A Shipwreck Existence

A Shipwreck Existence

A Short Story

Written By

SpaceFaction

     A boat races into a cove beach. Suddenly, it stops. It’s already starting to sink when James and Linda come to the edge of this boat with their four daughters. They are having quite a bit of problems staying on their feet because of this sinking.

     James grabs his two oldest daughters under his arms. Allison, age thirteen, is held tight under his right arm. Beth, age eleven, is under his left arm. He jumps into the water near a beach. James quickly flips onto his back so his daughters are beneath the water for only a few seconds. He starts kicking his feet toward this nearby beach.

     Linda does the same thing with their two youngest daughters. Christy, age ten, is holding on to her right arm when they jump into this water. Diana, age eight, holds her left arm tightly. After Linda gets into the water, Christy and Diana let go of her arms so she could flip over onto her back.

     Christy and Diana grip their arms together over Linda’s stomach while Linda starts kicking her feet toward the beach. Before she starts kicking, Linda wraps her arms around her daughters’ backs to hold them to her. When they get to this beach they watch their boat sink into the water there.

##

     James, Linda, and their daughters can’t stop staring at their boat as it sinks into this cove beach water. While James and Linda take off their life jackets, their daughters shake off the water from their bikinis. After taking off their life jackets, James and Linda also start shaking.

     All six still have their large plastic bags in their hands. James and Linda have two bags each. They drop their bags before they take off their life jackets. Their daughters each have one bag in either their right or left hand. Allison, Beth, Christy, and Diana also place their bags on the beach by their feet.

     “Is everyone okay?” James asks. He looks at each one when they say they are all okay one after another, starting with Linda and ending with Diana, according to their ages.

     “What are we going to do now?” Allison asks.

     James looks at a large cave opening behind them. “The first thing we need to do is find some shelter. I know we are vacationing in Bali, Indonesia, but we don’t know how cold it may get in this cove.”

##

     After shaking the water off their swimwear, they pick their plastic bags back up and walk into the large cave opening. They can’t stop staring at the large cavern and the two small alcoves in this cave opening. James and Linda take one alcove. Their daughters take the other alcove in this ‘T’ shape cavern.

     When they get to these alcoves, they start removing the contents of their bags: some clothing and personal items, some food, and some broken-up pieces of wood from their former boat. After removing these things, the first think James, Linda, and their daughters do is start a fire in their alcoves.

     Once they spend a few minutes warming up beside their fires, they meet in the cavern area by the cave opening. They haven’t changed their clothing yet; they still have their swimwear on. “Now that we have shelter, what will we do next?” Christy asks.

     “Is this the new place we will be living for the rest of our lives?” Beth asks.

     “Of course, this isn’t our new place to live. We will be found,” says James. “I just don’t know how long it will be.”

##

     Only Linda is walking toward where the water meets the beach. When she gets to this edge, she looks at three of her four daughters at their cave opening. Allison isn’t there. Beth, Christy, and Diana move back from this opening. They can still see their mother, but their mother can’t see them. Linda returns to looking at the water in this cove.

     Why are you still down there? Is there something wrong? Linda can’t stop thinking about her husband and her daughter.

     I know we only have enough food to last another day or two, but do you really think there is more food still edible on that boat? Linda steps back when the tides roll in slightly.

     Suddenly, James and Allison start coming out of the water. Each has two bags in each hand. These eight bags look heavy in their hands, especially in the hands of Allison. Linda runs to help Allison with her bags. Beth, Christy, and Diana run to the edge of this water and beach to help their father.

     “There’s enough food there for us to be here a month,” says Linda. “We won’t be here that long, will we?”

##

     “It’s not only food.” Allison picks up one of the bags they have placed on the beach by their feet. “I also brought what I found on our rental. The reason is that those two other boats tried to sink us, and that is why we have sunk in this cove.”

     Allison starts walking to their cave opening while her parents pick up a bag in each hand, and her sisters pick up a bag. They also start walking toward this cave opening. James and Linda are walking slowly behind their daughters. “I didn’t know she did that, but come to think about it, it’s probably best she did it,” says James.

     “What’s wrong?” Linda asks softly. Either one wants their daughters to hear what they are talking about. “Why did you say that about it probably being best?”

     “If it wasn’t for the Bali Coast Guard, or whatever they are called here, those two boats would have sunk us instead of us sinking in this cove. We would all be dead, and they would have got what Allison has found.”

     Suddenly, Linda stops walking. James also stops. “Do you think those boats will be back for what Allison has Found?”

####

     “Allison, Beth, Christy, and Diana, go and bury what Allison has found,” asks James. “Don’t tell us where you have hidden it.” Their daughters take off to do what they have been asked to do while their parents stay at their cave opening facing their beach.

     “You think those boats will be coming back for what Allison has found?” Linda asks after glancing over her shoulder to see their daughters disappearing into their alcove.

     Almost instantly, Allison, Beth, Christy, and Diana come out of their alcove still with their bag they are fighting to hold. They stop about halfway to their parent's alcove. It appears that they don’t know where to go. After all, they keep looking toward both alcoves.

     “I hope the Bali ‘Coast Guard’ stopped those boats and arrested the Indonesians on them,” answers James. “If they haven’t been arrested, they probably will show up here before our family and friends find us.”

     “Unfortunately, our family and friends won’t be looking for us for another couple of days,” Linda says softly when she hears their daughters arguing while heading toward them. “After all, we rented our boat for a week.”

##

     James and Linda lie on their beach near the water, looking up at the sky above them while their daughters are playing in the shallow end of the water there. “I have been thinking about this, and I think our family and friends are looking for us.”

     “That’s why you keep looking up at the sky,” says Linda. “After all, my sister is a helicopter pilot, and your sister is a cop.”

     “We haven’t been in contact with our family and friends in the last couple of days, especially Allison and her friends.” James continues staring at the sky above them. “Every day, we have contacted our family and friends, and Allison has been almost constantly on her cell phone with her friends.”

     Linda starts looking at the entrance to this cove. “You could be right; our family and friends may be looking for us, but they may not limit it to the sky.”

     James looks at Linda. “Our family and friends aren’t the only reason why I’m keeping my eyes on the sky above us. I’m also looking for any drones our Indonesian friends may be using to find us before our family and friends can do it.”

##

     “We need to talk to you about something,” says James to his daughters. “It’s about why we are here and what may happen while we are here.”

     Allison looks at her sisters before she speaks. “We already know what you are going to talk to us about, and we have been talking about what we can do about it.”

     “I think I know how we can contact our family and friends,” continues Allison. “My cell phone doesn’t have a signal where we are, and I can’t recharge it, but I can still use the tracking app you think you secretly placed in it to contact them.”

     “We didn’t place a tracking app on your cell phone,” says Linda. “That’s beside the point right now. How can we use your cell phone to get some help to get out of here?”

     Allison goes over to her alcove to get the cell phone she has taken from their sunken boat. “I tried to use it to call my friends. That’s how I know there is no signal here, but if we can get it up in the sky high enough, maybe we can get this signal. I think I know how we can do this.”

##

     “There is one big problem with your plan, Allison.” James connects Allison’s cell phone to a balloon string. “Once we launch this balloon, we won’t be able to control it.”

     “I thought about that,” says Allison. “That’s why I’m going to attach a string from my cell phone to something heavy on the ground.” Allison smiles sheepishly. “I was thinking about that something being you.”

     Allison takes a somewhat thick piece of string off from around her waist. “I also know the winds can be very strong toward the sky above us. That’s why I’m using more of a rope than a string.”

     After placing this thick string on the tail of the balloon and wrapping it around her cell phone, Allison unlocked her cell phone and clicked on the GPS icon. She let go of her cell phone and let the balloon start to rise toward the sky. The whole family starts watching this balloon head toward the sky there.

     “Even without a recharge, my cell phone is at 100%. We should have about twenty-four hours before my cell phone needs to be recharged again,” says Allison. “I hope it doesn’t take that long, though.

##

     “I think I hear something,” says Diana, who is sitting on the shoulders of the rest of her family. “It’s the cell phone I’m hearing. Someone is trying to contact Allison. That’s not all I’m hearing, though. Something is coming toward us from the sky. I can’t see if it’s a helicopter or a drone.”

     Diana slides down the backs of her family. Christy and the rest of the family do the same thing until Linda slides down James. “I didn’t know about any helicopter or drone, but I thought that I heard someone from my cell phone.”

     Like James, the rest of the family doesn’t have any binoculars. So, they also slightly curve their hands around the outside of their eyes to see better in the sky. The direction that Diana has been looking at recently.

     It doesn’t take too long before Christy sees a drone heading toward them. Suddenly, the drone is destroyed by a helicopter right behind it. James’s and Linda’s sisters have found them, but it may be too late. Two boats have entered this cove, and they are headed right for them. They are already trying to kill them with automatic weapons.

Word Count = 1,978