Welcome To Jurassic Hell

Ch. 24: Neglection

I don't look at Darius that morning at all, and everyone notices. They all give the two of us strange looks but never say anything.

After eating a stale but food breakfast, I decide to go spend some time with myself by the ravine with my guitar.

But after sliding down to the ground and walking to said stream, my heart stops at the sight below me.

There's nothing. No water.

Dirt dry.

"Um, guys?" I call.

"Yeah?" Darius calls, and I don't look at him when I tell them all to come down. They do, and all gasp.

"Where'd the water go?" Sammy asks.

Yasmina turns and glares at Kon, who rolls his eyes.

"Why don't you ask Mr. 45-Minute-Shower?"

"Hey! Looking good is part of my brand. And no way I drained to whole river."

Brooklyn jumped down into the deep pit that once was the river and looked around, while Darius continued speaking.

"We better figure out what's up. We're gonna run out of water. Let's-"

"Shh!"

Brooklyn now stands across from us on the other side of the river, holding a finger to her lips to quiet us. Everyone looks at her, confused.

"I hear that hum again."

Oh, come on...

Ever since a few days ago, Brooklyn's been claiming she's heard and seen strange things: a strange, windy hum, and a frozen patch of daisies. A frozen patch. The island had to be getting to her faster than it was to us, because that wasn't possible.

"The river must've been drowning it out. It I follow that, I can find-"

"A frozen patch of flowers." Everyone voices at the same time, making the girl sink back.

"Oh. I've mentioned it, huh?"

"The frozen flowers you found once but never saw again?" I scoff. "Yeah. A few hundred or so times."

Brooklyn tried to justify herself, which only ends up in us finishing her sentence again. She huffs out an annoyed breath. I'd feel bad for her if I didn't hate her.

"If you're gonna go look for the noise, I'll come too!" Sammy volunteered. She sprinted over to Brooklyn. "If that's okay with you. It'd be nice to have an adventure for a fun reason, and not a 'fleeing dinosaurs or facing imminent death' reason."

Yasmina jumped over to them, not needing any help since, while on their little adventure last week, the others found some bandages and a cast. She also volunteers to go, making all the girls excited. I, however, felt annoyed.

"Blake, are you comin' too?"

Everyone's eyes turned to me, and I bit my lip.

"I, uh...I guess?"

Hesitantly, I go over to join the girls, staying as far away as I can from Brooklyn.

"Great! You guys do that, while me and Kenji go figure out why the river stopped." Darius points back to Kon, who's poking at his ear.

I look back at the girls and sigh.

This is going to be fun...

————

For once, I'm actually sympathizing with Brooklyn.

Sammy and Yasmina were...well, they were definitely bonded, that's for sure. They acted as if they'd known each other their entire lives the way they talked and laughed and shared stories. They were best friends that didn't shut up!