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Chapter 4

             We soon gathered our little group of people. We left Colorado on the jet with six people, and currently only five are alive. You don't know what it's like to regret something until you no longer have the opportunity to change your actions. In third grade I would always steal Amy's pencils, or I would blame her for farting in class. She quickly grew to be the odd one out in our classroom that year. I have a lot of regrets surrounding her. I wish I had talked to her more on the plane. Wished I could change the past.

But in my five minutes of grieving I quickly learned that reminiscing only brings you more pain, and that you just get stuck in this dark hole of sadness and anger that you can't haul yourself out of. So I got my ass up and surveyed the situation. We are on a remote island in the middle of nowhere. Wow. Surveying things really didn't help.

Daniel spoke up first, "People will come looking for us soon, but we have no idea how long it will take."

"And we need to set up camp because soon it'll be nightfall", I added, "Let's try not to fixate on things for now".

"Like how the pilot pushed us out of the plane?!", Sharick all but screamed, "Why is no one else thinking that no one will come for us? What if they were in on this!".

"Your crazy", Sam said to Sharick, "Your absolutely insane. People will come for us!". Rob nodded his head in agreement.

"We need to do something productive", I interrupted, flushing at myself for actually taking the lead.

"Let's gather firewood", Daniel finished, "Just stay in the area". So we all split up. Sam stayed with Rob, who couldn't walk, and Sharick wouldn't stop bitching about how many bugs were outside, somehow she hadn't gotten a single scrape through the fall. What a waste of branches.

"I'm okay", I assured Daniel, of whom didn't seem sure at all.

"Bull", he said sarcastically, with an edge to his voice I couldn't explain.

                I knew I couldn't get up if I tried so I got a good look at my wounds while Daniel collected fire wood. Overall, I was in okay shape. I wasn't dead so that was a plus. I had a pretty nasty cut from my belly button to my brah strap, which in any other scenario would have required stitches and an immediate trip to the ER. On the bright side I was still in shock and couldn't feel much pain for now. Another nasty scrape was on my thigh. A piece of fleshy skin was pulled back, narrowly exposing bone.
            I couldn't. I wasn't expecting this. Nausea washed over me in waves. I suppressed the urge to throw up. Gagging, I squeezed my eyes shut. I blindly pulled Daniel's windbreaker back over my legs and sat down.

               I wanted to do something while I could so I went and checked on Rob. He looked a lot less pale after the water Daniel had given him settled in. Then I turned to Sam.

"You okay?", I asked her quietly. She just looked at me for a moment then responded with—

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'm just a bit scared, you know?", I felt horrible for her and embraced her in a tight hug.

"Robs going to be okay", I murmured into her ear, "Daniel and I will look after him".

              I knew if she responded she'd start sobbing so I gave her one last squeeze, wiped the tears from my eyes, and started back to find Daniel. I made it two steps away from our circle before I felt a firm hand on my arm.

"I'm here", Daniel said, "Everything's going to be okay", he whispered, pulling me close to him and embracing me.

This momentarily shocked me. He normally wasn't the mushy type, but in this case, he allowed me a second of peace. Somehow, my parents, siblings, and all my closest friends could be in a room with me, but no one would know me like Daniel. It seems he can just read people.

I looked up at him. His emerald green eyes and thick eyelashes bayed back down at me.

"What?", he asked me, a slight smile tugging on his lips.

"It's just—", I stuttered, trying to find my words. This never happened with Daniel before, I always knew what to say to him, but now I was struck speechless. His curly brown hair wasn't even done up but that was just how Daniels always been. He never has to try... his kindness and masculine beauty is undeniable. Many girls would swoon over him. Not me. Lily Jackson and Daniel Morgans are best friends... ever since kindergarten. And that's how it will always be.

The next chapter is coming soon
Check back in by June 20th