Wish You Were Here

14

I woke up sometime in the middle of the night and peeked outside. The moon was full and provided some light. The island appeared so peaceful. You would never know it was anything but. My stomach turned at the thought of Gina and Dean. They had bought this island and turned it into a nightmare. I wondered if they'd built the cabins or if they were already here when they bought it. None of it made sense to me. Why go to all this trouble just to hold a group of people inside a basement? They had set up cameras and traps in case we escaped, but it just seemed so excessive as a whole. In all the crime shows Rachel and I had ever watched, I'd never heard of anything like this.

I fell back asleep until morning. I smiled at Cal and Beth as we huddled together.

"Where's Grant?" Cal whispered.

I stopped and turned around. Will and Aaron were still both asleep, but Grant wasn't there.
I panicked.

"Wait here," I told them.

Cal tried to argue, but I told her to stay and watch Beth. I carefully stepped over Will and Aaron and peeked out of the cave. I couldn't see him, or anything else, so I took a few steps outside.

"Grant!" I whispered loudly. I sighed with frustration.

Slowly I made my way back in the same direction we had come up. The dirt and gravel made going down hill much harder than going up, and I had to steady myself from slipping.

Baby steps.

I got about halfway down before stopping to reposition my feet. I figured if I turned sideways, I'd be able to stop myself from skidding forward. I turned my right foot first and then went to do the same with my left. As I turned my foot, the gravel was loose underneath and I went too fast. My left leg slipped on tiny rocks and I lost my footing. I screamed as my leg fell over the edge of the cliff. With both of my hands I grabbed at the ground, trying to grasp onto anything I could. My elbows both hit the dirt and I pushed them into the earth with force. I steadied myself, but knew it was only for a moment.

I wanted to swing my left leg back up from behind me, but was afraid if I miscalculated in any way, the cliff would give out and I'd fall to my death. The sound of the waterfall pulsated in my ears. I took a deep breath and swung my leg. It didn't go up far enough. I was too scared.

"Ryleigh!" Grant called my name, but I couldn't see him.

"Grant! Help me!" I cried.

"Hang on! I'm coming! Don't move!" He yelled.

I was breathing fast and sweating, my heart pounded in my chest. I felt a hand on my arm and looked up. Grant's face was a mixture of shock and concern as he gripped my arm with his palm.

"I'm going to pull you up this way, okay? When I do, put both your feet together. Ready?" he asked.

"Ready," I said in a shaky voice.

"Okay, now!" he hollered and hoisted me up. He held onto me tightly with both arms and I forced my legs to stay straight with my feet together as I landed back on the ground.

"You okay?" Grant has his arms around my waist. I was shaking.

"Yeah," I cried. "Thank you!"

"What were you doing? You could've-" He looked down the cliff.

"I was coming to find you!" I said. "Where were you?"

He loosened his hold on me and waited until I was completely steady before letting go. He smiled.

"Come with me," he told me. "Oh, and Ryleigh? Be careful!"

"Yeah," I answered sarcastically, but smiled.

I followed him down the pathway until he stopped and hopped up over a mound of dirt.
"Can you make it?" he asked, offering me a hand.

He helped me climb up and over and as I stood up straight, I looked ahead. Grant was beaming.

A pile of fruit lay in front of us. Bunches of bananas, pineapple, and berries. My eyes grew wide and I looked at him.

"What is this?!" I exclaimed.

"There's more, too. Over that way. I woke up early; you all were still sleeping. I thought I'd try to catch some fish, but when I got up here? I walked just a little over that way and- well, you'll have to see it to believe it," he told me.

"Show me!" I shouted, running towards him with excitement. He smiled and started running, too.

I ran after him until he came to a stop. He moved to the side, out of my view, so I could see. My mouth fell open in awe. There were tons of fruit trees hovering over rows and rows of smaller plants and bushes. I looked at him and put my hand over my mouth.

"Is this real?" I asked suspiciously.

He chuckled and nodded. "It's totally real! I grabbed as much as I could and was bringing it to the cave when...well, when you were falling. We have to get the others. They won't believe it!"

"Yes! Come on!" I screamed.

We rushed back over to his pile of fruit. I grabbed a banana, peeled it, and shoved it into my mouth.

"I'm sorry! I'm starving!" I said with a full mouth. I probably looked like a chipmunk with my cheeks full, but I didn't care.

Grant just laughed and tossed a handful of blackberries into his mouth.
"Maybe we should leave it here and just go get them?"

I agreed, knowing my clumsiness wouldn't be the best mix with holding handfuls of fruit.
We started to make our way back to the cave. I was especially carefully crossing the spot where I had slipped, and forced myself to not look down. Once we stepped into the cave, Cal rushed to me.

"What took you so long?! I was freaking out!" she chastised.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" I apologized. "I went looking for Grant and-"

I looked at him. Grant smiled at all of us.

"You guys will want to come with me!" he announced.

I helped Beth up and asked Cal to help me get her down the hill, leaving out the part about me falling before. I didn't want to worry her or anyone else. She agreed and took Beth's other side.

"Where are we going?" Aaron asked.

Grant didn't lose his smile. "Just trust me-"

"I don't trust you. I don't trust nobody!" Aaron shouted.

Will shot him a look and turned to Grant.

"Let's go, man. I'll follow you. Let's see what you got," Will said sternly.

Grant laughed and shook his head.
"Aaron, man! You don't have to trust me. But I'm telling you, you'll want to come with us."

Aaron looked skeptical as he watched us all file out of the cave after Grant. As we walked with Beth, I stopped in front of Aaron.

"Come on!" I whined.

He gave me a dirty look, but then followed behind.

Grant gave a quick warning that it was more slippery going down the hill than it had been going up, and I waited for him to tell them I had slipped and fallen, but he didn't. He gave me a wink and kept going.

After jumping up and over the mound of dirt, we hoisted Beth up. Once we were all there, Grant beamed again like he had with me. He was so proud of his discovery and with good reason. Our group was starving and dehydrated, malnutrition taking its toll on our physical and mental energy.

I almost giggled as I thought Grant reminded me of Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. My favorite scene was always when Mr. Wonka brings all the kids and their guests to see his chocolate river. All the candy that hung from the trees or sprouted up from the grass! I loved when Mr. Wonka first introduces them to that place; he's so proud to let them run past him and explore (and stuff themselves with all the candy they could eat). As a kid, that looked like paradise to me.

Now watching Grant stand before us proudly, his arms out wide, I couldn't help but smile. He was genuinely happy to have found this so we could all run past him and stuff ourselves silly with all the food we could get our hands on.