“We are third in priority for take-off, we should depart in about five minutes.” The pilot echoed as we were getting prepared for take-off. I had no idea what was soon incoming after this announcement. My name's Journey and this is a story about how I survived being stranded on an island. 

I was taking a trip from Texas to the Bahamas for a vacation, and I've been preparing for this trip for the longest time. As I packed all my belongings and started heading to the airport  I could only think about all the good times I would have at the tropical island. I already had everything planned out, first I would go scuba diving, then visit the queen's stairs, and eventually I would go swimming with the dolphins. The thoughts made my heart race, I could smell the fresh ocean breeze right now. 

Finally, I made it into the airport, just in time to make my flight. As I boarded the plane I had a smile stretched along my face as if I just came out of an asylum. I slid right into my seat as I watched as others boarded the plane, I was sitting mid row right in the middle of two other passengers. One of them was a fairly attractive female and the other was an elderly lady who looked to be in her 70s. I could tell that she was older because her hair was as gray as a thunderstorm cloud and the wrinkles on her skin kinda matched the creases on my shirt.

“We are third in priority for take-off, we should depart in about five minutes.” The pilot echoed, soon after the announcement there was a gentle sensation of acceleration and us moving upwards into the sky. I used to fly with my mom a whole bunch of times as a kid so this wasn't nothing to me. The people beside me seemed to be taking it well as well. 

I went to sleep and woke up to various screaming and yelling on the plane, everything was so chaotic that it looked straight outta a movie scene. Crack! Glass was breaking, the lights in the airplane started flickering, I could feel the rumbles the plane was making. Was I still dreaming? I looked to my left and saw an empty seat and I quickly turned to my right and that seat was empty as well, sweat started to drench my face and clothes. The  woman and old lady were both gone! Where could they have gone, as I was still thinking this I saw a huge gaping hole on the side of the plane.

  “MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY!” The pilot screamed, trying to take control of the situation at hand. I hung onto my seat belt and prayed, I prayed that it would all be over soon, I prayed that this nightmare would end. 

“Mommy!!!” A little girl screamed. I couldn't take it anymore and tears started rolling down my face. The plane shook and rattled some more. I felt as if I was tossed in a blender. It was going down. I knew that the plane was going straight down, I knew that the end was nearing. I’m gonna die. 

When I aroused out of my consciousness I took a deep breath and realized I was sucking up water! Am I in the ocean? As I started to panic I unbuckled my seat belt, I proceeded to swim through one of the broken windows of the plane and headed towards the surface. As I swam upwards I started to see bodies everywhere, The body of the little girl and mother, the bodies of the Old Lady and Young woman. They were just floating face down lifeless in the water. I knew that they would soon sink to the bottom of the ocean, sink just like all my hopes and dreams. Sink all the way down towards darkness. Sink.

When I made it up to the surface of the ocean the first thing I remembered was that you should alway check your surroundings. Good thing I always used to watch the discovery channel as a kid. I swam to the shore of the closest island that I could find, luckily it wasn't too far from my initial position. Once I reached land I took a rigid sigh of relief as I stared up at the inferno which was the sun. My head was beating with pain, my heart was beating with agony, what can I do now?

Survival was the only thing on my mind, “I must survive.” I murmured in a rough rigid voice. I got up and started getting to work, I found some twigs on the ground and decided to start a campfire. I gathered all the materials I needed like twigs, stones. Then came the hard part of starting the fire, I did the hand drill method and started spinning my shaft into the groove on my fireboard. It took a while until I finally saw a spark which then followed with a gentle flame, by the time I got the fire going it was already nighttime. The chilling cold breeze of the air was getting to me. It went from feeling like the desert to the north pole in a matter of seconds, this is the first time in a long time where I can honestly say that I felt discouraged, lonely, and scared. I have faith that somebody will soon come to my rescue and until they do all I can do now is survive.