"Tessa, are you ever going to get up?" Eliza called to me. "It's got to be almost noon!"
I sat up and looked around. Everyone else was awake, sort of. Flora looked like she was sleep walking. Her hand was really bruised from being stuck under Carly's seat and her eyes were kind of puffy from crying last night.
Kayla was sitting with James as he bandaged her arm again with an ACE bandage they had found in a first aid kit laying next to them. And Carly was wrapping another one around her ankle along with 2 pieces of wood for a splint.
Bryan no longer seemed to be walking with a limp anymore as he wandered about what was left of the plane with Hayden.
Eliza was sitting next to me which happened to be a ways away from everyone else. She definitely looked to be in a lot better shape then the rest of us.
"Why aren't you over there with the rest of them?" I looked at her and tried to ignore the pain in my head which hadn't seemed to go away at all while I slept. If anything it seemed worse!
"Well," she started, then paused for a minute before continuing. "They don't really trust me. Despite everything yesterday, they won't talk to me."
"They just don't know you probably. Have I told you everyone's names?"
"No. Well besides Hayden. And I figured out Carly's but everybody else is just a nameless face."
"Well let me introduce you to everyone! Come on over with me!"
I stood up and started walking over to where Carly, Kayla, and James were still sitting.
"Whoa! Stop for just a minute Tessa."
She ran to catch up to me.
"What's up?"
"Are you okay?" I opened my mouth to tell her I was fine but she stopped me. "And don't you dare say your fine! I saw how you were walking, like a drunk and grimacing every time you talked!"
"Well, ever since the crash yesterday I've had a terrible headache and been really dizzy. I guess I hit my head at some point."
"Here let me help you. You look like your about to fall!"
I let her put her arm around me lead me over to James and the others. Carly and Kayla both were watching us concerned and I guessed they had witnessed the previous conversation.
"I think I need to introduce you guys to my new friend here. Her name-"
"Wait just a second," interrupted Kayla. "First tell me what that was about."
"What, what was about?"
"Why you were walking like you were about to collapse?"
I groaned inwardly.
"It's nothing!" I insisted. "Just a little headache! Don't act like my mother hen! Let me introduce you to Eliza!"
"Fine, let me call the others over," she looked over her shoulder. "Guys come over here. Tessa wants you to meet someone. And hurry! I want to go back to being Tessa's mother hen!"
I glared at her. Which startled her a bit. I really wasn't being myself lately.
When every body was gathered around I motioned to Eliza.
"This is Eliza. She was the one that helped me after the crash and helped me find you." Then I pointed to each person in turn as I said their name. After that there was a chorus of 'Nice to meet you's before Bryan spoke up.
"What are you doing all alone in the Grand Canyon?"
"It's a long story. And you probably don't want to here it."
"Yea we do. And it's not like we've got anywhere to be."
Eliza hesitated then looked to me for support. I nodded that we wanted to hear it and she sighed and started her story.
"Well it started when I finally got my parents to take me on a trip to the Hoover Dam when I was 11, my sister nearly fell off the edge of the dam. We had so much fun there, despite that, that my parents decided to go on an annual trip each year to some other big vacation spot. Each year though something bad always seemed to happen. One time, when we were at the Statue of Liberty, a taxi hit the side of our car. It nearly killed my dad and it broke my arm. Another time, in Seattle, an earthquake trapped my mom and brother inside our hotel.
"This last June we came here, the Grand Canyon. We got to go on a hike down into the canyon. My brother wandered off the trail and we followed him. When we finally caught up we had no idea where the trail was. We wandered for hours never finding any trace of the trail or any other people.
"At one point we found a cave in the side of the canyon. I wandered in to explore and just found a shallow cavity with tons of claw marks. It looked as if something big had once lived there. I went back out and my siblings dashed inside to look, my parents followed. I was about to go back in when...when..." she started crying a little bit and had to gain her composure before continuing. "When the rock snapped closed like a giant mouth. All I could find of the cavity was a tiny crack that ran up the height of the cliff. When I put my ear to it I could hear my family inside, crying and calling for help. Their voices getting fainter and fainter until I couldn't hear anything.
"I've been stuck here ever since. I've never been able to find a way out and no one seems to have heard my cries for help. It's been so lonely. Then I saw the plane crash and... I was kinda relieved that it had crashed, but then it took me forever to get Tessa to wake up that I thought she had died. And I was all alone again but with a dead body. And you guys know what happened after that."
We just stared at her after that. I couldn't imagine being stuck here all alone for months! Especially after losing my family. I never thought someone could have such a horrible summer.
Then again I didn't think anyone could survive in the bottom of the Grand Canyon all alone. I adjusted my stance. Standing here listening to the story took a lot of my energy.
"That's horrible!" Flora gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. Then tried to find a bright side to the whole thing. "At least you missed school."
Eliza shook her head sadly.
"Despite how bad it is going to school, I'd much rather be there with my family, than here without them. And I was really excited for this year! I was going into my freshman year in high school!"
"What school would you go to?"
"Brighton High School, in Utah."
"Really?" Bryan asked. "That's close to our school!"
We all nodded in agreement. But when I did my head pounded and my vision went dark on the edges. I barely suppressed a grimace. And my sight went blurry.
"Wouldn't it be so much nicer if we were all meeting in class?" Eliza said, a small laugh escaping her. "That is if we even went to the same..."
Her voice seemed to fade out as she spoke. Actually all sound got muffled. I saw James open his mouth to reply but Kayla suddenly shouted and pointed at me. I couldn't quite make out what she said and then I felt myself falling backwards but that was the last thing I remembered.
