Stranded

4

He doesn't know what time he woke up. Feeling drained and exhausted from yesterday, Taeyhung chose to lay in his tent most of the day. His fire died early in the morning so he goes and gathers more sticks and dried leaves for tinder. He drinks water and created fire using his glass bottle. He lays there watching the day pass by, not feeling hungry. He went and sat by the river just to watch the water. Something catches his eyes and there in between the rocks on the river floor lay something shiny. He leans over to get a closer look and takes it out of the water. Taehyung can't believe his eyes, it's just the size of a small pebble but it was gold. There was gold in this river. He sits back down on a tree stump and wonders if this island has yet to be discovered. If that would be the case then he was doomed. No river in a well-populated area would still bear such a precious metal. At least he wouldn't think so. He pockets the pebble and looks up the stream. Wonders where the water was coming from. He didn't feel like walking today so he just sits there leaning on a tree, watching birds fly in the sky and sing in the trees. A soft breeze blows through his hair and he takes a deep breath. Is this how his life would look like moving forward? When will rescue come? He hopes it's soon. If Seokjin was ever successful with his stubborn journey back home then he should be rescued eventually. But he still hopes Seokjin didn't go, Taehyung knows he can't be successful with his impulsive decision.

Taehyung's heart picks up seeing an animal approach the water from the other side of the river. It looks to be a native deer, it gently cocks its head from the left and to the right before cautiously bringing its head low to drink. Taehyung watches the deer lap water in peace and wonders what other animals he would see in the jungle. How large was this island? If it were large enough then there should be people? A community? It still baffles Taehyung that he has not seen any locals or any other sign of habitation up until this point. He can't decide if that was even good or bad. What if there was a tribe that lived in this jungle and decide they wanted to kill him? Taehyung shivers from the thought.

Fruit falls from a tree not far from the deer and it gets spooked. It ran so fast in the other direction and Taehyung coos. Taehyung tried to count the days they were on the island and drew sticks on a large leaf using a stone. If he counted correctly they were on the island now for about 3 weeks. He folds the leaf and takes it back to his tent and added more sticks for kindling. He only drank water today but he felt fine. He watched migratory birds form a V in the sky as the sun sets. He felt lethargic the whole day and he decided to just relax and lay in his tent until nightfall. He can't help but think about Soekjin and thinks if he should head back to the shore. He was tired of being mad at him too. Memories come back to him as he lay there watching the fire, he soon succumbs to sleep.

—

"Do you guys have nothing else to do?"

"..."

"Come on. Jungkook, you have your own room."

"..."

Seokjin sighs standing behind them.

"Just because you started texting girls, doesn't mean you could just kick us out of your room," Jungkook tells him while he and Taehyung kept their eyes on the screen playing on the PlayStation.

"Don't you guys have any school work to do??"

The sound of quick thumbs on buttons and vibrant sound effects flow through the speakers while the two continued playing, not even sparing Seokjin a glance. They were sitting in front of the screen on the floor just before Seokjin's bed.

"Ughh," Seokjin throws himself on his bed face first and he forgets he has glasses and they hurt his nose bridge. He was actually trying to study and do research but really, he was too distracted by his phone and looking at this girl he had a huge crush on in his grade. He was fortunately and unfortunately partnered with her on a report and he badly wants to impress her. If he can't grab her attention with sports, then academics was the way to go. His mom always tells him he's handsome but he had no confidence in that. He always says he's just average, he was tall but he was skinny and lanky and he wore thick glasses. The competition was wild in school, what with all the jocks and other good-looking boys, he felt like he didn't have a chance.