The Island

             Some people say that the plane I am on won’t crash. You take for granted what makes you fly. You just get on the plane, not knowing anything could go wrong at anytime, not knowing that this could be your last plane ride ever. This is the case for my four passenger friends and me getting ready to go on a hunting excursion in Alaska. My name is Bob, and my hunting party consists of my four best friends Jimmy, Andy, John, and Allen.

            Just as we are getting ready to take off we order some screwdrivers from the planes bar. We raise our glasses and toast to a good hunting trip. With that the Captain is ready for take off, and in a matter of minutes we are in he air. Our estimated time of arrival into Juno is 12 hours and 15 minutes. For the first few hours everyone is pumped up for the hunting trip, and we are all swapping past hunting stories. Andy is going off on how he once killed 3 ducks with one shot. To this day I still don’t believe him but it sure does make me laugh to think on how much enthusiasm he put into his story. While Andy and John are swapping stories with each other, I have a good chance to talk to my best friend Allen about his job, he is an Executive for a big company in Florida called Castle Metals, and I also get to see how things have been going with his family. Allen has a beautiful wife named Audrey, and three kids named Ashley, Tim, and Jim.

            We are having a good time, talking and having plenty of more drinks, when out of nowhere time freezes with a bright flash of light. They say life ends with a freeze of time; in this case I thought they were right. I get up, dazed and confused, seeing that my buddies are not here anymore. I feel a strong constant wind coming from the front of the plane. I go to the cockpit where I discover there are no pilots. Out the window I can see a huge mountain staring straight back at me. I grab a hold of the steering devise, but it will not move, it will not respond. My window view of the mountain is growing faster by the second. Thoughts race through my head that this mountain will be the last thing I will ever see. Then it happened, I woke up dazed and confused again on what felt like rough little rocks. I could feel a cool breeze on my face. I could hear a light, roaring sound. My eyes close again, and I lay there motionless on a beach that I have somehow reached.

            Its funny how you know something bad just happen, but when you are dazed and confused you can’t help but not think of anything and just pour your eyes out to the darkness that overwhelms your mind. As I lay there staring up into the half lit sky, I suddenly become conscious of what just happened. As I slowly rise to my feet I am sadden by not knowing where I am or where my friends are. What was going to be a good time of hunting, turned into a disaster very quickly. As I begin to look at my surroundings, I notice that there are many palm trees lining the beach. I’ve concluded that I am on an island, an island that I would come to know. This island would become part of my everyday life. I lay down again and close my eyes. Thoughts of my beautiful wife Jane race through my head. I can see her so well I can practically smell her. It’s only been one day and I am already smelling things of my previous life.

The next day I check my pockets for any supplies that I have. I discover that I have a have a lighter, 7 cigarettes, and 2 dimes. I begin stacking wood on the side of the island, while I am having a smoke, for when I can hear planes or perhaps a helicopter flying over. When I have stacked a good-sized pile of wood, I decided to take a rest.

Over time, time doesn’t even seem like time anymore. Time is a lost art waiting to be put back into good use. Time was what I once knew as a lifestyle. Time, made time seem like there wasn’t going to be anything like it ever again. It’s been 6 months and my pile of wood lays there still unburned. There hasn’t even been a boat that went by this stupid island. My cigarettes are all gone, my dimes are lost, and all that remains is my lighter. This lighter will be my way out. I figured out a way of using rocks and palm trees to make a shelter, and also to make a rainwater catcher. I also made a spear with tree wood to catch the fish that come into the channel on the East side of the island.

As I am spending the 8^th month evening eating a shark that I caught the day before, and sipping on coconut milk, I hear a noise from heaven. There will be a time in your life when you least expect it to hear a voice of a higher power. This voice will be your redemption; it will be your parent for just a moment of your time. This sudden voice told me to light the pile off wood. I do not understand this request, because I do not see any boats and I do not hear any planes. For some odd reason this voice drives me to light the wood. I light the wood with my lighter, and then stand back to listen and to watch. Then without warning, my attention is brought to a bright light coming from the other side of the mountain on the island. When I get a closer look I notice that it has wings of metal. This headlight touches down on the beach and a man steps out of the chopper. It’s Andy, and he is followed closely by John. They both run to me and grab a hold of me for as long as they can.

It’s funny how you can automatically put stuff together with just the right information. You know it has happened but you somehow can’t help but try not to think about it. This information that I have put together, is my best friend, Allen. He did not follow Andy and John out of the chopper. I say his name, and instantly Andy begins crying. I knew it was true, Allen was dead. On the way back to the ship Andy told me that they just found Allen earlier that morning on a nearby island, and decided to search the area. In a way my best friend and I were linked together through this whole disaster. We were alone and everybody knew it but us. Back at the ship, my wife Jane was waiting for me, but so was Allen’s family. It hurt me so to see them like this. I took them all into my arms and began to cry. Later they told us that the islands we landed on were islands that have never been discovered before. They told me that I should be the one to name them both, so I only thought it fit to name one Allen and one Audrey. I never went back to these islands again.

You know places are not dangerous at all, but yet people never want to go back to the places where a tragedy has happened to them. It’s to long to wait till you just cant take it anymore, by then you are just as lost as when you started. Andy, John, and I always stayed pretty close, and did just about everything together. We all did our best to help Audrey raise the kids. We were all one big family. I often catch myself thinking of Allen and the island that I was stuck on for 8 whole months. I hear more voices that I know are from Allen to help me through my life journey. After a tragedy happens to you, a course of your life is missing. It can never be replaced but can always be remembered. Allen is still in my thoughts, and will forever be in my memories.