I am alone. I am scared. I am in my usual hiding place, hiding from the whip that is clenched in the orphanage lady's hand. “Where are you Ayden?” She forcefully yelled. I want to run far away from here. I thought in my head, but where do I go and what happens if they find me? Would it be beating or screaming and yelling? Probably both. I hate this orphanage, it's time I go, I thought to myself. I carefully and quietly unlatched the bolts to the vent system. Shimming my small body through the opening, I crawled through the vents, leading to a window. Now is my chance. I jumped and landed on the hard cold pavement outside. It was a dark night, not a single star in the sky. The rain pounded on my head, drenching me with water. I took a final look at the orphanage and ran.

It took me awhile to realize that I had absolutely no place to run to. It's not like I had a loving family waiting for me to come home. I doubt the orphanage has even noticed I am gone. A newspaper, New Zealand Times, flew swiftly in the air. I grasped it in my cold shivering hands. “Boat Dock Special! Don't miss out on sailboats today! Seven o'clock to nine o'clock only!” exclaimed the ad on the front page. Perfect, that's where I will go, it's just ended and the shop is closing up. Maybe I can take a sailboat away from this place, I don’t know where, but as long as it is away.

The boat dock was silent and dark. An owl hooted with its velvety voice in the mysterious trees. It was a typical movie scene. I lurked around the dock trying my best not to be spotted. My sailboat was gently rocking in the waves of the Pacific Ocean. I leaped in like a panther. So, how do I work a sailboat? I questioned.

After about ten minutes of struggling to move this boat I started gliding on the sea, waving goodbye to New Zealand, a place I can't even call home. The water was ink black. Once my boat started moving out towards the ocean more, the stars were like a diamond necklace and the moon was a pearl in the center of the sky. I have no food. No fresh water. I needed to find land.

Of course, it started to rain again, but this time it wasn't only rain. It was lightning flashes and thunder rolls. The ocean tossed my boat around like a milkshake, splashing water in the sides. That terrible taste of salt was hanging in my mouth as I called for help. No sign of land. The waves thrashed against the side of my boat and the thunder sang in the language of a drum. The dark stormy sky hovered above me. I screamed a I-really-need-help cry, but I knew no one would hear me. A silver streak danced across the water's surface, looking for the rest of the school of fish. I curled up at the bottom of my boat and fell asleep, strange thing to do at this time, but what was I expected to do in this nightmare?

I woke up the next morning with the sun shining brightly into my eyes at the crack of dawn. The water was still. The sun was sitting peacefully in the air as if nothing had happened the night before. I was glad the storm was over but my boat had major damage. Where in the world am I? This thought ran through my head for what seems like an hour before out of no where I saw it. “LAND!” I screamed, “Land on the horizon!” I paddled with every last bit of energy I had, anything to get off of this boat. The island was full of trees and plants but no civilization. My feet glazed against the hot sandy beach. I was hungry. I went exploring in the jungle forests, careful of the predators that may be in here. Luckily it was full of fruit like coconuts, bananas, pineapples, passion fruit, star fruit, and some other exotic fruits. I dug my nails into the bark of a palm tree and climbed my way up. Flopping down from the top, I tossed seven coconuts, leaped onto the sandy shore, and was making my way back to the sailboat when I realized it was gone. My sail boat, the only transportation I had, was gone. I was only away for about 30 minutes! The current could have made it drift away. I saw a small blob in the horizon. Great, I said in my head, how perfect. I could be stranded on this island for years!

Later that day I heard a noise in the distance. It sounded as if it were coming from the sky! A HELICOPTER! This was my chance. Sprinting towards the jungle, I grabbed two stones and a log. After rubbing them together for awhile a spark flew into the air. The helicopter would see the smoke! I wrote “S.O.S” in the sand and screamed. I screamed as loud as I could, trying to get help. The helicopter, loud and large, slowly started to descend towards the island. It landed, the propellers thrusting wind towards my face and the chopper was making noise as loud as a train. My brown, shaggy, hair tossed around fiercely..

“Help me! Help,” I shouted.

“I am here to save you, no worries,” he replied, “Where is your home?

I had to think about this for some time. Did I really want to go back to New Zealand?

“I live in New Zealand.”

I boarded the helicopter, as he gave me an ice cold bottle of water. I drank it in about 4 seconds. The helicopter flew into the air and off we went. I sat in there for three hours! I had no idea I was this far away from home.

When I was back in the orphanage I expected to be beaten and yelled at, but it was just the opposite. My name was in the newspapers everywhere! Titles like, “Local Orphan Lost at Sea,” and, “Helicopter Saves Young Boy's life!” It was going around the city like madness, and the orphanage lady liked the publicity. It turns out that a family, the Browns, was very interested in my safety. In fact, they called the orphanage and demanded an adoption! Now I have a loving family that WOULD look for me if I left. Now I don’t have to hide from whip in the orphanage lady's hand. I don't have to sit alone and scared anymore because I finally have a family.