The Island

Chapter 15

Erika's POV

Thinking happy thoughts is harder than it seems as the rain comes down, soaking my clothes and making me uncomfortable. What makes me happy? I try to focus on happy memories but nothing comes to mind.

"Think of a loved one." Davok suggests as he sits beside me.

Loved ones.

My father hasn't spoken to me in years and my mother died when I was very young, I barely remember her. I think of Emily and our happy moments, but they don't seem to kill the rain.

My mind drifts to Cam. Every moment I've ever had with him seems to appear in my mind, flooding my thoughts. Even if some of the memories I've had with him confuse me, they still have the ability to make me smile.

Slowly, I start to feel the rain stop, no more drops hitting my skin. "You did it, the rain stopped." Davok says beside me, sounding proud.

Opening my eyes I see the rain has stopped. The ground is wet around us and drops of rain drip from the trees above; but it's stopped. I peak over at Davok and give him a smile as he smiles back.

"So, what did you think about to make it stop?" Davok asks as he gets up off the ground and walks towards some bushes. He sifts through them before finding something round and eating it.

I slowly get off the ground and slowly walk towards him with my injured ankle. "Cam, I thought of Cam." I sit down next to the bush that he's searching through.

Davok continues to sift through the bush eating little round berries.

"We wait until dawn and then we go." Davok says from the bushes and moves towards me with a handful of berries. I shake my head, not feeling hungry. He shrugs and continues to eat them as he sits down beside me. He shifts positions so he's comfortable beside me.

"Why did you think of him? Don't you have any other memories that you could've thought of that would've been happier? He's not the kindest man."

I know Davok doesn't understand and honestly, I don't either. All I know for sure is that for some strange reason, I have feelings for Cam.

"I know who he is." I pause thinking about the memories of my father. "I don't remember my mother, she died when I was young. My father was never around long enough for me to know him well enough. It almost seemed like he resented me because I look like her." I tell him. "My friend Emily, I've known her since high school but when I thought of her it didn't seem to calm me. I guess I thought of Cam because after thinking of home, he's the first person that came to mind."

I don't get much of a response from Davok other than a grunt. I turn my head to look at him and see that he's passed out. I get comfortable too before I close my eyes and drift to sleep.

***

Darkness and rays of moonlight surround me. The sound of trees swaying in the wind and the faint sound of crunching branches in the distance. I have a bad feeling about what lies ahead but I feel I have to keep going.

"You don't want to keep going." A voice says from behind me. I turn around to find the three cloaked figures. The same ones from the last dream I had.

"And why is that?" I question.

Two of the figures turn around and walk in the other direction. "Because you are not ready to see." They say together.

What am I not ready to see?

I look back to where the noises had been coming from and back to the single cloaked figure that stands in front of me. The figure has a royal blue cloak on. "Trust me when I say that in time you'll understand. Don't go that way, it'll be more than you can withstand." The figure says before turning around and following the others, leaving me with a choice.

I hear more cracks, almost like bones breaking and then a groan. What's on the other side of the trees?

Everything suddenly becomes quiet, too quiet. A loud roar suddenly comes from the other side of the trees that shakes the earth. And just as sudden as the roar, something came charging out of the trees towards me. Before I see what it is, I jolt awake in the bushes with Davok.

When I open my eyes, the light of the sun shines in my eyes. Davok moves beside me and I know he's starting to wake up as well.

When Davok is awake we start walking in silence as Davok leads the way. My ankle is still sore so we move slower than I believe Davok would like.

As we walk, I think back to the dreams I've been getting here. I wonder why I've had such strange dreams. Dreams that I don't seem to forget once I've woken up.

"Davok, do you know of any people on the island that wear cloaks?"

"Not that I've ever encountered. But I've heard stories of beings with powers that reside on the far side of the island. I don't know if the stories are true, but they are what my people center our stories around at the camp fires." He says in a hushed tone as we continue walking.

After awhile I start to hear drumming from behind us and it gets closer and closer as we go. I look over at Davok and he's looking behind us with a worried expression on his face.

"Can you move any faster?" He asks concerned for me and what is behind us.

I try to pick up my pace but I guess it's not fast enough as Davok bends down and lifts me up bridal style through the trees.

The drums keep getting louder and louder even with Davok carrying me. Davok suddenly stops and swears under his breath.

"It's a dead end." He says. I look from behind us to in front of us and see a cliff.

"What do we do?" I ask, hearing the drums getting closer.

Davok looks over the edge and back at me. The cliff isn't the same one I jumped off with Sophie. This one has trees right to the edge. "When my people come, I'll pretend I got here first. While I'm convincing them, you jump off the edge."

I shake my head frantically. "I'm not jumping!"

"What? It's completely harmless." He says as I look over the edge seeing rocks sticking out of the water.

"Harmless? I jump, I'll die."

He shrugs. "Death by fire or death by rock, your choice, I'd go for rock." he pauses as the drums get closer and we can hear voices.

When they come through the trees they seem as if they're in full battle mode. One of the men that is first through starts speaking gibberish to Davok and Davok speaks back, grabbing my arm but not in a way that I can't break loose. I look over the edge and back to the people who want to kill me.

Now or never.

I pull away from Davok and through myself over the edge of the cliff.

Why do I always feel like I'm jumping off cliffs to get away from people?

As I'm about to jump, I feel a tingling sensation on my left ankle. Ignoring the tingles, I jump and pray that my death is quick.

I fall and expect an impact or unbearable pain, but nothing comes.

I feel as if I'm floating on a cloud. I open my eyes and sure enough I'm floating over the water towards the other side of the island.

As I'm observing myself, I suddenly fall into the water below. The grasp I had on whatever power I was controlling had been broken and I'm consumed by the cold ocean water.

When I surface, I cough up water as the fall was unexpected. I start swimming towards the shoreline when I can breathe properly again.

After everything that has happened since I got here, I have a feeling more is to come.