Status: Completed!
No One Ever Realized That They're Already Dead
Sorrow Swallows My Screams... 22
♠ Damien’s POV ♠
I was holding onto Ellamae but when we tipped, I lost my hold. I came up from the sea coughing and spotted Ben swimming to AJ. Behind me I heard a very faint call. Turning I saw my littlest sister. I quickly swam to her and had her grab onto my lifejacket. I shouted words of encouragement as I started making my way to Ben and AJ.
“Where’s Ivory?” Ben called over all the noise as we four grasped onto each other.
I frantically looked around and we all started shouting her name. What seemed like hours but was really seconds, a large yellow raft broke the surface, Ivory clutching on for the life her on the side.
“Ivory!” we all called and made out way to her and boat.
Ben climbed up first so he could pull us up. I came aboard last and collapsed breathing heavily like the rest of them. All out hands were latched onto the rope going around and attached to the yellow raft.
None of us had the strength nor breath to say anything as we floated along with the heavy storm.
[[October 26, 2008]] \Sunday\
“So hot,” AJ moaned.
The storm had passed and the sun was high in the sky. It beat down on us, making us hot and parched.
“I want daddy,” Ellamae said softly, dried tears running down her face.
I just patted her arm reassuringly. I didn’t have the energy to say anything else. We had left around noon yesterday and it had to be around that time now. I kept saying in my head that a whole day has passed… where were they? Why weren’t they coming for us? But I knew there was now water on earth than land and we could only hope they’d spy our tiny yellow raft in the billions of gallons of sea.
[[October 27, 2008]] \Monday\
“It’s day two in the search for the 5 missing kids, lost at sea. 16-year-old Ben Jordan, his 10-year-old brother AJ, and their friends: 10-year-old Damien Gold, and his younger sisters: 9-year-old Ivory and 8-year-old Ellemea. The younger children had taken the keys to Ben’s dad’s boat and we’re just about to leave the dock when Ben jumped aboard. The large storm could have pushed them in any direction. Cost guard is searching every hour of the day.”
\\ ♠ ♠ Elsewhere ♠ ♠ \\
♠ Ivory’s POV ♠
“Land!” AJ suddenly shouted.
“Finally!” I cheered sitting up.
We reached over the side, and started paddling with our arms and hands to the landmass. When we got close enough for Ben to reach the bottom with his feet, he started pulling and swimming us to it.
His sudden scream of pain made us all jump.
“Ben!” AJ yelled and jumped over when Ben disappeared under the water.
We didn’t need to paddle with our arms towards the island since the waves were pushing us to the island. As soon as I could, I jumped from the boat and rushed to help AJ pull Ben’s body to shore.
“What’s wrong with him?” Ella asked as we dragged him up to the sand, away from the water.
“I don’t know,” I answered looking him over but stopped at his foot.
I winced and the others came and looked too. It looked like a very thin and pointy needle thing jammed into his foot.
“Oh no,” AJ whispered.
We all looked at him and Damien asked, “What?”
“I’ve seen one of these before at the aquarium. That’s…” he gulped, “from a fish. It has needles on the top of its body… covered in poison.”
My siblings and I all breathed in deeply as we looked down at the passed out Ben.
“He’ll live,” I said firmly getting to my feet and looking down at them. “We have to stay calm and see if there’s anyone on the island to help. But we can’t leave him alone. AJ and Damien, drag Ben to the shade and then AJ I want you start collecting large rocks to spell out HELP, don’t start spelling it till we can help you and check on Ben every few minutes. Ellamae, I want you to walk along the shoreline that way you can’t get lost. Damien I want you to go into the jungle with me. We’ll spilt up to look for food, water, people, and animals.” I looked each one in the eye. “Be careful, we don’t have any idea where we are.” I then clapped my hands together, “Ok. Let’s get a move on.”
\ ♠ ♠ [[Fast Forward]] ♠ ♠ \
♠ Damien’s POV ♠
Like always Ivory took charge. Good. I could be a leader if need be but Ivory was just born for it. She must get it from Matt. AJ, Ellamae, and I all completed the things she asked. AJ and I even finished the very large HELP sign. I was starting to worry about Ivory and Ben. Ben wasn’t awake and Ivory still isn’t back.
Good news- I found a clean source of fresh water and some banana trees.
Bad news- Ellamae walked the shores edge as best she could and found no one. I also found no one in the jungle.
At that moment Ben, behind me, started mumbling something. I admittedly turned and was at his side, Bene with AJ.
“What happened?” he mumbled while breathing heavily.
“Don’t talk,” I told him softly. “You stepped on a poisonous fish. You’ll be fine, we’ll take care of you.”
“It’s ok Ben,” AJ said adding his own reassurance.
Ben gulped slightly and nodded even slighter, then his eyes closed and he fell back into darkness. AJ and I looked at each other worried. At that moment, I spotted Ivory walking towards us on the beach. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“What cha find?” I ask once se makes it to us.
“Bananas, fresh water, berries, and a perfect place to catch fish,” she answered calmly then looked to her left. “You made the sign. Good,” she nodded then looked back at us three.
♠ Ivory’s POV ♠
I looked at them for a moment. They were all waiting for me to do something. Give them orders. Take charge and tell them what to do to help us out of this miss. But what? I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“I wanted to report back to you and then take Ellamae with me to grab bananas and berries. D, AJ, I want you two to start gathering wood of all size and then go into the forest and collect those huge leaves. We’ll need shelter.”
“Right,” AJ nodded and he and Damien instantly went to do as I said.
I looked down at my little sister and smiled, “Come on Ella. Let’s get some grub. Ben’s gonna need it.”
“Ok,” she said smiling as best she could.
\ ♠ ♠ [[Fast Forward]] ♠ ♠ \
♠ AJ’s POV ♠
(ME: If no one can tell… I LOVE changing POVs haha).
I looked away from the small fire and to my older brother breathing heavily under our little shelter between two trees. Ivory was in there, dabbing his forehead and chest with her top (ME: doesn’t mean she’s got nothing covering her. Remember they were going to go fishing in the ocean so they all had their bathing suits under their clothes.) My chest squeezed painfully at the heavy breathing I could hear from here.
Sighing loudly I turned back to the fire, momentarily looking at Damien and Ellamae huddled close together.
Were we ever going to get off this island? Will they ever find us?
[[October 28, 2008]] \Tuesday\
♠ [ Day 3 ] ♠
“How is he?” I ask about midday.
Ivory looks up and away from Ben. “He has a fever. He doesn’t know where he is,” she answered softly. “Or what’s going on.”
My eyes filled with tears and I turned so she couldn’t see them.
At that moment we heard Damien’s voice, “Guys!” He was running towards us. “Its the boat! Come on!”
Forgetting my pain for the moment, I rush off with him, Ivory hot on my heels. When we make it past the large outer cliff, Damien points out towards the sea. I look and see my dad’s trashed boat laying on its side on one of the small sand dunes knew our island.
“I got it,” Ivory said.
“You can’t swim that far,” Damien said frowning.
She smirked. “You know I’m the better swimmer out of us. I’ll go, you guys stay here.”
Then without any other word she went running into the surf and started swimming when her legs couldn’t touch the bottom. It seemed like she was swimming forever but when she finally made it to the small sand dune she waved to us, signaling she’s ok. D and I watched as she started looking through the wreaked boat. Hopefully it has something that can be useful for us.
I watched as Ivory strapped something to her back and then dive back into the water. When she was close enough, Damien and I ran into the water to help her ashore. She collapsed onto the sand breathing hard.
“What cha find?” Damien asked.
Ivory sat up, her breathing slowly going back to normal. “Here,” she said removing a backpack.
I grinned realizing it was the first aid backpack. I opened it to see the waterproof case, waterproof flashlight, waterproof matches, and…
“What’s this?” I ask holding up the sharp piece of metal.
“It could be useful,” she answers with a shrug. “I dunno, tie it to a spear and catch fish.”
I just nod and put everything back into the backpack.
“Let’s head back to Ben,” Damien said as he started walking. “Then we’ll go try to catch some fish.”
Ivory and I nodded and we started our way back to Ben. When we got there we say Ellamae dabbing her forehead and a pile of bananas beside her.
“How is he?” Ivory asked grabbing a banana.
Ella frowned. “He keeps mumbling something about clowns and elephants.”
A pain look to over my face and Damien placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him.
He smiled, “It’s going to be ok AJ. We’ll help each other through this.”
“Yeah,” Ellamae smiled. “We’re the A’s.”
We all looked at her blankly, confused.
“The what?” I asked.
“The A’s,” she said like we’re the idiots. “All our middle names start with A, even Bens.”
I shared a look with the older Gold siblings. “That’s kinda weird,” I said.
“In a cool way, I guess,” Damien added.
“Well,” Ivory said. “We’re not calling our tribe the A’s. We’ll have to think of something cool. Ellamae, you can work on that. Get a bunch of ideas and we’ll vote.”
Ivory then went to looking over my brother. I smiled at her even though she couldn’t see it. I knew she only gave Ellamae that little job to distract her. She’s a good sister. What would we do without her?
I was holding onto Ellamae but when we tipped, I lost my hold. I came up from the sea coughing and spotted Ben swimming to AJ. Behind me I heard a very faint call. Turning I saw my littlest sister. I quickly swam to her and had her grab onto my lifejacket. I shouted words of encouragement as I started making my way to Ben and AJ.
“Where’s Ivory?” Ben called over all the noise as we four grasped onto each other.
I frantically looked around and we all started shouting her name. What seemed like hours but was really seconds, a large yellow raft broke the surface, Ivory clutching on for the life her on the side.
“Ivory!” we all called and made out way to her and boat.
Ben climbed up first so he could pull us up. I came aboard last and collapsed breathing heavily like the rest of them. All out hands were latched onto the rope going around and attached to the yellow raft.
None of us had the strength nor breath to say anything as we floated along with the heavy storm.
[[October 26, 2008]] \Sunday\
“So hot,” AJ moaned.
The storm had passed and the sun was high in the sky. It beat down on us, making us hot and parched.
“I want daddy,” Ellamae said softly, dried tears running down her face.
I just patted her arm reassuringly. I didn’t have the energy to say anything else. We had left around noon yesterday and it had to be around that time now. I kept saying in my head that a whole day has passed… where were they? Why weren’t they coming for us? But I knew there was now water on earth than land and we could only hope they’d spy our tiny yellow raft in the billions of gallons of sea.
[[October 27, 2008]] \Monday\
“It’s day two in the search for the 5 missing kids, lost at sea. 16-year-old Ben Jordan, his 10-year-old brother AJ, and their friends: 10-year-old Damien Gold, and his younger sisters: 9-year-old Ivory and 8-year-old Ellemea. The younger children had taken the keys to Ben’s dad’s boat and we’re just about to leave the dock when Ben jumped aboard. The large storm could have pushed them in any direction. Cost guard is searching every hour of the day.”
\\ ♠ ♠ Elsewhere ♠ ♠ \\
♠ Ivory’s POV ♠
“Land!” AJ suddenly shouted.
“Finally!” I cheered sitting up.
We reached over the side, and started paddling with our arms and hands to the landmass. When we got close enough for Ben to reach the bottom with his feet, he started pulling and swimming us to it.
His sudden scream of pain made us all jump.
“Ben!” AJ yelled and jumped over when Ben disappeared under the water.
We didn’t need to paddle with our arms towards the island since the waves were pushing us to the island. As soon as I could, I jumped from the boat and rushed to help AJ pull Ben’s body to shore.
“What’s wrong with him?” Ella asked as we dragged him up to the sand, away from the water.
“I don’t know,” I answered looking him over but stopped at his foot.
I winced and the others came and looked too. It looked like a very thin and pointy needle thing jammed into his foot.
“Oh no,” AJ whispered.
We all looked at him and Damien asked, “What?”
“I’ve seen one of these before at the aquarium. That’s…” he gulped, “from a fish. It has needles on the top of its body… covered in poison.”
My siblings and I all breathed in deeply as we looked down at the passed out Ben.
“He’ll live,” I said firmly getting to my feet and looking down at them. “We have to stay calm and see if there’s anyone on the island to help. But we can’t leave him alone. AJ and Damien, drag Ben to the shade and then AJ I want you start collecting large rocks to spell out HELP, don’t start spelling it till we can help you and check on Ben every few minutes. Ellamae, I want you to walk along the shoreline that way you can’t get lost. Damien I want you to go into the jungle with me. We’ll spilt up to look for food, water, people, and animals.” I looked each one in the eye. “Be careful, we don’t have any idea where we are.” I then clapped my hands together, “Ok. Let’s get a move on.”
\ ♠ ♠ [[Fast Forward]] ♠ ♠ \
♠ Damien’s POV ♠
Like always Ivory took charge. Good. I could be a leader if need be but Ivory was just born for it. She must get it from Matt. AJ, Ellamae, and I all completed the things she asked. AJ and I even finished the very large HELP sign. I was starting to worry about Ivory and Ben. Ben wasn’t awake and Ivory still isn’t back.
Good news- I found a clean source of fresh water and some banana trees.
Bad news- Ellamae walked the shores edge as best she could and found no one. I also found no one in the jungle.
At that moment Ben, behind me, started mumbling something. I admittedly turned and was at his side, Bene with AJ.
“What happened?” he mumbled while breathing heavily.
“Don’t talk,” I told him softly. “You stepped on a poisonous fish. You’ll be fine, we’ll take care of you.”
“It’s ok Ben,” AJ said adding his own reassurance.
Ben gulped slightly and nodded even slighter, then his eyes closed and he fell back into darkness. AJ and I looked at each other worried. At that moment, I spotted Ivory walking towards us on the beach. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“What cha find?” I ask once se makes it to us.
“Bananas, fresh water, berries, and a perfect place to catch fish,” she answered calmly then looked to her left. “You made the sign. Good,” she nodded then looked back at us three.
♠ Ivory’s POV ♠
I looked at them for a moment. They were all waiting for me to do something. Give them orders. Take charge and tell them what to do to help us out of this miss. But what? I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“I wanted to report back to you and then take Ellamae with me to grab bananas and berries. D, AJ, I want you two to start gathering wood of all size and then go into the forest and collect those huge leaves. We’ll need shelter.”
“Right,” AJ nodded and he and Damien instantly went to do as I said.
I looked down at my little sister and smiled, “Come on Ella. Let’s get some grub. Ben’s gonna need it.”
“Ok,” she said smiling as best she could.
\ ♠ ♠ [[Fast Forward]] ♠ ♠ \
♠ AJ’s POV ♠
(ME: If no one can tell… I LOVE changing POVs haha).
I looked away from the small fire and to my older brother breathing heavily under our little shelter between two trees. Ivory was in there, dabbing his forehead and chest with her top (ME: doesn’t mean she’s got nothing covering her. Remember they were going to go fishing in the ocean so they all had their bathing suits under their clothes.) My chest squeezed painfully at the heavy breathing I could hear from here.
Sighing loudly I turned back to the fire, momentarily looking at Damien and Ellamae huddled close together.
Were we ever going to get off this island? Will they ever find us?
[[October 28, 2008]] \Tuesday\
♠ [ Day 3 ] ♠
“How is he?” I ask about midday.
Ivory looks up and away from Ben. “He has a fever. He doesn’t know where he is,” she answered softly. “Or what’s going on.”
My eyes filled with tears and I turned so she couldn’t see them.
At that moment we heard Damien’s voice, “Guys!” He was running towards us. “Its the boat! Come on!”
Forgetting my pain for the moment, I rush off with him, Ivory hot on my heels. When we make it past the large outer cliff, Damien points out towards the sea. I look and see my dad’s trashed boat laying on its side on one of the small sand dunes knew our island.
“I got it,” Ivory said.
“You can’t swim that far,” Damien said frowning.
She smirked. “You know I’m the better swimmer out of us. I’ll go, you guys stay here.”
Then without any other word she went running into the surf and started swimming when her legs couldn’t touch the bottom. It seemed like she was swimming forever but when she finally made it to the small sand dune she waved to us, signaling she’s ok. D and I watched as she started looking through the wreaked boat. Hopefully it has something that can be useful for us.
I watched as Ivory strapped something to her back and then dive back into the water. When she was close enough, Damien and I ran into the water to help her ashore. She collapsed onto the sand breathing hard.
“What cha find?” Damien asked.
Ivory sat up, her breathing slowly going back to normal. “Here,” she said removing a backpack.
I grinned realizing it was the first aid backpack. I opened it to see the waterproof case, waterproof flashlight, waterproof matches, and…
“What’s this?” I ask holding up the sharp piece of metal.
“It could be useful,” she answers with a shrug. “I dunno, tie it to a spear and catch fish.”
I just nod and put everything back into the backpack.
“Let’s head back to Ben,” Damien said as he started walking. “Then we’ll go try to catch some fish.”
Ivory and I nodded and we started our way back to Ben. When we got there we say Ellamae dabbing her forehead and a pile of bananas beside her.
“How is he?” Ivory asked grabbing a banana.
Ella frowned. “He keeps mumbling something about clowns and elephants.”
A pain look to over my face and Damien placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him.
He smiled, “It’s going to be ok AJ. We’ll help each other through this.”
“Yeah,” Ellamae smiled. “We’re the A’s.”
We all looked at her blankly, confused.
“The what?” I asked.
“The A’s,” she said like we’re the idiots. “All our middle names start with A, even Bens.”
I shared a look with the older Gold siblings. “That’s kinda weird,” I said.
“In a cool way, I guess,” Damien added.
“Well,” Ivory said. “We’re not calling our tribe the A’s. We’ll have to think of something cool. Ellamae, you can work on that. Get a bunch of ideas and we’ll vote.”
Ivory then went to looking over my brother. I smiled at her even though she couldn’t see it. I knew she only gave Ellamae that little job to distract her. She’s a good sister. What would we do without her?