Chapter Four
We made a place for “camp” fairly close to the shore. It was maybe a mile away from shore but it was a huge mountain with it’s own large spot of grass behind it. Also the huge mountain had a huge indent right next to it and many holes which I thought was weird yet convenient.
“Okay so we should start to get wood to build the shelter,” Jared suggested.
“Who would watch the luggage though?” I pointed to them, dirty and rough, laying on the floor.
“It’s not they have legs, they can’t walk,” he scoffed.
I crossed my arms. “Fine. I can stay. You can go.”
He scowled at me. “Whatever.” He drops the deflated lifeboat and leaves, going deeper and deeper into the never ending trees.
I glare at him as he walks away. I turn to the bags. It’s still raining and they’re getting soaked. There is no shelter in the area we picked but we can build a big shelter. I put all the bags in a corner and crawl over to them. It’s freezing and I can barely see. I shiver and shiver. Sierra or Lizzie must have packed a blanket or something. But I can’t open the bags. They’d get wet instantly.
Jared comes back faster than I expected with more wood than I could count. “There’s a woodpile not far from here. Should we build against the rock?” He said, pulling his sweatshirt closer to him.
I nod and stand up, helping him set up the wood. They are fairly long and some short and thin but they are easy to work with. We set all of them below the dirt and mush the dirt close to the sticks so they stay up.
“Want me to get more wood?” Jared shouted over the leaves.
“No, I’ll go this time. There are palm trees closer to the ocean. Go get some leaves.” He nods and starts running the direction towards the ocean and I run the opposite way. He was right. The woodpile wasn’t so far. It was half a mile away. It was actually a field of destroyed trees and the branches were all dark and thick.
I grab as many as I could muster and run back to the campsite. Jared is not back yet so I start aligning the top of it with more sticks and branches. I take a look at the shelter. It’s as big as an average kitchen so it could fit probably 4 people, at least.
I see Jared charging over from the distance with leaves in his hand. He quickly puts them on the roof of the shelter and goes in, grabbing my hand along the way.
We sit down, Jared sitting against the left wall of the shelter and I’m sitting on the mountain rock which is wet but warm. I close my eyes inhaling the rainy scent. We sit there from minutes and minutes just breathing in the coldness but warmth of the moment.
“Are you cold?”
I snap out of my trance and look toward the voice. Jared is staring at me. His brown hair was flopped in front of his face and his knees with placed up under his chin. I stare at him. He looks less….well this is the first time I look at him, and he’s at peace. As if nothing is about him getting girls or being a jerk.
“Amelia, did you hear me?”
I shake my head. “Yeah. I heard. I’m fine.”
He nods and looks at the ground. I see the bags again and grab all of them. He sees me do the action and reaches for one. I snatch it out of his grasp.
“No, no, no you pervert. I know what you’re doing.” I said, staring at him with a knowing look on my face.
“What do you mean by that?” He asked, shocked.
“I mean that you want to unzip one of these bags and see a girl’s undergarments. Well, I’m not letting that happen.”
“Hey! I’m not some pedo!”
“Are you sure?” I smirked at him, squinting my eyes to add suspicion.
“Shut up!” Even though his face is covered by his knees, I can still see the blush spreading across his face. I start chuckling as he hides it but my chuckle turns into a full blown laugh as he starts to frown at me. I contain myself soon enough and tell him to turn around. He obeys.
I open Sierra’s bag first. It has undergarments, shoes, girl products, and clothes - mostly dresses - in it that should last a girl about 2 weeks. No wonder it was so heavy. There was still a little more space so I make this the clothes bag. I set everything that isn’t clothes, which does include shoes, aside and open Lizzie’s bag. It had about the same thing but had more space and less clothes. This could be the shoes and extra things I guess.
“Are you done?” He asked, his voice slightly annoyed.
“Wait one second.” I said quickly. I put all girl products in my bag which barely had anything since most stuff was in Sierra’s. I put my shoes in Lizzie’s bag and placed my hands in my lap. “Okay. I’m done.” I was satisfied.
He turns around and looks at the bags, all zipped up. “So which bags are off limits?”
“My bag. The rest of the bags we could rip up the clothes to make new ones.” I said, nodding along. It was a smart idea. But not an easy one either.
He nodded. “So what about food?”
I pause for a moment. “Huh?”
“Ya’ know….that thing we need to survive. Oh and don’t forget water.”
“I guess….we either find a place with the freshest water and boil it.”
“Oh yeah. I have a lighter.” He opens his Nike bag and passes it to me. But not before pulling out a pack of cigarettes.
I gasp. “What the hell? You smoke?”
He shrugs. “Yeah. That and I was gonna pull a few pranks on the ship but didn't get to it so….” He lights the cigarette, lifting it in his mouth. He passes the lighter to me and I hold it in my hands. It feels weird but….I kind of feel rebellious I have to admit.
It’s still raining outside and I don’t want to get soaked again but I have to. “Hey, I’ll go get some wood and leaves for the fire. You go get some fruit or something, okay?” He nods, letting out a puff of smoke from the cigarette.
I run out of the shelter and pick up random rocks and leaves. It doesn’t take even a minute to do. When I come back, Jared is still looking for food. I shiver and quickly dig a hole about a half inch deep. I make the circle about 4 meters diameter and put rocks to surround it. It put the sticks in a square shape, using all of them. I put the grass in the middle, grabbing the lighter. I take a deep breath and light the grass and wood. Fire erupts and I blow on it slowly to add intensity.
I silently cheer to myself. I look over to the place Jared went to. I still can’t see him. I grab Lizzie’s bag and unzip it, finding some cozy blankets for the both of us. There are actually a lot of blankets, about 5. I put one underneath me and one to cover myself with. I also give Jared some.
The rain has died down and I start to see Jared’s figure with a lot of food in his hand. “I found some coconuts. We could use those as bowls when we’re done drinking them. And I found some bananas. Well, a lot of bananas. Took me time to wash them and make sure they were clean” He gestures towards the bananas. Then his eyes widen as he sees the fire. “Wow.”
“Wait you found a water source?” I quirk an eyebrow.
“Yeah but I didn’t have anything to carry it in. It’s a freshwater pond a short while from here.” He sits down and places the food next to the fire. “Shouldn’t we change clothes or something? We don’t want to catch a cold.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” I look back outside. “The rain has died down. I don’t know if there are any animals but we should put a wall on the outer space to close ourselves in. And the roof is kind of leaking.” He nods and hurries to grab some more wood while I do the same.
This is how it is for the next few hours. We add more wood to our fire and to our shelter. We made another wall to close off the wilderness and cover the opening with leaves hanging from the roof. We got water and purified it by boiling it on the fire. I changed my clothes to one of Lizzie’s and Jared changes his too. We both are now warm and tired. We ate bananas and drank the coconuts, making them into bowls after we were done. We didn’t talk about anything other than survival so far. But while we just sat there staring into the fire.
“What if we don’t get out?” I asked randomly.
“What do you mean?” He looks at me.
“I mean what if they don’t find us? What if they think we went on one of those lifeboats?”
He scoffed. “Yeah, like they don’t have us in their attendance sheets.”
I glare at him. “Do you know my dad?”
“Huh?”
“My dad. He made those boxing gloves. He’s like in the top ten in the stock market. He makes like 10,000 dollars a day.”
“Yeah, so?”
“I told you earlier. My dad hates me. His wifey Regina can make him do anything, believe anything, hear anything, she wants him to. I swear to God, I bet he paid them or something to not look for me.” I look down on the floor.
“Oh, c’mon. Don’t say that.”
“Oh really? Have I ever told you how Regina has made him think that I’m some sort of psychotic bitch who only cares about herself? Or how she’s persuaded my dad to make me go into boarding school?”
“But you’re a senior.”
“Yeah, I know. She “knows people”. I put air quotations around the knows people and roll my eyes.
Jared is wide-eyed. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope.” I said, popping the p.
I huddle closer to the wall and wrap my blanket around tighter. Jared just stares at me. I notice my shoes are still on and I kick the off, placing them next to the bags stacked near the corner. My eyes begin to flutter closed and I fall asleep to the crackling of the fire.