Return to Matainui - Day 1

The engines started to grumble, the Grumman Albatross started to move, and my class had just started our journey to Matainui island. The hefty sea plane began circling around in the water. "this is your pilot speaking, secure your belongings and buckle your seatbelts, we are now departing for Matainui island" The voice that just rang over the plane's speaker phone sounded familiar. And young. I paused and pondered, then turned to Asser in the seat next to me. "Why is Sam our pilot? He's only 11!" I blurted.

"I know aye. this boat with wings won't even make it out of the water with him behind the wheel." Asser didn't sound too worried, and I don't even think he had realised that the Grumman Albatross had just gone airborne. We were flying at least, so Sam must have been trained somewhere by someone.

After about 20 minutesI pressed my head against the window next to me, and could make out the shore of the island. Then I turned my head right, and saw some grey storm clouds beginning to gather. The weather forecast didn't say anything about any storm clouds. In fact I recalled the forecast predicting a clear blue sky all day. As the time passed, the clouds got thicker and thicker, darker and darker. Before long the plane was completely engulfed in dark clouds. Suddenly, something strange happened. It was as if the gravity had bee turned off. Weight didn't exist any more. Some people in front of me and Asser took of their seatbelts and tried flying in the weightlessness. BANG! the loud sound of thunder reached our ears, followed by strikes of lightning. Rain started pounding down on the plane. The weather doesn't just change like that. It can't. I felt something weird happen to my body, and realised the gravity had switched itself back on. Marek had been thrown to the isle floor after his so called flight, and he got snagged on someone else's chair. The loud bangs continued, as did the forked flashes. Our trip had already turned into a disaster, and I was beginning to worry. There was another really loud bang. I looked out my window, and saw that the wing was on fire. One of the turbines exploded, deafening me and everyone around me. A small fraction of the wing blew off in the explosion, then it started to tear only a few feet from the plane body. A loud boom, and the wing was gone. the plane engines started to whine. This just emulated my panic. The plane swiftly began a dive on a 45 degree angle. The speed of the switch from regular flight to dive threw me against the roof of the cabin. I fell to the isle floor, rubbing my back to ease the pain. My ears tuned in to the screaming of all my classmates. I tried to stand up but stumbled backwards and began sliding down the isle. Asser tried to halt me by grabbing my foot. Gravity was against us and Asser fell out of his chair as he leaned to his left. Everything had happened so suddenly, it felt unrealistic. The plane's hatch was ripped off its hinges, and I was sliding staight for it. Before I knew it I was free falling, pointlessly yelling for help only to quickly find myself with a mouthful of water. I broke to the surface, and air appeared scarce to intake. There was nothing but strong water currents and dark skies to accompany me. I couldn't see a thing. There was no land insight, and I let the current carry me.

Half an hour after floating in the ocean's current, I saw signs of other life. Potentially dangerous life. Three, black dorsal fins, only 10 metres from my where abouts. Taking no risks I froze, and tilted my head to a beautiful sight. Land. Sweet land. A small sandy beach to be precise. The current was no longer with me, so I slowly directed my body towards land, avoiding the three fins. My feet were in the wet sand in the shallow sea, and I walked towards the shore. I collapsed myself on the beach, gasping for breath. After a few minutes, I yelled out. "Is anybody here!? Hello? its me! Jordan!" I lifted my head, and saw the beached turned straight to bush. And in that bush, there was something, 8 feet tall, moving about. I froze again, and kept my distance from the thick bush. I started to back away, and felt something against the back of my foot. Before I knew it I was on my back. I thought I had tripped over something, then lifted my head and saw two backpacks. Joy started to flow through my blood, I had never been so happy to see a backpack before. Examining the rather stuffed bags, I found out they belonged to Asser and Marek. Instantly my thoughts flashed back to when Asser had tried to save me but himself ended up on the verge of death. "Hello! Who are you!" I quickly turned around and saw Marek and Asser swimming towards shore. "Your alive!"I cried

"So are you" The sound of another human voice never sounded sweeter. You never really appreciate something until you don't have it anymore.

"Look! I found your backpacks" I Informed Asser and Marek.

"Sweet as, we could build some shelter" came the reply.

"Whos there!?" another new voice approached our ears.
"Ben! come join the party" said Marek as he ran towards shore in his dripping wet clothes to help him to his feet.

"Where is everyone else?" Ben gasped, shocked.

" No idea. It's just us four for now" I said in a tone that I hope would imply I was in control.

"Well then, what do we now?"

"I have a tent in my backpack, we should set it up and use it as shelter" Asser interrupted.

"great, but we can't do it in that bush because there's probably no clearance on the ground, and plus I saw something about 8 feet tall moving through there. I think it could be Moa, but I'm not entirely sure." Me and Asser began discussing ideas about setting up the tent.

" Why don't we set the tent up on the beach?"

" The pegs won't stay in the sand, its too fine." I replied.

" What if we hold them in the sand with something heavy?"

" Good thinking, Me Marek and Ben will go and find some heavy rocks or logs." Asser started to set up the tent while the rest of us gathered heavy stuff to hold down the pegs. After our temporary home was built, eating popped into our heads. Asser and Marek grabbed their lunch boxes and rationed their food with me and Ben.

"We'll stay here for the night, then tomorrow we'll have to find some food. After we've eaten we'll pack up the tent and look for the others" I stated.

I was looking out to sea and saw A huge, dark cloud. It looked as if it was encircling the entire of Matainui island. It was about a kilometre out. Then the clouds got closer. And closer. They kept advancing towards land until they were only 100 odd metres from the shore. Mysterious, I thought. A lot of mysterious things have happened so far. Weightlessness, sudden weather changes... how mysterious.

After the blackness of the night had taken over the sky, we hopped in the tent, and whipped out some survival blankets from Asser's backpack.