The Island

TW: Murder

           The sun was shining brightly high in the majestic blue sky. The sand on the beach was white and glittered under the hot sun. Waves crashed upon rocks offshore and the tide carried with it scattered debris along with three people. Their tattered clothes clung tightly to their sea-drenched bodies.

Four hours sooner:

           “MISTY”, the fifty-four-foot Hatteras fishing yacht, was cruising along at just over thirty knots along the Gulf of Thailand when a small vessel up ahead appeared to be in distress. They pulled up alongside the wooden long-tail boat. The motor was smoking, and two men worked vigorously to fix it as they neared.

           Chester, who had been driving the yacht, called out to the two men…

           “Ahoy! Can we be of assistance?”

           The two men, who appeared to be locals, looked up at the yacht, then turned their attention back to the motor. The captain of the yacht dropped anchor and told the three passengers on board, that he would be right back. He then straddled the side of the yacht and lowered himself down onto the long-tail boat.

           Chester walked to the stern of the long-tail boat where the men stood, but before he could reach them, one of the men raised a gun and shot the captain in the abdomen. He toppled overboard and sank out of sight.

           The three passengers on board ran to the side of the yacht at the sound of the gunshot only to see a puddle of red forming in the water next to the boat. Rebecca, Chester’s wife, screamed. The other two grabbed onto her and pulled her back.

           The two men from the boat quickly boarded the yacht and cornered the passengers. One man held them at gunpoint while the other began searching through their belongings and throwing anything overboard that they did not see as valuable.

           Once they were satisfied with the possessions that were still aboard, the one man went to the helm and started the engine. The man with the gun turned quickly at the sound, and Julia, one of the other passengers, took that opportunity to push her friends overboard then jump over herself. They dove under the water and swam as far as they could before coming back up for air.

           Bullets buzzed past them as they swam. They did not stop until they heard the yacht driving away. Julia guided her friends toward some of the items that the man threw overboard. A Samsonite suitcase floated nearby, and Julia grabbed onto it. She noticed Rebecca struggling to swim and offered her the suitcase. Rebecca graciously accepted.

           Julia’s boyfriend, Richard, found a plastic orange juice bottle. He emptied the contents into the water, replaced the lid, and handed it to Julia for some buoyancy. Richard said that he would swim to shore, but the shore was still a mile away in choppy water.

           Rebecca and Julia began to kick their feet while holding onto the makeshift flotation devices and Richard began to swim. The waves continuously splashed into their faces, but the current seemed to be pulling them in the right direction. A series of islands laid ahead.

           As they neared one of the islands, the water became more agitated. The three survivors were tossed left and right as the water stirred all around them. Julia felt something hitting her legs as she tried to kick through the waves. Rebecca could barely hang onto the suitcase anymore as the current kept pulling her under.

           Julia searched frantically during the commotion for Richard. She had lost sight of him. Suddenly, she felt her head smash hard against a large rock and everything went black.

           When she came to, Julia found herself on a white sand beach. Several of the items from the boat had washed ashore with her and were scattered along the sand. She looked around and found Rebecca laying motionless in the wet sand with the current trying to reclaim her body.

           Julia tried to stand but instantly became dizzy. She grabbed at her head as an intense pain enveloped her skull. Once she regained her balance, Julia made her way to Rebecca’s side where she pulled her a safe distance from the water.

           She then looked around for Richard, but he was still nowhere to be seen. Julia returned her attention to Rebecca and checked her vital signs. She was no longer breathing and did not seem to have a pulse. Julia tried to recall the CPR course she had taken several years before and began to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation combined with chest compressions, but it was no use. Rebecca was gone.

           It was at that moment that Julia felt so alone. She was stranded on an island with no supplies and the people she started the trip with were now dead.

           Julia’s survival mode kicked in eventually and she began gathering up any of the items that had washed ashore and piled them all together next to a large Banyan tree. She then began gathering twigs and larger pieces of fallen wood that she could use to start a fire. A gecko lizard scurried across her feet and she jumped. The lizard paused, looked up at her, and walked away.

           Julia returned to the shoreline once more in hopes of spotting Richard, but no such luck. Out past the rocks, Julia spotted two fins sticking out of the water. That was when she feared the worst and assumed that Richard was dead.

           Julia stacked some twigs and some dry leaves into a teepee pattern on the dry sand and went searching for some matches in the pile of luggage and items from the yacht. She could not find matches, but she did find a magnifying glass. Using the intensity of the sun magnified through the glass, Julia was able to heat the leaves to the point where they caught on fire. She continued to add more dried leaves until the twigs caught aflame as well. Once the fire was hot enough, she added a larger branch. Eventually, Julia had created a roaring fire. She was quite proud of herself. Sitting next to the fire, she tried to warm her wet clothes. She tilted her head back and looked to the sky and a Great Blue Heron flew over the trees above her. The chill in her bones began to dissipate.

           The next thing she needed to do was find shelter, so she made her way into the forest behind her. It was dense and very green. The sounds of several birds and monkeys filled the branches above. The further she traveled into the forest, the darker it became.

           A crackling noise caught her attention. It did not sound extremely far away. A series of more cracking branches and movement in the bush ahead followed. Suddenly, out of the bush charged a large boar. Its tusks aimed directly at Julia. She turned and ran in the opposite direction. The boar was quickly catching up. She grabbed onto a low-hanging branch and pulled herself up into a tree. The boar squealed with disappointment at the base of the tree and held her hostage for nearly thirty minutes before heading off in search of his next prey.

           Julia lowered herself carefully to the ground below. Her legs and arms were now scraped from the bark of the tree and several branches that she had to run through to escape the boar, but she continued her quest for shelter.

           Cautiously, she crept through the dense forest, fully aware of every noise or sight of movement. Several snakes slithered through the long grass around her and a few hung from the branches of trees. Lizards of all sizes roamed through the forest like children on a field trip. It was forty-five minutes later that she had spotted it; a cave dug into the side of a cliff. This would be an excellent place to stay overnight, she thought.

           She climbed the steep hill toward the cave opening. The loose gravel beneath her feet made it difficult to keep her footing and she slipped several times. After several attempts, she made it to the cave. It was much too dark inside to know if it was safe to enter, so she inched her way in, using the walls of the cave to guide her. About ten feet into the cave, she heard a low-pitched growl coming from deeper in the cave. An animal was in there with her, but what kind of animal was unclear. She started backing out of the cave when she could sense she was being stalked. Julia picked up her pace and moved toward the entrance of the cave. She could hear the animal approaching from behind, so she began to run. As she exited the cave, she tripped on a rock and slid down the gravel slope.

           At the bottom of the hill, Julia rolled onto her back and looked up to see a large leopard pouncing at her. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for a painful end. A loud shot echoed through the forest. Birds flew out of the trees above as Julia opened her eyes. The leopard fell to the ground at her feet, fatally wounded.

Julia spun around to see where the shot came from. Coming up behind her was Richard along with a group of men carrying rifles. Richard ran to her side.

           “I thought you were dead,” Julia stated, still in shock from the recent events.

           “I thought the same of you,” he said. “That is, I did until I saw the fire you had made, and the belongings piled up against a tree. I saw Rebecca as well. I am so sorry. I am only glad that I was able to reach you in time.”

           “A few seconds later, and there would not have been much of me left to find. Thank you.”

           Julia wrapped her arms around Richard, and he lifted her off the ground.

           “Are you able to walk, Julia?”

           “If I say no, will you keep holding me this way?”

           They both laughed and he introduced her to his companions.

           “This is Anurak. He and his friends work at an animal reserve here on the island. They found me in the forest earlier and once I explained what had happened, they offered to help me find you and Rebecca.”

           “Thank you, Anurak. I am deeply indebted to you.”

           Anurak nodded but said little. Richard told her that Anurak was named after an angel in Thai mythology.

           “Well, he has certainly proven himself to be an angel today.”

           Anurak smiled before calling out instructions to the other men with him. They led Julia and Richard back to the reserve where they gave them hot food to eat and clean clothes to wear. They also contacted the authorities who went in search of the yacht.

           Just before nightfall, they were returned to the yacht. The two men were part of a group of pirates who traveled around the Gulf in search of unsuspecting victims like themselves. They were captured by the Royal Thai Navy soon after the call went out.

           Nightfall had arrived and they were on their way to their next destination. Richard put his arm around Julia and they looked up into the night sky and gazed at the billions of stars that looked down upon them and thought of the friends that they left behind.