Paradise

Recoup

"Stephanie?" I breathed in the words.

"And Seth!?" Jace announced in confusion. Holly gasped and I ran into the cave. Water splashed around me until I reached the dry patch where both of their bodies laid motionless. I checked Steph's pulse on her neck first to make sure she was alive. I could feel a weak thump against my fingertips. Her skin was cold, her wavy hair was slightly wet and had pieces of seaweed intertwined in each loose wave. Her lips were slightly pale and she was breathing slowly. I was relieved to feel a pulse and held her body close and cried.

"Steph wake up." I said while I clutched her motionless body. She didn't respond. "Come on Steph!" I shook her shoulders but she was still and slowly breathing. I felt a cold shiver run through me and turned to the body laying next her. Jace and Holly were splashing water onto Seth's face. Holly tapped the sides of his face after checking his pulse.

"Stop!He's awake." Holly stopped Jace's hand from dumping more water. Seth coughed and wiped the brown grit from his face. His deep blue eyes readjusted to the scene in front of him and he sat up spooked.

"What in the-" he flinched back and looked around at us. "Jace? Holl.. Cleo? You're alive?" He splashed the water with his hands and laughed. The water droplets fell onto the dirt making tiny different wet spots. "You're alive!" Holly was tearing up and Jace patted Seth on his back.

"You... I'm... I'm alive?" He touched his chest and head. His attention immediately went to Steph's body.

"Is she ok?" he scooted over towards us.

I shook my head yes and still rocked her body in my arms. A sigh of relief escaped his dry lips.

"What happened?" I asked facing Seth. He looked at me blankly.

"What do you think? We were all flung from the plane in different directions. I carried Stephanie all the way here." he pointed around the cave. "I'm lucky we even survived the impact of hitting the water. It felt like a million needles slapped my entire body at once." He winced at the memory and rubbed the back of his arms. His skin looked reddish tan around the lining of his bicep.

"What about her?" Jace looked at Steph with concern.

"I swam us to shore. My body was immobile at first and I began to sink underneath the water, I thought to myself 'This was it, it's over.', but I had this adrenaline rush when I saw her," he stopped and inhaled slowly, " when I saw her sinking too. So I swam us both to the shore. My head was still dizzy and she wasn't breathing." I thought I saw a glint of a tear in the corner of his eyes. I held my sister closer to me an plucked out the pieces of seaweed.

"I tried CPR and everything and she finally coughed up the water, almost in to my mouth, but was still unconscious. You know... she has really soft lips-"

"Not now Seth." Holly warned. I glared and he mouthed a 'sorry'. Jace rolled his eyes.

"Ok, ok. I carried her around hoping to find you guys or anyone else, but we were alone. So I wondered around the forest a bit and found this cave. I thought it would be a good place to put her until I found someone. I ventured a little further into the woods and got sunburned," he looked at his arms.

"That's it?" Jace exchanged a glance at Holly.

"Oh and I found the plane." Seth added grinning.

All of our eyes were on Seth.

"You found it? Where is it?" I asked him.

"It's only part of the plane. It's not too far from here. I rushed back here to see if Stephanie was awake to bring her with me but I when I went to pick her up I began to feel weak and passed out." he looked troubled and glanced a few times towards Stephanie.