The sun was just rising beyond the glimmering, salty water. My head rested against the pale gray boulder, while my legs stretched out in the pool of blood coming from the gaping slash in my left calf. I winced as I shifted my weight from one side of my back to the other. It had been eight hours since my last sip of water, and my throat felt like sand paper. The air smelled of fish, last nights dinner, and salt. Baylor had been gone almost 12 hours now, and I began to worry. Sure he is strong and an excellent fighter, but he is all alone. No stop thinking about him. Focus on not bleeding to death, he will be back soon, said the stupid voice I can hear only in my head. How could I not think about Baylor at a time like this? What if I never get to see him again? An image of him came to me. His perfectly shaped arms, beautiful tan skin, dark hair, and bright green eyes. Yes, I thought. Yes, I will keep my eyes open and I will keep breathing. I wont give up. I will get to see him again.


My mind wandered as I sat and waited for what seemed like eternity. It had been only two weeks ago that my family and I sat around our dinner table, talking and laughing, not a care in the world. That same night, my life spun around and sped straight ahead into a brick wall. At first there was a light humming sound, and as it grew louder, all hell broke loose. Men in white uniforms and black helmets jumped from hundreds of feet in the air, waving there knives and shooting off guns. Planes dropped small silver boxes that exploded into a mixture of red and orange within two seconds of hitting the ground. My parents took off for our underground bunker with my two younger brothers and three younger sisters, thinking I was right behind them. I tried to run but my foot was caught, and burning debris crashed down from above. Everything went black.


As I recalled the events of the past 2 weeks, heavy footsteps interrupted my thoughts. I grabbed my sword that was swung across my chest, and turned to look around the boulder. I could make out a young man in a green t-shirt and mud crusted cargo pants. As soon as he flashed his smile, I knew it was Baylor. I got up to run, but I fell back to the ground, remembering my injured leg. His smile faded and sprinted up the beach toward me. He flung his back pack down next to me and started to rip the sleeve from his shirt.
“ Lindsey, what happened to you? I left only for a couple of hours and I come back to find you bleeding to death!” His clumsy hands slowly cleaned the wound and wrapped my calf in the green cloth. “ There were three of them. Two were smaller, so they were easy. But the third had a razor. He turned fast and got me. I fell and hit my head on the boulder.
I watched as he ran back into the water, but I never saw him get out. I think he figured I was dead,” I explained to him. He looked at me with his big green eyes, full of tears in the corners. “I’m so sorry. God, If you wouldn’t have made it, then I never would have forgiven myself. I’m sorry, I will never leave you alone again.” He leaned in, wrapped his arms around me, and softly kissed me on the lips. “I love you Linds”, he said. Well that hit me like a ton of bricks. I had no idea that was going to happen. I thought back to him pulling me from the rubble, and to carrying me unconscious 90 miles to this beach. “ I love you too,” I said, and kissed him back.


Weeks passed. I lost count after three and a half. An old radio washed up on shore and Baylor was able to get it working again. The announcer said that the men who had come to take over our planet were from a planet that had recently been destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Our allied planet was sending in rescue teams to take us back to their planet. So far, we saw no sign of rescue forces. The next day, I sat on the chilly beach, wrapped in Baylor’s arms. Even though we sat silent, we could read each others thoughts. Just as I was about to offer to go pick some berries, the sound of an air craft sounded over head. It was the plane that the radio announcer had described. “Baylor look! Look. We are getting out of here! We will be together with our families. We will be safe,” He jumped up and spun me around in his arms. “ We survived Lindsey. We did it. And now we get to live out the rest of our lives with our families.” He kissed me on the cheek, and we walked into the air craft, and took off for our new home.


We walked off the air craft hand in hand. As soon as I stepped off the landing strip, I saw my family and Baylor’s family standing side by side. Baylor’s face lit up into his beautiful smile. As I smiled at my mother and father, I noticed that Baylor had stopped walking was now sitting on one knee. I had no clue what was going on.“ Lindsey, the only reason I am standing here with my family right now is because of you. I love you more than anything. I’m sorry I don’t have a ring right now, but I couldn’t wait. I know I have only known you for two months, but I feel as if you have been here all my life. My life has changed so much over the last two months, but it only took that long to fall in love with you. Lindsey, will you marry me?” Wow. My head was spinning in all different directions and I felt as if I might throw up. My thoughts and words became a big jumbled mess, but I knew one word I would be able to say to him. This moment was perfect. “Yes,” I whispered, and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “ Lindsey Davis, where have you been all my life?” he asked. “ I have been here all along”.