Exist, ch.2

by Hope in Oregon

chapter two

   When I woke up, I was instantly chilled all the way through. My bones ached. I was lying down on what seemed to be a mat, or a cot or something. I could barely move my head and I couldn't feel my fingers. I was shivering like mad, and when I felt something on my cheeks, managed to reach up and touch them, there were tears frozen against my skin. My head was spinning, and I felt super super dizzy. If I wasn't laying down I probably would have fallen down. I sat up slowly. All around me were people. I was in a hospital, I guessed, because the people wore long white lab coats and the room smelled faintly of disenfectant. A nurse came over to me.

   "You're alive. Good, good. You rest now." Her english was slightly bad. If I was in a hospital, there was no one else who appeared to be sick. Something was wrong, and I could sense it. Finally, I knew what it was. This place wasn't a hospital. There were no surgical instruments, only trays of flat metal panels and microscopes. On the table next to me was a jumble of wires and ropes. I was a little scared, but I knew my parents would find me soon. I lay back down and pretended to be asleep. After a while, I did fall asleep. When I opened my eyes again, all the people seemed to be surrounding me. "What is this place?" I shrieked. No answer. Someone was attaching wires to my hands.

    Suddenly, my hair was yanked upwards. A man circled it with a piece of heavy rope, and pushed the ponytail away from my skin. I felt cold touch my neck. Wires now ran from my hands to a machine in the corner. Two suction cups were at the base of my neck. I was so scared I wanted to cry. I struggled to get out of the wires, but the harder I pulled, the tighter they encircled my body. The group of people moved over to the machine. I sat stock still, praying. Suddenly, a jolt shook my body. I screamed as the shock hit my forehead. This time I went crazy, pulling and biting and scratching and screaming, as shock after shock wracked my thin body. Finally, I lay still, surrendering to my fate.

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   I opened my eyes, expecting to see the laboratory and the people, but instead I was slumped at the base of a wall. My breathing, which had been rushed and fearful before, slowed and became even. I saw my mother approaching from the distance. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. She grabbed my hands and hugged me tight. I looked at her in silence. "Oh Amanda... we were so worried about you!" she said. "Where are we? What about the plane?" I asked hastily. She just shook her head. We appeared to be on some sort of island. The land looked worn, but I couldn't hear any other voices. "What about Dad?" I demanded, feeling panic begin to swell up in my chest. "He's out trying to build us a fire so we can get rescued." She replied. I knew that she wasn't reassured by her words either.

   Suddenly, I remembered Hatchet. Brian was left alone in the wilderness for months! We would never survive that long... and I was already hungry. I was really thirsty too, but when I asked Mom about water she said that as far as she knew, there wasn't any. I felt hopeless, like we were all going to spend our last days here, trapped on an island that appeared to be deserted, left for death by whichever cruel lord decided to punish us. It was almost like something out of a book, except that all the horrible feelings and dreading not being found, all the hunger and thirst and heat and sickness, all that was chillingly real.