Washed Up ≫ A.I

Chapter [21]

[Tyson Croke]

I woke up to a cold wet material gently swiping across my forehead. My eyelids were heavy when I blinked them apart. I had fallen back asleep after Charlotte left to go for a walk. This time I was smiling in my half asleep state and waiting to see Charlotte beside me again this morning.

"Good you're awake."

Only it wasn't Charlotte sitting there under the shade beside me.

"Emma?" I asked with such a hoarse throat as I focused on gathering the strength to sit up.

She helped me rest on my elbows before offering me some water from an opened coconut. I was getting really sick of just small sips from hairy coconuts and soda desperately. After I finished my small sips, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and leaned back again to see why Emma was here again and Charlotte was not.

"Where's Charlotte?" I felt foolish for always looking for her, but I couldn't help wanting to know she was safe.

Emma sat back on her knees and closed her lips slowly. I hope I didn't insult her trying to help aid me but really there was no need to be babysat anymore. I was feeling a lot better and up on my feet most of the time. The itchy sores were gone and my dehydration was no longer an issue since everyone has sat me under the tarp day and night. After a while of waiting for Emma's reply, the narrowness in her frown showed she knew something I didn't. Her light eyes averted to the sand silently, which made me nervous.

"What is it?" I finally ask once forcing myself to sit up completely. I lean against the trunk of the tree that guarded the sun and held the blankets and towels for our makeshift tent. Emma's mouth twitched to the side but never got the chance to speak.

Suddenly Charlotte ducks under the towels and crawls in beside Emma. Her long brown hair is loose and damp with curls that hung over one shoulder as she rested her knees on the sand beside us. I smile with relief as she welcomes me with her dark chocolate eyes.

"You're awake." She breathed out a relieved gasp followed by a slow growing smile. That smile soon dropped when I responded to her and Emma's matching expressions. This time they were both hiding something.

A loud shout echoed through the flaps of the blankets and it was easy to make out that it was Denise crying. I couldn't hear her verbally but Ashton's accent was clear after that.

"Charlotte, what's going on out there?" I tense up which pulls knots in my stomach. I start to feel my dry saliva grow back up my throat so I motion over to Emma for more water. She quickly responded, by jerking her hand forward and handing me the coconut.

Another voice shouted beyond the tent and this time the voices were traveling away. One murmur came back towards the tent as Ashton's long shadow walked up to the tent, "Fucking A." He stopped and stood right outside the tent, facing the ocean with his hands rested on his hips.

Charlotte and Emma both looked over their shoulders before Charlotte sighed and rolled her eyes back at me, "Look, I'm not sure how to put this..." She drifted once Emma turned around to look back at me with worried glances as well. I got more nervous just by her wordplay. I set down my coconut and listened in as Charlotte worked up the sentence to finish. "I think you should just follow me." She said.

"What is wrong with Ashton this time?" I ask but Charlotte was already standing halfway through the flaps of the blankets. I noticed Ashton's shoulder raise above her as he cradled her to his side out of the tent. Their shadows walked off together and my throat itched in envy, "Emma, why the hell is everyone acting so strange?" I was starting to get really frustrated now.