Nicole+P

Impacts:
A map of the island.

A current in the air:
“May day.” The pilot shouted into the PA system. “ I repeat, May day!” Not knowing what to do, I went over to the other passengers. Along with the other people on the plane, I looked for any device that could save us. Glancing throughout the interior, my eye caught the three other passengers scavenging through the emergency compartment. I ran to them, hoping to receive whatever they had found. I grabbed a parachute, and realizing there was one short, I offered it to the elderly man beside me. He shook his head no, saying he wanted the younger ones to live, and that he had lived a great life. Hesitating, but with no choice I, along with three others, jumped out of the deadly plane, as it was heading downward.

Morning broke, and sunlight poured into my exhausted eyes. Wondering whether or not last night was a dream, I stretched and stood. Looking around, I saw that I was stranded on what looked like a shallow valley. Surrounding me were stunted mountainous peaks and there were few trees. I felt like an animal in a zoo, trapped. Shrubs and berry bushes were scattered throughout this vast area. I gathered a few edible berries and attempted to fill my empty stomach. The only thing that had stuck with me was a small whistle. I blew into it softly, and I began to wonder where the other people had landed. I wondered whether it was worth it to climb over the mountain. Deciding to go for it and see where it would take me, maybe to rescue, I gathered many berries together in a bundle and advanced into ‘wilderness’.

“Hello?” I shouted along the way. No one answered. An unsettling feeling came over me. A prickle at the nape of my neck warned me that something was coming. I continued around the land, looking for any sign of civilization. Unfortunately for me, I never was the outdoors type. I never had been camping in my life. Once when I was a little girl, I had gone for the weekend with school. That turned into a disaster. I had fallen into a bush of poison ivy; rashes covered my body for the next week. . ..

“Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts and ready yourself for take off,” directed the pilot. Chewing the gum the officer had given me, I tried to relax. I was on transportation duty. Meaning that I was getting moved to Australia. I looked around, noticing that this was a very small plane, holding maybe ten people. Little did I know I would soon be getting to know these people. Being who I was, I kept to myself. It was going to be a very lonely 16-hour flight. I plugged in my iPod, and listened to some calming music to relax. Closing my eyes, I drifted into a solid slumber.

Waking up some time later, I looked out the rusty window. Underneath us was the Pacific Ocean. Just the thought of the plane crashing into the water put fear right through my body. To me, that would be the worst way to die. Examining the sound and feel of the ride, I figured we were doing ok. With nothing better to do, I looked at the photos of my new room. In the new room, I would be getting a window, something I never had before. The one flight attendant came down the aisle to offer us beverages and peanuts. I took a bag of peanuts and water. After that she went to go back to her seat to read her book. Time was going too slowly. It needed to speed up, so I could put my feet once again on solid ground. . ..

There was a sudden jolt in the plane’s flight. A scared expression reached everyone’s face. I looked around me for any clue that we would be ok. The flight attendant was looking around the plane in a daze, messaging the pilot. Her reaction was not encouraging. Another jolt arose again. This time with more power and force. I had no idea what was happening, and the flight attendant was not making it any better. She kept telling everyone to calm down and that everything was all right. I checked outside to see if we were in a storm, but other than two or three clouds it was clear. The plane was now shaking side to side. It was like an earthquake in the sky. Everyone was terrified. The pilot had not said anything about this and the flight attendant looked petrified.

This cant be happening to me, not on this flight. I prayed that I would make it out of here alive. Maybe I should have been more specific. Soon the plane was all over the place. Up, down, side to side. My body was being hurtled in all directions. The seat belt was not helping. I could see around me people were screaming while they were flung side to side. I closed my eyes to concentrate on myself. I made myself think happy thoughts, positive and cheerful thoughts. Anything to get myself to not think of what was happening right in front of me. The plane would suddenly drop out of the sky for no apparent reason, then float a little, then drop again. That’s when the pilot came out of the cockpit to let us know that the plane was going down. Quickly we all scrambled out of our seats to find a parachute or life raft. I saw the passengers had gathered at the emergency compartment to grab the parachutes and life rafts. We jumped out of the deadly plane that would have killed us. All I could see for miles around was water.

Luckily one of the other passengers had grabbed a couple life rafts. He deployed and dropped them one by one into the ocean. Plunging into the great depths of the cold Pacific Ocean, we each grabbed a raft. Exhausted I lay my head down and let the waves control me.

"Plunging into the great depths of the cold Pacific Ocean, we each grabbed one."

Expedition:
Exploring through the valley, with few trees, I had made it to the top of the rim. I saw with a quick overview the island I was now stranded on. I noticed that there was a small patch of sand. I decided that would be my goal, to reach. Along the slope of this mountain, there were more trees, taller and denser. This made it harder to see but protected me from the strong UV rays. I wondered if there were any other people stranded here.

“Hello?” I called out. No one answered. I kept going. After what seemed like two hours, I heard a rustling behind me. I looked. No one was there.

“Hello?” I called again. The rustling came again. I felt eyes on me. I just couldn’t see where they were coming from. I turned around, hoping to see someone there. Hope was so close I could taste it. Above me, I could see monkeys crawling from branch to branch. I turned around again, and there was a shadowed figure.

“Hello.” I spoke softer than before.

“Hi,” The figure replied. “Who are you?”

“I’m Jen, Jen… I can’t remember my last name, and you are?”

“I’m Bailey,” she spoke to me. She looked young, and innocent in this new world we were put on.

“Do you have any idea where we are?” I asked her. I hoped with all my might that she did.

“Somewhere between Hawaii and Australia. Some island in between,” she responded. Not a whole lot of information, but enough for me to handle. I didn’t know what else to do. Now that I found out that there was another person, here with me, things started to brighten up. Together we wandered back into the thick forest, until we came across the sand. We both gazed out onto the open ocean, smelling the crisp ocean breeze. Along the shore there were red jellyfish lying there. I had learned all about Bailey, on the two-hour hike. She was 19, originally from Canada, coming to Australia for the proposition of being a journalist. Together we walked along the coast, looking and calling for others. The sun was starting to go down, so we gathered leaves and broken branches, and made a very small hut.

. ..

The next day, I awoke with a sore back. I wanted to be anywhere, but where I was. I was stuck on an island with someone I didn’t know. We didn’t know where we were, or if there were others on the island. Splitting our tasks, I gathered more wood, and I sent Bailey off to see if she could find others. Humming to myself seemed to take over, so I wouldn’t have to think about the reality of the situation. I began to feel like a robot, lifting, carrying, dropping and repeat. Bailey came back to check on me. She had no luck in finding anyone else, so we dropped that hope. She now was in charge of food.

Bailey seemed to now what to do. She built a sturdy fishing rod, and came back with three fish in her hand. The only thing we needed now was fire. Since I never was the outdoorsy type, I let her do it all. She obviously had the skill needed to survive in the wilderness. After a couple of tries, and a lot of patience, she started the fire. The fire brought us strength in so many levels. Now that we had that, we were going to be rescued.

Smoke pummeled into the sky, hoping to catch the eye of a passing boat. Patiently we took turns, on who was in charge of restocking the fire. We kept it going into the night. Darkness overtook us quickly. Every so often there would be some sort of animal would run by, creating a noise. Both of our eyes were glued on the horizon. We both had to keep the dream of being rescued alive.

After dozing off for a while, I suddenly awoke. In front of me was a human. I couldn’t make out the face, I just saw the figures outline. “Hello,” I said. “Hi, who are you, where are we?” it asked. “I’m Jen, and we are somewhere between Hawaii and Australia,” I responded. Bailey was still asleep. “That’s Bailey,” I said while pointing to her. It stepped closer to me. I could see the more chiseled face, and assumed it was a man. “I’m Dean. And I have no idea why I was even on that flight. I’m a male nurse,” he responded. That surprised me. I wouldn’t have ever guessed that. I noticed he had a knife in his pocket. . ..

The next morning I woke, and introduced Dean and Bailey together. They seemed to get along well together. I noticed that Dean had put the knife down on the sand. I decided that while they were talking that I could go and see if I could find any food. Stealthily, I went about like a spy, and grabbing the knife, I quietly told them that I was going for a walk. Once reaching the forest, I bolted into the wilderness. I had found some coconuts, and luckily I had the knife so I could crack it open. I drank with my life, the milk coming out of it.

. ..

I continued to do this, not even feeling bad about Dean and Bailey not being with me. I had filled my mouth with sweetness, when I heard people behind me. I turned. There was Dean and Bailey.

“What are you doing?” Bailey asked.

“I, I was going for a walk,” I rebutted.

“Wait that’s my knife,” Dean spoke confused.

“This is yours?” I said acting dumb.

“Yes. Can I have it back?” he asked.

“Sure.” I gave it back to him. They both looked at each other. I could tell they were both thinking about what I had done. But it was worth it. I had gotten fluid into me, and the feeling it gave me was worth more than being rescued. It felt like I was invincible.



"I had found some coconuts, and luckily I had the knife so I could crack it open."

Overcoming Obstacles:

Running away from the others, I needed to get away. They were giving me grief for using my human nature. Without glancing backwards I continued. Deeper into the dark, dense forest I ran. In my hands were the leftovers of the coconut, and the knife. Something in my brain was telling me to get farther away.

Finding a rather quiet area in the matted forest, I sat down and drank my milk. Soon after, I found more coconuts to drink. I drank to my heart’s content. Here no one told me what to do or what to say. I was in heaven. After being on this island for two days already, I was not ready to leave. I wanted to stay on this island forever.

After what seemed like a couple of hours, I returned solemnly to find the others. It was nearing dusk, when I saw a shadow of what looked like a dead animal. I headed over to examine it, and was shocked to see it was a lady lying dead and contorted on a rock. I pulled out her wallet and saw that her name was Jane. Deciding whether or not to bring her back, I chose to do it. At the very least we would make her a proper burial site.

Propping her over my shoulder, I tried to walk away as quickly as possible. It was an odd experience having a dead person literally on me. Even knowing what I knew, I didn’t want to leave this place. I could hear the ocean, so I knew I was close. Squinting along the shoreline, I searched for any form of civilization. Convincing myself I could see smoke, I headed in that direction. My bare feet were making a soft thudding sound in the warm sand. Wherever we were in the world, it sure was nice. The horizon showed no promises for rescue, but every single person could tell what everyone was thinking about. HOME. As I walked I thought about what was going on back home. Was there anyone looking for us? Did anyone even care that we were gone? I know back home I wasn’t the best person, or the nicest, but I still hoped someone cared.

Since two days ago, my life had changed. I didn’t care so much about the small things. Nothing really worried me; I just went with the flow. Not necessarily good, not necessarily bad. I didn’t know. Normally I would have cared whether or not the other people liked me, but there I was carrying a dead person and not caring.

Reaching the fire and huts, I placed the body down, planning on burying it tomorrow. Bailey and Dean were sleeping deeply, so I didn’t bother waking them up to see it. I curled up and slept the most comfortable night ever. I woke up to the soft ocean breeze, and the crashing of the waves. I knew that today was going to be a good day.

“What did you do?” were the words that I awoke too.

“What do you mean?” I rebutted. They thought I killed Jane. “I didn’t kill her”.

“Then explain yourself” Bailey was quite courageous.

“Well, after I ran away, I drank more of the milk, and as I came back I saw a shadow thinking it was an animal. Since it was getting dark, I put her on my back and walked back to find this shelter to give her a proper burial.” I was not pleased that they thought I would go out and kill someone. I may be a little crazy, but not insane enough to kill someone. The look on their faces clearly showed that I was insane, and not to be trusted. “Look at her body. There is no knife marks.”

That shut them up. I walked around them, to search for more coconuts. Not caring what they were saying, I marched over to the shovel, and began to dig the gravesite. Humming to myself, to keep company, I was alone. The peacefulness was soothe-thing. Bailey and Dean had problems, I decided. Turning to walk away, I stepped into a squishy substance. Looking down, I saw a red giant jellyfish lying dead on the beach. Its sting was gone. My foot was covered in jelly, so I stepped into the ocean. The salt poured into all the cracks, and open sores in my feet; causing me great discomfort.

Bailey and Dean came back with their arms full of logs, and twigs and any source that would be able to burn. After there 20th try at the fire, I sat down and showed them how it was done. On the 1st try I got the fire going. The sky was slowly becoming dark. Attempting to get the fire as big as possible, we let it catch onto a couple trees. The amount of smoke was tremendous, but to the two of them, worth it. I buried Jane, gave her a prayer and covered her up. Rocks outlined her body.

Somehow I had feel asleep but when I woke, I heard the distant sound of a ferry horn blaring. Bailey and Dean woke too. In a frenzy they added more wood to the fire, and waved there hands around like an octopus. I laughed at them. Mocked them. I didn’t understand why they would want to leave so quickly. We only just got here. The ship had been coming for quite some time now. Its distant between Bailey and Dean and home was becoming greater. Both had ecstatic expressions. “You are crazy,” I muttered as I walked by. Both were too busy to have heard it. The ships horns were incredibly loud now. My ears were burning. Since the boat was unable to come to shore, Bailey and Dean ran out onto an awaiting ladder to the top. I laughed at them.

“YOUR CRAZY, ALL OF YOU! HAHAHA”, I cried out. Someone called out on a speaker to me. I couldn’t comprehend what they were saying. I ran back into the forest, I didn’t want to leave. Why weren’t they leaving? I hide behind bushes. Eventually the ship turned away. I never wanted to leave; this was my new home.

The End.

"Eventually the ship turned away. I never wanted to leave; this was my new home."