Survival
"Survival can be summed up in three words, never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying." - Bear Grylls
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Sam had been on that Godforsaken island for about 3 years. He was aboard the Hercules when it capsized in the Atlantic near the island of Mellsissa. More than half the number of the ship's occupants had sunk with the ship, and the few, about 10, who made it to Mellsissa were miserable. For miles and miles it was just sea, joining hopelessly at the seams with the sun-brightened horizon.
Sam held on to life on that island refusing to give up hope. After about 9 months some of the surviving passengers chose the way of suicide. Some tried to swim to land and ended up going to watery graves. Living conditions for them were most horrible. The extreme temperatures, no protection from the harsh elements, scanty and tasteless food and then the tormenting hopelessness.
In the 3rd year Sam alone was left on the island and he labored to keep himself alive and breathing. And he hoped a rescuer would come someday, he never stopped hoping.
Unfortunately that sea route wasn't one which ships passed so frequently. But Sam never stopped giving the signal by lighting a bonfire during the day.
Sam didn't expect it would happen the way it did. He had lighted a bonfire and dozed off only to wake and see his shanty shelter made of dried sticks and vegetation burning. And soon the vegetation on the island was also flaming, and Sam stood completely disoriented as he watched the scene. He had survived a shipwreck lived all by himself for three years, hardly surviving, before this incident came to snatch away his last hope.
But then fate lent a merciful hand to Sam's predicament, or maybe it was fate that was at work all along. A ship which had been on another sea route was attracted by the intense and high-burning inferno. Sam's rescue happened sooner than he expected and all his
hope had not been in vain.
From the captain of the ship that rescued him, he learnt that the ship had only seen the fire because of it's intensity, which meant that the regular bonfire he lighted daily wasn't enough to serve as a signal to attract passing ships. But miraculously the accidental fire had been enough to do just that.
As the ship left the island with Sam aboard, he contemplated quite tearfully, his survival from a death which had seemed so certain. True, the events had worked in his favour especially the fire that gutted Mellsissa, but then without his grit and determination he was absolutely certain he would have perished in that bleak tragedy and maybe by suicide as some of the other survivors of the Hercules shipwreck had gone.
The End.
This is my first short story published in this community. Thanks for reading. Your comments and support would be very much appreciated.
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Welcome to the Inkwell, @aloysiusmbaba,
Your story is well told. You describe the despair of the shipwreck survivors well. The happenstance of a bonfire on the beach is the kind of ironic circumstance that makes a story unique. What could have been a terrible tragedy for our protagonist turned into his path to rescue.
Your writing is very good, very casual and yet effective. You have the makings of storyteller ;)
We suggest that you acquaint yourself with the community rules and especially with our manifesto on violence (although it does not seem from this story that graphic violence would be an issue for you). We do ask that all writers support others in the community with at least two comments in every story cycle.
We publish weekly prompts in both fiction and nonfiction categories. This story would fit into the fiction prompt this week (Hunger). If you would like to link to the story under the prompt post you might attract more readers from the community.
We hope to read more from you. Our nonfiction prompt post for this week went up yesterday, and a new prompt post for fiction goes up tomorrow. Good luck with your writing.
Thanks a lot for the commendation and for engaging. I will definitely pay more close attention to the community rules. I am looking forward to having a great time here. Once again, thanks for the warm welcome, compliments and recommendations.
@aloysiusmbaba you have tried to express individual characters in this story. Well, I will welcome you to the greatest community where scholars are exploiting knowledge from individuals' articles. Thank you for sharing this story with us in this community. Keep it up!
Thanks a lot.