Kyle+M


 * __Fall Into The Unknown__**
 * Kyle MacKenzie**



**Crash** I woke to turbulence. I hate turbulence. After glancing down at my watch the plane shook again. My foot brushed up against something on the floor. Picking it up, I recognized it as the book I had bought at the airport this morning. After I had placed my book back in my hand bag I returned my reading glasses to their case and stored them in the blue pocket of the shirt I had been wearing for the last ten hours of flying and what had seemed like forever waiting in the airport. “ Ugh,” I groaned with the man next to me as the plane lurched again. The man sitting beside me had introduced himself as Mike, and he had seemed very energetic and full of life when he nearly talked my ear off during the first hour of the flight. Glancing over my shoulder I now saw that Mike was clenching his armrests and grimacing every time the plane shook. Evidently, I wasn’t the only one who disliked turbulence. Leaning forward in my seat to look out the small oval window, I felt the comforting tug of my seatbelt on my gut. The window on the emergency exit door was covered with water, and beyond the glass nothing could be seen but the faint flash of the red wingtip light. Looking across the isle, I began to tune in to the conversation the two men sitting there were having. “Chicago is such a joke,” exclaimed the man sitting closest to the window. The older of the two men, who was dressed in a sharp suit and seemed to be one of those people who are all business all the time, snapped back his reply “Chicago is a place of opportunity and,” “Hahaha,” the younger man laughed brightly, cutting the other man off. Looking over this man, I saw that he was not at all the similar to the man he was arguing with; this man was proudly displaying a colorful flowered shirt and looked as if he had just stepped off the beach. Sitting back in my seat and closing my eyes, I chuckled to myself thinking of the contrast of these very different men. My thoughts were interrupted as a voice came across the intercom. “May I have your attention, please. This is your co-pilot, and we are just about out of this tropical storm, and it looks like a smooth trip the rest of the way to the Christmas islands. We are currently about forty-five minutes behind schedule but we hope to make up some of that time as soon as were out of this storm.” As I settled back into my thoughts, the plane gave its most violent shake yet “Oh, won’t it just end already!” I cried out, and as if that had been a signal the plane shuttered and fell from the sky. I was pressed back in my seat, as the stewardess was tossed like a rag doll around the plane. As the aircraft spun, blundered, and dropped towards the roaring black waters of the South Pacific, my ears were filled with the cries of shock, surprise, and pain coming from all of my fellow passengers. Something slapped me in the face. After recognizing it as my oxygen mask, I slipped it over my face. Suddenly a new sound filled the air. An odd banging that became more frequent as the overhead compartments flew open and bags, boxes, and packs came tumbling down and were tossed on top of their owners. Glancing downward, I saw that my fingers were paper white from clenching the hard plastic armrests in a grip of fear. The plane began to shake again only this time it was a different shaking, as it didn’t end, it continued to get worse. Then the plane smacked into the cold dark abyss. Once the plane settled in the water I didn’t know what I was doing. I was acting only on instinct. After fumbling to undo the clasp on my seatbelt, I threw the bright yellow
 * Chapter 1**

mask off of my face, grabbed the flotation device under my seat and dived out the emergency exit door that Mike had just plowed open. The water was like daggers piercing my bare skin I had never felt water so cold. The plane was sinking rapidly, and as it did so it was breaking apart. “Ahhhhh,” My ears were filled with a terrible cry. Looking around I saw that it was coming from the older man who had been sitting across the isle from me. He had just surfaced and was shouting out in great pain. Swimming over to him I saw the man that was sitting next to him, on the now denigrated aircraft, floating beside him. I also saw through the downpour of rain a dark shape rising up over the surface of the water. As I swam, I recognized it as a distant mountain. I reached the two men at the same time as Mike did. “Land,” I said pointing behind them. “I suppose were swimming then,” Mike said woefully. “Grab whatever you see that could be useful and lets get going we have to get out of the water.” “I cc…can’t swwim... mmm …my… legs,” moaned the old man. Glancing down I saw through the water that to my horror his legs were no longer attached to his body. “Just do the best you can and we’ll help you. Let’s go,” I said solemnly. After reaching the island we all crawled up on the beach exhausted and I passed out of all conciseness of the world around me.

Chapter 2 The Island.

My eyes fluttered open and I sat up. “What,” I said in confusion as I took in my surroundings. I was sitting on sand and water was lapping at my bare feet. Once I had collected my senses I rose to my feet and looked around again. “Where am I?” I cried thinking out loud as I looked out over the smooth ocean recalling what it had been like the previous night. Turning I took in the view of the land. Bright yellow sand ran up from the edge of the clear blue ocean up a short rise where it stopped quite suddenly and a thick row of trees began and a short way into the forest a mound of black rock rose up putting a gap in the blue sky. Turning slowly to my left and looking down the shoreline I saw, silhouetted against the rising sun, three figures on the beach two were standing the third sitting. Slowly I troughed through the sand towards them. When I was about ten paces from the group one of the figures raised his head to look at me and I recognized him as Mike, the man whom I had sat next to on the flight. “Kyle!” he cried out with excitement we were wondering what happened to you we haven’t seen you since…” his voice trailed off as his face changed remembering the events of the previous night. “I’m David,” said the young man, who was sitting across the aisle from me on the plane. “And this is Dennis.” David continued pointing to the older man in the suit. I saw that his legs were cut off above the knee and the stumps had been wrapped clumsily with Dennis’ jacket and David’s flowered shirt. After staring at this uncommon site for a few moments. My trance was broken by Dennis’ slow monotone voice, “Can you rap your belt around my leg to help with the bleeding?” “Yes, of course” I said as I removed my belt, kneeled down beside Dennis and, strapped by belt around his left leg just above the shirt. “So what now?” mike asked, “Build a shelter.” “Find water.” Shouted David and Dennis at the same time. “Ok” I spoke rolling my eyes “David and I will go for a walk through the forest and Mike and Dennis can start on a shelter. Ok?” As David and I trudged through the dense jungle we didn’t say a word. After marching for some time it seemed as if we had come to the end of the world. The green land stopped and became a barren landscape stretching out to the open sea. The crystal blue water glided flat along the earth until it met the blue with splashes of white sky. While our eyes soaked in the site David spoke. “Well that proves it, we’re the only ones around.” After taking one more look we both swung to our right and began heading back through the lush green towards the beach. As we chose a new path back to the others our eyes darted every which way desperately searching for any sign of fresh water. Suddenly a strange screeching sound filled the air. Glancing around in confusion we soon found the source of the noise. Several monkeys surrounded us sitting in the trees. Without saying a word David stooped to the ground and came up holding several small rocks. “What are you doing?” I questioned him. “Watch.” He said throwing one of the rocks into a monkey filled tree. Puzzled I waited and soon saw that once the monkeys realized the source of the rocks they began to through fruit at us. “Amazing” I uttered under my breath as we bent to collect the fruit. Marching on my eyes were suddenly drawn to a flash of movement. “What was that?” I wondered aloud. “Where?” David questioned. “Over there by that tree.” Cautiously we made our way over to where I had seen movement. “Nothing’s here” David said, “Look” I cried excitedly “over there” “Water!” David shouted. After hurrying over to the water we found that it was a small pool of fresh water. “Finally” we both said in unison. After we both rose from drinking greedily I asked David, “How are we going to carry it back?” David looked at me smiled as he produced a short but extremely sharp knife. “Hand me a coco-nut” David spoke smoothly holding out his hand. Seeing my puzzled look David spoke again, “I found this just after the plane went down.” Once we had a few bowl like shells we filled them with water and resumed our hike back to the beach and hopefully a shelter. We were not disappointed, our return we found a lean-to made of freshly broken wood and a web of wide fern leaves that Dennis had knitted together. That night I lay on the end of a mat of small leaves, my mind swimming with thoughts of what the next day would bring and how we ever would get off the island. But finally sleep found me. I woke quite suddenly in the middle of the night feeling wet sitting up I found that most of the shelter had already been washed out towards the sea. “Everyone up!” I shouted loud enough to wake the others from their slumbers. “What's wrong?” Mike asked. “The beach is flooded.” Answered David. The three of us leapt to our feet and together we carried Dennis out of the rapidly rising water and into the forest. Early the next morning we build a chair of sorts that two of us could carry. Once we had placed Dennis in the chair we set off to try to find a more suitable place for a shelter. “Who’s there?” I cried out quite suddenly. “I saw someone over there I said seeing the puzzled faces of my companions. “Well let’s go have a look then shall we,” Mike said as he started of in the direction I was pointing. “There’s nothing here,” Dennis said once we reached the spot “But look!” David shouted his voice filled with excitement. Turning I quickly found the reason for his sudden joy. In the side of the mountain a few meters off the base was a dark opening. “It’s a cave.” I said now sharing David’s excitement “The perfect shelter” Mike said joyfully.



** Chapter 3 ** ** Escape ** Kyle MacKenzie “It’s perfect!” exclaimed Mike, as we all climbed through the dark hole in the base of the towering pile of bare weathered rock. “Ok well, what now?” David wondered aloud, “We’ve got to figure out how we are going to get home” “We need to send some kind of signal,” Dennis spoke from his corner of our cave where he was propped up against the cold dark stone. The stumps of his legs were very puffy and swollen. “A fire seems like the most obvious answer,” I stated. “Ya, but how do we start it?” David questioned. “I looked down at the floor, my mind spinning desperately, searching for any way that we could do it. Suddenly, something caught my eye and I looked up grinning “Did any of you ever play detective when you were little?” I asked, and seeing their puzzled faces I continued, “When I was about five my younger brother and I would play detective almost every day. We would get all our detective gear together and go out searching for clues. Whenever we found one, out came our magnifying glasses and we would stare at the clue searching for what it could mean. One day we were studying a piece of paper that had fallen on the floor and my magnify glass focused the light of the sun onto a single point. Eventually the paper heated up and ignited in flame.” “Well, I don’t suppose any of us have a magnifying glass in our pocket then,” David said coldly, and when no one spoke he continued, “Then there’s no point telling us about it.” “True enough,” I admitted, “we don’t have a magnify glass but we do have the next best thing.” My smile grew on my face as I reached into my pocket and produced my reading glasses that had amazingly stayed safely stored and undetected in my shirt pocket until now. “Well, let’s get started then, shall we,” spoke Mike. After we had climbed back out of our dark peaceful cave, we once again found ourselves trudging through the dense underbrush towards the beach. But, on this journey we took with us the prospect of going home. Upon reaching the beach, we wasted little time building up a pile of brush from the edge of the jungle. Once completed, came the moment of truth as I once again withdrew from my pocket the glasses that would take us home. Kneeling beside the pile of brush, I focused the light into a small point. I could feel my heart pounding against the wall of my chest. I didn’t dare move in case something went wrong. Eventually a small line of smoke began to rise and I realized that I had been holding my breath and slowly I let it out. The small flame began to grow and spread slowly at first but then, with every passing second, faster and faster until soon we had a huge fire beneath a column of smoke rising higher and higher into the pale blue sky. “Now all we have to do is make sure it never goes out,” I said. “David and Mike, you two go back to the fruit trees and bring us some back. Dennis and I will stay here and watch the fire.” Ok, we’ll be back. Come on ,Mike,” David said as he started off towards the far side of the jungle. Dennis and I talked about our lives back home for a while and every few minutes I would get up and go get some more wood for the fire. As I returned from one of these trips, I found Dennis lying on his back with his eyes closed. At first, I thought he had fallen asleep, but I came to see that he wasn’t asleep at all. The features on his face had been twisted in pain and his bloody stumps were covered in a terrible green ooze. “Dennis!” I shouted, as I scurried over to where he lay. But, it was no use. He had fallen unconcesness due to an infection in his wound. I Sat beside him for a time in the fine sand listening to the clear-blue water beat mercilessly on the beach. My mind returned to the time before the crash before this crazy trip began, back when the world was normal. Suddenly, a noise in the jungle woke me from my daydream and I leapt up with a start. Scanning the trees for the source of the noise my eyes fell upon a dark shape just behind the edge of the trees. The same dark figure I had seen when we found the water and the cave. Filled with wonder and curiosity I ran towards the figure into the forest where it vanished. Puffing, I spun in a slow circle searching for any sign of movement. Then, I saw it again and the chase resumed. On and on I ran deeper and deeper into the jungle desperate to discover what this thing was. All of a sudden, I found my self once again at the edge of the sea. “Where are you!” I shouted with all of my strength gazing out towards the horizon. Then I saw it a black speck floating on the water getting bigger and bigger all the time, and then all at once I realized what I was looking at. I at once spun around and began tearing back through the jungle towards the beach and the fire. I hardly noticed the branches slashing me in the face as I ran. “What the!?” Mike cried out in confusion as I ran full into him, “Kyle, what are you doing,” I stood pointing as I tried to catch my breath “Ship... fire… smoke!” I managed to say and as my companions realized what was happening they both dropped their load of fresh fruit and took off towards the beach. Once we came to the beach we rushed to the fire and began throwing green branches on it and shortly a thick smoke began to rise high into the sky. I caught a glimpse of the still body of Dennis lying on the sand. Then the air was filled with the wondrous sound of a ships horn! Though I knew that I may never know what I was following in the jungle but I do know that whatever it was it had saved us all.

** THE END **