With a sudden jolt, I blinked opened my eyes before quickly closing them again due to the harshness of the bright sun. I peered out from under my eyelashes before deciding to try again. As I slowly reopened them, I realized that I had absolutely no idea where I was. Shading my eyes with my hands, I looked around at my surroundings. I was lying in the hot sand on what appeared to be a small, deserted island. The flat land was covered in glittering sand that led to what must be the ocean. The island was completely bare. There were no trees, shelter, food, animals, or other people that i could see and i could see the entire island. Wherever I was at, i knew that i had never been here before.
Although my instincts were telling me to go into a full-fledged panic, I told myself that I needed to stay calm and do some deep breathing. Even though I had no clue how I had even got here, I had to figure out where I was and how to get help. With trepidation, I stood up and looked around. Looking out over the water, I could see what appeared to be another piece of land several a couple miles away, but I could not tell if there was anything on it. As I considered my options, I determined that I only had one choice if I wanted to live. There was no way that I could stay here. I had to swim to the other island in the hopes that I would find help, or at least food and shelter, there.
Even though I was not the best swimmer and I was a little afraid of the water, I knew this was something I had to do. As I entered the bright blue water I told myself over and over again that I could do this. I swam through the choppy waters for most of the day, often stopping to tread water because I was too tired to go further. After resting a few minutes, I would make myself start again. After all, if I did not get moving, I likely would not make it out of the water alive.
When I finally made it to the new island, I noticed that the sky was starting to get darker. I was cold, wet, and hungry. My mind went into overdrive as it finally dawned on me that I had no clue what I was going to do. Panic started to set in as I looked around at my new surroundings. This island was slightly larger than the one I just left with a patch of tall grass on the east end of the island and 2 medium sized trees directly in the middle. Other than that, there was only sand for as far as I could see.
After resting for a few minutes, I got up to explore every nook and cranny of the land. I knew that I had to figure out something that could be used for shelter, but I did not even have any tools to make anything with. On top of everything else, I was well past the point of hungry. I headed over to the trees with the hope that I could use them for something. The sun was dangerously close to completely setting. With no moon in sight, I would be left in the dark in the middle of nowhere.
All of the sudden I heard a strange noise. It was almost musical, yet also had a slight rattle to it. As the sound got closer, I ducked behind one of the trees. I slowly peeked around the base of the tree and that is when I saw it. Was that really a skeleton or was I seeing things? It was a skeleton and it appeared to be carrying a bow and arrow. Now, I realized that I was not alone on the island, yet he did not look like he had any plan to share the island with me.
All of the sudden he stopped right in his tracks, as if he had heard a noise. The only thing he could have possibly heard was my heart beating frantically. That is when he turned and looked directly at me. For at least a full minute, we both just stood there staring at each other. Then, he started to move in my direction. I had no tools, no weapons, absolutely nothing to defend myself with.
In less than a second, I had to decide what to do. I could run, but there was no place to hide or I could attempt to climb the tree and hope the skeleton would not be able to follow me up into the limbs. Even though I had no idea what I would do when I was up in top of the tree, this seemed like my best option. I scurried up the tree as the skeleton continued to move slowly toward my location. It felt as if time were standing still as I waited to see what his next move would be.
I heard the skeleton stop at the base of the tree and I am pretty sure he looked up. I was attempting to hide in a cluster of branches located halfway up the tree. By now, the sky was pitch black and I could not see anything the skeleton was doing below. I just hoped that he was not able to see me or anything i was doing either. Would he waste the few arrows he had on him if he did not have a clean shot at me or would he choose to take his chances and fire anyway?
In just a few seconds I had my answer to that question as an arrow whizzed past the left side of my face, missing me by less than an inch. I had no idea what to do! Should I stay here and hope he kept missing me until he finally ran out of arrows or should I try to swing myself over to the other tree? Before I could make my decision, it was all over. His aim was dead on as the arrow made contact with me and knocked me out of the tree. Just like that my first day in Minecraft was over.