AGAINST THE RULES

Chapter 11

Bright had a lot of plans today. None of them were wrestling with rope.

He was going to build a make shift laundry line to dry their still storm-drenched clothes.
He was going to ration the bottles of bottled water he found on the set.
He was going to trek around the island to find a tree he could climb in search of a mobile phone signal.

But instead he was fighting with a piece of rope and he was losing. He growls in frustration.

He could not control his worried mind and all the doomsday scenarios it was creating. He thought he could at least control his body but apparently not.
In anger, he slams the rope to the ground. Big mistake. He growls loudly again - this time in pain.

Sweaty, tired, in pain - Bright fights back a sob. What good were emotions right now? It would not make his arm hurt less. It would not make the storm stop. It would not allow him to call his mother and tell her to not worry. It would not magically bring him and Win home.

He felt useless - a feeling that would come over Bright at times. One he could usually shake off by diving head first into the three million things on his to do list or by chasing his cat Rain around the house. But right now, there was nothing to distract him from every bad thing his mind is forcing him to think about.

Panic and stress bubbles up inside of him. He tries to take deep breaths, remembering that had helped him before. Hoping it would help him now.
- - -

Win is walking along the beach in search for his bag of clothes. Where the heck was his bag? Did Bright take it? Was this some kind of prank?

He wanted to be angry but honestly it was a pretty good prank and he'd be laughing if he wasn't all itchy from sleeping on the sand.

"Bright!" he bellowed into the wind. "Where are you?"

"Bright! I need my clothes!" He shouts again.

No response. Where could he be?

Suddenly, Win is worried. 'What if something bad happened?', he thinks.

That's when he hears a growl coming from the sand bar at the back of the set. Win freezes. He is scared of animals. He is scared of the smallest of animals. And that growl sounded big.

Is that where his clothes went? Were they now in the belly of some wild animal roaming Hong Island?
Or was this part of Bright's elaborate prank?
This was a prank, right? Wait. What if the animal got Bright?

"Shit!" Win mutters. "I have to save him don't I? Shit, shit, shit."

Win starts looking around for anything he could use as a weapon.

He settles on a stray branch he finds washed up on the shore.

"Great, I have a stick. Great," he mutters again.

But despite all his guts churning inside him, he heads towards the sand bar with iron resolution.

"If we go down, we go down fighting," he tells himself.

The walk to the sand bar was short but it felt long to Win. He was so near it now but fear was gripping him, rooting him where he was.

"Come on Win!," he tells himself. "You can do this."
But he still couldn't move.

That's when he hears another growl.  And all Win's fear was pushed aside by an image of Bright being mauled.

He raises his arms up, wielding the branch like a battle ax. Then he runs towards the growl, ready to defeat it.

- - -

"Aaaaaaaah!" Win shouts as he runs at full speed, adrenaline coursing his veins as he prepares to take down...Bright?