Drift

Chapter 11

The eerie silence that set over the beach after Charlie's words seemed to echo and amplify the longer it lasted. It started like any other silence does - everyone is thinking and no-one is speaking - but then transcended into a silence that we all were reluctant to break.

I mean, how do you follow a bombshell like that?

I'm pretty sure the silence would have continued if Jason hadn't broken it with one of his lighthearted idioms that no-one understands, "don't worry guys." He sighed. "We can all find strength in the ache of loneliness that radiates from the hearts of one another."

Kat fake-coughed, "Drama queen."

Jason smiled. "Well they don't call me triple threat Jason for nothing."

"Broadway, no-one calls you triple threat Jason. Old uncles that smoke pipes and girls that are sucking up to you do not count."

"Well then. I guess you're lucky I prefer girls that actually speak their mind," he winked.

Kat scowled.

"So," Alex said conclusively, changing the subject and tastefully leading the attention of everyone else away from Kat and Jason's banter. "If there's someone else on the Island, what do we do about it?"

Charlie was sat on the sand, against  one of the logs that he had gathered the day before. His hair was messy and matted in some places, his clothes were ripped and slightly browner, but he had a serious thinking face thing going on that worked for him. I'd been used to seeing him with a jokey smile always carefully applied, but it seemed our situation had brought out his serious side.

What does it say about a person if it takes a near death experience to make them open up?

"Well, Alex." He replied, picking up a handful of sand and watching the individual grains pour out through the gaps between his fingers. "We look for them, if not to meet them then to at least retrieve our property. Let's see how they can help us."

*

After Charlie's ominous advice, we'd all dispersed into little groups to chat and eat berries while Charlie and Ben worked out a plan. The little groups basically consisted of Kat, Jason, Alex and I laughing and joking, and Carrie off in her own corner looking spectacularly lonely and very unapproachable.

"Let's play a game, I'm kinda bored." Alex suggested. "How about... Truth or dare?"

"Ohh no." I said. "Nothing ever goes well when people play that game."

"Agreed." Kat said. "If I've learnt anything in my 19 years of living, it's that truth or dare will take a bad situation and make it an unbearable one."

"How about, Never Have I Ever?" She inquired.

"Nope." Jason stated. "There are many things I've never done, and I do not wish to be reminded of them."

"How about a simple game of twenty questions?" I offered. "We don't actually know a lot about each other."

Everyone nodded in approval. "I suppose that's plausible. But we might as well all be here to play." Said Kat, before she hollered at Charlie and Ben to come and play (ignoring their protests) and said that if Carrie could walk in the opposite direction into the ocean that would be great too.

Unfortunately, Carrie was right behind Charlie and forced herself into the circle, looking content at Kat's disapproving expression. "What are we playing?"