Rafted At Sea

     The other day, my brother, Blake, and I collected some old driftwood that came into the shore with the current. He had quite a large collection, and decided to build a raft out of it. That is where I was headed.

     "Hurry up!" shouted Tanya, my little sister. Tanya was annoying, and I begged Kanji, my owner not to let her come on the raft today. That little spotted Aisha weaseled her way into it anyway. What a pest!

     Blake was on the raft too, and he lay back relaxingly as I climbed up on the raft. He was quite, and he usually is. That's the average nature of Acara. He spent a lot of time grooming his plain blue fur, playing in the water, or playing volleyball with me.

     The raft was held to the land by a long vine, which kept it close to shore. On the raft, Tanya had brought a small basket of snacks from Kanji and I had my favorite Silver Butter Knife, which was never left far from me. The sun's warmth made me drowsy, and soon enough I felt myself falling asleep.

     "Come on! Scott! Wake up!"

     Blake shook me awake, and I looked out into the distance. The vine had broken! I watched as the island, my home, as it loomed away far into the distance.

     "Where's Tanya?" I asked, slightly panicked. The whole conflict hadn't hit me yet.

     "She must have left while we both were sleeping, but what are we going to do?"

     Then the situation struck me. If Blake was nervous, I should be too. My heart started to race and I started racking my brain. What were we going to do? Fortunately for me, Blake had a plan.

          He quickly grabbed my Silver Butter Knife off of me and cut off a part of the raft. It was a wide piece of wood, the one that topped the wood that actually floated on the water. We had used it to sit on. He immediately started to use it like and oar, and I did the same. We paddled with all of our strength but to no avail.

     "This is hopeless!" I said gasping for breath. I retreated to a corner of the raft while Blake kept rowing.

     This has to be a bad dream, I thought, it must be, this can't be happening! I looked around at the raft. Blake was still desperately trying to get back to shore, and I looked inside the picnic basket, there was a small supply of food. If we rationed it carefully, maybe there would be enough for 3 days. There was two bottles of water, and there was water from the sea, but I couldn't drink that.

     Blake eventually stopped rowing, and he collapsed, breathing heavily.

     "Bro," he said, panting, "hand me some water."

     "No!"

     He stared at me in disbelief, and then tried asking again. I gave him the same answer, and for a while, I felt older, and more mature then him. He was begging for water!

     "Listen, please, I'll take a quick sip, and then I'll put it back," he paused, "I swear."

      "Okay…"

     I handed Blake a bottle of water reluctantly, but he stayed true to his word. As soon as the rim hit his lips, he pulled it back quickly.

     After that, I retreated back to my corner of the raft. We might be able to last a while out here. Tanya and Kanji will realize we were gone, and they'd get help. I was sure.

     The sight of land completely left our view, and we had been out on the sea for about and hour. Suddenly, a bump hit our raft. Blake looked worried, and said it was probably some Ghoti, or maybe a Leeble. I knew better. It probably wasn't a Jetsam, most of them are now civilized, and living peacefully near shores and beaches. There was no doubt in my mind it was a Maraquan Grarrl, the fiercest of all sea creatures.

     That night, Blake fell asleep as soon as night came. I stayed up, and watched the sky. The stars were large in numbers, each one's shine slightly different from the others. It was beautiful. This was astronomy, something Kanji was totally into. She'd had loved this. I was wondering if I'd ever see her again.

     The hours passed slowly, and hours turned into days, and a day passed, maybe two. I was tired, hot, and hungry. Most of our food was gone, but we would eat the seaweed that floated to the surface of the water. It tasted awful, like salty milk, but we ate it anyways.

          I lost track of how long we had been out there. Now, looking back, I'd have to say it was probably four or five days since the raft drifted from shore. Miraculously, we still had a lot of water in the bottles, but our food was gone. I already hadn't eaten in a day, we haven't even seen seaweed, or I would have eaten it without a thought. My stomach constantly let out loud grumbles, and I moaned all the time.

     Blake sensed my hunger, and on that fourth or fifth day, he jumped into the water, and dove down.

     "Blake!" I shouted. Was he crazy? There are so many creatures in these waters, he was probably going to get bit, and there was always the possibility of something far, far worse.

     Eventually, Blake's head popped out of the water, and he held up a handful of seaweed. I clasped my hands in joy, and helped him get back on the raft. That salty milk now tasted like a barrel of milk chocolate, topped with sprinkles.

     "I thought that this might be enough for us," Blake said, smiling. I didn't feel more mature than him like I did on the first day out there. I now depended on him, he was fearless, and I wasn't.

     The next day, Blake decided to go in the water again. Gathering up enough courage, he dove in, but there was no sign from him for 2 minutes. Just as I was about to go in to look for him, a mass of large bubbles was arisen to the surface. I gasped. I never saw my brother again.

     I started to cry. I was all by myself. Blake had helped me to survive these past five days and now he was gone. I wasn't going to make it and I knew it.

     A full day had pasted since I lost Blake. I hadn't eaten or slept. I heard the loud sound of a voice, a sweet harmonic voice, one that reminded me of home. I looked up into the sky. There was Kanji waving to me. She was being carried by her shoulders by a short haired fire faerie, and by the way the faerie's face was twisted in pain, I could tell she was bothered by Kanji's weight, but she endured the pain to help save me.

     Tanya was being carried by a petite air faerie. The faerie might have been small, but Tanya was smaller, so the Aisha sat upon the faerie's shoulders. I had never been so happy to see my sister in all my life.

     I was lifted up by a rugged looking earth faerie that was with Kanji and Tanya, and they flew us back to the shore. Kanji thanked them, and the faeries flew back to the Mystery Island forest.

     After some tearful hellos and hugs, I informed them about Blake. Both Kanji and Tanya shed tears, but I knew Blake wouldn't have. I had survived the rough ocean waters, and that was exactly what Blake would have wanted.

The End

Author's Note - Just something quick I whipped up last week. I hope you liked it, and feedback is very much appreciated!