elle has always been the good girl in her mischievous, immature and over-the-top class full of madcap mayhem. when the class wakes up as castaways in a strange land of dreams and nightmares, they are thrust into a world full of surprises where even...
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"arghhh! Get away!" the enraged shrieks pierced the air. Elle stopped, dread coiling around her heart. Turning around, she almost laughed in relief, the trepidation that had followed her evaporating.
Shaun, his dripping and drenched form splattering water that turned the sand below his feet into an unwholesome dark shade, was failing his arms in mid air frantically, a torrent of piercing screams emitted from his mouth.
"Get away! Shoo!" Shaun was waving his arms in the air and a closer analysis revealed an angrily buzzing creature the likes of Elle had never seen before. It was dark brown, the colour of rotted leaves, and it was sprinkled liberally with splotches of plum purple, like a diluted colour of a beetroot juice.
Amidst his frenzy of shooing away the infuriated insect-looking creature, Shaun fumbled with the pouch at his belt that cinched the waist of all of them and finally took it out. With intense concentration, he swatted the air in an attempt to squash the insect, but to no avail.
Bouts of laughter ensued. Everyone was dying of laughter as merry and perhaps even slightly spiteful bubbles erupted from them. Elle could almost imagine tears leaking out of the corner of their eyes or stitches at their side.
Elle pursed her lips thoughtfully, though also disapproval. She did not want to join in the chorus of laughter, but the comical sight induced some relief, especially after the unexpected attack that was out of the blue. However, she felt that there was a subtle difference that made the world between laughing with and laughing at, and she was unsure which was what.
Thus, Elle kept her silence, waiting patiently for the laughter to subside. Shaun managed a sheepish smile, and once again Elle was unsure whether the scene was specially conjured out for attention.
"Afraid of an insect, Shaun?" the mocking tones of David resounded, and Shaun turned in defiance, veins of anger popping out of his forehead.
"See, if you leave it alone, it will just go away," Jasper drawled in a bored tone, but his eyes were alight with mirth and mockery. He pointed to the creature, which created a buzzing sound as it casually looped away, its miniscule body disappearing into the distance. Shaun drew a deep breath to deliver a retort.
"Shut that gassy vent of yours you call a mouth!" Shaun yelled. The mocking tones of Jasper's voice drifted through the light wind that caressed Elle's face.
"You call that a retort?" Jasper asked in feigned incredulity. Shaun drew himself up for another response when Valerie's voice cut through the air like the whistling sound of a knife. It was authoritative and loud.
"Okay, shut up guys," Valerie's clear response effectively sealed the silence. Elle gaped at her as she hugged her shoulders in an attempt to block the wind from drawing every inch of heat from her shivering body. A quick glance around confirmed that indeed, all twenty of the members of their party were present, and they too were drenched to the bone.
