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What If You And Your Crush Were Alone On A Desert Island? — Transcript

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0:00Have you ever wondered what would happen
0:01if you and your crush were alone on a
0:03desert island? No phones, no parents,
0:07just the two of you, one cracked kayak,
0:09one emergency flare, and a 4 m crocodile
0:12who thinks the island belongs to him.
0:156 in the morning. The kayak hits a rock
0:18and cracks along the bottom with a noise
0:20like a phone screen.
0:21In front of you, there's a small green
0:23island, a white beach, a hill covered in
0:26trees,
0:28no houses, no boats, no people.
0:31Sitting in the front of the kayak is
0:33Ruby Cole.
0:34Last night at the resort, she asked if
0:36you wanted to go kayaking.
0:38Then the wind came off the land and
0:40pushed you out to sea, past the buoys,
0:43past the last fishing boat, all night.
0:46At some point in the dark, she grabbed
0:48the sleeve of your hoodie and held on.
0:50Neither of you has mentioned it.
0:52Your moms are best friends, so you've
0:54been on holiday together every summer
0:56since you were five. When you were six,
0:58she pushed you into a pool. Then, in
1:01year seven, she stopped talking to you.
1:044 years of nothing. And for two of those
1:07years, you've had a massive crush on
1:09her.
1:10Now, she's the only other person on the
1:12island.
1:13You drag the kayak up the sand and Ruby
1:15makes a list. Ruby makes lists when
1:18she's scared, so you'll be seeing a lot
1:20of lists.
1:21One kayak, cracked with do not go beyond
1:24the buoys printed on the side, one
1:27paddle, your hoodie, Ruby's sunglasses,
1:30Ruby's phone, no signal, 31%, and the
1:33emergency bag behind your seat, a
1:36whistle, a foil blanket, a tiny first
1:39aid kit, one bottle of water, one cereal
1:42bar, and one red emergency flare.
1:45One.
1:46On the side, in small letters, use only
1:49when rescuers can see you.
1:51So that's the first rule, one flare,
1:54only when someone can see it.
1:56One island, two people, one flare, and
1:59nobody Earth knows where you are.
2:02Here's what you don't know yet. In 39
2:05days, Ruby will have to get into the
2:07open sea with sharks underneath her.
2:10Ruby Cole is the fastest swimmer in her
2:12county, and she is terrified of fish.
2:16On day two, you hear an engine, a small
2:19white plane low, far out over the sea.
2:22A search plane. They're looking for you.
2:25You both run into the water screaming,
2:27waving, jumping like idiots. The plane
2:30is going the other way.
2:32Ruby grabs the flare. Fire it! It's
2:35tiny. It's miles away, flying away from
2:38you, looking at the water on the other
2:39side. It can't see us. Fire it! If we
2:43fire it now, we've got nothing left.
2:46The plane becomes a dot, then a sound,
2:49then nothing.
2:50Ruby puts the flare back in the bag and
2:52zips it up. Even the zip sounds angry.
2:56She doesn't speak to you for the rest of
2:57the day.
2:59I'll be honest, I would have fired it.
3:02On day three, the water's gone. Your
3:04lips crack. Ruby's head hurts, and you
3:07can't drink the sea. Salt water only
3:10makes you thirstier.
3:11Three days without water, and your body
3:14starts shutting down.
3:15But the island is full of coconuts. The
3:18green ones right at the top are full of
3:20water.
3:21You've watched 300 hours of survival
3:24videos. You have never been camping.
3:27Climbing a palm tree takes you 40
3:29minutes and most of the skin on your
3:31knees.
3:32When you finally throw the first coconut
3:34down, Ruby claps slowly
3:37three times.
3:39The water inside is sweet and cold. It's
3:43the best thing you've ever drunk. So you
3:45have another one.
3:47Ruby has seven. You have nine.
3:50On day four, you learn the other thing
3:52about coconut water. Too much of it goes
3:55straight through you.
3:56There's one toilet on the island. It's
3:58called Behind the Big Rock.
4:01There are two of you.
4:02For the whole of day four, there's a
4:04queue.
4:05That afternoon, you're both lying on the
4:07sand, wrecked, and Ruby starts laughing.
4:11Then you do. You can't stop. It's the
4:13first time she's laughed since the
4:15plane.
4:16This is the worst holiday of my life.
4:19It's the first holiday you've talked to
4:21me on in four years.
4:23She stops laughing.
4:25Yeah, she says.
4:27That too.
4:28You need fresh water. So on day five,
4:31you walk to the north side of the island
4:33where the trees grow out of the sea on
4:35roots like legs, a mangrove.
4:38Through the middle runs a creek. At the
4:40top, it's fresh.
4:42You're filling the bottle when Ruby says
4:44your name,
4:45very quietly, the way you'd say it in a
4:48library.
4:49On the other bank, 5 m away, there's a
4:52log.
4:53The log opens its eyes.
4:55A saltwater crocodile, 4 m long.
4:59He doesn't move. He just looks at you,
5:02the way your mum looks at you when you
5:03come home late.
5:05You walk backwards, slowly,
5:08all the way out.
5:09Then you run.
5:11Ruby names him the landlord.
5:14He was here first, and every time you
5:16come round, he wants something.
5:19He teaches you the second rule.
5:21Crocodiles learn. Go to the same spot at
5:24the same time every day, and one day
5:27he'll be waiting.
5:28So you never go to the creek at the same
5:30time twice, and you never ever go alone.
5:34On day six, you try to make fire with a
5:36stick, like in the videos.
5:382 hours, blisters. 1 second of smoke,
5:42and you scream so loud every bird on the
5:45island leaves.
5:46Then Ruby fills the empty bottle with
5:48water and holds it up to the sun.
5:50It works like a magnifying glass. A tiny
5:53white dot of light lands on a pile of
5:55dry coconut hair.
5:57For 11 minutes, she doesn't move her
5:59arm.
6:00Smoke,
6:01a tiny orange glow. She blows on it it's
6:04a baby bird.
6:06Fire.
6:07You both jump up and hug for about two
6:10seconds. Then you remember who you are,
6:13let go, and stare at the fire very
6:15seriously, like it's a TV.
6:18That night you can see her face in the
6:19firelight. She's looking at the fire.
6:22You're looking at her. She catches you.
6:25You look at the fire.
6:27Every morning Ruby scratches a line on
6:29the paddle with a shell so you don't
6:31lose count. On day seven you build the
6:33signal. On the big beach you write help
6:36in letters 10 m tall with rocks and
6:39coconut shells. Then three piles of wood
6:42in a triangle. Three fires means help
6:45all over the world. And at 10:04 the 410
6:48comes over, a big passenger plane so
6:51high it's just a silver line. It comes
6:54from the airport on the Big Island at
6:5510:04 every single afternoon, far too
6:59high to see you. You both wave anyway.
7:01It can't see us, you say. I know. She
7:05keeps waving. One day it'll wave back.
7:08So that's the third rule. Every day at
7:1110:04 wherever you are you go down to
7:13the beach and wave at the 410. For the
7:16first week there were search planes. On
7:18day eight there are two. On day nine,
7:21one. On day 10, none. On day 11, none.
7:26Nobody says it. You both know.
7:29That night Ruby goes down to the beach
7:31on her own. You find her by the help
7:33letters with her knees under her chin.
7:35She's wearing your hoodie. She's been
7:37wearing it since the first night. You
7:39don't think you'll be getting it back.
7:41My mom will be going crazy, she says.
7:44You don't say anything clever because
7:46there isn't anything clever. You just
7:48sit close enough that your shoulders
7:49touch. After a while she leans on you.
7:53You can't live on coconuts. So on day 12
7:56Ruby has to go fishing. There's just one
7:59problem. What if one touches me? They're
8:02more scared of you. That one's not
8:04scared. That one's looking at me.
8:07You sharpen a long branch into a spear.
8:10Ruby stands in the water up to her waist
8:12for 20 minutes, frozen like a statue.
8:16A small fish swims past her leg. She
8:18screams. The fish leaves.
8:21On day 14, she gets one, a parrot fish,
8:25blue and green, the size of a trainer.
8:27She walks out of the sea holding it over
8:29her head like she's won the World Cup.
8:32At night, you catch crabs on the beach.
8:35They pinch you. You eat them anyway.
8:38On day 16, you find out you're not the
8:40only gang on the island. Your camp has
8:42been robbed. Coconuts, gone. Fish, gone.
8:47Ruby's sunglasses, gone. And the
8:49emergency bag with the flare inside,
8:52gone.
8:53Then you hear laughing.
8:55Up in the trees, there are monkeys,
8:57eight of them, with faces like old men
9:00who just seen your search history.
9:02The biggest one is wearing Ruby's
9:03sunglasses. The one next to him has your
9:06bag.
9:07You spend the whole afternoon chasing
9:09monkeys through the jungle. They throw
9:11things at you, mostly fruit, not only
9:14fruit.
9:15Then Ruby has an idea. She puts a fish
9:18on a rock in a clearing and you both
9:20hide. The monkey with the bag comes down
9:22and puts the bag on the ground so he can
9:24use both hands on the fish. You run. You
9:27grab it. The flare is still inside.
9:31The sunglasses, you never see again.
9:33The boss monkey wears them every day. He
9:36looks better in them than Ruby did.
9:38You decide not to tell her.
9:40On day 19, the sky goes a strange dark
9:43green and the birds go quiet.
9:46The storm hits in the afternoon. Rain so
9:49hard it stings.
9:51Your shelter, which took a week to
9:52build, lasts 11 seconds.
9:55You run uphill and squeeze into a gap
9:57under two big rocks. It's dry. It's also
10:00the size of a car boot.
10:02So all night, you and Ruby Cole sit
10:04squashed together in a hole, soaking wet
10:07under one foil blanket while the island
10:10tries to blow away.
10:12At about midnight, she says,
10:14Do you remember what you said about me
10:16in year seven?
10:17You remember.
10:19You've remembered every day
10:21for four years. Jack and the others saw
10:24your holiday photos and they wouldn't
10:26stop. Is that your girlfriend? So you
10:29said, Ruby? She's nobody. She's just
10:31someone my mom makes me go on holiday
10:33with.
10:34I was behind the lockers, Ruby says. So
10:37I decided to be nobody. It was easier.
10:40You want to disappear. There's nowhere
10:43to disappear to in a car boot. I said it
10:45because they were laughing, you say.
10:48It's the worst thing I've ever said. I'm
10:50sorry.
10:51She's quiet for a long time.
10:53I did the same. My friends asked about
10:56you. I said you were a weird kid. My mom
10:58knows. A pause.
11:00So I'm sorry too.
11:02Her head is on your shoulder. Neither of
11:05you sleep.
11:08In the morning, the beach is wrecked.
11:10The help letters are gone. The wood for
11:12the fires is in the sea. And the
11:14landlord is lying in the middle of your
11:16camp sunbathing like he's just bought
11:19it.
11:19That's when Ruby says it. Nobody's
11:22coming. We have to leave. Leave how? She
11:25points at the kayak. We build a boat.
11:28You don't want to go. Out there, it's
11:30hundreds of kilometers of sea. Here,
11:33there's water, food, fire. Here, you can
11:37wait. Wait for what? The plane stopped.
11:40And then it all comes out. Everything
11:43she hasn't said since day two. We could
11:45have been home on day two if you'd just
11:48fired it. It was flying away from us.
11:50You don't know it wouldn't have seen it
11:52and you don't know it would. She walks
11:55off. The landlord opens one eye, decides
11:58you're not worth it, and closes it
11:59again.
12:01For two days, you build separate things.
12:03She works on the boat. You rebuild the
12:05help letters bigger than before. At
12:0810:00 past 4:00, you both wave at the
12:104:10, 3 m apart without looking at each
12:13other. Rules are rules. On the second
12:16night, there's something next to your
12:17bed of palm leaves, a crab, cooked.
12:21Ruby's not very good at saying sorry.
12:24is how she does it.
12:26The next morning, you start working on
12:27the boat. The plan is Ruby's, and it's
12:30brilliant. On its own, the kayak will
12:32sink, but fix a log on each side, and it
12:35can't sink or tip over. A canoe with
12:38arms. People crossed whole oceans in
12:40boats like that thousands of years
12:42before anyone invented a plane. You fill
12:45the crack with tree sap and coconut
12:47hair. You tie the logs on with vines,
12:49the kayak straps, and Ruby's hair ties,
12:52all 11 of them. The mast is a thin,
12:55straight tree, and the sail is the foil
12:57blanket, silver and gold, shiny enough
13:00that maybe, finally, the 410 will
13:03notice. There's one problem. The best
13:06logs are in the mangrove, the landlord's
13:08mangrove.
13:10On day 29, while you're dragging a log
13:12out of the mud, you step on a sea
13:15urchin. Seven black spines deep in your
13:18foot.
13:19Ruby pulls them out with the tweezers,
13:21one at a time, while you bite a stick.
13:24By the night, your foot is hot.
13:26Then all of you is hot.
13:28You don't remember much of the next two
13:30days.
13:31Being cold in the sun,
13:33Ruby's hand on your forehead, and her
13:36voice saying, we're out of water.
13:39The rule is, never go to the creek
13:41alone.
13:42Ruby goes to the creek alone.
13:45She's filling the bottle when the water
13:46in front of her moves.
13:48The landlord comes up out of the creek
13:50faster than anything that big should be
13:52able to move.
13:54She doesn't run into the trees. She
13:56remembers the monkeys. She throws the
13:58fish she caught for dinner as hard as
14:00she can the other way.
14:024 m of crocodile turns and goes after
14:05the fish, and Ruby runs.
14:09When you wake up, the fever's gone.
14:11There's a full bottle of water next to
14:13you, and Ruby is sitting the sand,
14:15shaking, wearing one sandal.
14:18The other one belongs to the landlord
14:20now.
14:21You went alone.
14:22You were dying.
14:24I was a bit hot.
14:26You were talking to a coconut. You
14:28called it Mum.
14:30On day 38, the boat is finished. 12
14:33coconuts of water sealed with sap, dried
14:36fish.
14:37You'll leave at sunrise and you'll go
14:39the way the 410 comes from.
14:41Planes don't come from nowhere.
14:43Somewhere that way there's an airport.
14:46That evening, you walk down to the help
14:48letters one last time.
14:50Next to them, there's something new.
14:52A small heart made of white shells.
14:55For the pilots, Ruby says, so they know
14:58we're nice.
15:00Last night on the island,
15:02by the fire, she asks the question she's
15:04obviously been holding on to for days.
15:08When we get home, at school,
15:11are you going to pretend you don't know
15:12me again?
15:13No.
15:14Jack will say stuff.
15:16Jack can say whatever he wants. I'm
15:19going to sit next to you at lunch every
15:21day until you get bored of me.
15:23She looks at the fire for a long time.
15:27I liked you first.
15:29You know, she says, year six, before the
15:32lockers,
15:33your brain stops working.
15:35You pushed me into a pool.
15:38Exactly.
15:40Day 39, 39 lines on the paddle.
15:44You push the boat into the sea at
15:45sunrise. The landlord watches you go.
15:48You'd like to think he's sad. He's
15:50probably just hungry.
15:52The first day, the wind is perfect. The
15:55sail fills silver in the sun, and the
15:58island becomes a green line, and then
16:01nothing.
16:02You're in the middle of the ocean in a
16:03kayak with arms, with the girl you've
16:06liked for two years. At 10 past 4, you
16:09both stand up and wave at the 410. It's
16:12right above you now.
16:13It still doesn't wave back.
16:16On the second day, the come.
16:18First one fin, then three, circling the
16:22boat, a bit closer every time. One of
16:24them is longer than the kayak.
16:27It doesn't attack. It bumps the left log
16:29like it's knocking on a door. And the
16:32vine on the left log snaps. The log
16:34swings out. The boat tips. Water pours
16:37over the side. One more big wave and
16:40you're both in the water with them.
16:42Someone has to go in and tie it back on
16:44right now.
16:46You start climbing over the side. You're
16:48still weak from the fever.
16:50Ruby puts her hand on your chest. I'm
16:52the fastest swimmer in the county, she
16:54says.
16:55Her face is white. Her hands are
16:57shaking.
16:58This is Ruby Cole, who screamed at a
17:00parrotfish.
17:02She takes the last rope, the kayak
17:04strap, and goes into the sea.
17:06You hold the other end. You can see her
17:08under the water working on the log. And
17:11you can see the big shadow turning far
17:14out, then coming back.
17:16Ruby! 20 seconds. Ruby! 30. The shadow
17:21is close, too close. She comes up and
17:24you pull her in so hard you both land in
17:26a heap in the bottom of the kayak. The
17:29shark slides under the boat, turns, and
17:31leaves. The log is tied on, tighter than
17:34before.
17:35Ruby lies in the bottom of the boat,
17:37laughing and crying at the same time.
17:40Never again. I hate fish.
17:44That night, at 2:00 in the morning, you
17:46see a light. It isn't a star. It's
17:49moving. Red on one side, green on the
17:52other. A ship. A wall of metal as tall
17:55as your school sliding out of the dark.
17:58It isn't coming towards you. It's
18:00passing 2 km away. In 5 minutes, it'll
18:03be gone.
18:05Ruby looks at you. You look at her.
18:07One flare, only when someone can see it.
18:11Your hands are shaking so much you can't
18:13get the cap off. Ruby holds your hand
18:15still. You pull the cord.
18:18Nothing.
18:19You pull it again, and the night turns
18:21red. The flare burns like a small sun in
18:24your hand. You can see every drop of
18:27water on the sail, and the fear on
18:29Ruby's face, and a fin far away.
18:3360 seconds of red light in the middle of
18:35the ocean.
18:36The ship keeps going. 30 seconds. It
18:39keeps going. 10.
18:42The flare dies. Dark again.
18:45And then, across the water, a horn, long
18:49and low, so loud you feel it in your
18:51chest. Three times. The ship starts to
18:55turn towards you.
18:57The sailor who pulls you up the ladder
18:59is called Ramon. He's from the
19:01Philippines. He's 50, and he wraps you
19:03both in one blanket because you won't
19:05let go of each other.
19:07They saw the flare from 12 km away. At
19:10night, we see a flare from very far,
19:13Ramon says. In the day, nothing. Too
19:16much sun.
19:17So, about day two, I said I would have
19:20fired it. I was wrong.
19:23Ruby doesn't say anything. She just
19:25holds your hand a bit tighter.
19:27On the ship's phone, you call home. Your
19:30mom picks up, and Ruby's mom is right
19:32next to her. They never left the island.
19:3539 days. They paid every fisherman at
19:38the resort to keep looking. They both
19:40scream. They both cry. Then your mom
19:43asks if you've been wearing sunscreen.
19:45At sunrise, on the deck, Ruby kisses you
19:48on the cheek, very fast, like she's
19:50stealing something.
19:52A few days later, the resort sends your
19:54mom a bill. One double kayak not
19:57returned. Your mom puts it in a frame.
20:00A week after that, at 10:04, you're on
20:03the plane home. Ruby's by the window,
20:06still wearing your hoodie. You're never
20:07getting it back. The captain's voice
20:10comes on. Ladies and gentlemen, on the
20:12left side of the aircraft, you might see
20:14a small island. Two of our passengers
20:16today spent 39 days down there. The
20:19whole plane turns around to look at you.
20:22Down there, tiny, there's the island,
20:25the green hill, the creek, the beach.
20:29And on the beach, if you know where to
20:31look, the word help and a little white
20:34heart.
20:35Then the plane dips its left wing once,
20:38slowly, down and up again.
20:41Ruby squeezes your hand. Told you, she
20:44says. One day it waves back.
20:48So here's my
20:50question. If you were stuck on a desert
20:52island with your crush, would you build
20:54the boat and risk the sea? Or would you
20:57stay by the fire and wait for someone to
20:58find you? And be honest. Would you have
21:01fired the flare on day two? Tell me in
21:04the comments.
21:05And subscribe. Unlike the 410, we always
21:08wave back.

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