Island Rush (Sample)

Chapter 6

Then, it stopped. But there was no answer on the other end. Mr. Rush seemed to realize this and slowly pulled the phone away from his ear, fearing what he would see on the screen. It was my fear too — and it came true. Nothing glowed on the screen of my phone. It was dead.

He stalked back to the bank, not giving me the chance to see his expression. Staring at his back as I followed behind him back up the bank, I could see the tension in his body as he moved. Not to mention the air around him completely changed. This damaged him, and I saw the extent of that damage when we were both back on the bank.

He swiftly turned to me, surprising me with his sudden movement. The moment he did that, though, I could see it plain on his face. I realized that throughout all of this, he was hiding his fear, his sadness, and worry. He played the tough guy this whole time, but I saw that was just another mask of his. He was terrified of our future and who might be alive and dead in it. Neither of us really wanted to acknowledge the future or the reality of the situation.

However, the reality was that there wasn't much of a chance of escaping this place. Even with the chance of our message on the beach being seen, it didn't help. Who would look closely enough to see that? Who would actually be able to see that in the first place? I think this whole time, Mr. Rush knew that was a hope that couldn't be relied on. And when what seemed to be a miracle came – my phone – he couldn't hide how worried he was. He lost his hope and faith about leaving here when that phone died. I could see it. Now, he gave me the chance to hear it when he turned to face me.

"How could you be so selfish?" he hissed at me, catching me off guard. "Why would you do this to me?" His voice picked up enough to be classified as yelling. His eyes though with that tone... it was begging.

"W-What?" I gaped at him. How was I the cause?

"You knew you had that phone. We could have been out of here. But you just let it sit in your pocket, for over a day, waiting for it to die."

"Why would I do that?" I asked, outraged.

"You don't want to leave this place! I know you don't. You would rather stay here than face your shitty life back home!"

"You think I would do that to you?! I wouldn't drag you down with me, leaving you stranded with me no matter what I want. No matter if I hate my life and want to stay here because I know you have a life worth living!" My words were automatic; I meant everything I said. Including wanting to stay here. Because though I was scared, I had to admit to myself that this was better than home. However, I would never condemn him here with me.

He shook his head as if he didn't hear a word I said. "Your life is that screwed up that you would want to stay here, struggling to live. The pathetic thing is you can't be the only one here. You need someone to leech off of just so you aren't alone and scared. You are so desperate and selfish that you would have me rot here with you. You would take down my chance to go home to my family."

That was it. No matter how weak I felt here, I would not drag him down. I would never intentionally keep him here if there was a chance he could get out. And for him to think that I was heartless enough to do that... it sent me over.

I wound my arm back, balled it up, and swung with all my weight put into it. I punched his face without another thought. I didn't think it through, but it felt good to have my hand collide with his jaw. It made him stagger back, surprised by the power I put behind it. I felt the need to shake my hand with how much it stung. I have punched before; punched my dad once and learned that would be the last time I did that. This was different. He didn't hold power over me.

He looked stunned. Waiting to see what else crossed his face wasn't an option. I sprinted off after that, grabbing my shirt that was still on the ground as I went. I ran into the woods with a scowl on my face. I didn't want to deal with him, and that was that. I don't know why he affected me so much, but he did. He knew how to get under my skin. Accusing me and disrespecting me like that was something I wasn't going to take.