My body felt weighed down. I opened my eyes to see Noah draped over me. “Woa! He is heavy!” Maya stirred next to me. “Maya!” I shouted, “help me get this log off of me!” She opened one eye and said, “Sorry, you’re out of luck. He’s a boulder.” I looked around at my surroundings. The plane was pretty damaged. The outer covering was torn to shreds. Everyone around me was stirring by this point, including Noah. With his eyes still closed, he reached up to rub his hair, only it wasn’t his – it was mine. When he finally realized that, he bolted up. “Where am I?” he asked. “On a plane. We crashed. We’re stranded.”
He stood up and offered me his hand. We walked out of the damage, trying to see if we landed at some kind of resort or something. Nope. Only sand and trees.
When we made it back into the wreckage, almost everyone was up. I had to fear the worst. Mrs. Reed looked around shakily, as if this was just a bad dream. Only it wasn’t – this was real.
When everyone grouped around her, she started sorting us into teams of three. I was with Maya and Noah. Then she gave out jobs. Our team had to search for more survivors among the wreckage. Personally, I thought that was the worst job.
We worked our way aisle by aisle. There were only 35 people on the plane, including us, the pilot, the co-pilot, some attendants, and a few other people. We started in the front and worked our way to the back. By the time we got to the back, there were no survivors. We were about to head back to the teacher when we heard a whimper. It was coming from under a pile of luggage. “Noah, help me move all of this away please,” I said. As Noah moved the suitcases, I began to see a girl around 4 or 5 years old. She was crouched down next to her mother’s body. Oh that’s terrible, I thought, losing your mother at an age like that.
I scooped her up and held her in my arms. She was really cute – little brown curls were held back by pigtails. She had blue eyes and a little pink dress on. Maya asked her what her name was. She shrunk back a little but she answered, “Sarah.” “How old are you?” Noah asked. “Four,” she said while holding four fingers out. “Can we take you with us?” we asked. She nodded her head. We started to make our way back. “Wait! I forgot my teddy!” she cried. Noah patted her hand, walked back to her mother, and found her bear. She grabbed it eagerly and we were off. I was still holding Sarah, so it was a little hard maneuvering around the plane.
When Mrs. Reed saw Sarah, she gasped. “Where did you find her?” Maya told her about Sarah and her mother. “Oh the poor thing! Don’t worry, we will take good care of you!” Mrs. Reed said. She turned to the rest of the class, which was staring at us. “Boys and girls, this is Sarah. Please welcome her. Okay, let’s start picking through this wreckage and putting whatever is usable on the beach.” She turned back to us. “Why don’t you make sure that she is comfortable on a blanket spread out on the sand?” We did so, using a towel from one of the overhead compartments.
I collapsed on the towel next to Sarah. I started to cry. Maya sat down too and began to stroke my hair. “It’s okay, Harmony. We’ll get back to our families. It is going to be okay.” I looked up at her. “Thanks, Maya.” She smiled. “That’s what best friends are for.” I hugged her and stood up. “Come on. Let’s go look for a clearing that we can build a shelter in.”
Mrs. Reed had us working hard. She divided us into teams of three and gave us jobs. I was supposed to gather firewood with Maya and Emily. “What do you think is going to happen?” Emily asked. “I don’t know,” I replied. It was silent after that.
We gathered what firewood we could find and dumped it into a pile when we got to a stone circle that someone had made in the clearing. It looked like things were coming along well around us. We had four makeshift huts, a fire circle, and I could see a stream a little bit through the jungle surrounding us.
I decided to explore a little bit, so I walked the five steps back to the beach and looked around. I had to admit, this place was beautiful. Soft white sand, tall coconut trees, long beaches, a few tide pools, and rocks in a circle formed a swimming hole. The weather was perfect too – sunny and warm.
I looked back at the plane and discovered a pile of suitcases with a smaller pile of utilities next to it. I quickly found my bag and opened it. Inside I found my watch, which read 5:45. That meant that my parents knew something was up because I was supposed to call them as soon as we got to Jamaica. I took out my cell phone and hoped that just for a second it would have service. It didn’t. It still worked though. I shut it off to save the battery. Next, I found my laptop, which I was supposed to use to Skype my parents every night. I set that aside. I dug down deeper and discovered a few candy bars. That’s it! I ran back to Mrs. Reed and asked her if she could send some people into the jungle to find food while some other people helped me look into the bags for food. She agreed, said it was a great idea, and sent five people with me.
If we found any food in the bags, we would put it in a pile a few feet away. Finally there was only one more bag to open. I unzipped it and peeked inside. I was in awe with what I found. Jack pot! Half of the suitcase was devoted to medicine and bandages and the other half was filled with canned food! In between the two piles was a piece of paper. I pulled it out and read, “Plane’s emergency food. Use in times of need.” Oh, now I get it. The plane was prepared to crash. I guess all planes were stocked with emergency supplies. Well I’m glad they did that! Right here is enough food to last us for days!
By now the others had gathered around. Mrs. Reed looked at the paper then turned to the class. “Well it looks like they prepared to crash. This is their emergency food. It looks like enough to last us for a few days. Let’s make it count!” I’m pretty sure hope filled everyone’s eyes. Anyone who wasn’t there came running back with armloads of fruit. They dumped it with all the other food and came over to us. When they saw the bag, their eyes were as big as saucers! Their mouths gaped open. Then they cheered, which got the whole class going. After a few minutes, it died down.
Mrs. Reed turned to Mary and asked her to sort the food into days. Then she turned to the rest of us. “Okay everyone! Now that we have made this discovery, let’s make some more! I want everyone to go through their bags and pull out everything they have. Then sort it into piles. Blankets, towels, entertainment, etc.”
I walked back to my bag. Luckily I did pack blankets and towels. I grabbed them and put them in a pile that everyone was making with their things. When I turned around I saw Sarah grabbing her bag. Sarah’s bag was a little too big for her, so I carried it over to where my bag was. While she went through it, she showed me what was in it. She had a Barbie named Kelly, a Leap Pad, a doll named Alice, some clothes, her toothbrush, and a picture of her family. She had her mom, dad, and baby brother surrounding her. “What is your brother’s name?” I asked her. She sniffed. “His name is Tyler. He is only 8 months old.” I hugged her and said, “I have a younger brother too. His name is Brian and he is six years old.” “Do you miss him?” she asked while looking at me. “Very much.”
