Day One
Salt clung to his skin. His breath was ragged.
Daniel opened his eyes.
The sky above him was grey and slow-moving, as if time itself had grown heavy. He didn't know where he was only that he had survived.
The sand was coarse beneath him. He sat up slowly, pain blooming in his muscles. In the distance, the ocean roared but not with rage. The ship was nowhere to be seen.
He stood. Then walked.
After a short distance along the shoreline, he saw them a small group of people huddled together, soaked and shaken. Their clothes clung to them like wet paper, their eyes scanning the sea with quiet desperation.
One of them noticed him.
"Captain!" she called out, rushing forward.
The others followed.
"Are you hurt?"
Daniel took a breath. "Nothing serious."
He stepped closer, scanning their faces all tired, all frightened.
"Stay together," he said calmly. "We need to count."
They gathered in silence.
"Including me… we're 23."
A silence followed. Heavy. Someone exhaled slowly.
"What happened to the rest?" someone asked.
"And the ship?"
Daniel lowered his gaze. "I don't know."
Another voice rose from the group a tall man with a firm jaw. "We didn't see you after the storm. Thought you were gone."
"I woke up on the beach like the rest of you," Daniel replied. "But I remember one thing a white light. It came from the sea. It pulled us in."
"A light?" the man repeated.
"Yes," Daniel said. "Bright. Like lightning stretched across the sky."
The man stepped forward. "I'm Francis. Soldier."
"captian, how are we going to escape from this place?" Francis asked.
"I already said, don't call me 'Captain.' Just call me Daniel."
Francis looked at him. "Alright, Daniel. But then… how do we get out of here?"
Daniel looked toward the horizon.
"It hasn't been a full day since the shipwreck. The outside world will realize something went wrong. Maybe they're already searching. We hold on. We survive. A week at most."
Then, he turned to everyone.
"From this moment on, no one is rich or poor. No one is privileged. No one is expendable. We survive as one."
The group nodded in silence.
"Get some rest," Daniel said. "Tomorrow, we begin a new life. And a fight for survival."
The sun dipped below the tree line, casting long shadows across the sand. Blankets were torn shirts and silence.
As stars blinked into the sky, a soft voice broke the quiet.
"Mom… didn't you hear that beep sound?"
All heads turned. A little girl sat beside her mother, pointing toward the trees.
"What sound, dear?" her mother whispered.
The girl kept staring. "It came from there."
She pointed again to the dark forest beyond the beach.
The trees stood still. Too still.
They felt like the dark forest was laughing at them.
"You probably imagined it," her mother said gently, stroking her hair. "Try to sleep."
But the girl didn't move.
Somewhere in the forest, deep inside, could hear that voice once And
Again.
Beep.
Beep.
...
Day Two
Daniel was on a ship. Because of a cyclone, the ship was tossing and turning in the waves.
The captain and his close friend were in a hurry to save the passengers.
The passengers were panicking. The crew had already lowered the small rescue boats into the ocean, and they were helping the passengers board them.
That's when the captain's close friend called out from behind,
"Daniel!"
Daniel woke up suddenly from a dream of the past.
He looked around, hoping everything that happened yesterday was just a dream.
But reality disappointed him.
Far in the distance, the sun stood atop a hill, watching over mankind's activities.
Birds flapped their wings and chirped, speaking to each other.
Such a beautiful sight gave Daniel some momentary comfort.
Daniel stood up and woke the others.
Everyone, still half-asleep, gathered near him.
"Our survival begins today," he said.
"We need to split into two groups.
I'll go into the forest with a few others to search for food.
The rest of you stay here and gather firewood, build shelter, and spell out 'HELP' on the beach using rocks."
Daniel divided everyone into two groups. Six people went with him.
The rest stayed on the beach to do the other tasks.
Francis, whom he had met yesterday, was also with Daniel.
"Now that everything is clear, everyone begin your tasks," Daniel said.
With that, Daniel and his group went into the forest in search of food.
FEW HOURS LATER....
A girl named Juliet was angrily driving down the road after fighting with her mother.
Tears had dried on her cheeks. She was careless, speeding through.
And then it happened.
The car hit a child....
Back on the Island
"Hey!" Daniel's call snapped Juliet out of her deep thoughts.
Her hair was red. She was a small girl with just enough weight to look healthy.
Juliet had a natural charm.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Francis asked.
"Eh, it's nothing,"
"Can't I at least know your name?" Francis asked with a sly smile.
"My name is Juliet. And yours?"
"My name is Francis."
At that moment, Daniel called out,
"Hey everyone, come over here! We've found food!"
Francis, Juliet, and the remaining three hurried toward Daniel.
"Where is it, Daniel?"
Daniel pointed toward a tall tree filled with fruit.
Soon, the only question that echoed was who would climb the tree?
Before it turned into an argument, Francis stepped forward.
"I'll climb it. I'm a soldier. I've been trained for this."
Francis leapt at the tree like a cat, skillfully climbing up, and picked the fruits they needed.
"Come on, let's return to the beach," he said cheerfully, proud of their success.
Meanwhile, those on the beach were busy with their assigned tasks.
They had split into three teams.
One gathered firewood.
Another collected materials to build shelter.
The last team arranged rocks in the center of the beach to write the word "HELP."
One person from the last group said,
"We've finished writing 'HELP' with rocks.
Now we should place three big sticks vertically and lay dry grass beneath them.
"Helicopters flying above the sky and ships sailing through the sea will be able to see the black smoke coming from this. That smoke will attract them to this island."
Everyone agreed with the idea. The third team got to work on it.
The second team had already started building the shelter.
Daniel's group, exhausted from the trek, sat down to rest.
That's when Juliet said,
"Everyone, just think… We boarded the ship with dreams of a new life and a new year.
But we ended up stranded on a remote island. Maybe this is our fate."
"Do you believe in fate?" Francis asked.
"No… but people say fate is decided by God.
I don't believe in God either, so why should I believe in fate?" he replied with scorn.
"I'm telling you, Francis fate is decided not by gods, but by time itself," Juliet said.
"You two, stop arguing," Daniel interrupted.
He wanted to avoid another debate about fate.
For a while, everyone fell silent.
Francis suddenly asked,
"Guys… didn't you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Daniel asked.
"What was that strange sound?" Francis said, concerned.
"Where did it come from?"
"I… don't know," Francis replied, unsure.
After a moment of thought, Daniel said,
"Oh… maybe it was just the sound of some animals. Don't worry about it.
Come on, friends. Let's go back to the beach."
They all started walking back.
Francis glanced back at the forest with a slight fear in his eyes, then turned and followed the group.
To be continued...