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Abandoned

“You cannot do this to me! You need me!” I yell at the Captain, who was trying to kick me off the ship, but for what reason, I do not know. Hum, I wonder what he is thinking right now, I kind of hope he is scared of me, that would give me satisfaction. I decide to do what I promised I would never do, read his mind. I reach into his mind and am immediately greeted by his thoughts, maybe, if I can convince them that she ran off, they will believe once it all happens that it was she and not I. It would be wonderful to not have to worry about being prosecuted for this crime I am planning on committing. No one will ever know it was I. Then he looks up and looks me in the eye and I know for certain, he is planning something, but what. Before I can even attempt to try and convince him to keep me on the boat, he shoves me off the boat with a life raft and a life jacket not far behind.

“There, see if you can read minds somewhere where there is no minds besides fish!” I am scared, so scared, I swim over to the life raft and life jacket and go to put the lifejacket on but find that it is all ripped up and torn up, and then I go over to the life raft and find that it is in the same shape, then I realize, he did that to make it look like I am dead. How evil of him! A large branch floats by and I know this branch is my only chance at survival, so I grab it and hold on tight. Sometime I must have fallen asleep because I woke up and I was lying on warm sand and it was sunny out. Wait, sand! I found shore! I get up and start walking but all I can do is jump... How weird, what is going on with this island. But before I can figure the jumping thing out, I have to find some food or other people to see if they have the same problem. I try my powers, trying to get anything, maybe a fish or animal of some kind that I could possibly eat. I find nothing within the range of my mind reading powers. Even the short scan that I just did takes a lot of energy, to start looking for a longer time; I will have to get some food first.

I start searching with my eyes for anything that could provide nourishment. I come upon a coconut tree and am so exhausted that I almost jump past. Then I stop and jump into a pile of decaying coconuts under the tree. I use the decaying coconuts as a stool to get up into the newer ones. I grab one and crack it open. This is going to be nasty, I hate coconuts but it is my only option right now. Once I finish the coconut I realize that if this coconut tree is one of the only food sources around here, any life would be around here, but I know I cannot go far, jumping is not really a great mode of transportation, plus I need to stay close to the coconuts so I have food and water. I decide to crack open another coconut and choke it down. I decide to do some exploring around the beach and I find a little hut. I sit down to rest my legs; jumping everywhere is hurting my ankles and legs. So I decide to take a short nap.

Once I get up, I jump to the beach, trying to find the coconut tree again. I look up and see the beautiful bright stars, all laid on display for me to see. They wink at me, letting me know that everything will be okay but how can it be when I am stranded on an uninhabited island and I have to jump everywhere. I plop down on the sand and break down in tears about everything that has happened to me. It would be so much easier if there was someone else to help me, I sob. And then immediately I stop crying, because

9 Magazine/May 2014

A short story by Liz Roach