Shipwrecked

Fool that I am, I thought sailing to the Andaman Islands by myself would be an awesome experience. Which it was until the storm of all storms hit me head on. Waves tossed my ship about like a duck in god's bathtub. I resigned myself to certain death. Then after what seemed like days, the storm just stopped. But my ship was for all practical purposes destroyed. The rudder and mast were gone. The motor wasn’t working. Nothing but the hull remained. I should have been killed. But as you might have realized, since I am telling this story, I survived. Although given my situation death might have been a mercy.

I had no idea where I was. Which didn’t matter much anyway, since I could only float helplessly wherever the ocean currents took me. I floated for four days, using up all my water and most of my food. Then it appeared. An island. What luck! Unfortunately, I was floating by it at a distance. I was forced to choose between staying aboard what would surely become my sea coffin, or abandoning ship and making a swim for the island. So I swam, limply and desperately, for what seemed like an hour but surely was not.

To finally feel ground under my feet again, I could do nothing but cry, relief, anxiety. Euphoria set upon me and I collapsed from exhaustion, waking up as the sun was setting on the horizon. A stunning visual, overshadowed by the stark reminder that I was extremely lost.

Standing up to survey the surroundings, I considered

A long beach stretched out ahead of me, soft near white sands littered with small rocks, sticks and brush. A dense, wooded treeline ahead blocked any perspective of height, other than the knowledge that there was no mountain here. The beach continued for a few hundred feet in one direction and many more in the other, both eventually curving off out of sight.

A rabbit skirts by on the edge of the woods. A crab meanders by on the waters edge. There is food to be found. My eyes wander along the shoreline from the crab to spot what appears to be...

My boat? Mostly ruined but brought in on the tide all the same. That will take some time to get to shore. I would drag it in but I am not in any shape for that. I am need to rest for the night. Fire, crabs, and the metal bucket from the boat when it inevitably arrives. Easy enough.

As the sun sets and I enjoy the best crab I have ever had, a small fire crackles and my blanket and clothes hang to dry. It is warm enough this time of year.

Eventually I rest my head, resigning myself to sleeping in the nude for lack of dry alternatives. The slowly fizzles and I stare at the stars overhead, questioning what foolish choices I had made to find myself in this state. Nothing to be done about it. I close my eyes and sigh, deciding I will worry about it when I have slept.

Silence.

Crackling fire.

Heat.

Shouting?

My eyes shoot open, to see 4 smallish men with sharpened sticks and dark complexions. They've re-lit the fire. They seem unhappy. They cast dramatic shadows on the thick canopy and trees behind them.

No, that's a different fire. I'm in the woods now. Shit.

I try to stand,

My feet are tied. Not good.

They don't seem to notice I've woken up over what appears to be a heated debate. Pulling against what appear to also be bindings on my wrists, I squirm free carefully, praying they will not turn around. As I turn my back and begin to slip away, one of them gestures to me, amidst his point as the other three look at me and full stop.

I run.