Escaping the Lost Island (working title)

Chapter 16

They were making a plan but I didn't hear them. Isaac's words were still bouncing off the walls of my head.

It's Alex, he's gone. He's gone... He's gone... He's gone...

I don't know what I would have done, but whatever it might have been, Rita stopped me. After Isaac told me, she walked me over to my sleeping mat and practically forced me to lie down.

"Rest. I'll talk to them," was all she said. Then she was gone and I was lost in my own world. A world where no one betrayed their friends and everyone survived. I wished with all of my heart I was in this world and not the current one.

I had caught Alex and Jessie making plans behind the group's back. He had said some things about me that had hurt pretty badly, but this was beyond pain. I had known that he could be a jerk, but not a coward. Not a traitor. Not after everything we had done for him. Not when he knew that by abandoning us, he was committing eleven murders. It was unfathomably despicable.

A small part of me blamed myself. I had, after all, supposedly broken his heart. Perhaps he just couldn't stand being around me for another minute.

"Shut up!" The rest of my brain said sharply. "You know this has nothing to do with you."

I was right of course. It wasn't my fault, and even if he had left because of me, that had far more to do with him than with me.

I surprised myself by standing up and walking over to join my shell-shocked group of friends.

Rita was speaking. "We'll need to split the remaining three who would have been on the third raft into the other groups."

I waited for an outburst about how it was impossible for us to fit eleven people onto two rafts, but instead everyone either nodded or murmured approval.

"I'll go with your group," Jessie volunteered. Her voice lowered as she said to Rita, "I think it Brian and Chris should stay together."

The two in question were standing near each other looking rather lost. Jessie was right, we couldn't separate them now. Not after they had lost Adam and Mark. It seemed strange that a month ago they had refused to go with us. How long ago a month was.

Rita nodded to Jessie and went over to talk to Chris and Brian. I saw Toby talking to Isaac across the clearing and for a second, I wanted nothing more than to throw myself into his arms. Then I remembered that was no longer an option for me.

Joe came over to stand beside me. He looked like he had aged several years since I had last talked to him. "I can't believe this," he said.

I shook my head. "Neither can I."

"How are we possibly going to make this work?"

"We don't have a choice."

He was silent.

I walked across the clearing to Rita. "We'll need more supplies," I told her. I was surprised by how steady my voice sounded.

She turned to me. "You're right," she said. "We'll have to get started on that in the morning."

I had forgotten it was the middle of the night. The moon was still high but there was no sign of light in the east. Alex must have slipped off while everyone was getting ready for bed.

"Alright everyone," Rita called. "Tomorrow morning, we will continue to stock up on food and supplies. There are still some banana trees that we haven't picked over and the coconuts are still plentiful."

"We can look over what's left of the root salve and see if any of that is missing as well," I added.

"I just need to go to bed," Anna said, grasping the back of her head with her hands.

Kate and Rachel clung silently to each other.

"We should all go to bed," I said wearily. "There's nothing we can do until morning anyways."

No one responded, but after a moment, everyone began to shuffle back to their sleeping mats.

My sleeping mat welcomed me now and within minutes, I was asleep.