Island Rush (9 page)

I tried falling back to sleep, but couldn’t. My breath was coming fast, and my mind was spinning. An animal? Was it Mr. Rush? My imagination? The latter spun things in my head out of control.  Because after another faceless noise came from my left, it sent me running.

It was quite stupid for the fact that I was running blind. There was no sign of the sun rising, but I was still able to make out the outline of trees that rushed at me as I weaved through them. My bare feet hit the damp and cool ground; the night air didn’t help.  I started to get warmer as I kept running, not sure where or which direction I was heading.

I was too panicked to slow down so I was left stunned when I hit the ground face first. I realized my foot caught on a root that was arched out of the Earth’s soil. I laid there, cold and scared. All I wanted was to be with Mr. Rush and the fire he promised we would have this night.  No, I had to lose my temper, punch the dude, and run. I was happy I made myself get lost and not remember my way back to him, though.  I knew I would be running back to him right now, and that was the last thing he needed. He didn’t need me.

My head pounded after the aftershock of the impact.  I was stunned and could do nothing but stay that way. I listened to my surroundings and concluded it was my imagination.  Now that I was fully aware and awake, I heard nothing. I let my breathing even out, the heat of my breath colliding with the freezing air. I turned slowly to my side and clasped my hands over my mouth, keeping my hot air close to my body so the selfish, cold night couldn’t claim it. I was surprised I was able to fall asleep that way, but I wouldn’t complain.  I welcomed the feeling of drifting into oblivion.

The sun was high in the sky and from its position, and if I had to guess, it was the middle of the afternoon. My position, however, was the same as it was from where I fell. My stomach rested in the dirt and long grass.  Near where my foot rested, I spotted the root I tripped over last night. I rolled to my back and moaned from the pressure it put on my cut and the soreness of my stomach.

As the events from yesterday came back to me, I pushed them away. Only they obviously wanted to come back.  I heard shouting coming from the distance. I rose and looked around, curious and amazed. Were Mr. Rush and I not the only people here? I saw nothing until I heard the voice again, this time, closer.

“Janice!”  It was the voice of Mr. Rush. And it was close. I made my move and sprinted off and forward, just wanting to get away from him again. I knew he would keep looking.  He was persistent. It reminded me of the way he used to always push me to do my work in school and listen.

I bounded through the trees, running from him. Of course, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him.  He whipped into my vision from the side, running at me as I ran forward.  He was faster and tackled me to the ground, making me land on my stomach again.

“Man, that hurt! My stomach is already sore!”

“Shut up!” he snapped, hauling me to my feet. He held me, his hands gripping my arms tightly. I also saw he was slightly shaking.  “What is wrong with you?! Do you like causing me trouble and setting us back?”

I stared at him, shocked. That was what I was trying to stop from happening. “What is wrong with
you?!
” I spit back. “I was doing you a favor. It’s your own fault. You shouldn’t have come after me.  You should have given yourself a chance! I saw your face, sir. Saw the fear and desperation when that phone died. This is serious, and I am dragging you down because of it.”

He stared at me as if I were crazy. Then he finally spoke after composing his face. “Don’t call me sir.”

“What?” Did he hear what I just said?

“You called me sir. I don’t like it.”

“Didn’t you just hear me? Sir.”

“Yeah and I think it was idiotic what you did. You weren’t dragging me down. You are now though since you ran off.”

“It’s worth this setback.  I don’t want to be around later to drag you down like I have this whole time. I could barely walk at times, and it slowed you down. I don’t need someone taking care of me.”

“I know that, but it’s necessary sometimes when you don’t have a choice. You suck it up and deal with it.  And you realize you are strong despite needing help.”  A scowl on his face grew as he stood there for a few moments, thinking.  Then his eyes aimed down to mine again.  “I don’t know how to get back to the lake.  I guess, you don’t either.”

Couldn’t I do anything right? His words made me internally groan.  I left to keep him safe. I knew he would risk it for some personal rule he had about taking care of me.  I didn’t think he would lose track of where he was, though. “No,” I mumbled. “This time, though, it is your fault.  You would be sitting by the lake right now if you didn’t come looking for me.”

“Is it my fault I might care about you?”

His words triggered my eyebrows to raise. I had nothing to say to that surprisingly. He must care for me like one would for family.  It gave me a warm feeling to know I mattered to him like that. I finally found my voice.

“You have a future and staying with me is risking your life even more.”

“I can make my own choices. And you sound ridiculous, thinking you have that much of an impact on me. I don’t regard you as someone who will keep me down. I am stronger than you might think, Miss Reeves.”

I sighed. Those words shouldn’t have hurt either but the way he phrased it... it shut me up. 

He saw something on my face that made him speak again. “I am sorry about the phone dying. I know you didn’t mean to forget about it. I just… I don’t know.” He looked away, letting my arms go, trusting I wouldn’t run. I wouldn’t; not after those words.

“You got your hopes up. You were desperate and afraid. You were hiding it from me. I might seem weak and, yes, I can be at times. But don’t think for a minute I can’t handle the reality and truth. You know we probably won’t get out of here. You see we can die if we aren’t careful.”

He stared at me with attentive eyes searching mine. “I’m sorry. I—”

I put my hand up, stopping him. “Whatever, okay? Let’s just drop it.”

We stood there awkwardly until he sighed and said, “We need to find that lake again. We are far from it, and it’s all we know.”

“We?” I asked, smirking.

“You are coming with me, and there is no fighting it. If you don’t want to cause me trouble, if that is really what you’re worried about, then we are staying together. Now, we need to find the lake.  Fast too, if you get what I mean.”

I did understand what he meant. How many days did we have until we would have to drink our urine? We needed fresh water.  It didn’t help that this island was big enough to get us even more lost.

I nodded.  “We should get moving.”

From the direction I was heading, we turned around and started back towards the lake. Or towards the direction we figured the lake would be. Not a few minutes later, though, Mr. Rush, who was walking beside me, went down on his stomach in a flash. I looked down after stopping and laughed. “That root really hates us,” I said. “You’re lying on my bed from last night.”

He chuckled as he got to his feet, brushing the dirt off his stomach. “I assume this happened to you then?”

I rolled my eyes, but he must have seen the little smile on my face. We pressed on through the forest, a comfortable silence falling. I felt awful still. If I didn’t run before, we would be at the lake. Which we probably won’t find today. How much longer did we have until we became too weak? Too thirsty and hungry? I wasn’t sure and even though I felt the guilt eating me, I was happy Mr. Rush was back with me.

Chapter 7

We walked side by side through the tangle of nature.  There was no breeze present to claim some of the heat. We were drowning in our own heat like before, which my shirt showed with sweat stains. It helped keep our minds on the objective: freshwater. I swear, we should have stumbled across the lake by now.

All we could do was continue walking and hope for the best. Of course, we could only go for so long until I noticed something while staring mindlessly at the ground. It made me raise a sweaty brow.  “Where are your shoes?” I asked in amusement when I looked up to him.

I took note instantly of the change in his expression, of his own eyebrows as they lowered and his lips pressed into a line.  Most of my attention went to the fact that he didn’t look up to my eyes. 

“I don’t know,” he mumbled.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I… I took them off, threw them in the woods.”

I nearly stopped our sluggish pace at this point. Did I hear him correctly? “What?” I asked, closing my eyes for a moment and shaking my head.  

He didn’t look proud with what he said next.  “I… I hated knowing that I had shoes, and you have none especially when I knew you were probably freezing last night too. So I got angry, I took them off, and I threw them somewhere,” he said bluntly.

Was he serious? I wouldn’t think that he would actually do something like that — especially for feeling guilty knowing I was cold. Was it fair that he had shoes, and I didn’t?  Hell no. But that didn’t mean he had to do that. “You know, that was stupid. We could have at least used them for something else.”  

“I didn’t think it through,” he muttered, eyes still on the ground. 

I just rolled my eyes. I didn’t think he was that senseless, but maybe he was. I won’t lie, though.  Even if stupid, his gesture was honest quite sweet.

Silence fell between us, and our thoughts drifted elsewhere like how we were supposed to survive. That was always something to think about. I wasn’t really sure of what we would eat other than the berries or seafood. At the moment, both were not accessible.

I should have been thinking of something other than food at the moment because my stomach started growling. This place was better than my home back in Craftridge, but at least there, I had food and water.

“It’s my own fault,” he whispered, interrupting my thoughts.

“What are you talking about?”

He shook his head and sighed. “I was stupid to think she would actually answer the phone.”

I stopped walking instantly. He stopped a few feet ahead but didn’t turn to face me. “Who did you try to call?”

He looked reluctant to answer, guilt all over him when he turned to me. “Jill,” he finally said.

My breath left me in an instant.  “Your fiancée?”

He nodded, giving me a sorry expression. “She usually never answers her phone anyway,” I heard him mutter, as if ashamed as he should be.  “I don’t know why I would have thought this time would have been different. I guess I just needed to hear her voice.”  He looked away. 

I was surprised he was being this forthcoming and that I didn’t need to pry that out of him.  My anger clouded that. “You know, now that you say that, I’m pissed off for more than what I would have expected. You doomed yourself and now, even though I don’t want to go home, I have things to take care of.”

True, I wanted to stay here. If I had the choice like I said, I would stay here, but a subconscious promise to my mom swam in my heart. It would be like I was running away from my problems if I had a chance to go home, and I didn’t take it. I knew I had no future there, but I needed to set things right if I could. I needed to reveal that my father was involved with her murder. Even though that couldn’t happen for the possibility that I would be killed, I owed it to her someday.

What I said to him was obviously open for questions. “What could you have to take care of? You were stuck and had no way out. You said you had to endure your father until you turn eighteen and then you would leave.”

What he didn’t know was that I lied about that, but I sure wasn’t telling him that. “Yes, but I have some things to take care of.  I’m not letting this get off topic. Why couldn’t you just call someone that you knew would get us out of here?”

“I know, and I’m sorry because I wasn’t even thinking. Then, I went off to you.”

I shook my head. “Talk about selfish,” I said harshly. I walked on, leaving him struggling behind. Good. I wasn’t going to feel bad about my earlier concerns; it wasn’t my fault for forgetting about the phone when he was the one that wrecked the chance of getting back home.

For the rest of the day, I showed him that it would take more for me to forgive him that easily.  He deserved me ignoring him.  It was such a selfish thing he did… It really did surprise me he would do such a stupid thing like that. Who the hell would do what he did? For the reason that he did it? My God. Why would he do that to us? Why would he do that to himself?

I was fuming. When evening arrived, and the sun was setting, I tried forcing better thoughts upon my silent self… like how this was in the past, and we couldn’t do anything about what happened now, and how guilty I was of something stupid too.

When darkness was approaching, after a long day of walking, he sighed and stopped walking. “We should make a camp.”

I stopped with him, turned and faced him.  I nodded hesitantly at the first words spoken in hours.  We really should probably make camp. I didn’t want to waste time to find water or food but looking at night wouldn’t help much especially if I was frozen. 

My body was preparing for the night ahead with the goosebumps that rose from the cold. It didn’t help that we had no extra clothing to use for blankets, which sucked with the nights getting colder.

Despite being upset still, I was happy Mr. Rush was here.  Not just because I would feel safe with him but because I saw something different about him. He seemed more human now than he did before.  It made me feel a form of comfort.

“Can we make a fire?” I asked him as he stood before me. 

He sighed in relief, happy I was at least talking to him. “We can try. It will be hard.”

We gathered dried up sticks, brush, and leaves and set them in a pile. Then, we stared at it as if hoping it would magically come alive. Mr. Rush sighed and looked around.  Then he walked a few feet behind me only to retrieve two thick sticks. I raised my eyebrow. “Does that actually work?”

“Yeah.  Not sure if it will actually happen with us, but we’ll see.”

We both knelt down in front of the pile, and Mr. Rush went to work in an instant. He began rubbing one stick against the other, causing friction that would hopefully set off a spark. After five minutes, though, nothing happened.  Then after another five minutes, the slight breeze in the air became stronger.

“Do you think it’s the wind?”

He already considered that and nodded.  “Yeah.”

Repositioning himself, he moved closer to the pile, putting his back to the breeze.  He made sure that the air wasn’t getting to it as he continued rubbing the sticks together.  Nothing happened still besides the fact that I could hear his breath pick up as he pushed the sticks faster and with more desperation. Yet, we saw no spark in the darkness. He didn’t want to give up according to the sound of his teeth colliding in between gasps.  It felt as if it was getting colder by the second when I started shivering like that too.

Soon enough, it seemed as if he was ready to go into hysterics. With how hard he was trying, it appeared he wanted this more than anything. Was he beating himself up over earlier? Was he just that cold?

I found my answer when I reached over to take the sticks away and tell him to stop. In the darkness, my hand ended up resting on his bare chest instead of his hands at first. That brush of the skin only lasted a second, but it was enough to make me feel the short curly hair on his chest.  What I noticed most though was the texture of his skin and how chilly he was. Besides making my heart jump, touching his chest also allowed me to feel concern for him.  Not about his future or anything like before. More about this moment.  I wanted him to feel warm and better about the situation.

My hand found his and I ended up taking the sticks from his grip as I intended. “Th-That’s enough, okay? You tried, and there is no use t-tonight. The wind is too much, it’s okay.” My voice was calm and friendly despite being upset earlier and the chatter of my own teeth.

“I’m sorry,” he said, sounding defeated.  Though I couldn’t see his face or eyes, I knew what he meant. He was sorry about not thinking and calling Jill when he shouldn’t have. He must have been taking his guilt out on the sticks.

I sighed. “I know. It’s not like you meant it.”

I felt him take my hand and stand, pulling me up with him. I could see his shape slightly as he guided me with caution. “Where are we going?” I asked.

“To find a better place to sleep.” Mr. Rush stopped and lowered himself to the ground slowly, my hand still in his. I didn’t want to admit it, but my hand in his, it was nice. It felt as if his hand perfectly fit in mine.

That contact broke after he guided me down next to him. We were huddled against a tree that was blocking the wind, which did help. The night was still cold, though, and he sighed as if he realized this too. “Well, at least we are out of the wind,” he said as he laid down next to me. I slid down too and turned to face him. I couldn’t see him, but knowing he was near helped me.

“How can it be this cold at night and so hot during the day?” I questioned.

“Beats me.”

“‘Beats me?’ You are the teacher.”

“English, remember?” he said, making me smile slightly.

We fell asleep faster than I had the last night.  It was a nice surprise too. With how cold it was, I didn’t expect to get any.  It completely changed though when we woke the next morning, and I found myself covered in sweat again. I looked over to Mr. Rush, who was a couple of feet away, still sleeping.  Glancing around, I saw the tree we slept against before standing up. 

Instantly, something came over me.  It started with a swarming sensation in my head.  Then, in the next moment when it continued growing, I was immediately dizzy.  It forced me to rest a hand against the rough bark of the tree so I could steady myself. 

My first thought was that it was my back and the stupid scratch causing it.
That must have been the cause, right? I didn’t understand. Lately, it’s been feeling better. Why then am I feeling tired and dizzy?
  I stood there and tried to clear my vision until I realized what it was. I recalled how long it’s been since I consumed food or water.

I tried to slowly walk but only fell to the ground on my knees after that experiment. What I felt more than the impact was my dizzy head aching. It wouldn’t stop spinning, and my body was not cooperating.

“Mr. Rush?” I called, hoping he would wake up.  “Mr. Rush?” I said a little louder, and I heard him moan. “Get up.”

I couldn’t see him with my tired and spinning eyes so I closed them and hoped the dizziness would go away.  I heard an answer from his groggy voice. “What?”

I opened my eyes and tried focusing on him. He was a little blurry, but I made out that he stood up and rested against the tree.  I forced my head to clear as best as it could and struggled to my feet. “We need to move and find some water. Food, too.”

When I got to my feet and steadied myself, I let the tree help me again. It allowed my sight to clear more. I took him in from where he stood beside me, leaning against the tree too. He must be affected too. His hair was greasy and damp as it stuck to his sweaty head.  The man’s eyes looked a little lost too. 

“Oh god,” he muttered. Being not nearly as bad as I am, he tried focusing on me more, making sure I wouldn’t fall over again.

We both stood still for a minute, willing all of the dizziness to disappear for now. Taking a few cautious steps after a moment, we noticed we could see straight. It was getting better with each minute until we were off.  Off and continuing our endless walking. 

That didn’t mean we were in good shape. We were, in no way, able to match our pace to yesterday’s, but we tried.

“Mr. Rush?” I asked a while into our walking. We felt better than earlier but for how long would that last?

“Hmm?” he moaned under the huge hot lamp in the sky.

“What happens if we can’t find anything today?”

“Remember what you said about piss?”

I cringed as he said the words. Hearing that, on instinct, I doubled my speed. It didn’t last long, though.  It made my head ache more, and the intense heat didn’t help.  It took me back to my normal pace alongside him, who looked slightly amused at my effort.

Beside small exchanges like that, all that was between us were our heavy breaths and shuffling footsteps. The only thoughts that were running through my head were related to water like the waterfall at that lake, ice cubes in a glass, and the rain. Throw in a couple of chocolate bars into my fantasy and that was what I spent most of the day thinking about. Until I couldn’t take it any longer.