Worth Saving

A storm came on us with no warning, our boat had no chance. The captain screamed at everyone to put on a life vest and go below the deck. The fear made me sober and very alert. Tying my vest on as fast as possible a window shattered beside me, water flooded the floor and people were pushing each other down the steps. I gripped onto the bar, the next wave hit tilting the boat sideways, my body lifted and slammed back down. The windows were bursting and the wind rushing in sounded like a scream. Maybe someone was screaming. I was frozen and could not go below deck with the others. The boat rocked again and another massive wave hit. The cabin filled with water, my grip of the bar was ripped away and I was sucked out through the window opening. I kicked and flailed my arms not knowing which way was up. My head spinning and my lungs begging for air, finally popping out to the surface I could barely take a breath before another wave pushed me down. Slammed again and again, I thought that it would never end. I fought the water until the waves slowed, my limbs hung lifeless from exhaustion, all I could do was bob up and down. It was very dark, the rain slowed, I closed my eyes and prayed myself to sleep.

I woke up not being able to open my eyes or move yet. My ears were ringing, the sand was too hot, it was starting to burn my skin. My eyes opened to a blaring sun, I clutched onto a handful of sand. It was real. I sat up slowly, my head still spinning, I coughed and it hurt my whole body. My legs were still in the water and small fish were pecking at my feet. Everything was so bright, I pulled myself to a short palmetto tree that had a tiny bit of shade, leaning on the tree trunk I took another look around. The surrounding ocean had no sign of life anywhere, I was the only one that survived.

You do not get to choose three items when you are stranded on an island. There are only three questions. When will you be rescued? Where am I? And why me?

We were traveling from the Atlantis Casino and Resort back to Miami. I have to be somewhere in between. Surely, a boat or a plane might pass by since it's a common trip, unless I drifted much further than I thought. My shoes were gone, I ripped off part of my pants and tied the fabric around my feet. Standing up and balancing myself, I gathered some driftwood and seaweed I spelled ‘S O S’ on the small beach then looked around the small shrubs for any fruit or dew and there were none. Exhausted from the small amount of movement I sat down staring at the endless waves, something glinted, brighter than the rest. I stood up and saw some debris floating on the water. I couldn’t see what anything was so I waded out and swam towards them. There bobbing away from me was a suitcase, I chased it and dragged it back to the beach. Quick as could I circled the small island and looked for any more debris. There was something else, but it was much too far for me to get. Surprisingly everything in the suitcase was still dry, there was a pair of glasses, a couple of pens, a little black notebook, and some clothing. Nothing indicating who previously owned it.

Dark clouds started forming, this small island could be swallowed if another storm came. I started to unload the suitcase, made a nice cushioned bed with the clothes, dug a hole and buried the pens, notebook and glasses, I don't want them to blow away. I checked the pocket of the suitcase one more time my hand felt a bump, a rectangular bump. Pulling on the pocket, the panel attached came loose, behind it was a stack of money. A lot of money. My legs gave away from the crouching position I was in, I counted, there in my hands was twenty thousand dollars. The person who owned the suitcase before must have doubled their money at the casino and hid it for safety. I dug another hole, a little deeper this time, and placed the money in it. A couple of drops of rain started to fall, I left the suitcase open to catch some rain to drink and crouched under the small palmetto tree with a Atlantis Casino sweatshirt held over my head. The wind started to blow hard and the palmetto’s leaves were whipping me, waves grew on the beach, most of the sand was already under water. I wrapped the sweatshirt around me and the small trunk of the tree knotting it as tight as I could. The storm went well into the night and I wasn’t able to sleep until I saw the sun peep through the clouds the next morning.

When I awoke I untied myself and found the suitcase filled with rain water and some dirt. I took a small sip. It was a little salty, but drinkable. I guzzled down almost all of one side but I stopped myself, there is no telling when the next time there will be water. I fixed my strewn out ‘S O S’ sign. The clothes blew away, I gathered what was left and put them over the shrubbery to dry. Then unburied my small treasure and squished myself under the small amount of shade. Out of curiosity I put the glasses on, this person was blind whoever they were, everything was magnified and I couldn’t see out of them. I flipped through the notebook, I drew on the paper with the pens to make sure they worked and they did. I was happy to have something to do while I was waiting to be rescued. If I get rescued that is. I decided to write a letter in the notebook in case I die before I am found. I just wrote down the basics, my name and my address and to tell my family that I loved them, I also included where the money was buried. I wanted to cry but no tears came. In the distance I heard a low rumble of an engine, I crawled out and looked up into the piercing sun. I didn’t see anything at first, but then a tiny blimp in the vast blue cloudless sky there was a plane. I started to wave my arms and jump, screaming “I’m here! I’m here!” even though I know they can't hear me. The plane veered off and was out of sight in minutes. I can’t believe it, they didn’t see me. Two teardrops fell down my cheek, that was all the water my body wanted to let go. I started to hate myself for even going on this trip, if I just stayed at home for my vacation, If I would have just bought a ticket to the ferry boat instead of the cheaper smaller boat. What good is this money to me now? It might as well be worthless. Suddenly an idea popped in my head. It might not be as worthless as I thought, it is flammable. I could use the glasses to start a fire and maybe that would get some attention if another plane came. Laying about were some shells and seaweed I made a small circle, I scrounged up some sticks from the ‘S O S’ sign along with some paper from the notebook. I unburied the money and placed it beside the pit. Taking out the glasses I practiced my theory on a sheet of paper from the notebook. The sun was burning my hands as I was trying to center the light, and after a few seconds there was a small bit of smoke and in no time the paper started to burn. I yelled out in excitement and felt like the first caveman to discover fire. Next time I will be ready. The night came and I held the money and notebook against my chest, I didn’t want them to get wet or sandy, anything that would stop a flame from starting. Thankfully there were no storms this night and I fell asleep quickly, wanting to be ready again as soon as the morning came.

The sun peeped over the horizon, and I awoke and crawled over to the water in the suitcase. The level was lower than it was yesterday, I drank as much as I could on the left side then closed the suitcase to try and stop any more evaporation. My stomach has been rumbling since the first night, I quickly set up the fire pit and placed the glasses next to it. Snapping off the end of the stick to make it pointy, I placed my legs into the water and stayed still until the little fish came to nibble at my toes. I struck at them but they were too fast. One curious fish swam up what remained of my pant leg, I quickly grasped onto the end trapping it in. I stepped out of the water and let the fish drop on the sand. I stabbed him and looked at my new trophy. He was only big enough for a bite but that was better than nothing. I wanted to eat him raw but reconsidered, I will try to catch as many as I could then cook myself a fine meal. I fished the rest of the day scanning the sky and horizon in between. The sun was dropping, I removed most of the sticks and papers from the pit leaving a little to start a small fire. The four tiny fish I was able to catch kabobed on a stick, I used my body to try and block any wind that would put the small fire out. Suddenly there was another rumble in the distance, I looked around quickly, on the opposite side of the island was a plane, and it was coming my way! I threw the fish down, and scrambled to add more sticks and dried leaves to the fire, I threw in some of the notebook pages and blew on it trying to get it started but it wasn’t enough. I reached for the stack of money and started adding one bill at a time. A steady stream of smoke was rising now, I jumped up and started waving my arms and screaming out, but again the plane veered off. I screamed until my voice gave out, tears now streaking my face. I laid down near the fire with the stack of money against my chest and watched the fire slowly die down, the wind was blowing across my face and I closed my eyes and tried not to think. I awoke to the smell of smoke and my eyes stinging. Bills were scattered all around, some landed in the fire pit. I sat up with my head spinning, I stayed there for a minute and gathered my strength. Rubbing my stinging eyes I looked past the smoke out across the water and there out in the distance was a boat, a magnificent boat! I got up rubbing my eyes again to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, but there it still was! I waved my hands then I ran back to the dying fire and ripped put the notebook paper, then added the remaining bills. The smoke quickly rose again and I blew on it furiously to make the flame higher. I stood up shouting and flailing about “I’m here!”, “I’m here!”. The boat slowly turned towards me, and tears were pouring out past my chin. I was saved.