NO ESCAPE

 

No Escape

By jen-JG

 

Grateful for the shade and the balmy breeze cooling his skin, Adrian leant carefully against a palm tree, keenly watching the blue grey ocean just a few yards away from his bare feet. He sighed and turned away as water and sky met with no sign of any movement or obstruction and the early signs of sunrise tinted the horizon with hues of pink and gold.

 

"Too damn much to hope for," he muttered as he cut another mark in the tree behind him with the shard of mirror found washed up after the shipwreck.

 

Adrian counted the marks and knew he’d been alone here for more than eight years.

 

His mind wandered back to when he wasn’t alone… and he told his story to the palm tree.

 

"Ten of us set out that day, Barry and his wife Mary, Gordon and his son John, brother and sister Greg and Fran, twin sisters Nancy and Fiona, my friend Audrey and myself. Just ten good friends who’d saved together for the holiday of a lifetime. We chose a thirty-foot yacht named Adventure 2 and with its Captain set out to explore the oceans and islands for six months.

 

On the third day out we learned the name had been changed.

 

That did worry me a little because I’d heard somewhere it was bad luck to change the name of any sea going vessel. Not wanting to spoil the trip, I said nothing.

 

We had a great time for a month and then things began going wrong. The motor failed so we had to depend on sails, the radio died and something went haywire with the compass – it stuck on due west no matter which way the yacht turned.

 

We struck high seas and the captain tried to keep the yacht pointing into the waves but an unexpected surge slammed us sideways and he lost his balance. His scream echoed as he was swept overboard in the backwash.

 

The yacht rolled and tipped as waves pounded over it. Fear filled screams rang out as creaking and sudden cracking indicated the yacht was breaking apart.

 

Within seconds we were fighting for our lives in the water.

 

Gordon grabbed a decent slab of timber and we all managed to hang onto that.

 

I have no idea how long we clung to the slab of timber, drifting at the whim of the ocean, but I do know we were getting very weak. One morning there were only eight of us clinging to the timber. During the night, the twins, Nancy and Fiona slipped away so quietly that no one knew.

 

Another day passed and we were beginning to think the twins were the lucky ones.

 

Night fell quickly and soon we became aware of the water sounding different. Suddenly our feet dragged on the bottom and a surge sent us onto the sand. We couldn’t see a thing but managed to drag ourselves further from the water, before we collapsed into sleep.

 

When we wakened, we discovered other bits of timber had washed up with us as well as a largish piece of broken mirror and other bits and pieces we could use.

 

Greg was a natural leader and we were happy to let him keep that role.

 

We managed to survive quite well for just over two years, taking it in turns to hunt for food and water, strip down the palm leaves to make and repair shelters, collect coconuts for the milk and flesh, and turn into useful water containers. We caught fish to eat and experimented with some of the roots, finding some quite tasty. We gathered wood and built a huge signal fire on the cliff behind the beach, which we all took turns in keeping well alight.

 

You know what happened then, my palm tree friend, I was sent to investigate the far side of the island. Some of the others heard animal sounds in the inland brush and I was to check it out on my way to explore the waterfall discovered on that side.

 

The waterfall was beautiful, clear cool water tumbling down a steep cliff into a deep pool. Vegetation was lush and there was plenty of fruit growing nearby. I climbed the cliff beside the waterfall as far as I could manage and discovered two medium sized caves, which appeared quite deep and dry.

 

I saw wild piglets rummaging in the undergrowth and knew the others would be happy about eating something other than fish.

 

On my way back, I became aware of an eerie feel to the air as I came nearer to this side of the island. Then I heard shouts of joy, " A boat! We’ve been found!" I could hear happiness and excitement in their voices and hurried to join them on the beach, stopping mid stride as the shouts of joy became screams of terror and suddenly ceased all together.

 

I bellied down and elbow dragged myself to the undergrowth fringe, where I stopped to look around. I saw an old sailboat anchored off the beach and several canoes dragged onto the sand. My heart stopped as I saw my friends lying spreadeagled, with natives bending over them and hacking their lifeless bodies to pieces.

 

I was frozen to the spot, my palm tree friend, I couldn’t move until long after the natives hauled anchor and sailed out of sight. When I did get to the beach, everything was gone. Our shelters were gone, the stored food taken and the only sign left of my friends was the reddish eddy in the water as the ocean washed their life blood from the sand where they were all slaughtered….."

 

 

Adrian stepped back from the palm tree and wiped angry tears from his eyes as he looked at the ten stones he’d placed by the palm tree to honour the memories of his lost friends and the captain of the Adventure 2.

 

 

There was a hollow space for one more stone, his own, and it didn’t look like that would be placed today either but then again….

 

Adrian stared out to sea then continued telling his story to the palm tree….

 

 

"…You know I didn’t come back here for a long time. I guess I was afraid. I built myself a nest in one of the caves by the waterfall and stored as much as I needed. I found a path leading to a small cove and was able to fish there and I also caught the occasional piglet to cook and eat.

 

One day a box washed up in the cove and when I opened it, it was filled with books, magazines, blank paper, several pencils and a dozen screw topped bottles of beer.

 

Oh, that beer was a godsend and I enjoyed every last drop of it. Then I began writing letters to my friend’s families telling them of our adventures. I described the island and our life here and asked them to please keep searching.

 

I put the letters into the empty bottles, screwed the lids tight and tossed them into the ocean from different parts of the island hoping they would spread out in the currents and find someone to read them.

 

I kept one bottle for my goodbye note.

 

Reading the books help pass some of the time, then I found a better use for some of the pages, as the grass and brush was a little rough at times on the rear end

 

I didn’t mind the magazines and was quite pleased to find a couple of Readers Digests among them. I meant to renew my subscription before we came on this supposed holiday of a lifetime, but I forgot to.

 

You know about the Readers Digests, my palm tree friend, I’ve read them to you daily for the past eight years. Now, I think it is about time that I began saying goodbye. I’ve been here 10 years, the last eight of them alone, except for you, my friend. I kept the signal fire alight, hoping someone would come, I would even have been glad to see those natives come back, but they didn’t. I’ve sent letters by bottles in the ocean and now I don’t have any hope.

 

I intend to take a final walk around the island and then come back here to write my goodbye note and send it out to sea here, where we washed ashore. Then dear palm tree friend, I intend to let this shard of mirror take me to where my friends are and allow the ocean to mix my blood with theirs.

 

I’ll be back soon dear friend to say ‘goodbye….."

 

 

Adrian turned and walked away.

 

He had only gone a few steps when his bare toes struck something in the sand. He bent, grabbed and pulled out a clear corked bottle with papers inside.

 

Excitement surged through him as with trembling fingers he pulled out the cork and gently shook the papers out.

 

His eyes read

 

 

Dear Mr Adrian Brown

 

We have great pleasure in informing you that you are a finalist in our latest draw.

You are among only ten privileged people in your locality to be given this opportunity of being our grand finalist winner and collecting Twenty Million Dollars.

 

That’s right, Mr Adrian Brown! You read right. TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS could be yours in the next seven days if you act promptly.

We are aware your subscription to Readers Digest is no longer current and did in fact lapse over ten years ago. Believe me, Mr Adrian Brown, this is just a small hiccup having no impact on your prize-winning opportunity and is easily attended to.

 

For this unique opportunity all you need to do is send your renewal cheque for $150 by return, and I could be drawing your name within seven days as being the lucky winner of TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS.

 

Of course you can double your chances by ordering any two or more items from the enclosed catalogue and we will enter you in the draw for a magnificent island holiday. Can you imagine it Mr Adrian Brown, lovely golden beaches, balmy breezes and beautiful girls eagerly attending your every desire, and it could all be yours if you act now. Be assured Mr Adrian Brown, whether you order from the catalogue or not, you have as fair and equal a chance of winning as anyone else, but why limit your opportunities.

 

Remember you must act now, to optimise your every chance in the unique opportunity. I look forward to the possibility of presenting you with your winning cheque of TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS in the near future.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gordon Smith

 

Readers Digest.

 

 

 

 

The letter fluttered onto the sand…..

 

 

A lone screw topped bottle bobs into the net of a fishing boat just this side of the horizon and heading straight towards the island.

 

The Palm tree stands alone with eleven stones around its base.

 

 

And a broken shard of mirror reflected the pink tinted water on the sand…

Author's Note

anything you wish to say honesty is good.

Reviews

[Passion for Literature]

LOL...can you tell I am working backwards on the read requests? Hmmmm, the dyslexia must be kicking in this morning :o)

there is so much that struck me while I was reading this story...I hope I remember everything

I love the sense of sight you share in this story..."water and sky met"...I like visualizing things like that...you invented a very clever storyline...at first, your story made me recollect Golding's theme in LORD OF THE FLIES...especially when you stated about Greg being a natural born leader and the survivors working to maintain a sense of community...several times you repeat your time line...stranded 10 years and being alone for 8 years...because of your repetitive info I wondered if there was a significance in those numbers (please let me know)...the bad luck of changing the name was very ingenious to include...I LIKE THAT...the paper material's alternate usage was a witty input and nicely done I may add...the significance of the stones was gut wrenching...I like how you came back to that at the end which reminds the reader of the story's magnitude...the reader's digest irony is superb...especially when you introduced his negligence in renewing his subscription then used it to your advantage to conclude the story.

your story articulates how a human's sense of despair can be suppressed by a sense of survival...over time lonliness consuming a man's worth as he accepts that he has lost everything he ever knew and what he holds dear enough to make the choice to deliberate his final moment...AMAZING!

Jen, thank you so very much for sharing this with me...*HUGS*

[Norma J. Jessee]

Jen, I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to get here. I was away from the Cafe for awhile and the requests piled up and I'm slowly working my way through them.

This was an extremly well written and interesting story. It held my attention as I eagerly anticipated a rescue.
I had to chuckle when I read the note in the bottle. Isn't it ironic how no matter where you go a bill collector or advertizer will find you. But that part was also sad when you think of how eagerly he anticipated opening that bottle hoping to find rescue near at hand.

And the end was heartbreaking. I can only imagine how lonely a person would be being totally alone that many years. With almost nothing to take away the boredom and lonelyness. A horrible fate indeed.

I loved this story Jen. You are very talented my friend.

[David Darabian]

It reminded me of a modern version of Robinson Crusoe or even the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks, both of which I like. You're very good at describing things but I think that it would have been even better if you described some of the other senses aswell, maybe how wonderful the beer tasted, or the smell of the piglets roasting over the fire.
I very much liked the first few lines: Grateful for the shade and the balmy breeze cooling his skin, Adrian leant carefully against a palm tree, keenly watching the blue grey ocean just a few yards away from his bare feet.
It has such a tranquil-feeling to it that it grabs you rght away, I could almost hear the waves washing up on the shore. Well done, again.

[Winter McPherson]

Very well written. Held my attention. And the end had a funny twist - just like the cork screw in the bottle. The message - you can be sure that no matter where you're at the advertisers will find you every time! lol!

[cyanskye]

Interesting, You did a nice job describing the man's despair and loneliness. The end I found hysterical and sad. This was a little too personal...we are just learning to sail and my husband just finished building his first sailboat. We knew that you should never change a boat's name so we never even voiced suggestions until it was done and Rob had picked one out!!!

[Dani California]

This somewhat reminded of the movie Castaway, yet different in so many aspects. Probably due to the relationship between Adrian and the palm tree, much like Tom Hanks' character (i don't recall his character's name) and Wilson, the volleyball. I'd love to do a psyche study on that connection of man with object.

Back to your story...

This was so well written Jen. I found myself deep into the emotional aspect of it and the slaughter of Adrian's friends had a huge impact. The ending was humorous for only a moment, but then fell into deep sadness and disappointment. I also became highly irritated with thoughts of junk mail... lol. Now, via bottle! LOL That was amusing... I must say!

You have an awesome talent! This was one of the better stories I've read here.
Very captivating and very well written! Thank you so much for sharing this with me! :)

[Nick Erickson]

Excellent piece here full of irony and... I think, humor. It would be a "contest" that would find him...
The character was wonderfully described, his relationship with the palm tree. Reading and writine and telling all to the trees. One might say he returned to man's early days when we worshiped and revered nature.
Well done!!!

[Creepy Swine Guy]

Well that was a sad tale. I wanted someone to rescue him or even just show up to find the stones. What a horrible way to go. The irony of the RD prize was not lost on me either. I think that you might of meant the entire piece to speak subtly to the importance of placing proper priorities.

Your writing is crisp and skillfully descriptive.

[Antony]

Jen, I loved this story, anything about the sea with adventure, is a great read for me. You told a good whole story without going into chapters. I liked the message in a bottle idea and I even enjoyed the ending, it fit perfectly. There were a few good twists in this, that kept it interesting. Nice work Jen.
Antony