• The storm lasted 5 days. It was only once the seas calmed and the sky grew clear that the damage to the ship was apparent. Wedged between two jutted rocks, the enormous vessel continued to creak and groan, as if it was trying to communicate its agony. From the shore, the first mate could see the once proud and majestic mast strewn on the deck in pieces.
    “I don’t think we’re sailing out on her,” he said to no one in particular. The first mate watched the water slap against the wooden hull a little longer, and then directed his gaze towards the captain. He was sitting in the sand, staring blankly out at the water. "They're all gone," he whispered softly.
    "Yes sir," he replied, as if the captain needed confirmation. "I checked the rubble. We're the only ones that made it out." The first mate tried to say it indifferently, as if an entire crew lost to the seas was nothing. Even so, deep down he felt quite sad. The tempest had been horrible. Right from the start, there was no chance of navigating out of it; the ship had been at the mercy of the hellish winds. However long it had lasted, the first mate had woken up on the beach, and he was the one to find the ruined ship and its crew scattered along the deck.
    Enough.
    He stopped himself from lingering on it. He had done what he could, and now he had to focus on the captain and himself. They needed food and shelter, and eventually they would need to worry about finding rescue, as the first mate wasn't expecting to live on an island. The captain still seemed to be in disbelief, maybe even shock. His eyes had a glazed look as he stared out at the massive tangle of wood and sails. The first mate decided they would deal with that later. Right now it was getting dark. The sky was streaked with dark reds and purples, and suddenly the first mate found the sand beneath him so comforting.
    When the first mate opened his eyes again the sun was high above him. He rolled over, somewhat dazed, and saw the captain sleeping in the same place he had been yesterday. In fact, there was only one object that caught the first mate's eye and had not been there yesterday. How odd, he decided. Yesterday, when the captain and the first mate had dragged themselves onto the beach, dripping wet, the shoreline had been littered with pieces of wood and other flotsam. Today the scenery included one more item.
    It was a rowboat.
    It appeared to be made of wood, as all good rowboats are. It didn't appear as if it washed up, instead it looked as if someone had parked it so perfectly in the sand as the two survivors slept. The word RESCUE, sloppily painted in red, glistened on either side of the small hull.
    "Rescue, indeed!" the first mate cried. He immediately jumped to his feet and ran to the boat. There was even a box of food and supplies in the back. Elated, the first mate ran back and shook the captain awake. He opened his eyes groggily and blinked up at his second in command.
    "Sir, our rescue boat has arrived!" The captain still seemed limp as the first mate hastily pulled him upright, but he stayed up without help. With the first mate's shoulder as a support, the captain made his way over to the rowboat and stepped in. Once the captain was situated, the first mate pushed the rowboat into the water and ran in after it, splashing with every step. He let go of the boat and let the inertia carry it out farther as he jumped in. However, once the first mate was in the boat, it suddenly lurched to a halt.
    "What happened?" The first mate almost screamed it. The small vessel was still floating, but it looked as if even the tide had no effect on the boat. The two survivors sat in the reluctant rowboat for a while longer when the first mate decided to try getting out. He splashed back into the water, and the rowboat began bobbing in the waves. Frustrated by this phenomenon, he jumped in again, with the same results. The first mate finally got out and pushed the boat back onto dry land.
    "Only one can go..." The first mate looked up in surprise. The captain was faintly speaking from his place in the boat. "You saw it, it will only take one passenger." Disappointment showed in the first mate's face. If the rowboat would only make room for one, then only one could return home.
    "Then I'll go," the first mate offered. "I'll get back to port and send rescue for you." The captain shakily stood up in the grounded boat as he heard this.
    "If only one of us can leave," he said, "neither of us should."
    "Sir, you aren't well. If you let me go, I can send for help." The first mate was getting impatient, but the captain remained adamant.
    "We have to stay together."
    "Sir, I... I have a family to return to!" But the first mate had no kin, and they both knew it.
    "I'm your captain. We're staying together. That's an order." The first mate sighed. His captain, even in this condition, couldn't be persuaded. He would have to get the boat by other means.

    Later that night, the first mate lay on the sand with his eyes open. He wanted that rowboat. It was his, after all. He found it. If anyone were to take the rowboat, it would be him. Besides, the first mate thought to himself, I actually have a life back home. I should be the one to get rescued. In fact, he could even take the boat now, and the old captain wouldn't even know it. With that thought, he slowly lifted himself out of the sand and onto his feet. It was dark. The only illumination came from the yellow moon poking out from behind the clouds. If the first mate left, the captain would starve and die on the island. I was the only survivor, the first mate told himself. The rowboat was ten feet away. It sat sparkling in a circle of light made by the moon, a spotlight. The first mate turned to the captain one more time. He was still sleeping, and his back was turned to the events at hand. The first mate smiled apologetically and began his silent journey towards the rowboat. As he reached the smooth wooden structure there was a rustling sound behind him. The first mate panicked, and frantically started to push the boat into the water. The first mate jumped in and turned around just in time to see the captain running at the boat with all his might. The first mate began rowing as hard as he could and the captain splashed in after him, not three feet behind the boat. Without thinking, the first mate swung his oar and heard the crack as it connected with the captain's skull. The captain fell sideways and disappeared under the waves. By the time he surfaced, holding his bloody head, the first mate was out of reach. He yelled and kicked the water, but the first mate was already rapidly shrinking. In the rowboat, the first mate stared somberly back at the island.
    "I'm sorry sir." With that, the captain disappeared from view. The first mate turned around to face the vast sea in front of him and began rowing.

    The captain spent the next few days in his spot in the sand, neither sleeping nor eating. He didn't need to; his fate was sealed. The first mate had betrayed him, and now he was to die alone on the island. The captain had stayed this way for many days, when he saw an object over the horizon line. He continued to watch it through the afternoon, and very soon the small speck had turned into a very large ship headed straight for the island. The captain was filled with joy: his first mate had sent for help after all! Soon enough, the ship stopped and a much smaller boat could be seen coming towards the beach and its one lonely inhabitant. By the time the sun was beginning to set once more, the envoy had arrived at the shore. It contained two men and a large amount of papers, brushes and other tools. It was only when these two men stood up that they noticed the captain grinning at them. He had grown quite skinny, and his grin was that of a skeleton's.
    "You've been sent to rescue me?" Taken aback, the two men looked at each other.
    "We've been sent to create a map of this island. We're explorers. Who might you be?" The captain stopped grinning. The first mate hadn't sent rescue.
    "Well, come on then," one of the explorers said, "we'll take you back to our ship."
    And this is how the captain was rescued. Once he made it back to port, he went about looking for the first mate. However, no one had seen a rowboat enter the bay. The captain searched for days on end but the first mate was never found.