Jordan+M

Descent Into Darkness- Chapter 1

CRACK. BOOM! The sound of distant thunder left an uneasy feeling in my stomach. The plane ride was rough and long. The small, twin-engine Cessna rocked precariously as we drifted besides the storm. As I peaked out the window, all I saw was darkness, unsettling darkness. I couldn’t see the ocean, we were only in the air for about an hour and a half. I tried to get comfortable in my seat, for being upwards of six feet doesn’t make traveling in small aircraft fun. The woman next to me looked rather flustered as well. She wore rather tight fitting Pleather pants, but seemed to play the leather look quite well. To the back of me were two men. They looked roughly the same age as me, but I wasn’t really paying attention to that. They both looked like two average guys, looked roughly average height, average build and weight. The plane itself was rather old. It had a rather old dingy smell, nothing too appealing to the senses. I often went into the pouch on the back of the seat in front of me, looking at the drawings of what to do in case of emergency; though I never really take it into consideration. I take another look at the window. It’s almost as though we were coming closer and closer to the storm. All of a sudden I felt a light nudge on my shoulder, "I’ve been through this before," said the Pleather wearing woman. "Don’t worry though, I’m sure it’ll be fine." I kind of chuckled to myself. I hoped she was right. Suddenly there was a blinding light, and a massive crack, as if Zeus had thrown down a lighting bolt onto the plane. The lighting struck the left wing, made obvious by the fire that burst from the engine soon after the impact. The plane violently began to jerk from side to side, up and down, plummeting after each frightful second. The stinging smell of jet fuel filled the cabin as the left wing burns in our hellish descent to the ocean. I gripped the arm rest as I am held back in my seat as the plane comes closer and closer to a watery grave. I kept trying to tell myself, it’ll be fine, it’ll be fine, maybe we’re close to land, it’ll be fine. But the plane continued to rock furiously, I anxiously sweat, hoping the fire will cease, or the pilot will gain control, or for the free fall to stop, but none of these happened. A sickening sound filled the aircraft soon after. The vicious whirring of the planes engines had ceased. Obviously, the strike of the lightning left the left engine damaged, too much for the other engine to handle. The dying sound of the engine started to add to the gloomy feel of uneasiness in the cabin. All of a sudden, there was silence. So quiet you could hear the pattering of rain against the plane’s exterior. Any thought of getting out of this mess was soon gone as the plane took a second final dive towards the ocean. The plane began to slice through the sky, like a broken bird falling from tree. There were no announcements over the intercom, which surprised me, but only for a split second as the plane drew nearer and nearer to the ocean. My life began to flash before me, all the things I could have done, should have done. I didn’t cry, I began to realize what was about to happen, our plane was about to hit the water, and we were going to die. Then amongst the turmoil, a sign of hope, the right engine began to spit back into life, coughing and hiccuping back into working condition. We slowly began to pull out of the death dive, but to no avail. I looked out my window and saw the ocean for the first time. I blinked and took a deep breath. The plane thudded against the water, and threw me forward violently, the windshield of the aircraft burst open from the blunt impact, filling the cabin with water in seconds. I remember watching various episodes of the TV show __Mayday__ where the plane hits the water andbreaks apart on impact, I guess we got lucky. From what I could tell the aircraft remained intact. The one guy at the back ripped the emergency exit off, and water poured in. I grabbed my life vest under my unpleasant cushion. Water was up to my chest now. The guy who removed the emergency exit had grabbed the life raft and exited the plane first. The woman next to me exited soon after. I was last to get off, after the guy with spiked hair. I took a deep breathe as I ducked under the top of the exit and swam vigorously to the top. There was no fire, no light, just darkness, and the storm seemed to blind me. I finally reached for the surface. My life vest wasn’t really on me tight, I see a light amongst the darkness. The guy who removed the exit was in the life raft waving a flashlight at us, directing us to the raft. Mid panic, I frantically kick to the boat, I felt the life jacket did nothing considering the height of some of the waves, after one larger wave, a larger one seemed to follow, swallowing me in a chaotic turbulence of water, finally spitting me back out to only be pulled in again. I finally reach the raft, the guy pulled me up; he pulled me up pretty fast, he seemed like a strong guy. Soon after he pulled me up the ocean spat up both the woman next to me, and the other guy on te plane. We pulled them onto the raft. I was cold, I looked into the blank abyss, only to find more ocean, and more ocean, I felt lost. We didn’t talk to one another, only asking if we were all okay, we answered yes, but that wasn’t true. I pulled out a flare gun from the pouch of emergency supplies from the raft, and fired it into the air, the bright light reached a certain point, arched, and slowly dimmed and fell into the sea. I looked at the other people in the raft, and we all exchanged uneasy looks at each other, I tried to contain my body heat, as the storm seemed to spray us constantly with ice cold rain water and freezing gusts of forceful winds. I clenched my hands tightly and shut my eyes, hoping that all of this was a very unpleasant dream.



Unfortunate Paradise-Chapter 2

The sun woke me up after the accident. I lifted my head from the wet bottom of the raft and tried to adjust my eyes to the blinding light. My eyes only opened a crack. They were extremely sore, along with the ret of my body. My hands looked as though I had been in the bath tub too long, like an old, wet raisin. My throat was coarse and dry, I hadn’t had any water since before we left for Cuba, an idiotic decision on my part. I pitched my head up and covered my eyes with my raisin-like hands, and peered into the blistering hot sun. With my hand still cupped over top of my eye to shield me from the piercing sun, I take a glance at my surroundings. The island was green with life. Palm trees littered our plot of untouchable paradise. I picked up a hot handful of sand. It was a beautiful colour, one you would see in brochures for resorts on tropical islands. I plopped the sand in its original position and stood up. I wobbled a bit at first, I felt unusually weak. I tried to remember the night before. It all seemed frighteningly vague to me. The sound of the lighting ripping through the wing of the plane. Our descent into the dark ocean below. I shook my head to get rid of the horrid memory. Then it hit me, where are the others? I was surprised I wasn’t woken up by the others, then I thought, //what if I’m the only one//? I pondered frantically to myself, scenarios were racing through my head as to the thought of being alone on this island! "Hey!" The voice startled me, I looked to my rear to see the Pleather wearing woman who sat to the side of me on the plane. She had make-up running down her face, a lot of it. She still had her tight fitting Pleather on. Her hair was tossed all over her face, she didn’t take the time scraping it off her brow. Her shirt was ripped at the shoulder, and the hem on her pants was tattered at the bottom. She looked rather flustered. " Are you alright? We didn’t want to wake you up," she said with an almost life saving voice. " Thank God! I almost thought I was alone here. Almost thought you guys might have fallen out of the raft or something." "No," she said, "Ryan and Evan are in the forest some-" "I’m sorry," I interrupted, "but what’s your name?" "Oh, I’m Faith." "Jordan." I said. I put my hand out for a hand shake, she didn’t put hers out. I felt like an outcast. Faith and I walked into a small over hang of palm trees that had come down in a dome shape and had made a perfect shelter. The sand went from almost unbearably hot to a very comfortable temperature. I took my hand from the forehead and looked ahead of me to see the two guys from the plane. I immediately recognized one of the guys, the one who had rescued me from the perilous waters. "I’m Jordan." I said shyly. "I’m Ryan." he replied. Ryan looked like a fit person, he probably played football or something. I never really bothered asking him. He had golden brown hair, and tanned skin. He wasn’t quite as tall as me, but he was tall enough. What he was wearing wasn’t like what he had on before the crash. He only had a pair of boxers and a t-shirt on. But from a quick assessment of the hot conditions, he had the right idea. The guy next to him I immediately assumed was Evan. He had longer hair than Ryan, but Evan’s was black. His hair wasn’t spikey like it was before the crash. He had a faint moustache, and looked fit like Ryan. When I shook his hand I noticed he had very tiny hands. It wasn’t something you would bring up in a conversation, but I thought it was kind of funny. Ryan led me out of the shelter back into the blazing sun along with the others. We took a short walk around the island. We soon figured out that the island was very small. A small peninsula jutted out from part of the island, in the shape of a hook. Palm trees, with a bountiful amount of coconuts, were nestled all over the small island. In the middle of the small plot of sand and rock, was a large rock formation, that virtually towered over the island. It’s ominous size left me looking up until my neck began to ache. Stupidly, I check my pockets to see if my phone or iPod worked. Pressing the power button numerous times, without any success, I give up and place them back into my pockets. I frowned and looked at the top of the rock again. I wondered if there was an easy way to get up to the top. But then I cautiously back away from the idea, knowing the rock looks way too high for anyone to conquer. The morning slowly passed, and the afternoon slowly crept into night. The sun was slowly disappearing from the distance. I sat in the shelter with the others as we talked about an assortment of things. Things from what happened in the crash, to what was our favourite food. I hadn’t really thought about food at that moment yet, my stomach seemed to be still aching from during the crash. The butterflies still seemed to loom inside me, like the storm during the plane ride. I continue to impatiently pass time, thinking a plane would just come and swoop us away. Occasionally I try to bring up something for small talk, but the idea of anymore conversation made everyone more homesick. A familiar sound filled the crisp warm air. The sound of a plane emanated from the other side of the mountain. We all jumped up frantically and rushed to our beached raft on the shore. Evan rustled through the supplies and pulled out the flare gun. He pulled out the used flare inserted a brand new one. The sound of the plane was getting more faint by the second, it was just grazing the side of the island, if the flare went above the rock face on the island, we might be noticed. Evan pitched the flare gun high into the air, and pulled hard on the cold metallic trigger. The flare spit sparks out unnaturally, and it blew apart in Evan’s hands. Flames, almost as thought they had come from a dragons fiery throat, blew out of the malfunctioning gun. The bright light illuminated the shoreline, then quickly died off as the darkness of the night seemed to swallow up any sign of the light. Evan held his hand away from his body and screamed in pain as the intense heat sizzled away at his flesh. We all looked about aimlessly. //That was our last flare//, I thought to myself. "Get another flare! Cmon!" Ryan yelled. ‘That was it! There are none left!" I yelled in return. "Please! It hurts so much!" Evan cursed. He was writhing in pain. From the tips of his fingers, to his shoulder blade, his right arm’s skin was pealing like that of a bloody orange. The plane passed without noticing the flames extinguishing themselves on Evans flesh. I looked into the horizon. The reflection of the moon made the sea visible amongst the total darkness on the island. We were trying to tend to Evans burns as best as we could with the basic first aid kit, to the best of our knowledge of course. He needed help, better help than what we could give. We all needed help, help off the island. I ran my fingers through my dirty, dry hair, and breathed deeply. My stomach began to grumble. " What are we going to do?" Faith asked loudly," We don’t have food, we don’t have water. We don’t even have a fire going!" She was starting to get upset. I didn’t know what we were going to do. The flare gun was destroyed in a quick instant, turning Evan’s arm to a chard mince meat. Ryan spoke of going to the top of the rock face, and bringing up wood to start a sort of signal fire. It seemed like a good idea, but there was no way of knowing if anyone would be able to see it anyways. All we needed was hope. Hope that we’d see our families again, hope we’d get off this island all in one, sane piece.



Sea King- Chapter 3

The morning sun poked through the shelter just enough to wake me, and the others, up from our short, restless sleeps. I lifted my body away from the sandy ground and stood up. I cleared my dry throat with a coarse cough, but it didn't relieve my situation. I wish somethings were that easy, just clearing your throat, not too hard. But our situation wasn't like that simple task. I had a fairly vivid dream that night. I was in Cuba having the time of my life. But, in reality, I was stranded on some desolate island with a bunch of strangers! I wasn't sipping ice cold martinis served by a strapping butler. I was stuck on some dark, unforgiving island. With people I didn't even know! My good dream had turned into a hellish nightmare. Bright tropical colours had turned to depressing seas of black, roughly similar to the sea during the crash. I sat back down, and hunched over. I tried to remove the distinct images from my mind. It's almost as though the darkness swallows you up. Amongst the turmoil in the crash, I couldn't really remember what happened exactly. Everything is shrouded with a deep shade of black. More so than not being able to see your hand in front of your face when its dark, but the feeling that darkness takes over you. I cautiously stood up again. My mind was constantly being tormented with the thoughts of the crash, and of Evan's hand. Everything seemed to be smothering me. "I'm not gonna die here!" protested Evan. His arm was bandaged from the base of his forearm to the tips of his fingers. Sadly, that's all we had to bandage his burnt arm in the first aid kit. "Evan's right. WE are going to get out of here, today," Ryan spoke loudly. "And how do you propose doing that, guys? The first attempt didn't go down so smoothly, did it!?" Faith sounded slightly irritated. I felt bad for her. She seemed to be taking the situation the worst amongst us. I think last night pushed her closer to the edge. The occurrences of the other day were something that was in the back of everyone's mind. Constantly teasing us. We could have been saved. But that's what that faulty flare did, it teased us. Teased us with the thought of getting off that island. But I agreed with Ryan, we were going to get off that island, one way or another. " That's what we are going to do." Ryan pointed at the top of the rock face that loomed over the island. It had a pointed spire shape towards the top, and was very dark in color. From what we could see, the rock leveled out a bit, and seemed to have a big enough area to start a signal fire. It seemed like a far fetched idea. Climbing wasn't my strong suit. But it wasn't the others favorite activity either. However, we needed something. Anything to get us off the island was worth a try. "OK Ryan, let,s do it," I said nervously. "Faith?" Ryan said cautiously, "Do you want to come as well; we might need your help up there." "I'm sorry. But I can't. I'm just...I can't...I.....I" Her words became lost in her tears. Whatever makeup left on her face was drizzling down her cheeks. She was a wreck. We hesitantly gave Faith her space. The island was slowly getting to her. Tormenting her. Teasing her. I wondered if we didn't get out, if that would happen to me. To much of my and Ryan's protest, Evan joined us on our climb to the tip of the peak that towered over the island. Evan was a motivated person. His arm was still crudely bandaged, but he carried the knife and some pieces of wood up the peak as we went. The sun still splashed the island in direct sunlight. As we went up the rock face, we were not shaded at all from the piercing light. My skin was bright red, and my hair had been bleached an almost beach blonde. As we continued up, the farther we seemed to climb, the smaller the path got. And as the dragged the wood and other supplies, the day began do escape us. Sweat from my forehead stung my eyes as we slowly make it up the cliff. Finally, we made it to a point where we made it to a leveled off part of the rock. The sun was beginning to drop where we couldn't see it anymore. The knife we had brought up, to see if we could make sparks by striking it against rocks, had been dulled to the point where it wouldn't be able to cut through butter anymore. Strike after strike, the knife didn't seem to produce the sufficient sparks to produce a hefty fire to be seen from afar. It was my turn to try and start the fire. I took the knife in my hand, it was an old knife. The handle was worn, and the bolts in the handle were rough and popping out a little. Its blade was rough and dull. It had met its prime a long time ago. We had been using a rock we got from the shelter. It was a light gray rock, with little white specks over it. I struck it over and over and over again, without producing even a smidgen of heat. Out of mere anger I let out a powerful swipe over the rock. The blade struck the rock and its wooden handle split and the metal base, that was enclosed in the maple handle, pierced deep into my open palm. I grasped my hand and screamed. I picked up the rock and threw it at the rock face. Sparks exploded from the impact of the stone. It suddenly hit me. I had noticed before that some parts of the rock face were almost glossy. The rock face was composed of flint. My mouth stayed open for a few seconds. My eyes boggled at the quick light show fueled by my bitter rage over the island. "It's flint! FLINT!" I roared. My heart rate increased substantially. I picked up the knife again, and crudely tried to rearrange the handle as best as I could. I struck the rock again with the knife to reassure me I wasn't dreaming. Sure enough, sparks lit up the slowly dimming night sky once more. "Quickly, put the logs and stuff by the rock! Cm on' hurry!" I commanded. The struck the rock excitedly, sparks exploded from the rock again as though they were some miracle. The sparks burned up the kindling we arranged and slowly spread to a small fire. The night sky was finally lit up again. From the distance I began to hear something. A distinctive 'whoop-whoop' sounds of a helicopter soon overpowered the sound of the blazing flame. The sound was breathtaking, envigerating! My ears tingled from the sweet sound of rescue. "Look!" Evan bellowed. "HELICOPTER!" Ryan screamed. We all began to flail our arms excitedly. Adrenaline began to flow through my veins. My pulse raced a mile a minute. The red and yellow "Search and Rescue" Sea King helicopter was soon over top of us. Every sort of emotion ran through my brain. The searchlight from the chopper blinded me as the guy hooked up from the helicopter slowly descended to pick us up one by one. One by one we were lifted up. When my turn came I was anxious to get off this island. "Alright, I'm gonna tie you around me. Hold on tight. OK?" said the Search and Rescue guy. I nodded affirmatively. He hooked a harness around me, and we slowly began to lift off from the black rock. I looked down onto the island one last time. For the first time, I could really tell how small the island was. As I neared the helicopter, we were already coming closer the the base of the island. The rescuer unhooked the harness from my waist and descended again once I was fastened inside the helicopter. I peered out of the window to see Faith's hair blowing from the fierce winds from the helicopters rotors. I sat back in my seat and looked towards Ryan and Evan. I tried to say something. Something that they'd remember, but I couldn't. I was so happy, but I knew deep deep down, I'd be leaving this island a changed person. The sound in the helicopter was deafening, but no words were spoken. In my mind, all I heard was a eerie silence. I took a final look out into the dark sky. I looked at the island. The flame from the top of the rock was slowly dimming as we got farther and farther away, and then it was gone.