A Desert Island

I swam hard against the currents. My lungs screamed for air, but my head was unable to surface. My arms and legs felt like the blood had been replaced with quicksilver, the bones with lead. I kept pushing though, knowing that it was this or a darkness that I would never wake from.

I surfaced for just a moment, long enough to take a deep breath. The air was polluted with the sharp taste of metal, thick with smoke, scented with salt.

Another wave pushed me down, too soon. I struggled again and again. My eyes were blurred under the water, but what was that? A flash of yellow? A strip of land? No, I couldn't let myself hope. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming. The familiar tune ran through my head, pushing me forward. It made me want to laugh, but that was just the hysteria coming out.

Eventually, the pressure overhead started to lessen. The water started to lighten. The currents stopped pulling me towards the wreckage behind me and started pushing me towards that glimpse of sand I saw before. I swim now with my head above water.

Eventually, I can touch the bottom. I trudge slowly through the thick liquid. My lungs and nostrils burn, my limbs feel dead. My brain feels all...tired. And foggy. The world starts to swoop up and down, in and out. Things start to get all black and fuzzy around the edges and the last thing I remember is the ground coming up to meet me.

"Miss?" A man with a deep voice and a southern accent asks. "Miss?"

"Are you sure she's not dead?" A bossy female voice demands. Rude

"Pretty sure. I-I checked her pulse." A much softer, more timid voice asks.

"Miss?" The first voice asks again.

I lie there for a moment, trying to get a grip on things. I can hear the ocean and waves to my left. The ground is sandy, the air is suffocating, laying a thick blanket over me. I felt hot and sticky from the humidity. I was sure my red hair was a curly, frizzy mess.

I open my eyes, terrified of what I'll see. A kind face with a scruffy beard, strong jaw, blue eyes and brown hair. He smiles at me softly. "Good mornin', Miss." Oooh, Miss!

I sit up slowly, my entire body stiff and sore. "It's Kat." The beach is white, bleached from the relentless sun. The ocean is a shining sapphire blue. To my right, jade trees with thick trunks darken into a jungle. I shudder, the dark cold and threatening.

"Will. Are you cold?" Kind, considerate. We would get along, till his optimism got old.

I shake my head fiercely. I look over my shoulder, searching for the other voices I heard. I spot a blonde woman with brown roots and brown eyes. Her arms are crossed and she glares poutingly at the horizon. A nervous young man paces up and down the beach not far away from her, dirty blonde hair and gray eyes.

"It-" My mind is still fuzzy. "What," I put a hand to my forehead and shake my head slowly. "Do you know what time it is?"

"We crashed around noon. I say it took me about thirty minutes to get to shore, an hour to find Wes, that young man, Leah, the young woman, and you. Another thirty minutes for you to wake up. So, I'd say it's about 2 o'clock, maybe 3." I was sure it was later than that. Adrenalin made time fly ten times faster than fun.

"We, um, we need to make a shelter. And make a fire. And get plans for food and water and--" I started to panic, I couldn't breath, everything was going to go terribly, terribly wrong.

"Slow down. You need to rest. I'm sure Wes and Leah won't be opposed to some hard work. You just help when you're feeling up to it." Will was so confident. So sure that everything was going to be okay, even here, the first day, when our worlds had been turned upside down and sideways. He gave me so much hope.

I sat there for a half hour, pissed that I couldn't do anything. Leah refused to help after all, and Wes didn't have much meat on his bones, poor thing. Will did all the work in making our shelter. It was small and wouldn't do much against, well, any type of weather, but it was better than nothing. I got up, collected firewood, and worked on making a spark. I did an old trick I had learned from my brother, but it wasn't working. I glanced over to Leah, who hadn't moved.

"Leah! You wanna help? We need food and water."

She rolled her eyes. "We live next to the ocean. We have all the water we need."

I tried not to call her stupid, or worse. "That's salt water. Drink to much of it, you'll hallucinate. Can you collect some so we can boil it?"

She shrugged. "Whatever." Well, at least I know she'll listen to me if all things go for the worse.

The sun slowly lowered. Eventually, Wes helped me start the fire. It started slowly, but soon turned into a roaring flame. Will, despite everything, was smiling. An adventure type, I gathered. He had a sharpened stick he called a spear and was going fishing tomorrow. Leah and I were going to go searching in the frightening forest for fruit or a freshwater stream. Wes was going to follow Will, try and learn a few things.

I could feel a pattern forming. Stubborn Leah, puppy dog Wes, hardworking Will, and me, somewhere in the middle. I wasn't panicking yet, which surprised me. I guess reality hadn't kicked in yet. It would soon.

I stared up at the sky, watching the sparks dance up towards the dark sky. The stars twinkled up above, watching us carefully. They were so much brighter here than back home.