I opened my eyes to see
the sun’s unforgiving glare. I grimaced as I tried to adjust to the sudden
brightness of the sky. Then I remembered what happened on the deck and I
immediately sat up and looked around in a frenzy to the point where everything
is a blur because my head was moving back and for so much.
“Whatcha doing El?” Says a familiar voice.
I turned my head to see Manny looking at me with a big
smile on his face. He has a few scrapes and bruises on his face and arms but he
seems fine otherwise.
“Manny, you’re okay.” I said with relief. I don’t know
what I would say to his parents if Manny got washed overboard. They would be
devastated to know that their son was lost at sea and possibly eaten by sharks.
Better not say that last part otherwise
Manny’s mom would faint. Maybe his dad too.
“Whatcha thinking El?” Asks Manny.
“Nothing. More importantly, where are we?” I said as I
got up.
“And the sleeping beauty wakes up at last.” Says a loud
and nasal voice.
I turned to see a man who appears to be in his forties
with an unshaved beard wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt decorated with palm trees
and wearing swimming trunks. He also has green sandals and a knife in his right
hand.
“Do you know where you are right now child?” Says the
man.
I looked around me and saw a few other people standing on
what appears to be a sandy beach littered with human garbage such as water
bottles and old fishing lines. The beach is at the bottom of a cliff that is
around 50 feet high with jagged rocks. There is a tree nearby that appears to
have crabapples growing on its branches just 15 yards from me. A small boy who
appears to be no older than 7 is collecting the fallen fruits that litters the
sand under the tree.
“Did you not hear what I asked?” Says the man in a louder
and more forceful tone.
I quickly snapped my attention back to the man. “We
appear to be on a beach filled with trash that had washed up.” I said
annoyingly.
“I don’t like that attitude you are giving me.” Says the
man. By then some people are looking at our direction with a worried expression
on their face. “What is your name child?”
“This is El.” Chimes in Manny happily. “El will become a
botanist one day.”
“I didn’t ask for you to speak porker!” The man shouted
at Manny.
I quickly got between the man and Manny. “Sir I don’t
like the way you are speaking to my friend.” I said in an icy tone that could
possibly freeze water.
“You see this?” Says the man, holding up his knife. “I am
the only one on this fucking island with
a knife and flint so if you want to survive on this island then you better
stick with me.”
“El
doesn’t need that. El knows how to survive in the wild” interjects Manny from
behind me.
I
glanced back at him and muttered to him. “Manny what are you doing?”
“Shush
El, I am speaking for you.” Says Manny.
“Is
that so?” Says the man. “Well I have been camping outside in the wild for half
my life. From the jungles of Malaysia to the Rockies of North America and I even
had the privilege to camp in North Korea as well. Can you match my expertise in
survival, El?”
This man is full of shit. I
shook my head and said “I don’t have your expertise. I am just a survival junky
that watches too many survival shows.”
The
man smirked and puffs out his chest. “Would you look at that. A wannabe
survivalist.” He puts his knife away in a holster on the inside of his Hawaiian
shirt.
“Well wannabe, if you want to learn how to survive in the
wild then you better stick with me, Mark.” Says the man. “But the porker stays out. I get the feeling
he would eat up all the food I will gather.”
I heard Manny whimper a little at the sound of being
ostracized from the only group of people on this island. Some of the people looked
shocked while others shook their head with a sad expression on their face.
“If Manny isn’t in the group then I don’t need to be in
it either.” I said defiantly.
Mark scoffed at me and then turned towards the group of
people gathered at the beach. From where I am standing, I can see about eight people
have been stranded on this island and I am sure most of them will go with the
guy that can guaranteed fire for the night.
“Forget the Wannabe and Porker, we can survive without
them.” Says Mark in that irritating nasal voice.
Mark motioned the group to come with him towards an
opening between two massive boulders with lush greenery further down the path.
He glanced back at me and Manny with a smug look on his face before resuming
his walk away from the beach.
“Wait.” I yelled.
Everyone looked back at me, including Manny who gave me a
quizzical look. I walked up to the boy who was collecting the crabapple like fruits.
“Those are not crabapples. It was growing on a manchineel
tree.” I said as I offered my hand to take the fruits from him. “Its deadly
poisonous and even a small bite can kill you.”
The boy looked distraught at the idea of having to give
up the fruits he had went through the trouble of collecting. I gave him a
reassuring nod as I extended my hand towards him. The boy turned his head back
towards the others to see what he should do only to have Mark come up to him
and slap the crabapples off his hands.
“What are you spacing out for?” Says Mark angrily. His
voice was loud enough that the boy visibly shrunk back and then started to tear
up.
“And you!” Says Mark as he points a finger at me. “I
don’t want you anywhere near my group do you understand? I don’t want you two
stealing our food because you can’t find food yourself.”
I raised my hands up in an “I surrender” pose and took a
step back. “Just trying to save the boy’s life nothing else”
Mark scoffed. Then he ordered everyone to follow him so
they can find a clearing in the jungle. He made sure to walk up towards a woman
in a waitress uniform and pulled her close to him by the waist. The woman was
clearly startled and tried to break away from him but he pulled her close to
him again.
“Don’t worry babe, I’ll make sure you are warm and safe
on this island” says Mark in a happy tone that felt weird coming from a man
that seems to enjoy screaming so much.
Once they are out of view and ear shot, Manny said “So
El, what do we do now?”
“Well El, we go and find higher ground to survey the land
and see which spot is the best place to set up camp. It will also help us spot
any other useful resources.” I said.
We followed the same path the others took to get out of
the beach and walked on the grassy land until we see a fork on the road. One
lead to the trees while one leads up a hill. I already know where path I am going to take.
We walked up the hill but had to take a short break
because Manny ran out of breath. Once got up to the hill I looked out at the
island. It is a lot bigger than I had expected, maybe 3 miles across. I also
see palm trees with possible coconuts around the furthest part of the island.
Manny taps my shoulder and points towards my right to reveal another island. In
fact, there are a lot of islands that appears to be a few hundred yards away
from this island.
I can also see rocky areas on the right of the island we
are on which can provide fishing spots. There are also a few coconut palm trees
near a sandy white beach with drift wood and littered with human trash. The one
thing I saw that caught my island was trees that appear to have something
orange growing on them.
“Let’s go down towards that area.” I said to Manny.
“As long as we get something to drink then I’ll go
anywhere.” Replied Manny.
I had completely
forgotten how hot and humid this area is. If we don’t get something to drink
then we will die from dehydration or heat stroke. To avoid dehydration, we went
down the hill towards the beach with all the garbage. Along the way towards the
beach, we found mango trees with ripe orange and reddish mangoes. Manny and I
ate a few mangoes before stuffing a few in our pockets. Once we arrived at the
beach we found plastic water bottle, a plastic bucket, a tin can lid, a mangled
fishing net and lots of drift wood.
“Look what I found El!” Manny yells back as he picked up
a bird skull with the neck still attached. “Think this is useful?”
“I think I can make a spear out of that.” I said. So, I
used the tin can lid as a makeshift knife to cut the fishing net to get cordage
which I then used to bind the bird skull that Many found to a stick. I had to
break the neck off the skull and break part of the stick to make it sharp then
tied them together to make a 3-pronged spear.
“Now we can go catch fishes.” I told Manny. Who was eager
to try spear fishing.
“Don’t worry El, I am really good at this stuff.” Said
Manny. “My mom back at the farm made me spear rats with a pitchfork so I can
later roast them for my dinner.”
If I was smiling before, I am no longer doing it. Despite
Manny’s positive attitude, he had a traumatic childhood because of his
biological parents which affected how he sees himself.
Manny darted off to the rocky areas to spear fish while I
dragged drift wood to make a raft. To
hell with Mark and the other people on this island. They would only get in the
way of my grand adventure on a deserted island.
It took 6 hours to build the raft because I was
distracted with building a fire drill by bending a flexible wood and tying it
with cordage from the fishing net to make a miniature bow. I found hollowed
sticks that I semi-sharpened to stab into a few banana tree trunks that I found
growing near the beach which will help collect water from the trees as the
water drip from the hollowed-out sticks into a ditch I dug and covered with
palm leaves.
Manny returned with 2 fishes just as I was starting to
make a fire with the fire drill. He glanced at the raft and then back at me.
“Why are you building a raft?” Asks Manny.
“To go to the other island so we can find more
resources.” I replied to Manny.
“Aren’t we going to get help?”
“If help comes our way then we’ll get help but for now we
can focus on setting up camp for the night.” I said to Manny. Lying to Manny
has always been easy since he believes every lie I tell him even if it is
obvious.
I started using the fire drill by wrapping the cordage
around a stick and then putting the stick on a flat piece of wood and a rock on
the other end of the stick so I can drill the stick into the piece of wood.
This took 30 minutes to create smoke only to find out I didn’t prepare any
tinder so the smoke went out.
“Well that is a bust.” I muttered to myself. It will be
disappointing to tell Manny we can’t eat the fishes he had caught.
“It’s okay El.” Says Manny. “I can catch more fishes tomorrow
and I bet they will taste just as good as the mixed vegetables my dad makes for
me.”
“Manny, your dad fed you pig slop.” I am getting
irritated with how much Manny can put up with his abuse.
“Yeah but it tastes good!” Says Manny as he starts to
peel a mango.
“Manny, just go to sleep once you’re done eating. I am
going to make a lean-to shelter with the raft and some palm leaves.”
I laid down on the palm leaves and closed my eyes. My little island adventure isn’t going so
well. Maybe I should steal the knife and flint from that douchebag.
“Hey El?”
“What is it Manny?” I replied.
“Are we going to bring the others to the island if it has
more resources?”
I opened my eyes and sat up. I can see Manny is still
wide awake with the help of the moonlight. He is looking at me expectantly.
“Why do you care about them?” I asked angrily. “They
wanted to kick you out.”
“No, El, the man that yells a lot wanted to kick me out.”
Said Manny. “I get the feeling he will not share anything with the other people.”
I sighed and laid back down. “Go to sleep. We have a long
day tomorrow.”
