Waddup!? I'm finally back with the second chapter! Ugh, college has been yanking my soul out of my body lately. Here's a nice lil chapter with some character/plot development. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 2: Castaway-Where's Wilson when you need him?
Night had settled over the world near the equator. From an aerial view, one could spot two prone bodies shivering in fetal position on the base of an overturned mass. A light sprinkle of rain dusted them and made ripples in the currently calm waters. A loud baritone wail resounded through the location, startling the two individuals awake.
"Whales?" Brian shot up, rocking the boat.
Summer slowly sat up, rubbing her aching back. They both cringed and shielded their eyes, as a blinding yellow light was beamed down on them.
It was a cargo ship.
"Thank you, GOD!" Summer laughed exuberantly in relief. Scrambling to stand up the best she could, she ended up on her knees, waving her arms rapidly. "HEY, OVER HERE!"
"WHOOHOOO!" Brian cackled in victory.
Her friends' good fortunes were unbeknownst to Dani. With every bit of luck they were having, she was being dished the complete opposite. She was extremely fatigued because of her fear that she would drown in her sleep. She was badly but apparently not fatally wounded. The blood on her clothing and Brian's scarf had attempted to dry and clot. It had her cringing at the uncomfortable, sticky and itchy feeling it left on her body. She had gradually gotten used to the searing pain throbbing through her shoulder, but it left her arm tingling down to her fingertips. She smacked her dry lips together and winced, as her sunburnt face ached. She was surrounded by water, and torturously, she couldn't drink a drop of it.
What I would give for a water fountain. She thought, humoring herself in her solitude. Her mind was slightly fuzzy given the circumstances, but it blared away when she realized her satchel was still strapped around her waist. She gritted her teeth and swapped to her bad arm to hang onto the piece of wreckage (that she assumed had been the seat of their boat). She used her good hand and maneuvered it underwater, until she patted the bottle holder of her bag. She undid it's clasp and pulled out a plastic bottle of water. It was half-full, but it was something.
She gingerly lifted it to her lips and chugged the precious fluid. In her excitement, she hadn't even noticed it had started to rain. She let out a bitter chuckle and lifted the bottle in an attempt to catch the raindrops.
I better get used to water fasting.
When her old Samsung phone had suddenly stopped working, Dani was understandably upset. She had some awesome memes saved on that thing!
Brian saw this as his chance to pull her over to the dark side of the force. He dragged her into an Apple Store at an hour of the morning that was preposterous to her. He went full fanboy with the clerk, as she leaned against the counter and tiredly watched the multitude of geeks, nerds, and hipsters alike roaming the expanse of the open store.
In Dani's eyes, they were all nuts including Brian.
Brian agreed to pay three-quarters of the price of the expensive iPhone 6, so there was no way she would vocally complain about it. She ended up paying around $250 for the phone, and to Brian's disappointment, she didn't care about showing off the "cool" Apple logo. There was no way she was going to not put a case on the $800, overpriced piece of tech. She used her security savings and bought a reliable water-proof case for it.
She was undeniably happy that she had did so at the present moment in time. She couldn't get any signal, but she could monitor the date. It was a tease to be honest.
She coughed and locked the phone, sliding it back into the safety of her bag. Her angry-red skin was peeling and her lips were chapped. She had been hanging onto the piece of the boat for around four days now, give or take some hours. Her muscles ached, and her stomach protested and contracted at it's lack of food. She had nearly drowned multiple times in the attempt to keep herself and her floatation device above the currents. She had no idea how far she had drifted, but she knew she had done so. The good thing was that she wasn't thirsty. It had stormed so much that she'd gathered and drank enough water to keep her body from shutting down.
It was something, right?
But, she was losing hope that anyone would ever find her.
In the spur of the moment and out of insufferable boredom, she searched her bag for a writing utensil. She pulled out a ballpoint pen and clicked it open. Leaning her weight into her piece of wood, she tried to writing on it. The ink wouldn't work. The wood was too wet. Dani let out an annoyed hum and shakily put force into the tip of the pen. When she was finished, she smiled in weak satisfaction at the message she had carved into the wood.
If you find this, tell my family I love them.
- Daniel E. Evans
She absentmindedly traced the word family with a thin pruned finger, as her vision grew dark.
"Mommy, what are you doing?" A much younger and smaller Dani asked, poking her head out the open, sliding glass doors of their patio.
A petite woman with hair as golden and long as her own ceased her humming and glanced up to her with a gentle smile. She used her gardening glove to wipe the sweat off her brow, smearing her face with dirt,"Mommy's weeding her flowers, sweetie. Would you like to help?"
"No," Dani declined with a slight shake of her head. She didn't notice how her mom blinked owlishly at her response, as she was too trained on the pile of weeds and soil that her mother was creating. She picked up a yellow dandelion and shook the dirt off of it. She scrunched up her little face up in confusion,"What are weeds?"
Her mother huffed, as she violently yanked a stubborn weed out of the flower bed,"They are bad little things that kill the flowers."
Dani hummed and stared at the flower she held with a bright smile,"I think they're pretty." She dug through the weed pile and picked up a matching flower. She skipped off to reenter the house,"Bye, mommy!"
"Hmm?" Her mom blinked, looking up from her task to see her daughter gone,"Bye..?"
...
"Hey, daddy!" Dani yelled exuberantly, pattering into her father's study,"I got you a weed!" She shoved one of the little flowers directly in her father's face.
Her father rubbed his face with a drowsy yawn, as he turned away from his computer to stare at her blankly. Finally processing her words, he snorted and then broke out into peals of insomnia induced laughter. "Why thank you, sweetheart!" He made an attempt to bow graciously from his seat in his office chair, and he took the flower from her and placed it in his brown, curly hair. He waggled his eye brows,"Do I look pretty?"
Dani giggled and nodded her head with purpose,"I think you always look pretty daddy!"
His forest green eyes grew wide for a moment, but he simply resided his shock with a fond grin and snickered at his honest three-year old. He patted the crown of her blonde locks,"Why! Thank you, young lady."
Dani beamed up at him, dimples showing at the corners of her her mouth. She stepped out from under his hand and turned to leave.
Her father stared at her retreating form in amusement,"Where are you going now, Dan?"
"Ima go give a weed to Ash!" She chirped, exiting the door way.
Her father tried to contain his laughter, as he called after her,"I'm sure that will cheer him right up!"
Dani skipped up to her brother's closed bedroom door. She opened it without pause and peaked in to see her brother laying solemnly on his bed. Her bare feet pattered against the carpet covered floor, she reached the comforter that she used to swiftly climb on top the bed. He huffed, when she plopped down on top of his belly. He crossed his grayish blue eyes, as she shoved the dandelion in line with his nose. "Hey, Ash! I brought you a weed."
"I see that," He snarked dryly. The pre-teen plucked the flower from her hand and stared at it, as he used his pointer finger and thumb to twirl it effortlessly by the stem. He turned his sights back up to his little sister and was thrown off by the shining look in her discolored eyes. "What?" He question with narrowed eyes.
Her grin was infectious, as she leaned in urgently,"Smell it! It smells good!"
He chuffed softly and shook his head. He smirked and pinched the tip of Dani's nose, causing her to pout and protest nasally,"I don't see how you can smell anything. You barely have a nose at all."
"I do too!" She whined, her voice pitched up.
"Nuh, uh!" Ashton's teasing tone began to fade out along with the memory.
"Uh, huh!"
Dani mentally perked at the sound of sharp swishing in the water. She drew her eyelids closer together at the disappointment and grief that curled in her chest. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling to wake up and deal with the that fact that she had just been dreaming. The nausea she was already feeling increased.
There was that swishing nose again, but she didn't have the energy to actually feel irritated about it. She peaked her eyes open and stared ahead blearily.
She didn't have the time to actually think, as sharp teeth struck out and chomped off a sizable part of the wood she was hanging onto. Her throat constricted, and she blindly reached out with the hand that was still clutching an unsheathed pen and punched it out of fright. Blood splattered her face and spilled out onto her hand. She gasped and shook, as the adrenaline faded out of her body leaving her in shock. She pulled her hand away and stared in terrified disbelief at that pen that she had stabbed through the animal's eye. It was a shark, a small hammerhead to be exact. It floated limply in front of her, blood beginning to dye the water red.
Staring at it in what it seemed like hours, her stomach gurgled as a painful reminder that she needed substance. She hesitantly raised her hand, leaned over what was left of the board, and yanked her bloody ink pen from the shark's body with a disgusting squelch. She dry-heaved at the sound, gritted her teeth, and stabbed the dead shark in the side once more with a stifled sob. She yanked, stabbed, and pulled erratically, until she had ripped away a chunk of bloody flesh.
Without giving it any thought, she bit into the meat. It was no sushi. The taste of iron and blood filled her mouth. She forced herself to swallow, but as soon as the sticky feeling of the raw meat hit the back of her throat, she felt it come back up. She vomited up the bloody fish and the bile that sat on her empty stomach. Once she was done, she wheezed, and her body racked with manic sobs. She went back to leaning on what was left of her piece of board. She stared hollowly at the ripples in the water, then rubbed her finger aimlessly against the recently splintered wood, and placed her stinging cheek against it. She breathed a weary breath and pursed her cracked lips.
"Priceless gem, my foot! There's no way I'm paying fifty dollars for a piece of colored glass," Summer sneered, tossing the red jewel back at the counter carelessly.
Dani stumbled forward and caught the item in relief and mild annoyance. She really didn't want to have to clean up after any Summer shaped messes on her vacation.
As Summer continued to communicate with the shopkeeper, a feeling of awe swelled up within her, as she gazed at the jewel that she had saved from an early death. She narrowed her eyes in bewilderment, when it almost seemed to hum with some kind of energy...?
"Whyareyoustaringatitlikethat?" Brian spewed up in a jumbled assortment of the English language.
"Hmm?" Dani hummed, shaking herself out of her trance-like state. She turned and blankly stared at Brian for a few moments, trying to find the right words to say as to not worry him. "No reason." She shook her head and sent him a reassuring smile. He didn't need to hear the crazy thoughts behind her actions. He already knew she was weird.
She smiled at the memory and plunged a weak arm underwater to search her bag for the silly little souvenir that Summer nearly knocked an old lady out over. She blindly searched until her soggy hand touch the cool, smooth surface of the gem. She made sure she had a good grip on it, before she lifted it out from underneath the water onto the board. She shifted her weight back to her good arm and sighed at some of the relief it gave her. She stared in wonder, as the red jewel seemed to glow mysteriously in the orangish pink light of the setting sun. She stuck her face in her forearm and chuckled nastily. She was so tired.
I don't want to die like this... These words rang throughout her mind, as her eyelids slipped shut. Unknown to Dani, the emerald glowed unnaturally in the hand that held it securely.
Thunder boomed in the dark sky. Dani startled awake and expelled salt water from her nostrils. Her upper body with slick with rain and cold from the gusting wind. She didn't have time to hold her breath, as a wave swept over her. She coughed up more water, as her body emerged again. She clenched her hand and noticed she had amazingly held fast to the red gem for the unknown amount of time she had passed out and during this on slot of waves. Rain pattered down on her body the hat was in total control of the ocean current, but this didn't seem to matter to her. Her eyes grew wide, as for a moment, the stone seemed to light up like a red bulbed flashlight.
She was going crazy. If she'd had the privilege, she would've laughed in hysteria. Now I'm seeing thin- Another wave swept over her.
She let out a shuddery inhale for oxygen, as she came to the surface once again and clutched blindly at the board that was the only lifeline in preventing her drowning. She peeked her eyes open and caught sight of the gem again.
Using her crook of her arm to hang onto the board, she pulled up the top of her soggy beanie, shoved the jewel in, and yanked the beanie snugly over her ears.
Another wave crashed over her. After about thirty seconds, she floated to the surface again. Blinking black spots out of her vision, she could barely register the feeling of dread, as a humongous dark wave crashed into her.
Water rushed into her ears, creating a popping noise from the pressure. Her lungs burned and head throbbed dully at the absence of air. Despite her incredible will not to die, life seemed to always make these hard decisions for her.
She would've let out a bitter chuckle, if she had the air to do so. Her consciousness became fuzzy.
And, unlike people in the movies who are near death that see their lives flash before their eyes, Dani's mind was blank as she let go of herself.
You see the chapter title? Do you see what I did there? That little movie reference. Eh, I'm proud, to say the least. I'll update again soon! I totally mean it! I promise! Have a good one, muchachos.
Get laid, get paid, Gatorade,
-april7000222