Shipwrecked (A short story.)

Shipwrecked Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Blossoming Friendship

As I was searching the outskirts of the forest the next morning, something occurred to me. I hadn't been keeping track of time. Neither had Dan. (Not that I wanted to ask him, it just kind of slipped out.)

He said that he had left his watch on the boat. I just ignored him, not wanting to hear what I knew was coming.

'We have no means of time, both of us know zilch about survival, and we may both die if we don't stick together. So I suggest that you try to get along with me. Unless you actually WANT to die.' Seriously. That is seriously what that jerk said to me.

And this is how I replied: 'Thanks for the offer, but I can take care of myself. We have survival lessons at school.' Yes, I am that sad.

So for the next few hours I collected sticks, and Dan sat there, on his side of the line, whistling.

Yes, whistling. Like it was completely normal that two completely opposite people were stuck on a deserted island together, living on river water and coconuts. And let me tell you, coconuts are REALLY hard to open. Unless, of course, you are Dan Foster - he told me his second name that morning when we woke up - because when he tried to bang a coconut on a rock to open it, it smashed straight into two even pieces full of milk.

He didn't even hurt himself like me!

Ugh. Pig.

So when he offered me a half, I completely ignored him.

Just like that. Even though I was starving. So then I had to hike into the forest completely alone for a drink and to try to find more food. I soon came across something interesting.

There was a huge tree before me. As I looked up, I saw that it was a fruit tree. And on the tree were the biggest, juiciest mangos I had ever seen in my life. But they were miles away.

There were random branches sticking out of the tree at irregular intervals, so I decided to try my luck and climb up it. Bad idea. I hoisted myself up, one of my feel secured in a gap between the tree and a branch. 'Good,' I thought, 'One steady movement at a time.'

I carried on like that for several more branches before reaching a dilemma. There were no more branches for me to easily reach with my feet, and I was still really far away from even the lowest mango. I realised that if I wanted a mango, which I did, I had to take a huge chance. There was a branch about a metre away from my left foot. I decided to go for it.

I looked down. There was about 5 metres between me and the ground. If I fell dodgy, I could easily lose consciousness, or worse, die. I swallowed that thought immediately, and slowly lifted my left foot.

I lifted it . . .

Put it on the branch . . .

Got ready to put my full weight on the branch . . .

And slipped.

I fell.

And that's all I remember.

* * *

I was alive. I knew I was alive because I suddenly felt water being thrown on me and Dan shouting 'Caroline! Caroline Jenkins! WAKE UP!' He sounded almost as though he was . . . Well . . . Crying. But that couldn't be possible because he was a self-centred jerk. I tried to open my eyes, to tell him to stop, but they felt like someone had taped them together. I tried and I tried, but my eyes wouldn't budge. I wondered whether I was dying. But I couldn't be. I felt water and I heard Dan. I was alive. So why wouldn't my eyes open?

I tried again, and this time I saw the sun streaming into my eyes, instead of the back of my eyelids. Dan was kneeling over me. There was water on his cheeks . . . But that was probably the water that he had been throwing on me.

'Thanks the heavens,' he breathed, squeezing his eyes shut and then re-opening them so as to check that I was really there.

'You should thank me, I saved your life.'

He had that mocking smile on his face that I had seen so many times before, but I was beginning to get used to it. In fact, I was beginning to get used to Dan.

He HAD saved my life . . .