If Only

2/10/2017

Colin

 

“Over ‘ere!” I shouted as I waved my arms for the frisbee.  That’s exactly what I got.  I blinked and when I opened my eyes, the frisbee was hurtling towards me.   I reached out to snatch it with one hand, but I completely missed. The frisbee flew right into my face, with a hard thwok.  I staggered backward and fell into the cool water of Long Lake.

“You okay?” Seamus said trying to keep the laughter out of his voice.  I struggled to get up, then fell back in the crystal, clear water. I wasn’t sure if it was the pain or the cool breeze giving me goosebumps.

“Yeah, I’m fine.  Who threw that?”  

“Me”, Seamus answered.  He helped me up.  Seamus is a nice kid with dark brown hair.  He is also tall and strong (it was easy to notice this when he pulled me out of the water, effortlessly).  

“Over here”, Mason called like nothing happened.  I wound up my arm to gather strength and chucked the little disk as hard as I could.  Mason is a short kid who has blonde hair and always has a smile on his face.  Not in a creepy way or anythin’.  He can get along with anybody.

Mason snagged the frisbee out of the air and threw it to Hunter.  Hunter is more of a quiet person who is about my height and has brown hair that hangs down to his neck.  

So, I guess you should know a bit about me:  My name is Colin.  I am almost as fast as Seamus and no matter who you are, that should make you proud.  I have freckles and if you like to play lacrosse, you’re my friend.  In fact, all of us play on the same lacrosse team.

Mason

 

We played frisbee for a while, but then I got to the point where I couldn’t take it any longer.  I had to do something else.  All of a sudden, I blurted out, “Let’s do something else!”  

“Like what?”  Hunter asked.  

Then an idea popped into my head.  “I’ll ask my mom and see if we can go swim out to the islands.”  

My parents had bought this lake house before I was born.  It is large and modern.  And as a bonus, it‘s on Long Lake.  Long Lake is a huge lake in Northern Michigan.  We head up here every other weekend.  There are islands and sandbars and sometimes seaplanes will land.  If we are careful enough, we are often allowed to swim out to one of the islands and explore.

I sprinted up to the house and asked Mom if we could.  “Yes, but be careful,” she replied.  

“Oh, we will.”

Once I got back down, I told the others and we headed out.  

 

 

Seamus

 

When Mason came back down and told us we could go, with his always-enthusiastic voice, I was overjoyed.  If there is one thing I like a lot, it is adventure.  We headed out immediately.  I grabbed a paddle board so that the boats could see us. Then we set off.

The islands looked far away, but the “swim” wasn’t that bad.  Once we got there we tied the board to the dock.  It seemed to be the only sign of man on the island.

The island was basically a forest surrounded by a beach as far as I could tell.  I was the first to step foot on it….

 We walked even further and further into the forest.  We kept walking for another five minutes and no one spoke.

“Hey look!” Hunter said as he pointed to a messy firepit.  There was only a pile of ash with no wall, so I guess it wasn’t much of a pit.  The whole time we had been walking, I was thinking, not listening to the occasional conversation around me.  So when Hunter broke the silence I decided to share my idea.

“Hey guys, let’s have a race.”  

“What do you mean?”  Colin replied.  

“A race from the center of the island back to the house.”

“That sounds dangerous,” Mason stated blankly.  

“That’s what makes it fun,”  Hunter commented.  

 

 

Mason

 

They argued back and forth until I chimed in, “What’s the point when we know Seamus is going to beat us?”  

“I’ll go easy on you guys. Besides I’m a runner with a terrible sense of direction, so I won’t have the advantage. Let’s just do it!”, Seamus answered in a stern, frustrated voice.  

“Ok”, we all agreed wearily.  

We headed to what looked like the center of the island, spun around twenty times with our eyes closed.  We lined up and I bent down with my hands in the cool, moist soil, trying to look like the professional runners do.

In other books, the characters explained how they felt like butterflies were fluttering about in their stomach, well, I always wondered what that feeling was like.  I thought it would be cool but instead, I was experiencing something like nervousness and fear.  I wasn’t really sure why I was scared, but that’s what my gut was tellin’ me.

“Ready”, my muscles tensed.  “Set”, a bead of sweat dripped down my face.  There was no sound except for my pounding heart. “GO!”, Seamus’ voice rang out into the misty air of the forest.    

I sprinted for what felt like two minutes, before fear and panic set in.  I have a survival book at my house, and it says you’ll have a better chance of staying alive in the wild if you stay calm and keep a sharp mind, along with a bunch of other tactics (Not that I should need them). I shivered at the thought.  A swift breeze swept through the trees.

 

Colin

 

I sprinted as hard as I could, thrashin’ through the brush that seemed to be getting thicker by the stride.  My legs were scratched and my elbow hurt from tripping and falling over a tree root.  I tried to retrace my steps looking for some sort of familiar sight, but unfortunately, all of it looked too familiar, so I had no idea where I was.  

I….was….lost.  I called out, but to my dismay, there was no answer.  Panic welled up in my chest so I ran.  I ran, ran, ran until my legs gave out.  I crashed down onto the ground.  I laid thoughtlessly in the dirt.  I got up and sat down on a rock in despair.  What if I never got off the island?  Sweat rolled down my face as a sudden pang of hunger struck me.  Worse yet, what if I starved?  I kept telling myself that that would never happen.  Right now, I would’ve preferred to play that boring game of frisbee over this.

If only . . .

 

 

Seamus

 

I was the first to make it back to the house, but I couldn’t see anyone.  Great, now I am Usain Bolt with built-in GPS.  I should’ve felt pleased with myself for winning, but I didn’t.  I felt a gaping hole of worry.  I was so caught up in swimming back that I didn’t even bother to look around.

Ten minutes later, I was thinking “Why didn’t I consider the cons of playing this game?”  Now I had to go up to Mason’s mom and tell her what I’d done (awkward!)

Just as all hope was lost, a tiny figure appeared out of the forest.  It ended up being Mason.  Then Hunter showed up, but no sign of Colin.

We waited and waited but he never came.  Finally, we decided to go tell Mason’s mom.  She didn’t seem mad, just worried, and so we set off on their jet ski to the island.

I frantically jogged up the shore.  “Colin! Colin! Colin! Where are you?!”

A faint voice yelled back “Over here!”  But before I got within 10 feet, Colin came bursting out of the thick brush.  “I’m okay”, He said in an exasperated voice.  “Dude, I’m so glad to see you.”  “Yeah, I thought I’d never get out.”  

What happened, you look really bad?”  

“It’s a long story.”  

“Mason’s mom came over and was overjoyed.  “Finally!” she said ecstatically.   “Let’s just go back to the house and rest for a change.”

 

 

Colin

 

While I was sitting in my sleeping bag that night, I told Seamus the whole story.

Then Mason whispered, “So what do you think of your last day here?”  

“I think it’s the highlight of my vacation,” I replied sarcastically.  I rolled over.  “Yep, definitely the highlight of my vacation….”