Stranded: Chapter 3

The story continues as they are still stranded...

Jack silently cursed himself as he followed the footsteps. He cursed himself for various reasons. How stupid of him to leave his wife, who was desperately sick! How stupid of him to leave the man, who was desperately hurt! How stupid of him to board an Airline that is famous for having terrorist attacks and Machine Breakdowns! He made a vow, shivering on a cold morning whilst picking through an un-known forest looking for his wife, to never use Galoyal Airlines again.

Presently Jack came to a large dent in the soft ground, and he gasped as he realized Teresa must have fallen over. He analyzed the marks, skidded down a hill and found a curled-up Teresa near the bank of a fresh-water river.

 

*

 

Teresa was crying when she realized she was lost. How stupid of her! She knew she should have stayed at the spot and waited for Jack to come back - she desperately wanted to have him hold her in his arms. She coughed up still more seawater and groaned. She felt very sick. She felt more than sick - sickness was a blessing compared to what she was suffering! As she mulled over the use of words in her last thought, she tripped over her own bare feet, down, down, down to the edge of a river. Her last memory was looking at the beautiful flowing water before she hit her head and was concussed.

 

*

 

Henry found it a difficult task hobbling down the beach, following footsteps in the sand. He stopped for a moment, rested against a tree and then began again, puffing with effort. He wanted his leg back now, but knew that would have brung only more pain to walking. Then, Henry found two roughly even sticks with forks at one end. Grinning, Henry fitted them underneath his armpits and started on his way with his makeshift crutches.

As he hobbled, he thought.

As a child, he certianly wasn't loved. He had been a Hungarian Jew for goodness sake, born when Racism against the Jewish people was still thrivning. He grew up as an orphan with no siblings, trying to figure out why the world hated him. He never found the answer. Instead, he turned to the world with bombs and threats, showing the people who shunned him just how dangerous he could be.

Is this why the man ran from me? Henry thought. She was quick to try and shake it off, but the thought began to hound him, insistently saying The man knows who you are. He knows exactly why you are so shunned. Better give up now Henry. See that water? It can take your life with surprising speed. Henry cast a look at the sea, wondering... but then he snapped out of it. His thought was finally diminished and Henry had come to the place the mans footsteps had stopped. Other dents were there too - someone had been resting here, before continuing into the bushes. That was his wife, Henry realized. Henry felt his breath leave him, and he leant against a tree in an effort to breathe normally again. When that happened, Henry was both sore, tired and winded by long travel. With a long, final sigh, he sunk to where the man's wife had been ten minutes before, and fell into a deep, undisturbed sleep.

 

Author's Note

Please exscue problems that there are in here.