Young Writers Society

Sam

I had followed the others slowly, unable to rush around as fast as they seemed to be able to. I was dehydrated, I decided, but nothing more, but it made my movements sluggish and my mouth and throat felt like it was full of crushed glass. A scream made me pick up my pace, and the sight I saw almost made me gag. Conner was bending over Cassie, his face pale, and Torri had her hands around her mouth, clearly distraught. What had us all upset was the long pole clearly embedded in the flesh of the barely concious Cassie. Blood spilled out onto the sand, dying the area around her an almost pleasant copper-gold. The smell of metal made my groggy senses pick up, and it was all I could do not to turn around and start retching. Conner gingerly reached out and touched the pole, making Cassie whimper.
"No," I said through a cletched jaw, my brain hurridly going over those half-listened to first aid lessons we were forced through at school, "if we remove it here it could make her bleed out more."
"We can't leave it in her!" Torri argued, her voice coming down slowly as her initial panic subsided a little.
I frowned and looked around, then back at the bloody girl that I knew and cared for. Cassie was such a sweet girl, she didn't deserve this. I licked my lips, attempting to work some moisture into my mouth, and frowned. "We need to get her somewhere safer, we can't do this in the sand, she'll get an infection. We need to remove the pole, clean the wound, and compress it quickly. Any ideas?"
My half forgotten classes, no matter how attentive or not I was, hadn't covered this.

Riley

My eyes fluttered open, slowly adjusting to the intense light of the sun. I could feel grains of sand all over me, in my hair and my clothes sticking to me. I slowly sat up and held my head, which was pounding with a headache. What happened? I thought to myself. I felt like I had been run over by a truck! I slowly began to get up, my legs cracking and back aching as I did so. I looked around to see where I was, and breathed in the salty air. In the distance I could see a crashed boat, the boat we used to be in. I look around, the what seemed to be, island and saw a group of people standing over someone. I jogged very slowly over to where they were.

Everyone was standing around Cassie who had blood spilling out of her arm, and didn’t seem able to move. “Guys what is going on?” My voice was scratchy from the sand that was stuck in my throat.

“Cassie is hurt, we need to move her onto one of those long flat rocks over there.” Sam said in a grave tone.

“Ok, so I will grab her legs and you can hold her head. Torri, you hold her hurt arm carefully in your hands, and make sure it stays level with her body.” We moved to our positions.

“On three,” Sam said. “One, two, three.” We lifted her body in the air, and she screamed out in pain.

“Guys should we put her back down?” Torri said in a scared voice.

“No, we already lifted her up lets move,” I replied. “The longer it takes the more she will hurt.”

We slowly made are way up the beach to the rocks that where long and smooth, the perfects size to put a body on. How could this have happened? We where just sailing peacefully on a ship on now we where stranded on some island! I felt lost and out of place. Liz, Bianca, and Danilo trailed behind us slowly. We where all whipped out from being flung off a ship and being knocked out, and surely dehydrated. Now Cassie had some metal pole in her arm that we had to remove, who would remove it? What if it got infected?

What if we never get off this island?

Cassie

I could hear them, I could see them, but it all seemed so far away...so distant. The only thing that seemed like it was right there was pain. My arm and chest hurt the worst. What was going on? Why was I hurting so badly, and what happened to the boat?

I moved my arm slightly, gasping as pain shot through it.

"Cassie?" Sam's voice. Still distant, still not completely there.

My eyelids drooped, I couldn'd find the strength or the will to answer. At least he sounded like he was okay. But what about the others? Were they hurt, too? Were they even here? Of course they are. I heard the voices. I reminded myself.

Sure enough, a blurred image or Torri came into view, followed by the others.

"Cassie? Can you answer me?" Torri asked. It still sounded like it was all far away...like a dream. Maybe that's what was wrong. Maybe I was dreaming. Only, you didn't feel pain in dreams, did you?

"Wh-what..." Fresh pain shot through my ribcage and I winced. "It...hurts."

There was a hand on my forehead, but I couldn't tell who's it was. A few voices whispering words that were probably reassuring, but I couldn't make sense of any of it. I wanted to sleep, or die maybe. Just anything to make the pain stop.

Sam

I stared at the bleeding figure now on the rock, my stomach in knots. What if we couldn't save her? The thought was unbearable, and I felt the slow tingles of panic start to take my limbs. My mouth was already sandpaper, but I am sure I felt it turn to concrete.
"Okay." I managed, glancing around at Torri, Riley and Conner, trying to keep my voice steady and clear through the nerves. "We need a compress, and something to clean the wound...before we take the pole out. Or she'll just bleed out."
Torri eyed the steady trickle of blood making a mark on the rock, and glanced back up at me. "Isn't she already?"
"She'll do it worse." And that I knew. Hours of watching emergency room reality shows with my mother had taught me this much, coupled with half remembered first aid. I glanced around, knowing we didn't have much time. "We need water, now." I didn't look up to see if anyone complied, but ripped off my shirt, peeling off the cleaner singlet underneath before replacing the shirt. It still had bits of sand which I hastily beat off, and was wet with salt water, but it would have to do. I leaned close to Cassie, then looked around. "So, who's going to you know..." I swallowed, "pull the pole?"