Skinnies Winning Entry

I am of elder age now, and this will be the final chapter in my autobiography. I have become too old to write, so my dear granddaughter takes my place as a ghost writer. My story tells tales of all sorts of things: of my childhood dreams and adventures, of my rebellious adolescent years, and finally of my middle-ages, where I fell in love and had my own rambunctious children. I am now at the final stage in my life, when I finally reach the end.

My book is almost finished, except I didn't add my adventure that happened when I was a fresh adolescent, but not yet middle aged. I wasn't yet in love, nor had I met my lover. I was a wild girl of twenty-two, living the high life in mid-western America. There were events that happened there that I'm not too proud of, but I regret nothing.
I got the opportunity to model in Europe, and naturally I took it. It was my dream; what young girl didn't want to model? I had gotten my friend, an aspiring photographer, to shoot me on multiple occasions, and it looks like it had payed off.
The next day they shipped me off into the bright sea. I'd never been out that far in my life, and naturally I was slightly petrified, slightly mystified. I would spend forever gazing out into the ocean seeing nothing but the sea, and the sky.
I of course had company; there were many muscular male models waiting for their chance to become famous. Being one of few females there, I got tons of attention. They would happily run lotion into my back, and cater to my every whim.
On my fourteenth day out at sea, I was getting a little bored of the everyday events. I approached the captain of our ship with a lazy gait, and ask him when we should arrive.
"Aye, young lass." I absently wondered to myself why all captains were Scottish, or had the accent. "We should 'ave arrive by now, but our usual route has been bother by the evil creatures of the deep! So, we must take a detour."
I frowned, but went back to my suite. I soon fell asleep, the book I was reading having lost me, and was rudely awoken by one of the burly men shaking my shoulder. It was dark, and the boat seemed unnaturally still.
The man took me out to the deck where everyone stood in their sleepwear, some more likely to snap than others, while the captain called us to attention.
"The boat has run out of gas." He waited until protests from the crowd died down. "We 'ave called a rescue team to come and get us." While he was speaking the boat started to move again. "But for now we must take shelter on this island." He gestured with a hand to something we couldn't see through the darkness. "I ask ye all to gather ye things, and pray we all make it safely."
Fear seeped into my bones; was I going to die? Another, less important thought occurred: was I going to live my dream and become a model? I quickly went to my suite and gathered my belongings. When I returned to the deck, I noticed that I was one of the last ones to return; looks like I had brought everything, while others only grabbed the necessities. No one spoke; it would be taboo if we did.
I felt someone come closer to me, and I looked behind me to see Josh, an overgrowth Mericai. Josh always seemed to be the one most interested in me. It seemed he wanted to spend our final moments together. I leaned against him, and waited for our deaths.
I felt the boat hit something hard, and I tensed up, waiting for water to engulf us. But oddly, the captain spoke again: "We 'ave arrived at land. Please exit the boat, and wait for the rescue ship. It will arrive sooner or later, but ye all are welcome to nap. I will wake ye when it is time to leave."
Everyone filed out, silently, and Josh and I stuck together. We found a comfy spot a little aways from the rest of the crowd, huddled together, and slept.
When I awoke, it was late in the afternoon; the sun was cutting my eyelids. I rose, and stretched, and saw that I was in a different place from when I first fell asleep. I looked around, searching for something familiar; eventually I noticed Josh. I walked over to him. "Where is everyone?" I asked, a little alarmed. He was curled up, his eyes plastered open.
He looked at me, still in the same position, and spoke: "The captain said there would be a storm coming soon. He said everyone would need to go inland. So I picked you up and placed you in the trees. But no one followed me, and I wondered why. So I went up to the captain, and asked him if should wake the others and tell them, and he said, 'No, young lad, I've got it handled.' So I went back to where you were, and slept with you; then it started to rain. I couldn't remember if the others had come inland or not, but I wasn't worried. From where I was sitting I could still see the coast. I saw the captain standing in the waves, without a shirt, and staring at the sky. No one else was out there, so I assumed they had all went somewhere to be safe.
"I approached the captain, and asked him what he was doing. When he turned to face me, it seemed that he had aged a hundred years; his eyes were yellow where they were supposed to be white, and they were rimmed with red. His face was sunken in and pale. He told me to go back to where I was hiding, before I suffered the same fate as the others. I was scared, so I came back without another word.
"When the rain really started coming down, the captain started chanting into the rain and eventually," Josh paused and shuddered as he said the next line. "he was struck by lightning."
I covered my mouth with my hand, tears forming in my eyes. "You saw it?" I croaked.
Josh nodded. "After the storm--it was a short one--I went out to the ocean and saw the bodies of our shipmates. They were dead."
I walked over to Josh and hugged him as he sobbed into my shoulder. I heard something in the distance, and I saw a helicopter a ways away. It was there to rescue us.
I would never forget that overseas trip, and I hope everyone who reads it, experiences it.