#WritePhoto Sunken Spirits

March 9, 2017 — fiction #writephoto, island, lost at sea, treasure

horizon

The excursion lasted for months. The tedium had begun to take it’s toll on the crew.  Provisions had run low, and the boring meals of salt cod and oatmeal were getting on everyone’s nerves.  The search for the shipwreck had turned into a nightmare.  Now lost, after the GPS was washed overboard in the storm, they wondered if this island would be their final resting place.  Landing on an uninhabited island, they  questioned who had built the pillars on the beach that were now in ruins.  They surveyed the beach and the inland for signs of human occupation, but found nothing more recent than the ruined pillars of stone.  They could find no stones of similar type on the island either, which made them speculate that the stones had been brought to the island from another place.

They learned to catch fish in the lagoon and the ocean to survive.  They had a fresh water spring to keep them alive, but there was little vegetation.  Day to day life was a struggle that created tension and friction between everyone.  There was not enough to eat, and there was little hope of rescue since they had no idea where they were.  This Gilligan’s Island was all too real for this group who had never seen themselves as survivalists.  When they sailed from Bermuda they all wore snappy nautical outfits and hats with matching logos.  When the boat capsized in the storm they lost all the extra clothing, and most of them drifted ashore in pajamas and nightgowns. They found themselves without any of the comforts on which they had become accustomed.  They feared the worst, but had not been brought up to even know about the worst.

In other circumstances they might have bragged to all their friends back at the club about discovering an island with stone ruins, then learning it was Atlantis.  Under present conditions it was doubtful that they would ever see the club or their friends again.  They had sunk their vessel out in the channel, and with it, their hopes and dreams.  They started making up stories about Atlantis and the Bermuda Triangle to pass the time while they slowly perished.

Please join a lively group of writers for stories inspired by today’s photo prompt by Sue Vincent.   Read, comment, or submit your own story.

#writephoto