Island Rush (40 page)

Chapter 41

It took a few more days until he was well enough, and in the right condition, to start walking without wincing. Yes, he was still very sore, but that was all. I couldn’t have been more excited that he was better!

Seeing his excitement as well, we decided to go for a walk. “Are you sure you want to go up the creek? And by that, I assume you mean walk up to the top of the waterfall and follow the creek up from there, right?” I asked.

“Yep. We haven’t been up there before, and I think we should at least look around. This is our home.”

“I totally agree with that, but are you sure you’re that well to go uphill?”

He chuckled and took my hand. “I am fine. What you need to worry about is keeping up with me.”

I rolled my eyes as we left our shelter. Well, it was more than a shelter now. It could qualify as an actual home. I moved everything from under the tree to our shelter and organized it all. On an island, nothing was useless. I packed everything into separate bags. I was able to fit all the toiletries in the duffel bag. Of course, I would love to pull that bag out every day and use it to bathe! I did go out in the water and shampoo my hair the other day, but I knew there would be no more bags floating up anytime soon. We needed to save what we could.  That’s why we decided it would be best to bathe and use what was in that bag as little as possible.

I saved the book and dirty magazines if we ever have bad luck starting a fire.  I put the Xbox, condoms, and weed in the same bag as those, not knowing when any of this stuff would be needed. 

Everything else, like all the clothes, we kept in the suitcases.  We needed to toughen up sleeping on the firm ground if we wanted to wear clean and not worn down clothes once in a while. At night, though, we always pulled out some to use as a blanket.  In one of the suitcases of clothes, I made room to fit the camera and camera bag as well as the shoes that were too small. As for the knife, we never stored it away. Never wanted to since it was the most important tool we have.

Once all that was sorted out, I found the best place to put it.  It all fit perfectly in the shelter. I stacked the suitcases on top of each other followed by the rest of the bags until it nearly hit the roof/wall of our shelter.

After that long day was done, I finally got see the finished product of the spear he was working on in the meantime. It was very different from the original one he made. I was excited to try it out because I was getting sick of the taste of berries. I was starting to literally feel sick too. I didn’t want Casey to worry about it so I never brought it up, but I assumed he had the same feeling.

We made our way the where the berry bushes were for a better and more gradual climb to make it easier for him.  Better than doing it straight up the waterfall.  The heat was already getting to us, but I couldn’t whine, not since I was anxious to see what else might be up there.

My hand in his was a feeling that I still couldn’t get used to as we pushed on up the incline. “How long do you suppose it’s been?” I asked.

He smiled and looked down at me, “It’s been nine days. It feels longer than that, though, doesn’t it?”

I kept my face straight and bit my lip to keep from smiling.  It’s been nine days since he told me he loved me. “I meant how long do you suppose we have been on the island?”

“Oh….  Three weeks; close to a month maybe,” he said, his voice quiet and embarrassed.

I looked up at him and saw he was blushing with embarrassment. My held in grin grew to a full out smile as I stopped, my hand in his also making him follow my gesture. A small smile was on his lips as well.

“Why, Mr. Rush, that wouldn’t be a blush crossing such a strong man’s face, would it?” He pursed his lips, squinting his eyes at me as I continued. “Well, you do know how long we have been together. I give you props for that, and though I agree that it seems like we have been together for longer, I think you are becoming a little soft.”

His face changed into a hilarious over-exaggerated expression of outrage. “Soft?! What the hell do you mean soft? Am I not the toughest man ever known?”

I shook my head in amazement at his act, humor, and that he was all mine. I gave him a thoughtful look as if I was thinking over his words.  “Hmm, the toughest man ever known… I can’t tell you because I don’t know every man ever known.”

“Of all the men you know then?”

Crossing my arms, I stood there ‘thinking it over’ again. I nodded and finally said. “I need to think about it because I do know a lot of men,” I teased.  “Until then, please proceed,” I said, making a motion with my hands for him to continue up the incline.

“I’m a man. I will go when I want and won’t be told otherwise,” he said, standing there in his stubborn game.  I nodded and kept walking on without him uphill, playing along. “Excuse me, Janice? Where do you think you are going?”

Out of everyone in the world, I’m glad I got stuck with him on this island not just because I loved him. Isolation can drive you insane and with him, we can always keep ourselves entertained with these little games and just fooling around.

I turned around and saw he didn’t move, his stubborn stance obvious with his hands crossed. I waited, watching him with tight lips, acting mode on high.

“You would immediately abandon a crippled man here alone? Wow, compared to you, anybody could be soft.”

I didn’t know he could be this funny, this alive, and this happy.  I have never seen anything like this until he opened up.  I didn’t realize he had all this life in him until everything changed in the past nine days. There are no longer any barriers, no tension or awkward silences between us.

I shook my head at his words,  “You said you will go when you want, and now you call me back down to help you? Am I right?”

He called up to where I was a few yards ahead, “You heard me right. I’ll go whenever I want, but I’m still crippled and need assistance at all times, doc. You can wait here with me.”

I couldn’t hold it in anymore and ended up bursting out with loud laughter.  I watched him through my squinted eyes, seeing he was smirking up at me, love proudly shining against the brown of his eyes.

“Fine,” I said as I clumsily stumbled back down to his side, forcing myself to stop laughing. “I’ll play along. What are we waiting for? You to regain your dignity over time?”

“Ooh. You are in dark waters now, Reeves. We are waiting until I’m ready.”

“Am I acting as your doctor again?” I guessed.

“You have always been my doctor. You are just given special benefits and more breaks.”

“
You
are lucky you are stuck with me.  No other doctor would put up with you,” I smirked up at him. “And, I’m sorry, crippled? Did you say you are crippled because you are a little sore?” I said in a baby voice towards him.

“Yep. Of course, you would be one to laugh at a crippled man. I’m crippled because your sharp mouth has left me damaged forever. Don’t even try to apologize! Now, we can go?!” he said as he took my hand and we continued up the hill.

He knew how to make me laugh and smile, that was for sure. What was even better was he fooled around like this with me because he had so much fun doing it. 

We continued up the gradual incline, nearing the top. We could see enough ahead that we could see the creek that turned into the waterfall.  Unlike the creek flowing from the lake, this one was much larger. The stream seemed to go back for a while, the trees more packed together too. There were big rocks bordering the banks and sides of the river too.

There probably were animals on this island, and it would make sense for them to stay in this wooded area. We were surprised not to see any yet, but our theory was that this creek provided for them deeper into the island.  We were near the ocean.  What other explanation could there be?

Glancing over at him, his eyes searched the area with a sweet light.  It made me ask him something I started to wonder. “Have you always been this carefree and fun?”

His smile laid naturally on his face.  He thought it over before he looked down to me as we walked.  “I think that since I wasn’t exactly happy or myself before, it covered it up.  I remember that when Jill and I were dating, she was a decent and charming woman.  I use to laugh with her all the time.  I don’t recall ever feeling this much joy to naturally fool around like I do with you.”

I smiled, my eyes tilting back towards the ground as more roots began to rebel.  I watched him with admiration as he easily stepped over roots while we continued up. 

“My mother used to always joke around like that.  She had a brilliant sense of humor, and I loved that about her. ‘She could make the saddest man in the world laugh’ is what I always told her.  She always had a corny remark or was ready to tease anybody,” I laughed to myself as I recalled the sort of things she would say or do.  “What was the best was how sweet and nice she was at the same time.  I always felt safe talking to her and loved being around her. We did so many things together. With the gardening, shopping, teasing….  We would walk out in the woods whenever we got the chance and take dozens of photos too.”

When I paused from what I’m sure sounded like an annoying speech, I blushed with the realization that I was rambling on.  It didn’t matter, though. 

At that moment, we reached the top where the land leveled out.  We stopped and took in the sight before us.  With the waterfall always present as background noise, it was much louder now that we watched the creek flow down and drop into the lake.  We were high enough up that we could just make out the ocean over the canopy of trees.  

We were maybe a few yards away from where the waterfall began.  I turned to look at the source of that waterfall and the area again.  It looked the same as the area by our shelter.  The major difference I noticed, aside from the point that we were level with where the waterfall started, was that the trees were even thicker, and the stream was much larger up here.

Looking beside me and down, my eyes fell along the steep and rocky hill the waterfall dropped.  The grass we stood on stopped growing near the rocky bank and river.  The immense amount of twining roots took the grass’s place as well.  There being barely any space between each tree could be blamed for that.  It was so thick in some parts of the trees, it looked black.  Staring up the rushing creek gave a hint that the trees were spaced out more there. 

My eyes finally found Casey, and I noticed that he was watching me, interest over his face.  “It’s quite beautiful up here,” I said.   Watching his adoring face and soft smile, his hand squeezed mine, and he started guiding me towards where the creek turned into the waterfall.  We got closer to the jagged rocks lining the bank.

“What are we doing?” I asked as he guided me.

“Just come with me,” he said as he stepped up on the first rock by the bank, pulling me up with him.  I stood close and kept my balance with him.  I followed his lead, stepping onto each rock he did until we were at the edge of the water, the waterfall falling over the edge just a few feet away from us. 

What I also noticed was that this wasn’t really where the rocks ended.  I looked across the fast and rushing water, seeing that there were also large, and level boulders spaced out in a line.  And those rocks were right on the edge before the water rushed past it, falling to the lake.  Counting those boulders, there were six rocks spaced out in the stream until it reached the other side.  That was enough to make an idiot try to cross it.  Casey wanted to be that idiot.  

I looked up at him next to me, and I could feel the horror cross my face.  His lips parted in a chuckle, probably knowing what my reaction would be. That chuckle was drowned out by the crashing water as it fell into the lake below.  

“Do you like being hurt?!”I yelled over the water. I knew he heard me by his amused expression. “Not one damn day after you can walk, you want to hurt yourself again?”

“You did your crazy stunt.  This is mine,” he answered in my ear.  “Trust me, okay?”

My immediate response was to drag him away from the edge and back to the safety of dirt and the lovely ground.  Then, I thought over his words, and he was not only right about my stupid stunt.  His words, excited expression, and the situation itself made my heart speed up.  It made me feel… fearless.  Even more so as I searched his calm face.  We stood close, his side against mine.

“Okay.  Yeah, I trust you.”

He smiled, and the happiness was glowing in his eyes.  He bent lower so his mouth was closer to my ear and yelled over the roar. “Close your eyes!”

I jerked my face back so I could meet his eyes.  I needed to know if he was serious.  He couldn’t be.  “Are you joking?”

“What, Mr. Softy can‘t take on a challenge?  I give you full permission to kill me if we slip and die!” More softly, he spoke with a sweeter voice. “Just trust me like I do you.”

I watched him and was fully convinced he liked the feeling of pain.  This was stupid.  Then again, so was my attempt to go down to the plane.  He came then and though it was nearly a disaster, he trusted me. 

I closed my eyes, unsure of how he was going to do this.  I waited for him to guide me on.  When he realized I put all my trust in him, I felt him tug me along with his hand in mine.  I felt him stop, so that was what I did too.  His hand started to turn in mine, wrapping around mine again but from a different direction.