Kyle+D

 __**The Ill-Fated Decision**__

** The Drastic Setback ** It was just a regular day for the airlines in the Unites States of America. All flights left and arrived at their designated times, and no warning or alert of any malfunction of any of the many aircrafts touring the sky.

That was until a plane which departed from the LAX planning on arriving in Sydney, Australia, was stopped short in its track as it was experiencing turbulence. This turbulence was like no other which the pilots chartering the flight have experienced. It was violent, causing the aircraft to sway in the barren sky, out of control, even for the veteran pilots with over 25 years under their belts.

The passengers, were not totally oblivious to the events occurring when the plane hit this massive turbulence, and they began to question the stewards and stewardesses. Trying to not cause a public outcry, they assured the worried passengers that everything was fine, and to not worry. Even though this was far from the truth, the passengers took their word, and settled down into their seats.

But that trust was shortly lived as a booming thud came from the hull of the plane. It was at this time that the pilot radioed MAYDAY, in dire need of immediate help. Subsequently, all the passengers were notified of the disaster which was heading their way, and rescue procedures were put into action.

Each passenger was given a life jacket as they were cruising rapidly over the Pacific Ocean at the time the turbulence was occurring. Everyone could sense that the plane was nose-diving and the altitude was decreasing exponentially. People from throughout the aircraft were plunging off of the plane, with lifejackets equipped, as the plane was nearing closer and closer to the water, which glistened from the setting horizon. Only a few lucky people managed to escape the plane until it ultimately combusted, with most of the passengers and crew still aboard.

The few lucky survivors peered at the wreckage, feeling guilty that they were the ones that survived, unlike the many children on board. When the survivors finally realised they needed to locate land, there was none in sight. There were only six survivors in total, all of whom were men. They needed to quickly come up with a plan to find land; otherwise, they would not survive either.

Four of the men, Ethan, Sam, Phil, and James, persisted on going west, the direction in which the sun was setting, since they were flying westbound to Sydney from Los Angeles.

But the other two men insisted persuasively they go east. The two groups were unable to compromise, and they set off on their separate ways. The two men were soon going to realize that their decision would ultimately cost them their lives, as they grew tired from swimming for many kilometers, and were ultimately eaten viciously by the marine life which stumbled upon them.

The group of four, on the other hand, were able to find land after a few kilometers. When they first stumbled upon the island, they noticed no signs of civilization whatsoever. All they could find were some animals lurking in the bushes and trees inhabiting the isolated island. In order to survive, the group had to make to most of what they still carried on them.

Ethan carried a small handheld mirror and a dull Swiss-army pocket knife.

James had a travel-size first aid kit on him. After an hour, some rope and a large tarp came floating in towards the island, most likely from the sunken aircraft. Once the crew had their basic survival gear, they compromised on setting up shelter as soon as possible as nightfall was creeping in on them rapidly. Everyone was to gather up loose branches and twigs in an effort to make some huts out of it. So everyone split up and scattered across the island in hopes of covering as much ground as possible. The island had a distinct shape, the same shape as the moon which was coming their way in mere moments, a crescent.

As the sun’s glow grew fainter in the distance, the last of the branches were acquired and everyone met back up at the origin in which they arrived on the island. Sam had some different looking branches, as he later proclaimed that “The island contains a large volcano on the western extremities,” which could be all but good news if it was an active volcano. But the gang put this all to the side and worried on quickly building up base quickly. The island was a fairly small one, and they felt they collected as many branches needed to construct a hut. And so they commenced to work, using the landscape available to construct most of their huts. They used some overhangs as the roof and the back side, and used the gathered branches to complete it, all held together by the rope which was conveniently swept onto shore by the tide. Each man needed a hut they could each inhabit, so a total of four huts were constructed, with everyone pitching in some work for each other’s hut.

As the sun’s faint aura left the motionless sky, no one on that island could help to wonder when any help would come, or if any would come at all.

** Survival of the Fittest **

It was now day two on the uninhabited island, and the fatigued group of four now set their sights on locating some edible food. Ethan and James patrolled the perimeters of the vast jungle surrounding them, in hopes of acquiring some citrus fruit so they shall not suffer from scurvy.

Hours later, there was enough food gathered to last them for at least a week, and Sam and Phil departed to try and make a fire. They acquired some loose twigs and bigger logs and set them near base. The fire would provide three things: warmth, food preparation, and a signal. Passing by ships would hopefully see the smoke or flames and would investigate the island due to curiosity.

Ethan handed over his mirror to reflect the sun’s beams in great hopes of starting the fire. After a few unsuccessful attempts, it finally lit and caught fire, and stayed lit for a while. There were no activities on the island, so boredom occurred frequently.

The stress of being stranded, like a child without its mother, also took a toll on the islanders, especially Phil. He starting going ‘mad’, and wasn’t quite himself from what anybody could remember. Phil would often make remarks that ought to be kept to one’s self, like calling Sam “a waste of human existence”. Phil would also talk to himself, often arguing like an old divorced couple with himself about the simplest of things. But the others had to accept what Phil had become and had to focus on survival.

*** * ***

Everyone set off to get their weekly ration of food, when a loud trembling shook throughout the earth and caught everyone off guard. Before anyone knew what was going on, a red-coloured substance spewed out of the volcano on the far side of the annoyed island. The ferocious volcano was active!

"Everyone to the extreme perimeter of the island!” yelled Ethan frantically, in hopes of getting everyone’s attention. There was lava travelling across the island at rapid speed, but the crew just hoped they could outrun it and never looked back once they started running.

James reached the end of the island furthest from the volcano when he was alerted by a vicious scream, that of Sam’s, yelling, “Oh God help me, I fell in the lava!” After that, all was heard were muffled screams. At this point in time, it was surely safe to say that the existence of Sam was no more.

Everyone else caught up at the island and began swimming away towards the west, in search of a new island. The prior island was now engulfed in flames, and there was no way that they could’ve stayed there. They swam for about 30 minutes until they finally stumbled onto another island, overwhelmed from exhaustion of the long trip.

“So what do we do from here on out?” questioned Ethan.

James replied saying, “We should set up camp once again.”

When strolling on the island, Phil exclaimed with excitement, “Guys, over here! Look what I found, a cave!”

And so then James & Ethan followed him and to their amazement, there was the cave, all hollowed out and big enough to fit all three of them. The beauty of caves is that they are able to produce their own heat, so even on the cold nights, they would still be relatively warm. Although the new found discovery was a pleasant one, they had to deal with the fact that all their supplies were engulfed with the flames on the previous island, and they had to start at square one. But they put that all to the side and tried to get some shut-eye, to prepare for the treacherous days that were coming up.

The next day, James was put in charge of getting the ration of food for the week, and he head into the tropical area of the island. He was trying to reach some apples that lay there up above, when he heard a ‘snarl’ from behind him. He cautiously swung his head backwards, and what he saw terrorized him. It was a Tiger, and it was furious. James, without hesitation, picked up a nearby stick and tried to ward off the beast, accompanied with screaming at it. The tiger lunged at James and tore a fair chunk of his arm off, and started to chew on it. James lay down in agonizing pain, screeching with excruciating pain.

All of this screaming sought the attentions of both Ethan and Phil, and they sprinted towards the source of the screams. They saw James, laying down face-first in the soil, all bloodied from the attack. They were about to run by his side when the tiger quickly pounced on James and bit his mid-section. This infuriated Ethan and Phil and they subsequently picked up sticks and repeated to bash the beast with them. Phil completely lost it and located a jagged rock and with lightning-fast reflexes, punctured the tiger right in the eye, stunning it.

While stunned, Phil went on a rampage for about 15 minutes straight bashing the beast until it was dead. Phil even went on to overkill it, but Ethan stopped him in his tracks.

“Why did you stop me? The beast killed James!” hollered Phil.

“He’s dead now, there’s no point,” replied Ethan. Ethan then rushed to James’ side, only to mourn his death, as he died from blood loss and the severity of his wounds.

The death of James had a huge impact on Phil, as he began hitting himself in the head while screaming at himself, “It’s all your fault! You could’ve saved him!” Phil was about to black-out when Ethan realized what was happening and quickly detained Phil in order to stop him from self-harm. But Phil kept chanting something inaudible, and Ralph was astounded by what was happening.

Ralph put Phil into the cavetto calm him down, when it finally hit him, two people died. He burst into tears wondering why fate had not chosen himself instead. But he knew that he had to keep on living, for his family back home, who would someday see him, he hoped.

** We Are Not Alone **

Ethan rises from his deep sleep to gander at the piercing rays of the sun overhead. He squints his eyes to see if there was any sign of civilization in the distance from the island. There are none. Ethan can only dream of rescue, hoping dearly it would soon arrive one of these days. All he can think of is his ailing grandmother, who has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer, after many vigorous years of puffing back on the toxic smog of cigarettes. He had got onto that flight to go and meet her in the hospital, and comfort her before the last of her days were ceased forever. But he has to forget about this tragic moment, and focus on the dilemma of being trapped on this isolated island. Ethan has thoughts racing through his mind like a paranoid schizophrenic, but all of this is halted abruptly, when his stomach grumbles, as he was alerted about a need for food.

Ethan digs his way through the thick underbrush to locate some food for Phil and himself. He finds an enormous tree, with fruit bearing at the apex of it. Although dangerous, Ethan is unable to find food anywhere else. And so he starts to climb the tree, with a hug-like posture, gradually ascending up to the fruit on the tree. He’s able to gather four pieces of fruit, stuffing them in his pockets, as he slowly descends from the tree.

Ethan is about a half-way down, when he accidentally touches some sap with one of his hands, and loses his balance, plummeting Ethan to the hard ground. His leg was the first body part to impact the ground, absorbing much of the force. He screams out in agonizing pain, although no one is able to hear his cries of pain.

He is able to climb up to his feet eventually, and hobbles on towards the cave, where Phil is still laying down on the stone-cold ground, sleeping peacefully. Ethan places the fruit he acquired down on the ground near Phil, and takes a large, juicy bite out of one of the fruit, which happens to be an apple. Ethan is highly audible with his bites, and consequentially, Phil awakens from his deep sleep.

“Why, what do you have there, Ethan?” questioned Phil, staring at the sharp green spherical-shaped substance he is salivating on.

Ethan picks up an apple and hands it to the pale-looking Phil, “I gotcha some apples, wouldn’t you mind one?”.

Phil does not respond, but rapidly takes the apple and devours it as if he hasn’t ate in days. Phil mumbles to himself as he eats, although Ethan just ignores this and continues eating his apple. None of them spoke a word about the deaths of their friends, as the trauma was too painful to handle for two adolescent boys.

Ethan can only reminisce about his grandmother, who is probably disappointed in him, or at least that’s what he thinks. And then there’s his family back in Los Angeles, probably stressed out about his lack of presence. But Ethan knows that his mother will always believe that he’s still alive, somewhere in the world.

The boys then proceed to explore the rest of the island, but very cautiously, as the reminiscent of the tiger attack lingers on in their minds. They want to explore the rest of the island, as they might as well get accustomed to it, as they may be there for eternities to come.

As the boys pick up some branches for a fire, Phil proclaims, “Do you hear that? It sounds like a human! Ethan! Do you hear it? Oh my God we’re saved!”.

But Ethan shrugs it off as Phil hearing voices again, and continues on his walk.

However, Phil would not stop pestering Ethan, “Listen, I know I hear a human! Just stop and listen for a second, please!”, and Phil shakes Ethan vigorously.

“Fine! I’ll do it. Whatever makes you shut up,” Ethan retorts, in an annoyed tone. And so Ethan stops where he is, and listens for the sound Phil described. All that was audible are some leaves being crunched. Ethan looks over his shoulder and can’t see anything, but the sound continues. The sound is now increasing exponentially, but still no sign of anything. Both Ethan and Phil worry, and start to sweat profusely.

A man suddenly becomes visible to the boys. He is covered in camouflage, blending in perfectly with the environment which surrounds him. He takes a good hard look at the boys, and starts yelling at them in a language foreign to both boys.

“Sorry, I don’t know what you’re saying. Do you speak English?” asks Ethan.

But it seems as if the man doesn’t understand them at all. And he proceeds to take out his knife, with the steel glistening in the sun’s beams overhead.

“No, no, no. We come in peace. You see, we’re stuck on this island. Is there any way you can get us off of the island?” interrogates Phil.

Talking only seems to upset the man, and he makes a sudden dash towards Phil, his knife pointing towards Phil’s heart.

But Phil reacts quickly, and is able to dodge both the man and his knife.

“Run! Get out of here! He must be a head-hunter!”, yells Ethan in frantic terror.

The head-hunter recovers after a brief stun, and gets to his feet and yells out in anger. Birds flee trees near the man, due to the high shriek he just released. He sprints after the boys, who are running parallel together, on the dirt path beneath his putrid feet.

“We should split up,” remarks Ethan. “I’ll go onto the sandy beach; you go hide in the forest.” And Phil does as he is told and veers to the left into the heart of the forest.

Ethan is still visible to the head-hunter, and he chooses to follow after Ethan. He’s now running on the sand, much softer for his feet. Ethan’s not that far ahead, only 20 meters or so. The head-hunter is able to reach a larger velocity than Ethan, because of his longer legs and years of experience in the wilderness.

Ethan looked back and is astonished to witness the head-hunter gaining on him rapidly. His heart is now beating at twice the rate it should be, and his adrenaline starts to kick in. But not even his adrenaline could help him exit this life-and-death situation, as the head-hunter seems to have more energy than him. He’s only about ten meters away now. Five meters. Three meters. Two. One. As the smell from the rancid breath of his perpetrator hits him, the gruesome thrust of the knife makes its way through his skin and into his ribcage. Thankfully, his ribcage fulfills its purpose, and his heart stays intact. But he’s bleeding now, and the head-hunter pulls out his knife and penetrates his skin again.

Ethan’s life flashes before his eyes. He’s at his 13th birthday party, with his family and friends. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. This is one of his favourite memories, until he sees his grandmother smoking on a cigarette, reminding him of the painful trauma he is going through.

Phil realizes what’s happening and rushes to Ethan, equipped with nothing but his fists. He surprises the head-hunter and starts wailing on him, almost ape-like. The stabbing ceased and the head-hunter’s attention is now focused on the boy pounding his face in.

Ethan recovers after a minute or so, with blood gushing all over his abdomen. He looks up, only to witness Phil struggling for his life against the head-hunter. Phil seems to have the upper-hand, until the head-hunter picks up his knife. Phil is surpassingly stabbed, and his struggle comes to a sudden standstill. Ethan picks up a jagged rock, and rushes towards the head-hunter, striking him multiple times in the face. He eventually bludgeons the man to death. Ethan scurries to Phil’s side, to check out his status. But Phil has no pulse. No heartbeat. No breath. No nothing. It is too late. Phil is now dead, as well. Ethan weeps, laying by the side of his good friend. He is now alone, and must fend for himself.

The island is silent now, with no sign of life to be found anywhere. No ships come either, and Ethan spends his lonely days doing three things: eating, sleeping, and hunting.

* * *

Now 60 years later, Ethan is 75 when he finally deceased. He never finds out how his grandmother is doing, or how his family mourned his absence. All the passengers and crew of the dreadful flight are now dead.