The cawing of birds and the sound of the waves woke me up. I opened my eyes slowly and was blinded by the rays of the hot sun. I sat up and looked around at my surroundings and tried not to panic.

  I looked out into the ocean which was very clear and reflected the rays of the sun. The smell of salt was rich in the air. The waves crashed against the shoreline and the sound was the one thing that was keeping me from freaking out. I was on a seemingly empty island.

  I felt myself losing control of my emotions, but I knew that wasn’t going to help anything. “Calm down, Tamela.” I said to myself. “We don’t know that the island is empty yet. Maybe Rose and Egypt are here too.”

  I stood up and remembered that I had my backpack since it was a little heavy from the rushed packing and the unexpected weight almost made me fall back onto the sand. I couldn’t quite remember what I’d brought, but I decided to explore a little before checking.

  Behind me loomed tall trees and vegetation. I wasn’t an expert on which plants were which, but I was sure it would be fine to traverse. I had to know what I was dealing with and if anyone was even here.

  As I entered the forest, I panicked. I realized that I may get lost since there wasn’t any kind of indicator as to which direction was which the deeper I got. Since I saw water, I figured that this place could be surrounded by it and that I could just walk until I either got out of the trees or found water.

  After I’d walked for a while, I decided that I should rest for a bit and then continue on. I wiped sweat from my brow and brushed my hair out of my mouth. Upon doing so, I realized that my lips were really cracked and dry.

  I opened my backpack and took out my small portable bag of what I felt were essentials. There was chapstick, Vaseline, nail clippers, a pocket mirror, and some other stuff that I felt was irrelevant at the time. I took out my cherry chapstick and applied it. As I rubbed my lips together and felt my lips soften, I softened as well.

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  This really might not be as bad as I was thinking earlier. I have my essentials and even though I may have to improvise just a bit, I got this! I’d worked long grueling hours and finished work most people wouldn’t even want to look at for sixty seconds if at all and this may be a whole different ballpark, but I figured if I can get through all of that and still be sane that this was nothing.

  I took out my bottle of water. I took a long sip and stopped. I had no idea how long it would be before I could get more. Considering that there was water all around me, I could find a way, but if I didn’t have the materials I needed then I was screwed. I had to start thinking more about what I was going to do in the coming days and survive until I was found and rescued. Putting my water back in my bag and my bag back around my shoulders, I stood up and continued walking.

  I suddenly got this very strange feeling. I felt like I was being watched…followed. I thought I heard steps behind me, but everytime I would pause to hear more clearly they stopped as well. I did the only logical thing that a scared, unsure, and alone woman would do in this situation and ran as fast as I could.

  I heard the steps following quickly behind me. They sounded heavy and it almost felt like they were shaking the forest itself.

  I’d appeared on the other end of, what I’m assuming was, the island. More water. More sand. It was similar to the other side. I looked for somewhere to hide because I still didn’t know what I was seeing barreling out of the forest. There was a rock in the sand that was big enough to sit on so I jumped behind it and lay flat on my stomach.

  I peeked out from behind the rock and saw what looked like a really big cat. It sniffed the air trying to see where I’d gone. I thought maybe the sand would mask my scent until the cat stopped and turned to look at my hiding spot.

  I ducked down and prayed for the first time in my life. “Please don’t let this thing find me. PLEASE.”

  I suddenly heard a noise in the forest and the cat must have heard it as well because I heard it run back into the forest and it was gone.

  I let out a quiet sigh of relief in case it was still within earshot and laid on my back in the sand. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I thought to myself. If there’s a cat as big as that here, I don’t want to know what else could be lurking around.

  I turned my head to look at the water. There was no way that there was any living person on this island. Even though they were the same thing, just different formality with them, I decided to refer to it as an isle. “Man, this sure is one lonely isle. “ I didn’t want to find out what would happen if that cat found me. I had to find a way to get out of here.