Stranded: Chapter 3

 

Pain. Lauren, in an only half conscious sleep, could only feel one thing. Pain. Something was on her. It woke her. In a haze of confusion, Lauren looked around. Where am I?  She was on a beach. She saw people running and screaming, looking for their lost friends. She struggled to turn, to get a glimpse of her surroundings. Behind her was a thick, dense jungle. Through all the foggy thoughts swirling around in her mind, Lauren fought to gain complete awareness of what was going on. A jungle….a beach….water.. She realized where she was. She was on an island. Yet still, she felt sharp pain. She looked down and gasped. There was a piece of the scorched plane wing, covering her from hips down. It was too heavy for her to lift, especially in the weak and confused state she was in. She screamed. “Somebody help me!” A boy, maybe a year or two older than her, with kind of curly hair and strikingly blue eyes noticed her. He called over a few people and hurried to where Lauren was. He grasped the top part of the wing, and the others did the same. She looked into his eyes and he looked back. He smiled weakly and barely whispered, “Don’t worry. We’ll get you out of this.” She watched him in a daze as he directed the others on what to do.             

“1…..2….3….Pull!” They started to lift. Once, the wing was lifted and the sharp pain was gone, there was nothing keeping her out of this half conscious state. She slowly drifted off…..

 

***

 

When Lauren woke up, this time fully awake, she found herself lying on two plane seats fitted together to form a miniature bed. There were others lying on beds, some worse wounded then herself. There was one girl awake, sitting alone, staring out into inky black sky. She noticed Lauren was awake. “Oh hey; you’re awake. You took quite a nasty drop. I’m glad you’re okay.” Lauren smiled, then sat up quickly. “Oh my gosh! Where are my brothers?!” The girl noted her concern and worry and asked. “What do they look like?”

“Eight year olds, short, light brown hair, twins-.” The girl cut her off. “Twins? Oh yeah, I’ve seen ‘em. They’re…..” she pointed. “Over there.” There lay her two brothers asleep, with a girl about 16 watching them. She let out a sigh of relief. Then she thought back to the boy that had saved her earlier that day. Had he been an angel? He had been so assuring, like he knew everything would turn out okay and that they would all get rescued. She had to find him tomorrow. She stumbled up to get her brothers, and felt that sharp pain from before. Not the burning pain like before, but there was still pain. Looking down, she gasped. There was a large bloody cut on her thigh where the wing had been.

“Might be a good idea to soak that in some saltwater. It’ll probably hurt though.”

“Thanks….”

“My names Mandy.”

“Thanks Mandy. I’m Lauren.” She limped over to the ocean. The water felt great, that is, until she reached the height of the cut. A sharp blast of agony shot up her leg. She winced, but remained in the water. After a minute, the pain faded some. She looked around the water, the moon reflecting on it. Then something in the water touched her. She screamed. Something was floating in the water….Lauren leaned in closer. It was a dead body! The skin of it was gray; in a way it looked like a wax figure. Lauren immediately exited the water. She limped over to her brothers. They were sleeping so peacefully, Lauren almost felt jealous. Dylan woke up. He rubbed his eyes, and when he looked up and saw Lauren, he exclaimed, “Lauren!” That woke Ryan. He gasped and hugged her. Lauren couldn’t remember the last time they had hugged. She hugged him harder than she ever had, like she would never let go. He started crying, and Dylan broke in too. It took her all her might not to start crying too. That night, they fell asleep in a tired weak huddle, crying.