Young Writers Society

Ronan Irish

Dear guest, thank you for riding aboard The Maiden's Kiss. As a token of his appreciation, Captain Reeves would like to invite you to a party, located on deck, at 9 p.m. sharp. Bring your appetite, friends, family, and dancing shoes!

~ Staff.

My parents told me to go. I went. I don't tend to disagree with my parents, as we're quite alike really. They get on with their lives, quietly at work, and I get on with mine. I have no dispute with them when it comes to asking me. If I just do as they say I'll be fine and I don't have to say anything.

I sat on the deck on a flimsy white plastic chair, next to the pool, with a whisky my parents had bought me. I wasn't much of a drinker, but I like the fieriness of the alcohol, and it served the purpose I wanted: to relax, and maybe even talk to someone. The ice clinked in the glass as I sipped from it lightly, and I watched the scenario with omniscient eyes.
I could see the girls, out only to get drunk and see where they could lay their hands on a guy. And I could see the guys they were looking for; I'd already seen two couples make their way away from the dance floor and head below deck, watchful eyes darting around looking for their parentage. I took another sip and crossed my legs over, leaning back in the flimsy chair.

A slight wave of cold air seeped between my shoulders, slightly unexpectedly. I turned and faced the approaching clouds, rolling in like paint splattered cotton, leaving a trail of rain behind it. I sighed, and stood upright, taking my plastic chair with me. I went and sat under and protected canopy, and, recrossing my legs, took another sip from my whisky.

Several minutes later, I thought I was getting sick from the whisky, and thought it was impairing my eyesight. I placed it on the floor and stopped drinking it: I knew when enough was enough. But the rocking continued in my eyesight and in my bowels; and when the whisky skidded across the floor, I knew it wasn't me. A light spray touched my cheek. I thought it may have been the part-goers opening up some champagne. But when I excited the protected canopy, I saw that there was no champagne.

I stood up and looked at the sky again. The clouds were basically on top of us, spilling out rain which I could see in a plane wall heading towards us. I staggered slightly under the rocking motion of the boat, and heard a joined "woooaahh" behind me as the drunk passengers fell over on the dance floor. I was thrown forward and I lost my balance, my arms connected with the railing and I was suddenly looking down into a broiling mess of cresting horses and waves smashing into the side of the hull.

I tried to stand but I was thrown again, nearly over the railings this time. A white flume suddenly rose up and enveloped the deck and my body. I was sucked like a seed grain back into the bottomless pot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke. With my face in the most comfortable pillow I had ever felt. I felt suspended above the ground and it was blissful. I moved slightly, and the pillow suddenly turned to sand, and my body had been grounded. My arms were splayed out and I had a headache like none I had ever had. I pushed myself to my knees and placed my palms on the wet sand. I coughed once, then kept coughing until sea water spewed from my mouth and onto the sand.

I rolled onto my backside and looked around me. Noone. Just beach, sand. Not the giant ship I had been on what seemed like only moment ago. The impact I must have had with the water must have knocked me clean out.

Parents.
I stood up suddenly, my headache doubling and making me fold over myself.

My eyes began to fog up and blur, and my mouth hung open, twitching up and down.

I began to cry. Alone.

(remember I'm not to be found just yet!)

Kalel Tomlinson


Dear guest, thank you for riding aboard The Maiden's Kiss. As a token of his appreciation, Captain Reeves would like to invite you to a party, located on deck, at 9 p.m. sharp. Bring your appetite, friends, family, and dancing shoes!

~ Staff.

Kalel Smiled at the thought of dancing so she went. She walked over to her closet and picked out a light blue lace tank top and a pair of washed out green shorts. The full length mirror reflected her beautifully. She spun into the bathroom and replied her eyeliner and mascara and with that she went. The hallways were long and narrow but she danced her way though it, of course only when nobody was looking. She had excellent hearing.

"I said no, Mia. There's to be a storm tonight and I don't want you getting sick." Said a angered mother as starred into the eyes of a very beautiful girl. Kalel just shook her head thinking of how stupid the parents are. That girl is obviously still going to sneak out no matter what.

Kalel finally made her way to the deck. She ignored the drunk boys who were laughing and whistling at her as she walked by. She tugged at the bottoms of her shorts so they wouldn't show her butt and off she went to the dance floor. Some sort of dubstep song was on so she broke out in hip-hop. She danced in the middle of the floor a small circle forming around her. Soon others had joined and they were clapping and cheering her on as she spun and danced away the night. Just then, she fell.

The boat had rocked hard and most of the others had fallen to, even the sober ones. Kalel got up and brushed her self off and relied most of the passengers had been knocked off. She ran towards a chair that was floating in the water. She dived in and swam towards the chair, the captions chair. Kalel sputtered and gasped as she hung onto the leather chair for dear life.




Kalel looked up from the leather chair after what was maybe 6 hours of waiting and slowly swimming towards nothing. She had found land. She let out a faint sigh in relief and ditched the chair and swam the last 100 yards. Kalel clasped onto the sand and closed her eyes.

Kalel opened her eyes to find watedr being dumped over her body. The tide was rising. She sighed and lugged a piece of drift wood from the water and propped it up against a tree. Now she had a place to shield her from rain. Kalel listened for any sound of human life and she heard a faint scream in the distance. She followed it to find someone pacing up and down the beach. She ran over and smiled.

"Where am I?"

Anna Felise

Dear guest, thank you for riding aboard The Maiden's Kiss. As a token of his appreciation, Captain Reeves would like to invite you to a party, located on deck, at 9 p.m. sharp. Bring your appetite, friends, family, and dancing shoes!

~ Staff.

I rubbed my very sick boyfriend's back as I read the note. Poor Andre, heaving into the toilet. After he finished and read the note as well, he urged me to go.

"Have some fun. It's no fair, you being cooped up because I'm sick." His face greened from the effort.

"Well... if you're sure," I replied.

Not bothering to change, I marched to the deck, surveying the scene. It looked like an abundance of underage drinking. I asked for a cooler and sat in a deck chair, beside an Asian-looking fellow. He got up and, as he walked past, bumped my drink, splashing it on the deck. Hurried apologies from both of us ensued, as we knelt down to clean up. Suddenly, water washed over our ankles. I turned to see a tidal wave crash over the deck, carrying travellers with it. A split second later, a second wave tossed my over the boat and into the water. So cold...

***

I'm not sure how it happened, but I woke up, sun cracking my eyelids, with a mouthful of sand. I staggered to my feet and called feebly.

"Hello?" I wouldn't have been heard from ten yards away. I supposed it was walking for me, then.

I chose a direction and began my trek.

Sebastian Cole

Sebastian sat on top of his suitcase by Adam’s front door, starring placidly at the man as he bustled around his living room with KJ, the both of them trying desperately to find the last things they needed to pack for the ship – mainly their swimming suits that decided at the last minute to fall in between some arcane crack in the sofa or some dark corner of closet. Seb sighed out loudly as Marina came storming downstairs with her bag finally in hand, and then checked his watch for what had to be the third time.

“Thirty minutes until the boat-“

“We’re coming,” KJ interrupted, her voice shrill and frantic.

Sebastian rolled his eyes and let his head fall back to rest on the wall. Almost immediately, he felt the familiar sensation of fingers crawling through his hair, scratching and massaging his scalp. He relaxed into the touch and sighed contently through his nose. Marina laughed out at his behavior and pulled gently at the strands of his hair.

“Sometimes I hate them,” she half-yelled as KJ ran and tripped up the stairs.

“We hate you too,” Adam yelled back as he dug through his hall closet.

Sebastian smiled lazily before letting the expression drop.

“Everything is going to be all right,” Marina whispered into his ear.

He scoffed and folded his arms across his chest.

“We’re going to get on the boat and hopefully, if things go my way, we won’t be sober again until it docks again.”

At that, Sebastian let a huge smile take over and laughed out loud. Curiously, he glanced back down at his watch.

“Twenty-five min-“

Suddenly, Adam snatched him by the shirt collar and threw open the front door.

“We’re going!”
~~~

Sebastian starred out into the sea, his eyes heavily lidded and his chin rested on his hands folded on the railing. An untouched cup of beer rest by his feet, he wasn't much of a drinker, and instead of the alcohol on his lips, a cigarette rested there instead, smoking slowly and clouding in his face. Adam, Marina, and KJ left some time back to go change clothes for the party being thrown on deck, and because Sebastian was the only one who didn't spend all day in the pool, he left early. With a huff, he straightened up and took the card out of his pocket.

Dear Guest, thank you for riding aboard The Maiden's Kiss. As a token of his appreciation, Captain Reeves would like to invite you to a party, located on deck, at 9 P.M. sharp. Bring your appetite, friends, family, and dancing shoes!
~ Staff.

Sebastian read the message twice before crumpling up the card and throwing it into the ocean. He watched it sink before the dark surface before turning around slowly to search for his friends. As soon as he turned around, he caught the eyes of a girl among a group of people. He raised an eyebrow at her before she turned away. Sebastian frowned a bit, but decided to let it go.

"Sebby, baby!"

He turned his head quickly to where his friends were storming onto the deck, led by Marina who was undoubtedly drunk. He frowned and was just about to call out when the boat sharply jerked to the side. The drink by his feet spilled, causing Sebastian to slip on the puddle. He felt his head crack against the railing on the side of the boat, and then nothing at all.

~

Sebastian woke to the blazing hot sun beating down on his face. His clothes were soaking and a throbbing pain dominated the whole right side of his head. A tender exploration of the fingers found a huge knot resting there, and also a mixture of dried and wet blood. He pressed a hand to the bump and then found the injury hurt way less when left alone. And, upon standing, he found sitting less nauseating than standing up. But he knew he needed to go somewhere, that he couldn't stay on the bay that he washed up on, and, most importantly, that he needed to find his friends.

He got ten steps into his journey before doubling over and throwing up. The sun was too hot on his skin and his injury too disorienting. In a short distance was the entrance to what looked like a vast forest. Sebastian struggled until he got well into the shade and then leaned against a tree trunk. He took a few moments to collect himself and then pushed through the brush.

Jae

"Is umma and appa asleep already?" Eun Jae Hyung's young sister, Eun Jae Mi, said, pushing her long dark hair back behind her ear. She was prettied and dressed up for a party today: denim shorts and a pink laced tank top.

"Yeah," Eun Jae Hyung—or "Jae" as his preferred American name—replied back, wondering why his sister would even ask that. "They've been asleep a long time ago. The fourteen-hour time zone knocked them out." He paused, pursing his lips back. "Uh...aren't you tired?"

"Not at all," she said while grinning, dangling an invitation in front of his face. "We're going to this party."

Jae could not believe how different he was to his sister. He first came out of South Korea three years ago, and he's still not totally comfortable with it. Jae Mi—although she went to an international school in Korea—first came out roughly a day and a half ago, and it's almost as if she already lives here. She was also popular by the boys, loved by everyone in school, athletic, the second eldest of the family, and as stupid as a rock. Why did their parents bring her along on a trip where they were going to celebrate his achievements, he did not know, but he figured that she begged on her knees and would not stop begging until they gave in.

"I don't really want to go," he mumbled back in return, shifting uncomfortably. "You can—"

"Alright, let's go!" Jae Mi exclaimed, taking her brother's hand walking down the extravagant red-carpeted hallways of the Maiden's Kiss cruiseship.

Jae stumbled as his sister dragged him along, and although he was against going to a party that he wouldn't feel comfortable being in with drinks and people and dancing and loud music and every other ingredient that would make a social butterfly like Jae Mi, he didn't stop. After all, he hasn't spent any time with Jae Mi for years.

...But he had a sinking feeling that she was going ditch him once she found some "cute" American guy that she can latch onto and party with.

It was easy to tell that the party has already begun; spotlights danced its way across the floor, people were dancing and jumping on the dancefloor, couples and groups of friends were laughing and drinking and talking, and loud music screamed and echoed out of its speakers, almost as if it was trying to send a message back to the mainland.

Jae Mi's eyes searched the crowd, and boom, it's like she found a friend already. Smiling, the girl tangled her way out of her socially awkward brother and made her way to the first guy she made eye contact with, no doubt trying to leech a drink off him since her good-for-nothing brother wouldn't help her.

Jae sighed, knowing that he shouldn't be too surprised about this. There weren't even any words needed; she took off without him, leaving him here all by himself. Typical, so typical of her. He so predicted this.

The view was nice, though. Sort of. The loud music and drunken people kind of took the beauty away.

Jae sat down on a deck chair, looking into the uneasy, dark cloudy sky. Boats were never his favorite to begin with—not because he was sea sick or anything, but he just preferred planes instead. To him, being in the air was freedom. There's this huge open space of clean and fresh air, waiting to be devoured, waiting to be tamed. It was lonely, it was mostly empty, but it was the getaway to birds and any other flying creature. Then there is the sea, so deep and blue and endless, with it taking the lives of so many and to be burying it deep in the bottomless pit where it was dark and mysterious and full of hushed, untold secrets just waiting to be discovered.

Too bad that there weren't cruise airplanes; there are just cruise ships, much to his dismay.

Suddenly, out of the corner of Jae's eyes, he spotted a woman his age gingerly sitting down on the chair beside him.

Right...beside him.

So maybe he didn't like it when pretty girls sit right next to him. Yeah, so what? Maybe it just kind of freaks him out...just, like, you know, a little?

Awkwardly feeling uncomfortable without his five feet distance of space to himself, he decided he didn't need to be in this place anymore and was about to head back to his room to maybe catch up on some z's like his parents, but then splissh, his clumsy dumb self accidentally knocked over her drink. Augh! Way to be cool, Jae, way to be cool.

Embarrassed, he mumbled a weak, "Sorry," as he along with the girl kneeled down to clean up with—what? Clean up with what?

Oh god, can he be anymore stupid.
He was using his sleeve to clean it up.

The girl seemed to notice and took out towels that so happened to be nearby, and as they were scrubbing away the drink—which was pretty pointless to do in the first place since the staff would clean it up, but she knelt down first, and he knelt down a split second later, and he couldn't just walk away, right, right?!—a thin layer of water seemed to cover over the entire floor.

A few years ago, Jae read a book about the human mind. One chapter was focused mainly on fear. He remembered reading that when a surreal and almost fantasy-like event was occurring, the human mind would naturally begin to rationalize. It might last for half a second, it might last for thirty seconds. However long it was, the mind will think, "That's not happening; what I'm thinking is not happening. There is an explanation for this. The guy is quietly and slowly taking a large suitcase to the front desk of the auditorium, but it's only filled with papers and books. The car is coming full speed towards the other car, but they are only doing some kind of trick. People are talking about a death of a girl, but she is going to come back tomorrow."

This is the nature of the human mind; it's natural, and everyone does it.

But eventually the rationalizations will fade; they will realize that the suitcase was not filled with books but was instead filled with guns ready to fire, the cars were not playing some kind of trick but instead collided into a deadly crash, the girl was not going to ever come back but instead would become a dead ghost in reality.

And so when the first tidal waves came, Jae couldn't help but rationalize: Those are not tidal waves. It's just an illusion of the night, or a high-tech 3D motion picture of The Titanic that the staff has set up. They were not killer tidal waves. They did not sweep away the people right in front of his face. They were not real.

This was not reality.

But reality hit him like a train on a track; the wave angrily cascaded over him as if it was in rage that he didn't believe in its power, and it was powerful enough to bring him over the ship, tangling himself up with water, water everywhere, and the girl he was with moments ago in relative bliss.

Hitting the water below was like hitting cement; it was a big drop, and it was like it cracked every single bone in his body. Jae attempted to give a yelp, but water salty vile water entered his mouth, his bloodstream, his life. He felt it push him under, along with the girl who was beside him like she was too surprised to do anything and forgot how to swim.

Jae felt his pulse race, quicken. Everything was dark, so dark, and so cold, so icy and numbingly cold. But there, across the water, stood one of the tables that was on the deck, floating and abandoned, just waiting to be claimed.

Maybe it was the sight of seeing people cry and fall into the water below and not seeing them come back up, maybe it was the screams full of loss and despair that echoed in the blank and empty unsympathetic night sky, maybe it was the fact that his life was getting washed away the longer he stood there and let the cold salty ocean water get to him and bring him under, maybe it was the girl moments before who was flapping her arms like crazy and trying to keep her head above the water, every so often brushing her cool fingertips against his back.

Whatever it was, whatever the motivation was, whatever the spark of inspiration and power was, Jae found the strength to put his arm around the poor woman and swim to the table. It was hard, so achingly hard and his muscles screamed and threatened to give up, but the string of adrenaline pumping in his blood said otherwise.

And he made it. He was on the table, and so was the girl, and that was it.
That was all he could remember.
Everything else was a blur.

Umma, appa, I hope you're in safety, was the last thing he thought of. Jae Mi, please be safe, please be safe... Please...


---


Jae awoke feeling like he was going to burn up.

Every muscle, every bone, every thing in his body was stiffened and sore and hurt like crazy hell. He was against something so hot, so grainy, so much like tiny shards of undying fire thrown into the ground, and the more he moved, the more the shards of fire seemed to burn, to hurt, to pain, to pierce his skin. And so he stood still while the sun was shining on his face—no, burning on his face, searing every pore on his skin with its burning hot rays, no doubt trying to raise his temperature up by at least one degree.

And it kind of felt like that. His whole body was sweating to the point where it was just unhealthy, he had a massive headache that pounded his head like a hammer against a wall, and he could feel vomit rising up in the back of his throat.

...Yep, it was definitely rising.

Moaning in pure pain, he weakly, much against his body's screams, shifted to the side where he sickly threw up mostly water. Water. What happened..?

Bang, bang.

Jae's headache pounded again. He couldn't think. He couldn't do anything. He didn't have the energy or will to move. He wondered if he was back home in his dorm, against something hot and grainy, sick against the texture while his weak metabolism eats his sickness up and gets even bigger.

He couldn't tell how much time has passed, but after a little bit of staying still while assuring himself that he must be dead and did something—probably the time when he told a kid all the wrong answers to a test—that sent him to burn up in hell, a shadow come over him.

"Hello? Hello? Are you okay? Talk to me."

The feminine voice seemed vaguely familiar—was it the girl...from...oh, what was it, he couldn't remember—and it sounded so washed-up and far away, like he was just imagining it. He felt her cool fingers find a spot on his neck where his pulse would be beating, and then, before he could even use the one minute reaction time that he currently possessed, the girl standing beside him must have tried to pry his eyes open.

"Mmmff..!" he managed to groan out without opening his lips, finding his consciousness in this sea of awakening, fishing out the thought that she must have done the light-on-eyes test to see if he was dead or not. Well, she wasn't going to see the results of her test, because he was not dead. Sheesh, why would she think that? Couldn't she see that he was somewhat alive?

"Oh, thank god you're alive!" he heard her washed-up voice say. "You're heating up... I'm taking you to the shade."

It was a blur after that; he felt his arms get lifted and dragged to somewhere cooler, but after that, it was dark.

Dark.
And cool.

He liked it.

Salty tears rolled down my face, dampening my fingers and running down the length of my forearm. I cried until the tears stopped coming and there was only the flexing of my throat left, and those whimpers that were audible to none but me. I took deep breaths, and tried to calm myself down. They could still be alive

But most likely not!

Stop it head, take every chance that's given to you. I filled my lungs again and raised my head from my pulled up knees and took in the surroundings. I was in a bay, surrounded on both sides by sheer cliffs of what looked like volcanic rock, as it was black, with veins of quartz running through it. The cliffs had a sharp ridge, and stuck out like incisors into the sea. Little waves crashed onto the white sand and shifted it back. The tide was going out.

I placed my hand on the sand, twisted and looked behind me. There was a dense, jungle forest; vines hanging, mossed trunks, thick foliage, and strange animalistic sounds that I had ever only heard from the David Attenborough programmes I had watched as a child. I levered myself up and stood facing it.

There was no way I could go but the forest, I was trapped in this bay. So I picked myself up, re-did my laces that had come undone in the chaos. And walked towards the green mass.

I picked my way over massive roots, covered with slick moss, watching around me all the time for any movement of any creature, of any kind. I was taking no chances, I was on paranoia high alert. The jungle wasn't as dense as I had originally thought it to be, I could see for several yards in front of me, and could see where I was going to walk before I did so.

This went on a for a few minutes. Picking my way through the jungle, ensuring that I was going in a straight line so I could find my way back to the bay. Until I reached a rock face. I ran my hand or the rock slightly, looking up to see how far it went. But I couldn't see for the foliage.

I looked around for a tree that gave good foot-holds at it's base, then started to climb in. It was a long, slow process, as my body was still aching from appearing on the bay sand, but I needed a grasp of where I was. I was sure to stay vigilant however, for any mysterious crevices, webs or nooks that could harbor some kind of poisonous predator.

When I pushed my way through the foliage at the top of the tree, which was a good 30 meters of the ground, because it was a jungle tree (mahogany I think) I was exhausted from the climb. I took in the sea air and looked at the rock face, it still went up in front of me for a good 25 meters before coming to an edge. The face was slick with moss. Shit. I looked around to see where the cliff face edge ended. And found my eyes tracking right round to the ridged end of the bay. I turned my head frantically back the other way, hoping for a different result. The same.

I was stuck, in a bowl. With a small bay and small jungle.

I sagged onto a branch and took a deep breath. Don't freak, you have time, get back to the bay. And think what to do. I clasped a branch and began to pick my way back down the huge tree.

I arrived back at the bay, to the best thing that had happened all day. The time was coming in, and I could see all manners of things floating into my little bay. I ran down the sand and slashed into the warm water, cooling me from all the climbing and the walking in the humid jungle.

The first thing I picked up was a pack of cigarettes. I discarded them. I found bottles of sun lotion, sun glasses, a sun lounger, towels, items of clothing, and some floats from the on deck pool. Further out were the heavier items that were taking longer to float in, so I mounted one of the surfing floats and paddled out. I found the contents of the deck-bar: Whisky, tequila, rum, half empty wine bottles, beer bottles. And finally, a pack of water bottles that must have escaped from the cooling fridge.

I pushed these back to shore and pulled them up the beach into the shade of the foliage. I counted the bottles of alcohol, 14, and a 12 pack of water. I had 7 floats, 5 pairs of sun glasses, 4 bottles of sun lotion which would be really useful. 3 shirts, 2 dresses, a Cuban styled wicker hat (which I put on straight immediately, as it would protect my head and shoulders from the baking sun) I picked up a pair of Wayfarers and placed them over my eyes as well.

I sat and looked at my survival kit, and looked into the jungle. I opened one of the bottles and sipped from it lightly, letting the cool liquid swill in my salted mouth before the taste of sea water went away.

"Shelter, water" I said to myself. My priorities. I looked up at the vines and the wide leaves of some of the foliage, then I eyed the ground for fallen trees, branches and anything I could use. I spotted some sapling trees that must have fallen last night in the storm, and several large branches that had also fallen.

I looked up at the sun to see the angle. I had about 6 hours left, it was sometime in the afternoon. I wished watches could float.

I sighed, took another drink and began to move back into the jungle. Emotions still raw from my parents death and the many other hundreds I dreaded.

Alexander Takkon

I pulled out my large smartphone, dialing my parent's number like it was my own. "Hey, Mom. Mmmhmm. Yeah, I made it on board. Turns out it's a pretty limited cruise ship, only 200 or something people. Yeah, I know, I know, don't get anyone knocked up. Wrap it up. Thanks, I'm not a child. Okay, bye."

I hung up the phone and looked out the window. It was getting dark, not normally, but by rain clouds, rolling in fairly quickly.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in." I said, fixing my hair. A waitress came in with my lunch and she set it on the table. "Thanks." I said.

"For you, Mr. Takkon." She said with a soothing voice as she handed me a letter.

"Oh, thank you." I smiled and winked at her. It had little effect, though, as she walked out the door, closing it behind her.

I opened it.

Dear guest, thank you for riding aboard The Maiden's Kiss. As a token of his appreciation, Captain Reeves would like to invite you to a party, located on deck, at 9 p.m. sharp. Bring your appetite, friends, family, and dancing shoes!

~ Staff.

"Hmm, a party? I think I'll go. Maybe meet some pretty ladies." I looked at my food and discovered some wine fit snuggly in and ice bucket.

That's pretty much all I remember... I think.

~~~

Water. Lots and lots of water, and no, not the alcohol-y kind of water. A storm-y kind of water.

"I need to get to my parents!" Someone shouted. That wasn't me, was it? More water. Was I taking a shower? Was someone in there with me? I didn't mind, but I'd at least wanted to remember it.

Now I felt pressure, like someone was punching me. Seriously, did I get myself into a fight? "Open your eyes! Please open your eyes!" I tried to open one, and it worked, I opened the other cautiously and I saw a girl who automatically hugged me.

"Thank goodness you're alive! I thought you were dead," She said.

"Um, thanks for saving me," I mumbled, looking around. We were in the water, I'm not sure how, but I was laying on a wooden table.

"I'm Divya by the way," The girl said quietly, like this was some formal meeting. She even went so far as to extend her hand.

"I'm Alex. How do you pronounce your name anyways?" I asked, laughing to myself a little bit.

"Dhi-vyaa. Got it?"

I smiled, "Yeah."

Well, the water wasn't a place I wanted to be, but hey, at least I was with someone... And that someone just passed out.

I snatched her up out of water and put her on the table, putting myself over her to keep her on there. Suddenly exhausted, I closed my eyes, careful to keep ahold of both the table and Dhi-vyaa.

~~~

I coughed and stood up, covering my eyes from the glaring sun. Dhi-vyaa was still there and the table had reached land. I check her pulse. She was alive, thank goodness.

We were on land, but where were we exactly? Are there other survivors? There must be, out of over 200 people, right?

I walked into the woods, not really sure what I was doing, but hey, at least I'm doing something.

Kory Juhn

Kory woke up with a cough. She didn't have much time to think before she was rolling over onto her stomach and heaving up what had to be gallons of sea water from her lungs. The blazing sun dried her damp clothes and made them stiff. Sand stuck to every inch of her skin, making her itch and uncomfortable. So she cried as she coughed and didn't stop crying until her lungs were clear and her brain was functioning properly. It was then that she realized where she was, or rather where she wasn't, and started crying again.

Kory pushed herself up off the ground and tried to brush the sand off her dress. It seemed a bit worthless and stupid to try and save a dress when there were bigger problems at her - one being where her parents were - but she needed to clear her mind, and this helped. She pulled her head back into a pony tail, kicked off her damp shoes, and started walking.

Slowly she could feel anger building inside of her. Anger at being washed up, at losing her parents, of being both hot and wet at the same time. She was angry at the sun and the hot sand under her feet. She felt her hands clenching into fist at the thought that she just might starve to death and that she was definitely hungry. Hot tears of madness ran down her cheeks and she sat in the sand quickly, hands shaking and face red and hot from blood rush.

In through your nose, out through your mouth. One. Two.... Three. Come on, Kory, calm down. Get up. Get walking.

It all sounded easy inside of her head, to calm down and finish walking, searching for anybody, but her body never listed to the rational voice in her mind. She sat there long enough for a sunburn to start on her back and for the heat to create delusions to form in front of her eyes.

She'd sat there for so long, trying to calm down her still building anger, that when two people appeared in front of her face she wasn't sure if they were real or not. And when they started talking to her their voices were distorted and slow.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She vaguely recognized the faces, a girl and a boy that she saw briefly on the boat, sitting together at a table.

"I'm... not."

She didn't remember how long she'd been sitting in that hot sand, but coming back into reality she realized that every inch of her skin was burning.

"Oh, you're burned bad," the girl continued. "Come on, there's shade."

Kory nodded numbly and hissed in pain when the girl helped her up. Every move sent intense shots of pain coursing through her body. She almost started crying again, but was too week. Once she wandered into the shade, the relief of the trees was enough to weaken her knees. Her mouth was dry, her body sun-burned, and all she wanted to do was sleep.

"Thank you," she whispered.

(Okay, she's met Anna and Jae.)

Divya Lestrange

I had no idea how much time had gone by, searching for other survivors like Mia and myself. The sun had begun to set and I felt dehydrated. It was ironic, considering I had been in the water for so long. Mia and I hardly spoke, saving our energy for the long walk.
"I am so tired," Mia said in between yawns. "We should set up camp for the night."
"You're right. Lets look for something to make a tent of sorts."
We walked a little more, and I spotted two sticks lying a few feet in front of me. "Lets start a fire first. Its getting a little chilly," I said. I searched my left and then my right, but didn't find anything to make a tent.
'Lets use the trees as our cover," I said. Mia groaned loudly. "I can't sleep on the sand! I need a bed with pillows, not sand and rocks."
"We have no other choice. The only thing that came from the ship is a table. We can't sleep on a table," I said, starting to grow a tad irritated.
"You're right, we cant but I can." she said.
I gaped at her.
"So its settled. I'll sleep on the table." And with that, she went to get the table.
Damn.
I sighed and started rubbing the sticks together, in a lame attempt to start a fire. But the logs were too damp to even start a spark.
Great. Just great.
"Where's the fire?" Mia whined, bringing the table with her.
"I couldn't start one. The logs are too damp."
She cursed and shivered, lying on the cold table.
"Girls?" a female voice called.
I felt a spark of hope at the sound of the voice. We weren't alone!
"We're here!" Mia ran forward and shouted.
A second later, a woman carrying a fire torch stepped into our view.
Fire! Boy, was I glad.
"Um, do you think you could loan us your fire torch for a bit? I can't seem to start one on my own," I said awkwardly.
The woman chuckled, "I can do better than that. I can provide you a place to rest for the night."
Oh. She wan't a castaway. I felt so embarrassed.
"YES! CIVILIZATION!" Mia squealed and ran to the woman, hooking her hands within hers "Lead the way! I'm Mia."
"Bellalyse," she said and looked at me.
I cleared my throat and said, "Divya."
"Come on Mia and Divya, lets get you warmed up."
We followed Bell to a hand built cabin, all with leaves for roofs and such. It so reminded me of a movie I'd seen recently.
Inside, the cabin was quite bigger than it looked from outside. There was a fire cackling from a makeshift fire place. Bell handed us warm blankets to cover ourselves up and also pillows and a sleeping bag(much to Mia's displeasure). My jeans were starting to get itchy and I resisted the urge to remove them and throw them out into the sea.
My stomach growled so loudly, I was pretty sure anyone within a mile radius could have heard it.
Mia giggled and Bell handed us each a bowl of soup. I examined the soup. What if it contained something disgusting?
"Its just coconuts and a few herbs from here and there," Bell said as if reading my mind.
I blushed and took a sip. Whoa, it tasted really good."Its delicious," I said.
After finishing our soups, Bell told us to get some rest while she searched for other castaways like ourselves.
"Thank you for taking us in Bellalyse," I told her.
"Call me Bell, and your welcome."
"Good night Bell," Mia said.
"Good night girls."
And before I knew it, I was fast asleep.

Kalel Tomlinson


Kalel sat on the beach wringing out her hair and swung it over her shoulder. She slowly got up and felt her stomach drop as she did. Kalel held her ground and slowly threw up tons of water and a bit of seaweed. She gasped and slowly stood up a little more. Her long blue green hair was flying in the soft wind and she started towards the forest. She stumbled into a tall tree and climbed up it. Kalel saw a couple of passengers nearby. This was one of those times where she wished she could call out to them, or scream for help. All she could do was sit in silence.

Kalel started looking around her body for cuts and scrapes. She had found her cheek was bleeding and her left wrist was most likely sprained. She slowly started down the tree and walked back to the beach. She held her wrist and started to look for sticks. After 45 minutes Kalel had found enough sticks for a splint and a couple vines. She made her splint and the sun slowly started to set. She gathered all the sticks she had collected over the day and stacked them up. She used a technique her father showed her. Kalel took out her dead iPhone and opened up the back. She found where the wires were and stuck 2 of them together at random. Sparks flew off and onto the sticks and BAM! Kalel had a fire.

Kalel was quite please with herself so she threw a fish that she had found in her shirt earlier onto the fire. It was small, but it would do. Kalel stood and swung her arms around turning her in a circle. She picked her feet and tucked in her arms and did multiple spins in the air. She landed and jumped to the left. She practiced her ballet till it felt her feet might bleed. Kalel knew people would think she was crazy if they saw her.

"Why would a girl dance like that when her entire world has been turned upside down?" They would say. If Kalel could reply she would say.

"Dancing is the only thing I still have right now with me."

Kalel smiled and sat down next to her small fire. The fire light lit up her face making her cut look shiny. She wrapped her good arm around her legs and laid down on the ground. She closed her eyes and slowly fell asleep.

Profile

Name (first/last): Chloe Chan

Age (16 - 25): 16

Gender: female

Appearance (picture optional, description required): Chloe has black hair that falls just below the middle of her back. Her eyes are black but she wears contacts that make them a tiny bit brown. Her contacts are also needed because without them she would need to wear big, think glasses that make her look really nerdy. She always seems to be smiling no matter what, whether she got a bad grade (that would never happen of course ) or just got shipwrecked. Chloe has a chinese skin color (don't know how to put that XD). She is always seen with a book in her hand no matter where she is.

Personality (strengths/weaknesses): Chloe is shy and doesn't really like talking to new people. When her parents sent her on a cruise ship alone, she thought she was going to die. Her favorite activity of all time is reading, she loves the feeling of being swept away to another world.

History (120+ characters minimum): Chloe grew up in a rich chinese family that was never really there for her. Her parents were always away, either on business trips or who knows what. Chloe had a private tutor and was home schooled, so she was never really able to make friends with kids her age. The only friends she had were her books. This caused her to be really shy and hate meeting new people. When her oh so wonderful parents decide that she should go on a cruise trip by herself, she decides that they definitely want to ruin her life.

Other (up for love, sexual orientation, etc.): She doesn't have a boyfriend yet but doesn't want one right now. Chloe is straight and not lesbian or bi.

Chloe Chan

buzz buzz My phone rings and my hand flops toward it and accidentally drops it. "Ugh. Who can be calling me at 4:00 in the morning?!" I say groggily. buzz buzz I get out of my water bed and pick up the phone. "Of course. It's my parents, my oh so wonderful parents" I pick up the phone, "Yello" I say, trying to sound happy. My parents always want to know if I'm happy or not and if I sound like I'm not, then I'm sent to some stupid camp. "Hi honey! Your dad and I have something to tell you!" my mom says cheerfully. I groan, it's probably something dumb.

"Yes mom?"

"Well honey, your dad and I are sending you on a cruise trip. We think you need to have a little fun instead of just staying home and doing school work." She says this fast, knowing I hate meeting new people. How would they know I need to have fun? I mean they aren't even home half the time. "How could you?! I am perfectly fine here and I don't need any of you guys help on making things fun!" I yell at them through the phone. I end the call and slump back onto my bed. It moves around a little and my phone rings again. I throw the phone onto the wall and I hear a smash. There's a little dent in my wall and my iPhone is slightly chipped. "Oh fudge!"

A Week Later

I lug my heavy luggage full of books onto the humongous cruise. It has the words, The Maiden's Kiss, in big letters with a blue stripe underneath it. "Well this is going to be one heck of a week. At least I have my books with me." I look down at my blue luggage. It's peppered with stickers that say, "Book worm over here" or "Books are my life!". When I arrive on the ship I immediately hurry over to my room. My parents paid for a nice, fancy one that has a nice spot for reading. It's a big blue chair that is right next to a reading lamp. The queen-sized bed is also blue and has three comfy pillows. As I unpack I hear a knock on my door and a note is slipped underneath it.

Dear guest, thank you for riding aboard The Maiden's Kiss. As a token of his appreciation, Captain Reeves would like to invite you to a party, located on deck, at 9 p.m. sharp. Bring your appetite, friends, family, and dancing shoes!

~ Staff.

"A party! I am most definitely not going!" I exclaim while ripping the notes to shreds. I jump onto my bed and eventually fall asleep.

Boom! Crash! The loud thunder and the pitter-patter wake me up. I stand up and look out the window. The rain streaks down my window and I watch two droplets race each other to the other side of my window. A bolt of lightning crashes down and I jump. "All those stupid people at that party must be drenched!" I say, when suddenly the ship starts swaying side to side.

I grasp onto the arm of the chair and try to keep my balance. "Everyone please immediately go to your cabins and get your life suits ready. They should be in the last drawer" I look up to see a tiny speaker where they must use for announcements like these. However, why didn't they use it for the announcement for the party? I had no time to think about it, I had to hurry. I run to the last drawer and yank it open, it's stuck. "Oh god!" I say and try to open it again. The ship sways again and it's harder this time. I run up onto the deck and see other people panicking, some are drunk and totally don't know what's going on. The top deck is starting to flood and the ship sway side to side continuously now. Boom! The clap of thunder makes us all jump and stop but after a few seconds chaos is let loose again. The ship starts to lean left and things are sliding down and overboard. I start to panic and try to run back to my room, but then I realize I'll be stuck in there and drown. It'll be better if I stay up here and just swim to land. The ship leans more and I slide right into a pole. Everything goes black and I pass out.

One Day Later

I awake with sand in my mouth and all over me. I spit it out and try to stand up but I immediately fall right back down. I feel so tired and there's a pain in my leg. I look down to see a humongous bleeding scrape. I can feel the blood trickle down and collect in a little puddle around me. I start to feel nauseous and I stand up and the vomit spews out right in front of me. It's mixed with seawater and some food I ate last morning. I wipe my mouth with my hand, not caring that it's now dirty with vomit. I try to walk around and realize that I'm stranded on an island. There's no one else that I can see that is here, I'm doomed and have no food or water...or..or..anything! The worst thing of all is that I have no books! Books are my life and without it I'm nothing. I suddenly remember that I still have my phone in my jean pocket, unless that is missing too. My hand goes to my pocket and I'm filled with relief when I find it's there.

I check if there's any service, nothing. "Yup, I'm totally doomed!" I plop down on the group and rest my chin on my sandy hands.

I'm alone on an island, with no food, water, or books. Yup, this is the end of me.

Sebastian Cole

The noise of twigs breaking woke Sebastian from the sleep his body was attempting to fall into. He'd been wandering in the forest for a few hours, long enough for the sun to descend a bit in the sky, and his body was strained and tired. Throwing up earlier made him both dehydrated and terribly hungry, and the rumbling of his stomach reminded him of just how little he'd eaten that day.

"Huh? Hello?"

Sebastian froze and covered his stomach with his hand, as if that would stop it from gurgling. Earlier, when he found himself getting weak, he'd climbed one of the trees and settled down to rest. Being up high felt much safer than the forest floor. Now, he was praising himself for making that decision, because now there was someone beneath him, and he wasn't entirely sure who it was.

"Is somebody there?"

Sebastian knew he probably should have called out. It could be someone from the boat, which meant help, but he couldn't force his mouth to move or produce sounds. It could also be someone native to the island. Could be someone that would kill him. He didn't know the ways of these people, he didn't know what they did, he didn't know anything. And, anyway, the thought of exposing himself to someone unknown made his stomach clench.

So he sat in silence until he heard the person go walking off again, and didn't move until everything was again silent. Climbing down trees was always harder than going up, and he found this particular descent extremely difficult. His hunger and thirst made him dizzy and uncoordinated, and when his pant leg caught on a branch he wasn't particularly surprised, but it still pissed him off when he fell.

"Ouch, dammit," he cursed as he hit the ground. "Shit, ow!"

"Hello?"

Sebastian scrambled to his feet at the sound of the voice. His heart raced as he heard the sound of footsteps trampling through the forest, coming back to where he was. He tried to run away, but his feet didn't quite steady themselves quickly enough to walk anyway, much less run.

"Hey? Hey!"

Sebastian froze in place, his eyes widening as he heard the footsteps come to a stop behind him.

"Just leave me a-"

"You're from the boat?"

Sebastian straightened up and turned around the face the stranger. He didn't exactly recognize him, but as far as he could tell, the man wasn't a savage.

"Yeah," Sebastian replied as he backed up slowly.

His stomach was still in knots. He didn't like strangers or new people, and the man was too close for comfort.

"What do you want," he asked slowly.

Terrance Moran Jr

Dear guest, thank you for riding aboard The Maiden's Kiss. As a token of his appreciation, Captain Reeves would like to invite you to a party, located on deck, at 9 p.m. sharp. Bring your appetite, friends, family, and dancing shoes!

~ Staff.

Terrance glanced over the party invite one more time, and decided again that he wouldn't attend. He has spent the last few hours on his feet being introduced to the rich and elite as 'the best accountant the company's seen!' and then being (politely) ignored. He was smugly satisfied of course upon being officially bestowed the title 'best', but it was overridden by his built-in desire to make snarky responses to the guests' very ... well, show-off-y airs. It took him all his will power to not roll his eyes at the obliviousness of some.

When he finally managed to break away from his boss' posse, he went into his room. He kicked off his shoes, peeled off the heavy suit jacket and loosened his tie before jumping into the bed. He hoped to sleep through most of the horrid party, where no doubt, he would again be forced to sit with people at least 20 years his senior while they made frivolous conversation that he cared little about. However, sleep didn't come easy and he opted to call his parents instead. Instinctively, he pulled out the old bottle cap and twiddled it between his thumb and forefinger while the phone rang.

His mother picked up the phone, taking her time to reach the receiver, but Terrance was used to this. He could hear the thrill in her voice as she yelled out to her husband that it 'Terrance has called, Terry!' He bit back his smile as they heard them poke around before finally discovering the speaker-phone button. They both yelled into it, even though there was no need, and Terrance just smiled again as he answered their questions. Eventually, of course, his mother landed on the topic of women and Terrance got a little agitated. It was the same discussion over and over.

'Did you meet a girl there, Tinok?'
'No, Ma. I've been swamped with meetings. Only women I meant were old and married.'
'Sounds like your type,' his father interjected with a snort, 'you're a Momma's boy if there ever was one!'
'Oh, Terry!' came the reprimand, before she busied herself with the usual, 'You're growing older every day, Tinok. I'm not saying you have to get married now - though it would be nice. But no, just a nice girl... someone to have future plans with.' It then transgressed to, 'Oh darling, you work so much. Having a girl at home would really take the edge off and the pressure off. No more eating microwave food. There'd be someone to serve you a piping hot one when you can't come to the farm for dinner.'

He sighed and said that he had work. He'd let her know as soon as he met someone who could match up to her cooking skills (which earned a blush, he could sense). Then he lay down to rest.



There was a lot of wind blowing and it woke Terrance up. He was still bleary eyed and exhausted when he decided to head up to the deck. When he opened his door, all his sleepiness evaded him. The narrow hallway outside was dark, with a single eerie flickering light. It was loud, as everyone in their rooms tried to escape. There was screams and sobs and strong, domineering voices telling everyone to form a line. He stepped out to find that it wasn't a puddle that had leaked into his room but knee deep water. He held on to the side railings as he dragged himself behind another woman crying out for her daughter.

The stairs were both a welcome relief and a reason for more fear. While it was not submerged, and nor was there any floating furniture to avoid, the light near it was completely burned out and climbing up the slippery steps was an obstacle course unto itself.

It took a lot of effort to get up to the deck, the boat was rocking violently and he felt himself lose his balance on more than one occasion. Once he was up he was faced with real pandemonium. Large waves crashed onto the deck and it was all he could do to gather his wits and wrap his entire torso against the nearest pole. He watched helplessly in the dark as people were screaming and being flung off the boat. The whole glorious deck tilted from side to side and the long tables slid with each movement. Terrance scrunched shut his eyes and tried to focus on something - anything - to block out the noise.

Terrance thought that his parents' struggle and his own was the worst hand Yahweh could have dealt him. He felt triumphant knowing that he had taken the most terrible his Creator had given him and turned it around. He was successful. He was victorious. He wasn't ready to die.

The pole was slick with rain and he could feel his grip loosening. His mind went to his parents. How would they survive without him? Who would pay the bills? Who would take Terry Sr to the doctor's? He thought of his mother. He thought about how the last thing he said to her was a lie to get her to hang up the phone. He wanted more than anything to be safe in his bed being advised to find a nice Jewish girl while his father made jokes. He thought to the prayers his mother taught him and began to recite them one after the other, over and over. Every single verse he remembered from the Torah he whispered and he screamed. He was losing his hold on the pole. He talked to Yahweh. He was merciful and great. Surely He wouldn't punish his parents like this.

This wasthe first time in several years that Terrance had felt fear grip him so tightly. Perhaps, even, this was the first time ever he felt so scared. His heart thundered and his tears mixed with the rain and he screamed and sobbed and prayed. Yet his voice was drowned by the cacophony from outside. The voices of the others. More so, his voice was drowned by the raging wind and crashing waved. His voice was drowned by the sounds of nature. And now, he was about to be drowned in the arms of nature. Terrance wasn't ready to leave yet. He wasn't ready to die. He didn't want to die.



Was he dead? He opened his eyes to be met with a blinding white light. Surely he was dead. Perhaps, he made it to heaven. He tried to move around, but his whole body felt limp and lifeless. It felt heavy. He turned his head and his ears burned when it came in contact with something hot.

Not dead.

He couldn't move, but was now acutely aware of every sore bone and muscle in his body. His mouth was dry and his face was burning. Sand. He had sand covering his face - no, sand cutting his face. Each little grain scrubbed against his sea worn skin and it burned and cut into him. He still couldn't move. He didn't want to move. He just lay there. In pain. Not dead.

By the time darkness had fallen, I had made a sturdy shelter from thick jungle vines, lashing thick branches that had rubbed my shoulders and arms raw. I had created a semi-cone kind of shape around the trunk of a thick tree. I had dug away from the bottom of the roots, pulling out cool soil and pilling it around the bottom of the branches outside to keep the warmth inside the little hut I had created. I tiled up the thick foliage that had fallen form the trees and large ferns to cover the outside of the branches, using the vines I tie them to the branches. The leaves would serve as protection from rain.

I dragged my supplies inside with me, I had left an opening of about 2 feet into the cone, using thick palm leaves for a makeshift door. I piled all of what I had to survive at the back in the corner, hiding them with leaves in case anything decided to walk in on me and steal anything or break them.

I had more leaves on the floor; my bed. I slept on the larger of the floats, using it as a mattress. I settled myself to sleep, or tried to.

Memories of my parents flooded back into my mind as I had pre-occupied myself before so I could forget their death. I was going to have to accept the likeliness that they were dead, and I was alone.

Salty tears rolled down my face, tickling my nose and dripping onto my foam mattress and soaking into it quickly.
I cried myself to sleep.


Morning sun filtered through the foliage of my hut. My face was cringed and tight, the salt had dehydrated my skin and I felt horrible and gritty. There were white patches of salt on my skin. I sat upright and crawled through my 'door', only to be blinded by the sun.

I looked out over my bay, the sun directly in the mouth of the bay. It was beautifully orange. And real. I reminded myself where I was, and sighed. But I realized something suddenly, I was on the west side of this island, as the sun rose in the west. I knew something now. If I ever got lost, I knew how to find my way back to my bay.

I went back into the hut and got myself a bottle of water. I drank half of it, and used what was left to wash the salt off my skin, rubbing the whiteness away. I needed more water, I thought, as I stared at the empty bottle.

Today: Food, water.

Maybe there was water coming down the rock face in the forest?
10 minutes later (it felt about that) I found myself back at the rock face. Placing my hands on the cool rock, it felt slightly slick. I looked up and saw moss, hanging from the rock. I found a stick quickly and dislodged some from the surface of the stone, only to be showered with droplets of freezing cold water, and to get splatted in the face by a mass of sloppy green moss. It was both nasty and relieving. I had water, horribly tasting water, by the amount that I had tasted. But water nevertheless.

I smiled slightly. A good start to the day.