“On The Beach” Flash-fiction by Cherie White (Part 7)

“I guess we just have to wait a little longer.” Marisa resigned.

Sarah and Tess joined us.

“Surely news of the tsunami has been broadcasted everywhere by now. So, our families back home are probably worried sick about us.” Sarah said.

“Probably. It’s just too bad we have no way to get in touch with them and let them know that we’re okay.” Tess said somberly.

An islander came up and put his hand on my shoulder.

“At least we have food! The meat is done and we’re ready to eat.” He said in English but in his native accent.”

“Thank you so much. We owe you such gratitude.” I answered back as we all took turns shaking the man’s hand.  The aroma of cooked pork wafted in the air and my stomach growled like an angry tiger as my mouth watered.

We all walked over to the makeshift fire pit as a few natives carved off pieces of the newly cooked meat and placed them on huge leaves for plates. We were all famished after living on one sandwich cracker, one slimjim, one cheese snack, and about four cracker jacks each for the last few days.

We each sat on the ground, huddled together, under the two lean-tos and tore into our individual hunks of meat. We devoured it like it was the last food we would ever get to eat.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but that was the best tasting pork I’d eaten in my life. Having meat in our bellies was the best feeling after eating like birds for three days.

Suddenly, we noticed that everything around us suddenly grew bright as the clouds overhead cleared the sun and the air instantly grew about five degrees warmer. I polished off the meat, then got to my feet and walked over to the cliff.

What I saw was the most beautiful sight!

Now we could see the horizon clearly and it was lined with ships. I looked to the sky to see an entire fleet of helicopters approaching and the distant sound of rotating blades faded in.

Everyone else finished eating and joined me on the cliff as we all jumped up and cheered, grabbing each other and hugging each other tightly.

When the first of the helicopters were finally overhead, we jumped up and down and signaled them, waving huge leaves and articles of clothing in the air as we cheered delightfully!

Dedicated to those who perished during the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami

“On The Beach” Flash-Fiction by Cherie White (Part 5)

After we spent time with the mourners and let them know we cared and we were there for them, they expressed their gratitude with kind gestures. Having lost a few loved ones myself, I sat down and gathered my thoughts.

I knew that grief was one big rollercoaster. You’re crying one moment and the next, you’re sitting quiet and in shock. These people, however, were not only suffering grief, but they were also suffering from trauma too, given the cataclysmic way their families and friends had left this world. I just shook my head, unable to even imagine what they were enduring.

I got up and, with my friends, walked back to the lean-tos. I grabbed my backpack, unzipped it, and took out a couple more boxes of Cracker Jacks, and more packs of peanut butter and crackers, cheese snacks and slimjims.

“Breakfast.” I said, handing each of my friends a snack, “Let’s ration this food. I’ll divi it up. Each person gets one sandwich cracker and about five Cracker Jacks, one cheese snack, and one slim jim. Let’s give the rest of the people up here some too. We don’t know when we’ll be rescued. It could be a few days, maybe even a week.”

“Or longer.” Sarah said.

As the morning turned to afternoon, four natives who were in our group went into the rain forest and weren’t seen for several hours. While they were gone. We all helped to gather kindling and built a fire. Several islanders chopped down huge bamboos and began carving the ends of them with their huge hunting knives, making a sharp point on each end.

Late that evening, the four absent islanders emerged from the brush carrying a huge dead boar tied to long, thick bamboo deadfalls. The boar was so huge that it took all four men to carry it. Two men held the beams in the front of the dead hog, and two took up the rear.

“Look! They got food!” One of the tourists shouted excitedly. The men carrying the hog smiled and we all cheered. We were so grateful to the skilled hunters.

As it got dark. The natives built a makeshift spit, put the hog on it, and began to turn it over the fire. After we all thanked the surviving islanders for their hospitality.

We knew it would take several hours for the hog to get fully cooked. Several islanders took turns turning the hog on the spit as it roasted above the huge flames. After it got completely dark, I looked up and saw Tess standing at the edge of the cliff with her back to us and staring out across the water. I took one sandwich cracker and began munching when suddenly, Tess began shouting.

“Hey! I think I see a ship! A ship!” She shouted as she ran a few steps away from the ledge and continued pointing behind her, toward the cliff and ocean below.

We all jumped to our feet and ran to the edge of the cliff. We looked across the vast water and, sure enough, we saw a dim light on the horizon. We all jumped up and down, screaming.

“Hey! Over here! Over here!”

A male islander took off his button up shirt and began waving it in the air. A second male native took a huge leaf, lit it on fire, then ran to the ledge and waved the flaming leaf back and forth above his head.

Ever so slowly, the light on the horizon grew brighter.

(Continued in Part 6)

“On The Beach” Flash Fiction By Cherie White

It was a beautiful day out on the beach. It was a secluded beach and the only people there besides us were a couple of runners and an older lady walking her dog. But this was what we had hoped for, a beach that wasn’t crowded- where we could get some peace and quiet.

My girlfriends and I planned for over a year to take this vacation and finally, success! We were finally here on this tropical island, basking in the sun and swimming in the clearest, bluest waters we’d ever seen. So, we swam, feeling the cool water caress our bodies and enjoying the waves that bobbed us like fishing corks and pushed us up so high our feet left the sandy bottom, then washed over us before setting us back down.

The sounds were a breathtaking mixture of many crying seagulls and whispering waves. I’d always loved the sounds of the ocean. The sea was something you never wanted to leave, even turn your back on. Arriving here was such a joyful thing. Leaving would be difficult.

But I wasn’t worried about having to leave and go back home to the daily grind. I only wanted to live in the present, to savor every moment of this wonderful vacation. We all did!

Splashing around in the water with my three girlfriends Tess, Sarah, and Marissa, was a blessing and the memories we’d create today would be the stories we’d reminisce about once we were too old to travel. Our goals were to make as many beautiful memories in the here and now as possible and so far, we were accomplishing that goal!

It’s funny how being in water can tire you out so quickly. We finally decided to rest on the beach in our cozy beach chairs and I dozed off to sleep before I knew it. Not a deep sleep, but more like a light doze- that in-between stage between wakefulness and sleep.

I’d been dozing for about fifteen, maybe twenty minutes when suddenly, I was startled out of my relaxing trance by the sound of Tess’s voice.

“Oh, my gosh! Look, girls!”

I sat up in my chair to see Tess pointing toward the ocean and rubbed my eyes to get a clearer look at what she was pointing at. Marissa gasped!

“What the- where did the water go!” Marissa asked, shocked.

It looked as if the waterline, which had only been about ten feet in front of where we all were lying have moved out by maybe a mile or better. You could still see the ocean, but it looked so much further away than it had twenty minutes before. How had all the water gotten pulled out so quickly? The other three girls just stood and stared, not knowing what to make of this phenomenon.

Suddenly, a very ominous feeling came over me as I remembered an article, I’d read years before that wasn’t good. Scanning the vast, wet sand before us, which was dotted with beached fish that occasionally flopped up in the air, I felt my stomach fall to the ground.

“Oh, shit!” I yelled as I jumped to my feet and began frantically grabbing my beach bag and towel.

At that moment, I couldn’t believe my own mouth. I shocked myself with the expletive because I normally didn’t swear, but in this situation, I didn’t care. My girlfriends jumped with the sound of my screaming voice and looked at me as if I’d lost my mind.

“We gotta go! We gotta go NOW!” I screamed!

“What is wrong with you, Lanie!” Sarah asked me, bewildered.

“We’ve got to get the hell out of here! Grab your stuff and let’s go!” I screamed again, this time louder. I looked around and didn’t see the runners, nor the lady and her dog.

My girlfriends obeyed, quickly scooping up their belongings, then followed my lead as we all ran as fast as we could toward the seawall and the parking lot beyond it, where the jeep was parked.

Continued tomorrow in Part 2

On the Beach (Part 3) flash-fiction

(Continued from Part 2)

“Come on! Move your ass!” I shouted as the four of us hoofed up the mountain. The rumbling roar of the giant wall of water behind us grew louder and louder until it became deafening. Suddenly, I heard Marissa scream behind me.

When I turned around, I saw that she’d tripped and fallen. I ran back to her, reached out, and grabbed her by the hand.

“Get up! Come on, you gotta get up!” I screamed frantically, barely able to hear myself for the deafening roar of the approaching tsunami. With my help, Marissa got to her feet, and we continued to run up the mountain.

We managed to make it to the top just in time to turn around and watch as the wave engulfed the beach below. The people left on the beach, looking like tiny black dots from so far away, began to scatter like frenzied ants before the wave engulfed them all.

“My God! Those people!” Sarah screamed in horror.

We continued to watch in terror as the monster wave moved further inland, swallowing the village whole. The water smashed the buildings and houses to pieces and carried them away.

“Dammit!” Tess cried, “Why didn’t they freaking listen to us!”

The ocean was now a bubbling, churning mess of brown, swirling water, peppered with white foam and debris. We watched as the jeep we had made our escape in got swept out to sea and disappeared.

“Oh, Lord Jesus!” Marissa cried.

All we could do was gape in utter shock and disbelief as the rushing, watery monster ravenously ate everything in its path.

Suddenly, we heard rustling in the bushes around us. We turned and looked. One by one, people began emerging from the bushes- a few villagers, the woman and her dog we’d seen on the beach earlier, a local family with four small children, and two young twenty-something male tourists.

More and more people came out of the bushes. It was incredible that we had survivors other than just the four of us! I pulled my cellphone from my beach bag and tried to call home but no luck. The signal was gone.

“The towers are gone. We’re not going to be able to call home.” Tess reminded me.

“So, what do we do?” Marissa asked.

“We sit here and wait,” I answered.

“For how long? And for who?” Marissa asked again.

“How do I know how long? We’ll wait for the helicopters. Somebody’s bound to send some choppers sooner or later.” I said

We opened the large backpack, took out a beach blanket, and then spread it on the ground before the four of us sat upon it and huddled together. Marissa opened her tote and pulled out a throw. We then each took our beach towels and rolled them into makeshift pillows.

The other people had their beach bags and backpacks too and began unloading their necessities. We all shared everything, giving the hungry villagers a portion of what we had to eat and drink.

We each had three full water bottles, but between the four of us was an overnight bag full of packs of Lance crackers, slim jims, Cracker Jacks, and cheese snacks. We shared them with the people who had the least food and water.

“We’re going to ration everything out. It could be several days before help finds us. You can bet there’s no drinking water available on this island now.” Tess said.

As the day wore on, the water below began to recede and flow back into the ocean. We all sat atop the cliff and watched as the receding waters carried bodies and all kinds of debris back out to sea. The shock didn’t wear off very quickly. Everything was too surreal, and we felt as if it was all a bad dream.

As late afternoon approached, a few villagers built a fire. We all joined them in building two large lean-tos out of limbs, bamboo, palm tree bark, and leaves. We also made beds of soft leaves, grass, and brush. We worked as quickly as possible because we wanted to get as much accomplished before running out of daylight.

As night fell, stars began to appear overhead until there were millions of them. A full moon shone brightly in the east as we worked by the light of the fire. A soft breeze started to blow, and the leaves on the surrounding palm trees and shrubbery began to flutter. We could hear the faint sounds of wind rustling through the trees along with the crackling and popping of the fire as it danced in the cool night air.

Although there were stars overhead, we began to hear what sounded like distant thunder. Stopping what we were doing, we all looked across the water at the vast ocean below us. Sure enough, we could see remote flashes of lightning in a row of cumulus clouds barely visible on the horizon.

Although it was a beautiful sight, we noticed that the clouds were growing more prominent on the horizon, and flashes were growing more visible. But we couldn’t stop gazing at it. The moon was so bright the clouds were almost as visible as day, and the dark shadows of the trees loomed clearly on the ground. The bigger and more fluffy the clouds got, the more the breeze picked up.

(Continued in Part 4)

On the Beach (Part 2)

(Continued from Part 1)

I don’t think we’d ever run so fast in our entire lives. We got to the parking lot in what seemed like only seconds. We threw our beach bags, towels, and backpacks into the jeep before jumping in and clicking our seatbelts.

I cranked the engine, shifted into drive, and we peeled away, squealing tires. When we turned onto the main road, I made such a sharp turn at such high speeds that the passenger side of the jeep tipped upward and for a second or two, we were only riding on the driver’s side two tires. The other three girls grabbed the overhead bar to steady themselves.

After I completed the turn and corrected, the passenger side of the jeep dropped to the ground with a loud bang and jolt that bounced everyone off their seats.

“Easy! EASY! We’re not going to be any better off if we tip over and roll!” Sarah yelled.

“Just hang on!” I shouted back, pushing the gas pedal to the floor.

We sped toward the mountains, which were just beyond a village. With one hand gripping the overhead bar and the other holding her beach hat in place on her head to keep it from blowing off, Tess accidentally removed her hand to dig in her bag. Sure enough, the hat blew off and slid down the road behind us.

“Shit! My hat!”

“Screw the hat! Punch it, Lanie!” Sarah shouted.

We came to the crowded village and noticed that the people there looked as if it was just a normal day and they were just going on about their lives. Business as usual.

“Jeez! What the hell are they doing! Why aren’t they running for higher ground!” Tess cried.

“We’ve got to stop and warn them,” I said.

“We’ve gotta what??? We don’t have time!” Marissa cried.

Ignoring Marissa’s rely, I hit the breaks and we came to a screeching halt that threw us all forward and pulled our seatbelts taught against us. I then shifted into park, unfastened the belt, stood up in the jeep, and began yelling while pointing toward the ocean, then toward the mountains.

“Hey! Get to higher ground! Hurry! There’s a wave headed for us! C’mon! You got to get out of here! You gotta go NOW!” I screamed.

To our horror, the locals only stood there looking at us as if we’d flipped our wigs. One man turned and looked at the woman beside him. He put a finger next to his temple, doing the classic finger twirl, and I thought I heard the words, “Crazy Americans.” In English but with the native accent.

We tried warning them again but with no success. They only began laughing and pointing at us. Sarah spoke up.

“Forget it, Lanie! We tried! There’s nothing more we can do for these people. Now we have to save our own asses.” She said in a dreadful tone.

“Damn it!” I exclaimed as I dropped back into the seat, threw it into drive, and floored the gas. I looked through the rear-view mirror and noticed the locals standing there gawking at us as we speed away. Once we made it through the village, we made another turn at the foot of the mountain, onto a dirt road that led up it.

As we started up the mountain, we slung dirt and gravel everywhere and hit potholes, which jarred the jeep and everyone in it. Less than a quarter of a mile up the mountain, I glanced through the rear-view mirror at the village and ocean behind it and sure enough, I could see what looked like two white lines on the water. Suddenly, there was another loud bang with a hard jolt that threw us forward once more. The jeep had come to an abrupt stop!

The engine revved loud as I continued to floor the gas, but the jeep didn’t budge!

“What the hell!” I cried as I shifted gears again.

Once again, I shoved the accelerator to the floor and the front tires spun, slinging more dirt and gravel. Still, the jeep didn’t move.

“Come on, Lanie! Punch it!” Sarah yelled.

“I am! We’re stuck!”

“Oh God! That’s it! We’re screwed! ” Marissa shouted.

“Shut up!” I shouted back as I fought with the controls in the jeep to get us free from the hole we were stuck in.

Once more, I looked through the rear-view and could see the white wall of water looming larger in the mirror. I then saw a yacht that was in its path capsize!

“Holy-!”

I frantically shifted gears a third time and stood on the gas. Nothing!

“It’s no use! We gotta BAIL! We gotta go the rest of the way on foot!” I cried.

With that, we all quickly came out of our seat belts, hopped out of the jeep, and grabbed our things. As we began hoofing it up the mountain, we could hear the distant, rumbling roar behind us, and, second by second, the sound grew louder.

(Continued in Part 3)