Chapter 3 – Day 1
Just another day at the beach, laying on the sand, the sun giving me a tan and the water rising. Wait… why is the water rising and it doesn't stop? I look up at the sky to find that the clouds are pink. I knew it! This is a dream. Is it weird that the clouds are always pink in my dreams? Well my dreams are weird. Once I dreamt I was a talking monkey visiting SpongeBob in bikini bottom from my ski trip around the world, Marley the Magnificent Ski Monkey. Told you my dreams are weird. Anyways, If I'm dreaming of water that means that I'm either wet or in water. Probably being thrown with water cause I'm not waking up…
When I wake up, I'm not anywhere recognizable. I feel the ocean splashing up against me and part of my body is covered in sand. So the boat did crash and it does happen like in the movies. You do get flushed out on an island. As I get up, feeling a little lightheaded, I start to recall something.
I'm prepared for this as a matter of fact. I was to Camp HTSSOAI or Hit soya when you pronounce it. It stands for How-To-Survive-Stranded-on-an-Island. My mother decided I needed to go have fun that summer so she sent me to this camp, fun at a survival camp I didn't think so at first. We were very few kids there, maybe like five or six. Anyways they showed us all we needed to know about surviving an island. I was a born survivalist the one camp teacher told me. Of all the kids he had there before I was the fastest learner. I could complete assignments in minutes where others almost took an hour. So it's time to put that training to use. First to mark myself with a sharp rock, three marks on the back of your left hand, one straight from the under the first knuckle to the wrist, one straight from the center of it till the other end of the backhand and lastly one from the knuckle to through the center of the second line and straight down to the wrist. It causes a burning sensation on my hand which quickly fades, we were told to be careful not to cut to deep or we might cut an artery. I remember all the other kids and how entertaining it was to see them do it. Some were terrified and started crying before the rock touched their hand. Other's screamed as it cut them. I was the one who did it completely and one other kid I think.
Okay with that taken care of. The first thing to do when stranded. Find a fresh water source.
I start walking into the jungle, seeing as there would be no fresh water on the beach when I remember something. 'Always have a place of Origin' the words of the camp teacher plays in my head. I look for something big to mark my origin point. I see a big hollow log just lying on the beach half buried in sand. I decide that it's my origin point. I finally walk into the jungle. I hardly walked when I stumble upon a stream of water deep enough for my hand to go in and a wide as my arm. I scoop it up with my hand and taste it, yeah it's fine. It's clean spring water by the taste of it. I wish I had something to keep water in but until then I shouldn't stray too far or else I'll get lost. Now that I have water…
Next on the list, look for food. I decide to keep by the stream as it usually has food near it. I mark the spot by making a heap of rock near a tree that is bent downwards. I start walking downstream, looking everywhere for food. All I see are those poison berries and some I don't know, which I will not even try. I do spot some insects but I'm not too keen on eating them not with what happened at camp. I hardly had one in my mouth, it was roasted, when I felt my stomach already turning. I spat it out immediately. It was the one thing all the other kids could do and they amused me with it.
I must have been walking for a few hours now when I reached a big pool of water with a waterfall behind it. I realize that this island is big and it makes it harder and easier at the same time. Since I was near the waterfall I decided to swim to it. When I was in the water I noticed that it was warm, not hot but warm .Behind it was a small cave, just big enough for a person to sit in. I strip all my clothes except for the bikini underneath and stand under the waterfall, letting it rinse me of all the saltwater. Once I was finished, I grabbed my clothes and put them on again. I head back the way I came. I look up to see the sun directly over me. Its half day and I still need food. I travel downstream past the place I marked. After a long while I finally found some berries I knew were safe. I decided to use my shirt as a holder for the berries and removed it from me. I collected a lot of them until the shirt was full. I head back up stream to my mark and to the beach.
Once there I gather some drift wood on the beach and started a fire as I ate the berries. They ought to keep me till tomorrow. It was getting dark so I made myself a sand bed next to the fire, it was more of a lump I leaned against as the sun set behind me to the other side of the island. I stared at the stars and ate the berries.
I slowly drifted into a slumber and the clashing waves soothed me even further…