Escaping the Lost Island (working title)

Chapter 18

I awoke to raindrops splashing on my face. In an instant I was up.

"It's just a shower."

I jumped, having forgotten Toby was there. "How long has it been raining?"

"Just started." His tousled hair and bleary eyes revealed that he too had slept.

I stood up and stretched. "I'll go see if the others are up." Even if it was just a shower, the thought of a storm made me uneasy.

"They are," he said. "I'd say its mid-afternoon."

"WHAT?! Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Jessie came by to see if everything was okay this morning and then she told me to let you sleep, they could handle things."

I ran a hand through my tangled hair. "Okay. Well I should go check on them anyways." My eyes wandered towards the sky.

He followed my gaze. "Good idea."

Shivering, I made for camp. Instead of providing shelter, the trees dripped cold rain onto me. Soon my skin was covered in goose bumps.

Camp was buzzing with uneasy activity when I arrived. I sought out a reliable source to tell me what I had missed.

"Nothing much," Anna said. "We're basically just trying to move some stuff into the huts."

This wasn't the first time it had rained since we had landed here, but with the looming flood, I had to wonder if this might be the start of the storm. I didn't want to freak Anna out so all I said was "I don't like the look of these clouds."

She looked at me and I could tell she was thinking the same thing as I. "Me either."

I found Rita next. She was shaking water off of the sleeping mats before stacking them in the girls' hut. "Need help?" I asked her.

She looked up from her work. "Meg! I'm so glad to see you. I'm worried about this storm."

I glanced at the sky. Dark clouds were gathering far to the west but they were moving quickly towards us. "So am I," I told her. "Do you think it could shape into something...worse?"

A frown furrowed her brow. "I don't know. I've seen all kinds of storms like this at home. This looks like it could be a big one, but I don't know if it's any bigger than a normal big storm."

I nodded. "I know what you mean. But I don't think we should wait around to find out."

Her eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

"I think we should leave as soon as possible." The words escaped my mouth before I had finished thinking through them, but once they were out, I didn't want to take them back. Like Toby and I had been talking about the night before, we were all sick of waiting anyways. Why not leave now? We had most of our supplies ready and if this was the start of the flood, we would escape the worst of it.

"Are you sure?" Rita asked. "I mean, are we ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be I suppose."

"What about them?" She jerked her head towards the others who were darting between huts to try and stay dry.

She brought up a key point; if the others knew our reason for early departure, there would be an unnecessary amount of panic, especially now that our raft space had been compromised.

"Okay, how should we bring it up without freaking everyone out?" I asked Rita.

Her dark hair swished as she shook her head. "I don't know. You know them much better than I do."