This story is based (loosely) off a dream I had during eighth grade (I'm almost done eleventh now). I found what I had written of it in an old copybook recently. After reading the page and a half, I realized what an incredibly bad and pathetic writer I was. Hopefully this is much better.

THE NORA

Chapter 1

16 May. It was a horrible boating accident. No one could have ever foreseen the microscopic hole in the Nora's main water pipe when we left the dock. By the time we reached our destination several miles from the shoreline, the hole had grown in size and the water burst the pipe. It was situated directly above Nora's furnace, which subsequently exploded. Luckily, we were all on her deck and had enough time to climb into the lifeboats.

But I haven't got to the horrible part yet.

I boarded the raft with my father and the co-owner's daughter Elly. She was my age, 16 at the time, and we had been friends until recently before the accident. She was jealous that Josh, the guy she liked for two years, had asked me out instead of her. She was also jealous that I had scored much higher than her on the SATs. Needless to say, we didn't get along very well and since the start of junior year of high school, she'd been making my life miserable.

The other lifeboat contained only Elly's father and Josh. The five of us were all that were on the Nora that day. The waters of the Pacific are never calm nor predictable. As soon as we boarded the rafts, the water became a bit turbulent, though it was nothing we couldn't handle. But when Nora blew up, the repercussions shook the life rafts nearly to pieces.

We watched in horror as Elly's father was thrown overboard, along with both of his oars. He soon faded out of sight beneath the murky water. Now without oars, Josh's boat drifted away from us, pulled out by the strong tides and torrential winds. My father said something about losing him forever, and that's when Elly jumped.

She leapt from our lifeboat, fighting the current until she reached Josh's raft. When he pulled her out of the water, I knew I had lost them both. Nora sank, and a huge wave swept my father and I far away in the other direction. The shore was in our sight again, but Josh and Elly had vanished.

I spent nearly three months separated from anything and everything, completely cut off from society. During that time, I stayed in an asylum, bound in a straightjacket and locked by myself in a padded room.

After being released, I spent the remainder of my seventeenth year making plans and gathering supplies necessary to go sailing again for the first time after the accident. I had my route planned and had gathered most of my provisions by my eighteenth birthday. On that day, 9 June, I announced my plans to my family.

Of course, all were against my voyage, but they knew in their hearts that I couldn't be held back. My mother began to pray for my safety and within seconds, my father, two brothers, and sister had joined her. When they finished the prayer, I showed my father the course I had plotted and where I expected Josh and Elly to have landed. He helped me revise my course and provisions. Then he gave me the only thing I was missing: a boat. I called her the Luca. He wished me luck. I smiled. I knew I would need it if I were to find my friends.

One week later, I left home, setting off from the same dock the Nora had over two years before. I was to radio back to my father when I reached the Nora's final resting place. Then I had only to follow my chart until I reached any of the countless uncharted islands of the Pacific Ocean. After that, I would find my friends and bring them back..

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I don't know how many reviews this will get, but I'm planning to put up the next chapter after three or four (flames don't count, but are accepted). Please review. I have three goo reasons: 1-it makes me happy and I'm almost never happy, 2-it'll get the next chapter up more quickly, 3-because I asked nicely. So, please review??????