A new shelter?

Today we found a large piece of our airplane’s fuselage on the shore. No one knows the significance of this piece to the plane, but all we know is that now we can live in it! I know we sound really stupid but at this moment we are just trying to see the bright side of things. We thought of a way to stabilize the fuselage, and use it as a cylindrical home. So HOORAY for broken airplane parts.

[Day 2] Dear journal,

Who would have ever thought in a million years that an airplane would crash in the middle of nowhere. This is ridiculous!!! Never would I have guessed that we would crash in a tropic island. At least it’s not completely bad, there are fruits on this island and there are the others. Our first night was quite unbelievably pleasant, having the soothing sound of the ocean does wonders for putting one to sleep. We did have to sleep under the stars which wasn’t quite as pleasant because of all the sand and insects and even better because we got hit by a flash storm. However today is a new day and we need a plan in order to survive. Even though we only have a limited amount of supplies it is still possible for us to survive if we WORK TOGETHER!!!! I think that the first thing is to have shelters where we are able to store supplies, food and other knick knacks without losing them. Second thing is to have food supplies to help us survive till we get rescued by gathering things such as fruits, fishes and any animals that may run freely on this island. During the establishing of these things we will also be constantly exploring the island meaning that at the same time we are able to generate a crude map that would aid us in the third part of the plan, which is to use our resources to generate a signal for rescue. We did have some signal flares that could be activated if we see a ship or some sort of help. Finally as the governing of around 5 people having a leader in my opinion isn’t a necessary objective. Still a leader would be okay but I really have no preference however Alex wouldn’t be my top choice due to her tendency to roam alone at times with several of our “weapons” such as the harpoon or axe. Also many of our supplies that we chose stayed intact during the storm meaning our resources are staying quite constant and with a count of the axe, harpoon, flippers, signal flares, blankets, cooking pots, knives, first aid kit, mirror, rope and fishing tackle. This should last us until we get rescued…. I hope.

[Tony][380]

[Day 2] Dear journal,

Yesterday we crashed here, it was horrible, and I can still smell the smoke and feel the heat of the burning plane. I did not sleep last night, the storm raged all around us, as we huddled together to stay warm and dry under the cover of the looming coconut trees. We don’t know where we are, as we scavenged and explored the island yesterday, we found that we were stranded on an island of a sort, or two islands with shallow seawater separating them. We haven’t explored the other island yet, but I think we should get a home base prepared first. I watched as the strong winds of the storm delivered a part of the broken plane to the island. I intend to use this for our basic shelter. I know that the other survivors would like to pick a leader, but I think it should be a council and we shouldn’t have a certain leader since we do not know each other too well. I also saved our scavenged supplies from blowing away in the storm last night. Since I got no sleep, I had time to think and reflect on what had happened the past day. I remember in small windows of time, what had happened during the crash. When the plane first started to tilt, I heard the captain’s voice on the announcement system telling us to pull down our masks and wear our seatbelts. The plane was going for a belly landing on the sea. We were to slide off the plane using the lifejackets. Suddenly, I heard the horrifying cringing and crunching sounds of metal sheets and quickly took a look at the people beside me, before curling up into a ball and protecting as much of myself as possible. I had no idea of what was going on, and almost immediately, I felt weightless as I guessed the plane was probably falling down again and awaited the impact. That was when I guess I temporarily lost consciousness. When I woke up, I felt a cold breeze on my wet skin, while also feeling a burning hot near where I was. I looked around and let my eyes adjust to the blazing sun, I found a few people wading towards land. I looked behind me and found that I was standing in a part of the broken and burning fuselage, which was stuck on some rocks a few metres away from shore. I waded across and took account of the four people with dreary and lifeless eyes who had waded ashore too. There were two girls and three guys including me. We did not speak to each other, but soon started to think about survival. We started moving around, exploring and scavenging the useable items from the wreckage. That is all I remember about how we got here.

Anagh [476]

[Day 2] Dear journal,

Well, yesterday was a day I’ll never forget. Our plane crashed onto this uninhabited island where we are now stranded. We salvaged as many supplies as we could from the plane. Luck for us, all of our supplies survived the storm last night, leaving us with an axe, harpoon and flippers, signal flares, blankets, cooking pots, knives, first aid kit, mirror, rope, fishing tackle, 2 lighters, 3 watches and a pocket knife, on top of the natural resources. So I think we will be able to survive until someone comes to rescue us. Hopefully it will be soon! Unfortunately, the weather last night was uncooperative… The wind was blowing faster than I’ve ever experienced and the rain was more depressing than I thought possible. At home, I used to love going outside in the rain and playing with my friends, dancing around and having fun. I never knew I could hate the rain so much! None of us got a lot of sleep, so we are all exhausted. I can only speak for myself, but I couldn’t sleep because of the fear of what was on the island, and the fear of being fully exposed in a rainstorm. I also feel that the lack of adults is very disturbing and frightening. But, I feel that we can survive for a few more days before we begin to fall apart. I already see signs of discomfort in Alex… she tends to sit near the shore alone, and seems to be muttering to herself often. I don’t blame her for being worried and beginning to panic, though. I assume she’s probably thinking of some plans, I hope… Luckily, everyone else seems to be quite strong as of now, and determined to make the best of this situation.

I think that besides choosing a leader, or some sort of governmental system, the first thing we need to do is construct a steady shelter. I think that we need to roam the island for as many stable materials as we can find and then think of the best way to build our home. Once that is done, I think everything else has to do with reserving resources, because who knows how long we’ll be out here…. right?

In my opinion, when it comes to choosing a leader or a governmental system, there are two options: 1. having a council system. If we all agree to a ‘majority wins’ system, then everyone gets to speak their mind on every decision that needs to be made, which results in everyone having a complete understanding on option’s pros and cons and different perspectives. And option 2, one leader. In this case, I would choose Alex. I think her compassion and understanding of others, as well as her logic will drive us to sustainable conditions for survival.

♥Emily

[Day 2] Dear journal,

Last night’s storm was pretty rough; the storm destroyed our make-shift shelters. During the first day we built a lean-to and a couple of poorly made tepees, all of which collapsed. Today we plan on building a more permanent shelter. We counted our blessings that none of our gear was destroyed in the storm. I’ve been holding up okay so far, I doubt that we are going to get rescued, but I think that we can make life work on the island. I’m starting to get worried about Alex; I think she has started to talk to herself. I think that Tony should lead our group, since we arrived on the island, he has stayed calm, cool and collective and he can make a decision for the group without thinking of himself. He also has good moral code, and I know him well, so I can trust him. I’d like our group to concentrate on 3 important things today, finding food, finding water and making a better shelter. So far all we have found in terms of food has been some plantains and coconuts. Although, we have a harpoon that we plan to use to hunt boar, and fishing tackle that we can use to try and fish. Our final task for the day is creating fire; once we have that going then we will have a way to cook meat, which we will need soon because our bodies will become protein deprived. As for rules that need to be established, I don’t think that Alex should be allowed near the axe, harpoon or even a fishing hook for that matter, just because of the way she is handling being stuck on the island, which by the way is called Avaron. [291]

-Keegan

[Day 2] Dear journal,

I’m sitting near the shore all by myself watching the sunrise, alone with nothing but my thoughts. The previous night has brought many emotions to me, the most prominent being fear. I haven’t told the others that I am scared; I wonder if they can sense it from my body language. I am scared. I know how we got here, but I don’t know how we’re going to leave. The night was cold and lonely, and we were unprepared. Our lullaby was the sound of waves crashing and our alarm clock was the slightest call of the island birds. There was no mother to say goodnight, no television to fall asleep to, or no late midnight snack. There was the ground; the cold, sandy ground. It’s true what they say; it’s hard to sleep on an empty stomach, but it’s even harder to sleep when you have an empty stomach, and you don’t know how to fill it. That’s the first thing I think we need to figure how to do today, eat. We need to put all our knowledge together and find out how we will collect and cook our meals. The food will extinguish my hunger, but not my worry. In times like this we need to stay strong and believe, so I need to put my fear aside, not just for myself, but for us; all of us stranded on this island. We haven’t chosen a leader yet, but I feel that the leader needs to be somebody who will think rationally and listen to others. This leader needs to be open to opinions, and it is very important that they are calm in nature in order to asses every situation without breaking into panic. With these points aside, I believe that our group’s leader should be Emily. The storm during the night did not awaken me, nor take any of our supplies. Our remaining supplies include an axe, harpoon, flippers, signal flares, blankets, cooking pots, knives, first aid kit, mirror, rope and fishing tackle. My friends have just woken up, and are on their way to the shore, I must be going now. I won’t be alone much longer with the most dangerous thing on this island, my thoughts.

Sincerely, Alex. [375]

The crash.

None of us remember exactly how it happened, but it did, and all too quick. One minute we were friends; laughing, joking, the next we were washing sand out of our cuts with fear in our breath. We were no longer friends, we were survivors. We didn’t say a word, but none of us needed to. We all knew what had happened, but the silence replaced our lack of words, for nobody knew what was going to happen. We sat there, staring at our hands as if we had done this to ourselves, but nobody lifted their heads from their grief to look each other in the eyes, because to see is to believe, and nobody wanted to believe. We must believe.

What we scavenged from the plane

1. Axe
2. Harpoon and flippers
3. Signal flares
4. Blankets
5. Cooking pots
6. Knives
7. First aid kit
8. Mirror
9. Rope
10. Fishing tackle