The Shipwreck

Chapter 2

A new island. That storm brought us on an undiscovered land, and I can't express in words the utter surprise on my father's face. A surprise that kept him company through the night, as I could see from the feeble light coming from his tent outside. I could hear him pacing back and forth, and the noise of paper. He was probably trying to make a detailed scale drawing of what he discovered. It was something that soothe me, it made the darkness outside less unbearable. We sailed to find new species of animals, we ended up finding a completely new land.

"I have to cover every inch of this land, I have to put everything I find on this map!" he said the day after. Needless to say, I was willing to go with him. Finally able to see him at work in first person, living all the stories he told me when I was a little girl.

"My dear daughter, this is something huge" he couldn't contain his excitement.

"I know, father. You will be a celebrity once we go back to England!"

"We are going to be celebrities!" he said clapping his hands. Then a shadow of sadness covered his face. Something was bothering him. I asked him if there was something wrong.

"She would be so proud" he was talking about my mother. I remember the two of them talking until dawn about all the things discovered, and imagining how many other things the world kept hidden from us. Their big dream was coming true.

I couldn't do anything but give him a hug. If I tried to speak I would have probably broken down and cried.

"Ok, now" he looked at me in the eyes. "Let's get ready for our adventure. This is our adventure and I want you to cherish every moment we spend together, right here, right now"

"Of course, I will" I said with a huge smile. I wanted to tell him that I already cherished every moment I had with him, but I didn't want to make him wait. "Let me grab some books, then let's start our adventure"

I went to my tent and picked up some of the books I bought for the trip. Before the journey I decided to stop by the local library to find every possible manual about Cambodia and all its history. I also took a dictionary to help me with the language, but something told me that the percentage to find human beings on an undiscovered land was hardly near the 1%. And speaking of books, my dear father really deserved to be mentioned in one of those.

Holding the books and ready to go out, I took a glimpse of myself in the mirror. "No way I am going to be able to walk around the bushes with this thing on" I chuckled. I was wearing a dress, something not really suggested for such things. No sooner said than done, I changed into something more suitable.

"I'm ready!" I triumphantly said as I appeared from the tent.

***

We entered a very thick and profound wooded path. It was already half morning, but the tall trees kept the Sun from going through them. We were completely covered in obscurity.

"Josh and I are going on the front line" captain Young started to give orders, "Eric and Aaron, you two stay behind. I also need a couple of men on each side. The rest of the group just stay close together in the middle" we created what looked like a human barrier. It was a little over the top, as if they were preparing for a huge battle. As far as I was concerned, all I could see was the magnificent of Nature. The breeze touching the leaves made it like they were whispering unheard stories, their secrets. And the chant of the birds made it all so unique.

"That's amazing" I whispered keeping my mouth agape and looking around.

"I would keep the mouth closed, honey. It's full of mosquitos, here" my father couldn't help but chuckle at my expression after he said that. A chuckle that turned into laughter when I suddenly let out a yelp and bent down. Something really hard crushed against my forehead. I saw Henry Young and all his troop running and in a second, they were above me, with their guns. I could have laughed at their faces, if I wasn't hurting. They were as scared as I've never seen before.