Day 6 - Matainui

Silk, long hanging curtains, golden trays with breakfast served on them. I had the Royal treatment, I had woken up inside a 6 starred hotel's sleeping chamber (or so it seemed). My bed sheets were silk and all the modernised furniture with styled features and a good vibe. There were balconies and as I looked out over mine I saw the beautiful water feature in the palaces courtyard below...the air was crisp here and I breathed easily. I felt cool and open with the morning breeze slowly coating my damaged skin with a basking flow.

There came a call through the wind and a growing sound of footsteps; "James?"..."James?, Oh I wonder where he is?"
"Hello I'm over here" I replied, and before I knew it I was being surrounded by Maddy, Mac and Malik however they looked somewhat different to what they were last night. I must have been really delusional last night to not notice that; Mac had shrunk 3 feet and appeared to some sort of leprechaun from Irish folk law with a green beard and pointy green shoes and a sparkly boler hat, his waistcoat was felt and smooth by the look of it. Normally I would have said something but I did not want to offend, I was sure Mac would take to heart to the remark I had secretly thought of in my head. "Top of the mornin to ya" he spat out with a broad Irish accent, my response was just a quick nod back.
Malik had a sort of transparent look about him. He cast no shadow in the sunlight from the sunrise outside that was shedding a warm glittering light onto the scene through the curtains that were waving around in the wind.

Maddy did not look that different apart from the change of clothes and a new hair do she looked very calm, graceful and at piece with the world the birds sang on the balcony as she spoke; "How are you James? we were worried last night, you were totally out of it, mumbling about the forest and wanting to go home to the trees. We put you up in the last royal room we had, I hope it suits your liking?"
"Well I could do with some extra space, maybe a tennis court or a soccer pitch anything of the sort?" I said sarcastically mocking rich people's snobbyness ( if that is a word).

I was soon dressed. I had taken quite a fancy to my new robes they were silky and comfortable not to mention stylish (in my opinion). lined with deep purple trims on a cream base I looked like a fancy Jedi warrior. I was introduced to my guide... he was mysterious his skin glowed orange and he was hunched over like an old butler in a horror movie "This way" he sounded in a deep croaky voice "Mistresses orders to take you to the spire" he added, I caught onto the fact that he was addressing Madison as "Mistress"
" We will see you later James" Madison stated still with her calm harmonious voice
"Please take him on his way Druno" she requested to the guide.
"Yes Mistress" Druno replied obediently and started to walk away toward the exit.
"Oh and Druno what have I told you about calling me "Mistress"?" Madison asked
The guide grunted and walked on at a slower pace.

I was escorted down cobbled stairs into the courtyard; still the fountain bemused me, we were approaching a tall golden spire that I had failed to see before. In fact it was growing slowly but surely like a vine up a wall. I then noticed that the spire was a footpath swirling past the tops of the clouds into the heavens. However it had a liquid appearance yet seemed rigid like rock. How could the stairs be growing? but it was then that I looked to where the staircase was rising from and sure enough it was the golden pool that was slowly draining and rising into the air to add more to this already towering staircase.

When we got to the edge of where the pool one was there was nothing but a pit ten thousand meters deep. I was reluctantly handed a key and nudged by Druno as he pointed to the long golden bridge which led to the gate guarding the opening to the staircase.
"You must now clinb every one of those 127 million seven hundred, fifty three thousand nine hundred and twenty five steps to meet your friends."
I did not question the alienated being but I was scared, how was I ever going to climb those seven... oh whatever that number was amount of steps? I crossed the bridge and was ready to transform back into the Weffler ready to take on the steps. The key fitted perfectly and the door swung open revealing Madison, Leprechaun Mac, Malik, Leah, Morgan and Emma all standing in a golden elevator (I was relieved that alien guy had me going for a minute there) I sighed with releif

Day 5 - Matainui

I was revived. After the enormous sleep I had just had I was awake under the golden pool's surface.

I had no worries as I bobbed my head out of the water I saw Emma lying down on her back once again conscious. "What, how, when. How are you awake?" I struggled to get out
"It must have been the water, there is something about that pool that is not normal" replied Emma. She slowly leaned upwards to gain a glimpse of me however it was not the reaction I was expecting. Anyone would expect someone seeing their friend as a swamp monster after a day of being unconscios would either scream, yell, cry or even act the faintest bit surprised. But nothing..."Your hair has grown" she said
"What hair and why arent you freaking out?" It was then I brushed my hand trough my hair, wait I had hair no vines no leaves no nothing. I was human again! With no weffler worries or mood swings, that pool really did have powers although in a way I was sad to have lost the thing that made me unique. My hair was much longer than before, but I liked it it made me look kind of like a cave man.


I was no longer a weffler "No more weffler" I sighed. At that moment the vines started ripping my flesh open. The blood was staining the grass and I was screaming loudly but that was miniscule compared to the noise Emma was making. However I did not hurt, Taller, Stronger, Faster. I was the Swamp monser again but still Emma was screaming. It took half an hour to reassure Emma that I was ok, I also explained how I turned into the Swamp thing.

I was still questioning how I had turned into a human and then back again. I raised the point with Emma..."Human" the word was spoken and I once again shrunk into a human body with normal everything. I knew why I was changing, whenever I said either "Weffler" or "human" I would change into that thing. I was torn between strong beast or normal human but I felt my companion would be a bit freaked out to keep seeing me as a monster that could easily eat her whole.

I took a moment to once again to explore my surroundings. The views were amazing from this mountain peak I could see some kind of bubble all around the island, it was located about 1 kilometer off the coast of the spit of land we were situated on. Outside it was a raging sea storm but inside was a haven of clear skies and sunny beaches.

The hanger (or as it appered) was just across the courtyard from us. I could distinctly see the gigantic chrome ball that we had been chasing for days sitting there right infront of me at its station attatched to a boarding passage similar to the ones they use on big commercial airliners to board passengers.

My gut felt weird as if someone was watching me and it was true the pyramids eye was watching me closely and quite suspiciously as if I had done something wrong. I was freaked so we decided to head away from the square based point into the heavens and toward the temple or palace with the spires and the golden decorated tips. It was even more beautiful than the silver marvel that we had seen before in the forests. We walked the length of the man made river that was decorating the front of the building and up to the wooden 20 meter tall front door that unusually was open.

We were seeking refuge but we were to encounter no problems .When we were greeted by the group we thought we would never see again.

Day 4 - Matainui

I awoke lying on the forest floor to an awful smell, I realised Emma had not washed in 3 days and she was starting to smell like a rubbish dump. I did not suffer from these odour problems anymore as I was constantly being washed by the water in my vines. I decided the best way to wash her would be to submerge her in the river where I could control the water and clean her. However I had to reach he river before I could follow up my planning. So with one swift movement I slung her onto my shoulder into a fireman's hold and started to sprint towards the mountain. It was not long before our route was intercepted by the fast flowing river. We must have been on some sort of an island between two sides of the river. I needed to be quick washing Emma as the group at the mountain would surely move.

It was messy, I was still mastering my new skills (or powers however you would refer to them)but eventually my efforts payed off and Emma was reasonably clean. I finished off by ringing the water out of her clothes using my powers and once again started towards the mountain.

Many hours and many litres of sweat were spent while trudging through the forest and now I was starting to become fatigued. I no longer felt like the powerful monster I was. All around me I could hear the croaky conversation between the wefflers all around me. It was then I was reminded of my fellow beings of the bush, "Hello will anyone help me carry this young human up to the summit of the mountain?" I proposed however the words came out distorted and messed up. Although my speech was unusually stranger than normal the many wefflers in disguise responded and three enourmous trees sprung into action quickly taking Emma's crushing weight from my shoulders. These tree wefflers were at least two times as big as the last one I had encountered.
"HMMM...AHHHHHHH!", Emma was screaming It was as if she knew I was no longer carrying her, the wefflers were stunned by the noise and almost dropped her head over heels.

The day was long but at least I now had company, the trees were fascinating we had many in detail conversations about the history of our races and I started to understand a little more about what I was. We had decided to carry Emma in legs my own leg of the journey was eternity but it payed off as we reached the pinnacle of the mountain we saw pyramids and ruins of an ancient society much like the scene of machu picchu.

"We must now leave back to the forests" announced the trio of wefflers,
"Thankyou for your knowledge and your services that you have provided me with throughout our journey" I replied
"It is our pleasure but I must warn you, without the presence of the trees you may feel empty inside and feel sorrow towards yourself, only the most experienced wefflers can ever accomplish the feat of walking free of the forest" stated the tallest one. "Good luck, and goodbye" said the three together and then turned back to the amass of green below. I knew I was going o miss them and wish they were still here when I found further problems.

As I studied the greatest pyramid in more detail I discovered that it was square based and also at the very top there was a mysterious eye looking down at me, however this was not all as there was also a glistening golden stream running down from the colouring of the eye down the face of the architecture into a beautiful scene of the worshiping pool where the swans were whiter than white and the fish were more swift. They were leaping out of the water frantically at the pyramids edge and slowly picking the algae living on the submerged bricks. There were people lying on blankets at the pools meeting with the land. They seemed to be praying somehow and yet they did not seem human, there figures were distorted and deformed. These "people" were obviously seeking shade from the surrounding trees that were swaying in the cool breeze.

Sprinting across the land was much harder than in the water, but when I finally got to the waters edge I was depressed my moods were playing with me I felt happy then sad and I had realised that what the weffler had told me was true and I was an empty soul without the trees. I kneeled down and with the body of Emma still in my arms. SPLASH!!! into the pool, I felt alive my roots turned golden and started to glow...Darkness...

Day 3-Matainui

I awoke to see no one around me but a faint rustling sound outside the tent. I felt better now so I threw off my blankets and decided to investigate the noise, once outside I realised it was Emma packing up camp she obviously planned on moving camp but why? "Oh...Good morning sleepy head" she spoke with enthusiasm and a hint of humour. "Good morning" I replied. Then out of nowhere there was a giant groaning sound followed by a heavy mechanical kind of sibilant clanking. Then out of my peripheral vision I spotted the glowing silver haven start to float as if it was weightless like a helium balloon.

We studied it together in amazement both lost for words. I must still be asleep and hallucinating from yesterdays event. However I had pinched myself about half a dozen times now and my arm was starting to hurt and go very red. I did not know what was going on but I did know that whatever this "thing" was it was not human. It rose constantly higher in the sky until then it started floating across towards the biggest of the three mountains on the island. "We have to follow it" Emma enforced "The others must be inside".

Camp was all packed up into our backpacks and I decided to start chopping a route through the vines and overhanging leaves in the way with my machete, I figured it would be easier that way when we came around to leaving.

Slowly I stopped swinging at the obstacles ahead of me. I had seen something, and it was big! It was probably a harmless wild pig. So with that reassuring thought in my head I started back at my assigned job. At that moment an enormous ostrich like bird jumped out of the bush ahead and knocked me to the ground, its claws sliced my stomach's flesh into bits of bloody tissue. As I slowly regained my footing I realised that it was no ostrich or emu, it was a Moa bird! But how? Moa had been extinct for centuries. I had no time to think as instantaneously I realised the 230kg bird was no longer interested with me because it had found a new target. It ran directly into Emma while her back was turned as she was scavenging for berries on nearby fruit trees. If I had not stepped in with a slash of my tree chopping sword the nails of the monster would have surely re-arranged Emma's innocent face.



The beast fled limping away with half of its leg severed and hanging off by a flap of skin. Emma was no better she had been severely concussed by the blow and seemed to be in some kind of a coma. A tear came to my eye, how could I have been so careless? after all she had done for me and I let her get killed by some savage bird!!!AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! I let off a scream of rage so loud it seemed there was an earthquake, the entire island shook. I was driven I would take her to that mountain if it was the last thing I did! I dressed the wounds the victim had sustained with some of the parachute backpack and string.

I was at the end of my previously constructed trail and had to start forging the rest of the needed route with the body of an unconscious girl slung over my shoulder and to make matters worse the mosquito's were drawn to me like a piece of dead, blooded meat. Indeed that I was as the blood from my stomach's wound was pouring out like a waterfall, my intestines were slowly oozing out, I was unsuccessfully trying to hold them back in with my free arm. I was losing blood, fast. I tripped and stumbled as the ground got softer and eventually grew to a shallow, ankle height sort of bog.

I was sinking into the swamp...I dropped Emma, she landed in the thick mud face down, she was going to suffocate! What was I going to do? I had to get out. Before I knew it I was completely submerged in mud. I too could not breathe and was slowly blacking out...

LIFE! life was restored within me what had happened? no more pain, no more weakness. I stood up in the watery filth around me it was then I realised that I was not myself any more. I was a freak, a monster everything you were brought up to think was evil. I was a man of the swamp literally. I had vines for arms and all over green. I took in a deep breath, I was cooled off as the water from the swamp had been sucked up into my vines. I took a big step, I felt as if no one could stop me, I was so strong all my past worries were gone.

"Fetch the girl" "Fetch the girl you fool" "She is dieing...go and help her" These voices were creeping me out who was speaking? But they had reminded me about the situation Emma was in, I wouldn't let her die. I ran so fast I was sure I would have beaten Usain Bolt in a race! As I waded to the edge of the swamp the thick mud encasing Emma's face was morphed out of the way then suddenly a huge Rimu tree ripped itself from the Earth and started to walk staunchly towards her using its beastly thick roots for legs.

As the Ent like creature cradled Emma in its branches it spoke to me; "take good care of her,I can tell you would be devastated if she were to pass away"
"Thank you" I replied "oh and by the way what are you exactly?"
"I am a weffler, a being of the forest you will be able to talk to us now you are one too"..."most plants are actually weffles discused, there are some advantages to being a weffler, for example you can control normal trees and plants and in your case you can move water and run faster than most things could ever dream of.

The rest of the day was spent by me ripping trees from their roots in order to get through the forest faster. I had to get Emma to the top of that mountain, I was sure that that was where everyone was after the spaceship took off. I dosed off while still running with Emma slung over my shoulder...

Day 2 - Matainui

We were awoken by the song of Ten Thousand birds passing overhead, it was unlike anything I had heard before. I was still ravenous I had not eaten since breakfast yesterday as I lost my lunch along with my bag, The day would definitely feel longer without food. "I am going for food" I announced to the group.
"Lets all go" Malik suggested. So we packed up our things and left our only feeling of safety behind along with our grassy clearance. We were heading South west towards the sound of rushing water, I was convinced that we could scavenge some grub from the rivers edge.

It took hours before we were crunching the shingles from the riverside beneath our feet. There was an enormous baron section lining the river. From the corner of my eye I spotted the figure of a girl leaning over scooping water from the river into a bucket. She was very familiar, Mac realised straight away that it was Madison from our class however she did not look like she normally did she was dirty and animal like, she was a dog with fleas, twitching every few seconds. We followed her into the buses as she fled the scene, red stains were cloaking the leaves on the floor of the bush. Madison must be bleeding severely.

We whispered to each other while tracking our target, it was not long before we had decided to propose an alliance between our two groups (I personally backed this idea as I was growing tired of the lack of company). We stopped in our tracks, we heard noises, human voices! This must be their campsite, after a heated silent argument Malik was overruled by his older counterparts to go first and propose the alliance.

They had heard us we had to give ourselves up...or run? but considering we had eaten no food since yesterday morning that would not be a good idea. Malik pushed through the remaining leaves and was met by four girls (Madison, Emma, Leah and Morgan) all armed and pointing their ferocious weapons at him. He nervously stuttered the words "w-w-wanna m make an ali-li-ance?" over about thirty seconds. However the girls did not need to hear anything, they had lowered their weapons as soon as they had identified Malik. "Malik" they exclaimed in unison and went on to hug him. It was at that moment Mac and myself revealed ourselves,
"where is my hug?" I said sarcastically.

We never actually agreed to join groups it just sort of happened. We sat around for a couple of hours discussing our stories since the crash. Nothing much had happened within their group...apart from Madison getting bitten by a giant mutated spider and the fact she was slowly transforming into one herself! It was not until about 11am when we actually decided to go exploring. We packed up our campsite it felt twice as scary as last time my senses were telling me not to, it was against every instinct I had. It seemed the campsite represented safety and we were abandoning it.We headed to the river planning to find something to eat. The girls had also not had anything to eat since yesterdays breakfast.

The walk was hard, we were trying to chop a new path through the wall of thick green and brown. When we made it to the flow of blue. It was crystal clear like bottled water and one thousand times as big, "I want to go over there and see what lurks...it is so weird but somehow it draws me towards it" announced Madison. We waded into the shallow water, I started to wash myself off briefly, the spiny seeds from the trees were annoying my skin. "Does anyone want to come across with me?" asked Madison
"What across the river? are you mad! said Mac
" I will come"
"and me" replied Morgan and Malik and so it was decided Malik, Madison and Morgan would go over to the other side of the river. I was in protest I did not believe that the river was safe however there was no convincing the others they were setting their sights towards the other side.

They were in the water, crossing the strong currents, they had taken two backpacks with them two backpacks I would probably never see again. I was praying that they would be okay after the crossing, it seemed that bad possibilities were inevitable and unpreventable. This island brought bad luck when would it strike next?

The group was half way across their pathway to mystery when a couple of hundred meters down the inland ocean bubbles started to rise to the surface. They grew nearer and nearer, "What is that?" I asked

"I don't know but it can't be good for those guys" he replied aiming a trembling finger at the group in the water. It was a matter of seconds before the bubbles were surrounding the petrified asylum seekers. The bubbles revealed themselves to be Eels as thick as your thighs cloaked with the throthing water in which they thrived.

Malik's wounded hand must have opened up again and the blood must have triggered the eels vicious instincts.

Mailk drew the machete from the bag in which his life now depended on, He swung it aimlessly at the water. Foolishly he slashed his own leg in the process, the eels seemed to respond to the fresh injury and attacked once more. But with some help from myself and a 2 foot machete the group managed to cross.

We shouted across the river "we will meet you back here in 2 hours". The two hours were wasted, we sat around a tree in the heavy bush talking and sharing ideas and thoughts. "why don't we chop down a tree to enable us to cross the river?" I asked the group

"Yes ingenious" replied Emma. We swung our heavy sharp instruments at the tree being careful not to make it fall the wrong way. It took hours before I was able to shout something I had always wanted to say "TIMBER!". The mighty Kauri fell, with splinters flying everywhere I had them stuck in my torso and all down my legs with the odd one around my facial features. My face was scarred but I was quick to start plucking myself free of wooden pests.

We were all safely across the log waiting rather impatiently, there was moans and complaints blocking my obscure thoughts...Until "I think this is close to where we were supposed to meet"

"Yes"

"HELLO...Hello...Hello" these words were whistling through the trees. Slowly emerging through the shrubbery were the figures of Madison,Malik and Morgan.

Some time passed debating whether we should stay on the safe side of the river or cross and risk the dangers but we all agreed on crossing and so it happened. One by one we pushed our way through the ferns and tree branches. The world seemed so small when we were traveling in the bush our universe was confined and uncomfortable. We stumbled across roots and tripped onto each other many times. We were following the shore of a glistening silver river it was like someone had added a chrome special effect into a movie. We finally broke past the line of the trees and it was revealed, the reason the estuary was silver and glowing

Shimmering silver like liquid mercury aglow. It was so beautiful. It was a chrome Taj Mahal the architecture was a feat like nothing I had ever dreamed of. There were features seemingly holding themselves up and towers so high they had grown past the sun in the sky. We approached the building, it seemed to be some kind of labrinth or temple. As we stepped forward we felt a strange warm feeling growing over our bodies and as we peered behind ourselves we saw the bushes in sight dissappear and the air surrounding us morph around like someone had dipped their finger into a pool of water. "A forcefield...It must be somekind of protective shield" exclaimed Leah,

"How come it let us through then?" asked Mac

"Maybe someone is expecting us?" added Emma. What ever it was it was not usual.

The door was there it had a three finger lock, "why three fingers?, what human has three fingers?" said Morgan

"Who said it was human?" I rebounded back. There was a gasp throughout the group and then silence, "Who is going to open it then?" questioned Malik. I chose to fill the job in and reached out for the three fingered lock. WARM...SUDDEN COLD.

Where am I? stars and planets are shooting past my vision and curious sounds are bellowing against my eardrums, It sounded like a strangled cat the screech was deafening. Still I was zooming through space faster and faster my stomach was being pressed against my rib cage at the back. I felt sick, I was sick although once it had left my mouth it vanished into dust and floated off into the blackness. My space ship did not exist so how was I aliiiiive? I was falling and then the audio track changed to a calming voice. It sounded familiar.

THUD!!! I regained consciousness staring into the eyes of Emma, she was crouched over me pouring water from her bottle over my head. "Are you okay?" she asked. But before I could understand what she was saying she started explaining how the lock zapped me with purple rays that knocked me out and that the rest of the group had already left to explore the temple (or whatever it was). It took a while but I finally got the message as I was still dreary from my unpleasant experience.

I knew that I would not be able to follow the rest of the group up the track they had opted to use (apparently they had all climbed a long rope to a higher platform somewhere beyond the walls of the structure) in my state. Emma suggested I get some rest so I helped drag myself to a bare spot in the jungle like surroundings as my selfless companion set up a small campsite composed of: The tent, a small fire and some blankets surrounding the fire. We sat around the fire talking nonsence all night (well at least I did) until at last the fire went out and we retired to the safety of the tent. I finally ended up drowsing off whilst eating some rations we were left and memorising the tools and objects we had.

Return to Matainui Day 1

I have spent the whole week preparing and packing for the trip to Matainui. the bus ride was exciting, everyone was talking about the activities they were going to participate in once we got there. Kawhia Harbour...what a stunning view, my jaw dropped, the foliage and rocky shore was elegantly carved into the graceful oceanic scene.

It was previously established that we would be flying to the island on a Grumman HU-16 Albatross sea plane. It was amazing it sat calmly in the water rocking with the movement of the waves, how could something so enormous float? let alone fly. Everyone was buzzing (especially Marek he was literally bouncing off the walls trying to tip the plane over!). As we boarded the plane and handed our luggage over to Mr Woody I felt the ocean spray against my face, it breathed life into my senses. I took a deep breath of air and told myself that this trip would be the best of my life.

We were all aboard the king of all aquatic planes. I sat comfortably in my window seat whilst watching the rising and falling of the waterline outside. I was reminded of my family back home (this was the only plane trip I had been on without them) I started to ask myself the questions like; what if something goes wrong? and will I ever see them again?however I soon refocused my attention to the journey ahead when I saw what appeared to be the silhouette of Sam Brennan flit through the curtain separating the pilots and the passengers."That can't be true" I said to myself, although I did not see Sam from that moment on...

All of a sudden the engines started, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, would it be this loud all flight? A few seconds later and...movement we were bashing the water off our bow or nose (whatever you would call it in this situation?) The plane was not a fish gliding, but rather an elephant using its sheer size and power to charge through the water. My seat was bumping now, in fact the whole cabin was shaking, the plane was pummeling misty water in all directions; I could see it flying past my window, obstructing any other view.

I could see clearly again we were flying slicing through the air. But sill the Humm of the engines was deafening, shaking my vision.

We were hours in flight, I was admiring the billowing sea below out of my small cabin window, It was still fresh in my mind the image of Sam entering the cockpit. What if he really was the pilot? I hadn't seen him since that moment.


What is that? I have never felt anything like this before it is like we have gone off the edge of the Earth. I am being lifted from my seat, I quickly slap on the heavy metal seat belt buckle. "I NEVER PASSED MY TESTS!!!" yelled the voice of Sam over the loudspeaker "WE ARE GOING TO CRASH!!!" he added. So that was what the mystery weightlessness was, now I understood why everyone as screaming, no, wait that was me! "AAAAAAHHHHH!!!".

All the lights went out! electrical failure! outside I saw fork lightning and black rainclouds. How could this be? the weather had changed so rapidly and it was forecast for sunshine.



CRASH!!!



We had crash landed, where? were we stuck? was I dead? the worst possible realities ran through my head.out of the window there was a spray of bubbles streaming upward, this could only mean one thing, we were losing air! We were underwater, we had to get out we were going to sink. I could see water leaking in, it was blurring the twinkling lights from the alleyway. The emergency oxygen masks deployed. Mr Woody then announced that he was going to open the door son that we could escape. A creaky thud sounded and the cabin was flooded, I struggled to swim against the push of the water, I had no time to find my bag. I feared I would never see many of my friends again. Filled with rage I powered deeper and threw myself out of the door. I was underwater, at least three meters deep, my lungs were screaming at me,it felt like my chest was being ripped apart. I felt light headed NO I was not going to die here and now. I swam up, desperately grabbing at the water above me but the weight of my clothes was overwhelming. I had seen the abyss below and was determined not to be claimed by its depths.

The remaining air in my lungs helped me float to the surface, I bobbed up like a cork coughing and spluttering water. I immediately started looking around for my group. I found Malik and Mac and we started swimming towards what appeared to be a mountain peak in the distance. "Wait ,Where is Asser?" I asked
"there is no time" said Mac
"we can't just leave him" complained Malik but none of us stopped swimming. I suppose we just abandoned him along with all the rest of our things, he was now alone left to die at sea.

The thoughts of Asser haunted my thoughts. I was sitting on the beach now looking out at the tail of the plane poking out of the ocean, the rest was obviously under the blue death. "I wish we could get our stuff back from inside" I said to the remaining members of our small group "that's a great idea!" replied Mac.

Soon we were all in our undies and attracting a lot of attention. Malik was elected lookout and guarder of our gear. As we grew closer to the waterline we were approached by Josiah, Leon and Sam. "We are coming too" they said, I was not convinced that they knew what we were doing but we could use some help, I was willing to share the goods.

The swim was tiring, the waves felt like heavy metal shackles holding me back, it was like God wanted me to fail. Eventually we made it to the plane. Whilst swimming I had studied the plane and made the presumption that there must be an air bubble trapped inside the tail of the plane in order for it to still be afloat. We would be able to use this air bubble to breathe while retrieving anything inside the belly of the beast (if there was anything at all). Mac went down first, it felt like an eternity until he resurfaced, we had already sent Leon down to help him out. Mac revealed he had a bag I immediately recognised it was his as it had the neat yellow stitching down the left hand side. He told us that there were many more bags down there and apparently the heavy cabin door had been ripped off its hinges leaving a nice big opening for anyone to get in and out.


I went down next, I hated it it reminded me of the crash, the sound of being underwater was like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. I was soon through the door frame and racing to the haven of air above. I was at the mercy of the sea... but it was soon over. I could breathe again, it was like sucking in all the great feelings you have felt in your life in at once. Leon was next to me but he said nothing, below I could see murky blotches floating inanimately, they must have been the bags. I took a deep breath and duck dived, I grabbed the first bag I could see... "Pssst Crrrr Rrrrip" What was that noise it was very eerie. I looked back and "oh no" my bag had deployed something, wait it was a parachute bag and I was trapped and going to die all because of my own seat, once so comfortable and exciting now taking my life. All the adrenaline rushed through my body, it gave me strength and I ripped the parachute free.

Once back from my traumatic experience I held onto the side of the plane for dear life, I felt like lead, too heavy to float. Me and Mac decided to swim back. The swim back was much harder the weight of the bags was unbearable. Although the swim was only 100m it felt like an eternity. The golden beach was my drive, I could see people from all corners racing to the shore over the dunes of powdered sand.

What have you got? What was in the plane? Were there dead people? the questions were burying me. Soon Sam and the others arrived back looking somewhat like an episode of Baywatch. Mac was quick on the scene "we deserve a share of yours, it was our idea" he ordered. Without question Josiah handed over one of the parachute packs, obviously trying to avoid a fight.

It had been hours since the crash and the blue sky was slowly losing its battle with the blackness of the night. The three of us had stopped in the light bushes to set up camp. There was a small clearing of long tall grass. It scratched us and gave us small wounds as we swung our machetes around with haste. Soon all the tents were up and we were all wandering around doing our own thing. Malik was sitting on a Ponga tree stump repairing the torn parachute with a nail and some nylon wire, I was gathering dry wood for our hungry fire and Mac was aimlessly swinging his axe at a Rimu tree that appeared to be hundreds of years old, usually I would have protested but given the situation I didn't care much what happened. The rustling of the leaves and the swing of the axe was the only sound existing in the forest now until... AAAHHH! Malik had slit his thumb with the nail the blood was staining his clothes hot red. At that same moment one million birds all I had never seen before came out of the trees filling the empty sky with a rainbow pattern.

The night was sleepless. I had had no food and the sound of my rumbling stomach was overpowered by the rest of the chaos around me, scurrying, flapping and grunting were all being generated from sources around me. But what sources?