Escaping the Lost Island (working title)

Chapter 23

Isaac was sitting up and talking, but not to any of us. His eyes focused on unseen things and his mouth babbled nonsensical words to these invisible beings. Still, he would not eat or drink. Each time someone approached him (usually me) he would lash out, sometimes so wildly that we kept as much distance as we could on the raft.

It was the worst form of torture to watch my best friend suffer and not be able to do anything about it. My heart actually hurt to look at him and see an entirely different and disturbed person. Once I had stopped trying to approach him, I kept an eye on him from afar.

As the day wore on, he began to quiet down. At last, he fell asleep and silence descended on us. It was a relief to not have to hear his feverish jabbering anymore. When I looked at him now, he looked like Isaac. I could almost convince myself that he would awaken and tell me that the whole thing was some sort of sickening prank. "You should have seen your face!" he would say. "You totally fell for the whole thing!" I imagined him laughing at me for actually believing that he was losing his mind. That would be easier to swallow than the truth.

I steered for a much longer time than normal that night. It was easier to keep my mind off of him when I was physically exhausted. The cool night breeze ruffled my hair, giving my skin a tingly feeling like the first taste of minty gum. Looking up, I saw the stars out in full force with the Cnidarian still glistening above our lonely vessel. It wasn't until the stars began to swim before my eyes that I recognized that I needed a break and allowed Jessie to take over.

Just as I had feared, all of my emotions about Isaac came rushing back as I lay down. Within a few minutes, the tears came. I curled myself into an even tighter ball and did not move until the first rays of sunlight appeared in the east to mark the beginning of the next day.

Stiffly, I rose and grabbed a handful of cashews. They tasted like cardboard, but I needed to eat something. All the others except Isaac were awake. We moved silently about the raft so that he could remain asleep for as long as possible. As I busied myself rearranging the food supplies, I tried to make myself believe that Isaac had just had a bad day and sleep was all he needed. Dehydration had taken a lot out of the rest of us as well and perhaps he just needed more time to recover because of his wound. My stomach flipped over at the thought of what his wound had looked like the last time I had soaked and bandaged it. I was no doctor, but the infection looked bad... like really bad.

The sun was nearly overhead when I heard Isaac stir. I immediately began to move towards him before remembering what had happened yesterday and thinking better of it.

"Isaac?"

He turned his head towards me and smiled. "Hey!"

Relief coursed through me and I threw my arms around him. "Oh thank God you're back."

He stiffened in my embrace. "What are you doing?"

I released him. "I guess you probably don't remember do you?"

He shook his head.

"You were kind of... out of it yesterday."

His brow furrowed. "I don't know what you- LOOK OUT!!"

I whirled, heart pounding. There was nothing there.

"Not funny," I said, turning back to him. "You actually had me-" I stopped.

Isaac was gaping at me in genuine fear.

"What?" I was beginning to feel uneasy again.

"You almost died! That bird almost killed you!"

"What bird?"

"You didn't see it? It flew right past your head!"

I stared at him.

"There wasn't a bird Isaac," Jessie said slowly. "It's just us."

He shook his head vehemently. "I don't know what you guys are talking about because that bird was huge. It must have been this big!" He flung his arms out as wide as he could to demonstrate. It would have been comical if I had not known that he wasn't joking.

"Why don't you have some water Isaac?" Rita said gently, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Or maybe something to eat?"

Isaac flinched away from her. "Who are you?"

Rita's eyes widened. "It's Rita," she said quietly. "Don't you know me?"

He blinked at her in confusion. "No."

"Isaac," I said as calmly as I could. "Do you know who I am?"

He rolled his eyes. "Duh, Angie, you're my sister!"

A lump caught in my throat and I just looked at him.

"That's Meg, Isaac," Toby said, coming up beside him. "And Jessie and Rita. And I'm Toby, remember me?"

Isaac frowned and shook his head. "Why are you acting like this, Andy?" he said angrily. "You're my brother and they," he pointed at Jessie and me "are my sisters! Don't you think I know my own siblings? I've never seen her before though." He gave Rita a suspicious look. "Do you know her or something?"

Toby was looking strangely at him. "Yeah, yeah we do."

"Well I guess that's alright then. I don't know what's wrong with you guys, but snap out of it." He sat down and began to devour a banana, ignoring us completely as we continued to stare at him in complete shock.