Continuing from the first part, we see how Neha and Geeta were thrown into an unknown island. How they survived and discovered its secret. How they were given directions to swim in east direction to escape the invisible island and find the rescue search party.
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"Neha, let's walk by the side of the shore, we will soon find an opening, where sea is calm and we could swim." Geeta said as she called Neha to follow her.
" No, I think we must first make a raft, we don't know how much time it will take reach the boat to escape as there was no boat on the island."

Both girls realized that the voice never said that boat would be present on the island itself. They could have found it long back, when they were exploring it. But now, they have a direction to follow.
They gathered big branches, climbers and vines, big leaves to create a makeshift raft. Geeta had precious experience of tying ropes from school days. She was tasked to build the raft while Neha went in search of food and rations.
She brought lot of fruits and coconuts, they had dried fish too. It took them whole day to assemble and they rested for the night.

"Neha, wake up, it's morning." Geeta said as she shook Neha's shoulder. Geeta had woken up early as she was excited to leave the island. She waited till sunrise to call Neha.
" Umm, it's too early, " Neha protested, she wanted to rest a little more, as she was tired from all the foraging yesterday.
" No can do, we don't know how much time it will take to fund the boat, we don't want to be struck within the island after sunset." Geeta ignored her protests and forced her to wake up.

Both washed their faces, had their breakfast and beverage which was mostly fruits and dried fish.
They put all their belongings and consumables on the raft, while keeping some in their pockets and holding pouches in case of emergencies.

They pulled the raft towards the direction of sunrise, where there was little opening with calmer sea waves.

" Neha, so should we start? Geeta said in a quivering voice, she was excited yet scared.
" We don't have any other options, let's take a leap of fate. The voice had no reason to lie to us." Neha answered with a forced smile as she too was scared.

Both slowly took the raft till the water level was around their chest area. They jumped over the the raft and slowly rowed towards the eastern direction. At first they could easily move and the island got smaller and smaller when they looked back. But slowly the sea was getting turbulent. There raft swayed dangerously, they had to huddle together at the center to stabilize the raft. The sun was above their head and they were sweating profusely. They had the big leaves to cover themselves but the heat wasn't helping.
They had steadily using up their coconut water reserve.
" Should we return back, there's no boat, " Neha said in a worried voice.
" No, we shouldn't lose hope. There must be a search party out there. We can manage with the raft." Geeta said to cheer Neha. But even she was losing her confidence, as the sea surface was getting more and more turbulent and raft was shaking violently. The natural vines and climbers were not strong enough to manage that force and was slowly breaking apart.
" Geeta, what should we do? The raft might break." Neha cried.
" We have to move forward, I will try to do something." Geeta tried to patch and tie places which were loosening and breaking, while Neha rowed.
" What is that? Neha shouted as Geeta was busy keeping the raft together.
" What is what? Geeta questioned as she strained her eyes to look far at the direction Neha pointed.
At first it was a small dot, but latter got larger and larger as they rowed towards it. It was indeed a small boat, which looked sturdier than their raft. They hugged each other in excitement.
" We found the boat, we found the boat." Both the girls were elated and jumping in joy.
They caught hold of the boat, transfered their remaining baggage into it and jumped over.

" Now, let's find the barrier.' Geeta said,' remember the barrier put by the aliens.
" Yes, let's move in the same direction, is boat is real then rescue party will be there outside." Neha concurred.
It was evening now as slowly the light was fading, clouds were coming over them with light drizzles. They still have the leaves to protect them and the boat was more stable and faster to face the weather. But thy were not ready for the storm. With big and load thunders that brightened up the sky as if it was daytime. There were random whirlpools being created and it took their everything to prevent themselves being caught up in them. Thy were lucky to avoid them and were never faced the onslaught of those thunders. But they had to maneuver through the strong wind, that was pushing them away from their direction.
" When will the storm stop? Neha shouted l, visibly tired of all the struggle.
" Patience Neha, I think we ate near the barrier, that's why the weather is changing so drastically." You do remember that we faced similar climate when we were thrown into the island.
" Yes, that's true." Neha replied.
Suddenly a big thunders roared and they saw a thin wall like structure in front of them, but soon it vanished as darkness prevailed.
" Geeta, I think we need thunder for the barrier to appear, it's near us..like a misty wall. " Neha suggested.
" I think so too, let's wait for the next thunder, maybe will get out. " Geeta said in a renewed vigor. She was too tired but rowed fiercely towards the direction of that imaginary wall, hoping for the thunder to appear.
And it did, shining the barrier right in front of them. It was so fast that they were taken aback, but they were moving fast into that barrier and the boat crashed into it. They were thrown into the barrier due the impact, while the boat was pushed back.
Geeta held hand of Neha and pulled her closer as they felt mild energy passing through their body. They were outside the barrier, tired,  floating on the warm surface of the ocean. The sun is over their head and they were confounded by the sudden change in the weather and time of the day.
Far from their location, a group of boats were coming near them.They had been spotted by the rescue party.
" Neha, Geeta, I am so glad you were found. We have been searching for you for the whole morning." Abhisek said as he was accompanied by coast guard officers.
" Yes, we were so worried about you. Glad you both are okay." There other friends hugged them.

" Morning? but we have been gone for weeks" Neha protested.
"What do you mean?" Abhisek and coast guards asked.
" Nothing, she is just confused. We are glad that you found us." Geeta answered as she stopped Neha to speak any further.

They both looked towards the direction they came from. It was an empty sea, nothing to be seen.

© Dr. Manish Rout