Stranded 11

There’s something I need to remind you about. See in general I am only going to be telling you about the important days of my time on the island.
I’ll point out what I remember most. Which events had the greatest impression on me.
However, to truly understand what it was like I must say this:
I was stranded for 762 days.
That’s over two years.
Two years of waking up by the ocean, hearing only the sounds of nature around me, being with only seven people. Doing the same thing over and over again.
Searching for food, bringing it back, cooking it, and of course hanging out and taking it easy.
Now I’m not saying it was horrible. Sure there were ups and downs, but a lot of the days were very similar and it is impossible to decipher entire weeks and months of my life.
I can’t give you every little detail of every single day.
So my plan is to tell you as much as I can without boring you.
Now, I do remember what happened when we made that first fire.
How we angled and stacked the logs. How we lit the massive pieces of lumber.
It’s all clear to me.
But do you really care?
Probably not.
So I’ll tell you a bit of what happened later that day and then we’ll jump in about a week later.

Zooey eventually came back with Ian. Dylan trailed behind, only looking at the ground. He never looked up until he was back at the fire.
They never said where they were for all that time.
But I could only guess given Dylan’s expression.
The four of us built the signal fire for the rest of the day.
Tyler and Ian led while both Dylan and I tailed our respective search companion.
We never had an opportunity to say anything to each other.
And I wasn’t sure if he even wanted to say anything to me. But given how intimidated and scared he looked, I only wanted to forgive him. I wanted to pull him aside and tell him it was okay.
But eventually the first fire was lit and Tyler called it a day.
I casually waited around and stared into the fire.
Everyone else walked off, but Dylan stayed.
It was the same scenario as with Tyler, I was sitting on a log and Dylan sat right next to me.
He started by apologizing. He didn’t apologize for anything in specific, but only said he was sorry.
I didn’t say much back, but it was actually easy to accept the apology.
Instead of saying anything, I grabbed his hand and put it up to the partial palm print left on my shirt.
He smiled and instantly we were back to being friends.

My name is Luke Gray and I had to find out who Dylan was.

751 days Before Being Rescued

So I’m skipping a week, don’t hate me.
Honestly nothing happened during that time.
We literally spent it meeting and getting to know each other. Tyler created plans to set up a town and designate areas. He called it zoning.
We had sleeping areas, eating and cooking areas, and relaxing and personal zones.
Dylan and I actually claimed an area where we both slept.
And not like that...
We were only friends. Just really good friends.

I don’t want to bore you with the mundane details that really don’t affect anything.
I could probably skip ahead another few months to be honest with you.
Everything ran so smoothly at the beginning.
Tyler was the unofficial leader and he was good at it. Everyone went to him for advice or to ask what they could do.
Dylan and I did everything together. Our main job was to hunt and fish. Dylan taught me and I was surprisingly good at it.
I think what Dylan liked the most about our task was he and I got away from everyone else. He didn’t have to listen to Ian. He didn’t have to be yelled at.

This day was just like any other day. Dylan and I were preparing to go out hunting.
Hayden always asked what she could do to help before we left. She was very nice about it, but Dylan always seemed irritated. Like he could do it himself. I was never sure what he had against her. It never bothered me enough to ask him.
Hayden usually took what we brought back and prepared and cooked it. I was completely cool with it, as it gave me time to just relax or help Tyler in building the huts.
Dylan was off doing something by himself preparing for the day as Hayden approached me.
I am pretty sure this was our first one on one conversation.
Hayden – How you doing today?
Luke – Um, fine, thanks.
Hayden – Seems like you and Dylan have bonded pretty well.
Luke – Yeah, we have.
Hayden – And the same with you and Tyler. I’ve watched the two of you together building. Tyler definitely is much more productive when you are around.
Productive? It was such a random remark. I had no idea what she getting at.
Luke – Is he?
Hayden – Yeah, well who knows, maybe it’s just that Ian and him don’t exactly click like you two.
This always left me wondering. Well not right away. But after it was just Tyler and I. Did other others guess about us?
Was it obvious or destiny?
Which reminds me. I need to tell you how I responded to Tyler’s request on the phone.
Eh, I’ll tell you later.
Luke – Um, I guess. I just do what he tells me.
Hayden – Well what do you think of him?
Luke – Who? Tyler?
Hayden – Yeah.
Luke – He’s nice.
And that was all I did consciously think of him.
Hayden – Yeah he sure is.
Tyler walked by the two us.
Hayden – Hi Tyler.
He signaled good morning and continued on.
Something weird was going on.
She had a particular look in her eyes. Like I wasn’t there.
Her focus was in the direction Tyler went as she had all her weight on one leg.
Luke – Well then.
Hayden – Oh, sorry. I guess you’ll be heading off.
Luke – Yeah, see ya later.

Dylan – I think we should head northeast today.
Luke – Okay, I got this. It is that way.
I pointed in the direction I thought was northeast.
Dylan – Good, see you are learning.
Luke – Well you are a good teacher.
Dylan always liked being complimented. I’m pretty sure it had to do with never receiving any from Ian or Zooey.
That got me curious.
I had to know. Who were Ian and Zooey to Dylan? Why did they treat him so poorly? And why did he act so different in front of them?
There had to be some story, some reason why he was so afraid of them.
And I knew he was avoiding the topic.
He knew I was going to ask sooner or later, but he never gave me the time to question him. Anytime there was a bit of silence, he immediately started a conversation or pushed me to get us playing around.
So I had to do it when he wasn’t ready for it.
And right now he was looking around trying to figure out where specifically we should end up.
Luke – Dylan, I want to ask you something.
He looked cautious.
I rarely said something like that to him. We were friends so instantly that we never had to declare we were about to do something. Everything was so natural. If we had a question, it just came out. If we wanted something, we took it.
We were just really good friends from the beginning.
I’m pretty sure he knew what I was going to ask him. But he definitely didn’t have any idea what to say.
Luke – Is Zooey your mom?
Dylan – Um. Well, no.
Luke – You seem so unsure of it.
Dylan – She isn’t.
Luke – And Ian?
Dylan – Well he’s not my mom.
Luke – Ha. I know that.
Dylan – Hey, let’s keep going. I don’t want to miss the herds.
Luke – Dylan.
I grabbed his arm and made him stop.
Luke – Why do you let him treat you like that?
Dylan – I dunno.
He wasn’t looking at me. He was acting like he was interested in something else.
Luke – It’s not right.
Dylan – I don’t mind.
Luke – Dylan.
Dylan – What?
Luke – Who is Ian?
Dylan – He’s Zooey’s boyfriend.
Luke – Than why do you take that from him?
He didn’t respond immediately.
He looked like he was trying to come up with something to say.
Dylan – I don’t know.
Luke – Hey, stop avoiding the question. You can trust me.
Dylan – I know. I do trust you.
He turned and kept walking.
Luke – Dylan!
Dylan – Can you just trust me with it? I don’t really have much else to say about it.
Luke – But I hate seeing him treat you like that. If he isn’t your father, than he shouldn’t be that way to you. And why doesn’t Zooey stand up for you? Where are your real parents?
He didn’t say anything.
Luke – And who is Zooey to you?
Dylan – She is Zooey.
Luke – I know that. But are you family? Or just friends?
Dylan – Something like that.
Luke – Why won’t you tell me?
Dylan – She’s like my sister.
Luke – Like or is?
Dylan – Uh, she is.
I could tell he was just making things up on the spot. He only wanted to get me to shut up and stop asking all the questions.
So I gave in. Even though I wanted to know more, I knew he didn’t want to tell me.
I didn’t believe Zooey was his sister. Not the way she was so attached to him when she first saw him. She had feelings like a mother.
But why would he lie and say she isn’t his mom? It didn’t make sense.
Dylan – Look, Zooey can seem like a really nice person sometimes. But you can’t trust her.
Luke – Why not?
Dylan – Just trust me. She is not a good person.