The Blood I Carry

Find the good in things

It's been a week since Arlo has been back with us. It's been the same things over and over again each day. We have a routine now, sort of. Me and Arlo look for and get breakfast, Brooklyn and Hayden go into the forest to see if there is any other supplies that could help us in any way. Then we can just wander around the island for a bit, trying to survive in the heat. Arlo goes into the forest, gets water from the waterfall, but he wont let us in there. We don't know where it is in the forest. He won't let us go. Grayson and Arlo go and find some food source for dinner while me, Hayden and Brooklyn go to get wood for the fire we light every night.

Arlo is still acting strange. He doesn't like to hug me anymore, which is understandable because of the heat. He never laughs at anything and if he smiles it looks fake. I know him, he's my brother. He barely talks and if he does it's to argue with Grayson or Brooklyn. Me and Hayden normally stay quiet during the arguments. There's at least 3 a day. Maybe more depending on the heat.

Were all sitting around the fire, staring at different things. Only a few conversations have been passed around. I play with my hair, picking at the split ends. My hands still shake. I don't know how one of us hasn't died yet. It's awful here, even if it is straight up beautiful.

"I'm so hungry." Grayson moans, tilting his head back as he does. We didn't find much food today, so we are all very hungry.

"I think we all are." Brooklyn responds since no one else has the energy to actually hold up a conversation.

I look at the fire we have going, and wonder to myself if we will actually ever get out of here. I think about it nearly every minute. Am I ever going to get the life I used to have? Am I going to be happy with Uncle Bailey and Arlo again? I want to go home.

"Right," Brooklyn stands up, "Everyone is hungry, I get that, everyone is tired, I get that, everyone is not in the mood for anything else other than to just sit down and dig deeply into our thoughts until someone breaks down. I get it okay." She takes a deep breath. "But can we actually have a little bit of fun? Let's try and lighten up the mood before we attempt to sleep."

She walks over to me and holds her hands out. if I don't do what she would like, she will probably kick off and push me in fire. I sigh, grab her hands and allow her to help me up.

"What exactly are we doing?" I ask.

She just looks at me and smiles. I look at her and attempt to plaster a small smile on my face. I have no idea what it looks like. I'll assume it's not very friendly.

"Hayden, Grayson, Arlo get up. We're going for a swim." She smiles widely at everyone.

"It will be cold." Hayden replies, not standing up. The other two do.

"So? It will wake you up, refresh you. Just don't get lost out there." She shrugs. For once I agree with Brooklyn and want to do this. It could take our minds off of things.

She pulls her shirt over her head and chucks it to where she was sitting. I realise we are doing this in just our pants and bras.

"I don't feel too good, I'm going to stay here." Hayden mutters, looking at us.

"Suit yourself." Grayson says, taking his shirt off. Me and Arlo do the same. And we all take our bottoms off. I feel slightly violated in just my bra and pants, but it's not a big deal. We already had our shoes and socks off, there's no point having them on when you're not walking anywhere.

I walk over to Arlo and say, "I'll race you there."

"Oh you bet." He raises his eyebrows. And suddenly were all running to the cold, dark ocean. The adrenaline I get from running in my pants and bra on a beach when it's dark is just insane. It makes me feel invincible, though I know I'm not.

My feet and legs touch the water as I run full speed in, I get a sudden shiver down my spine. It really is cold. It feels refreshing though. And i wonder why we haven't actually done this in the week and a bit that we have been here.

Brooklyn squeals as she drives in, submerging her whole body under the water. I do the same, and it feels good to get all the dirty dry sand off of me. Even though it will just come back and stick to us. I don't think about it at the moment. Because in this moment, all my bad thoughts leave me. I have fun. I enjoy playing in the water with my new friends, who I may never see again after we get rescued.

And for once, I see Arlo smiling. Laughing. Actually having fun. I haven't seen him like that in a while.

"This is amazing!" I yell, spinning around the best I can in water. My feet barely touch the bottom. Arlo looks at me as we bob up and down in the water, trying to keep ourselves up.

"Mum and Dad would be proud of us for doing this, you know?" He smiles a bit. My smile disappears, but then I nod and smile.

"Yes. Yes they would be proud."

***

We stayed in the ocean until we felt our toes and fingers going numb, then we got out and sat around the fire nearly naked still.

I stare into the fire again, my wet hair dripping onto my bare legs. All my hairs stick up.

Hayden sits there in his clothes, picking at the skin around his nails, looking rather pale.

"You okay Hayden?" I ask, curious.

"Yeah, why?" He says.

"You just look a little pale and well, off."

He looks at me as if I've just said something stupid, "I've barely eaten, probably have sunstroke, and my insides have probably started going rotten. Yes, I'm okay, thank you."

I think that was the most Hayden has said in front of us all. Everyone stares at him, he looks down again, clearly slightly embarrassed by his small outburst.

I look away from Hayden and to Grayson, he looks at me and smiles. I smile back and realise his eyes are going from mine down my body then back up to my face again. I feel a hint of embarrassment myself and cover my body best I can with my arms and legs. I look away and smile to myself.

I may not like it here still, but it's fun to see the good in things sometimes.