Tessa+T

Tessa T

__Life's Table of Contents __



The Prologue.

“You have five seconds!” a voice pounded over the speakers. Five seconds to grab one last thing. Five seconds to fill your lungs with enough air to do you for who knows how long underwater. Five seconds to maybe say your last words to a loved one before you plunge down into a deep unknown. Five seconds before your world might be turned upside down. Five seconds before everything goes black.

All of a sudden the rapid shaking and screaming stops. I gently try to open my eyes, but they are quickly blinded by the ocean water that has consumed what was my plane from Canada to Ireland. All I can see is the now red-tinted water. I can’t take it any longer and close my eyes.

Slowly, I can feel the breath that I gulped escaping from me and being replaced with water that is seeping between my clenched lips. //Keep your mouth shut!// I tell myself. But then, even with my deepest resolve, I cannot hold on any longer. My mouth bursts open and a rush of water comes pouring in, and I can now feel it forcing its way down my clenched throat.

Within seconds, I am gone.I am taken to another place. A place where I don’t feel anything at all and have only one thought at a time. I feel like I am floating, but everything is blurred together in a mixture of blacks and greys, so I cannot tell. Drifting in and out of this haze, I just give in to whatever is taking over. For what I think is going to be the last time, I breathe.

*** I can’t feel anything. I can’t move either. I feel like I have been molded deep into the bed of sand that now lies beneath me like when you step in mud and can’t get your feet back. I slowly lift one eyelid at a time. I can feel the crusts of dried sand that have held them tightly shut all this time as if to keep me from what has happened. Immediately, I close them again as a huge gust of wind rushes over me and sends a shiver down my spine. Opening them again, and lifting my neck, I see water in front of me. It is dark and you can see the stars dancing across the surface. Unconsciously, I run my tongue over the edge of my lips. I can taste the residue of the salt water that has now coated them. It’s bitter. Suddenly flushed with exhaustion, I lower my head back down into the now hollowed out mark of my head in the sand. And just like that, I am gone again. I guess everything can wait till the morning.

“Ouch," I mutter. I suddenly register pain. I shake my head and slowly open my eyes to what is a very clouded sky. The smell of the ocean, once a vacation refuge, turns my stomach. It makes me think of death. I crane my head to the right and see that half of the beach is covered in a ghostly shadow tha—

“Hey! You’re finally awake!”

My thoughts are interrupted by a voice that I do not recognize. I look towards where the voice is coming from, and this girl is now tramping along the beach towards me.

“Hey!” she repeats again as she gets closer. “My name is Brianna.”

The first thing I notice about her is what she is wearing. She is dressed from head to toe in what seems to be a bright turquoise tennis outfit with faded green sneakers. Her brown hair brushes past her shoulders and is flowing behind her as she runs.

Still shaking my head, “Hey?” I answer.

“How are you feeling? You were out for days,” Brianna says as she reaches me.

“Days?” I croak.

“Yes. We were getting pretty worried. We thought you were never going to wake up.”

“We?” I look around and see no one else in any direction and wonder what on earth she could be talking about.

“Trisha, Amrit, and I. We’re the only ones left, you know. Everyone else is gone. Amrit saved Trisha and I. We escaped from the plane and we were about to give up when Amrit came with this tube and picked us up. We thought we were the only ones, but then you washed up onto the shore and we are wondering if there is still more people out there…” Brianna’s voice trails off... “Amrit is the one who found you, too. He washed your face and uncovered you from the sand. Do you remember?”

Just as she said it, I realized that I had rolled over and wasn’t constrained anymore. She watched me as I observed myself, and her face fell.

“You must not. There was a huge storm, and the lightning hit the plane and caught the engine on fire. We were down in a matter of seconds.” There was a long pause. “Common, get up; you must be starving, though. We have managed to get some things together from the island—“

//Island…// I look around and now notice the gigantic mountain that towers over us.

“—Trisha and Amrit have gone up the mountain to look around and see if they can find any more food. They’ll be back soon but for now we have some fruit.”

As I lift myself from the ground, we hear the first crack of thunder. Once I start to move, I can feel my muscles starting to shift again like I have been paralyzed all that time. I stumble over to a couple of logs Brianna and the others must have put together and start to wonder what’s going to happen to us. Another crash. I look up to the now black sky and let the raindrops splatter onto my face. Just blinking them back, I already know this is going to be a nightmare.



The End.

I wake up and glance around me. I wonder what time it is, or even if I slept at all because the sky looks exactly the same, just without the rain. It feels like a giant cloud has consumed this island that I hardly know. I can barely see from where I lie, but I am not able to tell where the water and land separate. Maybe it’s that that makes the water look so peaceful and welcoming, even though there are no stars illuminating the water anymore. I stand up and head straight towards the water.

I haven’t even been conscious for over half an hour since the plane crash, and I have already lost hope. I’ve seen all the movies. Read all the books. People don’t just survive on islands. I know what is coming. I barely even blink as I walk fatalistically, yet determinately, towards the water. I get close to where the edge of the water begins, and I am still walking head on into it when I am knocked off my feet and tackled by a body not much bigger than my own.

“Ouch!” I almost shout.

“Sorry,” said the voice. “You were headed straight towards the water with this like look on your face that was so scary and I-I-I… I panicked.”

I just looked at her confusedly.

“I’m really sorry, I’m Trisha, ” she says and she gets up and stretches out her hand to me. Taking it, I shake myself off and look at Trisha. I try my best not to stare, but I am unable to control myself. Across her face is a scar that is about a centimeter wide and runs across her entire face. It is one of those moments where we just stare at each other because she knows exactly what I am doing. She lets me, recalling her own surprise when it first happened. It is one of those moments which seem to last much longer than I’m sure it actually does. My mind is overflowing with questions that I know I can’t ask.

“What happened?” I finally say, breaking the silence.

“The crash,” Trisha quietly said, lowering her head.

Two simple words that explain everything. I can sense that the others don’t really talk about what actually happened. Maybe they know exactly, maybe they don’t. But I do know that it has damaged us all.

“Hey! Trish!” calls another voice that I did not recognize.

This intense exchange is interrupted and fades away like it had never happened. It is a man this time and thinking back to Brianna and my conversation, I assume this must be Amrit.

“She’s awake from the dead I see!” he says motioning to me.

I flinch at his choice of words but give a short smile.

“Oh I know!” Trisha laughs.

“Well, I’m up now,” I say solemnly.

“That you are!” exclaims Amrit.

“And just in time!” says Brianna and she walks up to us from the island. “Come! Come! Look what I’ve found!” She grabs Amrit by the arm and drags him over to a pile of debris that has washed up onto the shore. Trisha and I follow.

In the sand there are five items: a first aid kit, a knife, a tarp, a mirror, and a rope. Here are five things which could possibly save us if used correctly. The corners of everyone’s mouths slowly rise as the potential in the heap dawns on us. The clouds thin a little and a light shines dully on the island. It is very faint, but we all feel it just the same.

I kind of zone out and just listen to them. They talk about being rescued and all these things that they are just excited about. Trisha even slips in about how maybe she’ll get back in time for the Spelling Finals. I’m just standing there, unlike the rest of them, with nothing. No hope. No reason to even try. There is nothing waiting for me at home, either. I realize that’s why I’m so comfortable here. I have no urge to think about being rescued. I know we won’t be.

“Isn’t this so exciting?” Brianna turns to me.

“Oh yeah!” I lie.

Amrit picks up the mirror. “Alright guys. Let’s try this?” He states this as a question because we all know how important it is. What if it doesn’t work? We would be here forever.

“Just do it,” I say.

“Alright.” Amrit collects some twigs and raises the mirror to catch the light. We wait a couple seconds and we all hold our breaths as we see the first smoke rise. The flame starts to grow and then just like that, it’s gone again. The fire goes out and we all sigh in harmony.

“We can always try again,” Brianna says, trying to bring our spirits back up.

I sigh again, because as much as they can believe all they want, I’m sure this is the end.



The Beginning.

I watch as Brianna takes a deep breath of fresh ocean air as we all sit around the meager pile of sticks, which we have all grown to call a fire. Amrit is humming along to some tune that he probably learned at one of those Boy Scout camps, and Trisha has dozed off on his shoulder. I stare at them as if they are crazy. They are all as happy as can be after being on an island for five days. They act as though breathing is easy. Every breath takes effort, and I don’t know how they can do it. I cannot do it.

*2 Days Later* It is night time. It is so dark I can barely make out the ground. Even the moon and stars are not out tonight. The air has a certain coldness that is not usual for this island. Everyone is fast asleep underneath the tall trees that line the beach.

Slowly, I stand from where I have rested and quietly walk over to where we have stored the objects that we had found. I eye the knife, but grab the rope and head off to a dense part of the island. Despite the darkness, I am able to make my way to my destination. My final destination. On the way there, I think about my life back home and that just makes me more determined. I release my grip on the rope, and I realize that I have been clenching it with my life. My hands now burn raw in the middle, but that does not matter. Nothing matters anymore. I throw a side of the rope over a tree branch and let it fall on the other side. I grasp the rope and tie a firm loop just big enough for a human head to slip through, but not get out. I take a deep breath in, like one of those ones that comes straight from your soul. Hesitantly, I pick up the loop of rope and lift it over my head, placing gently so it hangs around my neck. The rope brushes my chin and sends a shiver down my whole body. I turn myself towards where I know the ocean lies, even though I cannot see anything. I close my eyes and picture a sky full of so many stars, you would not even believe. But, for some reason, they were all black. All the light had drained from the stars and surrounded me instead. A tear falls down my cheek and that does it. I jump off the ground and fall straight back like a magnet, but, this time, I do not reach the ground. I am gone. The rope is attached to me. And that’s it.

* The Next Day * The sun woke everyone up this morning. It was brighter than usual, with an intensity not known to us. Not only is the sun shining, but the tiny fire had grown in the night to what is now, a glorious, strong fire.

“Trisha! Brianna! Where is she?” Amrit yells.

“I’m sure she is just on a walk or something. She likes walks,” says Trisha.

Brianna turns and just looks at both of them. Then Brianna looks at where we had left the supplies. Then back at them. Both of their faces fall simultaneously. The rope is gone. And now they all know my secret.

I know none of them want to find me. See me hanging there, lifelessly. That is why they do not go looking for me. They know what has happened. I guess they have always known it would. Amrit sits back down onto the hard, sand ground. Everyone just sort of sits there for a couple of minutes in complete silence. The air returns to the same coldness as the day before, even though the sun still beats strongly.

Suddenly, the whole sky turns black, and a thunderous sound fills their ears.

“Hello! Anyone down there?” booms a voice.

“Hello? What is going on?” yells Trisha over the noise.

Backing up a little, the group sees what it is. A helicopter is now what looms over them. Dazed, no one can say anything. And the helicopter starts to leave.

Then finally, Amrit finds his voice. “Hey! No! Come back! Over here! There are people here! Help!”

The helicopter slowly turns, makes its way back, and lands on the beach.

* Two Hours Later * “So you are the only three that survived the accident?” asks a woman dressed in blue.

“Yes ma’am,” says Amrit. “The only three.”

I know why they don’t talk about me. No one needs to see my body. No one will ever know the difference whether I was killed with so many others, or if I had died on the island. No one needs to know either. The day after I die, the fire starts working. Rescue comes. Everything just happens by chance, and I wasn’t meant to make it off that island. Part of me will be there forever. The rest of me is gone. Life will continue on for them, just like everyone, you can always start a new beginning.