The island of death

Siddharth Nair
Sep 9, 2018 · 12 min read

Chapter-1

Seconds from disaster

It was a warm evening of July; the sun was rapidly sinking behind the steep knolls. The sky was a magnificent shade of pink and was quite still until an airplane came into view from behind the clouds. The airplane had been traveling for 12 hours and was about to land in the handsome city of Atlanta. Everyone was happy and relieved inside the airplane for they had been granted permission for landing. The environment inside was dynamic rather than tranquil (as one would expect in an airplane). It was hard to not smile in such an ambience but one of the people on board was thrashing around in his seat. Everyone thought of him as a mentally unsound maniac. The person was imagining himself falling into a void. He finally came to a standstill and consoled himself that it was a bad dream. He opened his eyes but only to find himself surrounded by a dense jungle. He panicked and looked around. He saw the remains of the airplane that he had just been onboard. He ran towards the ruins but not a single body was found near it. He knew that he had to find his way out on his own.

Chapter-2

No Escape!

He sat under the shade of a tree and started to recall. He recalled that his name was James.

His head started to spin around, and he was unconscious before he knew it. A strong pain in the stomach woke James up only to feel sick at the heart. He thought that a meal would be rejuvenating. Expecting something to eat, he looked up and felt thankful to find himself sitting under a tree that was bearing apples. He climbed it and plucked a few to eat. The apples tasted great and full of juice. Feeling energized, he was determined to get out of this island. First, he tried to communicate with the airport for help using the radio equipment in the airplane which was out of reach and no communication was able to take place. Next, he wanted to know what happened to the people on board. So, he searched for the airplane’s black box which was missing. He realized that the airplane provided network and reached into his back pocket to pull out his mobile that had a shattered screen. He tried to switch it on only to find that the battery had died on him as had happened on numerous occasions before. He felt disheartened and accepted that there was no way of getting help.

Chapter-3

An unrealistic place

For another day James lived on apples and drank water from his water bottle that he was carrying on board. He knew he had to find the black box to get out of the remorseless island. He started to explore the island and after a few hours he found no trace of either the black box or human life. The island was obsolete and remote. James was desperate and started searching for any kind of life. All he found were a few dead spiders, scorpions and insects but found nothing that was consoling. At this point even finding a snake would have been comforting despite of his phobia for snakes. That night he didn’t sleep as he expected nocturnal animals to emerge but what he saw was more bizarre than a human with wings. He saw the bushes changing to a bright shade of fluorescent green and appeared to be glowing. He thought that his eyes were deceiving him but even after rubbing them well the sight didn’t change. Suddenly there was a crashing sound and he looked around but found nothing. When he turned back he saw that the bushes weren’t glowing anymore. ‘what is happening to me?’ James said to himself. He stayed awake hoping for the bushes to glow again or animals to emerge, but nothing happened. He had his eyes on the bushes throughout the night and was sure that he wasn’t hallucinating. There were bushes in front of him that were glowing, but how?

Chapter-4

Voices

Another bright day was awaiting James and when he woke up he was astonished to see that there were no bushes around him. What had happened last night? James could hardly find any answer to this question. He gave up searching for life and focused on the black box. While searching he heard something. A voice. It said, ‘ladies and gentlemen we will be serving food now.’ It sounded like an airplane announcement and he didn’t believe his ears for the airplane ruins were in front of him. He saw a figure clad in the uniform of the airline staff. James ran towards the unknown silhouette of the figure but only to see it vanish into thin air. He had come a fair distance from the crash site. When he reached back, he saw that there were bushes right next to the ruins. He thought that he was experiencing hallucinations and thought that not sleeping enough was the reason for this. He slept under the same tree and woke up to a voice. The voice was saying, ‘ladies and gentlemen we would be experiencing turbulence so please return to your seat and tighten your seat belts.’ This time no figure or silhouette was to be seen. His head was aching. He rested his head gently in his arms to feel a bit relieved from his misery. Now the only hope he had was the black box.

Chapter-5

Sudden disappearance

He spent another day searching for the black box which he didn’t find. Once again, he heard the same voice this time saying, ‘ladies and gentlemen we have exited the turbulence zone but still we advise you to not open your seat belt for your own safety.’ Again, he saw the silhouette and ran towards it but only to find it vanish again. When he went back he found that the bushes were not there again and this time the bushes were not the only thing to vanish. James felt dejected and thought that he would never escape this island. The whole airplane ruins had disappeared from the crash site. He didn’t accept it and thought that he came to the wrong place. So, he started wandering around and finally found the ruins. He was relieved and made a mark on the ground as to find the place if he got lost.

Chapter-6

The crash of hopes

Once again, he heard the voice saying, ‘ladies and gentlemen we are happy to announce that the flight is on time.’ James saw the figure and ran towards it. This time because he thought that he saw the glimpse of the flight recorder (black box). He was ecstatic after finding it laying down on the grass and he didn’t pay any attention to the enigmatic, fading silhouette for he was sure it would disappear again.

It was a moment of sheer joy that had come after a considerable amount of time. He played the recorder and listened carefully but not a sound was to be heard. The recorder wasn’t in pristine condition and was damaged here and there. James looked around and saw that there wasn’t just one black box, there were at least fifty in front of him! He felt absurd after this unfathomable incident.

Nevertheless, James spent a day listening to most of them and forgot to return to the crash site. He remembered about the crash site when he felt sleepy and rushed to the place leaving the flight recorders behind him. When he reached the place, he found the ruins missing. He didn’t feel bad about it because he thought that he reached the same place again, but this feeling changed to one of sheer horror when he found the mark he made. He accepted it this time, but he at least had the black boxes, right? He rushed back to the place he left the black boxes but only to find nothing.

Chapter-7

Memories

He felt depressed and started to think about his family. His flight was about to land in Atlanta where his family would be waiting for him. He would have been celebrating the fourth of July with them today but here he was, stuck on an isolated, inaccessible island. ‘happy fourth of July, James.’ He said to himself. He had given up any hope of escaping the island. The black box, the radio equipment and even apples. He had eaten all of them and had nothing to eat now. He sat in a corner wishing for death.

Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. If this island was surrounded by water, then ships must be passing from around and he gave up his little camping site and started walking straight until he reached the shoreline. What he saw was horrific. There were hundreds of ships wrecked in front of him along with lots of airplane ruins. This is where the black boxes had come from. Maybe he wasn’t the only one trapped on this island. Maybe there were people but why couldn’t he find any? If so many wrecks had happened on this very island, there must have been survivors.

Chapter-8

Atlanta

On the 28th of June, the same year, James’ flight was scheduled to land. His family, as planned reached the airport to receive him. The flight was scheduled to land at 11 am but didn’t land due to weather conditions. At 1 pm when his family was tired and worried they checked the flight status which said experiencing delay, no communication happening. His family was worried and horrible thoughts crossed their minds. What if the flight won’t land? What if it crashed? Until 3 pm the status wasn’t updated. At 3:15 pm, the most absurd thing happened. The status changed to landed. After another hour, the passengers started to exit. Between the hustle bustle James’ family stood there waiting for him to exit but he never did.

Chapter- 9

Thoughts

It was yet another beautiful day and James was looking for both people and food. He was bearing the same horrid expression since he found the wreckage at the shoreline. He found no sign of people but did find an orchid of apples and pears. He felt excessively joyous to find something to eat that wasn’t apples. Exhilarated but yet exhausted, James sat down under a tree to admire the beauty of the exquisite night sky. The sky had always been so beautiful only he was too occupied with looking around and occasionally panicking that he never perceived it. He thought, ‘what if I never get out of this island?’ this thought made James lose all his composure and he started to cry. He thought of these days as his very last but he consoled himself at last and slept before he knew it.

Chapter-10

At sea…

The strong breeze woke James up the next day and as it happened, James thought that he saw a figure near the sea. He stood up with a start for he finally had something to go on. He ran towards the shoreline but as it had happened on numerous occasions the figure yet again disappeared. James gazed at the sea like a child who had just entered a candy store. His eyes lit up for there was a boat in between the debris that was in pristine condition. This was James’ chance. He knew it. He packed his stuff and gobbled down his breakfast of apples and pears in a hurry, nearly choking himself and came back to the shoreline and for the first time something hadn’t disappeared. The boat was there and James absentmindedly jumped in the sea which was really cold but still made his way to the boat. The boat was working! James was off. James was at sea……

Chapter-11

Back home…. almost

The sea was picturesque only James wasn’t carrying his

Camera. James was very happy and positive about going home. It was a moment when all the grief had drowned along with the grim expression. After some time, James realized that he had no idea about where he was headed so he took out a compass out of his bag which he had accidentally been carrying and had forgot about it. He knew that he was In the Atlantic Ocean and he had to head west as to reach his destination, his home, his family which were in Atlanta. It wasn’t long before he came face to face with an island which looked even more dangerous and remote than the first one but James didn’t care. He was off to his home. What could possibly go wrong?

Chapter-12

Back to square one

James looked away and within the wink of an eye, the boat stopped working, wobbled violently and threw James off on the remote island and James was heartbroken. He was back again to square one. On another inaccessible island that supposedly had no life. Maybe this was yet another unrealistic place in the Atlantic Ocean. Whatever the circumstances may be, James still had the boat that stopped working for no apparent reason. As if the boat was cursed. The engine didn’t have a scratch and was perfect as ever. The throttle was working yet the boat stopped. How? Why? Nothing was comforting on this Island. The only thing was that the bushes didn’t glow.

Chapter-13

A better place

Although, James had developed stereotypes about this island, he was contented to find food. Lots of it. Mangoes, bananas and even found crops growing at a distance. This island surely had life. James was astonished to find people like him harvesting the crops and he ran towards them. With a moment of reluctance, James cried out, ‘hey!’. The seemingly eldest person turned around and warmly welcomed him. James was taken inside and was warmly received by everyone. There were at least ten people in the room. Once they asked him how he ended up here James started narrating his story. After listening, a voice spoke up. All of us are native to this island. We have witnessed many wrecks on that. We all have heard about the outlandishness and absurdity of that island and people say that the souls of the casualties of the wrecks wander around that island. Listening to this James went into deep thought and the voices around him started to fade….

Chapter-14

Believe it or not

When James regained consciousness from his deep thought on souls and ghosts, everyone was staring at him. In order to break the long hush, James said, ’what is your name, sir?’ the person told him that his name was Henry and he also wrecked on that island twelve years ago. He had no family and chose to stay with the natives. James said, ‘my boat has stopped working can anybody help me with it?’ and Henry, apparently who was a mechanic, obligingly went along with James and took a look at his boat but only to state that it was in perfect condition which wasn’t comforting. James neither believed that the boat was in good condition nor did he believe that the island was inhabited by souls and ghosts. But still he was contented to find company. He talked to the people, he had just met and before he realized it, it was night and once again he sat down to admire the beauty of the starry night, which seemed even more beautiful than ever before.

Chapter-15

Home

The next day, James woke up to the sounds of the people screaming with joy. As soon as he woke up he went out and was overwhelmed with joy to find out that Henry had managed to make his boat work. James felt gratified and knew that he owed a lot to these people. Although, he had only known them for a day but still he was sad to go. He wasn’t leaving without a feast though. A lavish meal was prepared and after the meal, with a heavy heart, James bid everyone farewell and left for Atlanta. James didn’t want to wreck yet again and relied on Henry’s knowledge about machines. He started to think about his family. Whom he hadn’t met for eleven days now.

Chapter-16

No problems!

This time James got through the journey without any wrecks and was grateful to the sincere people that he had just met.

James landed in North Carolina in the USA from where he got a lift to Atlanta. After a long wait of a few more hours, he finally entered his house where the atmosphere was full of grief for James was considered dead. When he stepped in and was noticed by his family, they were taken aback. And when James narrated his story, his wife, who was a geologist, looked up her references and was shocked as there was no such known uninhabited island in the Atlantic Ocean that was shown on the atlas. James was certain that he hadn’t been dreaming for eleven days but decided to forget about all of it as he was happy to reunite with his family after a long period of six months as he had been away for work in New Zealand. James went to take a shower as he was really exhausted. His wife, Samantha, set out the table for dinner.

Chapter-17

28th June

After dinner Samantha asked James about the flight because the flight that he was on board had landed but he did not exit. James explained that he was on board the next flight as the first one was over crowded. He was offered an upgrade to business class and 500$ if he took the next flight. Samantha looked traumatized and she said, ‘James, the second flight was cancelled’. James was shocked and didn’t believe his wife. He went to bed and Samantha decided to put his things in order. When she picked up his heavy bag, an I-card with James’ photograph slipped out. She picked it up and read it. It read

James Tornic- ward 10

Hillcliff Mental Asylum, Auckland, New Zealand.

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-Story by Siddharth Nair

Siddharth Nair

Written by

Hello, I am a twelve year old, passionate for reading and writing stories. My stories are a reflection of my dreams (both day and night) :-)