It had only been a few hours since the guys had awoken, but it
felt like days. It was well into
afternoon now, and the sun was high in the sky, beating down on them
mercilessly. Even though it was only
January, in the ocean off the coast of Florida, it was hot. And with the sun beating down on them and
reflecting up on them from the water surrounding them, it was even hotter.
Despite being hot, the guys were hungry and extremely
thirsty. They had not eaten since
dinner the night before, and all they had was the emergency rations found in
the survival kit they had managed to pull from the burning boat the night
before. It was not enough for five people
to survive long on. Kevin estimated
they would have food for about two to three days, but that was all. And they had no water, not fresh water at
least. It would only be a few days
before they would die of dehydration if they didn’t get water.
They were also bored.
There wasn’t much to do to entertain themselves while they were stuck in
the middle of the ocean in a cramped raft, hungry, thirsty, and cranky. Talking did no good because all they could
seem to talk about was their desperate situation. No matter how many times the subject
changed, the topic of their conversations always came back to that.
The only thing they could really do was pray. Pray for water, pray for food… basically,
pray for survival. It had worked
before, and they could only hope that it would work again.
***
The five Boys were all relieved when night fell, and the sun set
because the hot temperature finally cooled so they could get some sleep. Unfortunately, sleep was hard to come
by. It was nearly pitch black out on
the ocean, the only light coming from the starry sky over their heads. And being stuck drifting in the middle of a
black ocean was not the most comfortable environment. The guys had fallen asleep the night before
because they were exhausted. But this
night, they found themselves wide awake, alertly listening to every sound,
feeling every jostle of the raft, as it was carried by the waves.
Brian lay back, his head resting against the moderately soft
rubber of the raft, and closed his eyes.
He was just feeling sleep finally come over him, when a voice jerked him
awake.
“Brian?”
Brian sighed in annoyance.
“Yes, Nick?” he asked.
“Just making sure you were still awake,” came Nick’s voice. It sounded small and scared, like a little
boy’s voice.
Brian felt sorry for him, but he also was annoyed that Nick would
bring him out of his doze just to see if he was awake.
“I am now, thanks to you,” Brian grumbled. “I was almost asleep, and then you had to go
wake me up.” He sighed heavily to get
his point across.
There was a silence, and then Nick whimpered, “I’m sorry.”
Brian rolled his eyes in the darkness, and softening his tone, he
replied, “It’s okay, Nicky.”
There was a pause, and when Brian figured Nick wouldn’t bother him
anymore, he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep again. After a few minutes, he felt his body begin
to relax as sleep started to come over him.
Then, “Brian, I can’t sleep.”
Brian jerked his head up, his eyes blazing. Luckily, Nick couldn’t see that through the
blackness of the night. “Nick, please!”
Brian cried. “Let me sleep!”
“God damnit, shut up, both of you!” Kevin exploded, taking them
both by surprise. He had been silent
for such a long time that they had assumed he was asleep.
“Really,” AJ added, letting them know that he too was still
awake. “Nick, just shut up and close
your eyes. You’re keeping us all up.”
Brian smiled smugly and lay back down, closing his eyes once
again. He felt Kevin and AJ lie back down
as well, and all was silent again.
Finally, Brian drifted off to sleep.
***