Escaping the Lost Island (working title)

Chapter 19

When I came to, I had no idea where we were. The storm was over, but the sun was hidden by thick clouds. The island was out of sight now and water stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions.

I sat up and my head spun.

"Have some water." Isaac handed me a coconut shell and I drank from it gratefully.

"Any sign of the other raft?"

I knew the answer to my own question before Toby said. "No. We lost them in the storm last night."

"Are you hungry?" Jessie asked. "We haven't fished yet, but we have bananas and walnuts."

I shook my head. The hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach had nothing to do with food. I didn't ask the other question on my mind. Looking around at the puffy eyes and streaked faces of my friends told me all I needed to know about Brian's fate.

Wrapping my arms around my legs, I rested my chin on my knees. For hours, no one said anything except to ask for food or water. My feet fell asleep several times and I had to shake them awake again, itching all over as tiny pins filled the area in question.

Toby took over steering at what I guessed was about two o clock in the afternoon but no one else moved more than a few inches. I longed for boredom. Then at least my mind would have been searching for something to occupy it. Instead I watched the events of last night unfold again and again. At some point, other painful memories entered my own personal horror film as well. Noelle coughing relentlessly, her skin ghostly pale; Mark's eyes glinting with madness, his toes gripping the edge of the cliff; Erin convulsing, her mouth foaming as poison spread through her veins; Adam thrashing in the swirling water. Then Adam's panicked face was replaced with Brian's and I watched him being dragged beneath the waves, never to resurface.

"Meg?"

It took me a moment to realize that the voice was coming from the present. I blinked repeatedly until my eyes focused on Rita kneeling in front of me.

"Are you alright?"

I said nothing, just looked at her. Of course I wasn't alright. None of us was alright. What was the point of saying so?

She seemed to understand that I didn't want to talk because she just sat down beside me and took my hand. At first I was uncomfortable with this arrangement. I am not generally one who seeks comfort in human contact. But since talking didn't seem to be a good way for me to vent, I gradually came to appreciate Rita's silent support.

As the sun crawled across the sky, the five of us were silent, lost in our own worlds. Night fell with little change. I took over steering and found myself somewhat refreshed by the experience. At the front of the raft, a salty breeze ruffled through my hair. My arms burned with the repeated rowing motion, but it required concentration, making it a welcome task.

"How're you holding up?"

Toby's voice startled me after hours of silence. "I'm alright."

He nodded. "Let me know when you need a break."

"Sure." But I wouldn't. There was no way I'd be able to sleep and I was dreading being left alone with my thoughts again.

Toby looked exhausted and I realized that he had slept even less than I had in the past two days. "You should try to get some rest," I told him.

He shook himself. "I'm good."

"Seriously," I said. "Sleep."

"I can't."

I couldn't argue with that. Looking over my shoulder, I noticed that Rita, Isaac, and Jessie were all slumbering away.

"I envy them," I said, lowering my voice so as not to wake them.

Toby glanced at Isaac who lay about a foot behind him. "Me too."

"Do you see them too?" I asked him.

"Them?"

"Noelle, Mark... all of them." I swallowed hard. "Dying."

"Yeah."

Silence again. Talking about it made it worse. The lump in my throat was becoming permanent. Quickly, I changed the subject. "What am I looking for exactly?"

"What do you mean?"

I shifted my grip on the rod. "Rita said something about a Charzarian directly above us."

"Cnidarian," Toby corrected me. "It's a star formation."

"What does it look like?"

"Like a jellyfish," he explained. "But it won't be directly above us for a while."

I looked up at the sky. Stars were starting to appear through the dissipating clouds. "Is it out right now?"

"Yep. It should be right over in this area about now." Toby pointed towards the eastern horizon.

The indicated area was presently clearing of clouds. When the stars emerged from the haze, I was underwhelmed with the result. "That looks nothing like a jellyfish."

"Sure it does," Toby refuted. "Look. Here are the tentacles." He stretched his arm out in front of me and traced invisible lines on the sky. "And then the head." His looped his finger around.

I almost smiled. "Okay," I relented. "It's a bit of a stretch to call it a jellyfish though."

"Fair enough."

We settled into comfortable silence and shortly, I began to at last feel weary. Still, I held out for another hour or so. It wasn't until my eyes were nearly closing as I steered that I spoke up. "Toby, I hate to do this but do you-" I interrupted myself with a yawn."

He too had been dozing but in an instant he was awake. "Sleep," he said firmly. "I can take over.

His hands closed over mine on the rod and I was briefly reminded of two nights ago. How long ago that seemed.

I slid backward into Toby's now vacant spot to keep the raft sufficiently balanced. I had barely curled myself into a ball when I fell asleep.

I was in a swirling whirlpool of water, choking. Then Brian was there. He reached out to me, his mouth open in a wordless cry. I grabbed his hand and held it tightly. Suddenly Brian's face began to melt, dripping off of his skull. I screamed and released him. Then Erin was before me, her eyes rolling, and spittle clinging to the edges of her open mouth. Again the face changed and it was Noelle, her eyes hollow, pleading.

My eyes flew open and my nightmare disappeared as quickly as it had started. Sweat coated my entire body. I concentrated on returning my heart rate to normal, taking deep, steady breaths. The others were slept on around me, save for Toby who was still steering. Still breathing heavily, I lay back and stared at the sky.