Short Stories

In The Open

I didn't know how to cope. The only thing to do was to float until I saw land. I was one of the only survivors as far as I knew with the exception of Henry, a flight attendant I had met on the plane who has been unconscious since the explosion. I would call him dead if i couldn't see the slight rise and fall of his chest. I wanted to cry for my mother, I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs but I didn't want to disturb Henry. Not that he would be able to hear me. I lost count of how many times the sun had risen and set, but I feel as if we have been floating for at least two days. I stopped worrying about the possibility of sharks. If they wanted us, they could have us. I felt the need to cry, but I couldn't. I had none left in me, my thirst was beyond dehydration.

Henry woke up in a (start, startle, fright..? idk) but has yet to speak to me. Maybe he doesnt know im here, which would be concerning. Or maybe I unintentionally did something, i wasn't going to ask. I don't know who this man is. I call him henry because that's what his name tag said. He could be someone completely different for all i know. As the wind picked up, the waves got stronger. The life raft was rocking side to side, progressively getting worse as the winds grew but even still was not as bad at the turbulence on the plane. I remember everything. I wanted to sleep, I hadn't since we crashed due to Henry being unconscious, someone had to be lookout. But henry is awake now, I can just close my eyes.

We had been in the air for at least two of the five hours we had to be on the flight. Everything was going smooth. When the pilot announced that we were going to have a bit of turbulence, I didn't react. Planes always have turbulence. I decided to fall back asleep, I had nothing better to do anyways. I woke up to screaming, the woman next to me was shaking me, telling me to put my mask on. The flight attendant, Henry i think, walked down the corridor calmy, handing out life vests. I knew I shouldn't have, but I oddly felt the need to open my window shade, to see where we were. The employees had us all line up at the emergency exit,. Since im still a minor, they sent me second, after a flight attendant. He waited for me at the bottom, and when I surfaced from the water, we got in a raft. We were supposed to wait for my mother, who had been in a different row, but the raft was moving. I didn't know if she jumped, the plane landed in the washes and exploded before I could check.

I woke up to the sound of Henry screaming about something. I was worried he'd been hurt but the more he screamed, the happier he sounded. When I asked him what was so exciting, he pointed to something. It was land. We were approaching and island!

We used our hands to row ourselves to the new beach. When we arrived we were bruised and injured, but I felt better than ever. We pulled ourselves out of the boat and onto the beach. It was sunny for the first time since we crashed and that had quickly turned into one of our new challenges. Dehydration was really kicking in now, since we had just used up out energy. Unsure of what to do for water, since you can't drink the ocean, we started our trek. I wanted to talk to Henry, but what if he hates me because he had to save MY life? I'll stay
quiet.

So apparently coconuts are really hard to open, who would have thought. Henry went off the see if he could find a sharp rock. I waited for him. And waited. I waited a bit longer. It was dark out now. Henry had been gone for i assume a few hours. It does not take that long to find a rock. I didn't move to find him though. Before he left he had told me to stay where I was. I decided to just go to sleep. If he's not back when I wake up, I'll search him out.
The next morning, Henry was right next to me, as if he had been there the whole time. I was mad, how could he do that to me? I thought he was dead. I can't survive out here alone. No one knows we're missing. The waves were coming in stronger than they were when we were out there. I wondered if that meant a storm was coming. I woke Henry up by lightly kicking his foot. He didn't appreciate it, but I didn't appreciate being abandoned. According to him, he took a really long time to get a rock because he found a hot spring. Henry claimed the water was drinkable. I asked him to show me the spot.

We began the journey to the hot spring after opening the coconut and deciding that the water was disgusting. The island was unique. Where we slept was just a small beach, and behind it was the entire island. It was just like every big island you may have ever seen, except it was real and alive. The moment we entered the forestry, you could already hear the birds fly away. Henry stayed in front of me, claiming that he saw dangerous animals and plants yesterday. My surrounding in general were beautiful, but I must have been hallucinating. When I looked up into a tree, I could have sworn I'd seen my mom