FOCUS: Hidden Strengths

Day Three (Afternoon)

Tia

I was sitting on the edge of the raft with my feet dunked in the cool water when it happened. Suddenly, the whole world faded into darkness and I was sitting in a theater, complete with purple plush seats and a huge screen. (Sadly, there was no popcorn.) Because this had happened a few times before, I didn’t freak out. But I knew I was about to see either the future or the past. Afterall, that was what Julie said my focus was: future & past. (I haven't actually seen the past yet, not that I know of.)

The screen flickered on to show me talking to Zach in high definition, who looked cute with his hair partially covering his right eye. I felt a little disjointed at first, because I’ve never seen myself in one of these clips. After I recovered, I figured out that I couldn’t really hear what we were saying, but I could make out a few words: Naveen, guard, death, and Bo.

Weird. Those words don’t even seem to go together. Then, the screen suddenly changed to a different scene. This time, the clip wasn’t so pleasant.

It showed a boy floating in the water, his long, wet, dirty-blond hair covering most of his face. But I could still make out who it was. The boy in the stream was Bo and he was most certainly dead. I shuddered at the scene. Why is Bo dead in the future? Where is he? Why is he in the river? When will this actually happen? Or did it already happen?

The screen then rewinded itself. It once again showed me whispering to Zach about something, the whole conversation pretty much inaudible, again. I wasn’t really paying attention anymore, anyways. My mind was already filled with questions and horror. What if this has already occurred and I can’t do anything to stop it?

And then it hit me. I haven’t talked to Zach on the boat yet, mostly because he was always in the water. This must be sometime in the future. And if I will talk to Zach in the future, then Bo’s death also hasn’t happened yet. I released a breath I didn’t know I had been holding.

I closed my eyes to let all the information sink in. When I opened them, I was back in the boat with my feet still dipped in the water. Quickly, I stood up and headed towards Naveen, the only person besides Bo on the boat. I had to warn Zach and anyone else who would listen about what I saw.

Savannah

We’ve been walking alongside the river since I woke up from my well-earned nap. As soon as I woke up, I recounted everything that I had done in the morning -- mostly to make sure I didn't miss any important details -- so I’m pretty sure Lizzie knows what I did. We haven’t actually talked about it yet, though.

I really don’t know why we’re walking along the river. I think everyone just wants something to do besides wonder how we managed to appear on this island. Oh, well. At least my temper has some-what faded from this morning. Although, that probably has something to do with the fact that I’m not stressed out right now.

One of the downfalls of walking with others was that they complain, like Lizzie was doing now. I couldn’t even get the satisfaction of yelling at her to shut up because she knows everything I'm thinking, pretty much as I think it. So now, I'm stuck waiting for someone else to speak up, because they don’t know her focus yet.

"Just shut up already, okay?!” Henry finally said. Thank goodness.

Lizzie, obviously trying not to get too excited by the fact that Henry just talked to her (it's almost as if she was waiting for this moment), replied, “No! I’m so bored it’s not even funny! I don’t even know why we decided to follow the boat. It goes too fast to keep walking behind it. I can barely see it now, if that’s even the boat. I’m going to try to climb this tree to make sure we didn’t lose it from out sight again.”