I wake up with more pain in my back than before. My jaw hurts as well, but the rest of my body is starting to get better. The sun begins to shed light on us, which warms me up.
There's a pile of burnt sticks next to me and Colton is nowhere to be seen. I scan my surroundings, which is basically just a bunch of dry grass and then spot him a few hundred feet away. He's bent over looking at something near a few bushes.
"Whatcha doin?" I approach him. He's next to a small puddle of water, scooping it into a silver bottle. The water is murky and green, and full of dirt. It's practically mud. He wipes a drop of sweat away before looking up at me.
"Here. Drink up. You're probably dehydrated." He hands me the water bottle.
"You're giving me pond water? There's probably tons of bacteria in here." I look inside the bottle and cringe at the horrid smell. I'd rather stay thirsty.
"It's a water purifier. It's safe to drink." He rolls his eyes and walks off. For somebody who expects me to trust him, he's not very deserving of it. He shouldn't be mad after I refuse to drink contaminated water. How was I supposed to know that it's a water purifier?
"Why are you so mad at me all the time? What did I do?" I question. I'm sick of him treating me like this when we have only been here for a day. I've only known him for a few more hours than that, and this trip isn't going to go well if he continues to act like this. I wish Brooke was here.
"I'm not mad at you, per say, I'm mad at your stupidity. You really can't just trust me, can you?" He replies.
I shake my head. "No. You just seem like the kind of person to do something mean for no reason. I trust most people, just not you." I tell him while he pulls out his compass, then turns his body to walk the other direction.
"I am that kind of person. So don't piss me off."
I sigh. His sad attempt to scare me only makes me want to piss him off, just to see what happens. What is he going to do, leave me down here? He'd most definitely get kicked out for that so either way he'd lose. There's no point in trying to be nice to this guy, something must have happened to him to make him like this. Maybe his mother didn't love him.
His backpack is already full, but my sweatshirt and blanket are still lying on the ground. I help him stuff the blanket into the bag and I keep the sweatshirt because it's still a bit chilly outside.
It's the first article of clothing that I've seen from the Afterworld that isn't white, not even close. It's a maroon color with a silhouette of a mountain on the front of it.
"Where are we going?" I ask him while we walk through the dirt. I'm able to see a few towns below the hill we're walking down, and I would have thought that we would head towards that, but we actually pace up the mountain away from civilization.
It's getting really hard to try and gain his trust.
Colton looks at his compass, then up at the land in front of him. "I need to see where the nearest port is where we can get to Turkey."
"I feel like we're walking farther from the coast, though. Are you sure you're going the right way?" I question, but his glare answers it. "Sorry."
"We are."
Everything around me is a brown-ish green; there are bushes everywhere and hardly any other plants. The further we travel, the further we are from any houses or streets.
I don't question Colton this time because of how focused he is like he was constantly tracking where he was going.
I admit, though, that I'm shocked at how intuitive he is when we first got here, it would've taken me weeks to figure out I was on an island near Turkey. But then again, this isn't his first time doing this. I can't imagine doing this for the first time, you'd have to be extremely good at navigating to make your way through a foreign place.
I start to think that we're never going to reach the top of the mountain, and my breathing becomes louder and heavier. We aren't that high in altitude, I just haven't exercised in a while. You'd think if you died and come back to Earth, you'd come back in the same shape you died in, but unfortunately that isn't the case. I feel ridiculous wearing a white dress in a place like this.
Colton is doing just fine and doesn't notice me panting behind him.
He stops at the top of a small slope, holding his compass out in front of him. From here, we can see the coast of Cyprus, which is lined with hundreds of resorts and pools. There are a few large boats that lie next to the docks, bobbing up and down on the bright blue water.
"That's what we want." Colton looks at me with a proud smile, "Look how fast I found the coast and the sun just rose from the horizon."
"Impressive." I remark, my voice laced with sarcasm.
He elbows me in the side. "Why don't you try and do this yourself, blondie? You'd take twice as long."
"Well why don't we find out?" I challenge, raising an eyebrow and reaching out for his compass. It can't be that hard, right? His sly grin didn't go away.
"Go for it," He pauses, "if you never want to see your brother again." I groan as he steps in front of me. "I don't want to waste daylight arguing."
"You always start it!" I defend myself. He is the one who constantly starts making sarcastic and rude comments, he did it when we first met even. With that attitude, he's basically asking for an argument.
"Do not!" I can hear his soft laugh ahead as we make our way down the hill. Man, I really want to punch him sometimes. How did he even end up in the Afterworld? It sounds like he belongs in the Underworld in place of my brother. How come he made it just fine and Nick didn't? Even the afterlife isn't fair.
I notice my stomach start to grumble. I take a deep breath in to try and alleviate the discomfort, but that does nothing.
I wipe away the sweat coming down from my hairline and dream about the moment I am able to sit down and rest my sore legs.
"How far away is the coast? And what boat are we taking?" I call out to him. He's way ahead of me, but I don't bother to lessen the distance between us because my legs can't keep up with his. Colton's are way longer than mine, which gives him an advantage. I don't understand how he had that much endurance if he hardly goes on voyages. Maybe there's a gym in the stage three dorms that I don't know about, that could be the only explanation.
"About twenty more minutes. We're going to find a ferry to take to Turkey, so hopefully we get there without having to wait too long for it." He answers.
I raise my eyebrows. "Wow, no sarcastic comment to go with that?"
"Don't get used to it, Juliet." He emphasizes my name like it sounds funny to him. He really knows how to piss me off. I should have known better not to say that.
Colton and I are surrounded by resorts at the bottom of the hill, the buildings getting taller and fancier as we near the ocean. They all have outdoor pools that seem empty. I eye a child playing on the sand by the water in the far distance. He looks so happy, prancing around the piles of sand. He looks... alive. He has no idea what his future consists of and he has more of a chance of completing life than I did, he has a future. Oh how I wish to be alive. This is the closest I am going to get.
For the first time in months, tears begin to well in my eyes and I physically feel the pain in my face. My eyes start to burn and my skin tightens. My throat becomes dry and I bring my fingers to my face, wiping the excess liquid from my tear duct. I'm feeling real emotions.
"Alright now try not to come into contact with anyone. We have to avoid authority at all costs, just in case they try to take us away or something and we are unable to escape jail in time. Just stay close by, okay? We're basically like illegal immigrants here." Colton says as we slow our pace. He's worried about us getting arrested when we're not doing anything wrong? Maybe he's saying this from past experience.
He's walking incredibly slow and brings his shoulders back, straightening his posture. It makes him appear confident and comfortable, like he belongs here.
"Where's the ferry?" I whisper, though I don't know why. I doubt anyone speaks English here and whispering does nothing.
Colton shushes me with his finger pressed against his lips. "Just follow me. I don't know all of the names because they're in Turkish, but it's right by the tall white one."
I scan my surroundings, noticing that every single building is tall and white. That's when I notice he's being sarcastic. He just doesn't want me to talk.
Once we're quite literally on the beach of Cyprus, I see the ferry. It's quite large, almost like a cruise ship.
"Is that it?" I ask. It couldn't be, that thing could fit a thousand people on it. Ferries are supposed to only carry a few hundred at a time since it goes back and forth every hour or so.
"Yep. There's only one ferry that goes from Cyprus to Turkey, so it has to fit a lot of people on it. It looks like we might be a little early, it's not going to arrive for another ten minutes or so." Colton explains.
We reach the end of the strip of resorts, where a bunch of stores are scattered next to the beach. Ahead of us is a very long dock, and at the end of it is where I assume the ferry picks people up. There's already a very long line of people that spread throughout the entire dock.
"How are we going to pay for a ticket?" I question.
If Colton was right about there being multiple random portals to the middle world, then how would he know we would end up in Turkey? If he were to bring money, how would he know what currency to bring if our landing spot is unpredictable?
He shakes his head. "We're not. We're going to sneak onto it."
dusjsnakakkas
lmao
colton wild af