Truly Marooned

2. The King of Turninsula

  "You mean we're lost in the Atlantic ocean?" Tina asks in shock. Celia nods.

  "We're not exactly lost in the middle of the Atlantic ocean," explains Ella. "We are rather near Portugal still, so we are not that lost I guess."

  "So all we need to do is just row and we will end up on land at some point," Tina suggests. Somehow, Ella and Tina co-orperate despite the attempted murders 2 minutes ago. There is still tension between them.

  "Yes that's true, but guessing the direction would be far too risky," Ella points out.

  "What do you mean? We get to land don't we?" Tina asks in confidence.

  "Indeed, but let me tell you the odds," Ella explains. She likes doing maths and probability. Using it in real life always made it more amusing.

  "Do I really need to hear this?" Tina asks. She doesn't share the love for maths.

  "Yes, you do need to hear this," Ella answers. She clears her throat before she explains their chances of landing wherever. "If we go North, since Lisbon is the furthest point in Europe, we would probably end up in Iceland. If we go North-East, we might land in Portugal. If we go East, we are garateed to end up in Portugal. South-East: we might be in Portugal. South, we end up in Africa. If we go South-West, we'll get to Brazil. West: we would be in New York. North-West, Canada. Do you get what I mean?"

  Tina gives her a blank expression. "No idea what you are talking about..."

  Ella sighs. "If you look at the possibilities, the chances of us rowing back to Portugal are very slim," she says it like it is obvious what the problem is. 

  "We still get to land," Tina replies.

  "Yes, but if we found ourselves rowing to America, it would take weeks. There is no way we would survive if we got the direction completely wrong," Ella explains. Tina sighs, looks like they are stuck.

  "What do we do then?" Celia asks.

  "We are going to have to wait. Someone will come over and help at some point," Ella says. She sits in the boat and stares out to the horizon.

  Celia and Tina do the same since they can't think of anything either. Because they had fallen into the sea, they felt quite cold. To keep themselves warm, Celia snuggles up beside Ella. Despite the words Tina would say, Ella is accepting of Celia's close presence. Tina sits on the other side of the boat in fear of being touched by the 'lesbians'.

  Two hours pass and there is still no sign of help. Suddenly, some birds fly over the boat which excites Ella. "Look! Look, there's birds!"

  Tina stares at Ella in confusion. "So?"

  "So they can guide us to the nearest land. Let's row girls!" Ella announces.

  Celia and Tina have not heard of people following birds to guide their way to land, but it seemed logical and Ella sounded so certain it would work. They push as much strength as they can into the rowing so they can keep up with the speed of the birds.

  Half an hour passes by and everyone's arms are aching. Ella takes the pain and continues, Celia really struggles but Tina comes to a complete stop.

  "Hey, keep rowing. Don't leave us to do all the work!" Ella yells at Tina.

  "Actually, I'm pretty tired, do you think we should stop for about five minutes?" Celia suggests. Ella does feel a little worn out but doesn't like to admit it.

  "OK, lets rest for a little bit," Ella confirms. They let their arms relax.

  Ella's arms may be relaxing but Ella's brain is still deep in concentration. She makes sure she keeps track of where they are going as well as search the horizon to see if she can see any land at all. She squints and finds a large silhouette of a cliff or something in the distance. In excitement, she instantly sits up.