Exploration

It’s a hot and humid night in Peru. The streets are empty, and everyone is fast asleep. The
twins, Lewis and Thomas are both laying in their bed dreaming about what the next day has in
store for them. Lewis, a rather timid young boy wakes up startled, he hears shuffling in his room.
He turns around and it’s his mother, she quietly hushes him and tells him to wake his brother up
and get dressed quickly. Still groggy he reluctantly rolls out of bed and gets dressed. As he’s
dressing, he hears his brother turn over and half sleeping he asks what’s going on. Lewis who is
now somewhat awake is also confused why he’s even waking up; he runs downstairs and calls
out to his mom. Who tells him to stay silent and get his brother quickly. The urgency in her voice
starts to worry him. He looks out the window. He can see his dad outside packing the car. He
runs upstairs to tell his brother who he had completely forgotten to answer earlier. Again, he asks
what’s going on, a bit more annoyed this time. He tells him he doesn’t know but senses
something is off. They both run downstairs where their mother directs them straight into the car.
She tells them they must get going quickly there isn’t much time left. Lewis and Thomas both
still very confused hop in. For a while they say nothing staring out into the dark sky. Until
Thomas who is finally fully awake, realizes that he complied way to easy. He’s always a
handful. He turns to his mom and starts asking hundreds of questions. She looks at him, both
Lewis and Thomas now see the tears. She tells them that she’ll explain once they get to the
harbor. They both sit back quietly.

They arrive at the harbor and quicky get out of the car where a strange man greets them
on board of a small boat. They get on and a few seconds later after their dad had taken the bags,
they were off. As they went off their mother started to explain.

They have had a rough time in the last few weeks. Peru had gone into war with Chile, and
there were rumors going around that the enemy started capturing young children. What they had
in mind no one knew but everyone knew it was not good. So, their father and mother were going
to bring them to a small island in the pacific. Their father had visited this island many years ago
and he knew that it would be a safe place. Both their father and mother had to contribute to the
war which is why none of the were able to go with them to the island and help them. They had
packed up the necessities for Lewis and Thomas to survive. The island had plenty of water and
vegetation, they had everything they needed to survive. Both Lewis and Thomas are only eight
years old so their parents knew they couldn’t leave them alone for long. They hoped it would
only be a month, but nothing was for certain. For them to stay home would be a far bigger risk.

As their mother was talking Lewis started to cry, he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to
stay at home with his parents. On the other hand, Thomas was thrilled he always had a careless
mindset. He also didn’t really have the mental capacity to understand the situation which really
benefited him in the moment. Although if there was one something that he was good at, it was
his survival abilities, he always loved the outdoors. His parents knew this, which gave them the
confidence to put them on the island.

They start to approach the island it had been about a five-hour boat ride from mainland.
They get to shore and it’s very beautiful. The island has berries of all kinds, and in the heart of it
is a small freshwater waterfall. The only animals on the island are a few harpy eagles, rabbits,
and dodo birds which hadn’t yet gone extinct on this island. Lewis is still crying and hugging his
mother. Thomas on the other hand is already running around exploring every square inch of the
island. Their father unpacks the packs which have a few items in it. A bow and arrow, a few
knives, flint and steel, and a big tent. More wasn’t necessary the island had plenty of food and
the beaches were great for entertainment. Their parents couldn’t stay long, they said their final
goodbyes and off they went.

They start by setting up the tent. Or at least Thomas did, Lewis was slouched up against a
rock still sniffling to himself. Thomas really didn’t mind though he enjoyed these types of things.
For the first week Thomas did everything from collecting the berries to killing and stuffing the
dodo birds. All Lewis did was eat and sulk. He was scraping every day that went by into a rock.

Weeks go by and nothing happens. They are still stuck on the island and are still waiting
for their parents to come back. Weeks turn into months and still no sign. Thomas has already
long moved on and has given up any hope that their parents are coming back. His brain capacity
is so small he can hardly think past last week. He’s already started to tell Lewis that they have
always been on this island and that they grew up here. Lewis doesn’t buy into it at first and just
shrugs his brothers’ comments off telling him he’s stupid. Thomas however continues to tell him
the same thing day by day. Lewis continues to shrug it off, but he quietly starts to question
himself. Maybe they have always been on this island maybe they really did grow up here.
 The years go by, and little happens, for entertainment on the island Thomas likes to work
out. He does a few hundred pushups, sit ups, and pullups using the trees. He does this every day
and has already put on significant amount of muscle. He was much stronger than Lewis. Lewis
continued questioning himself on whether they grew up here and he had come to a decision. He
had now been fully convinced that they had always been on the island. Thomas’s constant
nagging had got to him, and it was much easier to give in than fight it. He now had a dream. His
dream was to explore, and not just the island but more than that. He wanted to know what’s
beyond the horizon. Both are sixteen at this point, the years had gone by so quickly. Lewis
shared his idea with Thomas. He told him he was crazy not understanding why he would want
anything else, they had everything. Thomas was quite annoyed with his dream. He didn’t want
more, and he stood firm with his decision. Not only that but Thomas also thought it was far too
dangerous to go off on a venture like that, he thought he’d defiantly die.

Lewis started to build prototype rafts in secret. He knew that Thomas would surely break
his work if he ever found out. Lewis started experimenting with different types of wood. He
found out which ones floated best, and which ones were the easiest to combine using vines. After
a few months he was finally confident enough to test his first build. After the sun went down and
Thomas was sleeping, he took the raft out to the beach. He placed it into the water and carefully
took his first step on board. It was difficult to balance on and soon the vines started to loosen.
Eventually the logs parted too far apart, and he fell off. This woke Thomas up who now could
see what Lewis was up to this entire time. He looked at him in disbelief. Lewis could just see his
silhouette but knew he was burning with anger. When Lewis got back to shore all Thomas told
him was if he ever saw him make a raft, he would destroy it. Lewis felt disheartened he didn’t
want to make his brother so upset but he really wanted to know what was out there.

A few more years went by until one day Lewis was looking out into the horizon, and he
could see a thin line. He had never seen anything like it because it was always hazy. He was
certain that it wasn’t water, and he concluded that it must be land. This gave him enough courage
to build another raft. This was good since they started to have trouble finding berries. This
worried Lewis and gave him even more reason to explore. He knew that the berries would run
out soon. Even the dodo population started to decline. Thomas had started to eat so much saying
he needed to keep his physic up and that he was bulking. Once again Lewis got to work building
a raft, this time he learned from his mistakes. He used a different type of knot that held the wood
together much tighter. He also built it much larger giving it a lot more stability in the water. He
knew that this was going to be the one. He took extra precautions making sure that his brother
wouldn’t find out.

The night that he was going to sail off was quiet. He was going to miss his brother, but he
knew that he couldn’t tell him. He was going to come back for him if he survived. He placed the
raft in the water and hopped on. He was about five hundred meters offshore when he saw a
silhouette in the distance jumping up and down. He looked at it and knew he needed to do this.

A couple hours go by and to Lewis’s surprise the raft was holding up well. He could see
the line in the distance get bigger and bigger. Everything was going as planned he estimated that
he would make it to the island in about eight-hours. He decided to take it easy and just rest as he
drifted closer. A few minutes go by, and he could see a small piece of the island moving, it
detached itself from the island and started getting bigger. As time went by, he could eventually
see the silhouette of what looked to be a ship. He excitedly starts to paddle his way towards the
ship and waving his arms in the air. Eventually he gets within about a hundred meters. He yells
out but no one seems to be outside the ship. As he’s yelling and calling out, he realizes that the
ship is coming straight at him and that he needs to move. He frantically starts paddling. The ship
was to close though. It rams him in the side of the raft throwing him off and breaking his raft in
half. He grabs one of the pieces and just holds on. He watches in horror as the ship continues its
way from the island. Lewis’s only hope is to paddle slowly to the island.

The rest of his trip was smooth sailing. Although he was soaked with freezing cold water,
he knew he would make it. He could now see a small boat in the distance start to travel in his
direction. It came closer and he could see that it was the coast guard. They came to Lewis and
picked him out of the water. Lewis knew he had made it he had successfully explored new land.
Which wasn’t new but to him it didn’t matter. He had found refuge and would now be able to
rescue his brother.

The very next day Lewis and the coast guard went to rescue his brother. It only took them
about five-hours to get to the island by boat. As they approached, his brother was already at the
beach waving his hands in the air. They reached the island and to Lewis’s surprise instead of an
angry brother that was going to kill him. Thomas looked at him and apologized immediately.
After thirteen years on the island, they were now free. They also found out that they didn’t grow
up on the island and that their parents had brought them there. Both their parents had died in the
war which is why they had stayed there all these years.