Nicole could hear a song. She was walking along a beach, she could tell by the smell of the sea, but it was so misty that she couldn’t see anything. The words were unclear, muffled. But, she was walking towards the sound and it was becoming clearer.
“Nicole?” said a voice uncertainly. Nicole felt a hand gently pushing her, trying to wake her up.
Nicole got up suddenly from her dream, hoping to find Tasha over her waking her up to go to school, but saw Kyle instead. Not that she didn’t want to see him, but she just wanted to think the whole thing was a nightmare, that she would wake up any minute to find out it never happened.
“Mmm?” Nicole replied, sitting up.
“Uh, sorry, but it’s your turn to row and keep watch,” Kyle said. Nicole saw him clearly now, and he looked exhausted.
“No problem. Go to sleep, you look exhausted,” Nicole said.
Kyle tried to smile, but couldn’t and fell asleep immediately.
Nicole took the oars. It wasn’t like she was an expert at rowing a boat, but she knew what to do, basically. She didn’t have a watch but figured it was around midnight.
Nicole stayed up rowing the boat peacefully in one direction for at least two hours. Then suddenly, it seemed as if the sea was fighting with her. She tried to row, but the force of the sea was just too much. She got overwhelmed and couldn’t think straight. We’re gonna die, she thought, and it’s all my fault!
She stopped thinking. Her mind blanked out.
Then the thought that Sara and Kyle were still here, in the boat, thinking they will be safe with Nicole on watch, brought Nicole back to earth.
If the sea is fighting with me, she thought, I’m gonna fight back.
Nicole tried to row with all her might. Then she suddenly shouted, “Sara! Kyle!” about to warn them, but the wave crashed on top of Nicole as if trying to crush her, before she could say anything more. Faintly, she heard someone, either Kyle or Sara, call out her name, then she blacked out.
*
Nicole was lying on sand. She did not open her eyes. She kept them tightly shut and replayed everything that had happened in her head. She wondered if she was even alive.
Then suddenly she heard someone, Sara, whisper, “Nicole, Kyle?”
Then suddenly something on her right stirred. Kyle, she thought.
“Thank goodness! You’re alive!” Sara said.
“Yeah, but if Nicole hadn’t shouted out before that wave came, we would be dead,” Kyle said solemnly.
“Nicole! Get up! Please don’t be dead,” Sara said suddenly, almost sobbing.
“She’s breathing. She’s alive,” Kyle said.
Somewhere in the back of her head Nicole registered: she was alive, all three of them were alive, they were on land, and they survived. But she still kept her eyes shut, hoping that the longer she kept them shut, then the more she could convince God to change all this into just a nightmare.
“Get up!” Kyle said shoving her.
Maybe they think I’m in coma or something, that’s why they’re so panicked. Well, I can’t lay here with my eyes closed forever, Nicole thought, I need to face reality.
Nicole slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a pair of grey eyes. Then the image got into focus. Kyle, and to his right Sara, who was looking somewhere in between being scared and relief.
“Niki!” cried Sara and Nicole was attacked by the biggest bear hug she had ever encountered.
“What happened?” Nicole asked, sitting up.
Kyle said, “Well, you happened to wake me up just in time. I saw the wave. So well, I woke Sara up. But the boat collapsed upside down and then we couldn’t find you. It was a kind of scary actually-”
“Kind of?” said Sara interrupted, looking at Kyle with a shocked expression, “I was scared to death Nicole. We kept yelling out your name hoping you would hear and swim over. But, we couldn’t see you for like five whole minutes. We- we thought that you-you...”
“You thought I drowned and was dead? Nicole said, pretty calmly.
“Yes...”
“Then what happened? How are we on land?” Nicole asked.
“Well...” Kyle said, “I saw you. You were about ten metres away, unconscious, and was supported above water by the boat. We swam up to you and we kept you afloat. We tried to get the boat upright but couldn’t. And then....”
“Then?” prompted Nicole
“I don’t know what really happened after that. Next thing I know, I get up on this island...” Kyle said and looked over to Sara to see whether she knew what had happened.
Sara shrugged, “I don’t know. I think we both blacked out or something and the waves brought us here.”
“But how is that even possible, won’t we drown?” Kyle asked, looking slightly terrified at the idea.
“Let’s not think about that. The main thing is that we’re alive, safe, and we’re on land,” Sara said.
“Yeah, but how are we even going to survive? We don’t have spare clothes, we don’t have food, and the water in the sea in salty, so we can’t drink that,” Kyle said.
“Well, we can stay in the same clothes, maybe go for a dip in the sea if we feel dirty, maybe there’s some fruits here that we can eat…” Nicole said thoughtfully.
“And for water, we can maybe work out a way to filter the sea water... Oh wait, the salt is dissolved in it so... Why don’t we try to find a water source on this island?” Kyle said.
“Maybe you're right, we should stay positive and look for like a river or pond or something,” Sara said uncertainly.
“Yeah, we should,” Nicole said hopefully.
“Well, then, let’s look around the island,” Kyle said.
“Hey,” Sara said suddenly.
“What?” Kyle and Nicole said together.
“Don’t kill me, but this thing that’s happening to us?” Sara said, “It seems to be sort of a mixture between The Titanic and the story of Alexander Selkirk.”
“Then it could either end with us dying or being rescued, and I hope it’s the latter,” Nicole said.
“Come on, let’s see what we can find on this island,” Kyle said.
The three of them got up slightly unsteady and unbalanced. Then they set off on the huge island hoping to find a water source, and food.
If Nicole wasn’t so preoccupied, she would have noticed the beauty of the island. It was like a tropical holiday resort. With beautiful greenery, colourful birds and a spectacular beachside. The waves that were crashing upon the shore were a brilliant blue colour.
“On the plus side,” said Sara, “There are birds here.”
“So?” asked Kyle.
“How can they survive if there’s no water on the island?” said Sara.
“Meaning-”
“Meaning that there is almost certainly some source of drinkable water here,” said Nicole.
They walked. And walked, and walked. Nicole was starting to get really frustrated and annoyed.
“How much longer?” she asked.
“How am I supposed to-” Kyle cut off.
“What?” whispered Sara.
“Can’t you hear it?” Kyle asked, “The sound of running water?”
They listened. Sara gasped, “It’s coming from that way!” She pointed, “Oh gosh! It’s like god sent it!” Sara exclaimed.
Nicole winced.
“What?” asked Sara.
“Nothing, just a thorn,” lied Nicole. God sent it... Nevermind.
They walked in the direction of the sound of the water and sure enough, there was a stream. They quenched their thirsts and decided to make camp there for the night.
To keep themselves warm at night, they collected sticks and twigs to make a fire and set to work each rubbing two sticks together to try and start a fire.
“Hey, I think I got a spark!” said Sara, “Oh no.. It went off.”
“Ugh! Will. You. Just. Light. Up?” said Nicole through her clenched teeth.
Immediately a spark lit up. She quickly put it to the assembled wood, and it lit up. That was their bonfire. Nicole turned around to look at the other two. They looked back at her blankly.
“How-?” said Kyle.
“Huh, almost like magic,” said Sara.
Nicole looked back at the fire. It was surely just like magic. But magic doesn’t exist, a part ofNicole’s head said, it was probably just a fluke.
*
Nicole and Kyle slept, while Sara took first watch.
Again, suddenly, Nicole was walking along a beach, which she now recognised as the one she washed up on.
The words were much clearer now, and she could make out a few, “The trio shall wash upon these untouched shores, to wake us up and open the frozen doors. They shall set us free-” Nicole got up at this point, and started shivering violently.
She wanted to go home. She hated this island, no matter how beautiful it was. She was so confused, how could she have seen the island in which she was going to wash up on even before she really saw it, in her dream? And what about that song? ‘The trio-’ there were three of them. Was she seeing the future?
“Nicole?” Sara whispered, “Are you okay?”
Here Nicole was, on an unknown island with her friend and a guy she didn’t know very well. She was exhausted and very hungry. She wanted to be at home, with her sister and mom. Was she Okay?
“Fine,” Nicole said, looking away.
“Niki-what?” Sara asked, folding her arms.
“It’s just that, it’s sort of scary, being here all alone,” Nicole managed to say.
“Niki, you’re not alone,” Sara said.
“Yeah but, I have here with me a friend from Seattle, and some rich guy,” Nicole said, “How are we going to survive?”
“I don’t know, Nicole,” said Sara, “But I’m sure we will, don’t worry.”
Nicole looked away. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realised Kyle was awake now, and that she probably had to say sorry.
“Some rich guy?” Kyle asked, eyebrows up.
“She didn’t mean it,” Sara said immediately.
“Sorry,” mumbled Nicole, “I’ll go search for some food.”
