With Beauty and Strength

Stranded

I shivered in the cool evening air, still soaked with salt water. There were three other survivors on the lifeboat. Captain Hayes. The Asian sailor who had come to warn us of the ship's sinking. And a female sailor with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail.

We all sat there, contemplating the scale of the disaster. There must've been at least thirty sailors on that ship. And only four people survived. The rest were dead, I thought, as my eyes welled up with tears for people I hardly even knew.

Captain seemed to be especially depressed. He sat there with his face buried in his hands. After all, it was his crew. He probably thought it was his fault. That was irrational. He couldn't have done anything more.

My stomach lurched from the constant swaying of the lifeboat. I was chilled to the bone. What if I die?, I thought.

I curled up, terrified by the thought of never being found, and dying. I began to shudder and cry.

"What's that?" The young male sailor asked as he looked over the edge, snapping me out of my daze.

There was a dark object floating in the water.

"It's a human!" The woman gasped "I'll get him."

We all yelled at her to wait, it was too dangerous, too cold, but she ignored us and dove in.

She returned with the limp body of a boy. Despite his wet, pale, cold skin and lifelessness, there was no mistaking who it was.

It was Carter.