Song of the chapter- Message in a Bottle

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Chapter 1: Crash

"Brown hair, female, 22. Is that right?" The captain of the ship asked, eyeing her up and down.

Chelsea looked up. "Yep, anything else you want to know?" She was very irritated by the close, proving questions, she felt almost like she was convicted for a crime. "Would you like my weight, height, and street number?" The only thing the girl wanted at that moment was to board the ship but this portly, middle aged man stood in her way.

"No miss, that's all." He grumbled as he stepped reluctantly aside. "Go on, we're about to cast off."

He looked at her distrustfully and ran up the plank, as if to pretend there wasn't a small girl carrying about forty pounds of luggage right behind him. She stumbled up the gang-plank, weighed down by heavy luggage. The man wrote a number on a scrap of ripped paper and handed it to the struggling girl.

"This is where your room is. We don't accept any foul-play, so don't stray too far into the ship, got it?" His eyes were narrowed with distrust as he looked up into her face.

"Yes sir..." She could feel her forehead wrinkling in frustration as she held back her eyes. A hand-bag almost slipped out from her bundle but she caught it before it was lost in the harbor.

It wasn't until he was walking away did she stumble into the low-ceilinged room. She threw the baggage on the bed without packing and stretched her cramped fingers. Nodding at the room, she turned on her heel and made her way to the bow of the ship, ending at the sudden point. She sat down and dangled her short legs over the rim of the safety rail and smiled into the sea breeze.

"Wow, what a nice sunset, it looks so big! I'm glad there aren't any clouds, it looks like nothing could go wrong here." She swayed with the rocking of the boat. "I could get used to this."

She watched the sun sink into the horizon, stood up, brushed off her jean shorts and made her way back to the bunker. Inside, she threw off her red bandana, shook out her brown hair and stepped over to the spotted mirror that hanged by a rusty nail, smoothing out her part.

She sighed and changed for bed; she figured she would need as much sleep as possible for tomorrow... It was going to be a long day.

She kicked her suitcase off the bed and bent down to get a small embroidered book. Her grandpa gave it to her for an early birthday present, but she never bothered to write in it yet.

As a last tribute to her grandfather, she searched around for a pen and ended up with a stubbly little pencil that had rolled under the bed. She tch-ed at the offending tool and snuggled into the blankets on the narrow little bed.

March, 21

Dear Grandpa,

Today is the start of my new life! Or my sorta new life, I'm just being handed to Grandma, because Gramps can't watch me anymore. So, as soon I buried Grampa I got a call from her telling me to collect my will money and move to her place on the country side.

I know that I'm still young, but I think that twenty-two is old enough to live alone! But don't tell grandma that, she still probably thinks that I'm still five, and I'll injure myself on kitchen appliances….. Even though I do….But that's not the point! I just wish for a chance to live free, after all this.

I can just hope to save up my money and get a real place by autumn, hopefully. But it'll be hard; Grandma will expect me to help her at the winery, naturally by doing all the "hard labor" for her. So my prospects are next to none, money-wise.

Really, my only hope would be some sudden twist of fate to throw me into a different path in life, but how many times does that happen a day?

Lo-

The pencil hovered over the page, her hand shaking slightly over the wire-rimmed notebook. Chelsea wasn't ready quit yet to say goodbye.

She laughed to herself as she stuck the pencil in the binding of the little book, trying to shake off the chill that had run up her back.

Without changing, Chelsea sank down into the blanket and fell fast asleep, exhaustion taking her at last. As her conscious self spent the night tossing and turning on the rickety bed, her dream-self wasn't having a pleasant time either. Her dream unfolded to her second grade sandbox where she was kicked into the sand box by the manly little girl that ruled her grade school playground.

Little Chelsea looked up with her wide blue eyes and her tear-streaked cheeks, half a dozen laughing children circled around the pair. Time seemed to slow as the sun blotted out Chelsea's eyesight as the trump of doom came down swiftly and soundlessly on her nose.

With a gasp she shot up, her nose aching from her old wounds. Clutching her nose, she panted slightly and placed her head between her knees to get rid of the dizzying ache that came with her nightmare. Her ears visibly cringed as metal shredded against metal in the darkness.

The boat gave an awful shudder as Chelsea opened her door to see where that ungodly noise came from. Rain pelted her uncovered head and wind howled in her ears as she tried to close her door after she saw all she needed to know.

She had the door almost fully closed when a colossal wave made its way through the blurry horizon. In a sudden rush of adrenaline and fast thinking, she grabbed her suitcase and held it tightly to her shaking arms, running for any sort of cover…. and into a low hanging lamp and knocking herself out immediately.

"Hey you! Hey! Wake up time, get up! What are you, dead?" A voice shouted at her from the darkness, while something hard poked her in the head. She gripped her suitcase harder and rolled over. When she did, the heavy and solid case pressed against her stomach.

"Hurrrrrrrrrk!" Chelsea shot up and coughed all the sea water that was in her lungs, plus yesterday's lunch as well, throwing off the enormous suitcase that crushed her stomach.

"Well, you're definitely not dead. I guess Felicia can clean you up, let's go meet the family." As her vision cleared, Chelsea could make out a small, wrinkly old man with a wooden cane.

He looked back at a still-frozen Chelsea quivering at the shoreline. "Well, I don't have all day, girlie! Get your land legs on and follow me!" He sped off at a fast pace through the sand dunes, using his walking stick like a javelin.

Chelsea quickly stood up, stumbled, and staggered after the strange man. When she reached the top of the sand dune, she saw the old man had joined a motherly-looking woman.

"Look here daughter!" The old man shouted at the top of his lungs. "I've found a survivor!"

The woman was the first to speak. "Well hello young lady! I see that you've made it here in one piece. That's just wonderful." As she said all this, she never opened her eyes to actually look at her, but she seemed to know some other way. Maybe she was blind?

"Y-yes, I guess so. But where are we?" No one said anything for a little bit. Of course, the man broke the silence.

"Well, we're on a deserted island of course!" He cackled into the wind, just as two flaming red heads of hair stepped into view. The old man spotted them, mid-laugh. "Where have you two been, we've been worried sick for you!" His unpredictable mood changed yet again, his face swelling like a hot-air balloon.

The sharp-eyed girl spoke first, rolling her eyes. "Oh gramps, we were just exploring the island! Chill out, we didn't get hurt or anything."

The old man's face turned a deeper red, but his daughter interrupted him before he could burst. "Well, kids, we have another person here with us, say hello to…. Oops, we don't know each other's names do we?" Her normally cheerful face drooped.

"Um, my name is Chelsea…" She was still in shock from waking up so suddenly.

"Taro's my name!" The old man piped up first. "This is my daughter Felicia, my granddaughter Natalie, and my grandson Elliot." He pointed at the woman, the sharp red-head, and the uncomfortable young man behind her.

Elliot finally spoke. "It is very nice to meet you Chelsea…." He blushed and quickly looked down.

"Yeah, me too, glad ta meet ya'!" Natalie was bolder then her brother and shook Chelsea's hand, much to her surprise.

Felicia broke up the introductions by laying her hand on Chelsea's sleeve. "Well, now that we know each other, we should go look for shelter. We need to find a place to sleep, at the very least."

Taro nodded his consent and led the group up a weed ridden road. After about five minutes silent walking, a shabby string of what could have once resembled shacks at arched over the descending rock basin.

"Oh, this looks perfect!" Felicia clapped her hands together and nodded, never once opening her eyes.

Natalie had different thoughts. "Uh, Mom? No it doesn't… It looks like someone threw together a bunch of cardboard boxes and added a door."

Taro's face turned a deep, liquid red. "Missy, this is the best we have right now, so deal with it!" Natalie just turned back to the house wearing a dissatisfied frown.

Elliot looked at it thoughtfully and said in a small voice, "I could probably fix some of the holes in the roof by sun down, and maybe find a transition on the radio we still have..." He glanced at Chelsea again and blushed at his own audacity.

Chelsea stepped forward. "I could probably go foraging with Natalie and find some…. Mushrooms or grass or something to eat." She turned her head around for confirmation. "You know, so we don't starve?"

Felicia nodded with an encouraging smile, "That sounds great Chelsea, and I'll stay with Grandfather and salvage anything that washes up."

Chelsea tossed her sodden case down next to the house and turned. "I have some stuff in here….. some tools, airplane food, I think a plastic knife... and some clothes, for Felicia and Natalie if you guys need them…"

She opened the case and felt around, checking for leaks. "Wow, the water-resistant coating actually kept water out…. I guess that means my music player's still working." Natalie perked up as Chelsea pulled out the small white cube of technology.

Taro nodded at her. "Thank you for all that, we have some furniture we found off the coastline, we'll add that too."

And with that said, everyone split up to do their jobs.

Natalie and Chelsea set off to the north, looking around for food. Natalie turned to her companion and started a fragile conversation. "So… how's your day going?"

Chelsea blinked a couple of times and bit back a small chuckle. "Oh, just one of those normal, ordinary days. You know…. The usual."

"Oh I know, I do this frequently, I just jump off of boats and swim for the nearest island. Cuts travel expenses." Natalie also had to work to force back her smile.

Natalie snickered and Chelsea started to giggle uncertainly. Then they started to laugh wildly, hugging their stomachs. After a few moments of rolling around on the ground, they calmed down and started walking again, strangely at ease.

"So, I guess we try to find weird colored grasses or mushrooms, you know, edible things." Natalie scanned the horizon, and decided on asking her something. "Hey, Chelsea?"

She was crouching low in the other direction, deciding whether or not a mushroom was poisonous. "Hm?"

"I see that you have a Sigh-pod, and I…. Well, that is to say…. Can I listen to it time to time?"

"Any time you want, but promise to add songs you like to it, I need to listen to other genres."

Natalie smiled hesitantly, but soon beamed. "Thanks, I've always wanted one of those, but where are you going to get one in a small village?" Suddenly she was distracted by something in the distance.

"See that house over there?" Natalie pointed in the other direction, while Chelsea straightened up, wiping her hands. "It looks slightly better then the one we found! We should get everyone."

The girls ran back to the shore line and grabbed the old man and his daughter, towing Elliot along the way.

Taro shook off Natalie's hand. "Well, look at that. Chelsea, it looks like a nice house for you."

Natalie's jaw dropped. "What?! Why don't we all live here? It's in better condition compared to the shack Elliot's been hammering away at!"

Taro was about to share his livid opinion when Felicia stepped in. "Well honey, it's just large enough for one person, and I don't think Chelsea would like to cramp in with us, would you dear?" She turned to her.

"Um, I like you guys just fine, but it does look small, and I'll work on it in my spare time…" She tapped on one of the windows, and was surprised that the glass didn't fall and shatter. "After you guys are settled in, of course." She added as an after thought.

"Excellent, we'll all meet back at the house in about two hours, okay? That should give everyone enough time to finish their jobs." Felicia took her seething father by the arm and dragged him back to the shore.

Elliot was standing slightly apart from the group with a thoughtful expression, his arms folded and face set. Natalie, however, was just as livid as her grandfather,

The girls returned to picking herbs in companionable silence. The sun slowly dipped down towards the west and they girls headed back, arms full of wild grasses. As the newly repaired house loomed into view, they saw Elliot stumble over a stump in surprise, almost knocking the mushrooms out of his sister's hands.

Natalie rolled her eyes and righted the food. "Oh brother! What's up with the two left feet? You almost made me trip on 'shrooms." Elliot looked down, clearly embarrassed.

Chelsea came to his rescue. "Oh Nat, it would have been okay; we didn't wash the grasses or the mushrooms yet, so a little dirt wouldn't have killed anyone." But she snickered to herself afterwords at Natalie's slip-up… 'tripping on 'shrooms'…

Elliot peeked up from under his lashes at Chelsea, thanking her silently, and she smiled in return.

Natalie sighed. "Oh I guess so, but really, this is the beginning Chels. He's always such a klutz, and he just ruins everything!"

Chelsea just sighed and turned to the two adults stumbling over the sand dune. Natalie and Chelsea carried their food in a wicker basket and started to wash all of it in a near-by stream. After that was done, they joined the rest of the family and doled out the food.

Once everything was consumed, Taro stood up. "Well everyone, now that we have food and a reasonable house, we should think of what we're gonna do next. Chelsea," He turned to her with a question in his wrinkled face. "My family and I wanted to settle on an island similar to this and start a new life for ourselves, farming the land. But, what do you plan to do?"

Chelsea stared at her crossed legs for a few moments. "Taro… everyone…. I was on that ship to live with my grandmother on her orchard, but I wasn't that. Enthusiastic about it; it really didn't feel right."

She turned to look up at the stars beginning to blink overhead, thinking hard. "What I really want to do right now, at this moment, is to stay on the island, with all of you…Farming I guess. This is what I want to do, and if you all will have me, I would really like that."

Taro's face spilt into a great grin, all of the hot air leaking out of the cracks. "Well, I like that idea, and I'll even help you." He glanced at his daughter. "I'm what you call an expert farmer, and I could help you with what ever you would need." She nodded her thanks, happy to be accepted.

Elliot looked up and smiled at Chelsea. "Yes, but… I think we should share this island with other people, it looks so beautiful here." He turned to his sister. "What do you think Natalie? Can we do this?"

Natalie looked like she was going to say something nasty to her brother, but something in his face made her stop.

"Yes, I think we could make this a decent place to live; if anyone wants to come, let 'em come!" She punched the air with her clenched fist, yelling into the dusk.

Felicia practically glowed with pride as she saw her children talking to each other like adults. Moved by her joy, she grabbed Natalie in a fierce hug.

Natalie tried to break from her iron grasp, shouting for help. "Ow, Mom! Lemme go! You're gonna pop one of my blood vessels! Stop! Arg!"

The rest just laughed at this exchange and talked into the night, planning the future.