lie to me → s.d.

.23 | big promises

          Theodora awoke on the shore. Her eyes opened and squinted against the searing sunlight, and her fingers curled slowly into the soft sand beneath her. It was damp and warm, and the air smelled like sea salt. Her head spun. And that was all she knew.

          Risking her head pounding like a hammer against her skull even more, she slowly propped herself up so that she was sitting on her butt, back hunched and legs spread at awkward angles from where the sea had eventually calmed and apologetically deposited her on the sand. Staring back at her was the endless stretch of crystal-real water of King's Bay, and nothing else. No land. No boats. Nothing, but the gentle waves that ebbed sheepishly at her feet. She glanced over her grain-covered shoulder and her lips parted.

          Behind her was the sky-scraping, mountainous island that she had seen through Avery's telescope; the island where his treasure lay, patiently waiting somewhere for someone to come and claim it. And by how long she had been lying there, judging by the sun's position, it wouldn't be a surprise if Shoreline had gotten there first.

          Throat dry and mouth parched, she stumbled slowly to her feet, then promptly collapsed back over onto her ass with a soft 'ugh.' She was thirsty; really thirsty, and her body wasn't letting her go anywhere without letting her know so. She tried again, and this time maintained her stance as she weakly brushed herself off and took a look around. The shore went on around sharp bends in either direction; there was no sign that anyone else had ever even set foot there.

          "Hello?" she tried to call, and it came out in a stage-whisper. She swallowed dryly. "Sam? Nate?"

          There wasn't a reply, unless she counted the haw-haw-haws of the tropical birds deep in the rainforest, as if they were laughing at her. Frogs and insects and winged creatures sang for her as she started to walk along the shore on wobbly feet. Her toes dragged in the sand and she reached up to touch her face when she realized a missing weight; her nose ring was gone. Her chest thrummed painfully as she scanned the horizon, as if she would be granted supervision to see just where it had landed on the bottom of the ocean. She saw no such thing, and kept on.

          Theodora wondered where the boys were - if they had even made it as far as she had - and she quickly banished the thought from her mind. "Hello!" she yelled in a strained voice. The single word seemed to rip through her throat like razors and she nearly doubled over to cough up half her lungs. When she quickly realized the island itself was possibly bigger than New York City, she left the beach and started into the lush green forest, feeling as though she could lay down in the shade and stay there for eternity.

          As she walked through the rainforest that sang its symphony of wild howls and silent sighs, she realized that the brush she was walking through was snapped and broken in places, long straight lines that continued on into the unseen. She knelt, barely able to keep herself from falling, and examined the plants stomped into the mud, and found rounded imprints in the dirt as well; boot marks. Someone had been here, and not too long ago.

          She lifted her head and looked around. "Samuel!" she cried. "Nathan?"

          When no one called back to her, she stood again and moved to follow the trail, eyes aching against the continuous motion beneath her feet as she went. She felt like she might have been sick, from the way the forest floor was spinning and her chest was burning like a volcano about to erupt. Water. She needed water, and fast.

          There was a noise in the distance. Theodora halted her movements, half-leaning against a tree with her fingers burrowed into the rigged bark. She listened closely, straining her ears, and she heard it again. A tiny voice, an electronic click, like a radio buzzing. Her legs surged forward and she trampled over the track she had been following. "Hey," she said, and the voice turned into a couple. "Guys?"