George's phone kept buzzing while he was receiving some hunting lecture from his grandfather.
He visits the old man during holidays and George planned on staying longer this time since he just graduated from college.
Grandpa noticed he wasn't concentrating so he suggested that they called it day. George wasn't cool with the short lecture but he was curious to see who was disturbing him with so many messages.
He quickly unplugged his phone to check through.
"Over a thousand messages", George exclaimed as he sank into the sofa on the balcony.
He opened the chat and saw that the messages were from his classmate's chat group.
"What is it again this time?", He began to scroll to the beginning of the chat but more kept coming in and it made the scrolling very slow.
George gave up on scrolling and put a call across to Nancy who gave him a brief of what the chat was about.
He didn't think twice before sending the message " I am in" to the group chat to signify that he would be part of the plan.
At dinner, George asked if Grandpa had ever been on a boat cruise.
The old man laughed at George's questions before giving him a response.
"Did your parents ever told I was a fisherman for many years?
George shook his head as he said no and Grandpa continued.
"I spent quite some time on the ocean but not for fun. It was strictly for work and it was the best time of my life because I met your grandma during that time"
They both laughed at the joke grandpa made after, it was really a beautiful experience.
"Boy, why you do ask about the boat cruise?", Grandpa asked him.
"My friends from college want us to spend some time together and the millionaire son among us said we can use one of his idle boats ", George replied.
The discussion went on for a few minutes before dinner was over.
The weekend came quickly and Grandpa borrowed George his Jeep so he could easily drive through the woods to join his friends at the harbor.
He called grandpa to tell him he arrived at the harbor safely when the old man told him to take the flare gun in the Jeep safe. George tried to turn down the idea but grandpa insisted.
He kept it in his bag and he joined his friends who were already on the boat. They left the harbor when everyone arrived and it was a dream come true for many of them.
The plan was to take the boat a bit away from the harbor and have fun till evening.
The boat was still moving when Ella shared some snacks. She took some to the Helmsman who really appreciated her kindness.
He ate them and even requested more because they tasted great. Ella promised to share her recipe when they arrive back at the harbor later that day.
The fun was massive and George noticed that they were gradually losing sight of the harbor.
It took him some time to locate Derek the millionaire son who owns the boat.
"Hey Derek, we lost sight of the harbor already. I thought the plan was to move away a bit, it seems we are going too far", George shared his observation and Derek patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, the Helmsman is one of my dad's best and he will definitely take us back safely", Derek replied.
The ship kept moving all through and their phones started losing reception. Derek only assured everyone that the Helmsman was in control so they do not need to worry.
Soon, they were far away on the ocean and Derek started suspecting that something wasn't right.
Derek went to the wheelhouse and found the pilot on the floor.
He was scared and quickly rushed to him. "Is he drunk? Why is he on the floor?", He went on asking himself questions as he tried waking him up.
He quickly called for help when all his efforts to wake him up didn't work out. Everyone began to panic on the boat and not being able to use their cell phones made things worse.
The Helmsman was laid on a bed because he was breathing well but his body wasn't responding to anything.
Derek stared at the boat wheels for a few minutes and said to himself, "we have to return to the harbor immediately"
He grabbed the wheels and made a turn opposite the direction they were going. He increased the boat speed as well since he has seen how it's been done several times.
The boat sped for over an hour and it looked like they were only traveling deeper into the ocean.
They were contemplating what to do next when the boat engine made some sound and went off.
Their fear worsened as darkness gradually fell on the ocean and soon they couldn't see anything in front or behind them.
The guys tried checking the engines and after several efforts, they discovered they ran out of fuel. The boat radio didn't have any backup power so it was useless.
George became worried, they had to use their phone flashlight throughout the night with the hope of finding another boat to help them back but none showed up.
The sun came up the next day and they were relieved to some extent because their phone's batteries were down as well.
"There should be search parties looking for us by now"Ella said with teary eyes.
Derek assured them that everything will be fine even though he was scared as well.
They waited for a miracle but none happened. Night fell again and they searched the boat for lights but none was found because there was no special provision made for the boat since it wasn't meant to travel far away from the harbor.
They survived the night by holding each other as they sat in a circle.
The moon did them a bit of a favor by staying up through the night.
On the third day, the Helmsman regained consciousness. They were happy he would know how to get them back to shore but he couldn't be of help, he claimed the boat wasn't meant to travel far so they made less preparation.
While they were staring at the ocean, a big fish did some acrobatic display far away from the boat and George remembered some of his grandpa's jokes.
He remembered the flare gun and rushed to get it. They were excited about the new development but the Helmsman advised it wouldn't make sense to use it in the afternoon.
They all wished the night would fall immediately but it didn't and they had to wait. George shot the flare gun immediately the sun was down and the light went very high into the sky. They waited patiently for a miracle to happen but nothing came up.
Everyone except George locked themselves in a room because it was getting cold.
He stood on the boat deck looking at the sky when he heard the sound of a helicopter. George quickly called out to everyone and they rush outside to see.
The Helmsman reached for a fishing rod on the boat and tied his cloth to it. He brought out a lighter, set the cloth on fire, and started waving it.
The helicopter pilot noticed it and fly to where there were. Some of them were taken away in the helicopter while a rescue ship came for the rest of them.
It was later discovered that the Helmsman was allergic to Shrimp. He unknowingly ate them from Ella's snacks and it caused him anaphylaxis.
They were happy they returned to their family and George thanked his grandpa for insisting that he took the flare gun.