Остров камней

Island of stones

Storm

Storm... the sky is as dark and gray as the waters of the North sea. Thousands of crests of these waves rush to the sky, in a spray of endless foam, as if the sea itself decided to hold a parade of power and test man. And now the waves beat mercilessly against the side of a small ship, now and then, drenching it and hiding it from view with massive waves. The crew is drowning in a sea of vanity caused by this element. Only one passenger is stationary.

Yegor came from Moscow, he wanted to visit one of the Islands where he spent his childhood. On this island was located the military unit in which his father served. Many years ago, he left that place and never returned. So, driven by nostalgia, he decided to visit the place of his past life.

But the ship drifted further and further away from the cherished goal. Therefore, all that remained for Yegor, who was standing on the stern in a girth with the side, was to watch the bustle of the team and the swaying horizon of the waves, it is not clear where they pass into the sky.

But here comes another, fateful wave. Before its greatness, the ship seems to settle in the momentary calm of the sea, and now it swallows the small vessel, carrying everyone on Board into the hopeless abyss of waters...

Island

Yegor recovers from the swirl of waves. He was washed up on the coast of a small gray rocky island. The storm is already humming somewhere off to the side, but here there is calm. The waves are almost a gentle reminder of the surf. He tries to get up and falls. It crawls to land, grabs something at the bottom. It is smooth, comes off the bottom and lies submissively in the hand. It's a rock. More precisely, a spherical stone. Perfectly smooth on all sides. "What a strange stone, I've never seen one like it... Come on!" He lets go of the rock and stretches on, step by step, crawling to the cherished strip of sand before his eyes.

Well, he's on the beach. The beach is empty. There are only a couple of stones on it. Just ahead you can see the rocky terrain of the island, covered with Northern mosses and dwarf trees.

The wind has died down, but the cold is bone-chilling. Yegor gets to his feet and goes to the nearest rock. Leaning on it, he scans the shore. In some places, wreckage from the ship washed up on the beach: planks, pieces of tarpaulin, some shapeless plastic products... Yegor remembers that in this situation, all this seemingly junk can be useful. "We should pick it up before the tide and waves carry it away, but first we need to warm up," Yegor decides.

From a pocket on his arm, he pulls out an emergency survival kit. Makes a fire. On the rocky ground throws a piece of tarpaulin in front of the fire, lies down and falls asleep.

The North sea... The whisper of its icy waters is soothing, like a sleeping pill. What a huge mass of water that hides unaffected land under it. It is unlikely that a person will ever fully master this region, but let's return to our hero...

Having warmed up, Yegor begins to collect things from the ship, brought ashore. All day he wanders along the beach, sometimes pulling out of the water something brought to the sea by man and taken away by the elements. So he finds a plastic container with provisions. It's almost empty, but that's enough for a couple of days. He slowly drags his finds to the extinct fire, forming a kind of warehouse there.

The sea has finally calmed down and now the menacing cry of the waves is replaced by the gentle whisper of the surf. Somewhere in the distance you can hear the cries of gulls, and in General silence, the silence of the planet.

Yegor gets up and throws on his jacket, which has dried by the fire, and walks along the sandbar of the wild beach. The waves slowly run up on the sand and, after a moment of stillness, again timidly return to the sea, leaving a sinuous trail of their invasion. In some places, the sand sheet is broken by black dots of wreckage that have been washed ashore. A little further to the rocky cliff that forms the rough terrain of the island, the eye comes across an elegant small pebble, in the middle of which a spherical stone sticks out in a special way. This stone-the sphere attracts the attention of Egor. He goes to it and takes it in both hands. "He's like the twin brother of the stone that met me..." The stone is really similar, even the same mass as if and the same size, but this stone looks somehow not on the earth, no cracks, no scratches, only a perfectly smooth and matte surface. This is so weird. He throws a rock and moves on.