Lost

Chapter 12

I stood in the cacophony of noise that the jungle makes. The cries of birds. The screeching of monkeys. The sound of a thousand wind tossed leaves. The drone of insects. The splash of water and the distant roar of the sea. But to me, to everyone, it was unbearably quiet. We were all poised, listening intently for the telltale snarl of the beasts. I found my mind drifting back and forth between deranged ideas as to why we were stuck on that lost island. As to why someone would so desperately want to keep us there. Conversations and facts and the entirety of my time spent there was stuck on replay in my head. I stood there, trying to make sense of it all. I could obviously see why my friends feared and hated the monsters. I could see why they didn't want to leave. After all, something must have caused us to become lost in the first place, so our lives must have been pretty bad.

"Bradley," I turned to him suddenly, "how low did you have to sink before you became lost?"

"I...uh...I'm not sure. What do you mean?" He asked, his brow furrowing.

"I mean...how sad did you have to be, to become lost?" I repeated, trying to be patient.

"I was...really sad?" He didn't seem to know how to answer.

"Would your old lost life be better than being stuck here forever?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Well...without Rachel, my life isn't complete." He said, lowering his voice so she wouldn't hear.

Which was very sweet but didn't help at all.

My mind wandered back to to the question at hand. Who is the person operating this whole thing? I reached into my pocket for the clue, only to realize it had fallen out when the beasts were attacking. It didn't really matter. I could repeat it word for word, I had read it so many times. There would be no way to find out who this mastermind was unless he came out directly to stop us, I decided. We didn't have much time to waste, but looking at my friend's forlorn faces, I didn't mention it. They needed time to sort out their emotions. I tugged at my long side bangs, trying to think. I needed a plan.

I felt a soft hand on my shoulder.

"Ava," it was Nadia, her long brown hair falling softly around her face, "do you have a plan?"

Mind reader, I thought to myself, my eyes narrowing.

"Uh...no? I mean...no. No I don't. Yet." I stumbled over my words, trying to smile reassuringly.

How does one smile reassuringly? Is it a normal smile? I didn't even know how to smile normally anymore.

"Oh..." Nadia's face fell.

This was ridiculous. I was one of the youngest members of our group. Why was I thinking of a plan? Maybe because I was the least emotionally attached to Reed. While his death disturbed me, it wasn't as bad as if Irene or Alex died. Bradley hardly knew any of us (except Rachel) but he wasn't good at thinking up crazy plans. He was a technical thinker, his brain working things out step by step. The lost island and the impossible beasts were probably freaking him out. His logical brain couldn't take much more. My brain works at random. An idea flies through it and I have to catch it before it flies from my memory. If I could have caught all the ideas I've ever had, maybe I could have become a mad scientist.

That's beside the point.

The point is...this mastermind won't show himself unless we force him to. And how do we do that?! ...I have no idea.

I collected my thoughts and turned the compass around in my hand one more time.

"...um...we should maybe...go?" I managed to say loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Yeah." Kate stood up, her eyes dull and tired.

No one seemed to care where we were going. They just didn't want to stay put for too long. I led the way, all the while wondering why I was leading the way. After all, I was the one constantly getting lost. I followed the red needle, staring at it so intently that I almost crashed into some trees. Everyone else was listening, their ears tuned for the roars of the monsters. I wondered how I would know we were there when we reached wherever we were going. Would it be obvious?

"There! What's that!" Irene asked suddenly, pointing past me.

It didn't seem like much. Just a lone poppy, it's black center staring out at me, surrounded by red. I took a step forward and everyone crowded around me, not wanting to get separated. I plucked the flower, it's stem easily giving way. For a moment, I just stood there, red poppy in hand, wondering why I'd picked it. But it was so tantalizingly bright against the green of the jungle. Why was a poppy there anyway?

And then I heard it.

A great rumble sounded and both Irene and Alex grabbed my arm.

"What was that?" Bree breathed, her voice barely heard as the rumble roared from the ground again to meet our ears.

And then we were falling, the earth swallowing us, no time for us to scream. The darkness closed in on us and I wondered what I had gotten us into.

And then the ground met us with a sickening thump and true blackness swallowed my senses.