Survival | Teen Ink

Survival

February 28, 2012
By Anonymous

“I never expected anything, I never was cautious, I never cared what anyone thought, I never even thought about my future. Until now.”

“ Hello.”, crooned Elizabeth as she looks at a young man with bright brown hair and dark hazel eyes, named Jason. Soon after, he climbs in the car. They are finally on their way, on a trip Elizabeth didn’t even want to go on. They made several stops. One time it was at a restaurant. The rest of the time it was at gas stations. The worst part was it was uncomfortable riding with one of her best friends, well, I guess best guy friend, with her parents in the car. They are so embarrassing. Then without another thought she was out in a dreamless sleep.



Jason

I watch her as she drifts off. Her dark brown hair soothing her face, while her crystal clear eyes are shut for the long rest. I wish she was smiling, her freckles dancing on her cheeks. That way I don’t feel like such an outsider, an intruder in her life. She seems like she does not even want to be here. I just want to know she wants me there as her friend. Her 17 year old friend.

Soon after Mrs. Claradine asked me to wake up Elizabeth so we can hop on to the boat and head off to the island we are staying at. I softly try to wake her. Eventually her eyes pop open as wide as a set of gulf balls. Before we realize it, she slaps me, smack on the side of my face. She slowly starts to register what had happened. Her eyes become large once again. I closed my eyes, waiting for another hit. But instead I feel two warm arms go around my neck. My eyes popped open, alarmed, but as I stare at the back of her head I realize she was giving me a hug. Right on cue, she whispers in my ear, “I’m sorry.”

. . .

Elizabeth

Elizabeth walked up to the boat, swaying along the side of the dock. The boat was colorful with adds in every part of the boat imaginable, as the water rises and lowers every second. The boat was old and uninviting and wasn’t suited for the sea life. The inside of the boat was even worse. After looking inside, I realized the seating was as white as cotton. The part that was awful for me was it was as cold as if I were in the arctic.

Finally, after observing the boat, I turned around to see if anyone was following me and there he is, Jason. He was no more than 5 paces away from me with his briliant hazel eyes looking at me with a sparkle in them. he is so cute when he smiles. I may actualy be glad to be on this trip, even though my parents embarrassed me. Oh no, Stop thinking about that. I need to focus on the task ahead.

We walked onto the boat. I get queasy when I laid foot on the swaying contraption. All of my courage raced out of me in an instant, leaving me clammy and cold. Now once again I wish I were home. Safe and warm with my fuzzy pink slippers on my feet. Jason must have seen how terrified I was because out of the blue he grabbed onto my hand and helped me jump into boat.

. . .

Jason

I watched her hands ball up into fists and realized what I had to do, as her friend. I grabbed onto her hand and helped her onto the boat without a word. I sat her down and raced to the other side of the boat. I was afraid I had made her uncomfortable. Our boat driver, Jeff comes onto the boat and takes note of his passengers. I get up and talk to him about the lions game last night and how spectacularly well the did. As it turns out I liked Jeff. He was different than most boat drivers, especially for a tour boat driver. The reason we are here is Elizabeth will be receiving a special surprise. We are taking a tour about sea life and will be staying in one of the best resorts in the state. The reason I am aloud to go with the Claradines’ is because I have known them since I was born. Elizabeth’s parents and mine have known each other since before Elizabeth and I can remember. After a long wait for the boat to start up, we were off.

We had been driving on the ocean for an hour. I was bord out of my mind so I eventualy pluged in my head phones and listen to some hard medal sons that my friends recommended. When I walked to the very back of the boat.

I see something in the corner of my eye and turned my head to the side. There Elizabeth was , looking at me with amusement in her eyes. I take off my head phones and look at her questioningly. I ask, “whats so funny?” She smiles wider now and does not answer. I say, “Was I humming again?” Now I am smiling wide. She lifts her fingers and says, “A little bit.” Now we both are laughing so hard our eyes start to water.

Out of nowhere Jeff yells hold on tight. But it was to late, a wave hit and knocked Elizabeth off her feet and into the water. As swift as a cheetah, I grab her arm and hold on as if my life counted on it. Then another wave hit and knocked me over the edge. .

. . .

Elizabeth
Blue was all around me, fish swimming across my fingers. time was frozen, it does not matter any more. I was a goner. The prang in my chest hurt more, the longer I stay under. Dolphins play with my hair as if it where a toy. Why wasn’t I more careful? Maybe if I had been careful I would still be with Jason and my parents. JASON! The last thing I remember is Jason holding onto me. Is he in the water? i try to tell my arms to move but they ache with just the thought. So I lay there letting my vision fade black.

. . .

Jason
I swim and swim trying to find Elizabeth. Finally, I locate her and I dive under. I had been under the water for what felt like a minute, and finally came up with Elizabeth. I see a island in the distance and I swim to it. Hoping, just hoping Elizabeth will stay alive. Hold on until I reach the island.

. . .

Elizabeth
I wake up to the warmth of a fire. It felt good to be warm again. I open my eyes to see a beach. The beach contained a shelter, a fire, trees in the background, and sand. I look behind me and find Jason sitting there, looking out at the dark water. I walk over to him and say “Hey”. He turns around and smiles “Its about time you woke up.” I smile at his joke. He opens his mouth and says, “I have some fish that I caught in the ocean and some fruit.”
I look around and spot an apple and walk towards it. I take a bite and a rich, sweet taste swarms my mouth. Jason stands up and says, “What do you want to do?” I look at him and say, “Actually to be honest, I would like to go back to sleep. He looks at me and smiles. Man does he smile a lot. He says, “that works for me.” So we head into the shelter and with the both of us saying goodnight, we fall asleep.

. . .

Jason
I wake up to find Elizabeth gone. I yell her name several times but she does not answer so I walk out of the shelter and there she is cooking something that smells like eggs. She turns around and says, “I found the eggs in a nest and thought they would make a nice breakfast.” I never knew she could camp. I can imagine her watching for something to eat, pitching a tent, even climbing trees to get a better view. I slowly realize we had been here a coupe of days already. I try to slowly back away to go get supplies before she talks me out of it. She stares at me with a I-know-what-you-are-doing look. She rolled her eyes and turned away.

. . .

Elizabeth
Finally he comes back with an arms load of supplies. Once he sets the supplies down I realize we will probably be stuck here awhile. I start to shake with the fear of it all. He slowly walks towards me and encircles his arms around my body to comfort me. I realize a second thing. I think I am falling for Jason. We eat the food that I made and decided it was time to go back to the warmth and safety of our shelter .

. . .

Jason

I have to tell her how I feel. If I don’t now I never will. I build up my courage and say, “Elizabeth, I love you.” She looks at me in utter surprise and I realize I had made a big mistake. Then without warning she hugs me. All of my fears of being trapped on an island and her not liking me, melted away.

. . .

Elizabeth

The hug was was long and warm. We pull away from each other and look out the door of the shelter and see a bright flashing yellow lights. We rushed out the door realizing it was a helicopter and reached it in a matter of seconds. Jason and I climb the ladder to the safety of my parents and a police officer named Kent. We finally were back to safety, at last. With Jason at my side forever.

I never expected anything, I never was cautious, I never cared what anyone thought, I never even thought about my future, until now. Now that I graduated . Now that I get to go to college with Jason in Los Angeles. Now that I will be with the person I need to survive, is at my side. Now that my eyes are finally opened to the world.


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