I could feel the heat bearing down as I looked over to the island ahead of me. Even from the large distance we were from this unknown island, I could still see the thick grey smoke spiralling into the once settled sky. Unaware of whether this was a bush fire or even a signal fire, we had to keep going – the temptation was too powerful.
As we followed the crystal waters a circus of fish glided underneath us in all directions. I could see every scale on their body, every fin, every tail, it was beautiful. The sun so bright, my pale skin was glowing. The reflections on the dazzling water made it shimmer so gracefully. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of my face like I was crying, but I even enjoyed that. This place was so beautiful and tranquil. The sky as blue as I’ve even seen, not a single cloud in sight. Just the rising smoke that we could not escape.
The shallow waves were collapsing gently around the boat as we were nearing the shore. Not a single person in sight, not even an animal. It was still so quiet, like a library on water. The only sound I could hear was the salted water slapping against some oddly shaped rocks in the middle of the sea. I thought this place was paradise, but I was now close enough to notice bright red flames dancing with the trees and engulfing the whole shoreline in front of us. This certainly was not one of our best ideas and I felt a sickly feeling of fear rising from the pit of my stomach. There could be people trapped somewhere on that island and we were the only people that could help.
The sun was now setting behind the highest of the cliffs and the sky had turned an amazing colour combination of red and gold that blended in perfectly with the flames rising from the mountains. I could see figures jumping and leaping from all directions. I was not close enough to see whether they were male or female, or their age or ethnicity. I started to panic, how were we supposed to save these people?
If anything like its surroundings, surely this island would have been Utopia. I imagined tall palm trees towering over the entire island, along with the sound of a hollow coconut falling to the soft bed of sand. Maybe a narrow stream trickling from one end of the island to the other; full of wildlife and colours. And surrounding the island was of course the delightful sight of the warmest sea rippling back and forth onto the hot grains of sand.
I couldn’t of seen something so contrasting if I had tried. Trees were collapsing one by one. The golden sand was transforming into powdery black ash. There were burnt leaves scatted across the shore; shredded like thin destructed paper. The water wasn’t flowing anymore. It was staggering back and forth across the bed of crushed rocks. The obscene sight of contaminated animals dispersed across the burning ground was enough to make anyway flee to the furthest destination possible. But now we had no choice.
We were just metres away from this monstrosity now. The figures were now out of sight. Probably trapped under a fallen tree, suffocating from the heat. I could smell it – the burning tower of destruction. I jumped as another tree collapsed with a loud thud. The soaring fire raced round the island, but not quite as fast as the figurers I saw earlier.
I shook as our ship came to a halt. The figures were back. They were young, they were boys, and surely they weren’t alone. They were black in the face, I couldn’t tell if it was from the smoke or whether they had intended to put it there as if they were part of a tribe. Judging from the rest of their scrawny body’s, they looked English, they were definitely white. How long had they been here? Is this a race of people that no one has ever discovered?
The boys were sprinting all heading in one direction. Some had spears which they had clearly carved themselves. A couple were bleeding – one boy had scars and deep scratches all over his body. He was the only boy that hadn’t masked his face, yet he had bright red blood smeared across his chest. I prayed that they weren’t attacking this boy. The sea of faces had a variety of fear and anger printed on them.
I jumped off the boat and splashed into the water, which was surprisingly warm. I treaded through onto the sand. My uniform was making me sweat, as if I had just been swimming. The boys saw me, stopped running and dropped their spears. Their faces had gone from rage to astonishment. I couldn’t tell whether they were happy to see me or scared.
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