Remi-niscent

Chapter 18:

By the time everyone else eventually decides to wake up, my stomach is complaining loudly about that lack of food that it has received as of late. So once the others are finally all up, we go about organising breakfast, which ends up consisting of wild cherries that to our amazement we find growing abundantly on the island. Leaving Jase and Remi lying where they are all wrapped up in blankets, the pouring rain doesn't deter us in the slightest from leaving the shelter to begin clambering around in the cherry trees. After picking the rich, dark red, juicy fruit and gorging ourselves until we're so full we can't eat any more, with stomachs fuller than they have been in what feels like forever, we stay sitting up in the trees like oversized, ungainly, flightless birds.

From our perch high above the ground, we're able to look over the rest of the trees on the island which gives us all the most breathtaking view of the 360° panoramic scenery that surrounds us. The bucket loads of heavy raindrops pelting down from the sky make the air smell crisp, earthy and pure, and taking in deep lungfuls a wave of serenity washes over me. Picking a few extra cherries to keep on hand for a small snack later on, I wrap them loosely up in the bottom of my shirt, scrunching the ends with one hand and then carefully climb back down the tree using the other.

After making it back down to solid ground in one piece and making my way over to kneel down beside to Remi, I can't resist the urge pressing a small kiss on her forehead. In her sleep Remi manages a small smile before turning and rolling into my lap. This makes a content smile grace my face as I'm filled with a warm, tingly feeling at her subconscious action. From where I'm sitting, I can hear the squeals of laughter from the others as they take a quick dip in the lake as the cool morning making the water refreshingly cold.

But leaving the others to goof around down by the water, Lee walks back up to us carrying a dripping wet cloth in his hands. After replacing it with the one on Jase's forehead, he turns to grab a dry shirt from the pile and starts drying himself off with it and as he does this he asks, "Is he getting better?" But it's so quiet that I can barely make out his words over the sound of the rain bouncing off the tarpaulin.

Sighing deeply I turn my gaze across to where Jase is lying on his stomach, the only sign that he's even still alive the shallow rise and fall of his shoulders. "I wish I could give you a better answer, but at the moment it seems as though he's just in a progressive state of decline. And at this rate if his fever doesn't break soon then it could quite possibly begin to have permanent effects on his brain, that is if he even wakes up. "

Lee stills, perhaps not quite having realised the genuine severity of the situation before, "And Remi? How is she? Is she going to be okay? She is doing better right? At least she looks a lot better." He babbles nervously as though hoping I won't give him any more burdensome news to carry.

I smile weakly at him, "Her fever broke overnight which means that she's made it through the worst of it."

"That's good to hear," Lee smiles gratefully, visibly less tense now that at least we have one thing to be thankful for. "But is there anything can we do, or anything that will help Jase right now?"

I chew on my lip thoughtfully, trying to think up a way that we can be productive and useful, "Actually, yeah we can. His body will be very dehydrated from the amount of sweat he's losing at the moment so we should definitely try get some water into him."

Now that we have a plan we both get to work, first collecting a pail of water from the lake, then bringing it to the boil over the flickering fire in a small pot to purify it. Then once it's cooled we find big leaves to transport the water over to Jase. Slowly and tenaciously dripping tiny amounts of the lukewarm water into Jase mouth, Lee carefully holds his head up for me so that he won't accidentally choke.