Island Rush (Sample)

Chapter 7

What I said to him was obviously open for questions. "What could you have to take care of? You were stuck and had no way out. You said you had to endure your father until you turn eighteen and then you would leave."

What he didn't know was that I lied about that, but I sure wasn't telling him that. "Yes, but I have some things to take care of. I'm not letting this get off topic. Why couldn't you just call someone that you knew would get us out of here?"

"I know, and I'm sorry because I wasn't even thinking. Then, I went off to you."

I shook my head. "Talk about selfish," I said harshly. I walked on, leaving him struggling behind. Good. I wasn't going to feel bad about my earlier concerns; it wasn't my fault for forgetting about the phone when he was the one that wrecked the chance of getting back home.

For the rest of the day, I showed him that it would take more for me to forgive him that easily. He deserved me ignoring him. It was such a selfish thing he did... It really did surprise me he would do such a stupid thing like that. Who the hell would do what he did? For the reason that he did it? My God. Why would he do that to us? Why would he do that to himself?

I was fuming. When evening arrived, and the sun was setting, I tried forcing better thoughts upon my silent self... like how this was in the past, and we couldn't do anything about what happened now, and how guilty I was of something stupid too.

When darkness was approaching, after a long day of walking, he sighed and stopped walking. "We should make a camp."

I stopped with him, turned and faced him. I nodded hesitantly at the first words spoken in hours. We really should probably make camp. I didn't want to waste time to find water or food but looking at night wouldn't help much especially if I was frozen.

My body was preparing for the night ahead with the goosebumps that rose from the cold. It didn't help that we had no extra clothing to use for blankets, which sucked with the nights getting colder.

Despite being upset still, I was happy Mr. Rush was here. Not just because I would feel safe with him but because I saw something different about him. He seemed more human now than he did before. It made me feel a form of comfort.

"Can we make a fire?" I asked him as he stood before me.

He sighed in relief, happy I was at least talking to him. "We can try. It will be hard."

We gathered dried up sticks, brush, and leaves and set them in a pile. Then, we stared at it as if hoping it would magically come alive. Mr. Rush sighed and looked around. Then he walked a few feet behind me only to retrieve two thick sticks. I raised my eyebrow. "Does that actually work?"

"Yeah. Not sure if it will actually happen with us, but we'll see."

We both knelt down in front of the pile, and Mr. Rush went to work in an instant. He began rubbing one stick against the other, causing friction that would hopefully set off a spark. After five minutes, though, nothing happened. Then after another five minutes, the slight breeze in the air became stronger.

"Do you think it's the wind?"

He already considered that and nodded. "Yeah."

Repositioning himself, he moved closer to the pile, putting his back to the breeze. He made sure that the air wasn't getting to it as he continued rubbing the sticks together. Nothing happened still besides the fact that I could hear his breath pick up as he pushed the sticks faster and with more desperation. Yet, we saw no spark in the darkness. He didn't want to give up according to the sound of his teeth colliding in between gasps. It felt as if it was getting colder by the second when I started shivering like that too.