The Storm

“Hold the rope and don’t let your sight out of the position of the major path.” Waiting patiently for the storm to be over was the hope Emma had, but it was more than his power.

“Hope I did not make mistakes for coming with you guys?” Alicia, who was afraid, said quietly as they all feared for their lives.

Johannes Plenio
The storm again came up so heavy that they could not hold the boat while they were struggling again to keep it on board. As they tried their best, Alicia already had her heart in her palm. She was so afraid that even the blind could see through her face.
The storm came in again, and this time it came with a heavy downpour.
“Look, over there,” Alicia raised her voice to call out to others. They turned from what they were doing. Mark, who was unable to remove his hands from the rope he was holding, only focused, while others felt some relief after seeing the island ahead of them.

They directed the boat towards the island and pegged it down to a stilled stick on the island bank. They left just to find a place to hide their heads, waiting for the storm to be over.
It was night, and they had nothing to eat. They were stranded on the island with no way to search for food. They had no weapons to hunt animals. Mark headed out there on the island. He walked some meters away from their camp and immediately saw a dilapidated building. He searched inside and saw an old cutlass and a knife. He made arrows specially for hunting. He walked out there and started hunting for animals. His first throw gave him a robust antelope. He took it to the camp while others were excited to see the antelope. They all roasted it and ate it together.

At night, they began to hear some strange noises.
“What animals would make these kinds of noises?” Alicia said as she began to get afraid. There were five in number that boarded, and Alicia was the only female among them.
“I think the noise would be from these night birds,” Emma said as Bolu, the third and the youngest among them, stood up. He saw a huge animal that takes the look of a wolf. His heart raced as he raised an alarm silently.
“I just saw a wolf over there”, he said as the rest jumped up from where they were resting their heads.
“That’s not the sound of a wolf; that sounded like night birds,” Emma replied, but sleep refused to come in their faces as they all somehow believed a wolf might be on the island. All Alicia was thinking of was home.
Within a few minutes, the same sound was heard, but this time, it was as loud as anything else. They heard the movement of something, but no one dared draw closer.
“I think the wolf is drawing closer. We need to run,” Alicia said as Bolu supported her. The other three decided to leave their camp just to see what was approaching. They were moving without torchlight, but just with the reflection from the moon. As they approached, Emma and the last man, Dare, gazed at each other as they were closer to each other than Fred. “Did you see that?” Emma spoke out. “Yes, and where did he emanate from, and what is he doing here on the island?” Dare was surprised. The man showed up, and Fred grabbed him. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?” The young man had to explain the way he got to the island and how he was surviving it all alone. They were all relieved. “I have been here for the past four days now,” he said.

When it was morning, they all saw that their boat had been overtaken by water. “What happened here?” Emma asked.
“We die here,” Bolu said. “I guess there is no way out, and we all have to remain here,” Emma added as they all gathered, and Alicia was just thinking of the way out. “Can we see an asbestos pan?” Mark remembered that he saw an asbestos pan in the dilapidated building. “Just a minute,” Mark said as he ran to the dilapidated building. He brought out the pan, and they started bailing out the water from the boat as they pushed it out of the island bank. Stephen stood tall and was ready to help them out so that he could leave the island for good, as he had been abandoned on the island by his friends, who were on tour together. He was betrayed.

Alicia started patching the boat with the asbestos pan. As others were observing without distracting her. She was so innovative in that regard. After two hours, she was done, and they pushed the boat into the sea. There was evidence of smiles on their faces as the leaking paths were all sealed. There was a true body of happiness in their faces. They ran and lifted Alicia as they all migrated into the boat. They sailed with the directions of Stephen, as he knew much about the compass.