Caroline & The Blue Lagoon
Chapter 2
Rated 'R' for sexual content
By:
*****~*****
--Hours had passed and they had screamed themselves hoarse within the first hour. They were both exhausted, but they knew they couldn't go to sleep… they could drown.
"I'm so tired…" Caroline squeaked out, her grip slipping from the canvas that used to be Richard beautiful painting of her in the moonlight.
"Here…" he said, grasping her waist… "Wrap your arms around my neck…"
Caroline turned and grabbed onto his neck and he wrapped one arm around her waist while holding on to the canvas with the other.
"This way you can rest." He told her, her head resting on his shoulder.
"Thank you." She whispered, her body relaxing into his.
*****~*****
--Caroline slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Richard…
"How long have I been out?"
"Not sure. A while." He replied, looking tired and dreary.
"Where's the boat?"
"Long gone. I haven't been able to see it in the distance for quite some time."
"Oh, God…" she whispered, tears filling her eyes, the salty drops getting lost in the sea as they fell.
"Please don't cry. We'll get through this. We WILL be rescued. It's just gonna take some time…"
She wanted to believe that, but she didn't. It all seemed too hopeless. She held tight to Richard, knowing his would be her only human contact for the last hours of her life.
*****~*****
--The sun rising woke Richard from his trauma induced sleep. He rolled over and found himself in sand… on a beach. He sat upright with a start, frantically looking around him to try to determine what had happened. How did he get there? Where was he? Where was Caroline?
"Caroline!" he yelled for her, but there was no answer. "Caroline!" he called again, running up the beach in search of her.
--When he found her, she was face down in the sand, the water lapping at her feet. He ran to her and kneeled down, turning over and cleaning the sand from her face…
"Caroline? Can you hear me? Caroline?!"
The soft groan from her was music to his ears…
"Wha--? Where are we?"
"I don't know. We apparently washed up ashore somewhere during the night."
"I'm not dead?" she asked shakily… "WE'RE not dead?"
"No. We're both very much alive."
After a pause to determine if that was a good thing or not, Caroline ventured further… "Now what?"
"Well, now we wait to get rescued."
"How long do you think it will take for them to find us?"
"Hard to say. They know we're gone by now. They'll be sending out a search party to find us, or they have already. It's just a question as to how long it'll take the search party to find us here. Wherever here is."
"How long does it usually take?"
"I don't know, this is my first shipwreck."
"Sorry…"
"It's ok." He was surprisingly calm, and she took comfort in his composure. "I'm gonna give them a hand…"
"Who?" she asked, confused.
"The search party…" he replied, gathering nearby rocks.
"How?"
"I'm gonna spell out 'help' in rocks… so a helicopter can see it."
"Oh, good idea. I'll help…"
"No. You sit and rest…"
"I can help!"
"No, you can't. Sit."
She actually liked his 'take-charge' attitude, since she felt lost and scared… "Ok." She agreed, staying seated in the sand as she watched Richard spell out their cry for help.
*****~*****
--Caroline groaned, and Richard looked to her sympathetically… "What?"
"Nothing. I'm just hungry."
"I am too. Maybe there's some kind of fruit growing around here or something…" He stood and shook the sand from his pants, then looked around, trying to determine how to proceed with finding food.
Caroline stood and did the same, brushing the sand from her clothes. Richard looked at her for a moment, and she was ready for an argument about going with on the hunt for food, but he didn't say anything.
"Let's go this way." He said, pointing in a direction; she followed without question.
--Richard found coconuts, which provided milk and food. They were difficult to open, and it wasn't much in the way of filling, but at least they wouldn't starve. He found a decent sized rock and washed it off in the water the best he could. Then, he cracked open a coconut, being careful not to spill the milk inside and handed it to Caroline. She drank the milky-clear fluid eagerly while Richard dug at the 'meat' of the coconut with the rock, trying to get bite-sized chunks.
"I've never been a big fan of coconut…" Caroline admitted as she nearly inhaled each piece Richard handed her… "But when you're THIS hungry…" she trailed off, her mouth too full to speak clearly.
He nodded in response, opening a second coconut and drinking the milk silently.
--It got later and later with no sign of rescue, and Caroline started to feel panic gnawing at her. She looked at Richard, who sat calmly in the sand, watching the horizon for any sign of people. His expression was unreadable, and she couldn't tell if he was as worried as she was.
Truth be known, he was. He knew it was going to be getting dark soon, and any effort to find them would stop for the night, leaving them to fend for themselves overnight.
"We should start thinking about what to do if they aren't here by dark." Richard told Caroline, breaking the deafening silence between them.
"You really think we might have to stay the night?"
"It's possible, yeah."
Worry would have consumed her if he hadn't been so calm. He gathered up large palm leaves and stacked them, making as comfortable a bed as he could, then he started gathering rocks and sticks. He put the rocks in a circle, putting the sticks and anything else he thought might burn in the middle of them.
--The sunset was beautiful, but Richard and Caroline couldn't enjoy it… it was the sign that they weren't going to be rescued by nightfall.
Richard resigned himself to the idea that they would be staying the night, and he grabbed two rocks, clicking them together to cause sparks, hoping to get a fire started before it got dark.
"Have you ever done that before?" Caroline asked as she watched him.
"No."
"Want help?"
"No."
"Ok…" she sounded upset, and Richard caught the inflection in her voice…
"I'm not upset with you, Caroline. I just have a lot on my mind."
"Yeah…"
He stopped what he was doing and looked her in the eyes, touching her shoulder… "I'm sorry, it's just… stressful…"
"I know…"
He smiled weakly at her, then continued his task of trying to start a fire. It took about 20 minutes, but he was finally able to get it started, and Caroline sat near it, the sun setting causing it to get colder.
--It got darker and darker as the sun went down, and Caroline started getting even more nervous…
"Boy, it's sure dark out here…" Caroline whimpered, her fear obvious.
"Yeah…"
She looked around, her fear controlling her… "I'm scared Richard…"
He put his arm around her, pulling her close for comfort… "It's going to be ok. WE ARE going to be ok…"
His self-confidence was soothing her sense of dread, and she leaned into his body, enjoying his warmth.
"I'm sorry I'm such a bother…"
"You're not a bother, Caroline. I know you're scared… I'm not unsympathetic, just concerned."
"We're in trouble… aren't we…"
He debated whether or not to be honest with her. He didn't want to lie to her, or sugar coat the situation, but he also didn't want to scare her.
"You can tell me, Richard…"
"I think we might be… somewhat…"
"What are we gonna do?"
"I honestly don't know. I wish I had the answers for you, but I just don't know."
Caroline sighed against his chest, nodding sadly… "Ok…" she whispered, tears starting to fall.
"We're not gonna die, ok? I won't let that happen…"
"Ok." She believed him… and trusted him completely.
She fell asleep in his arms and he helped her to lie back, placing her on the pile of palm leaves he had set out earlier. He kept the fire going all night, getting little sleep as he thought of ways to deal with the situation and the day ahead of them.
*****~*****
--Caroline slowly opened her eyes when the sunrise invaded her sleep. A quick look around and she realized Richard wasn't anywhere nearby. Her heart jumped into her throat and she jumped up, frantically skimming the area for any sign of him.
"Richard!" she yelled… "Richard!"
He heard her calling and ran to her, hearing the terror in her voice…
"I'm right here Caroline." He called out to her, appearing a second later with fruit in his arms.
She exhaled sharply, physically relieved to see him.
"I got more coconuts, and I think these are mangos." He set them down, grabbing a coconut… "You hungry?"
"Yes." Her tone told of just how afraid she had been, and he stopped what he was doing, looking at her and seeing tears falling…
"I'm sorry Caroline. I didn't mean to scare you."
"It's ok."
He ripped open a mango and handed it to Caroline… "Here, eat some fruit…"
"Thanks."
She ate the fruit, and drank the coconut milk he gave her. She wanted to ask him about getting rescued… and what they would do if they weren't… and how he could seem so calm, but she felt like a bother, so she kept her thoughts and questions to herself.
Richard could tell she had something to say, or ask, but she was holding back. Why? A lot of reasons came to mind… her fear being the most logical reason he could think of.
He broached the subject… "Did you want to ask me something?"
"What?"
"You seem like you have something on your mind…"
"That's an understatement."
"I know. Go ahead and ask…"
"We're not getting off this island, are we?"
"Well, if they find us today, or maybe tomorrow, then it's possible. Past that, if they don't, we could be here for a while. They usually give up searching after so many days… assuming the people are dead…"
"You mean… we could be stuck here? Like in 'Gilligan's Island'?"
"What's that?"
Caroline just looked at him, blinking absently… "What's what? 'Gilligan's Island'?"
"Yeah…"
"You've never heard of 'Gilligan's Island'?"
"No, should I have?"
"It is a commonly known TV show."
"I don't watch TV."
"Not even as a kid?"
"No."
"What did you do for fun?"
"Read. Paint…" he trailed off, and she continued to look at him in disbelief…
"Well, 'Gilligan's Island' was about a group of people who got stranded on an island for years."
"I don't know about years… but if they don't find us soon, they'll stop looking. So, we'll just have to hope that they find us soon…"
*****~*****
--Caroline was sobbing and near hysterics, but Richard didn't know how to console her…
"We might still get rescued today…" he offered as he held her…
"That's what you said yesterday! And the day before! You said after 3 or 4 days they would stop looking! It's been 6! We're stuck here! We're gonna die here!"
"We're not gonna die! We might be stuck here for a while, but we're not gonna die, ok?"
"We can't live on mangos and coconuts forever!"
"We won't be here forever…"
"I was supposed to marry Del! I have a comic strip to draw! My parents…"
"Look, Caroline, I know how easy it is to freak about this. Believe me, I want to freak too, but we can't. We just can't. We have to try to get through this, alright?"
"I don't know how to get through this…"
"I'm gonna help you, trust me. Do you? Do you trust me?"
"Yes."
"Ok. Thank you." He hugged her again, then pulled back, looking her straight in the eyes… "First thing we do… find a fresh water source. Like a waterfall or something."
"Ok…"
"Then, when we find one, we set up camp near it."
"Set up camp?"
"Yeah. Gonna have to build some kind of shack or something…"
"Ok…"
--Richard didn't know where it was coming from, but somehow, some survival instinct had kicked in, and he was running off pure intuition. He located a fresh water source within a few hours, then got started on what to do about building shelter. He found some tall bamboo and used that for the frame work. He kicked and pushed on the stalks till they made a popping sound and fell. Then he took the soft green leaves, having Caroline braid them together to make long ropes to tie the bamboo together. He took large palm leaves and lined the walls and roof with them, putting several rocks all the way around the small construction to help anchor it, then he put down beds of palm leaves for them to sleep. Later, he built a fire pit by digging a hole and surrounding it with rocks.
Caroline was grateful for his ability to do what needed to be done. To even KNOW what needed to be done in and of itself was amazing. She was so scared about what was to become of her. What would happen next? The not knowing was frightening, and her imagination conjured up frightening outcomes to all this. But then, Richard seemed so sure. So in control. It was comforting, but it didn't alleviate all her fears. Like, she was now fairly certain by watching him work that she wasn't going to die, but she still felt dread that they would be living on the island for months, or possibly years. He finished his tasks and sat in the sand, resting, and Caroline felt guilty for not helping more.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help." She apologized…
"You helped…"
"Not much."
"Enough." He smiled reassuringly, then changed the subject… "Tonight, we eat fish."
"How are we gonna catch it without a fishing rod or whatever?"
"A stick."
"A stick?"
"Yep, I'm gonna stab it with a stick."
--And that's just what he did. He got a decent sized stick and sharpened it somewhat on a rock, then stood over the water very still and waited for a fish to settle near by. When one did, he stabbed it, grabbing its tail and dragging it out of the water.
"You did it!" Caroline shouted excitedly, and Richard smiled proudly.
--He wasn't sure how to cook it, but luckily, Caroline did. She had trouble gutting it, so Richard helped with that, but she cooked it. She put the fish, skin and tail included directly on the fire and let it cook for a while before grabbing the tail and flipping it to cook it on the other side. When it was done, they just peeled off the skin and ate around the bones. It was a welcome change from having just coconuts and mangos, and the protein it provided was necessary. They went to sleep in their new bamboo shelter, on the beds of palm tree leaves set up on opposite sides of the room.