The Isolation Project

One More Day

I woke up in the middle of the ocean. I didn't know how I got there, but I quickly began to sink under. With only water and nothing to grab, I slammed my hands on the water and straightened my legs to see if they touched bottom. Just as I expected, the ocean floor was probably miles beneath me. My head bobbed in and out of the water as I tried to float, but it is hard to take a deep breath when you are screaming for help. There was no land in sight, and nobody to help me. The waves splashed into my eyes and the taste of putrid salt filled my mouth. As my vision cleared I noticed a giant wave coming towards me. Scared and acting in the moment, I sank myself under to avoid the impact of the baby tsunami. The current created by the monster wave carried me deeper into the ocean. My eyes stung from the salt and I saw nothing but murky water and shreds of seaweed. I had no idea how deep I had been dragged, but my lungs begged for air as my ribcage moved trying to inhale. I flailed my arms and legs trying to reach for the surface, but I felt the water pushing me further towards the bottom. My mouth opened and within seconds the air that was inside of me came out as bubbles, and the water came down my throat until it felt like cement filled my lungs. I coughed and tried to inhale something other than water to continue coughing, but more water came down as I drifted to the bottom of the ocean. My eyesight went black and all I felt was terrible pain as I lost consciousness. I tasted the faint taste of salt and felt my feet hitting the sand of the ocean floor when I heard the familiar voice of my roommate and partner for The Project, Amber.

"Izzy, get up! Your sweating like crazy and messed up all of your sheets."

I opened my eyes to find myself wrapped in my sheets like a cocoon. They were wet from perspiration, and I tasted the salty taste of sweat and tears on my lips. I immediately began coughing, still thinking that it was sea water.

"Help!" I screamed as I tried to flail my arms and legs, but they were wrapped in the cocoon of my bedspread and sheets.

"Iz, stop screaming! If the Preparers came in and saw you like that, they would never let you go into the public tomorrow. You had that nightmare again, didn't you?"

"Yeah," I eventually kicked my sheets off of me and sat on the edge of my bed, "I've had the same nightmare at least once a week for the past year."

"Well, you are still on dry land. Your heart must be beating a million beats per second. Calm yourself down and go get ready, breakfast will be served any minute."

I stared out my window at the ocean waves coming in and hitting the sand, "It doesn't help that we live on an island. What if one day, a giant wave comes in and carried us out to sea?"

Amber flipped the page of the island's weekly magazine that she was reading. She didn't even look up from it when she answered, "Well The Priming Day is tomorrow, so if you can just last one more day you will be fine. Besides, we all had basic swimming lessons."

"You know how great those turned out for me. I mean, everybody did pretty bad, but I couldn't even last in the deep end of the pool for more than five minutes. Let alone an ocean."

"You worry too much," she said while her eyes were still glued to the magazine. I could tell by her tone of voice that she had completely lost interest in the conversation.

I stared out my window and thought of finally going to a continent, "What are you most excited for? The magazines and gossip, I am guessing."

"Wha?" she finally looked up, "Oh, yeah, yeah. On the island they only let us read magazines that are about Sinto. They never let us read real magazines. I am SO excited to be able to read magazines and catch up on the latest news. I just feel so in the past on the island. I am tired of being left out of the world. I can't wait to finally have a role in society, ya know?"

"I know what you mean. Are you scared?"

"No. I am ready to dive right into the new world. You scared?"

I didn't answer. I just told Amber that we should be going to breakfast. But to be honest, I was a little scared. We would be dropped into the world with no place to live, no job, no connections, no family, no nothing. We would only have two thousand dollars each and a phone that the Preparers made us. It is just like a smart phone, only it is smarter. It also has no Internet access until The Priming Day. And it only holds contacts that use the same phone, so it would only hold nineteen contacts. Since we all live together, there was no need to use the phone.

"IZZY! THE LIST! IT'S UP!" Amber screamed as everyone rushed to a piece of paper tacked to a wall. The list tells you where you are going to be dropped off in the real world, and who you will be with. One girl ran up to the list and turned around crying. I guess she was put into a random group.

"Isabelle, they did it by your proper name number! So I am with you! Oh, and Jaxton is in our group," she gave me a sly smile.

"Shut up," I said. Jaxton has had a crush on me for as long as I can remember. He never flat out told me that he liked me until last year, but it was so obvious. I mean, don't get me wrong, Jaxton is one of my best friends, but I can't imagine dating him. Ever. He is pretty attractive, having brown hair that he gels up in the front and these piercing green eyes, but he is just a friend, "Speaking of him, where is Jaxton?"

"How should I know? The little weirdo is probably outside, like always," oh, I forgot to mention. Jaxton and Amber don't get along. They are friends, but they pester each other nonstop.

I went outside and, sure enough, Jaxton was sitting under a palm tree staring at the horizon line.

"Hey," I said. He quickly turned around, "I didn't mean to surprise you. So, we are in the same group for The Priming Day."

"Yeah," he said. He was still concentrating hard on the horizon. Jaxton was always a thinker. When he really put his mind to something, he could solve anything. Despite his intelligence, he never had that many friends, but neither did I. Jaxton and I are the reason why this is trial two, and most of the tributes didn't appreciate it. They would tell us that if we were not born, they would still be with their family. Luckily, Amber is my partner, so she was forced to be my friend. But Jaxton wasn't as lucky. They choose your partner by gender and by your full name. I am #266, Jaxton is #267, and Amber is #268. So the girl closest to me was Amber. The boy closest to Jaxton, #270, was a jock. His name is Ryan, and he always messes with Jaxton. It is safe to say that their relationship as friends is somewhat strained.

"Izzy, you will never guess what I found in the records room."

"Jax! I told you not to snoop around by the records! If you got caught they would have killed you!"

"I found out stuff about my family," he said, totally ignoring me. Jaxton has always been curious about his family.

"What did you find?"

"My dad was #192 and my mom was #85. That was back when they had 265 tributes. Their numbers are so far apart, maybe they had some kinda forbidden love," he looked right at me. I just gave him my 'keep dreaming, buddy' face.

"Yo, Jaxton! My man! How did I know that I would find you out here?" it was the familiar voice of Ryan. He came running over with a football in his hand. I so badly wanted to just punch that kid in the face. He never leaves Jaxton alone, "And who is this lovely beauty?" he asked as he tried to pet my hair.

"You get away from her!" Jaxton said, standing up. He tried to act tough, but Jaxton is so skinny and wimpy, while Ryan is so tall and muscular.

"I don't need a bodyguard, Jaxton," I said.

He looked hurt, and turned around to sit back under the palm tree.

"I should, uh, leave you two alone," Ryan said, then walked away.

It was quiet between Jaxton and I for a minute or two, but then I said, "What are you most excited about tomorrow?"

"I might be able to find some of my family," he said. The chances of this were very unlikely, but I didn't say anything, "What are you excited about?"

The ocean water from the waves rushed up to my toes and I quickly backed up, "Getting off this island. I really hope we don't go to another island. Oh my gosh, I totally forgot to check on the list where our group is going! Do you know?"

"New York City."