Desolation

Chapter Eight

Before us us is a majestic waterfall, crashing down into a small lake. I can't believe my eyes how vibrantly blue the water is. It is the bluest water that I have ever seen in my entire life. My mouth breaks into a huge smile. We have just found clean water. Although we may die of starvation, at least we won't die of dehydration.

Positive thinking, right?

"Wow," I murmur, taking in the ethereal sight.

"Well what are we waiting for? I'm going in," Ian says. It's the first thing that he has said this entire time.

 He pulls off his light-grey T-shirt, revealing his chiseled abs. Then, he unzips his pants, and pulls them down so that he is standing in only his boxers. I try hard not to stare at him, but I find my eyes glued to his body. He then looks up at me, his eyes meeting mine. After giving me a quick grin, he turns and jumps into the lake, disappearing under the water.

For a few moments, he doesn't come up, but then his head finally resurfaces. He grins again at the two of us, then calls out, "C'mon in guys! What are you waiting for?"

Tristan glances at me, then says, "No, first I should go start a signal fire so that the others can come."

"You really want to share this with everyone else? Why can't it just be ours?" Ian says, an edge of spite in his voice.

"Because everyone else needs water too! We can't just keep this to ourselves because we all promised that if we found anything, we would start a signal fire to notify everyone else," Tristans exclaims.

Ian floats for a moment, staring at Tristan, only his head above the water. I glance at Ian, then to Tristan, not saying a word. I know what Tristan is saying is right, but it would be nice to have this to ourselves.

"I'm going to go try starting a fire," Tristan says, looking at me.

"Okay," I reply, nodding. 

I don't know if Tristan wants me to help him or not, but I know that I will be of absolutely no use when it comes to starting a fire in a jungle. Tristan turns around and heads back into the trees.

"So, are you going to come in?" Ian asks, looking at me with a playful glint in his eyes. 

There's something about that look in his eyes that make my cheeks blush red. I hope that he can't see me blushing.

"Um, I don't know," I say.

"Why not? It's refreshing. And I'm wearing nothing but my underwear" he says, smirking his all-too-familiar smirk.

My cheeks go from blushing slightly to red as a tomato. He did not just say that to me.

"No, I think I'll stay here. Besides, I don't want to get my clothes soaked," I say.

"Then take them off," he says abruptly.

My heart skips a beat. The thought of removing my clothes in front of Ian makes my heart beat faster and my cheeks burn even brighter, if that's even possible. 

"I won't look, I promise," he adds.

"Okay fine. But don't look until I get in," I say.

"Alright, if that's how you want it," Ian says.

He then turns around, facing the waterfall. Once I make sure that he is completely turned around and Tristan is not nearby, I pull off my tank top so that I am standing in my bra. After double-checking that Ian is still completely turned around, I quickly unzip and pull down my jeans. Now, I am standing in only my bra and underwear. I can't believe I'm doing this.

I quickly wade my way into the lake until the water is up to my chest, covering my bra. The water is very warm, and the lake is much deeper than I thought it would be. 

"Okay, you can turn around now," I say to Ian.

He immediately turns around, facing me again.

"Nice, isn't it?" he says, smiling slightly.

I nod, smiling back. This is really nice. In this moment, I almost forget that I am captured on a remote island.

He continues to watch me as I slowly wade my way towards him, his dark brown eyes focused on mine. As if on cue, my heart rate begins to quicken. 

Suddenly, I am splashed with water. When I open my eyes, I am looking right at Ian's mischievous grin.

"Hey!" I exclaim. 

I then splash him back. He returns by splashing me back even harder. When I try to splash him back again, he ducks under water, disappearing. I look around, trying to see where he is swimming. Suddenly, water sprays my back and I whip around to see Ian behind me, the same mischievous grin plastered on his face.

After splashing around a bit more, I am breathless. We then float around the lake. I look up at the canopy of the trees, high above us, that is keeping us in the shade. After a few moments of silence, I finally ask,

"So why didn't you want the others to know about the camera that we found?"

Ian is quiet for a moment. He then says, 

"Because."

What an informative answer.

"Because why?" I ask, looking at him.

"Because I didn't want everyone to start panicking and looking for all of the other cameras that may be on this island. I thought it was something just the two of us could know."

I nod.

"Fair enough," I say, smiling.

"Just like how I was the only one that you told about the dream you had last night," Ian adds.

True. I didn't tell Tristan about the dream.

"I've been thinking about why we are here. And I'm really getting the feeling that we've been kidnapped or something," Ian says.

"Yeah, but who kidnaps teenagers and puts them on a remote island in the middle of the ocean? It's a strange place to hold people captive," I say.

Ian shrugs.

Suddenly, I feel my foot step on something on the bottom of the lake. And it's not a rock.

"I think I just stepped on something," I say, stopping.

"What?" Ian asks.

"I just stepped on something weird. It feels like a glass object," I say.

I move my foot around the floor of the lake until my foot finds it again. It's definitely some sort of rounded glass object.

Ian swims closer towards me, interest on his face.

"Let me grab it," I say.

I duck my head under and reach my hands out around the grimy floor until one of my hands closes around it. I resurface, lifting the object out of the water with me. It is a glass bottle.

"Hey, what's that inside of it?" Ian asks, pointing at the bottle.

I look at the bottle, and notice that there is a piece of paper rolled up tightly inside of it. A message in a bottle.

I quickly uncork the bottle and slide the rolled up piece of paper into my hands. I then carefully unroll it, trying not to get it soaked, until it is completely unrolled.

It is a list of names, scrawled in black pen. It takes me a few moments to read all of the names, and when I am done, my heart skips a beat. These aren't just any names. These are the names of the twelve of us who are on this island. 

"Oh my God. That's us," Ian murmurs.

But that's not the strangest part.

Out of the twelve names, one of them is circled.

It's my name.