The Sound of Their Presence

Chapter Forty Eight: A Little Preoccupied

Cheyenne's POV

    I awaken buried beneath rubble. I don't remember much after singing with Shane, before we crashed. I have to claw and dig my way out from beneath scraps of metal and a bar of soap- Oh God. The bathroom would have to be above me!

    When I am finally somewhat free of the rubble, I am hit with a pang of panic. "Shane! Shane!" Oh yeah, maybe I should be worried about Jillian, too, but . . . Shane is the only who has my attention at the moment. "Shane! Shane!" I finally break free of the debris. I only make it a few feet before I double over and wretch. My body wracks for a moment, but alas. I have no time to spare. He could be dead, for all I know!

    "Shane!" Jillian shouts. "Cheyenne!" 

    "Jill!" I manage to wheeze.

    She sprints to my side, her clothing torn, but not as badly as mine. "Girl, you like-"

    "I know! Where is everyone?"

    "The half dozen people that were on the plane besides the three of us are scattered about the island."

    I take a moment to really look at my surroundings. Palm trees, a few cocnuts scattered across the sand. Several Hisbiscuses are scattered across various plants. The sweltering heat is accompanied by the smell of oil and fuel from the plane. Blood is everywhere, and several bodies lie stiff, scattered about over twenty yards away. A light breeze is not the cause of my shivers . . .

    A groan sounds from beneath the wreckage. I instantly whirl around and dash towards the area of the plane that must have once been a wing.

    "A little help Jillian?!" I demand, impatiently. Jill shakes her head and wipes sweat from her brow before she jions me and we lift dented sheets of metal and luggage from  the mountain of debris. A hand! A blood covered hand!

   Jill grunts as she struggles with a long, bent, metal shat that must have been part of the plane's frame. After what must have been an hour and a half, I pull Shane's head off of the rubble and into my lap. Several cuts across his cheek and chin, but none too deep. Jill gives me an impatient look, so I rejoin her in digging Shane out.

    Eventually, we free him and drag him away from the plane. Just as a random elderly man stumbles over to us, telling us that he has a cell signal, several people emerge from the palms.

    "Aloha!" A tall, thin woman with dark hair and an even tan greets us.

    "Aloha!" Jill returns. "The plane we were all on crashed-"

    "So we heard. We have a medical helicopter on the way," A boy estimated to be about nineteen claims. His shaggy, midnight skie colored hair is blown gently in the breeze. "We live nearby."

     "Where are?" I ask.

    "This is Kauia island! It is the smallest island of Hawii-" I tune him out, preoccupied with the currently unconscious Shane at our feet. I shake him by the shoulders, as I crouch beside him. All I get is a groan. When I put a hand to his forehead, I guess that he is feverish. Shane . . .

    "And Dake here is going to the college on the mainland to be a veterenarian." The woman continues from whatever they had been discussing.

    "So, Lei, what do you plan on doing with your life?" Jillian is asking.

    "Oh my God!" Lei screams when I rise to my feet again. 

    "What?" I ask, thouroughly confused, as she stares at my stomach. "I know I have been eating alot more fast food lately-"

    "Not that! Juts- look!" Both Jill's and Dakes jaws drop when they look at my abdoman. When I look down, There is a short, metal rod sticking diagnally from my stomach. Amongst the tattered clothing, blood coated my skin like butter on toast.

    I double over again, trying not to scream out in pain.

    "How do you not notice that?!" Lei cries out.

    "Little preoccupied, I guess!" I remark.