Stranded
It was March 15, 1980, in the middle of the Caribbean Ocean. I was listening to my Journey tapes on my Walkman out on the deck. Over the drums and guitar solos I could still hear the thunder and feel the steady lurches on the deck. When the last song cut off there was a huge lurch. I was thrown off the deck and into the ice cold water. As I swam up, I could feel my lungs starting to get tense. I made it to the surface, and took a giant breath. I saw suitcases and boxes all over the cold water. I spotted a floating door maybe 20 feet away. When I reached it, I climbed onto it and laid on my back. After about five minutes I was out cold.
I woke up and rolled over thinking it was my warm, soft bed back in Florida. But instead, I rolled onto hot, soft sand. When I got up, I looked at my watch, but of course, it was blank and lifeless. It took me about twenty minutes to realize that I was all alone, and I had to find any other civilization. But of course there wasn’t anybody in sight. I took my headphones off my neck, and unclipped my Walkman from my belt. I put them into a pile along with my tapes, watch, and my crumbled and soggy dollar bills. I checked myself for any serious injury. I saw a few scratches, a huge bruise on my and my clothes were ripped and damp. My mouth was dry and sticky. I was starting to get very hungry. I searched around for food. I only found 12 coconuts, several berries, and saw a dozen crabs; but didn’t get them because I was scared touch one. I ate the grape looking berries and I enjoyed them. I was still thirsty and a little hungry. I might have swallowed some salt water because my mouth was salty and I had an intense headache. I laid down on the warm sand and looked up to the moon. I slowly closed my eyes.
The next day I was starting to get desperate for any kind of liquid or food. I got so desperate that I started to hit the coconuts with rocks for the milk and skin in the inside. After about 35 minutes of hitting the coconut I gave up and threw the coconut across the sand. I screamed in anger and frustration “Why me! Why did this have to happen to me! ” I started crying and fell down to the ground on my back and looked into the orange fading sky. I felt like crying more and a huge lump appeared in my throat. I went over to the coconut, the tears drying on my face, and started to hit it again hoping it will crack or open. It opened and I screamed in shock and happiness. I put my mouth to the crack and the milk wet my mouth and it tasted wonderful. After the milk was gone I was hydrated, and I put the rock back in the crack of the coconut and pushed it in. It broke opened and I scraped the skin off and ate it. To my surprise, it tasted pretty good! At this point I was curious about the whole other side of the island. When I went through an opening between some palm trees there was a dome. The dome was covered in pom fronds and was perfect for shelter. When I went back to my original setup, I saw a strange purple item next to a blue square box. They were both imbedded in the sand and just looked like they were just beached. I went to the mysterious items and realized they were both huge suitcases!
I unzipped them as fast as I could, my mind racing. The blue suitcase had huge clothes so I guessed it was a grown man. Underneath the clothes was a police badge, bathroom supplies, 6 belts, all with different designs on them, a multitool, and a working cassette player. In the purple suitcase was a pair of ice skates, sneakers that were my size, three bars of chocolate, and 8 bottles of water! Astounded, I went back to my setup. When I got to the dome I put all of my important supplies into the two suitcases, and made a small trench for them to rest in. I started to make a shelter from prior knowledge that I had from the “stupid” survival shows my step-dad watches. I took out the multitool and chopped some palm fronds off the small palm trees and tied them to some sticks I found in the small forest nearby. I made a fourth circle shape shelter, and spread the clothes from the suitcase under it for my bed. I was putting the last palm frond stick in place when I tripped over a rock and fell into the trench of the suitcases. My back slammed onto the purple suitcase, my head on the blue. I got up and looked at the suitcases and noticed a second layer on the top section. I opened them and found three more items. A lighter, a flashlight and a beautiful diamond ring. I probably thought I could make a couple bucks off of the ring. I now had something to start a fire on! I took the lighter and some of the dry clothes and started a small fire. I took the multitool and used the knife to kill a few crabs. I took a couple of sturdy sticks and impaled the crabs to them. I put them over the fire, and after ten minutes of being hungry, they were cooked. I cracked them open with the ice skates and ate them. I finished the crabs and took a sip of water, and said “Man I could kill for a Klondike right about now.”
12 days have gone by, and I was eating my last piece of chocolate. I took a sip of the 7th water bottle and laid down. I looked up at the top of the palm trees and said “ I gotta start a fire, a big one.” I took a third of the clothes I had left, about 60 sticks, and the lighter. I went to the edge of the ocean and stepped back about 20 feet because of the tide. I gathered the clothes and sticks and lit them on fire. I stepped back further to watch it burn. I went back into the shelter and sat down. I took a half swig of water and was angry at myself for drinking that much. I fell asleep and woke up to the sound of a loud motor. At first I thought it was the fire but when I went outside I saw a small dinghy that had no one in it. I frantically searched for the people that had parked their boat there. When I screamed “ Hello!? ” I heard a faint scream back “ Yeah I’m here.” I screamed “I’m over by your boat!” He said back “Ok” I waited outside my shelter when I heard a gentle voiced “Hello?”. I looked to the right and saw a strong looking man in a dive suit. I said “Please take me home!” He said back “ Yep, your parents sent a search team to find you. Are you Michael Whalen?” I said “Yes, I am….” He said calmly “Okay then, let's go.” We got on the dinghy and sped off. I listened to Journey tapes and I sarcastically thought “Great, I left the diamond ring.”