"Cassie! Cassie! Wake up! Wake up!" someone was shaking me. I couldn't see them. Everything was blank. I felt warm, like I was lying on a sunny beach. The person sounded far off, and I noticed a sharp pain in my ankle. Suddenly, the events of the night rushed back to me and I awoke from my dreamy haze.
"W-Where am I?" I stuttered.
"Thank God you're alive!" Michael exclaimed. He changed expressions quickly and began speaking solemn and stern. "I'm not going to lie to you. We don't know where we are. The storm sunk the ship last night and we boys managed to save you and your friends from the treacherous sea. We made a rickety shelter up shore a few miles, if you'll come with me."
"I-I don't think I can walk," my voice was shaking.
"Here, I'll carry you." Michael picked me up and carried me to the small shelter. "The hammocks washed up on shore. Here, you can lie down in this one." He gently set me down in the damp, smelly hammock and I soon fell back to sleep.
Sammie and Emily came to see me. It was late in the day, and the sun was sinking. The ocean looked peaceful again, like it had never done anything wrong. We talked for a little while, and then they helped me hobble to a small fire they had made.
"We're lucky to be alive, you know." Emily said as we gazed into the fire that night.
"Yes." I replied. Emily had a broken arm and Samantha's wrist was swollen to the size of a grapefruit. I had a broken ankle. The boys had a few bruises, but they were okay. And it's good that they were, because until we were rescued, there was no way Emily, Samantha, and I could survive without help.
As the days passed, it seemed less hopeful that we would be found or that the island was inhabited by anything other than plants and a little wildlife. However horrible the situation was, it was difficult to be gloomy all the time! The island was beautiful. Palm trees lined the shore and the sandy coves were excellent. The island was only about 4 miles wide by 5 miles long, with a dense forest covering about a third of it. The forest protected a freshwater spring that was crystal clear. Another spring was not suitable for drinking, but perfect for bathing and washing clothes.
Michael, Damian, and Connor managed to build a more permanent shelter about a mile inland. It had 2 rooms, one for girls and the other for boys. Samantha was incurably sad. We had scoured the island for what I counted was 15 days. For every day that we lived on the island, I made a mark on a piece of bark. The ships' crew had not been found, nor any trace of the boat. All of us were lonely, and missed our families.
Thirty-six days passed, we had all about swallowed the fact that we might never be found. One night at a campfire, Samantha, who had lived at sea with her father all her life, told us the stormy season was coming. This meant that it would not be 'peaches and cream' any longer. We would have to fight to survive and gather enough food before the weather turned. Six teenagers are stuck on this tropical island, with no contact to the outside world.