Stranded

    Cassie awoke to the chirping of birds and the crashing of waves. She looked around warily, unsure of where she was. Noticing that she was lying alone on a beach, she started to panic. What happened? Why was she here? Did her plane crash? These were a few of the things that darted through her mind as she struggled to get up.
    Finally, she managed to stand. She saw that she had been lying on a beach covered in white sand. Still panicking, she made a mad dash inland, hoping to find civilization in the cover of the trees. She hadn't been running very long when she broke out of the trees and once more found herself on a strip of white-sanded coastline.
    Confused, she turned and ran once more into the trees. Again, she emerged on what looked like the same strip of sand. Finally, she understood. She was on an island. She ran along the coastline and confirmed this. The entire island couldn't be more than a few hundred yards at its widest point as she only ran for about a two minutes before meeting her own footprints again.
    Sadly, Cassie sat down and began to weep. That's when she saw something shining out amongst the crashing waves. Suddenly, hope filled her again. She leaped up and ran madly toward the water. She continued running until she was forced to swim. She swam until she reached the shining object. It was a bottle. Nothing out of the ordinary about it, but for some reason hope did not leave her. Instead, she felt an entirely new surge of hope.
    As a young girl, she had heard stories of people sending a message in a bottle and being rescued. She swam back to shore, feeling as she would be off the island in a matter of days. As she swam, images flashed through her mind of a bottle, floating lazily through the ocean, being pushed along by a light breeze. Excitement filled her as she thought of a dashing Harrison Ford-like hero rescuing her.
    However, like most feelings of euphoria, Cassie's were short-lived. As she reached the shore, she realized her error. She had nothing to write with and nothing to write on. Even if she had, she didn't know where she was. She wouldn't have had a way to let any would-be heroes know how to save her.
    Once more, she sat down on the beach and started to cry. She cried until she heard the deep, trumpeting blast of a boat horn. Looking up, she saw a huge white cruise ship coming close to her island. It stopped and people got into small boats and came ashore. A man in a colorful Hawaiian-style shirt came up behind her and welcomed them to his home.
    This time, as she looked around the island, she realized something. There was the roof of a building sticking up near the middle, looking for all the world like a green hill. She had missed it before because her mind was in panic-mode. Breathing a sigh of relief, she got up and explained what had happened to the man in the Hawaiian shirt.
    He laughed insanely at how she thought she was on a deserted island, explaining that this was a popular tourist destination in the Caribbean. She, too, laughed at her foolishness, and joined the other tourists for a relaxing visit to the islands natural hot springs.
    A month later, she was back home and feeling as though her moment of panic had never happened.


Stranded
By Michael Branham (Elf King)
Word Count: 594