Stranded

Chapter 1

"Hey. Are you alright?"

Olympia could see light behind her eyelids and opened her eyes in thin slits, the brightness shooting daggers into them. She struggled to sit up, her head spinning, searching for the source of the question. Her gaze landed on the boy across the aisle of the plane from her. Apparently the harnesses had come unhooked during the crash, because Olympia was the only one still in her seat. She moaned a bit as she released her arms from the straps.

"I'm fine." She had a thousand questions racing through her mind, but asked the most prominent one: "How did we survive?"

"I have no idea. One second we were falling towards the ocean, then it seemed like the island just appeared under us." he answered.

"The wind must have blown us towards it," another girl added, walking down the aisle. "Hi. I'm Elizabeth. And you are?"

"I'm Leo," the boy introduced himself, pushing his hair off his face with one hand. He was tall, almost lanky, and had a fringe of black hair that kept falling into his eyes.

"And I'm Olympia. Do either of you have any idea how we got here?"

Elizabeth looked perplexed. "I don't... I can't remember anything before the plane."

Leo shook his head as well. "Yeah, I have no idea. I can remember just about as much as you. The storm, then the crash."

Olympia sighed. "Well this is fantastic," she said, raising her arms above her head and letting them fall again.

There was a sound of crunching metal near the plane's hatch and Olympia raised her head to find the source. Two other teens were attempting push a crumpled piece of metal out of the doorway. One boy and one girl, both with sandy brown hair and sea glass colored eyes.

"One, two, three," the boy counted. "Push!" With a loud clang the metal moved and the door popped open.

The girl, her hair slicked into a ponytail that whipped around as she moved, jogged toward Olympia, Elizabeth and Leo. "Do any of you know where we are?" She glanced at each of the faces in front of her in turn.

Elizabeth answered first. "No, but based on the gritty texture of the sand, we must be somewhere in the middle of a lake."

The girl raised her eyebrows and nodded slowly. "Good to know, I guess. I'm Rebecca, but you can call me Becca, by the way. And that's my older brother, Ryan," she added, pointing at the boy still hovering by the doorway.

Ryan, looking uninterested, waved slightly and went back to leaning in the entrance.

"I'm Olympia. And this is Elizabeth and Leo," Olympia responded. "What are we going to do now?"

"I want to go exploring," Leo chimed in.

"That would be the logical thing to do," added Elizabeth.

"Then let's do this!" Becca exclaimed. "I call exploring with Ryan!"

"Wait a minute. Logical yes, but is exploring really the safest option?" Ryan asked from the shadows.

Before anyone could answer, another girl burst through the door. She was petite and had cropped brown hair. "So this is where the party is," she exclaimed, laughing a little. A boy, tan and athletic, followed her in.

"We were missing out on all the fun," said the boy, elbowing the girl. "So I heard we were going exploring?"

"Yes, but, first of all, what are your names?" Olympia asked, impressed by the amount of energy this small girl had.

"Oops! Sorry, I forgot introductions. I'm Reagan and this is my boyfriend, Aiden. Can we go exploring now?"

Ryan emerged from the shadows. "Hold on. Is the island really safe? We crash land on a mysterious island with no memories, and the first thing you want to do is split up? I know you all are excited, but we need to be cautious."

Olympia glanced around the circle, nodding. "Ryan is right. We need to be careful. But I also agree that exploring and taking stock of our surroundings is a good idea. What if we go in two groups, and meet back at the plane in thirty minutes? Then we can share what we found."

"Plus we need to look for food. Besides, it'll be fun!" Reagan added.

"How about Reagan, Aiden, Olympia and I go in one group, and Becca, Ryan and Elizabeth go in the other group?" Leo offered. Ryan said nothing, and slunk back to the plane entrance.

"Well then, it's decided. My group will head east and Olympia's group will head west." Elizabeth said after a pause. "Ready?"

And so the two groups divided up and set off over the coarse sand. Olympia led her group, followed by Leo, with Reagan and Aiden bringing up the rear. They walked swiftly, heading deeper into the island, towards the dark forest.