surviving amber

i never thought i could leave

 

Chapter 1

 

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb beeeeeeeeeeeeeeb beeeeeeeeeeeeeeee beeeeeeeeeeeeeb beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb beeeeeeeeeeeeeb beeeeeee whack. My hand sneaks out from under the warm toasty covers hitting the top of my alarm clock fumbling blindly searching for the snooze button. I move about an inch every thirty seconds. Trying to get those last precious minuets of sleep before having to start the day. I push the blankets out of my face and try to wake up enough to sit up and wipe the thin stream of drool of my face. I rub my eyes getting rid of any eye boogers that might have formed during the night. I slip out of bed sluggish and droopy. I put my feet on to the cold carpet and scuttled to the bathroom across the hall feeling like I could sleep for ever and never wake up. I flip the light switch on lazily and in the mirror  I stare at a scary monster with wild untamed hair and bad breath. I brush my teeth with my eyes close still not fully awake. I take a nice warm shower that helps get my senses tingling and steams up the mirror. I grab the blue towel and towel dry my hair and comb through the brown tangled mess. I put my clothes on. It’s your everyday simple regular outfit. A pair of faded out jeans with a turquoise long sleeve shirt. I slip on a black head band, grab my backpack, a bagel and I am out the door trying to catch the bus while still trying to look cool. I wonder if that’s even possible for me. You see the problem with me is that I’m klutzy and forgetful but mostly I’m a klutz. I am your average seventh grader. I have brown straight hair soft pink lips light brown eyes and freckles. I hate my freckles. People always say to you

  “You have the cutest little freckles.” Yeah right. I have these stupid light brown freckles that dust across the bridge of my nose. Anyway I finally get to school .the bell rings soon after I arrive. I go up the same boring stairs and down the hall to my small red locker. I get my books and anything else I’ll need for my first class when my best friend Courtney comes up and leans against the locker next to mine.

“Did you see what the cheerleaders are wearing” she asks me. the cheerleaders as Courtney and I call them actually aren’t really your typical cheerleader that cheers at football games but stuck up snobs that think they are all that because, well they are. Almost all the cutest guys in school are their boyfriends or were. They are the hottest chicks in the school. Their leader Amber is the smartest prettiest girl in the school acne free and is the girl every body wants to be. She has natural blond hair with lighter blond highlights nice natural pink full lips and a thin but not to thin body.

“Why what are they wearing today the latest hit design from brats r us” oh did I mention her family was like totally rich. Well she wasn’t exactly rich rich she just had a lot more money than the rest of us.

“She and her girls are wearing these skimpy black barely meets standards tight dresses with no bottoms. If they bend over you’ll see things that will give you night mares for a week.”

“I wonder how long they can go with out being caught, ha like that will ever happen” It always happened that the cheerleaders never got caught no matter what they did. And if you tried anything close to it you would be caught immediately. I guess that is just how the universe works. “Well we better get going you know how Mrs. Todesey will snap if you come in even a millisecond late”

    “Yeah I know what you mean see you later Nikki” Nikki is my nick name. My real name is Nicole but the only people that call me Nicole are the teachers that are stuck up and don’t care what you want to be called and my parents every once and a while when I get into big trouble. I go through my first three classes. Math, science and social studies with out to much homework. It is at lunch when things get a little more interesting.

I catch up with Courtney and we walk to lunch staying clear of the cheerleaders. We buy our lunch and sit at our favorite table. We always sit there it has a nice few of the cafeteria and an awesome view of the park across from the school. We watch the cheerleaders at their table in the middle of the cafeteria talking not really eating so they can keep skinny. Well all of them except for Amber who is eating a chocolate Twix bar. I guess that’s her way of showing off that she can eat chocolate and still have a hot body.

I ride the bus back home. Once I’m there I open the door and drop my heavy loaded backpack onto the floor. I grab a snack and get to work on a paper that I have to write for my teacher ms. Good day at least that’s what we call her. It is a joke because every day with Ms. Good day is a bad day. She is my social studies teacher. She gives out tough home work that makes you stay up for hours. She has never missed a single day of school which means not a single break from her with a sub. So there I am at 4:00 trying to write this four paged essay due tomorrow. No one else is home my mom and dad don’t get off of work until letter and my sister has volley ball practices after school so the house was nice and empty. Sadly I was having one of those days .you know the kind where you stare at three sentences for two hours which is exactly what I did. I had been home two whole hours and had only typed three sentences. So far what I had down was the following. The pilgrims were very special people. They came from all around the world. There are many things two learn about the fist pilgrims. Boy was I pathetic.” Oh well” I sighed to my self. I got up and went upstairs to my room to listen to some music thinking that it would help me get around this thinking road block.

I was listening to Pinks latest hit “so what” when I saw moms head lights flash through my window as she pulled into the garage. I turned of my music and went down stairs to greet my mom. When she walked she looked like she would collapse at anytime. It was already 7:00 and was getting dark outside.ussally my mom got home at 6:00.

“Hi mom what’s up are you ok, you don’t look to good”

“Oh I’m fine” says my mom. She looks exhausted and pleased at the same time

“I’ll be right back” I tell her and go to the fridge to get out a can of coca-cola. My moms’ job is to come up with the different types of music players. She came up with the original nano idea. She works for apple which means I could get lots of new cool hip stuff for like a dollar but sadly my mom thinks that might spoil me so I get squat. When I walk into the family room again like I predicted my mother is collapsed on the couch.

“Oh thank you so much sweetie, I really needed some of this”

“Your welcome mom so what’s up you look beat”

“I just wanted to get some things done that have been piling up” says my mom .That’s when my dad comes in with Samantha my little sister come in. She is the pretty girl in my family. With her but length blonde silky hair nice smooth face and no freckles. Samantha is smiling with this big grin on her face as if she were told that she was going to get a pony. My dad looks all mucho and tough like he is the best dad in the world.

“What’s going on why are you guys so happy” I ask them they all have this glow of happiness.

“Can I tell her now?” Sam asks my dad.

“Tell me what?” I ask with curiosity on my face. Sam just can’t hold it in any more and she blurts out something so squished together you can barely understand her.

“we      won!wewon!dadwonthetripgetreadytogo.bags.whyareyoustillstandingtherecomeon! “Wow Sam could you slow it down for all of us that can’t speak alien?” I asked her. She just shrieks and runs upstairs to do something. “So what’s going on?” I turn and ask my dad and mom.

“Your dad won a five day trip on a cruise ship for all four of us.” My mom says.

“That’s why you were trying to get all that work done? So you wouldn’t have to worry about it?” I jump for joy like an idiot just the way Sam had when she had first come in. “wow. That is the coolest thing well I guess I have to get all my work done.” I said and went up stairs in a shock it wasn’t always that you won a trip. I slumped down on the bed.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

 

Toot tout! The boat belted out.” Come on I yell over my shoulder at the rest of my family. I was the one that was very excited about the trip. We lugged our luggage up the ramp and made it on the deck just in time... as we were turning in to line up and give them our tickets I thought I saw the hint of perfect flowing blond hair. That looked familiar but I didn’t really pay attention to it so it slipped my mind. We finally reached the cabin that we would be sleeping in for the days ahead. Mooooooom whined my sister I'm hungry .can we go to the buffet now. Your father and I my said want to finish unpacking our stuff. Oh no here it comes the thing when no one wants to take the youngest kid around and then they all realize that they have an older child.nikki .oh great yeah I’ll take her . I grumble and we head off to eat...

“Finally” I mumble to my self glad to be done with all my family. I’m in a spa getting my feet rubbed while vibrating in a spa chair. I close my eyes and rest. The next day goes mostly the same as yesterday. I took Sam to breakfast went to the spa eat lunch went back to spa ate dinner with family and stood out side looking at the ocean. It is an amazing thing the ocean. Full of dangers and beauty and mystery. That was how I spent most of my time on the boat. It was a two week trip so I had plenty of time to do whaterver. One the fourth day of our voyage was when it happened when everything was smashed to pieces. A day that would change my life forever. I woke up like normal and helped my sister with her breakfast. Instead of going to the spa that day I looked out at the sea. It was sparkling from the sun. I just walked around the ship exploring. I had eaten lunch but wasn’t very hungry so I only had a few pieces of fruit and a small glass of lemonade.

I was leaning on the rail looking out into the sea when I heard the first scream. So shrill and hi pitched that you knew it wasn’t something small a girl was running crying screaming about fire and bombs in the ship. At first we thought she had just spent a little to much time in the sun but then we saw the crowd coming towards us fear in there eyes. then it all happened so fast there was a second of deadly quiet , a blast of burning hot air a flash of orange yellow light and then I was flying hi up in the sky zooming upwards so fast I couldn’t believe it. I was flying and then … I wasn’t I wasn’t flying I was falling and falling fast toward the waters I had taken a few swimming lessons but not much just enough if I was swooshed into the depend by accident. I didn’t know how to dive our any fancy stuff like that so I had to rely on discovery channel and other TV shows. I new that if I just let my self fall flat on my back or stomach it would hurt like getting a big carpet burn all over your body. I tried to bend but the air made it a little hard finally I was ready to hit the surface. my last thought before I hit the surface was thinking how calm I was not flailing around our just letting my self die I knew exactly what to do. Splash. I hit the water like an arrow shot like a pro. Once I had entered the water I put my arms out to slow me down because I didn’t want to go in to deep. I swam up to the surface the water burning my eyes so much I had to close them and swim blindly to the surface. When I broke through to the surface I looked for something to grab onto. And found a piece of wood I hung onto it. I looked around and saw no boat any where. Then I felt something hairy bump into me from behind I swam around kicking my feet to see what it was and saw that it was a human body. I didn’t need any clues to tell me if he was ok. I could tell by the colorless face the closed eyes the way they laid in the water. I thought I was going to be sick and then I realized that there were more all over in the water. And the sight was horrible and I did get sick. That was when I realized that my family had been in side when the ship blew up. The smell didn’t help it smelled like burning flesh. I was sick again when I was done I wiped my mouth and started to kick looking for my family. My cool mind set had dissolved away and now was a frantic chase. I new that Sam couldn’t swim and that my mom and dad would have a hard time keeping her a float. I called out my throat burning from swallowing a little bit of the water. “Samantha? Dad? Mom? Were are you?” As I swam closer to the clump of bodies and still smoldering wood. I screamed out over and over again listening to only the waves of the ocean which were starting to get heavier. I keep looking for about an hour. I find a bigger square shaped piece and sit on it. Then a big wave comes by and swoops me up and brings me under neath the water for a few minutes. I’m numb the possibilities swirling through my head. I don’t even close my eyes against the salty sting. I lay down in an awkward position on the board feeling the waves beneath me. My stomach growls and my throat is starting to dry. I’m wishing that I had had a bigger lunch than just some fruit and a small glass of lemonade. Some how I am able to wander off to sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3

 

When I wake up I have a stale taste in my mouth my throat is burning and I have cramped up arms and legs. I sit up and realize that the board isn’t dipping beneath me like it would if it were still on the sea. I look around and realize that I’m on sand my clothes are dry so I assume that I have been on the island for a while. My human survival instincts are screaming at me to go find food and shelter so I do. Back home I used to watch discovery channel all the time so I was full of knowledge on this kind of thing only it wasn’t TV it was real so I had to be careful. I look around first taking in my surroundings ate it to. It filled me up enough for the moment.

but I would have eaten cow poo I was so hungry.

my food I decided to walk around. It looked like a circular shaped island. I found a rock and kicked at it still walking forward. Then smack I ran into something and ended up on the ground I sat up and was staring into the face of some one I could not

. There was a sandy beach like area where I was and then turned into a jungle like thing. The island was pretty big and I decided to look around for some one to ask where I could find some shelter. I went out looking but found no one. I looked around and saw some coconut trees I wasn’t a very big coconut person in fact I hated the stuff but I would have eaten cow poo I was so hungry. The tree was to smooth and hard to climb. I used the piece of wood and was able to finally knock one down one that was very hard to open I gave up after a while convinced that it would never open. I took it in my hands one more time and threw it at the tree. Hard. It made a loud crack. It had a little crack in it but not a big one. I threw it again and it cracked in half. I scooped it up and poured the liquid into my mouth it tasted good and then I took the other half and ate it to. It filled me up enough for the moment. After I had my shelter and my food I decided to walk around. It looked like a circular shaped island. I found a rock and kicked at it still walking forward. Then smack I ran into something and ended up on the ground I sat up and was staring into the face of some one I could not believe the one person I could have done without the one the only Amber. Of all the people to be here with me it was her. Well she said in her stuck up voice don’t just stand there help me up you big klutz. Yep that was her annoying brat faced Amber stand up and brushes the sand off of me. Help your self up I tell her. She doesn’t have any rule over me and there is no teacher or parent who is going to ground so … so what. Why not say what I think. I could punch her in the mouth right now and have no guilt but I hold back. She finally realizes I’m not gong to help her up so she gets up herself. Why are you following me you stalker. The nerve of some people I think. I just look at her with this face of I’m not in the mood but she doesn’t take the hint. Give some of that food .she says to me as if she is ruler of the world and I’m the poorest person. Go get some for your self I say in a dark tone. I ask her how did you get here I ask her. Trying to refrain from saying something rude or snotty. Well for your information the cruise I was on blew up and now I’m shipwrecked on a deserted island. My jaw drops I freeze. The head that I saw when we were turning in our tickets was familiar it was Amber’s head.  She was on the same ship as me. Of all the people I mutter mostly to myself. What’s that supposed to mean she says you’re lucky to even be stuck with me. I turn around and walk away tired of her stupidity. “Where are you going? You can’t just leave me here you have to help me! I could die!” tiffany screams at my back.

“I don’t have to do anything.” I say to her turning around. “You have absolutely no control over me hear nothing can stop me from leaving you here stranded.” In the back of my head I know that I’ll need her help but I try to shove that part away. “Fine” I say to her “you can come but if you mess up something or don’t help than I’m kicking you out.  And you’ll have to fend for your self.”

“Ok fine whatever just give me some food.” She says. I turn around slowly leading her back to my little campsite that I had set up. “Get me some of that coconut” she commands turning to look at me.

“Get it your self you have arms and legs” I tell her and go back to finishing up the tent I made. It was going to take a while to make it water proof and I wasn’t going to let tiffany think that I would bend to her every whim.

“Fine I will.” she responded. She turned around and grumbled making her way to the trees. I had to admit that it was quiet hilarious watching her try climbing up the tree. With every fable attempt she grew more frustrated and the smile on my face grew bigger and wider. “What are you smiling at? You could help you know and stead of just sitting there putting leaves on top of each other.”

“FYI I’m water proofing it and unless you want to sleep dripping wet I suggest you help”

“What are you the weather man?” she asked

“Look at the sky” I said pointing. We both looked up at the dark sky and the gray clouds rolling fast in the sky. I had finally finished later as the sun was going down and Amber was trying to open the one coconut she had managed to get off of the tree. I felt a raindrop hit my head it was starting to rain. Amber shrieked and ran into the tent that I had made and she had criticized moments before. I followed her.

“Couldn’t you have made it more comfortable?” she asked once I was inside. I didn’t even respond. My mom had always taught me that if you had nothing good to say then don’t say it. I was going to try and stick to that saying but I was having quite a lot of chances to blow it. The rain was getting heavier and there were a few spots that drops of water had snuck into.

“This is great just great.” Amber said in a loud whiney voice that reminded me of nails on a chalk board. “My hair is going to get all wet and frizzy and these clothes are going to shrink. They have to be dried cleaned! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME!” Amber shouted to the sky and then sullenly put her head on her bent knees. I was really getting tired of her constant complaints and whining. Was she the one who had worked until her knuckles were red and bare? Had she sucked it up and dealt with the situation at hand? I don’t think so.

“Look.” I say trying to at least be nice." I know that we don’t necessarily get a long but.”

“How about you stay as far away from me as possible and don’t say anything” she snaps back at me before I even finish talking. Here I was trying to be nice and she just shoots it down.

“Fine.” I snap back I turn my back to her battling the nightmares I knew would come to haunt and unhinge me during the night. It was going to be the longest and the hardest night of my life.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4

 

 

I woke up the next morning with a stale taste in my mouth. As I had predicted I had dreams about ships and drowning in the sea. I had a pretty restless night. I sat upright and oscillated the sand in my hair. I looked around to find that Amber was snoring very loudly and sleeping soundly. I gawk at her. How could something so tragic happen just the day before and she be sleeping soundly? As childish as it was I was jealous of her.

Maybe I had always been jealous of her. I crawled out of the shelter and stretched out my sore arms and legs. I tripped over my own soaked sneaker and fell on to my face. When my face made contact with the sand I bit my tongue and let out a small yelp of pain. I got up and walked over to the ocean. Days a day ago I would have killed to have my own island to watch the sun go up and down. I knew that the waters were not as calm and relaxing as they wanted me to believe. As soon as I was on the brink of relaxation Amber comes out of the tent and asks or I should say commands me to go find water.

“You are going to have to help me look for it. I’m not doing all the work you know.” I tell her with confidence in my voice.

“But you are so good at this surviving crap.” She says with this trying to hard to be nice smile on her face.

“Oh ok I’ll do it for you.” I say sincerely.

“Really?”

“NO!” I say

You have to other wise other wise…” she stumbled with her words.

“You have no control over me here Amber. It’s just you and me. No teachers, rules of society, no parents.” My voice cracked on the word parents. That thought had never actually crossed my mind until that moment. She had no control over me here. It was just me and her. I could sense that things weren’t going to go well if Amber took this little fact and turned it against me. I couldn’t even believe that I was fighting with her. I had just lost my parents. I was never ever going to see them again. I thought that this dreadful truth would bring me to my knees and bawling but nothing. I loved my parents and my sister but why wasn’t I crying. Mumble the simple sentence “there gone.” Two words that would affect my life forever.

“Who is gone what are you talking about?” Amber questions me.

“Our ... our ...”

“Parents?” she finishes off for me.

“Yes.” I say.

“What are you talking about I’m sure they are ok and are searching for us right now. Heck I bet we’ll be out of here by noon!” she exclaims. Now I could understand why she had slept so sweetly the night before.

“Whatever lets just go try to open another coconut.” I say to her. Deep down in my stomach I had a feeling that no one was looking for us. We learned quickly that on all coconuts there is a soft spot on them where if you slam it into a tree hard enough it will split in two. This took 20 tries to figure out. Our thirst was quenched for now and I was actually getting use to the yucky taste of coconut which surprisingly wasn’t all that bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 5

I never realized how blistering hot the sun could become in a just a few short hours. Amber’s face was beet red and beads of sweat were forming and multiplying quickly on my forehead. We had no way of telling the time because we had no watches with us. We just knew around what hour it might be. It felt like we were in old times and had to use the sun and stars. The night had been colder then I would have expected. “We should try to start a fire.” I say out loud to Amber and myself but mostly myself.

“And how are we going to do that wise guy? I don’t know about you but I certainly don’t have a lighter on me.” Amber snarls through her teeth. I realized that my teeth and fists were clenched and slowly relaxed. I wanted to try and keep our non-relationship from sinking any lower.

“We need fire wood first “I state. “Then we can …um… we could…” I honestly didn’t know how to start a fire.

“That’s what I thought.” Amber says turning on her heel to walk some where which I knew wouldn’t’ be too far because the island was only so big.

    My throat was getting dry again. It wasn’t like we could live off of coconuts forever. The storm from the day before had carried through the night, and even though the sand had tried quickly afterwards the sign of the aftermath or a new storm was in the air.

    It was drizzling again but I didn’t care. I had just lost my parents and still hadn’t cried. Plus I lost my little sis. I knew that there really wasn’t any evidence but I had that feeling the they were gone. It was like a part of me was missing and the sickening replacement was a big gaping empty hollow hole. It was humid and I was pretty sure that my hair was a frizzy mess. I could tell from Amber’s hair and who knew all the things she put in there to keep it straight.

     It had started to drizzle and the gray sky had some how gotten darker. If I was going to be trapped on an island could I at least have a bit of sun? I guess that the sun not being out was better. Working in the heat of the sun took more energy then we had to spare, or at least I had to spare since Amber wasn’t doing anything.

“get off your lazy butt and do something.” I snarled I didn’t mean for it to come out so mean but I just didn’t care any more.

“You are not my mom and you can not tell me what to do. Like you said there is no one out here to do anything about it. no rules, no parents, no anything.” She says with her ski slope nose pointed in the air.

“arrrg!” I shot bark at her in frustration.

   

Reviews

[Skyman]

Very nice. Rarely does someone, in first person, put in this much detail.
But writers cafe allows you to have the part chapters divided up. It'll make it easier for you to edit them and to add more.

[deeps]

Wow! This is so dang amazing
I love this, the characters, the details,
Such wonderful imagery as well.

I like how you laid this out and divided into
chapters. Very well written.
I thought it was wonderful.
Full of action, and drama.
Very well written.