Alice Edwards, the genius rich girl, and Joseph White, the hot-headed businessman, were involved in a shipwreck that caused them to become stranded on a remote island alone together. Can these two survive wild animals, hyperthermia, and their confli...
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"Joseph! Look!" I draw back the string, made of vines held together with a piece of carved wood. I close one of my eyes and take a deep breath. You can do this, Alice. All of my senses are being used to focus on one spot on the tree. I readjust my fingers below the arrow tip and finally let go. The arrow flies out of the bow and hits the ground instead of the mark.
My eyes switch to Joseph, who is standing a few feet away. His arms are crossed as he stares at me. "Wow! You hit nothing."
Dick.
I stomp my feet on the ground and look to the unimpressed man. "I just need some practice is all. Watch, with this bow right here. I'm going to get us some poultry goodness tonight, and then you won't be laughing. You'll be kissing my ass."
"Oh, we shall see, shouldn't we." I watch as Joseph approaches the tree. He takes a look at the lines that I carved. "How many days has it been now?" He asks.
I suck in my breath. We've been here far too long. I grab at my braid that is held together with a vine that's tied together. "Two hundred and fifty-six days," I state-two hundred and fifty-six days of this. I walk towards the arrow and pick it up. I only have five of these things. I need to make every one of these shots count.
I turn to Joseph as he runs his fingers along the marks I carved. I know what he's thinking; he doesn't have to utter a word for me to understand. He wants to get off this island more than anything. He wants to see his family... his wife again.
And there's nothing I can say to him or do to help him.
Not even a word of encouragement could help because the words would be empty. I've too lost all of my hope long ago since day forty-five since the radio didn't come on. I realize, and surely he has. If we were really getting off of this island, we would have been gone hundreds of days ago. They've probably given up looking as well; our loved ones probably think we're drifting at the bottom of the ocean never to be seen again.
I push back the strands of hair that escaped my braid. I put my bow on my back, it hands next to the small backpack we found on the plane, that has a total of five arrows in it now.
I look to Joseph, he's eyes are hallowed from the overwhelming sadness he surely has. Whenever he tells me stories of his times in college or the way his parents would force him to do embarrassing family traditions, his mind would take him somewhere that this island took from him. Then as quickly as his glimmer of happiness comes, he hears the thunderous sounds of the ocean and it's all gone again.
I dust off Joseph's shirt that I've taken as my own and put on my brightest smile. Smile, Alice, smile for him. No matter how sad, I am. I have to make sure. I put on a smile for him. I have to give him some light to this situation, some glimmer of hope that it'll all be okay.
