Page 53 of Totally Wrecked
Keyara flops on the sand and looks for pretty seashells. I massage my cramping thigh muscles. Every muscle is sore and aching from the trauma of the last two days.
Two days? Three days? I’m already losing track of time.
Everyone must know we are missing by now. Mom and Dad will be going crazy. And Brooke? What is she doing? I know she was planning to stay with our parents in Missouri for the duration of the filming. It’s going to be so complicated for her; everyone will think that she’s been lost at sea, not me. She’ll have to come clean.
I love my sister dearly, but once again I resent this mess she has gotten me into. She is so bold, strong, and clever that she can accomplish anything. That’s the problem; because we are twins, she thinks I'm the same, but I very much am not. I live my life in a different way—a lot of looking before leaping and pro vs con lists.
Please let me get off this island and back home.
I can’t bear the thought of my family worrying about me. And what about Keyara’s parents? They must be losing their minds. I’m sure Leander’s family are worried stiff.
We’ll get found soon.
I look at our small, smoldering fire. Maybe it would be a good idea to build a pile of wood and greens a little further away, so if we need to make a signal, we just take a flaming branch from there to light it?
I get a coconut open and I hand it to Keyara. “Here, Key, stay in the shade and have this. I’ll go and check on Leander and give him a coconut, too.”
She nods, but looks a little unsure.
I point to where Leander stands, maybe two hundred yards away. “I’ll just be over there—you’ll be able to see us. Is that OK?”
“Don’t be long,” she says in a small voice.
I give her a reassuring smile. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
As I get closer to Leander, I give him a wolf-whistle. He laughs and wiggles his hips at me.
“I’ve bad news, Princess,” he yells at me across the sand.
“Oh yeah?”
“Well…” Leander pauses for dramatic effect. “I’ve got crabs…”
He points to two small crabs that are obviously dead and laying on the rock next to him!
“Nice one!” I peer down at them and breathe a sigh of relief. One of the pieces of South Pacific survival knowledge Brooke had given was about seafood.
“When you are foraging, there is a type of crab which is super poisonous. They have black tips on their claws, so avoid those. Other crabs are OK though.”
I repeat this to Leander.
“You’ve got a good memory. Mine is horrible—I get in terrible trouble getting girls’ names wrong the morning after. I’ve definitely had a slap or two.”
That reminds me of his head injury. “How’s your head lump?”
He puts up a hand and pats it gingerly. “Tender, but not too bad. How’d you do with the beachcombing?”
“Why don’t you come back and I’ll show you? You've been out in full sun for ages,” I suggest.
“Yeah, the spearfishing is not happening. Just crabs for today.” Leander bends down and picks up the crustaceans and we walk back to our campsite, hand-in-hand. We put halved coconuts in the embers of the fire, then throw the crabs inside them.
“We should let them poach for a while, I guess.”
Keyara pulls her knees up to her chin and hugs them as she stares out into the fire. “That sounds yucky.”
“Ah, just you wait. It’ll be awesome,” says Leander.
“We need more food,” I murmur, my voice low.
