Stranded — Day 3
A Survivor’s Diary of Ethan Brooks
This is a fictional story recorded as the daily diary of a lone survivor. Any similarities to real-world places, names, or events are purely coincidental. For previous day, see Stranded — Day 2.
Day 3
Yesterday, when I arrived at this place which I call home (for now), I realized that I am clearly not alone here.
The twin of the suitcase I found previously appeared on the kitchen table in the time I was on a walk around the part of the island, yet I have not seen anyone or even any other traces of someone being around.
Whoever left it there simply does not want to be seen, but what is its purpose?
I have not touched the second suitcase yet. Upon its discovery, I was firstly perplexed by its appearance, but I quickly realized that there was someone in this place, so I quickly went outside in search of them.
I have spent a good two hours looking for the owner of the case but without any luck. Exhausted, I returned to the building and decided to get some sleep.
I also considered barricading the entry doors, as I could not know if the other person (or persons?) would be friendly or not, but I passed on that idea as it didn’t make much sense.
The building has a lot of holes in the walls (if I can call the missing wall a hole), and I have no resources to enclose myself fully.
So, at least I moved the kitchen table in front of the bedroom door frame, hoping that if anyone tried to remove it, it would wake me up.
However, as of now, it is already morning and the table is still in place, and if I am correct, there was no one during the whole night.
How could I be so sure? I have not slept much, maybe an hour in total, as I was so stressed from the whole situation.
I had a small breakfast — once again, a few bites of dried meat and the remaining bottled water.
Sure, I have two more bottles of water from that stream, but I would like to minimize drinking it before I am able to check if it is really safe.
Well, I cannot say that I feel full, but the worst rumbling in my stomach is gone.
I will definitely need to find something else to eat, and I will need to do it quickly, as I have the last package of dried meat now, just enough for this day.
But back to the second suitcase, still silently lying on the table. I had a bit of an urge to open it yesterday, but something told me not to do so. But hey, as it seems that no one is going to take it, my curiosity won.
I took it outside into the sunny morning and put both suitcases next to each other.
Yes, I was not wrong; they are totally the same — black leather, same stitches, same handle. I finally slowly opened it and found several items along with another note, saying exactly the following:
“Hey, lemming, how do you like my island? Enjoying your stay so far? And do you like games? Let’s play one! There is the deal: survive for a week, and I will give you instructions on how you can find me. By the way, if you do not love snakes, be careful around that pond!”
Okay, this is weird. Well, now I understand that the suitcase was left there for me intentionally, and that there is some mad guy who loves to play with others.
I mean, who and why would want to communicate with someone by leaving notes in cases for another one?
Thinking about it for a moment, I figured only two possible reasons — I am on an island that belongs to some rich guy who likes to mess with people, or someone got stranded on that place same as me but wants to be careful before meeting anyone.
To be honest, I hope for the second option, but why would he want to wait for a week? Well, I hope I will figure this out later on.
Next to that note, there was only one single item in the case — a survival knife. Sharp enough and enclosed in a leather sheath.
Well, I would not argue against having such a weapon at my disposal.
I also checked both suitcases a bit closer now. At first sight, there were no significant markings visible, but on the bottom right corner of both, there was punched out a small emblem resembling an airplane and something that could look like a little flower.
Maybe an emblem of the place where it was manufactured? I have never seen it before, but, well, if I should know logos of every company around the world, I will be doing nothing else than learning about them.
I shut both suitcases, but as I did not want to carry both around, I put the empty one back into the hut, attached the sheath with the knife to my belt, and went for another round of exploration.
The goal for this day is simple — gain a bit more knowledge about my surroundings, try to find more traces of where that guy who left this stuff for me could be, and most importantly — to get some food.
Regarding the latter one, I have several options.
There is a whole ocean full of food, but I have never been fishing, so I am not sure if I will be able to catch something. At least for now, I will leave this opportunity for my future self.
So, maybe I will find something edible in the forest? I know that some mushrooms are a great source of nutrients, but also a possible source of poison.
The guy in his note mentioned that around that lake could live some snakes, but, well, to be bitten by one of these without the option to get to a hospital in time, I also ditched this option.
What about some fruits? On deserted islands like this one, there are usually bananas and coconuts, right?
If I find some, it could help a bit. Well, I know that opening coconuts with nothing else than a knife and rocks that I could find around would be nothing else than a typical cliché of castaways.
But hey, at least it will be a bit of fun, right?
I went on a hike towards the pond I discovered yesterday, with my eyes wide open in search of anything edible.
It took only about ten to fifteen minutes to reach the edge of that small body of water, so in fact, it is not too far away from the beach. If one knows where to go, it was actually a really easy walk there.
Along the way, I spotted several berries, but how would I know if they are edible or not?
My plan to pick any mushrooms I find ended sooner than it started, as there was literally zero of them around.
So far, I have not seen any local animals — well, I have seen some birds and possibly parrots and something that could be mice. At least I have not seen any of those snakes — good for me, I suppose.
Walking along the pond was not that difficult, as the line of trees was not so thick here. In fact, it looked like the trees were somehow removed on purpose along it — and this fact was confirmed by several stumps left behind.
My walk around this place, leaving the pond on my right-hand side, took me to another small brook, this time aiming from the pond towards the other part of the island.
And in this place, where the water was leaving the pond, I found several little trees, or maybe I should call it a large bush with some green fruits, just a bit larger than a golf ball.
I grabbed one and opened it with my fingers; it went really easy apart, and I found it to be all red inside. Yup, if I remember correctly, these should be figs. Hey, I have something to eat!
I opened the suitcase I hauled all the way with me and started to fill it with all the fruits I could find.
And in this place, where the water was leaving the pond, I found several little trees, or maybe I should call it a large bush with some green fruits, just a bit larger than a golf ball.
I grabbed one and opened it with my fingers; it went really easy apart, and I found it to be all red inside. Yup, if I remember correctly, these should be figs.
Hey, I have something to eat! I opened the suitcase I hauled all the way with me and started to fill it with all the fruits I could find.
As my case was full from half of these sweet fruits, I realized that the light started to quickly dim, and several first raindrops fell on my shoulder. When I looked above, the sky was getting really dark, and in a minute or so, a real thunderstorm began.
Oh, how I hate these sudden weather changes. I packed everything and ran back in the direction of the beach, to hide myself in the hut.
The air was full of energy, and one could feel the vibrations from loud thunders and the ozone smell from the mighty lightning.
I was already halfway back when another one hit something dozens of meters behind me.
It was like the bolt continued through the whole tree to its roots, and the big wooden giant suddenly exploded in half and fell to the ground. Its crown started to catch fire, but these were quickly extinguished by the heavy rains.
For a second, I wanted to turn again and rush out of there, but something made me think about it a bit. I dashed to the once-huge tree, grabbed a strong — still smoldering — branch, and tried to protect it from more rain under my hunched-over body.
When I finally got inside the hut, I was wet to the bones, and every part of me wanted to get somewhere where I could dry. I quickly moved the branch under the remnants of the roof, tore several papers from my diary (oh, such pain), and started to blow on it to reignite the coals. It caught in a matter of seconds — I had my own fire!
But hey, a fire in a wooden building is not exactly a clever idea! Aware that it could end badly, I carefully placed the branch on the chair, leaving its fiery end a bit outside of it, and rushed outside to bring some sand, dirt, and rocks.
After ten or maybe twenty minutes, I was able to put together an improvised fireplace where I moved the branch.
Flames were slowly consuming it, and I was sure that it would not last until the end of the storm, so, yeah, I split the whole chair into small pieces and used it as firewood.
The rest of the day I spent drying the clothes, eating figs, and thinking about what else I can chop down to keep the fire up…
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