Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 3 2018 | Page 268

find a place to hide. Kyle led us to a cave and we ran inside. “ W-What w-was t-t-that?”, I say panting
hard. “ I have no idea. Where did it come from?”, Jade asks. “ We have to get off this island. It’s getting
dark. I think we should spend the night here since it’s not safe for us to go out right now.”, We all agree
and Liam ignites a fire for us. None of us can sleep knowing that there’s a creature running around the island
freely. We didn’t eat anything today as well. How will we survive? Will we even make it alive ? Could we
possibly…?
The next morning, we head out to the shore and plan out what we should do to get out of the island. “ I
think we should start off by collecting as many stones as we can. We will use those stones and place them on
the sand to form the word “ HELP”. It needs to be very big so we need to collect a lot of stones. Kyle and
Nicole, you guys are responsible for collecting as many stones as you two can. Me, Tanya and Jade will be
responsible for collecting tree branches so we can build a huge bonfire so that it catches any passing
helicopters or boats. Are you guys in?”, Liam asked anxiously. We all agreed with Liam since he’s the
smartest in the group and had learnt about survival tactics in college. We all got to work. After an hour or
so, we had collected enough stones and tree branches.
“ All right. Nicole and I will get started in forming the word “ HELP”. You guys can start off by arranging
the tree branches and igniting a fire. If you need help, we’re right here!”, Kyle said sprinting. Kyle and
Nicole didn’t take long to finish their job since it was an easy task. They came to help us place the branches
accurately while Liam was trying to ignite a fire. “ Guys, I think we should finish this before the it gets dark.
We don’t want to face the creature again. Now, do we?”, I said. I’d only seen in movies, they would make
it look so easy to ignite a fire in wild life but at that moment, seeing Liam work so hard just to get a spark of
fire made me realise it wasn’t that easy at all. After a long time, Liam was finally able to produce a flame of
fire. The bonfire was lit. Now, we just had to wait to be rescued. “ Do you think anyone is going to notice
us here?”, I ask curiously. “ Don’t worry Tanya. Someone will definitely notice us.”, Jade said in a
comforting tone.
After a while, we saw something in the sky, a helicopter! “ HERE! HERE!”, we all scream out loud. The
helicopter started to notice us and flew down to the island. A man came out of the helicopter. “ How long
have you guys been here?”, he asked. “ We’ve been here for days after our plane crashed here. We are the
only survivors of the crash.”, Liam says. Later, the man takes us to his helicopter and flies us. Apparently, the
island wasn’t that far away from Bali. The man flew us to Bali and to a hospital. We all were checked-up by
the doctors and told us to rest. We had been given food by the hospital under the doctor’s supervision.
These couple of days I spent in the island with my best friend and three strangers who I will never forget has
taught me to not lose hope when things don’t go as planned. Although my experience was not comfortable,
it was a life lesson that I will never forget.