HOPE FLOATS
LUKE
I narrowed my eyes trying to figure out what the hell he was signaling as he waved the journal. But the closer I got the more I noticed what Josh really looked like.
He looked awful–sweaty, pale, and swaying like a palm tree in a storm. “Josh! What the hell’s going on?” I screamed over – wishing he would stop running.
“Boat,” he muttered, barely managing to form the word.
“What? Boat?” I asked, looking out over the ocean and so did Sarah but there was nothing but the big blue.
Before I could ask him what the hell he was talking about, he dropped to the ground with a thud, faceplanting into the sand. “Shit! Josh!”
I dropped to my knees beside him, my fingers shaking as I checked him for injuries and flipped him on his back. He groaned but didn’t open his eyes. His skin was hot – more than what was normal on a tropical island and he was lounging in the shade. “You better not fucking die on me, man!”
“Luke!” Sarah called as she sprinted over. Giving him one look- she looked up at me and I could see it there, plastered on her face. This wasn’t good. “Get the water! We need to move him out of the sun–now!”
“Right!” I scrambled to grab the water we had. Together, we
HOPE FLOATS
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hoisted Josh, dragging him into the shade beneath some thick palm trees. Gritting my teeth. Moving Josh should be easy. Fuck – I’ve had twice his size ram into me on the field and I didn’t so much as budge but my strength was gone. I didn’t have anything left in me.
“Come on, man,” I urged, the words tumbling out between. labored breaths. We finally settled him onto a bed of dry leaves, and Sarah quickly poured some water into his mouth, urging him to drink. “Just a bit, Josh,” she coaxed, brushing the sweat- soaked hair from his forehead.
“What the hell was he screaming about?” I asked, my voice tinged with urgency.
She shrugged, casting a worried glance at Josh’s leg. “No clue. Something about getting off the island–a boat or something? I think he might be going septic. His leg looks worse and he’s burning up with fever. Right now he’s sweating out water faster than he can drink it. He needs Doctor Luke. He won’t make it otherwise.”
I turned, glancing back at our half–assed raft, that sorry heap of bamboo out by the shore. Literally, the only hope we had right now and it was far from being ready to sail across the ocean.
I dragged my hands through my hair and sat back, finally feeling the last little bit of hope I had disappeared.
I stared out at the ocean and all I could think was, before this wreck, my favorite memories were about an island. Me, Jess, our honeymoon. Now I never wanted to step foot on one ever again.
I spotted the journal Josh was waving and figured I needed to
HOPE FLOATS
get it for him. I picked up the worn leather binding, flipping through the pages and almost missed it.
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I paged back as fast as I could and then I saw it. I ran back to Sarah. “I know why Josh was screaming! There’s a boat Sarah! According to this, there’s a boat!” The words stumbled out of my mouth and probably sounded like jabber.
But right there, on the second last page of this forsaken book was a passage about where they docked the boats and the last sentence >We will need to come back for the boat and the samples<. Based on all the samples we found in the tent, nobody came back so that means the boat must still be here.
Sarah stared at me and I could see the fight in her eyes. She was torn between being hopeful and not being disappointed again. I got that. “Look. I think I know where this is so I’ll go look.” I offered and Sarah sighed. “We walked around the entire island remember – there weren’t any boats Luke.” her voice was soft, defeated.
“We skipped the one part because of the cliffs but maybe there’s a way through to the beach. It’s worth a look at least.” I responded, picking up a hat and a backpack we found in the tent. “I’ll be back. Just… Just make sure he lives. He’s my family.” I stared at Josh who was still twitching and mumbling deliriously. Sarah nodded but it wasn’t reassuring.
We needed to find this boat and get off this cursed island.
