Part of my new story

Well I have finished my novel and sent it in, hoping for the best and expecting the worst, like always. While waiting for them to send me either a rejection or acceptance letter, I'm working on my short story, Tiger Story (NOT the actual title, just a working title). It'll be about 100 pages I'm thinking, and I'll try to get that up on a good site for those. Here's a couple pages for you all. :) After I finish this and try to get it up, I'll be working on a vampire love story. So give me thoughts, opinions etc. It's a work in progress and I love constructive criticism! I still have a lot of growing to do on writing.

     The ship tossed and turned, the waves crashing insanely. She tossed back and forth in the ship, her body smacking every wall. Her family cried out for her, her strong dad screaming, tears falling down his bright golden eyes. Alexandria struggled to grab a hold of her father's hands, for once her reassuring him, which was so odd, he was always the comforter of the family.

     Alexandria was tossed around as she struggled to crawl to her father, her long nails digging into the wood of the ship's floor for stability. She slipped, however, and her father's big, rough hand came to grab hers. He pulled as hard as he could, but couldn't hold on for the water made them all slippery.

     “Alex!” He screamed, and she cried out.

     “Daddy!”
     “Hold on baby girl!” He screamed and she held on with two hands as the ship started to tip over.

     The sky was pitch black, all the lights had all gone out and they didn't even have the moon to look at. It was almost impossible to see, but Alexandria could see relatively well, and her father could see almost perfectly. A family trait. Her mother, however was blinded, and Alex and her dad tried to get to her.

     “Mom!” Alex screamed, finally seeing her hanging on to a rail on the ship for dear life, looking frightened. They came to her, hugging her tightly.

     “I love you.” Her mom said to both of them, and they nodded, as Alexandria was about to say it back she was sent careening back over to the end of the ship.

     She hung on to the rails, dangling only inches above the dark, crashing waves of the water. She screamed her parents names, struggling to be heard over the water. Her heart exploded as she realized this may be the last moment of her short life. She quickly started to pray in a hushed whisper.

     “Please Lord, keep them safe.” She whispered, shivering as water crashed on her over and over, soaking her clothes, and there was no warmth to be had.

     Finally the ship tossed her overboard, and she struggled to swim, something nobody but her mother in her family had ever been good at. She felt the water go in her lungs and coughed it up, treading water and trying to get her head above water at least.

     “Mom! Dad!” She screamed, squinting and looking for their forms as the ships sunk.

     The waves kept dragging her under and she swam quickly, struggling to find something to hold onto as she felt herself lose consciousness. She found a board and held onto it, laying on her stomach and struggling to hang on to it as the water tossed it about. The salt water stung her eyes like crazy, but she still managed to scream for her parents until she could no longer shout.

     The waves tossed her and her board around, and she repeatedly coughed up water, the water making her feel full and sick until she made herself throw it up. She wasn't about to have her lungs full so she'd sink. She had to save her parents.

     She took several shaky breaths, leaning up and shivering, every inch of her covered in goosebumps. Her clothes stuck to her, as did her now frozen hair. She sat up on the board, looking for something, anything. In the distance she could see land, just some sand and a palm tree.

     “Land!” She cried softly, and got back on her belly, struggling to swim with the board. The board held her back, however, and she realized that she'd have to swim on her own. She jumped off her only protection, and tried her best to doggie paddle, the only swimming she'd been good at. She hoped her parents had life jackets.

     She kept swimming, pushing even as the waves jostled her and made her cough. She would get there, she had to. She wasn't supposed to die yet.

     When she finally closed in on the land she was out of breath, her whole body cramping. She tried not to think about it, pushing herself further and further until she could see the land finally, see the trees and the rocks and even a fire. She smiled, thinking of the warmth it would bring.

     Then she saw it, a tiger, growling right at her. It was beautiful in a majestic way, clearly a Bengal tiger, a fully grown male. Great, just perfect, either drown or get eaten by a tiger. What sort of bad karma was she having?

     She took a deep breath, and decided a moment of warmth on land was worth a potential mauling. She kept swimming for the land, and when she finally made it she crawled her way toward the fire, the tiger simply sitting there in a defensive crouch, not growling but watching, with amazingly curious golden eyes.

     Alex sighed, crawling toward the fire and laying down. The tiger still made no move. She coughed up salt water, hoping that as long as she left it alone he wouldn't maul her. She took off her clothes quickly, knowing she'd get pneumonia if she didn't. She sighed, putting them on a log by the warmth, then sitting up, rubbing her wet, aching body and sighing at the feeling of her muscles loosening up.

     The tiger growled and she gasped, looking to it. It appeared to be stretching or something, and she gulped.

“It's okay boy, I won't hurt you.” She said soothingly, the her voice was scratchy. The tiger merely whined, and she sighed, coughing up more water. “I love cats. Don't worry.” She said with a smile and he looked away. What an odd day it had been, losing her parents, the ship, almost drowning, and now she was sitting here talking to a very snobby Bengal tiger that could easily kill her.

     And she was sitting by a man made fire. How odd. Maybe there was human life on this Island? Unless the tiger made it. She managed a laugh at that, which made the tiger growl, and she gulped, quieting down and laying on the sand, wiggling her toes for the warmth, her aching body throbbing everywhere, then tingling until it went numb.

     She sighed, smiling. Finally the pain was gone. She would search the Island tomorrow, look for her parents or any people that could help her. She rolled over onto her back, looking at the tiger who was closer and staring at her in wonder.

     She chuckled, sure the salt water had gotten her high or something. “A perv tiger, just my luck.” She said with a giggle and it quickly growled, snarling and showing huge white teeth. She gulped, curling into a fetal position, wishing her body could move. “I-I'm sorry, just a joke.” She managed, feeling like an idiot, and it snarled, stalking away.

     She let out a held breath, shaking her head in confusion. What an odd encounter that had been. She wished she had a camera or something. She quickly fell into a deep slumber, heedless of her nakedness, her only worry her parents.