Escaping the Lost Island (working title)

Chapter 2

"Meg, you know as well as I do we can't just send them away." Alex had caught up with me and was attempting to rationalize the situation. "How they managed to get here in the first place is a miracle, but sending them back out there is homicide. Just let them stay the night and we can figure out what to do in the morning." 

He was right, of course, and I knew this. Unfortunately for him, I was in no mood to hear logical arguments in Toby's favor. "He abandoned us, Alex! And he took our only hope of escaping with him. We can't trust them." I felt a twinge of regret at my last remark. I had nothing against Rita; she was probably a fine person. Nonetheless, I didn't correct myself.

Alex sighed. "Well lets put a watch on them tonight, make sure nothing happens. But we can't send them out there to die."

I stared pointedly at him. "This is different! You know that!" But I was waning. If nothing else, Rita didn't deserve this. Probably. 

He reached out to put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder. "Come on, Meg."

I flinched away grumbling. "Fine, go and get them. I have to get back to camp."

Alex nodded, satisfied. "You got it."

###

Toby's return received a more positive response from the other islanders, save for Isaac who remained irate for his own reasons.

"He's still a jerk," he muttered to me at dinner that night as Toby and Rita recounted their journey to the others. "We worked hard on that raft."

I nodded, biting into my banana with more vigor than necessary and regretting it immediately as my teeth met on my tongue.

My eyes watering in pain, I quickly stood up. "I'll be back in a sec," I mumbled to Isaac. "The last thing I want is for Toby to think I'm getting emotional or something," I thought as I attempted to inconspicuously slip out of the clearing.

I pushed through a curtain of vines and there was the beach stretched before me. I stole silently along the sand and knelt to wash my face at the water's edge. The salty cold splash stung my cheeks and left a tingling sensation on my skin. Rising, I let the cool night breeze whisk the droplets off of my face, leaving me staring at the night sky. Mesmerized, I thought about who might be staring at that same sky a thousand miles away. A young girl sneaking onto her balcony for a glimpse of the shimmering heavens before she is summoned to bed. An astronaut, dreaming of the countless possibilities of space. Maybe my family... I closed my eyes and for a moment, I was back home on the well worn deck in need of a paint job, staring up at the same sky and wishing for adventure. I opened my eyes, my heart sinking. If only I had known then what was in store for me, maybe I wouldn't have minded my life before...

I turned to head back to camp and saw a figure standing near the trees where I had entered the beach. I stiffened. It was Toby.

Immediately, I turned and walked in the opposite direction.

"Meg!" he called after me. "Wait."

I ran, feeling childish but all the same. I had nothing to say to him.

Footsteps swished in the sand in my wake. He was gaining on me. I made a sharp turn and dove into the trees where the sand ended. I saw the low hanging vine, but my momentum was so great that I couldn't slow down in time. Down I tumbled with a mighty crash, tearing a fern into bits as I thrashed about.

"Geez, are you okay?" Toby hurried to my side and offered me a hand.

I rose silently without taking it, spitting sand out of the corner of my mouth, and brushed off my clothes with slow, deliberate strokes. My eyes shot daggers at him.

He lowered his hand, flexing his fingers. "Look," he said finally. "I know I was a jerk and I can't make it up to you, but can't I at least try?"

"Sure. You can leave."

He blew a deep breath and rolled his eyes. "Well, clearly you aren't going to make this easy. I'm not going to grovel, okay? You didn't seem to mind too much that I left anyways, you just went out and found a replacement."

Okay so maybe I had expected a little bit of groveling, but certainly not an accusation. "Excuse me?! What are you talking about, 'replacement'?"

His laugh had a bitterness to it. "Oh come on, you don't think I see how Alex hangs on your every word?"

"Alex has nothing to do with this," I hissed. "It's not his fault you came halfway across the ocean for something that no longer exists."

He opened his mouth to retort and then closed it. "What do you mean something that no longer exists?" he asked finally.

"We've become a family here, in case you hadn't noticed. Everyone looks out for each other, trusts each other. Families don't abandon one another and you broke that trust when you left, Toby. You aren't a part of our family anymore." I pushed past him and started walking back towards camp.

"Is that coming from everyone?" he called after me. "Because it seems like they're all willing to forgive and forget, Meg, except for you. And I think we both know why that is."

I had officially reached my last nerve with the audacity of this man to continue speaking to me in such a way, but curiosity got the best of me and I paused to turn around. "So enlighten me," I said coldly.

"I know you, you're not petty enough to stay angry when I had a reason to leave. No, your pride's been wounded because I walked out on you."

Oh. No. He. Didn't.

My eyes smoldered. "Is that what you think? That this has something to do with you and me? Why did you come back? Was it really to 'figure some things out' or was it because of something that you knew you shouldn't have left behind? Well you can crawl right back to where you ran away to for all I care." And this time as I walked away, I didn't look back.