Not Lost, Not Yet

Four

A/N

get prepared for some pointless (attempted) fluff at the end of the chapter!!

the song I listened to the entire time I wrote this chapter aka my favourite song at the moment: Two of Us by Alice Chater (I strongly recommend it)

also just realized that I cant put an indent at the beginning of paragraphs, so thats not fun (I don't know how I didn't realize that until now, but here we are).

-maia <33

~

It takes me a while to navigate my way all around the island. The washroom and the showers are a five minutes walk away, and the actual swimming beach is ten minutes away from our cabin.

The sunset was magical. It was filled with more shades of pink and orange than I've ever seen in my life.

Every article in the paper that wrote about this place was right. Pictures really can't capture this amazing sight.

Earlier today, we sat by the warm ocean waters for hours. It's unbelievably clear and the fish and coral at the bottom are just like magic.

People say magic isn't real, but I think none of those people have seen an island as beautiful as this one.

Having Delilah around is always a kind of ice breaker between Maria and I'm secretly thankful that she's here, although I don't know why Maria's sibling left their child in Maria's care in the first place. I don't ask though.

What I don't understand about this island is that we've only seen a total of around 10 people walking around on the beach or in the common room. Something tells me that maybe the people on the boat were right to be freaked out by this place. Clearly, something is a little bit off.

One thing that's a little bit odd is that no one's letting us into the jungle part of this island. Maria and I asked about it earlier, but they just shrugged and pretended like they didn't hear us. There's also a fence around most of the trees. Of course, to me, that's no different than an invitation to explore what's beyond that fence.

Now the sun is long gone. It's 8:30, and Delilah is asleep on the couch across the room. Maria and I are just sitting on our beds, alone.

Of course, Maria put her stuff away neatly on her side of the room. She even framed this beautiful painting on the wall next to her bed and bothered to fold her clothes and put them in the small dresser. If I didn't watch her unpack her stuff, I'd think she'd been living here for years.

Meanwhile, my clothes are everywhere under my bed, and the only thing I've started to put away are my skin products and hair accessories.

I watch Maria scratch her head and scrunch her nose. She then fluffs up her pillows. I do the same, pretending like I've done that a day in my entire life.

I'd say this moment is awkward, but I don't think a creature like Maria can even be awkward, since she's always smiling to break the tension.

"Hey, do you wanna get out of here for a second? It's nice and windy on the beach," Maria says softly as if she's reading my mind.

"Yes, definitely," I say, getting up from my bed, not bothering to put on shoes.

Outside, the sky is so dark and purple. The stars are clear and shine down on us, along with the sliver of a moon that's out right now.