The Funeral Island

2

"So what'd Mr. A want with you guys?" Alastair inquired, pushing his way to the middle of Amber and Katherine, raising a curious brow, looking between the two girls on either side of him.

Amber was the first to answer, sliding her arm out of his and brushing it off subtly, "His wife went into labor and he left to go and be with her," She shrugged, watching as Alastair's jaw visibly slackened, "and," she clicked her tongue, almost as if in thought before continuing, "He decided to leave Katherine and I in charge since we're a reliable team," Amber practically quoted Mr. Anderson as she spoke, "It'll be close, but he thinks he can make it back in time,"

Katherine, meanwhile was still deep in thought, and hadn't bothered to untangle her arm from Alastair's, really only half listening to the two begin to bicker beside her. It wasn't long before Katherine had zoned out, wondering about the wildlife on the island before her foot hit the ground at an awkward angle, rolling her ankle, and tripping over her injured leg, taking poor Alastair tumbling down with her.

Amber stood a little away from the group, watching Katherine out of concern, smirking at the dazed look on her face. "Kath," it almost sounded like a parent scolding their child, "You good?" She watched as Katherine and Alastair untangled their limbs from each other before slowly standing to watch each other, stifling their laughter at the moment of clumsiness.

As Katherine apologized, the hairs on the nape of her neck stood on edge as her eyes caught movement behind Amber.

It was a canine of sorts, too big and not the right color to be a fox, but the snout and the ears weren't quite right for it to be a wolf.

The large canine stood for a moment, catching eye contact with Katherine for a few seconds, and it almost seemed to nod to itself as it shook it's head and headed on, back into the thick bushes while Katherine's lips opened and closed, searching for words.

"You guys saw that too, right," Amber pivoted on her heel to watch Katherine and Alastair, who seemed equally as shocked.

"Yeah," Katherine responded slowly, hesitantly, waiting for the goosebumps to settle down on her forearms, "That was..." she trailed off.

"That was so fuckin' cool, man," Alastair practically shouted, making Katherine and Amber jolt slightly, "Our first encounter with the wildlife here, man, I wish I could have gotten a picture," Alastair was rambling, all thoughts of their teacher gone with the strange canine, while Amber and Katherine shared a subtle glance with each other, something felt off about the strange encounter, though neither of them voiced their opinions.

~+~

Sienna was rambling, continually making goo goo eyes at Aaron, who was either oblivious or not interested, in any case, neither of the other group members seemed concerned for Aaron. They all sat huddled together on a small log with a blanket spread over all of them.

"So," Aaron started, taking a glance up at Sienna, "Do any of you feel like going for a midnight stroll with me," Katherine glanced up for a second, catching eye contact before going back to listening to Sienna, "Maybe," he paused, as if to think, "Explore," Amber and Alastair glanced at each other, lips curling up into a smile before glancing at Katherine. Aaron watched the three, grinning at the fact that he'd gotten them interested.

Amber tugged on Katherine's sleeve gently, leaning over to whisper in her ear, "What do you think?" she asked, looking over at Alastair for help in convincing the unconvinced.

"This could be the adventure of a life time, Kath," Alastair, who sat on the other side of Katherine, persuaded.

"Yeah, who knows what kind of secrets this island holds," Aaron chimed in, watching as Katherine sent him raised eyebrows while chewing on a marshmallow.