That night we ate some fruit and picked which hut we would stay in. There were five huts – two for the girls and two for the boys. The last hut was multipurpose. I got a hut with Sarah, Maya, Emily, Mary, Clare, and Katy. Mrs. Reed shared a hut with Tammie, Opal, Amanda, Cassidy, Cindy, and June. I heard a few girls sniffling, and Sarah was whimpering. Maya and I pulled Sarah closer to us and held her. Then we drifted into a world where nothing could go wrong.
When I woke up, some of the boys were just finishing three other huts. When I asked them what they were for, Sam told me that one was for everyone’s bags, one is for a boy bathroom, and one is for a girl bathroom. “Oh cool. Thanks,” I said.
I walked back to the beach and saw Noah in the water. That looked like fun! Luckily I had my bathing suit on under my clothes, so as soon as I was ready, I ran down to the beach and silently waded into the water. Brr! It was cold! It felt really nice though because I could tell that it would be a hot day. Noah’s back was turned, so I quietly swam over to him and dunked him. He screamed like a little girl! I turned around and swam off quickly because everyone knew that Noah wasn’t one to be messed with. I was halfway up the beach when suddenly a pair of arms came around me and Noah threw me over his shoulder. Noooo! I screamed and kicked, but Noah wouldn’t take it. He ran back to the water and threw me in. By now everyone was up and laughing at us from the top of the beach. Someone jumped into the water with us. Then another. Soon almost everyone was swimming and laughing. Even Sarah was here.
I lead them to the swimming hole. Surprisingly one of the guys brought a portable speaker. It was really fun with everyone joking and laughing. I was listening to the music. Then I heard something that I shouldn’t have. It started as a low rumble and worked its way into a roar. By now everyone was looking at the dark sky. Then it started to rain hard. We picked up all of our stuff and ran back to the huts. The water was leaking through the roofs of the huts, so the guys strapped some tarps to them. After they were all done, we hurried inside and sat down. Then Carlos ran in panicking. “Guys! The plane is moving!” That got everyone moving. I told Sarah to stay in the hut while we ran back outside. By now it was 2:30 pm.
The plane was in bad shape and it was really close to the water. The tide was coming in too. While the boys worked out a plan to move the plane up, the girls moved all of the luggage and food into one of the huts. When we were all done with that, it was almost too late. A lot of the plane was already in the water. We saw the boys running back and forth, getting big logs and laying them on the ground. They were going to move it the fishermen way. When a fisherman would move his boat, he would push the boat up on some logs and push it forward. When it got to the top of the logs, he would take the back logs and move them forward. That’s what we did. Only we pushed too early and Noah got hurt. When he collapsed on the ground, I moved him up to one of the huts. Maya came with me. It was hard work moving him. He weighed almost twice as much as us! Finally we got to the hut with the supplies. We dragged him in and made him comfortable on a pile of blankets. I was just about to leave when Maya turned to me and said, “I’ll go. You stay. You know more about taking care of someone than I do. I’ll bring Sarah in and then go help the others.” I got the gauze roll out of the medical kit and wrapped it around a gash on Noah’s head. Then I covered him with a blanket and sat there. A minute later, Sarah came in with a doll in her hands. “Is he going to be okay,” she asked, rushing over. “Yah, he just got hit by something,” I said. She scooted up and fell asleep next to Noah. I found another blanket and covered her with it. Then I found a corner and fell asleep too.
When I woke up, I saw Sarah talking to Noah. They looked up when I went over there. “Hi, did you have a nice nap?” I asked. They looked guilty. That’s weird. “Oh, um, yeah, I guess,” Noah said. I sat down by his feet. “So what happened? What hit you?” I asked. He looked deep in thought for a moment. “I’m not sure. I think something pushed me and I fell.” “Did someone push you?” I asked. “No, it was the plane,” Noah said.
Maya came in, soaking wet. “Oh good. You guys are up. That plane was HEAVY! We finally got it in the clearing a little bit. We just had funerals for all the people who didn’t make it. We’re going to have Sarah’s mother’s funeral now. I was told to come get her.” Sarah was shaking a little. I put in her in my lap and said, “Sure, we’ll be there.” As I was getting up, Noah tried to go as well. He looked really pale, so I pushed him down again and said, “It’s okay. You need rest.”
Sarah was crying softly into my shoulder. I held her close. “What was that?” Maya asked me. “What was what?” I said.
“You know Harmony! Don’t try to deny it – you guys were being NICE to each other! It’s kind of creepy.”
I laughed. Inside I was grimacing. It was creepy. We were never nice to each other! I was brought out of my thoughts when Sarah stirred in my arms. I set her down and we finished walking the rest of the way. It had stopped raining, but it was still cloudy and dark.
The whole class stood around the hole that some of them dug in the sand. Thankfully the hole was already half filled by the time we got there. Sarah wept openly for her mother. It made a lot of the girls and a few of the boys get teary-eyed too. Sarah grabbed a handful of sand and threw it into the hole, then watched everyone else do the same. When the hole was filled, we left. Poor Sarah.
