ASK Part 3

I awoke shivering. My clothes still weren’t dry. I sat up from leaning on Aunt Lorelei’s shoulder and rubbed my sore neck. I wondered why no help came yet. I looked around. Everyone in the life raft was awake, but no one said anything. The many bodies, life rafts, and pieces of the ship dwindled to only a few overnight. I assumed they must have floated away or sank. Off in the distance, to the right of the raft, I could have sworn I saw land.

“Hey, guys, is that land up there?” I said, pointing.

Aunt Lorelei turned to the right and looked where I pointed.

“You know, Shayne, I think you’re right!” She looked around at everyone else. “Guys, does that look like land to you?”

The other people looked.

“I think it is. Let’s paddle toward it,” the blonde lady said.

Using our hands or whatever metal pieces from the ship we found still floating around, we paddled slowly but surely toward land. It took us somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour to reach a beach. Beyond the beach grew a thick forest, and a mountain peeked over the treetops. I got out of the raft and plopped onto the sand. I lay on my back and just rested.

Aunt Lorelei and Natalie thanked God aloud. The rest lay on the sand near me, except the man and the black-haired woman, who pulled the raft far enough onto the beach for it not to get taken away by the tide. Then they collapsed onto the sand with the rest of us. I fell asleep again.

***

When I woke, the sun just peeked over the horizon. The sunset colored the sky orange and purple. I sat up. Everyone else sat around a fire a couple yards away. My skin burned. I guess I got sunburned while lying there. I wished I’d thought of that earlier.

“Aah!” one of the women screamed as I approached.

“What’s wrong?” Aunt Lorelei asked.

I sat down next to Aunt Lorelei as the blonde lady said in the most disgusting, high-pitched, whiny voice I ever heard, “These mosquitoes are just dreadful! I can’t stand bugs! Why are they still attacking me when there’s a fire?”

I already didn’t like her. I couldn’t stand her voice. Maybe that was mean.

“Shayne, you haven’t met everyone yet,” Aunt Lorelei said and motioned to each person as she said their name.

She motioned to the black-haired lady. “This is Daniella.”

Next the blonde lady. “Caroline.”

After her, the man. “This is Liam.”

And finally, the boy. “And this is Rupert.”

“Hi, I’m Shayne,” I said.

“Hi,” the two ladies responded, Caroline still swatting around her face. Mikaio nodded, and Rupert straightened his round glasses, and then waved.

“Here, Shayne, eat some of these,” Aunt Lorelei said, handing me a baseball cap full of berries. I thanked her and put some in my mouth. The idea of eating out of someone else’s sweaty old hat made me cringe, but my hunger overcame that. At least the berries were pretty good.

“Where did you get these?” I asked.

“I found them, and gathered them in my hat. Since I’m a Webelos Cub Scout, I know what kinds of plants are safe to eat. And if there are any animals around here, we can eat them, too,” Rupert said.

“What in the world is a Webe-what?” I asked.

“Webelos Cub Scout. It’s what you are right before you become a Boy Scout. You can’t be an actual Boy Scout till you’re ten. Well, not you, but you know, a boy.”

“Well, good,” said Aunt Lorelei. “With your experience, Rupert, you’ll definitely be a help.”

Rupert smiled a super conceited-looking smile.

“Does anyone have anything to kill animals with?” I asked.

“Well, some things from the crash washed up onto the shore. There are a couple knives,” Aunt Lorelei said. “We put everything in a community pile so everybody can use them if they just happen to need them. Not that a lot of the stuff is super useful.”

“What’s in the pile and where is it?” I asked.

“We put it over next to the life raft,” she said, pointing. “A deflated floaty ring, a few ship pieces, a wooden cutting board, a broken CD case, a bedpost, and three knives with sheaths.”

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t use a knife. I couldn’t dream of killing an animal. That’s so gross and cruel!” Caroline said.

“So, Rupert, do you have any parents?” Aunt Lorelei asked, ignoring Caroline.

“Nope.”

“But what about the woman on the boat with you?” I asked.

“Oh, you mean my foster mom. My real mom died a few months after my seventh birthday. Then I got put into foster care with this awful woman named Miss Queenie. See, she doesn’t let me have or do anything, except Scouts. She only took me on the cruise because I won it in a sweepstakes. I needed a parent or guardian and she wanted to go, but she wouldn’t have taken me unless she had to. She would have made me stay with her mother, Miss Prudence.”

“Is Miss Prudence any better than Miss Queenie?” Ginny asked.

“No! She’s so old and she has twenty cats and she made me memorize all their names and which ones are which, and she calls me ‘sonny boy’ and her house stinks.”

“What are their names?” Natalie asked.

“Watson, Gladys, Elliot Ness, Matilda, Archibald Hammerstein the third, Oscar Schnarfenbergendorf, Ralphie, Jehoshaphat, John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg-”

“Okay, I’ve heard enough,” I said.

“Aren’t they horrible names?”

“Yep!” Ginny and I said at the same time.

“Well, sorry about your mom,” I said. “I  mean, your real mom. I guess you don’t miss Miss Queenie very much.”

The others murmured their regrets.

“Thanks,” Rupert said. “It’s not like Miss Queenie wanted me. She only took me in for the money. Nobody ever wanted me. I’m just a useless orphan.”

“You’re not a useless orphan. And I know someone who really wants you as part of His family,” Natalie said.

“Yeah? Who?” Rupert said, as he crossed his arms.

“God.”

Here she goes again! I thought. Natalie took every available chance to talk about God.

Caroline looked over at Aunt Lorelei and said, “I always love to see religious children. They’re so nice.”

Aunt Lorelei smiled.

“Yeah, that’s nice, but a big invisible guy in the sky doesn’t sound like great family,” Rupert said.

Natalie looked disappointed, but she didn’t push the point.

We sat around the fire, talking about whatever we thought of. I learned that Daniella was a divorced hairstylist who worked at a fancy salon. The hairstylist part explained the blue streak in her hair. Liam was a single businessman who spent all his free time at the gym or surfing at the beach. Caroline said she’d had a husband and son, but they died in a car accident, so she lived alone and taught preschool. After a while, Daniella said, “Well, I’m tired. I’m going to go find a place to sleep.”

“Okay, good night,” Aunt Lorelei said.

“I’m going to go to sleep, too,” Caroline said.

“All right. You three girls find a good place to sleep and I’ll be there in a bit. I want to do something,” Aunt Lorelei said.

“Okay. Good night, Aunt Lorelei,” I said and gave her a hug.

My sisters did the same.

“Well, see you, Rupert,” Ginny said.

“See you guys tomorrow,” Rupert said.

Natalie, Ginny and I waved to Liam, and left to search for a place.

We found a spot under the low hanging branches of some trees and lay down.

Falling asleep took me longer than normal. My sunburn hurt a lot and I couldn’t get comfortable on the rough ground.

I had an awful dream. A blonde girl stood on the witness stand, testifying she saw a lady kill a man and a little boy. Then, the judge pounded her gavel, and sentenced the woman to life in prison. As the police led the woman out, she stopped in front of the girl and glared at her with piercing green eyes.

“I’ll get you one day. You will pay,” the woman whispered so just the girl could hear. The woman continued to glare at the girl as the police took her away. The girl screamed.

I jerked out of sleep. That scream sounded so real. But now, no noises came from the dark. The dream probably just made me think I heard a scream. I dreamed that a lot and it always felt real. My sisters, but not Aunt Lorelei, lay on the ground beside me. I figured she must have decided to sleep somewhere else. Maybe she couldn’t find us. I lay down again and went back to sleep. When I woke up in the morning, Aunt Lorelei still wasn’t there. I got up to search for her. I walked along the beach at the front of the island. The sand burned my feet. The sea had claimed my flip flops the day before. I found no sign of her. I decided to look in the forest. I walked through the forest for a while, looking under trees.

Not finding her, I almost turned back, when red sand caught my eye. It looked like blood stained the sand. I jogged farther into the forest, following the blood trail, and then screamed at what I saw. Aunt Lorelei lay on the ground, bloody slashes covering her body, soaking her clothes. Her eyes were open and glazed over. Tears welled up in my eyes. I dropped to my knees, sobbing into my hands. I couldn’t think straight. Why would someone kill her?

“Shayne!”

“Shayne!”

Natalie and Ginny’s voices surprised me.

Oh no, how can I tell them?

I ran away from the body, not wanting them to see it.

I found both my sisters a little way away.

I tried to compose myself, but I was breathing hard, and I started crying again.

“Guys, oh my goodness, blood,” I panted.

“Oh my word, Shayne, what’s wrong? You look awful. What happened?” Natalie said, putting her hand on my shoulder.

“Dead,” I forced out.

“Who’s dead?” Ginny said.

“Aunt Lorelei.”

“What? Shayne, how?” Natalie said, tears forming in her eyes.

“Found her dead. Blood all over.”

Both my sisters started crying and hugged me. I hugged them, not sure what to do. I felt helpless. We just hugged and cried for a long time.

Then, a thought occurred to me. Someone on this island was a murderer. I didn’t know who it was, but I had to protect my sisters from them.

ASK Part 2

The sky darkened and the rain pelted harder. Several orange life rafts bobbed furiously in the stormy waves. Unless looking for our rescue, I ducked over to avoid the rain as much as possible, which didn’t help much. The wind drove us farther and farther from the cruise ship, as the violent waves dashed it to pieces. Waves beat against the life rafts, throwing water into them. I screamed when a cold wave hit my back. I think by then, everyone was soaked through. A huge wave overturned several life rafts, dumping their passengers into the Pacific. The people struggled to stay above water. Even though they wore life jackets, the violence of the waves made it hard for them. Some grabbed onto broken pieces of the ship to keep them afloat. People in the life rafts paddled toward the swimmers, using either their hands or broken pieces of the ship that they grabbed from the water. With the waves against us, it took a while to reach the people. By the time a life raft reached people, several already had drowned.

Saving people almost seemed hopeless. We just tried to reach as many people as we could. Aunt Lorelei and I reached out and each grabbed one of a woman’s hands. We pulled her in, careful not to make the life raft tip. Then, a red haired, green-eyed man and Aunt Lorelei pulled another woman in. I looked out at the water. Five people to be rescued still.

“Hurry up and paddle!” the man said.

We all paddled toward them. The man pulled another man into the raft. I stretched out my hand to the blonde woman I recognized from talking with Aunt Lorelei at the pool the day before. After pulling her up, I reached for another woman, but a wave sent her under, and she didn’t come back up. That wave also sent more water into the raft. I shivered, partly from the cold, partly from the sight of all the floating dead bodies. It didn’t look like anyone outside a life raft was alive. The waves kept capsizing the life rafts, sending their passengers into the ocean. Those still in rafts constantly struggled to stay aboard and rescue as many fallen passengers as possible. Waves poured over us, and then a huge wave turned our raft over. I paddled to the surface and took a deep breath. The man who sat near us in the raft trod water about two yards in front of me. He grabbed the raft and tried to turn it right side up. I felt the water rushing past me and knew a huge wave must be gathering behind me. I coughed and took a breath just before the wave crashed over me. I struggled to get above water, but another wave must have come, because I sank. The water stung my eyes. I ran out of breath way too quickly. I thought I’d die. I swam up as hard as I could and just in time, I reached the surface. I gulped in the wet, salty air. I shoved my hair out of my face and searched frantically for the life raft and my family. Our raft, now right-side-up, had Natalie and a few other people inside. No sign of Ginny or Aunt Lorelei. I swam the best I could toward the raft, but waves kept pushing me under, and I seemed to keep coming up farther from the raft. I constantly struggled to get above water, get the water and my hair out of my eyes, and breathe. I knew I would drown. Fighting the waves took so much energy. I knew at any moment I wouldn’t have any strength left.

“Help!” I screamed, swallowing some water. I coughed and tried to reach the raft, with no avail.

“Save your energy! We’ll come to you!” the man said. I barely heard over the wind. The life jacket didn’t help much. How much longer would it be till I died? Finally, the raft got to me and hands reached out to me. I reached and people grabbed me and pulled me in. I tried to catch my breath, relieved to no longer have to fight every second for my life. I looked at the people in the raft. The woman from the pool, another woman with black hair, the man, Natalie, and that boy sat inside.

“Has anyone seen Ginny and Aunt Lorelei?” I asked.

Natalie shook her head, worry all over her face, but just then, a scream echoed over the waves. I looked toward the direction it came from and to my relief, about the length of two semi trucks away, I made out two heads bobbing above the water, one blonde and one red.

“Hurry! We have to save them!” I shouted to the others, suddenly gaining energy at the fact that I had to save my family.

We all paddled hard. I grabbed a piece of the ship from the water beside me and used it as a paddle. I knew my aunt and sister couldn’t stay afloat much longer. When we finally got to them, the sight of them holding onto a piece of the ship relieved me. That probably saved their lives. We pulled them in. I grabbed Aunt Lorelei in a hug. Then, I reached over and hugged Ginny. I was so relieved they weren’t dead. We looked around for others, but all the bodies floating in sight were obviously dead. None of the other life rafts were occupied. The waves kept rushing at us, throwing our raft in all directions. We clung to that raft. I think everyone hoped as much as I did that we didn’t get thrown into the water again.

The storm went on for I don’t even know how long, but it calmed down a little bit and thankfully, we managed to stay in the raft. Eventually, the rain stopped pouring, and the waves became gentle ripples. The sun peeked out from behind a cloud. With the sudden calm, I fell asleep.

(I don’t own this photo.)

Sorry there weren’t many pictures. It’s not really something you take photos during, really.

-Shayne

ASK Part 1!

So, I’m finally posting ASK! Shayne will be narrating from here on. 🙂 Enjoy.

 

“Ginny! Where did you put my shoes?” I yelled as I strode down the hall to her room.

“I put them back in your room,” the younger of my two sisters called back.

“They aren’t there,” I said as I entered Ginny’s room and put my hands on my hips. “Why can’t you borrow anything without losing it?”

“What’s all the yelling about?” my other sister, Natalie asked, poking her dark brown head in the doorway.

“Ginny lost my gray Converse. Again,” I said, rolling my eyes at Ginny.

“No, she didn’t. You left them by the front door yesterday.”

Seriously? I forgot that? And of course, Natalie would remind me. She always tried to fix other people’s problems.

“Oops,” I said and passed Natalie to retrieve them.

“You should try to stop yelling at her,” Natalie said, following me down the hall and downstairs. “Most of the time you yell at her, it’s for something you forgot.”

“I’m just a bit stressed, okay? Aunt Lorelei is gonna be here in ten minutes and I’m not even half packed.”

Natalie shrugged and walked away. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Natalie always told me to do something or other, despite my two years seniority.

I went to the front door, picked up my sneakers, and then raced to my room to keep packing. Our dad’s sister, Aunt Lorelei, invited the three of us girls to go on a cruise. Even though I’d anticipated it for weeks, I forgot we were leaving that day. Natalie, the ever-prepared one, packed a week in advance and helped Ginny do the same. She reminded me, but I had other things to do at the time, like message my best friend on Facebook. The doorbell rang just as I zipped my duffle.

Hi, Lorelei!” Mom’s voice echoed up the stairs. I grabbed my duffle and carry-on. As I headed downstairs, I listened to my mom and dad chatting with Aunt Lorelei. The contrast between Dad and Aunt Lorelei’s Texas accents and Mom’s Scottish one made me smile. Though Dad and his sister were both from Texas, their family had moved to California when they were teenagers because of my grandpa’s job. But after my grandparents passed away and Dad met Mom, they decided to stay in California, Dad because of Mom, and Aunt Lorelei because Dad is her only relative.

Both my parents stood by the front door with Aunt Lorelei.

“I saw on the weather channel that the next few days are supposed to be rainy. I hope the gray skies clear up for you,” Mom said.

“Yeah, that would be good,” Aunt Lorelei said. Then when she saw me, she said, “Ah, all packed, I see.”

“Yep, just in time. I forgot it was today,” I said.

“You’ve always been forgetful like that, Shayne,” Dad said as he put his arm around me. “Good thing you’re good lookin’ like your father, or we mighta sold you to the drug cartel.”

Mom giggled as I wrinkled my nose at Dad.

Natalie and Ginny raced down the stairs, suitcases in hand.

“Hi, Aunt Lorelei!” Natalie said, dropping her suitcase and giving Aunt Lorelei a hug.

“Hey, y’all!” Aunt Lorelei said, hugging Natalie. “Let’s go put your stuff in the car, then we’ll come back to say goodbye.”

She led us outside to her shiny aqua blue Camaro and popped the trunk with her fob. We put our luggage inside, and then walked back to the house.

“Have a good time and be safe,” Mom said as she hugged me.

“I’m sure we’ll all have a great time,” Aunt Lorelei said, hugging Dad. If only she’d been right.

After we girls hugged our parents about three times each, we headed for the car.

“I call shotgun!” I yelled and raced to the passenger seat door.

Aunt Lorelei laughed. Once in the car, Aunt Lorelei put on her large sunglasses, turned on the air and cranked up the country music. Aunt Lorelei was cool. Not only could she pull off those shades amazingly with her blonde bob but she wore stylish, expensive clothes, drove a Camaro, my favorite kind of car, and she was taking us on a cruise. I wanted to be just like her.

“We should pray for safety before we leave,” Natalie said.

“Good idea, Nat,” Aunt Lorelei said as she turned the music off. “Go ahead.”

As she prayed, my mind drifted to what we would do on the cruise. Yeah, I accepted Jesus as my Savior at VBS at age seven, but God didn’t matter much to me any more. After seven years, church and Christianity just got old and boring.

After Natalie said, “Amen,” Aunt Lorelei turned the music back on and said, “Okay, let’s do this thing.”

We drove about thirty minutes to the pier. Aunt Lorelei parked, and we got out and unloaded our luggage. Then, we joined the masses of people heading toward the cruise terminal.

“Okay, girls, we’re going to give our luggage to one of these porters over here. They’ll bring it to our rooms,” Aunt Lorelei said.

Aunt Lorelei had enough money that this wasn’t her first cruise. She knew the drill. When we reached the porters, we handed our duffles and suitcases to one of them, but kept our carry-ons with us. We thanked the porter, Aunt Lorelei gave him a tip, and we moved with the rest of the crowd to a building. Inside, we stood in a long line. Once our turn, each of us had to let them search our carry-ons. Then, we had to step through a metal detector. Our earrings set it off, because all of us except Ginny wore them. When the security guards realized that was all, they let us through. Then, Aunt Lorelei handed our passports, her credit card, and some other papers I didn’t pay much attention to, to a uniformed man at a desk to our left. After a few minutes of looking the documents over and doing something on a computer, he said, “All right, ladies, you’re all good. Welcome to the Pacific Mermaid.”

We left the building and another worker showed us where to board the cruise ship. Once up the ramp, we walked through a kind of open, roofed hallway on the outside of the ship, then through a hallway inside the ship. After that, we stepped through large glass double doors into the most luxurious, huge place I’ve ever seen. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling and red and gold jacquard carpet covered the floor. Matching red couches sat around the room, most filled with people.

We went to the safety drill so, as the ship staff told us, we would know what to do in the unlikely event of an emergency. Then, we decided to go to the pool. Aunt Lorelei warned us ahead of time to pack our swimsuits in our carry-ons since the ship’s staff would send the rest to our rooms.

As we made our way to the pool, a lady in a floppy sunhat bumped my side with some of her overabundant bags. She acted like she didn’t even notice. I turned to look at her, scowling. She scolded a brown-haired boy about Ginny’s age with more bags to be careful not to break her stuff.

I gave the boy a sympathetic smile, and then kept walking.

The water felt so good. I love swimming. The crowdedness of the pool didn’t stop me from having a good time. My sisters and I went down the five huge waterslides several times. I don’t like heights, but waterslides are the exception. Who can resist the awesomeness of waterslides? Well, Aunt Lorelei can. She said she was too old for that kind of thing. But people older than her went down the waterslides. She just didn’t know what she was missing. While we kept riding the waterslides, Aunt Lorelei sat in one of the chairs around the pool, tanning and chatting with a woman with long blonde hair. Aunt Lorelei waved to me. The woman said something to her, she responded, and the woman waved, too. I waved back. The boat set off while we swam. A few hours later, it started to rain, so we wrapped in our towels and followed Aunt Lorelei to our rooms for showers. One of us would share a room with her, and the other two would have the other room.

“It doesn’t matter to me who goes where,” Aunt Lorelei said.

“Could I share with you, Aunt Lorelei?” Natalie said.

I groaned inside. “Aunt Lorelei, couldn’t I share with you?” I said.

“No, Natalie asked first. There’ll probably be another time when you can share with me,” Aunt Lorelei said.

“Okay,” I said, annoyed. I would rather have shared a room with Aunt Lorelei or even Natalie than Ginny.

Aunt Lorelei gave me the key to our room, and we went in. It had brown carpet, two twin beds, a round window centered on the same wall as the bed headboards, and a large dresser with a mirror. We had to sort the luggage around, because whoever delivered it put it all in our room. Then, we took showers. Both bedrooms had their own bathroom. While Ginny showered, I got my stuff unpacked. Might as well use the dresser, since we’d be in there for a week.

“Can I borrow your brush?” Ginny asked, coming out of the bathroom and rubbing her hair with a towel.

“Didn’t you bring your own?”

“I’m not sure where I packed it.”

“Fine, just don’t lose it,” I said as I grabbed it from my bag and handed it to her.

She brushed her wet red hair straight, braided it, and then handed the brush back.

“Thanks,” she said.

“Yup.”

“Did you leave me any space in the dresser?” Ginny asked.

“No. First come, first served. I’m going to go shower.”

***

After a delicious dinner of steak, loaded baked potatoes, and salad, we went to the concert hall, where a music group performed. The huge place could probably hold at least a thousand people in its soft burgundy seats, and a huge stage stood at the front.

The music wasn’t my type, being country, but Aunt Lorelei loved it. She and Dad only listened to country. After the concert, we went back to Natalie and Aunt Lorelei’s room. We played some Dutch Blitz, about the only thing Ginny and I both liked, because of our determination to beat each other. Stubborn and competitive Scottish blood, I guess.

After that, we headed to bed.

“Shaynie, can I borrow your pink headband tomorrow?” Ginny asked, pulling up her covers.

“Didn’t you pack anything?” I asked as I flipped the light off.

“I don’t have a pink headband and the outfit I’m wearing tomorrow is pink.”

“As a matter of fact, I forgot to bring it.” I sighed as I got into bed. No matter how hard I tried, I always forgot something.

“Did you bring your pink barrettes?”

“No. You lost them five months ago, or had you forgotten? If you always want to borrow my stuff, why don’t you just buy your own? Then, if you lose it, I won’t care.”

Ginny turned toward the wall, and from the way she breathed, I could tell she was trying not to cry.

“Ginny-”

“It’s fine, Shayne,” she cut me off. “I’ll just do something else with my hair tomorrow.” She stayed quiet for a minute, but then she said, “Good night.”

“Good night.” I shouldn’t have exploded on her. After all, she didn’t make money babysitting all the time like I did so she could buy stuff. But she did lose things sometimes. I didn’t want the stuff I put my money into getting lost.

***

“Hey, Shayne, wake up!”

I opened my eyes to find Ginny’s hazel ones inches from my face.

“Dude, Ginny! Personal space!” I said, pushing her away and sitting up.

“I tried to wake you up, but nothing works except yelling in your face. Anyway, Aunt Lorelei says to get up because breakfast is in half an hour.”

“Okay.”

I got up and got ready, and then we headed to the dining hall.

After breakfast, Aunt Lorelei made us play shuffleboard. I thought only old people liked it, but it wasn’t too bad. After that, we headed for the arcade, Natalie’s choice. Suddenly the ship lurched and threw us forward and against a wall. My scream joined the screams of others.

A yell of, “We’re sinking!” echoed through the ship.

The four of us grabbed each others’ hands. The ship lurched again, causing us to let go of each other and bang into the walls.

“God, protect us,” Aunt Lorelei prayed out loud.

A man over a loudspeaker said, “Everyone please remain calm. The engine of the ship has malfunctioned in such a way that the ship can no longer sail. It’s storming, and this has already caused damage to the ship because the ocean floor is very rocky. Everyone please stay calm and come to the main deck for evacuation. Be advised that it is raining, so be careful to follow the instructions of the ship staff.”

“That’s really weird. Cruise ships don’t tend to get problems like that. Come on, girls,” Aunt Lorelei said, moving ahead and leading us down the hall to the main deck.

It was hard to walk, because the ship kept swaying. Some people tried to comfort small children who cried, but they looked just as worried and scared as the children. I couldn’t help being scared myself.

“Girls, don’t worry. We’ll get in a life raft and everything will be fine,” Aunt Lorelei said.

The ship’s crew distributed life jackets to the passengers and gave instructions as to how to enter the life rafts. At our turn, they gave us life jackets. As we put them on, they told us to jump into the chute one by one, and get out of the way of the chute right away. They said not to leave the life raft and to remain calm because help would arrive soon. They also warned us that since it was raining, we should huddle together for warmth. We went down the chute and found seats in the life raft amongst some twenty other passengers. I noticed that boy and his rude mother I saw earlier sitting in one corner of the life raft. Icy rain fell on us. Wind rocked the raft and blew straight through my clothes. Ginny huddled against me, digging her chin into my shoulder. I elbowed her.

“Personal space,” I said.

Ginny stopped leaning on me, and leaned against Natalie on her other side. I hoped help would come soon.

Aaaand, that’s the end of part 1! What do you think? This was the longest part, but I hope there were enough pictures to keep your interest.

-Shayne (And MorganAshley)