ISLAND FREE

Chapter 11: Out in the Rain

I woke up unconscious, hearing faint sounds.
"Is she awake?" A familiar voice asked. Emma.
"I don't know. She's still unconscious..." Joy.
"Maybe,.....yea, she's awake. Still unconscious. Hello! Page....you here? You alright?" Riley.
"Hmnnn? Mnmmm?" I said with a faint voice.
"She's awake!" Emma shouted.
"Here." Riley said trying to get me to a sitting position. With my back leaning on her arm, she handed me something with her other hand. My vision was still a little blurry, but I could tell she was bringing the bowl of soup to my mouth. I took the coconut shell and brought it up to my mouth. I felt the warmth of the soup in my hands, and as soon as it went down my throat, and reached my stomach, I was instantly cured. My vision was back to normal and the voices I heard were clear.
"How long have I been out?"
"Don't worry. Not more than a couple hours."
"Good....but how did you guys survive and I didn't?" They started to chuckle.
With a clear voice, Riley said, "actually, I ate a lot more than a lot of food the last time we were on the boat." She turned to Joy and Emma and they both smiled. Then turning to me, she said, "we all did." I was confused. How does Riley know about Emma and Joy? Of what they ate? Maybe they all shared a room...Neah...
"Joy, Riley and I came together for a vacation. Except Riley came from the north and we came from the east." That was why I was on the same plane as Riley.
"I saw you on the plane." Riley mentioned. I chucked and nodded in agreement.
As I was finishing up my soup, and boy did it taste good, Joy called everyone and drew a map of the island on the ground.
"Look guys." She pointed to the main beach and the first half of the island. "All this part, it's like a rain forest mixed with a jungle. A group of monkeys, banana and coconut trees everywhere. Also many many berry bushes. And also vines everywhere to swing around for fun. This half is great!" Then she pointed to the middle. The meadow-like area we were in now. "Let's call this headquarters. It's like out kitchen!" Then she pointed to the other half of this island. "Here, the whole area is just woods, but there are many wild veggies." She moved to stick to indicate a line she drew. It started near here....near headquarters, and ended at one part of the beach. "Here is a river. Riley, didn't you say this is salt water?"
"Yes." So that's where she washed everything. And how she got salt for the soup. Without salt, nothing tastes good.
Joy continued, "well, anyways," she said pointing all around the island. "Beach." She pointed to the main beach. "This is the beach we landed on. Let's call it the main beach."
With excitement, I said aloud, "hey, that's exactly what I was thinking!"
"Wow! Really? That's cool." She said with a smile.
"Hey! Why won't we build a shelter here?"
"Are you kidding me?" I was almost in shock. "That's exactly what I was just about to say!"
"We don't really have to." Emma interrupted.
"I think we should." Riley said. "This looks like a place where it rains a lot."
"Ughh! Fine, then." She reluctantly agreed.
"Ok!" I said running off to the main beach along with Joy. Finally I got to do what I wanted to do:build a shelter.
I ran as fast as I could, knees high up, arms swinging by my side and the wind against my face; the wind pushing my hair, so it went flying back with it. Soon, very soon, I felt small raindrops on my face and the slight sound of thunder. I turned my head to the right, here I saw Joy passing right beside me.
"You've gotten faster." She said as she turned facing me with a smile. I smiled back and started running even faster. I was now far ahead of her. I turned my head back to her, where I found a surprised face.
I shouted, "we've gotta work faster! It's raining!" And it started to rain even harder. The sound of rain, increasing as I ran, my soaked clothes, my feet splashing against the small puddles that had already formed, and the sound of thunder coming nearer to us, put me in my highest speed possible. I was running so fast, I barely felt my legs, and it was as though I was about to fly off the ground. I felt so light...light as a feather. When I reached the main beach, the rain was raging and the place was muddy. Put in my distance, I made out a couple of humongous letters:
S.
O.
S.
So that's what Emma had been working on earlier. Perhaps a plane would fly over and notice the letter. The chances of that we're very little, but if we wanted to get off this island, we had to take every chance possible. But, awkwardly, I felt like I was enjoying it here. Like I don't want to leave.
Even the rain, by now, hadn't destroyed the SOS sign. But I was pretty sure it would, by later. Joy caught up to me, panting. She kneeled down just a bit so she could catch her breath.
"Why are you panting?" I asked.
Still panting, she answered, "why are you not? And I thought I was a lot faster than you." She gave me a slight smile and that was when I noticed I wasn't tired. Well, Sally and Mom had once told me that if I wanted to do something, it was like I was born to do it. But I never really understood, then.
"Com'on!" She yelled as she ran off to the rubbled boat. I ran beside her, and passed her again. Then I carried about three of the pieces of wood. They were long and had probably been part of the side or the bottom of the boat. They were also huge. Joy did the same and this would've definitely slowed us down. A lot.
We started speed walking but had to go slower because the pieces of wood were just too long; and they got in our way. They kept hitting the ground and as a result had to be carried by 2. So instead of 6 pieces of wood, Joy and I both carried three. She held the back while I had the front. Fortunately, we made it faster than I had anticipated. We placed the wood under one of the trees and we found Riley and Emma under another, calling us to join them. Except it wasn't a friendly invitation. They looked like they were about to lose their patience and would scold us as soon as we were out of the rain.
"What do you think you two are doing?! Do you have any idea of how wet you are?!" Emma scolded. We looked down at our clothes. They were dripping water and felt extremely heavy. Only that they weren't just dripping. It was like a water fall. Only now we had realized. Joy and I gave Emma and innocent smile and started to squeeze out the water. I was just about to go, when Emma held on to my arm, tightly.
"Are you crazy?! Where do you think you're going? You are staying in here until the rain stops! You're definitely gonna catch a cold if you continue this behavior." She reminded me of Sally. I frowned and sat back down. Then I heard the rain slow down and got to my feet. I  ran out of my shelter and into the open, shouting as I went to the prices of wood.
"It slowed down! So we can start building the shelter. We can't stay under a tree forever!"