Ashore

"Swish… swish… swish…"

The sound of the waves crashing down over itself is what the young man first heard upon waking up. He was lying over a sandy beach, with his right hand clasping his bag that he luckily grabbed as he was being tossed around in the air by the erratic spinning of the plane cabin.

"Cough… cough…cough… "

He started to cough out water and sand as he tried to carry himself up, using his left arms as support. He started rotating his head around as he tried to familiarize himself to his new found environment.

The sun was shining brightly in the sky, turning his pale face slightly red. As his clouded vision starts to return, he was able to understand his current situation. He was currently standing up, with shaking knees caused by the trauma that he suffered from the plane fall, on a rocky shoreline. A few meters from the shore is the start of a lush forest with overgrown vines.

The forest was shadowy and dull. It was overgrown with many tall trees with thick branches. There were only small patches of light that can penetrate the broad leaves of the trees. Many of it was most probably several decades old, basing from their trunk's height and thickness.

"Where in the world am I!? What is this place!?"

The befuddled young man shouted in a frustrated and scared manner, but as to be expected nobody answered his questions. His questions all flew with the wind, and so was his hoarse voice caused by his repeated shouting.

Realizing that his call was all for naught, he began to organize his thoughts and calmed his currently flustered mind and emotions. As he settled down to his calmer self, he began to think of the things that he needed to do in order to survive on this ordeal. He began to draw up a priority list of things that he needed while he was removing his clothes and putting them in the beach to dry.

He was now naked aside from his trousers. While waiting for his clothes to dry off, he opened up his bag and hang it upside-down to drop all of the items inside it to the ground. He scattered his items around as he began making a mental note of the things that he can use on this island. As he was checking the items, he noticed a small yellow book amongst the pile. He grabbed the book by his hand and started reading the imprints in its cover.

[Survival Laws – How to survive in dangerous environments]

After reading the title of the book, his lips began to curve as it slowly turned into a smile and then into a burst of laughter. 'How serendipitous', he thought as he opened it up from the plastic cover that was protecting it from foreign materials. Upon tearing away the clear plastic cover protecting the book, a paper slip fell down from it.

[Hey, just in case. – From the most awesome best friend in the world, John]

Reading the paper slip, a smile formed in his face while he remembered all the antics that he did with John. They first met during high school. They both had the same likes and dislikes, so they hit off really well. Their friendship continued until college, even when he left to transfer to another school in his last two years in high school.

Who would have thought that a joke gift sent to him by his best friend would end up to become one of the most important things that he has in his possession? He opened up the book in his hands and began skimming through the book.

"This book will become my lifeline here as I stay in this island," he commented as he stopped skimming through the book. He closed it and wrapped it back with the clear plastic cover. He set it aside for now as he organized the items that he needs versus the items that he doesn't need inside his bag.

After a couple of minutes, he had trimmed out his luggage to the bare essentials. He didn't throw away the items but rather put them beside the trunk of the tree nearest to him. 'I might have some use for them later' he thought as he wore his dried clothes while preparing for his first journey into the forest.

His first priority would be to locate a source of water. While he did carry a large bottle of water that he bought prior to riding the plane with him, even if he used it sparingly it will not be enough for a week. Understanding that, he chose to dive deep into the forest in hopes of finding a clear pond or a small waterfall.

As of now, he isn't concerned with his food as he has a couple of energy bars inside his bag. It was enough to last him for a week, and even if he runs out of it he can catch some fish in the sea as his food. He could also look for some wild berries and fruits inside the forest.

He grasped the Swiss army knife in his right hand, with its small knife out from its case, as he trudged along the forest. The forest was full of life as various insects can be heard in it. There were even birds singing as they fly around the forest, busy catching some small bugs for food.

"This forest really feels alive and dead at the same time. There seems to be a lot of animals here, but it reeks of death. I don't understand this situation." He commented as he continued his way deeper into the forest.

The deeper he went, the larger the trees are and the sparser the sunlight becomes. It became eerily dark and there were no more birds chirping in the sky. At this point in time, he had already walked a few hundred meters from the shore where he woke up.

The sun was directly above his head, denoting that it was noon. He took a short break from traveling and went below the shade of a tree nearby. After seating uncomfortably in one of its big above-ground roots, he took one of his energy bars and started munching it. After finishing it entirely, he drank a small portion of his water.

Satiated and rested, he stood up from the root of the tree and he starts anew with his exploration. Just as he was about to leave the area, a sudden rustling of the bushes attracted his attention. Unsure of what the cause of the rustling is, he grabbed the wooden spear that he himself has fashioned earlier after discovering a tall and strong stick.

He grabbed the spear with his two arms, directing the sharp point of the spear towards the area where the rustling occurred. He walked towards the area in a slow and almost tapping manner. His arms were shaking slightly while holding the spear, as the sweat from his eyes brows to his left cheek.

While he was undergoing immense nervousness, he was also on high alert with adrenaline rushing on his head. He suddenly jumped towards the bush, with the spear still pointed in it, once he felt that he was near enough to reach it.

Upon landing behind the bush, he immediately gazed around the area with his senses on high alert in case someone or something might attack him from a blind spot. However, upon seeing what was in the area, his face was first filled with confusion which was quickly replaced by relief and joy. The tension-filled atmosphere that he had a moment ago disappeared like it was not there, to begin with.

What he found was, in fact, a deer. An orange-coated, spotted deer. It was eating the tall grass nearby when the young man landed in front of it. Scared by the sudden appearance of a man holding a wooden spear with his hands, it scurried as far away as possible and as fast as possible.

Seeing the deer flee from his, the young man was just standing on the same area where he had landed to from his long jump with no intention of moving any time soon. He was deliberating inside his mind if he should hunt that deer for food. After all, even if knew the know-how of how to hunt wild animals from the survival book, he had not hunted or killed any wild animals before.

Not only that but he was also unwilling to keel a deer. He was only a normal college student up until a few hours ago and the only thing that he killed in his entire life was a mosquito.

It was too late anyway even if he decided to kill the deer as it had already run so far away from his that he was not able to see it anymore. Sighing from his own lack of decisiveness, he continued on his journey to look water.

An hour had passed and he was still not able to find any source of water. It was in the middle of the afternoon and night time was sure to soon follow. He decided that it was the right time for him to go back to his temporary base area.

As he was going back, he began collecting tall and strong sticks and a few branches with leaves in it. He was going to use them for creating a basic survival shelter in accordance with what the book had instructed.

It took him slightly half an hour to reach back to his temporary base area. It was quite easy for him to go back as the sound of the crashing waves became an important indicator if the shore was nearby. After reaching the area, he went near the tree where he had hidden the rest of the things that he wasn't going to need while exploring. Fortunately for him, there were still there.

Most of the items hidden beside the tree were his extra clothes, a couple of books, some of his personal care products, an extra pair of shoes, and his laptop. All of it was wet from being submerged in the ocean, so before he left he put them directly in sunlight to dry. This was especially the case for the books as he was planning on using them for igniting a fire.

Assured that the items were still there, he began to work on creating a temporary shelter for himself tonight. He was going to construct a lean-to shelter. It was a simple shelter of only composing a roof that was supported on only one side, while the rest of the roof covers the back. It might not be best for the long term, but it was good for sheltering him tonight.

He first created a clearing near the tree where his stuff was placed, checking first if the ground was soft enough for digging but hard enough to hold a stick. Next, he put a couple of big, flat rocks that he found along the way back in his temporary base area at two locations. He began to hammer four short sticks using another thicker stick around each rock sites as it served as locks, keeping the rocks from moving away from their place position.

Next, he began to place a couple of those long sticks on top of the two rock sites, making a sort of bridge between the two sites. He then hammered two sticks in each side of the "bridge" to lock the sticks in place. This "bridge" will serve as his bed while using this temporary shelter.

Next, he hammered two long and big sticks in the side of the rock pile on to the ground, with a gap of a couple of inches between the pile and the stick. The two sticks had two branches sticking out of its end, forming a "Y" shape. He placed a long stick on to the branching out parts of the sticks, creating a sort of stick rack or clothesline.

Then, he placed all of the sticks that he had on the stick rack structure, with its lower end slanted to the ground. He began looking for more sticks as the sticks that he had were not enough. Finally gathering enough sticks to cover the entire length of the stick rack, he began putting on the light branches with leaves on it on the top of the layers of sticks.

He adjusted the leaves until he was satisfied with the roof that he had. Moving slightly backward to view his entire creation, he was proud of it as it was his first time creating something like it.

Next, he began to clear an area in front of the shelter that he created. He gathered some big rocks around him and placed them in a ring-like formation. He also dug out some of the soil beneath the area where placed the rock formation.

He was essentially creating a fire pit. As the sun sets in the horizon and the moon slowly emerges from the other side, it was time for him to settle down and sleep through the night. He gathered some of the dried books and tore out a couple of their pages. He placed the torn out pages into the fire pit while he pulled out a lighter from his bag.

He was indeed lucky to have a lighter as he did not need to follow the instructions of the book on how to create his own fire by rubbing two sticks. He got this lighter as a give away from buying a pack of cigarette for his father while he was still on the airport.

As the fire starts to get bigger inside the pit, he tossed out a couple of small dried branch on it. The flame began to get bigger as more wood was tossed inside the pit. While he continuously gazed on the dancing fire, his mind was slowly processing the crazy situation that he was now in to and the even crazier event that caused it.