face hardened, and he moved his head to look to the sides. It seemed as if he made a small move to get up, but then he jolted and sank back down again.
“Come here,” he said slowly.
His voice was hoarse and sounded breathy as if he hadn’t used it in a long time. His hair was a mop of dirty dreadlocks, hanging almost down to his shoulders, and covering most of his face. I could still see his eyes, though, and they were anguished and full of pain.
Slowly, I started dragging myself across the sand. It took forever, and he watched me intently the whole time. As soon as I was in the shadows beneath the trees, he reached out and took hold of my arms, pulling me the last feet. I twisted around to my side and groaned because I’d forgotten the scrape over my shoulder. He pushed his hair away as he turned me gently to look at my back, and I gasped.
I knew this man.
I’d thought he was dead, but I’d worked with him in the emergency room in Prosper General Hospital. Everyone knew who he was, and everyone thought he was dead.
“Jamie,” I said.
Then everything went black again.
~~~
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Table of Contents
Copyright
My thanks
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Continue reading – Sea swept
