A Sister's Love Is Forever

The Island

She awoke to silence. No sound but the rasping of her breath. Something felt grainy beneath her back. Her arm swung down heavily and she rubbed it against her torn fingers, wincing as the sand slid against the cuts. How had she gotten there? They had been on the boat and then... Alicia! Alicia had fallen out and she had tried to find her. But she had failed. Willow jumped up without a second more of hesitation and was swiftly notified to the searing pain in her leg. She cried out and fell back down again. She stuck her legs out in front of her and took a deep breath as she gingerly peeled away a section of her now ripped jeans on her right leg to get a better look at the wound. Her face scrunched up tight in an attempt to bear the pain. She looked around helplessly. She had to find Alicia. Was she dead? Willow couldn't ever forgive herself if that were the case; her little sister meant everything to her. Everything.

Further across the shore, a half-demolished boat was collapsed in the sand. It took Willow a few seconds to realize that it was her half-demolished boat. She didn't know why but she found herself scrambling up from the sand and making her way slowly over to the boat, dragging her injured leg behind her. She stood staring at the ruins for a while. There was something about it. She wasn't quite sure what though. There was obviously the boat – ruined beyond repair – and something else, sticking out from beneath it, made of woven wood like her and Alicia's hamper. Could it really be? Well, why not? The boat had arrived at the same place as her - wherever this place was - so why couldn't the hamper? Who knows, there might be some food and water left in it.

Now that Willow was up, she wasn't quite sure how to get down again, the pain in her leg refused to die down even the slightest bit and it seemed to stretch across her whole shin. As she was trying to somehow kneel down, she noticed a few dark drops in the shadow of the boat. To get a closer look she had to flop down to the left while keeping her right leg straight. From here she could confirm what it was. Blood. A few centimetres away something else was protruding from beneath the boat; it was hair. "Alicia?" Willow croaked. She grabbed the rim of the boat and immediately snatched her hand away to see the splinter sticking out of her palm. She pulled it out, oblivious to the slight prick of pain it caused - she had bigger problems now. She put both hands against the boat and pushed but the boat would not budge. She slipped her hands under the boat and this time she pulled up and away, revealing a leg. Willow whimpered, the leg had more cuts and bruises than she could count.

It took Willow around five minutes to move the boat off Alicia, terrified of dropping it on her or hurting her. Alicia's face was pale, and her eyes were closed. The hamper was on its side, as if it had rolled away from Alicia's fingers. Had she been clutching on to it the whole time? That didn't matter now, Willow thought, only Alicia mattered. Willow stroked her thumb across Alicia's cold cheek and pulled her wet hair from her face. It was now that Willow could see the true damage that the flying oar had caused. There was a huge gash on the right side of Alicia's forehead and the hair around it was tinted red from the thin stream of blood that ran down to her ear. "No," Willow whispered.

"Don't do this to me, Alicia." she said as she reached for the white, soggy shirt that was hanging off Alicia's left arm. She rolled it up in a tight ball and pressed it against the wound. No reaction. Willow couldn't bring herself to check her heartbeat, besides; she had never been able to find the exact place on the wrist that you could feel it. There might be a place on the neck but if there was one then she didn't know where that one was either. She stared at Alicia's chest for a while, looking for the rise and fall but she couldn't see it. Tears started streaming down her face as the hope drained out of her. She lifted up the shirt, the bleeding had stopped but she wasn't sure how bad the damage was. Had it killed her? She couldn't breathe. Willow gasped for breath and lifted Alicia up into her arms, she felt so light and frail.

She didn't know how long she had been crying for but after what felt like hours Willow stopped and stared out at the sea. It was calm and peaceful, as if nothing had ever happened. She started humming Alicia's favourite song. It was one that she had made with her friend; she never stopped singing it. She had been humming it in the boat earlier. Soon Willow grew weary and lay down, keeping her little sister in her arms.