Day 227

Sun in the middle of the sky

Dear journal,

It's been 227 days since our plane crashed on this island, and still no boats or planes have even come near us. I had to struggle to remember what rescue even meant. Home just seems like a distant blur to us all now. The only thing that keeps us grounded is climbing.

Today was an unfortunate day. Joe hit his head on a rock and drowned, while swimming in the river. He had a large wound starting at one end of the forehead to the other. It started to rain blurring the constant stream of tears that ran down my cheeks. We tried to revive him, but it was too late.

We brought his body back to the spot and laid it down. There are no shovels on the island so we had to dig the grave with our bare hands. We had a small service and buried him next to his favorite place; the tallest palm tree near the mountain. After he was buried we put sticks on top of it as a marker.

Most of the other children cried, but the rest of us held back our tears. He was my best friend. Joe didn't deserve to die, but I guess it was his time. He was the only person who cared to work at the fire, and I appreciated him for that. Swimming was his favorite thing to do; he swam before breakfast every day. Today was the one day he never came back.

After the service we all went to our respective jobs; some of the children snuck off to play, but I didn't scold them or tell anyone. They deserve to have some fun on this awful island. No matter how awful being stuck here is, it could be worse. As I have told you before Winston, Janice, and Dwight have organized something really good here.

Today at lunch they announced that we would be switching jobs tomorrow. I want to be a builder this time. Not a fire or cooking person! The only bad thing with this deal was that you had to get someone to switch with you and nobody wants a boring job like mine. Last time we switched no one wanted it! That will probably be the outcome this time too! I'm getting bored with this same job. I've had it since we first got here.

Yours,

Jocelyn Brown