Chapter 10: Survival of the fittest
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I wouldn't, couldn't faint here, now. Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked around, careful not to look at the gash in Dan's stomach. My heart was racing, and I was doing my best to stay calm. Getting panicked wont solve anything, I told myself. I couldn't tell what had caused the wound that was so obviously piercing deep into Dan's flesh, but I knew that it must have been a deadly animal. Suddenly, the most obvious thing to do came into my head; check for a pulse. I moved my right hand from its uncomfortable position on the sand, and picked up Dan's own hand, noticing that I was shaking. I placed my finger on the inside his wrist, feeling for the beats, the movement that would allow me to breath again. I stayed there for a few minutes, but the steady rhythm of a beating heart never came. Instead, there was nothing, nothing apart from silence, ripping my heart to shreds. I was in a state of shock. First it was James, and now Dan? How come it was the people who I most cared about who were suffering? I slowly rose from the place that I had been sat, as silent tears ran down my tanned face. I looked at Dan for a few minutes, everything about him perfect, apart from the one thing that had ruined his life forever. The one thing that had killed him.
Not realising what I was doing, I walked over to the nearest bush that was on the outskirts of the forest, and carefully picked a beautiful purple flower. Walking back to Dan, I knelt at his side, and placed the small flower on his chest. The tears were coming thick and fast now, as the full force of what had happened dawned on me. My head fell into my hands, and I sobbed for a good half hour before the tears finally began to ease off. But I kept my head in my hands, knowing that more tears were coming.
'C-Caroline?' I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard his voice. I lifted my head, and saw Dan. Alive. I squealed and hugged him as hard as I could.
'Caroline, what's wrong? Ouch!' He had bent over to talk to me, and apparently the pain was too much.
'Lay down!' I ordered. 'Lay down right now and do not sit up until that . . . . Thing on your chest is nothing but a scar. I thought you were dead!' I yelled at him, but I couldn't help a smile from breaking out on my face.
'So, are you like my slave now?' He asked.
'No, I saved your life! But I'll do it anyway, you know I will,' I muttered. And then I hugged him again, but gentler.
'Does it hurt?' I asked him.
'Hell yeah,' He answered, and I couldn't help hugging him for a third time in the last five minutes.
YOU ARE READING
Shipwrecked (A short story.)
Teen Fiction"Life is hard," says just about every teenager living an easy life, including Caroline. But when a boat journey goes terribly wrong, life is not just hard. Life is precious.
