The waves were splashing against the shore, reaching up and trying to grab it before sliding back down into the ocean. I lay there, unconscious, unknowing as to what had taken place in the last couple hours. I had just survived a sinking ship, but I didn’t know that. I just lay there, stiff on the golden sand, until…

*cough* *cough*

My eyes slowly opened as I turned on my side, spitting out water and sand. It took a while to gather where I was, and what I was doing there. The last thing I remembered was swimming out of the window of the ship. That was it.

I cautiously stood up, and stared at the world before me. Lush, green palm trees stood like castles among the vast bed of sand. Coconuts hung from the branches of the palms. Small aloe vera plants dotted the landscape. In the back of the whole thing was a huge, majestic mountain, with clouds swirling around the peak.

For a second I just stared blankly, with none of this having any meaning. But then it dawned on me. I was stranded. I was stranded on an island that was in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere else to go, no one out there to help me. I was feeling all kinds of emotions. I was happy that I survived the wreck. I was angry that I was stuck. I was afraid of what would happen next.

“How could you have let this happen, God?” I asked angrily, “Do you even care that I’m out here?”

The next couple hours consisted of me just sitting there, on the sand, depressed.

But I was starving, and eventually I got up, and went coconut hunting. I trudged over to the first tree, and eyed the beautiful, green coconuts. I grabbed ahold of the “bark” of the palm tree, and started climbing.

Right foot. Left foot. Right hand. Left hand. Slowly but surely I made my way up the tree. When I got to the top, I reached out my hand towards the coconut, and grasped the base. I gave a hard yank, but the coconut remained firm on the palm. Then I reached out my other hand and grabbed the top of the coconut. I gave another yank, but still, nothing happened. A third yank, and the coconut fell down. I lost my balance, and fell down the tree too.

I hit the ground with a hard thump. It was then that the throbbing pain in my knee was reawakened. I hadn’t felt it before because it had been numbed by my depression.

That night I had the most trouble sleeping that I’d had in years. For one, my knee was most likely sprained or broken or just extremely bruised, and it was causing me chaotic pain. Two, I had landed on the coconut, and now my chest felt like it was on fire. And three, I was stranded. Shipwrecked. Done for. No hope whatsoever of getting home. All because my TV had the nerve to show a commercial about a free cruise.

When I woke up the next morning, my chest and my knee felt a lot better. Maybe just a good nap was all they needed. I decided that today I would explore the island, because I had absolutely nothing else to do.

I first started by walking the perimeter of the island, which wasn’t huge, but not small either. There was just sand and water, plus a couple seashells.

Then I trudged over to the mainland of the island. I wanted to climb the mountain that I had seen, but first I would have to travel over thick and thin bushes of aloe Vera, and tall towers of palm trees. I had seen Swiss Family Robinson, which opened up the possibility of other things on there. Rattlesnakes, tigers, elephants, ostriches, who knows what could be lurking on this island?

  But I really didn’t care if there were any of those. I was going to climb that mountain, no matter what the cost. I had no idea what I would meet in the process.

  Come back for Chapter 5, the final chapter, to see what happens next…