SOS- Story of Survival

S.O.S
Story of Survival

James Franklin was lying on the bed in his cabin. He was trying not to move as movement of his body could trigger another vomit attack. In other words, he was seasick. Why am I here, why did I agree to come here in the first place? Even though it was two months ago James remembered as if it were yesterday.

It was the start of the school holidays and James was lying on the couch, in just his underwear. It had to be the hottest day on record he thought. James tried to fall asleep but the humidity in the air that afternoon made it near impossible, so James daydreamt about ice and snow and other cold things. Later on in the evening James’s dad had come home with news that would change James’s life forever.

James’s dad worked as a professional photographer who travelled around the world taking photos for the national geographic magazine, for this cause he was always on expeditions to bigger and better places each year. This year his assignment was to travel to a small island just of the coast of Russia to investigate reports on a new species of wild bear. Since James was on summer holidays James’s dad allowed James to accompany him. James had been very excited until he found out that he would have to face a ten-day trip on a ship. “Why do we have to go on a ship James had asked. “? National geographic want me to take photographs of the scenery along the way and this can only be done on a ship”.

“Come on James let’s go down for lunch” James’s dad said coming out of the bathroom. James snapped out of his memories and came back to the real world.
“ Sorry dad I don’t feel like eating at the moment” James replied. “ What’s wrong son”? his dad asked a concerned look coming over his face. James decided not to worry his dad. “ Nothing dad I’m just tired” James said. His dad looking slightly relived said “ Okay James if you need me I’ll be at the lunchroom”. His dad left the room, James closed his eyes and put a hand over his mouth as his stomach lurched. It was his ninth day on the cruise and he still felt sick every day. Before he knew it James had drifted off into a deep and dreamless sleep.

The first thing James noticed when he woke up was that all was quiet and there was no laughing or giggling coming from downstairs. He checked his digital watch it read 7:00 pm. Why wasn’t his dad home yet he wondered? He decided to go and have a look downstairs. He had no idea that when he got downstairs he would get the biggest shock of his life.

When James got downstairs he saw that no one was around. Where is everyone he thought? As he got the lunchroom he felt a sense of foreboding, a sense of fear and panic. As he entered the lunchroom he saw everyone was sleeping on their table with their unfinished lunch. James ignored the feeling of dread that was nagging at him and went to wake his dad. He shook and slapped his dad but his dad did not wake. James picked up the glass of juice that was on his dad’s table and poured the whole lot on his dad. His dad did not wake. He checked for a pulse. There was none.
His dad was dead and James was all alone.
Alone.

James knew he must not panic; hopefully someone on ship was alive. He decided to find out what had caused the deaths. He looked around, he saw a man dead with a spoon still in his mouth. James figured that it must have been food poisoning of some sort. He decided to go to the captain’s deck, maybe the captain did not eat. It took James quite a while to find the captains deck but when he finally did, what he saw made his heart sink, the captain was hunched over, clearly dead.

James looked at the radar in the captains ship, what he saw gave him another shock; they were headed straight for an iceberg.

James didn’t know what to do. He tried to steer the ship but the steering wheel was stuck. All James could do was stand and watch. He was helpless as the ship hit the iceberg with a loud bang.

The ship was sinking fast.
James tried the radio, he heard a crackling sound. S.O.S he yelled. The radio went out.
James knew he had to get out of the ship fast. He ran back to his room and got the life jacket that his dad had kept for emergencies from under his bed and ran back to the lunchroom. Along the way to the lunchroom James grabbed a fire extinguisher. He ran to one of the large windows and smashed it to bits. He put on his life jacket and climbed out the window. James hung on to a metal pole and inched himself towards the ocean. When he was about a metre away from the water he let go of the pole and dropped into the ocean. The water was freezing when James hit. He tried to inflate his life jacket but it did not inflate. He looked at it and what he saw made his heart rise up to his mouth. He was alone in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean in a Life jacket with a hole in it. He was going to die.

James knew he must not waste his energy. He was sure he was only a couple of hours away from land. His main concern was pneumonia. The water was freezing. It was like ice. James thought floating was the best option. The waves were rough and James couldn’t keep his head above water. James started coughing and spluttering. James gave up. Every thing went black. James knew he was dead.

When James woke he got a surprise he was still alive. He was lying on a small island. He knew this wasn’t the small island of Russia where his dad and him were meant to go because here it was just too hot. Thinking of his dad brought a sharp pain to his stomach. He got up and looked around. The island wasn’t as small as he first thought. He could see some deer and some cows grazing. First of all he needed a shelter. Luckily he found the perfect place, three wide trees had fallen from each side to make a cave with a few gaps. James decided to patch up the shelter. He picked up some mud and covered the gaps with it. He stood back and admired his work. It was a perfect shelter.

He decided he next needed a fire, for light, warmth and protection from animals. He decided to do it the old fashioned way. He gathered some wood, dry twigs and branches and put them in his shelter, he then surrounded the in rocks. He found some hard granite rocks and took them to his shelter. He hit the rocks together until there was sparks but the fire did not light. He was missing something. This time he hit the rocks together once again but blew softly also. Slowly but surly the twigs and
Branches were crackling. Suddenly he had fire. James smiled it was his first smile for as long as he could remember.

When night came James had nothing to do but lie in his shelter watching the fire. It was freezing outside, and if it wasn’t for the fire James would have frozen to death. All this thinking bought back horrific memories of his dead father. He cried long into the night until he could cry no more.

In the morning James decided to look for food and he decided he needed something extra to keep him warm at night like a sweater. He left his shelter and went out to explore. He took with him a knife he had made by sharpening a rock. His belt to use as a whip and ten sharp sticks he had gathered to use as spears. He also took a sack he had made by using pieces of straw bound together. James walked for about half an hour until he came across some berries. He knew it was a silly thing to do but he knew he had to do it. He had to take risks or else he would starve. He had to eat the berries, which could be potentially be poisonous. He took one of the berries examined it and then without thinking popped it in his mouth.

It tasted sour but it was like a treat to James who had not eaten in days. He ate and ate until he felt sick. He then put some in the sack for later. He went on and ahead he saw a small sheep. James craved for meat but he did not want to kill the sheep. But he had to. Here it wasn’t live and let live. It was eat or be eaten. James decided to go on. He would come back for the sheep later. Ahead he found just what he was looking for a dead buffalo killed by a herd of wolves by the look of it. He got out his rock knife and cut of some meat. It was still fresh. He didn’t have to kill the sheep. He then cut of the buffalo’s strong skin. Just enough to use as a sweater.

On the way home he noticed a tree with branches that looked and felt like rope. He cut some branches and took them along with him. When he got to the shelter he found that his fire had burnt out. He needed more wood. He went out and gathered lots of wood so he would not have to do it again later.

James went back to his shelter. Looking at the meat made James’s mouth water. He put the meat on one of the sharp sticks and roasted it in the fire. When the meat touched James’s tongue he realized how people take things for granted. Here he was, mouth watering over buffalo meat and there were people out there who had chicken burgers and lamb curries almost every day. James ate the meat in less than five minutes. He then ate some berries for desert. James then decided to work on his sweater. He used his rock knife to cut a hole at the top of the folded piece of leather. That would be for his head he then cut out two holes at the sides for his arms. It was surprisingly warm. It was perfect. James felt a bit heavy so he went out for a walk. James noticed a speck out on the sea. It was a ship. He had a chance to save himself.

He ran back to his shelter gathered the biggest pieces of wood and tied them together with the rope like branches. It was a perfect raft. He quickly dragged it in the water jumped on and propelled himself forwards. The raft floated like a dream. It took him about twenty minutes to catch up to the ship. By then the rope was falling apart. People on the deck saw him and started waving and pointing. Someone threw out a rope and James grabbed it and hoisted himself on board.

It was over. James had survived. Rescue was bitter sweet. He had to face the death of his dad but at least he was alive. Was it worth living without his dad?
“ Are you the boy who jumped off the ship the terminator?” asked a man. “ Yes I am” James replied. The man’s eyes opened wide and he took a moment to take it in. “ Do you realize you’ve been gone two weeks” the man said. “ Two weeks” James said disbelieving. “ How do you know about me?” James asked. “ You’ve been in the newspapers everywhere” the man said. “Your parents have been worried sick” the man said. “Parent’s” James said. “What do you mean parent’s” James asked bitterly. “My dad’s dead” James said. No he isn’t, everyone on the terminator was in a coma due to an unknown drug in his or her drink. When you radioed for help, the signal got through. Help arrived just after you left and just before the Terminator sank. Your dad is still alive. James jumped for Joy.

Over all he had lost nothing on this trip, he had only gained. He was now a stronger person mentally and physically. He was now more aware about taking things for granted and he had somehow evolved, he was more mature than ever.

THE END By Nitin. Madan