The Little Boat

"Someone came. Someone finally came!" I look out at the radiant sea, and the light, azure color of it fills my eyes. A boat. A small, flimsy, wooden boat was floating delicately towards us, almost looking like a toy you'd find a child playing with during bathtime. Hope begins to emerge inside of me, and I leap up and down, screaming, crying. The beauty of the water surrounding me often brought tears to my eyes, and I stared in awe whenever the waves lazily crawled onto the sand, selfishly clinging to it, only to be pulled away again and again. It's been like this for a while now, my only source of entertainment being the sea. It's been exactly three weeks since her and I had been stranded on the island. The first few days, we were completely hopeless. Huddling over our backpacks every once in a while, trying to find a leftover granola bar that we could've possibly forgotten about, but it was never there. After a few days, we've started to use our resources. Surviving off of coconuts and bananas hadn't been so bad, but there's a limit. Our bodies simply couldn't take the same meal everyday, and we had begun to deteriorate.

Now, as I look at the tiny boat coming towards me, it no longer looks like a pathetic boat. To me, it looks like a ginormous ship with luxuries awaiting us both, with men who can help us, who can pull us up and wrap us in blankets and feed us warm food other than rotting fruits. "They're coming! They're coming for us in that little boat!" I cry at the top of my lungs. I look to my right and see her lean, thin figure laying uselessly on the ground, as if she might break if I even lay a mere finger on her body. I rush towards the sea and scoop some of the glistening water into my dirty hands and walk back towards her. "You're getting worse," I whisper as I place her head on my knee and slip the water into her mouth. Her ghostly pale face tilts towards me and she stares at me through her hollow eyes. "We'll be saved now," I say. I look back to the front, and see that the boat has gotten closer.

I sprint down to the sea, falling and spewing out the water that had gotten into my mouth. I wave my arms in the air and splash the water around me, getting more and more annoyed when there is no reply towards my desperate attempts for attention. "Please, we're right here!" I wait a while, and there is still no reply from the little boat. I scream and shout in anger. Still no reply. I turn around and see tears sliding down her face, her slender body trembling. "It's okay!" I shout. "He's probably just deaf!" I focus on the boat again, and gaze in horror as the waves start to swallow it like a full-course meal. "No!" I scream. I plunge into the water and trudge through it, ignoring the stinging feeling on my body from how immensely cold it is. I finally grab onto the wood, gripping as tight as I can. I haul myself onto it and find a pair of matching wooden paddles equipped to the side of the boat, barely hanging on due to the harsh, merciless waves. I yank the paddles off and throw one in each hand, realizing that the weeks with barely any food had taken a huge toll on my strength. I slide the paddles into the water, and maneuver the boat towards the island. I get off and hoist the boat onto the sand, making sure the carnivorous sea doesn't try to ingest it again.

"I found the boat! I don't think there was anyone on it. It must've been floating for days!" I cry as I bolt towards her with the remaining energy I have left. "We can finally get out and eat pizza, wings, hotdogs, everything! And wait until we tell this story to everyone we know. They'll think that we're so cool! We would be on the news, and we could totally be famous-" I stop mid-sentence, and look at her more closely. "Hello?" I grab her hand desperately, and place my head on her chest. "No...no." I shake her viciously, a piece of my heart breaking every time a second goes by with her body remaining motionless. I bury my face into her torn shirt, feeling her ribs, the ribs that had started to show more and more throughout the days from starvation. I whimper as I take her into my arms, her body feeling like a fragile doll. The ones you'd find at antique shops, behind the sparkling glass windows. It's silent. The sound of the waves slither into my ears, filling my brain with sorrow and grief. The sound slowly turns into a melody, luring me towards it. I glance at the buoyant waves, and start to resent them for being so joyful and carefree. The melody enraptures me, tugging at my clothes, trying to get me to follow it. My body finally starts to move unknowingly, and before I can stop myself, I'm standing up. I pull her body towards the shore with me and take one last look at the enamoring sea before me. I lay on the ground, cradling her in my weak arms, making sure she's as warm as can be. I watch as the sea devours the boat once again, but I do nothing to stop it. I stare up at the stars, tears forming in my eyes, and let the sea slowly devour me as well.