Escaping the Lost Island (working title)

Chapter 11

The next week was relatively uneventful. We worked on the rafts from the first few beams of sunlight until our noses were nearly in contact with our work. Exhausted as I was, I enjoyed the hard labor. It kept my mind off of other things.

Toby and I maintained a cool, professional relationship while working alongside each other on our raft. Isaac, Anna, and Rita kept up a steady stream of conversation so we didn't have to say much. This was a relief since I had never been much of a conversationalist and couldn't for the life of me think of anything to talk about.

Slowly but surely, the piles of wood and bark on the beach were assembled into raft skeletons. The beams were wobbly and there were obvious holes that needed attention, but it cheered us to see the structures of all of our careful planning come to life.

"This is so exciting!" Anna squealed, clapping her hands as we finished up work one evening.

With one last heave, Isaac and I rolled another log into place. "Yeah," I panted. "I just hope it holds up."

"It will," Rita assured me. "The Manihot escuelenta is very strong."

"We were at sea for almost three weeks," Toby confirmed. "Not even a leak to speak of. We'd die of dehydration or exposure long before our raft fell apart."

"Well that's comforting," Isaac muttered to me.

"That reminds me though," Rita said. "We should be ready to start sealing the rafts by early next week. Since we have two rafts, we will need many roots. We should start gathering them tomorrow so we will be prepared when the time comes to use them."

I looked towards the other side of the clearing where the other raft was also under construction. Two logs remained outside the main frame, but other than that, the raft was up to speed with ours.

"Does anyone want to go with me to gather roots?" Rita asked.

I raised a hand. "I'll go." It would be a welcome break for my back and my brain.

Rita smiled at me. "Thanks Meg. We'll leave early tomorrow morning."

Old me would have groaned inwardly at the word "early" but now I was used to rising before the sun. Oh how far away those Saturdays of sleeping in till noon seemed.

We continued working for another few hours until the first few stars began to peek out from the heavens. I was lost in thought walking back to camp when Alex fell in step beside me.

"Hey."

I was instantly alert. "Hi."

His hand sought the back of his neck as it always did when he was uncomfortable.

"So I know things have been kind of weird between us lately..." he began.

I made no effort to confirm or deny this so after a moment of hesitation, he slogged ahead.

"I guess I just wish we could be friends again," he said. "You know, like we used to be. Before...well, before what you heard that night. What do you think?"

I could have had several answers for this: I was not the one who had made things weird, I did not think that things were in fact "weird" between us until Alex l had brought it to my attention just now, and to top it all off, I still couldn't trust him.

None of this I voiced however since I saw no point in making an enemy of Alex, or anyone on the island for that matter. We had to stick together now, no matter what our personal feelings might be. And that especially applied to me, being an unofficially designated leader of the pack.