Wish You Were Here

16

The three of us rushed back to the others. The water was like rain and I had to admit it felt great on my skin. As we got to the rest of our group, they shared the same confused expression.

"They're watering the garden with...sprinklers in the trees?" Will said, almost laughing.

They all stood huddled together under a shady tree, but I didn't want to get out of the water. I let it drench my hair and face. Cal stepped out from under the tree first. She joined me and tipped her head back. We spun around in circles.

"What?" Cal asked them. "It's not like any of us have had a shower lately!"

Grant laughed in embarrassment. "She has a point." He ran over and joined us.

Will and Aaron both came over and I danced over to Beth. She took my hand and giggled.
We were all completely soaked. It felt so refreshing under the hot summer sun. I felt slightly more energized, thanks to the food and now with a shower of sprinkler water.

Finally, the sprinklers shut off and we looked like a bunch of wet dogs; shaking and twisting about.

"Alright!" Grant clapped his hands together. "Grab what you can. Let's start our trail out of here."

I wrung my hair out with my hands and pushed it out of my face. Cal and I each got next to Beth so we could help her down the rest of the trail. Grant was about to hop back over the large mound of dirt to get back on the path when we heard a loud noise. Instinctively, we crouched down, looking above us to the sky.

"There!" Will yelled out, pointing.

An explosion had gone off right near the shore and flames were now quickly blazing over the trees.

"What happened?" I shrieked. "What could cause an explosion like that?"

Grant stood by my side, shaking his head.
"I'm not sure. That's over near the boat, isn't it?"

Will was standing with his hand blocking the sun from his face. "I can't tell for sure if anything was hit, but yeah, that's the general vicinity of Dean's boat."

"How are we going to get off this island without a boat?" Aaron shouted.

"We don't know for sure if the boat was hit-" Cal started to say.

Aaron interrupted her. "Grant, what do we do now, huh? You led us all the way up here instead of taking us to the boat. And now what?"

"Hey, I already explained why I chose to come up here. And I'd say that decision paid off, wouldn't you?" His arms spread out wide.

"We did get food and water, so-" I tried to add.

"I could get food and water at home!" Aaron barked at me. "You wanna be happy up here, go ahead! But I want off this damn island before we all blow up with it."

I flinched at his yelling. Grant took a step in front of me, blocking me from Aaron.

"We all want that," he told Aaron. "Believe it or not, I'm trying to not get us killed though in the process. Obviously something is...strange about this place. Traps and cameras. This garden! I don't want to lead us somewhere we won't wanna be."

"Well, I don't wanna be here! Got it?"  Aaron stepped up in Grant's face.

Grant didn't back down. He held his stance in front of me. Will took a step closer to Grant, and I nervously looked at Cal. She gave me a look back and stood in front of Beth.