Castaway Team

Chapter 2

Shadrach had been awake and walking for a few hours by now and his legs were fatigued; dehydration was slowly creeping up on him. The sun had barely descended from its original position in the empty sky. The day had been pushing forward so sluggishly that Shadrach almost believed he was in another world where nighttime was unheard of and daytime was indefinite. However, trying to force more optimism upon himself, he soon disregarded this ridiculous thought as almost certainly impossible.

Soon enough, his legs became too fatigued to keep on walking and he finally dropped heavily onto the sizzling sand without taking any notice of the slight pain that the burning desert floor gave him. Resting his legs gave him some time to ponder on all feasible options of survival. Walking aimlessly had already proved itself hopeless but it seemed to be the only possible thing to do. But before thinking of another absurd alternative, something of much greater importance crossed his almost entirely occupied mind. How had he ended up here?

There wasn't a single thing in his mind that could have possibly answered this question. He had just woken up, with his arms stretched out to his sides. While his brain was creating and dismissing stupid possibilities that were practically impossible, he noticed the sun dropping below the horizon and the once perfect blue sky turning a deep, beautiful orange, almost matching the dunes of sand in the distance. Completely mesmerised by the astounding view, he allowed his eyes to wonder along the horizon, while his head slowly inched towards the floor and his eyelids grew heavier. His vision faded until he eventually fell asleep.

Although asleep, his mind still created unanswerable questions. Where was he? Was he alone? Why was he here? Throughout the night, he turned and stirred, unable to feel comfortable due to his previous urban lifestyle being a serious drawback to his wilderness survival. Without feeling like he had been asleep for even a second, his head shot up. The sky was no longer the perfect blue with crimson highlights and a sinking sun along the horizon, but instead, was densely packed with varying shapes of bright white stars and a glimmering moon, simply floating out there, giving the sky a wonderful, deep blue colour instead of just pitch black. Shadrach had never seen the sky so enthralling and fascinating that he couldn't help but imagine something else out there, also looking up with marvel and astonishment. This overload of wonderful thoughts and awe got the best of him and again his eyes drifted lazily around the sky until they finally closed.