Page 36 of Totally Wrecked
There are four of us laying on our backs and kicking. The sun is setting? Or maybe it has only just risen, and there’s a land mass almost within reach.
Rex is checking in with someone. It’s that sound guy—Killian? I think that’s his name? Rex then checks in with the other body.
“You good, Harvey?” I hear Rex ask.
Oh, Harvey. So there is me, Rex, Harvey and Killian here.
No Leander.
And no Brooke.
Fuck, and no Keyara! My head and my heart can’t handle it, so I just kick. Finally, after what seems like hours Rex calls out, “Ten minutes, y’all. Ten minutes and we'll make it.”
What if Keyara, Leander, and Brooke haven’t made it? I can’t go through this again.
“Come on now, this is it,” Rex shouts. “Turn over and swim. Come on!”
We drag some more energy from fuck knows where and swim for our lives. The relief I feel when Rex says he can touch the bottom is overwhelming.
We wade, and then fall on our knees and crawl onto the sand. We are on a tiny sliver of beach and there are a few palm trees, then high rocky cliffs all around us. But that doesn’t matter, because we’ve made it to land.
What matters are the three who are missing.
DAISY
My throat is like sandpaper, and my body is like jelly, but I keep stroking Keyara’s hair and talking to her about kids books. It’s a subject I can talk about on autopilot. Every now and then, Keyara makes a small noise, so I’m pretty sure she’s conscious. She’s just too exhausted to open her eyes or speak.
“So, if you haven’t readBridge to Terabithia, I thoroughly recommend it.”
That’s when Leander rejoins us. “I found water.” He is standing upright and looks stronger. “I’ll carry Keyara. Can you walk?”
“I can.”
“Great, help me get Keyara into a pack-strap lift.” This turns out to be a firefighter’s piggy-back of sorts.
Stepping into the jungle, the canopy makes everything darker, and a fraction cooler. I stand for a moment, listening to the rustling sounds in the undergrowth and the flapping in the trees. Long lengths of vines are draped from the treetops like noodles on a chopstick.
Sweat pours down my face and I feel faint; we have to move.
“Come on,” Leander says. We travel in silence, but at one point Leander points to something that looks like a beaten path. I nod and we change direction to follow the narrow dent in vegetation. Now I’m extremely thankful for these stupid hiking boots.
Leander is wearing damp Chuck Taylors, and Keyara has pink jelly shoes. Good thing too—the ground is covered in spiky thorns and rocks. The track goes on and on, and I’m almost at the end of my resources when I hear a new sound.
Rounding a thicket, we come upon a small waterfall that is feeding into a pool, making the surface move gently. Leander staggers a little, and I help him lower Keyara down. We move her along the moss covered rocks towards the edge of the pool. I want to plunge my head in and drink up mouthful after mouthful, but Keyara first.
“Come on, sweetheart.” Leander sprinkles water off his fingers and into her mouth. She groans and opens her eyes.
“Water?”
“Yep.” We guide her as she cups her hands and drinks. The purity of the water flashes through my mind, but at this point, who cares about giardia?
We rest for a while, not talking. I know I am completely spent, and I imagine Leander feels the same way.
After a while I muster the energy to wash the salty scum off Keyara’s face and then my own.
“How is your head?” I ask Leander, when my mind is in a fit state to actually formulate a thought.
“Completely fine.”
