Destiny Island

Chapter 5

"Land, Land!" - The Island 

The following days were so unbearably hot that they had to use up all the water they had and soon they ran out of it. Still, the sun continued scorching and making them wish for at least a drop of water, anything. It was ironic that they were surrounded by water but had no water to drink. They were still in the middle of the sea with no idea where and since they ran out of water panic started settling in into their small life-raft. They barely spoke to each other since neither of them was a good company. Amber was quietly singing to herself for some reason, mostly pirate songs such as "We are wolves of the Sea" and similar. Singing had always been her way to deal with stress but Jade wasn't happy about that. Besides being scared to death, she was also extremely annoyed with Amber. She was barely able to contain her anger because she knew that if she let the anger win the situation would become much worse. So she managed to keep quiet, but she would still give Amber murderous looks from time to time, which Amber failed to notice. They spent half of their time laying in the boat, trying to find at least some shade from the sun, and half of the time looking around for any signs of salvation.

As they were laying down, once more, and thinking about their lives there was a soft splash against the life-raft which drew Jade's attention. As she sat up, she suddenly froze in surprise. For a brief second all she could think was: "Land! Land! Land! " Weak as she was it took her some time to gather strength to speak out loud. Amber was on the verge of sleep, as usual when she was harshly brought back to reality by Jade. Jade croaked out something which in Amber's sleepy head sounded louder than a siren. As she was about to snap at Jade for disturbing her, when there was clearly nothing worth talking about, the words became clear to her sleepy mind. The magic words she was so thrilled to hear. "Land! Land! Land! "Jade started saying louder and louder. As Amber sat up she saw it too, some distance away. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. They both started chanting together "Land! Land! Land! We are saved! We are finally saved!" And then they started laughing and crying at the same time as if they were crazy.

The island wasn't far away but still, they had to steer the boat towards it. They started using their hands to paddle since they couldn't find the oars. They were lost during the storm. Although they tried their best, they didn't achieve much before they got tired. Then suddenly the boat started moving straight towards the island and at a considerable speed. It seemed as if the boat was magnetically pulled towards the island. As they got closer to the island they started realizing that it wasn't just a regular island, it was somehow special. Something about it was strikingly different from any other islands they had seen. Just like that, they were on the shore and only then did they notice something moving away from their boat making small waves in the water. Something that pulled their boat to the shore? They didn't know for sure. Jade remembered the splash she heard before she saw the island and wondered if what seemed to her as a magnetic force was just something pulling their boat. A dolphin perhaps? She heard the stories of dolphins helping people who were drowning, but she didn't hear about anything similar to what happened to them. As Jade pondered these questions Amber started looking around where they were, and she was immediately left speechless.

The island was definitely not an ordinary island which was clear to her from the first thing she saw and that was the breathtaking beach. The color of the sand was mesmerizing; it was glimmering pink unlike what they expected. They heard of some pink beaches but the one they saw on the island seemed more beautiful than anything they had ever heard of. It seemed as if the sand was moving in slow but persistent waves. Amber was staring wild-eyed with a huge grin on her face, dazed by the fascinating sand. Without taking her eyes off the sand she reached out to alert Jade to the beauty that was before them. Jade was so deep in thought that Amber's hand on her shoulder startled her. "What?! " She yelled impatiently. "Look!" Amber replied, and then they both stared at the sand for a minute. Soon enough they were overwhelmed by thirst and hunger, so they got out of the life-raft to look for some water.

That is when they noticed that the beach wasn't the only amazing thing about the island. A few meters from the beach they could see the most wonderful trees they had ever seen. The trees were caught in the strange and beautiful transition between summer and autumn which seemed impossible since some trees looked like evergreen trees. It was clear that they were not the same as the evergreen trees the girls knew of. From some branches, they could see golden-green ivy twisting itself around the trees and then down the highest branches till it touched the ground. It resembled a curtain which was hiding the rest of the island from their curious glances.

Suddenly Amber thought she heard a splash behind them but when she turned around all she could see was the vast sea and a glimmer of something. She wasn't sure what it was. It looked like a shiny golden tail of a ... fish? No, she didn't think it was a fish, but she had no idea what else it could be. Then she was brought back to reality by Jade's excited voice. "Look! Water!" At that moment they both ran back to their life-raft where they could see two huge seashells filled with the previous liquid. As they took a sip they realized that it was not seawater but delicious drinking water. Near the seashells, they could also see some kinds of unfamiliar fruit. Without thinking how and where it came from they started eating and drinking as fast as they could manage without choking.