ISLAND

CHAPTER SIX: EXPERIMENT

   The new day started with songs from the birds in the trees as they chirped excitedly but not everyone on the island at that moment shared their common excitement and or joy. The group yet again had the drained look in their eyes as they gathered round for breakfast which in this situation was grilled fish paired with fruit and coconut water. They ate what they could in silence, no one trying to reanalyze the previous night's interaction.

“When you think there's nothing that could surprise you anymore about the island, there's something new to discover” Owen blurted out standing to his feet and tossing the coconut in his hand, far into the ocean

“You just threw away dinner” Elijah chuckled

“Is this funny to you?” Owen angrily snapped his head in Elijah's direction

“Now's neither the time nor place to fight between ourselves” Lucas said bolting to stand in the large space between them

“Calm the fuck down” Elijah huffed pushing himself off the ground “I didn't crash us into the island”

“No but you're certainly acting like none of what's happening matters to you” Owen glared at him

“You think I'm happy being here? You think I'm not as terrified as the rest of the group, scared shitless that something isn't going to come out from the woods and kill me just cause it feels like it can?” Elijah said, his gaze firm but his voice shaky “I can't help but make jokes to not send my already scared mind into a state of panic cause I'd rather die laughing than with a scared look on my face”

“Sometimes we don't need your stupid jokes” Owen said looking at Elijah dead in the eyes “So just shut it”

Elijah smiled, his eyes burning as he wiped at a tear from his eyes before it fell “Cool” He said walking away from the group heading up the right side of the island.

“What the fuck Owen?” Natalie yelled

“I'm not in the mood Natalie” Owen said pushing Lucas's arm from his shoulder

“And do I look like I give an iota of fuck what mood you're in” She snapped at him “if you want to be an asshole, you can do that at your own leisure time. Keep that energy far away from anyone in this circle and also you can take your pissy mood and shove it up your ass”

She stormed off, running fast enough to catch up to Elijah who was already out of sight from the main campground. The rest of the group, slowly picked their things up dispersing to various parts of the beachfront leaving behind Owen and Lucas

“Are you going to scold me as well?” Owen asked as he ran a hand through his hair

“Zara came up to me yesterday talking about how on edge you seemed when she woke you up yesterday but it didn't seem like it was anything deep but now I'm starting to see some sense in what she was trying to say. Is there something you want to talk about?” Lucas asked searching his eyes as if the answers were there

“I'm fine. I just had a bad dream. That's all” He stated, sitting back down on the sandy floor

“That was yesterday. What about today's outburst?” Lucas asked sitting beside his friend

“I just lost my cool, given the circumstances. Anybody would have reacted that same way” He stated

“But it wasn't just anyone. It was you. You're usually the calm headed one amongst, well anyone in our class so it's rather weird to see you react this way unless something was wrong. I've known you since the first day of uni and even I have never seen you lose your cool” Lucas sighed “Whatever it is man, if you can't talk it out with me then you should sort it out yourself”