Lost Island

Chapter 9: Hide 'N Seek

Cold. It was so cold he was sure he'd freeze to death. But there was nothing he could do; not a thing but lay there and shiver through the harsh wind that somehow found its way underneath the layer of bark. But it wasn't just the wind, but the rain. It had rained throughout the entire night and lasted until early morning. And now the sand under him was cold to the touch. He may have gotten only a couple hours of sleep in total his entire stay on this island, but he still couldn't sleep. Not with the cold and after everything...

A chill ran down his shine at the thought of what had happened just yesterday. They'd escaped...or most of them anyway. After countless days in a cell, they'd escaped. Except him. He'd never forget the feeling of leaving his fallen friend behind, knowing the same could happen to him. He wouldn't forget and because of that every night he'd lay wide awake, too afraid to sleep. He knew deep down that he wasn't coming back again, that he wasn't going to suddenly appear in front of his eyes and be in his life again. He was really dead this time.

Each of them hid under their own layer of bark in an attempt to hide from them. They all prepped their stations that they'd be for some time on top of the sandy beach and close by the shore. They were all spread out as well. Snakes were a concern. But when they thought about it, none have really seen any near the shore; they were mainly in the forest. And so they tried out their spots, each taking a glimpse around every now and then but never saw any snake anywhere near them.

"You're crying too loudly. They'll hear you."

He held his breath to try and stop himself him crying. He hadn't even known he was. He brushed the stray tears off his face away and closed his eyes. He knew he couldn't let them hear him and so he forced himself to keep quiet. He could tell that he was beginning to fall asleep and he tried to keep himself awake, but sleep ultimately won him over by pure exhaustion.

When he awoke, the first thing he felt was the morning sun beating against his forehead through the wood that was still covering him and his friends. He creaked his eyes opened and found that his friends were all accounted for under their barks.

The sun. He smiled lightly as he felt the sun beat against his forehead. It was no longer insanely cold, in fact it wasn't cold at all. It was hot instead. Strange, it had never been that cold on the island since his arrival.

It was when the sleep went away that he realized just how sore his back was. He groaned in misery, debating whether to walk around for a bit. But there was a problem, it was morning and the sun, of course, was out which would make him easy to spot. He rolled onto a side as he formed a question to ask.

"Think it's a bad idea to stretch my legs?" he finally asked.

"Yeah, we don't want to get caught, Levi."

He glanced at Harry who had spoken, the two locking eyes briefly. "Okay," Levi muttered quietly in response, turning onto his other side. He closed his eyes again and let sleep take him away, feeling there wasn't much else to do. He found that last night went well and instead of any nightmares, he actually got some rest. And so he decided to go to sleep.

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Levi sucked in a large breath of air and released it slowly, trying to calm himself down, but it only helped slightly. He was still shaking uncontrollably in fear, even more so than when they were trying to hide the hole site from their captor. He didn't like Captain Drake's plan at all. Levi had thought he'd have a better plan than this because this one was horrible.

Levi looked around at the others and found that they didn't like the plan either.

"No, Captain," Harry begged, wildly shaking his head and looking at him with pleading eyes. "I don't want to run off in plain sight! Someone will die, or maybe we all will!"