Destiny Island (editing)

Chapter 4

The first thing Amber noticed before she even opened her eyes, unaware that she had even closed them, was the smell, the briny smell that was very out of place in her bedroom. After that, her nausea came back with a vengeance. She jumped up quickly, almost falling out of the raft, and as she was about to throw up, another feeling stopped her nausea as she remembered what had happened and where she was: it was the elation of one who had survived a nightmare, something worse than anything she could have imagined.

Amber saw the wrath of Mother Nature first-hand and lived to tell the tale, which was more than many people could say. Her whole body ached from being tossed around in the storm, but she felt overjoyed that she had gotten another chance at life. Everything felt new and refreshing.

As she blinked her eyes open — bright sunlight making a painful experience — she realized many things at once. First, that she was alive despite the odds and more or less unharmed. The second thing she noticed was that she was lying on her back and looking at the clear blue sky. There were no traces of the apocalyptic clouds. The downpour of yesterday was just a distant memory. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought it was a figment of her imagination.

A sudden feeling of terror swept over her, harshly dragging her out of her musings.

"Jade?" Amber thought to herself, unprepared to even consider what she would do without her best friend, without her anchor.

She neglected to ensure Jade was alright. She turned and saw Jade sprawled out on the raft, still and silent, next to her. For a while, Amber stared at her, looking for signs of life, but too panicked to find any, she changed tactics and started screaming her friend's name, hoping to receive an answer.

The first thing Jade felt was being rudely shaken awake, her head rattling around, causing piercing pain to extend all over. Then, she heard someone hollering her name like the world was ending.

"Why is everything so loud?" Jade thought and soon after realized that it was because of her headache and her friend's abnormal loudness.

Didn't Amber know people needed their beauty sleep? Nothing could be urgent enough to justify all the ruckus. Jade tried to pry her eyes open and barely managed, regretting it immediately when the golden rays pierced her eyes like knives, causing her to groan loudly.

"Jade! Jade! Are you alive?" came Amber's frantic voice.

"I'm fine. Stop shouting, and I might stay alive. I swear, your shouting could wake up even the dead," Jade snappishly replied, her headache making her grumpier than usual.

At that moment, she realized her throat was scratchy, and her voice was a raspy whisper. Neither of the two things had made her mood any brighter. Luckily, she didn't have a mirror on her as she was sure that her looks would have given her a heart attack to add to the list of health issues that were increasing the more conscious she became.

"Oh, thank God! You are okay!" Amber exclaimed tearily, and then she laughed hysterically while tears streamed down her face.

Her loud laugh reverberated in Jade's skull, making her rub her forehead, hoping for at least some relief. If Jade had had the strength to get up, she would have slapped some sense back into her friend, but as it was, she let the hysterics run their course and tried to remember what exactly had happened, how bad their situation truly was.

As she recalled the details, she realized Amber was right to be hysterical. They were probably in the middle of the ocean, all alone. And with their limited knowledge of any type of survival scenario, things didn't look good for the two friends.

As that hit home, she carefully got up and checked their surroundings with Amber's outburst fading out as it ran its course. Looking around only confirmed Jade's theory. They were trapped in the middle of the endless sea with no signs of other survivors or ship parts, which sounded impossible, but then again Jade's knowledge about the sea was limited so she didn't question the oddness of it all.

Finally, she spoke out loud: "Are you okay? Physically and mentally?"

"That's some fancy talk for people stranded in the middle of nowhere," Amber replied bitterly. "But I think I'm okay, physically at least. Mentally, I'm not so sure. I guess the hysterics have passed. Oh, and I'm still sick. Other than that, I'm fine. How about you? How are you? You looked pretty dead there."

"Gee, thanks," Jade said sarcastically. "I have a dreadful headache, and my throat is sore. Mentally, I'm not so sure. I think I'm fine for now, still trying to grasp our situation, I guess."

Her answer was both the truth and a lie. She was falling apart on the inside, but at least she could keep her composure on the outside.

"To grasp our situation?" Amber interrupted impatiently. "We are in so much trouble that I can't even wrap my head around it!"

"Alright, calm down!" Jade said calmly. "Do we still have the survival assistance aids? Is there any food, water?"

"I don't know. But I sure hope this doesn't end like Life of Pi," Amber said bitterly.

"I really don't think you should joke right now. You should check our supplies instead." Jade, the much-needed voice of reason, said, rubbing her temple.

"Alright," Amber reluctantly agreed, wanting to vent more of her frustration.

She started looking around and checking the supplies on the life raft carefully, not wanting to make her headache worse or drop something into the ocean by accident.

Since the provisions were safely secured to the life raft, they were still there. She went through them and found a few bottles of water and some food.

"This is all we have," she told Jade, showing her the provisions.

"I don't know how long they will last," Jade said as she examined the goods. "I think we are good for a few days if we ration."

Jade knew they were in a bad spot, as they didn't know their distance from the shore or the wreckage, but she tried to stay calm and think logically. There was no point in worrying about things they couldn't change.

"We'll be fine. There are others. They'll find us," she continued in a soothing voice.

Jade wasn't sure if she was trying to convince Amber or herself of that, but she knew they needed something to keep them going, and what better to do so than hope. Even though relying on hope wasn't always the smartest thing, Jade knew that with her headache and Amber's nausea, it was all they had for the time being.

"I hope you are right," was all Amber could say.

In her heart, Amber had quite a few doubts about their continued survival, but voicing them would serve no purpose, so the woman who never knew how to shut up, making social situations uncomfortable by the honest way she spoke finally learned how to keep quiet.