Drift

Chapter 1

"Well...this beats calculus."

Every eye warily turned to a daydreaming Alex, who seemed content looking at the blue, cloudless sky above us. She was the only person who looked even remotely relaxed, and given the situation, even she- with her laid back attitude and uncaring persona - should have been freaking out.

"I may have to disagree." Jason replied, presumably just to fill the silence. it was with a slight snap in his tone, which I could tell was very unlike him. "It's Day One and we've already finished half the rations. And I don't think that starving is exactly the best way to go."

"And whose fault is that? This lifeboat was built to sustain six people. Unfortunately we've found ourself with an unwelcome guest." Charlie sneered.

"Well, I know for a fact that you wouldn't have let me die out there. I'd like to see you tell me exactly what I was supposed to do!"

I'm sure I wasn't the only one extremely irked by Carrie's voice. It gave me the same sort of niggling feeling that you get when a fly won't stop buzzing around your ear.

"It sure would have made our lives easier if we left you to drown." Charlie said, under his breath, but not too quiet so that we could still see the malice on Carrie's face once she'd heard him.

She quipped back, but I wasn't listening to any of them anymore. I was right at the front of the boat, looking into the distance, for anything, maybe a sign as to why this was all happening.

I couldn't see a single thing however, except the large expanse of never ending water, laid out in every direction. The sheer infinity of it was highly alarming, and made me feel more insignificant than I could have ever imagined.

So instead, I tried to think of how it all started, and where. How I'd even ended up stranded on a boat in a predicament like this with six other people that were practically strangers.

Well, maybe not strangers. But only one of them was my friend.

I thought of what I could have done to prevent this situation. Prevent what I was feeling right now.

"Hey! There's no need to fight. Let's just figure out a plan!" I heard somewhere in the distance, but everything became hazy as I grew deeper in thought.

My mum had told me that in times of peril, you should always start from the beginning. It was a way of evaluating a situation and predicting where it all went wrong.

And this situation seemed utterly wrong to me.

So that's what I did. I started at the beginning. And looking back,  it's weird how you never quite realise how life can change in an instant.

*

It was a windy September day and I breathed in the brisk morning air. A windy September morning where my life would change forever.

I advise you not to ask me why I was in the woods at 7:33 in the morning, because there's really no answer that would satisfy you. I just had a strong urge to go to the only place I considered home.

A dirty place with dead leaves and animal waste everywhere.

Home sweet home.

I'd found the woods about 2 months before, when we first moved to America. It was nothing like I was used to, because I'd moved from the city, and I loved it. There was something appealing about a secluded place where nothing - not even your problems- could bother you. I liked the feeling. I'd come here everyday of summer, just to explore the nature, to look at animals, for some alone time.

I'd even spent some nights here (though my mother's face when I was shouting goodbye and carrying a sleeping bag out of the house is something that I will laugh at forever).