I doubt I had been asleep for more than two hours before I found myself awoken by the ships rather erratic rocking. Doing the best I could to balance myself, I managed to sit up and glanced out the window beside me. Unsurprisingly enough I found that the ships rocking was a result of a massive storm taking place right outside, the ship likely having sailed into it. Just then I heard the door begin to open and turned around to see as Chelsea reentered the room, drenched in water.
"Oh, you're up." She said after having slowly closed the door before facing me. She probably did so in order not wake me up.
I stretched before replying. "Yeah, all this crazy rocking from the weather outside woke me up."
She untied her bandana and began to ring it out over the small garbage bin near the door. "Yeah, it's pretty rough out there."
"I take it you were outside?" I asked, sounding a bit sarcastic now that I think about it.
"I was, and I was enjoying it. Well, I guess until it started raining and I got soaked that is." She laughed as she wrapped her bandana back around her head.
At that moment the ships rocking became more severe. I quickly gripped the sides of the bed to keep myself in place and watched as Chelsea tried to balance herself in front of the door. The ship began to calm down and stop shaking just as she managed to stabilize herself. She looked up at me and flashed me a smile when another large wave crashed against the ship knocking her down.
"Are you alright?" I practically shout as I jumped from my spot on the bed.
I knelt beside her and extended my arm out to her.
"I'm fine." She answered as she grabbed my hand and sat up, rubbing her head with her other free hand. "Thanks for asking though."
We began to stand up but the unfortunate timing of another wave hitting the ship caused me to fall backwards with Chelsea ending up right on top of me. Yeah, let's say it was unfortunate. Grunting in pain, she lied on top of me for a moment. Once I began to feel her getting off of me I opened my eyes and immediately became fixed on hers as she did the same. They seemed so gentle and innocent, just the perfect shade of blue.
After staring at each other for what felt like forever she quickly sat back up and scooted a bit away from me.
"Sorry about that." She laughed nervously.
"O-oh, don't worry about it, it's fine." I told her as I sat up as well and began to brush myself off.
Suddenly we heard a knock at the door and one of the ship's crew members entered the room as we stood up.
"Captain's ordered the evacuation of the ship. All travelers are to get to the lifeboats immediately." He informed us, a gravely serious look haunting his face.
Before either of us had a chance to say anything back he quickly left the room and moved on to the next.
"So much for having a nice trip." I muttered once again sounding sarcastic, though this time it was intended.
Chelsea sighed. "Yeah... I'm sure they'll at least give us a ticket for another trip when we get back to the city or something." Her eyes trailed off towards the window as lightening flashed across the sky. "I guess we probably better get over to the lifeboats then, huh."
"Yeah." I replied.
Stepping out into the hall, Chelsea and I immediately found ourselves joining the sea of passengers out in the hall all trying to get out to the deck. Deciding to move along with them rather than force our way through we eventually found ourselves out on the deck, rain pouring from the sky. The whole outside was a mess with people running everywhere to find their families or a lifeboat, it looked like something out of a movie or a war scene.
"Come on!" I shouted to Chelsea as I briefly turned to face her, grabbing her hand once more as I did so.
I quickly turned back around and began to drag her along as I forced my way through the mob of people surrounding us. It was almost like swimming against a current. While I was focused on getting us on one of the lifeboats I remained completely oblivious to how Chelsea's gaze refused to stray away from my hand that was gripped on hers, a slight blush on her face. As we neared one of the boats yet another violent wave crashed into the ship.
"Mark!" Chelsea exclaimed as I felt her hand leave mine.
I quickly turned around to see that she was falling towards me. Wasting no time I extended my arms and wrapped them around her to keep her from falling any further.
"Don't worry, I got you." I told her as I helped her up to her feet, it seemed like we were practically hugging at this point.
Before we could even begin our next move another wave rammed against the other side of the ship, tilting it at large angle. Unable to keep my footing on the slippery deck, I began to slide towards the edge of the ship. I tried to regain my balance but the rocking proved too much. The last thing I could remember was being unable to react as another wave hit the ship causing me to plummet over the guardrail, Chelsea still in my arms.
"Mark…"
"Mark… Wake up Mark!"
I could feel the sandy ground of a beach underneath me as I opened my eyes to see Chelsea leaning over me. In contrast to the stormy weather I could last remember the sky was instead clear with almost all the stars visible. Chelsea's blue eyes shimmered in the low light.
She let out a sigh of relief as she sat back and placed her hand over her heart. "Oh thank Goddess you're ok."
"What, what happened?" I wearily asked as I sat up and rubbed my head. I could feel a slight bump underneath my cap
"You fell overboard… and sort of dragged me with you." She answered without any sort of anger in her voice to my surprise.
"I… I what?" I exclaimed.
She smiled as she placed her hand on me. "It's ok Mark. You probably would have drowned if you didn't take me with you. You hit your head on the boat on the way down and kind of got knocked out. Luckily I was there and managed to keep your head above the water."
I became less tense and leaned back. "Really?" I paused for a moment before chuckling once I saw that she wasn't going to reply with anything else other than a smile. "Well, thanks then. I guess I owe you one."
She simply continued to smile as I began to scan the small beach area we were on.
"So, where exactly are we?" I finally asked.
"I don't know. I couldn't carry you and reach one of the lifeboats at the same time so we just drifted around in the ocean and ended up on this island after what felt like hours." She explained, the smile fading from her face.
"Is anyone else here with us?" I ask.
"I'm pretty sure it's just us two." She answered. "I haven't seen anyone else since we got here."
"What about over there?" I asked as noticed as small shack in the distance, pointing towards it as I did so.
She looked back at it before facing me again. "No. When we first washed up here I checked to see if anyone was inside but it's just an old run down shack. I tried to get inside but the door's been boarded up."
I looked at her, my expression indicating I was both somewhat afraid and nervous. "So it's just us here then?"
She smiled at me again in what seemed like an effort to calm me down but I could still tell that she was just as worried as me. "Don't worry Mark; I'm sure we'll be fine."
"I hope so." I was all I could say back.
"Look, let's just get some rest for now. We can explore this island in the morning when it's brighter." She suggested. "Sides, I'm sure we could both use some after what we just went through."
I nod my head and rest my head back on the sand as Chelsea does the same beside me. I shut my eyes and begin to fall asleep, hoping that we'll be alright.
The following morning I opened my eyes to find that Chelsea had practically nudged herself into my chest. She looked so peaceful and dare I say a little cute as she slept huddled beside me.
I gave her a little nudge with my elbow. "Hey, Chelsea."
Her eyelids slowly began to flutter before suddenly exploding open once they registered how close she was to me.
"Time to wake up." I told her.
"Mark! I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed as she sat up and quickly backed away from me. "I didn't mean to get so close!"
I laughed. "It's alright."
"I, I was just a little cold last night, that's all." She explained, still sounding nervous.
"It's alright Chelsea." I repeated as I sat up and stretched out my arms. "You ready to go out and explore this place?"
"Yeah, I'm ready." She replied before placing her hand on her stomach, a somewhat pained expression coming onto her face. "I just wish we had some food. I haven't eaten anything since I left for the boat yesterday."
Her words made my own belly start to grumble. "Maybe if we're lucky we'll find some somewhere here."
"I hope so."
We both stood up and stretched for moment before heading up towards the small path located in the opening at the end of the beach. We didn't follow the path for long until we found ourselves in an area filled with abandoned houses much like the one we saw out on the beach. It seemed like a town square of sorts, or at least that's what it probably was way back when.
"What happened here?" I asked aloud.
Without answering Chelsea began to stroll around the area and closely examine all of the houses with me close behind. Each one seemed to have the same treatment, that is all of the doors and windows were boarded up with old worn planks. They looked as if they hadn't been touched in years. Getting back on what we could then assume was the main road, we followed the trail to past the hills near the upper part of the area and found ourselves in a large clearing with only one house, a large field of soil sitting behind it.
"Looks like this could have been a farm or something." I remarked as I examined the area.
Chelsea again began to wander off towards the house nearby without a word.
"Think you can get these off?" She asked as I approached her, referring to the planks that blockaded the door.
"Well, I can try." I answered.
I walked up to the door and placed my hands on one of the boards and started to pull. The plank however refused to budge. Guess I should have spent more time at the gym or something.
"It's no use." I finally tell her as I let go of the board, exhausted. "It's nailed on there pretty tight, maybe if we had somebody else to help we could get them off."
Discouraged, we headed back towards the town like area. As we approached the crossroad between the buildings Chelsea stopped
"Hey, what's that over there?" She asked as she pointed towards what appeared to be a forest.
We started to approach it but soon stopped as we realize the area between us and the forest is divided by a river. It isn't that wide but enough to prevent us for venturing any further.
"Looks like the used to be a bridge here." I said as I looked towards the road nearby and spotted remnants of what appeared to be one on the edge of it, similar remains laid on the other side across from it.
I waited to see if Chelsea would reply for once but it seemed that she was preoccupied with something else at the moment. I glanced over at her and noticed how her eyes appeared to be fixed on something on the other side of the river.
"What is it?" I asked.
She merely pointed out towards the forest.
"There's… there's something out there." She answered, giving off the sense of fear inside her.
I looked out in the direction she pointed and immediately noticed a figure walking about the shadows of trees deep inside the forest, it didn't seem to notice us back though.
"What is that?" She asked, still sounding frightened.
I shook my head. "I don't know. It must be an animal or something."
"That can't be an animal. It looks too much like a person to be an animal." She replied.
"Come on." I began as I placed my hand on her shoulder and began to direct her back in the direction of the beach. "Let's just head back towards the beach before that thing has a chance to spot us."
She nodded her head as her stare remind fixed on the forest, even as I began to lead her away. "Alright."
Eventually we reach the beach once more and take a seat back down in the sand.
"So what are we going to do now?" Chelsea asked.
"I don't know… We have no food, no idea where we are, and as far as we know nobody has an idea we're out here." I answered, seeming to depress her and admittedly myself. I didn't really mean to be that dishearten her with an answer like that but I felt it was best to be honest in a situation like that rather than lie.
She became silent and kicked her feet around in the sand a little. I looked over at her as she glanced at me and I gave her a reassuring smile. She smiled back at me for a moment before looking back down at the ground, her arms wrapped around her feet. I gazed out at the ocean as that sense of discouragement began to fill my heart once more but that quickly changed when I noticed something that could change or luck floating out in the distance.
"Hey Chelsea, there's a raft out there!"
