In Natures Noose Published Piece

Nathan.H.Chackerian                                                                          January 16,2011

Independent Writing                                                                                                ELA

In Natures Noose Published Piece

            The boat rocked up and down as it churned through the waves. I pulled a black sock on my right foot and reached for my brown loafers. They slid along on the wooden floor as the boat turned sharply. I checked my watch and found that it was 8:20. I was almost late for the first dinner of my honeymoon. I hastily threw the covers back on my bed, which had fallen from the large turn of the boat. I opened the door and stepped out on the slippery looking metal ground. I ducked under my coat and began running as the rain started poring down from the sky more and more. There was a room lit up a few doors away 333 were the numbers imprinted on it on the door. I tore the note that had become soggy from my pocket. I was right, sure enough as the note read come to 333 at 8:00. Waves, mostly small ones were now, as it appeared jumping through the water and slapping the sides of the boat with a splash. I started running in fear of my expensive jacket getting wet and tripped and slipped along the deck. My keys and wallet spilled from my wallet and luckily hit the railing. My family picture portraying my new wife and my dad and my now deceased mom was picked up in the wind and a wave shot up. I grabbed my wallet and keys and shoved them deep into my pocket. I felt so stupid having my pants and nice white button down shirt damp on one side. I could’ve saved the picture if I had though faster I thought to myself. As I walked in shame I realized that the lost picture had been the last photo with my mom before she had past away.

I gradually tried to forgive myself as I slowly stepped into room 333. Everyone aboard was already drinking alcohol and talking very loudly. When I came to the center of the room everyone stopped their small talk and stared at me, a half wet strange site waiting for something to happen.

“There you are” my wife beamed as she walked over to me “your clothes are so wet, what happened to you?” she said frisking her hair back.

“Oh just the rain” I replied trying to hide the story of the picture with her. I made my decision and decided to tell her over the cruise. Something sparked in my brain and my lips suddenly begged for a drink.

“I’m getting something to drink,” I said as I focused in on the table and made my way towards it. When I reached the table I picked up a bottle of champagne and started poring it into the glass sitting on a bench beside me. My hands suddenly slipped and the bottle fell to the ground. Shards of it became airborne and flew throughout the room in all directions. The wine spilled staining the carpet a bloody red. Once again everyone was looking at me. My wife was there again to save me.

“He’s probably sea sick” she exclaimed to the staring crowd of people as she made her way into the corner with me. “What’s wrong?” she asked. I stumbled for an answer but couldn’t find one.

“I really don’t know” I replied as I sneezed into my shoulder.

“That wine that you spilled”

“Yeah” I replied

“That was a gift from the Laurence’s”

“I’m sorry” I replied while wondering why I was apologizing about a gift for her and me. 

“I’m not exactly having a great first night,” I said scratching my hair. “I don’t really love this room, I think we should stay in 334 next time” I exclaimed. Trying to think of something to say.

“Well this is 334 you know?” she replied,  “Maybe you should get some rest” she sneered to me. That moment I started feeling light headed. I wondered if I was going crazy when I looked forward into the window and saw the picture I had lost floating, as it appeared and cast up by the wind. I suddenly was struck with incredible tiredness. I could feel my body getting heavier on the boat and my legs twitching like they couldn’t support my weight.

“Honey what’s going on with you,” my wife said in the background.  My mind started to blur and my eyelids were forcing themselves closed.

“I’m fine” I managed to whimper back as I made my way to the door.

Every step felt like I was going through water. My muscles were all falling asleep and my ears were swallowed up by the noise of loud laughter and talking. I could almost feel all the water boiling out of my body and evaporating around me. Regardless I pushed on out the door. My eyes were blurring. One second they could see the dark blue water set-aside by the grayish looking fence and now they could only make out a few stray lights above me. The rest was a blur with mixed colors that seemed to unfortunately blend together.  The lights gradually guided me in the right direction. I was crawling by now and my leg muscles had completely given up on me. I was using my arms to pull myself forward while holding on to the edge rail. Such a silly sight I must have been for anyone that had seen me. A baby crawling was believable but a grown man crawling? What was that? I continued to barrel forward. Eventually I came to what looked like my cabin. I pulled myself through the doorway and managed to reach onto the bedpost. I pulled up on it and banged my fore head. My arms dropped and massaged my head. It was first a sharp piercing pain and then it seemed to dissolve into my head. It felt very numb and then it was gone. I touched my fore head and couldn’t feel a single thing. I tried it again and there wasn’t any feeling. I climbed into the bed and fell asleep seconds later.

A sharp loud noise erupted into my eardrums.  I lept up and as my eyes began to adjust I searched for my alarm clock. I realized after trying twice that I was no longer able to sleep and decided to get up. I felt my fore head and found that I actually could feel it again. I felt very refreshed and a lot better than yesterday. I walked outside as my eyes met a beautiful purple sunrise coming over the side of the boat. I squinted as the sunlight gleamed in my eyes and reached for my sunglasses in my bag. I looked all the way down the deck on both ways and found that I was staring at a bare deck with no one anywhere to be seen.

The sun kept on coming over the water level. Then the waves would gradually gain force and cover the light of the sun. The light began to come down on the boat and eventually found it’s way on to my sunglasses where it reflected back into the water. I caught a glimpse of a paper in the water and looked over the edge. It was underwater in the next second and then back on top of the water, slowly floating away. It looked like the photo and as I peered at it more I was more and more sure it was. I couldn’t believe it was still there intact and all and just sitting there next to the boat. We had traveled miles already since yesterday and here the picture was inches away. This was my chance to grab it and everything would be normal. The gods must be shining on me I thought. I reached for the fence and swung over it headfirst shooting in to the water.

 My body was instantly met with chilling cold. My eyes were flushed with water as I slowly floated back up to the surface and the constant blinking began. I started shivering like crazy and not just my jaw but my whole body shook and the muscles began to contract quickly. Out the corner of my eye I saw the picture floating away and just as I reached for it a small wave incased me into it and sucked the air out of me. As I choked salt water and coughed another wave came over me. I dived down hoping to get away from it but the wave just pulled me up and then hit me again. The picture I saw came floating near me and I grabbed it quickly with my frosty hand and shoved it into my pocket, which was no protection towards the water. I had done it and now all I had to do was get back to the boat. A fog was starting form, which was just such excellent time. I found that I could see the tips of my fingers and nothing farther. Not the boat. My nerves where pleading for mercy and my brains started churning out plan after plan to get me out of this situation. There I was barely floating in under freezing water and I realized that all this wasn’t worth it. This was the wrong time to find this out. I would make it out alive I repeated to myself. This did nothing to boost my morale, as I knew this wouldn’t come true. I started praying and asking god to keep me alive on this planet even though I was a proud atheist. I held tight to the picture as a wave came crashing over my left shoulder and shoved me down into the water. The water started to move quickly and before I could swim away or try to I was pulled abruptly downward. The waves continued to unnaturally keep up this process until I felt like my lungs were on the edge of bursting completely. I had been a medalist at my high school swimming team and these waters were yet drowning me like I was a 50-pound barbell.

I was exhausted completely when the waves began to calm and the fog cleared. Just keeping up the task of staying over the water had drained all my energy. The water started heating up and I took a quick glimpse to find that I was staring at the boat. I was to perplexed, happy and beat up at the same time so I just lay on the water staring at the boat. My energy was boosted when I saw what looked like my wife come on to the deck.

“Isn’t it a wonderful day” she exclaimed to the captain that looked as if he was currently on his break.

“Andrea it’s me helllllllll-” The water at that point interrupted me in the middle of my sentence and sucked me downward. In a split second the hands holding my picture began to be pulled down and the rest of my body followed. I was diving deep down headfirst into the water and my mouth started swallowing more sea water the picture seemed to hold 1000 pounds on it and felt like it was pulling me down. I hit the bottom and my mind shut off.

            I woke up facedown. My mouth was filling to the brim with dry salty sand. I got up on my two feet and started spitting repetitively. Where was I? This was the first question I had. I glanced up at the blue sky lined with grey clouds. I peered down at the beach I was on and watched it extend forward and then curve to the left. I began to cough and stagger as a burning sensation swept through my throat. Finally I coughed again and a few drops of salt water relieved themselves onto the sand beneath me. I turned this time to look at the scenery of the island. It was scattered with green leaves. It was the greenest, brightest color that you could imagine, almost painful to your eyes. There was also an abundance of animals, some of them squirrels and some birds. They were playing around on the many vines that made up the forest. The vines curled all around, hanging from trees looping up and down. They snaked around every crevice. There was also a great amount of ivy, that seemed to blanket every tree, every rock and fallen branch. It all seemed so beautiful and yet I started to get butterflies in my stomach and not the good type. I suddenly felt a pulling urge that I needed to get away. Something about all the “beautiful” colors was driving me crazy with fear. It couldn’t possibly be this beautiful I thought to myself. Some of this beauty had to be artificial. I was shaking by the time I reached the water.  I ran through the small waves and started to swim away. About 4 minutes of swimming later I found that there wasn’t any way that I was going to find any other land. I swam back to shore and realized that there was no backing down from the island. I started to worry about my shelter for the night as I looked up into the sky and found that the sun was gradually lowering over the horizon and appeared like it would set in a couple hours.

I decided to search the island for any sort of shelter already available. I made my way forward on the beach and continued walking forward for some time. I found and saw nothing over this period. I continued walking until I thought I was lost. Then I realized that I was already lost from before which mad me feel a little better. I soldiered on through the beach for some time until I recognized a rock that I had seen when I found my self on the island. The feeling of loneliness had slowly sunken over me and I started feeling like I would never see another living soul again. My wife was bound to remarry eventually and my friend’s memory of me would slowly fade away into nothing. The hardest part of this for me was that it was my fault. It was my decision to jump into the freezing water for a small stupid picture. Then I realized then that there might even be some other human on this island.  If there was I needed to know I thought to myself.

“Hello is there anyone here?,” I yelled into the moon that had burrowed its way to the top of the sky. It stood there in silence mocking me.

“HELLO” I yelled louder screaming at the top of my lungs

“Answer me, ANSWER ME,” I shrieked as I picked up a rock and flung it at a tree in anger. A slab of wood on it chipped and fell to the ground.
“Answer Me,” I repeated lower and lower until my voice couldn’t take it anymore. I started to look into the trees again until something caught my eye. It looked as if it was a cave and my heart rose to see this. Without checking the whole cave I simply climbed into the rocky underpass and lay down right at the entrance where it was lit by the moonlight, the rest of it was dark and gloomy. As I closed my eyes I remember hearing a continuous dripping side from the back of the cave. I remember waking up in the night to see a rat scamper across the floor and pass by me. I was unable to go to sleep in the beginning. I turned around constantly and fought the urge not to yell out in fright. I kept a stone in the grips of my hands just in case. Eventually I settled in and passed out in fatigue.

            I woke up refreshed and energized. The sunlight was coming down on the trees and smothering them with brightness. I made up my mind to check the island again. This time I was smart and scavenged some red berries to drop every few feet of my journey. I walked on for a while and was started to realize that I had wasted time, crucial time. A white column extending up into the sky interrupted this thought. I was walking one second and the running the next second. Trees passed me on either side as I sped through the island. I came to what was a medium sized house that was whitewashed everywhere on it other than in one place. In that place was a bright yellow sun that appeared as if it was smiling. The Sunshine Inn was the name that was placed over the door in blinding bright yellow letters. Half of me was incredibly happy to find this and yet the other half didn’t know what to think of it. I had searched the island critically and carefully yesterday and hadn’t even caught a glimpse of this building. Something had to be wrong I stepped closer to the building cautiously and reached for the door.

“Hello” I yelled through the door while knocking on it.

“Anyone there, ANYONE” I yelled. There were some footsteps from inside the room and a short man greeted me. 

“Oh my god” he yelled as he jumped back, “so there really is someone else here”.

“Hello there” I said looking up at the man. Inside of me I was very happy to see another human but at the same time cautious.

“Hello” he spoke back. “You should come inside you look tired” he said to me as he entered through the door.  I decided to come with him and stepped into the house. Inside was a large staircase that snaked up to the top of the house and a large painting of a strange looking lady mounted on the wall opposite the door. It looked very Victorian and old fashioned I thought to myself as he led me to sit down on a red chair. He sat down next to me and began telling me a tragic story of how he used to live in peace and harmony on this island with his wife. That kept up till his wife had gone out one morning to forage for berries and never came back. He decided to boil water for tea and was in the other room before I could ask him any questions. I looked through the window for a second and caught a glimpse of him outside. He was running away from the house the fastest he could. He seemed to have his eyes perplexed on something in the trees. I flung open the door and yelled through it.

“Where are you going so quickly sir?” he didn’t answer as he passed over and down a sharp hill. Once again I was surrounded with silence. I ran to the kitchen were he had left and searched for any evidence of why he had so abruptly left. I opened all the doors and threw the contents of them to the floor. There was a pot and a recipe book and then a rectangular piece of paper. I turned the piece of paper over and stared at it. A bloody mess was sitting on the paper and I dropped it in horror. The stench was terrible and I found a sponge and wiped it off from the paper. When the blood was gone I found that it wasn’t just a picture. It was the picture I had jumped off the boat for, the picture that had been consumed by the sea. There was a bone chilling change to this picture. I pressed the picture closer to my eyes to find that the meat and flesh on the faces portrayed were gone and replaced with thick bone and blood. My heart was racing as I jumped to my feet and started running away just like the small man. I think I followed his path down the hill but I’m not sure. What I was sure of was that I wasn’t stopping. I heard a large moaning in front of me. It was gradual at first and then it grew and grew until I couldn’t hear anything else. My stomach started feeling uneasy from the noise. I stopped to catch my breath and the noise stopped and there was total silence again. I decided to go back even though I was guessing that in the end I would regret it. I stepped forward 1 step after another until I saw an amazing beautiful sight. It was a large cluster of ivy with the greenest leaves. There was even a ladybug wandering around on it. I saw something in it and pulled a couple of buds of. It was very pale and white in color. I ripped off lots of other pieces of ivy only to expose the dead body of the short man. He was the palest color and as pulled my hand back I found that the ivy had made itself a noose and rung it around the man’s neck. The ivy had killed him. What was I saying?

I hollered out loud at seeing all this and felt as if my heart was on the edge of stopping. The next thing I knew, ivy was wrapping around my legs and thighs. I ripped through it with all the force and strength I had. I was only met with another layer of ivy wrapping around me again. This time I was unable to escape it’s grasp. I was screaming the last energy I had out of me.  Nothing would get in the way of this evil nature this time. My legs were completely trapped by now and sweat was dripping down my fore head. If ought hard but it was useless and the ivy had soon completely covered my whole torso. The ivy began to wrap itself around my mouth now which silenced my screaming .The power in my arms were now gone and the ivy continued to come to my face. All the pressure it was putting was numbing my body. It was squeezing me to nothing and all the chances of my actual survival on this island were gone. I saw a noose begin to form as the ivy wrapped around itself to form a strong rope. I shook with the last of the power I still had. This did nothing to help me. The noose came down around my neck as I desperately tried to get out. It began to press on my throat tighter and tighter until there wasn’t any air left. It didn’t stop there and continued to wrap itself around my forehead until there was no evidence that I had been there. Only a good-looking mess of green ivy beside a tree. I was choking and gasped desperately for air with no affect. My breathing got drastically slower and I was taking a breath per 10 seconds at most. I could feel my heartbeat slowing and slowing until I could feel my brain stop. There was a split second where I just stared forward through the ivy in peace. I saw a rabbit just staring there with no emotion, just plainness. It might have even looked a little happy. At that point my heart stopped pumping and I was thrown into a deep sleep.

The End