Stranded

Dan Reagow groaned as the sunlight seemed to pierce through his eyes. He raised a hand to block the increasingly scorching rays but slipped and fell into the water as he tried to turn over.

Panic set in. His hands flailed, searching for something to grab onto, while his legs kicked, hoping to find the bottom. But he was wrong—he might drown if he didn't hold onto something soon. The salty water flooded his nose and mouth whenever he tried to breathe.

"No! I'm going to die! I'm going to die! Why is the water so salty? Is this seawater?" he screamed, though his voice barely emerged, replaced by a series of gurgles and bubbles.

"Help—gh! He—ph me—hmp!" he cried out repeatedly.

In his panic, he felt like he was going to die then and there. But amidst his despair, someone grabbed his hand. However, in his frenzy, he struggled and pulled at something that felt like fabric.

Dan yanked the fabric hard, but suddenly, he heard a scream. His head was hit repeatedly, and he was even kicked, nearly knocking him unconscious.

"Don't tear my clothes, you jerk!" a woman's scream snapped Dan back to reality. "Let go of me, you pervert!" she continued to curse. Still, Dan had already managed to grab onto something to keep himself from sinking further.

"Argh! What are you doing?! You perverted bastard! Get out of me!" the woman screamed even louder as Dan clung tightly to her waist, hanging on like a monkey.

"I'm going to die! I'll die if you let go of me! Please save me!" he pleaded, coughing several times.

"Ha?! What the—"

"Just let me hold on for a bit, please!"

"No! Just get out!"

"Hey, mister! Be strong for a moment! Hold on here!"

Dan was surprised when a man pulled him and made him hold onto something like a steel plate that felt hot, but it was better because the water kept splashing over it.

"Oh, my God, my shirt is really torn!" the woman complained, pulling at the torn edge of her shirt.

Seeing this, Dan felt very guilty and kept apologizing. But when he looked around, he only saw the sea with waves that didn't look calm. When he looked up, the sky was very bright, the sun was scorching, and from all that, Dan realized they were adrift in the middle of the ocean.

"W—wait a minute?! Why am I here? Wasn't I on the ship last night?" Dan panicked even more.

He felt like he had lost his memory because the last thing he remembered was lying on the deck of a cruise ship after getting drunk. But suddenly, he was there, adrift in the ocean with people he didn't know.

"Hey, Sir, you forgot that our ship hit a rock, then exploded, and now we're declared missing victims?"

"Missing? Wouldn't it be better if we were declared dead?!" another man with a bigger body protested.

Dan was shocked because it wasn't just the three of them there, but about four other people, one of whom was a woman. They were all holding onto some steel plates from the ship they had boarded last night. They were all wearing life jackets except for Dan.

"No, why don't I remember anything?" Dan mumbled, holding his head. He couldn't remember anything except being drunk.

"You jerk! That's why we saw you floating alone, because you were drunk? You're lucky because we thought you were dead, but Andrew said you were still alive, so we let you lie there, but you repaid our kindness very well. Thanks for tearing my one and only shirt, and making my life jacket drift away." The woman complained, making Dan feel very bad. It seemed that apologizing was no longer a solution.

Moreover, he could see Sophia's bra from the tear, making him blush and turn his face away.

"Psst! Hey, Sir!" that guy called again. "It's okay, she's just shocked because her clothes are now torn, but she's a nice girl, I swear." Andrew said, holding back laughter as best he could.

Does it look funny? Yeah, of course. Everyone would laugh at seeing a drunk person who just woke up, almost drowned, then ended up tearing a girl's clothes and making her life jacket drift away. It's so embarrassing.

"Um, I'm Dan Reagow. You must be Andrew. Thanks for saving me, but I really don't remember anything," he said nervously.

Dan wasn't sure if it would be helpful or not. Because in the middle of the ocean like this, adrift without certainty, isn't it the same as just waiting for death? Not knowing if it was from exhaustion from floating too long in the water, getting cold, or being eaten by a shark.

"Me? No, it wasn't me, but Sophia who saved you." Andrew pointed to the woman. "When I saw you, this thing was floating not far from us too, so I tried to pull it so we could use it to hold on, and Sophia saved you."

Dan could see that Andrew was a good person who might be pretty reliable. However, when Dan glanced at Sophia, the beautiful girl only looked at him with annoyance and anger. Making the awkward feeling return.

"Stop it, Andrew! A pervert like him wouldn't know how to be grateful." She said curtly.

"Hey, it was spontaneous! I did it for survival, not because I'm a pervert guy!" Dan tried to defend himself. However, Sophia, who felt she was a victim of harassment, still couldn't accept that reason.

"Yeah! Surviving by tearing other people's clothes and hugging them randomly is so rude!"

"You—" Dan's voice stopped when he saw something familiar from the southeast. He squinted his eyes, trying to focus, and as he thought, it was an island.

"Sir Reagow, what are you looking at?!" Andrew asked, curious, after Dan stopped talking and looked very focused on something.

"Andrew, I have two things you need to know. The first, I'm twenty-seven years old this year, so don't call me 'Sir' and the second, can you see that?" Dan pointed to the spot he had been watching.

Andrew looked in the direction Dan was pointing, he squinted to sharpen his vision, and instantly he was very surprised after he noticed something in the distance.

"Oh, my Godness! It's an island!"

Andrew's shout surprised everyone, and they cheered after seeing that they had found an island, meaning they wouldn't die there like dried fish or become a meal for a hungry shark.

With evident enthusiasm and hope, they all swam to the island, arriving there as the day turned to dusk. Dan saw everyone was exhausted, including Sophia, who immediately chose to lie on the beach sand, not caring if the waves kept hitting her body. She looked exhausted.

"Hey, Dan! Where are you going?" Andrew stopped Dan, who was about to walk away from them.

Sophia immediately opened her eyes and saw Dan holding a knife in his hand. "What's that? You have a knife with you all this time?"

"Yeah, I—I found it in my pocket, and since I'm thirsty, I thought looking for some coconuts or water would be better than dying of dehydration," he replied.

"Alright, I'll also do something so we can be found by the rescue team. I'm sure they'll know our bodies aren't around the shipwreck and start looking for us." Sophia said, standing up.

After saying that, Sophia walked to the broader side of the beach, took a stick, and wrote a vast S.O.S., hoping a helicopter or something similar would see it and find them.

However, because her clothes were torn, it was distracting, making Sophia even angrier. She glanced at Dan, who was talking to Andrew. With a sinister look, Sophia swore she would repay Dan's rudeness once they returned to civilization.

Chills. That's what Dan felt when Sophia looked at him as if she was casting a curse on him while continuing to write S.O.S.

"How naive she is, does she think it will take long for the rescue team to find this place, while we don't even know our own coordinates?" he muttered.

Dan didn't care about what Sophia was trying to do. Because now, at least before sunset, he wanted to find something to eat, as he didn't know what bad things were hidden on the island.