Monique Gaines

The Awakening

The palms tree gently swayed in the sea breeze while the hypnotic blue waves blanketed Shyanne’s legs. The soft golden sand crumbled under the weight of her shifting body. She turned over to be greeted by the 10 o’clock morning sun. She inhaled a big breath and sat up in the sand. Her head was still spinning but remarkably there was not a scratch on her, even though she was surrounded by wreckage. She glanced down the beach and saw several other bodies stirring awake from the aftermath of the crash. There were twelve passengers, co-pilot, and a pilot. But she only counted seven people on the shoreline. She looked for her friends and she only counted two out three of them. Her confused state turned to panic as she realized that her best friend was not accounted for. She stood up and begin calling out for her friend who answered her from the treetop. Free was up in the tree look for any sign of their private getaway. She yelled down to Shyanne that everyone was accounted for. “Some wanted to go off into the woods to look for food and the other are sleeping it off”. Shyanne just stared at her and said, “How do you know that they are alive?” Free responded “I checked for a pulse, I’m sure they are okay. Just trying to process the situation.”