Young Writers Society

Meredith Carlisle

I took a sip of my drink as I danced with a boy about my age at one of those late-night dances. I thought the Maiden's Kiss was just lovely. I smiled and looked up. The sky was beautiful, especially with the sun out.

"Students! Come here!" Professor Octavia called us over. We all rushed towards the exit of the skydeck, now beginning rollcall. I tried to ignore the cheers erupting on the skydeck. I listened carefully for my name, until the ship shifted hard, it stirred everyone. We were all silent, until the ship jerked again. I rushed to find some sort of stable item to hand onto. I found the railings of the ship, and tightly hung onto it.

I closed my eyes, praying that I'll survive. Praying that everyone will survive. But my prayers were cut short when I wave attacked the ship and knocked me out.

...

I woke up slowly, trying to identify where I am right now. Am I dead? Am I in some sort of Heaven's gate? I groaned as I felt wet sand beneath my right cheek. I heard waves behind me, and birds squawking. My eyes immediately opened and I got up.

Where the hell am I? I thought to myself. I scratched my head and turned around. There were other people here. Exactly five boys and four girls.

I stared at the sea and turned around to see exotic looking trees. I heard a thud, yes, a thud, and immediately turned around. A conscious girl tripped over an unconscious boy's arm. Now she's unconscious. I looked around to see if anyone else was conscious. I began pacing back and forth, trying to determine were we were. I quickly stopped and studied each person. None of them looked like Professor or any of my classmates.

"Shit," I muttered to myself. I scratched my head and let out a huff of frustration.

(Okay, I edited it. Sorry Ignorance!)

[Clea passed out xP]

Karissa Venner

The cool and salty sea breeze flew over the rail and onto my face. Behind me, I could hear dance music and laughter. It was another one of those late-night dances that I had yet to encourage myself to join. I didn't know anyone here and I don't know how Father expected me to make friends. But I couldn't help watching enviously as a boy and a girl danced together. He swung her around, making her laugh.

I decided to walk over, maybe get something to drink. I wouldn't need to talk to anyone but I would get a closer look. Before I could move, however, the boat jerked. I gripped onto the rail as it shook again, so hard that I was flung onto the deck. I tried to stand but was flung backward. My head collided with the railing and the world dissolved into darkness.

***

Something cold and wet was tickling my foot. No, not tickling, submerging. What was that? I snapped my eyes open, trying to remember where I was but the last thing I remembered was the boat, the dance. My face was pressed into the sand and I was given a skewed version of the landscape, ocean, sand, trees - and nothing else. I tried to sit up but the side of my head throbbed, slowly, I inched my arm up to feel an egg shaped bump right above my temple. I moaned.

I turned my head so I could see in the other direction. With relief I noticed a couple of other people, strewn across the beach, many of them unconscious. One girl was lying perpendicular to a boy, as if she had fallen over him. I noticed another girl, standing and examining the faces of all the others. She scratched her head, looking frustrated.

I felt the cold tickling my foot again and managed to tilt my head enough to see the waves ebbing up to my toes. I bent my knees, feeling tired I would have to get up, that much was sure, but maybe I would just lay here for a while...

Charles Kosey

Mom and Dad stood on either side of me, both holding me close as we gazed at the stars together. The Maiden's Kiss was the choice of my parents to help me develop a social life at last. I was happy with my parents, just greatly happy. Soon I would have a circle of friends, Mom a best-selling book, and Dad a tropical symphony. I couldn't ask for anything more.
Suddenly a wave attacked the ship and both me and my parents fell overboard. On contact with the water, I passed out.

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I came to and saw that I was on an island of some sort. I called out, "Mom! Dad! Where are you?!" I looked all over for my parents, but they were nowhere. Tears went down my face. My parents were the only friends I had, but now they're gone. My life as a loner has caught up with me at last, caught up to haunt me as it always did.

I stood near the railing, sipping a drink and watching the shimmering water as it lapped the side of the boat. The music behind me was upbeat, not exactky my stlye but I decided I could join in anyway. As I walked across the deck of the ship towards the dancefloor the music grew louder and louder until I could hear almost nothing else. After a few moments the whole boat rocked slightly, making me stumble and hold onto a nearby deck chair for support. I looked around, some other people had noticed it too, but the masses were too drunk to pay attention to that. A few minutes later I felt everything beneath my feet shift, before falling to hit the deck, then everything began to fade.

************************************************************************************************************************************************

My eyes flicked open and I found myself lying face down in the sand. I sat up and coughed, bringing up what seemed to be the drinks I'd had. Glancing about I could tell that I wasn't on the ship any more, but where I was still remained a mystery. I tried to stand but my legsbuckled everytime so instead I settled for leaning back on my elbows, half sitting half lying down.

Arwen ¬

I blinked my eyes open. The boat had crashed. I pushed myself up slowly, glancing around.

"Hello?" I said to the air. A few other people were concious, but I didn't want to talk to them at the moment.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I whirled round.

Warwick Schlaabendorf

The night was quiet except for the excessive music on the upper deck. Though Warwick stood at the bow, away from all the commotion, staring into the eyes of a small delicate girl. She was almost too delicate for his taste and was really dry at conversation, but he still casually held her hands, trying to give her one of the most endearing looks he good.

"I know it has only been a couple days, but I am in love with you," the girl spoke wistfully. Warwick nearly choked at them, and instantly turned to look off the boat. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Warwick said, trying hard not to meet her expecting gaze before lying through his teeth. "I feel the same way."

The girls face lit up and kissed him, having to step on her tippy toes being extremely short. "You know, my parents are on the upper deck..."

"I have a cabin to myself darling," those words came out easy because they were what he was aiming for the whole night. He was knowing though that this could end up really messy. But he was good at coming out on top in sticky situations. He gripped her hand and kissed it gently.

Suddenly, the waves started to pick up and the starlit sky seemed to be suddenly over come by dark omniscient clouds.He looked out to see in alarm. Casually, he stepped even closer to the railing to look at the hull of the ship and the crashing waves. He watched in surprise as a sharp jagged rock emerged not far off in the trough of a wave. His heart pounded harder. Suddenly, he saw a giant wave, bigger then anything he had ever seen before emerge from the night, suddenly collide with the bridge of the boat, lurching the cruise ship to the right.

Warwick went flying off the boat into the cold and churning waters.

* * * * * * * * * *

To his surprise, he felt the warmth of the sun on his back. Feeling started to return to his limbs and he casually sat up, staring at everyone with mild surprise. The beach was nice and sandy, which was decent, white sand to. Maybe it was some kind of resort?

It seemed like a motley crew presented there, many of them were just lying on the ground, some in not that great of condition. Obviously this wasn't normal. He dimly remembered the events of the nights before as he scratched his head. He got to his feet suddenly, knowing just what this all meant. All of them had been knocked off the boat. He looked at everyone and noticed someone standing with him, her back was slender and her fiery hair was intriguing.

Warwick stepped forward and gently tapped her shoulder.

She whirled around in surprise, fiercely, almost like anger. Warwick stepped back in surprise.

"You were on the cruise right?" Warwick said softly, his accent softly evident.

(I'm in a bit of a rush, so sorry if this is kinda crappy.)

Logan Sheeran

Jesus Christ, I must have gotten bolloxed last night. As I flicked my eyelids open, an intense pain pulsated in my head. Really bolloxed. This felt different to my usual hangover headache though; it was more of a sharp pain rather than a simple banging sensation. Besides, I couldn't remember drinking that much last night. I gently moved my head, and it was only then I realised I was lying on something soft. I paused. Sand? A faded memory suddenly shot into my head. I was in that girl's cabin and... and the ship jerked, and....

"Oh, shite..." I muttered to myself.

Before I even realised I'd done so, I'd leaped to my feet. Within seconds though, I'd stumbled back to the ground. Oh, this was perfect. Once again, I tried standing up, except I did so a hell of a lot more carefully this time. When I did finally get onto my feet, I realised that I had no idea where I was. I sure as hell wasn't on a boat anymore though.

I began glancing around, but all I could see was sand, water, trees, and more sand. I paused when I turned left. There were people! Either that, or I had, in fact, gotten completely bolloxed last night, and I was having some whacked up hallucination right now.

The majority of the people were lying down, but from what I could tell, there were two standing up. It was a lad and a lass, I think. At first, I began jogging over to them, but after almost falling flat on my face three times, I decided it was best to walk most of it. When I was close enough to get a decent look at the people I was wandering over too, I inspected them carefully. Now the lad was a looker, to be fair, but I wasn't too sure about the girl. Whatever. Considering I didn't give a tinker's cuss about whatever they were saying to each other, I happily interrupted them when I reached them.

"Do either of you two muppets know where the hell we are? Me head is killin' me, and I swear I'm gonna upchuck any second now, so I will."

Sebastian Cole

I should have seen this coming. Stuff like this always happens to people like me. Sighing, I grabbed the girl by her ankle, a bit weary to touch her but feeling bad about leaving her so close to the shore. She was the one that fell into me, and I dragged her around a bit until leaving her on the sand. Man, what a bother. It made my stomach clench but I sat still next to the girl, watching as everyone came to their senses and as they, inevitably, started to panic.

People stumbled around, fell over themselves, screamed stupid questions like "What happened" and "Where are we" when it was obvious that if they didn't know we didn't know either. I rolled my eyes and looked back down at the girl passed out next to me. Sighing, I nudged her side. She didn't move. Great. I pulled out a cigarette and plucked it into my mouth, not yet lighting it but letting it sit there.

After sometime a boy with a camera around his neck came stumbled towards me. The first thing I noticed was his eyes. I raised an eyebrow at him and stood, backing away but trying to make it look natural.

"What?"

"Umm, i-is... Where are we? D-do you know?" I sighed and shook my head at him.

"No, kid, I don't know." I wanted to leave it at that but he stuck around. Eyeing him cautiously I took a seat by a small palm tree, watching him with a cautious eye.

"M-my name's Hadraneil... Hadra Mihr."

"Sebastian," I replied and, once again, thought he would leave it at that and walk away. He didn't move, only looked around with those strange eyes of his. I turned towards him and he looked at me. "Listen, Hadra, I don't know why you're here and you sitting right there for no apparent reason makes me think you're doing something you shouldn't be doing. What do you want?"

"What do I want?" I narrowed my eyes at him and leaned forward.

"What do you want from me?"

Hadraneil Mihr "Hadra"

"What do you want from me?"

I starred back at the man, Sebastian, with wide and scared eyes.

"I don't want anything from you... I just want..."

"You want what," he pressed, glaring at me hard. I sigh and stand up, shaking my head.

"Nothing." He nods and turns his head, his brown hair does a small dance before settling down. There's a cigarette hanging from his lip that he finally decides to light and the smoke curls in wisps around his head. The tree and soft sand compliment him in a way that I would have to assume he's lived here on this island his whole life. I just had to take a picture of it. The camera goes off and, at the click, Sebastian turns on me, his expression put across anger. Anger and something else that I couldn't identify because I was too scared to study it further.

"What was that?"

"My camera," I reply.

"Why'd you take a picture of me," he demands.

"B-because you look really nice." It was the first thing that came to mind, and also the truth. I didn't have the time to come up with a way to make it sound... better. He looks confused for a moment before turning away, starring of into the distance with a slight frown. I hear him grunt but he says nothing else so I sit back down and watch him with a faint heat spreading across my face. He leans back on his arms and stares up at the sky. I guess he finally decided to ignore me but I like the silence, it's nice and calm. I look down at the screen on my camera and save the picture before looking back up at Sebastian. The sun light is falling on his body and he looks so calm and relaxed despite the frantic environment. I want to take another picture...

I open my mouth to ask permission this time but the girl on the sand stirs with a whimper before sitting up and holding her head.

Warwick Schlaabendorf

Warwick looked mildly surprised at this new fellow, clearly Irish who had approached them. Warwick's first thought was to ask the fellow if he was gay, due to his impeccable hair, but decided it wasn't the time to ask such questions. Warwick was more surprised at how brusque and not shy this guy was. There looked to be some kind of leisure on his forehead. He probably had hit his head which was causing the sickness and disorientation he was feeling.

"We are on a beach obviously," Warwick said blandly, cautiously meeting the boy's eyes.

"Aren't you the helpful bloke," the boy mumbled softly. The new fellow hunched over then, hands on his thighs, seemingly almost about to puke or maybe just trying to support himself.

"Looks like maybe the other's are awakening," Warwick observed, blandly. This all felt like an extremely bad hangover. Nothing seemed to make sense. He looked around blankly not knowing what to do. Everyone was in the same boat, or so it appeared. He was mildly surprised to see some actual good-looking girls. He decided to test the waters with this new guy. "And it looks like there are a couple cute chicks."

"If me head would just stop spinnin', I might be able to agree with you."

"We might not be so bad off after all," Warwick said with a friendly smile.

*Clea Hastings* (Could everyone please do this?)

Clea sighed and sat up again, wincing. She had passed out again. Great. And it looks like the man she tripped over just dragged her across the sandy bank.

"When somebody's unconcious, you don't just dragthem across the ground." She snapped at him, getting up.

"Oh, you're welcome." He scowled at her. Clea rolled her eyes and brushed off the grains of sand plastered to her dress.

"Oh my!" Everyone turned to see a beautiful blonde girl with impossibly fair skin and bright blue eyes. She stood in front of the trees, like she just walked out of them.

"Hello there, m'lady!" A guy with a sort of ridiculous hair do called, smirking at her.

The woman blinked. "There are ten of you. My name is Bellalyse."

"W-where are we?" A guy with a camera stammered, blushing furiously.

Bella chuckled. "Welcome to Castaway Island."

"That's nice. But I'd rather go home, so show us where a ship is." A girl with orange hair snarled, glaring at Bella.

Bella raised an eyebrow. "This is your home now. There's no way off this island. Now, gather the weak and unconcious ones, and follow me."

Karissa Venner

I stared in disbelief as the blonde girl, Bellalyse she said her name was, told us that there was no way off the island. That can't be possible, surely someone had started looking for us, there's no way we are stranded. The others started to gather themselves up and I got a good look at them, five boys and four girls. Was that everyone who had survived the wreck?

"Are you coming?" Beside me stood a skinny, very pale boy, with blood red hair. He had a nose piercing and was actually kind of scary looking. I just stared at him, part of me wondering what compelled him to do that to his hair, when he said, "Or don't..." and started to walk away, looking offended.

"I'm coming," I muttered, pulling myself up. I felt sticky from the salt water, I needed a shower. The jungle ahead of us suggested that a shower might not be a possibility anytime soon. I moaned inwardly.

The red haired boy and I fell into step behind the rest of the group as we traipsed towards the jungle. This could not be happening.

*Logan Sheeran*

What a load of crap. These kind of folks were supposed to be both sophisticated and educated, yet they managed to sink their own ship. Worse still, the folks that survived the whole thing were acting like a load of stray puppies. It was times like this I was glad I grew up having to rough it most of the time because I'd probably be crapping myself if I'd lived in warm, snug houses all of my life like the rest of the gadjos around me. At this rate, I swore half of them were going to sprint for the ocean and start cramming their necks with water to top themselves.

I was trying not to laugh at a lass that was trying to regain consciousness, and when she finally managed to sit up, she snapped at the fella next to her. Speaking of that guy, he needed a haircut, although he was pretty easy on the eyes. Heck, the lass was too. Now that my brain had stopped running a marathon inside my skull--or bashing my skull with a feckin' sledgehammer, more like--I was finally able to take in my surroundings. I grinned. In fact, no one around me had a face on them like a well slapped arse. Plus, if we were stranded, then it would only be a matter of time until they came to me for some... comfort as such. This whole stranded thing was getting better and better.

"Oh, my!"

I almost shite my Y-Fronts when a loud voice caught me off guard. I hadn't noticed until now, but there was a hell of a lass--blonde and everything--standing just outside the trees of the island we seemed to be stuck on. I grinned.

"Hello there, m'lady!"

The blonde lass went on to blabber about something, but all I could do was stare at her with a smirk on my face. I would. I definitely would. Because I was so busy admiring the woman, I hadn't noticed everyone else walking towards her. I only realised that she'd requested for us all to follow her when she began moving herself. Not being too fussy about who I stood next to, I nudged myself into the middle of a group, and got a few agitated groans in reply. Miserable shites.

"Me name's Logan, by the way," I said to whoever was listening.

I caught the eyes of a pretty lass with curly hair, so naturally, I winked at her. She quickly turned away, but I could easily spot her cheeks reddening as she did so. I lifted my arms up and rested them over the shoulders of whoever was standing next to me.

"Guess where I'm from," I continued, not that it was a hard one to figure out. "The first one who answers correctly gets a shift from me." I paused when I realised that everyone's faces were blank. "As in a kiss: whatever you Americans, and God knows what else, calls it."

Their faces were still blank. Jesus Christ, this was going to be a long day.

April

I frowned at the others who were starting to leave and tried to stand. Again my best efforts still weren't enough to get me up with the others. I tried and failed again before falling back down onto the sand.
"Hey, need some help?" came a voice from behind me. I turned my head towards the speaker and nodded silently.