Island Roommates // Yutae Fan Fic

Chapter Five

Yuta:

I woke up with the sun in my eyes and my mouth feeling like it was stuffed with cotton balls. God, I would kill for a tooth brush right now, but all we had was the mouthwash I had taken from the bathroom cabinet and Taeyong refused to use it every day in case we needed it for something else. His toothbrush and toothpaste for some reason weren't in his toiletry bag but he had almost every single lotion and hair product known to man in there. Useless. I sighed and rolled over to grab the sheet we had been using as a blanket to pull over my eyes when I noticed Taeyong wasn't next to me. I sat up and glanced around the shore line. Sometimes he liked to get up in the morning and dip his feet in the water. I know he liked to swim and he couldn't with his arm a mess, but no...The water was empty this morning and reflecting the sky so perfectly it was almost like glass. He must have gone to pee then.

I sagged back on the bed and rubbed my eyes as I yawned, letting it sink in that we were here another day. I didn't really want to panic again, but what if no one knew where to look for us? There hadn't been any signs of a rescue effort yet, no planes flying overhead, no helicopters. Not even a random boat cruising by. Nothing. I looked over at the S.O.S sign I had dug into the sand and filled with towels. Was it big enough? I hoped so. The rocks should help though. They were dark and easy to see from above. At least I would think they would be, next to the brown sand. My parents had to be losing their minds. And my sisters. I know I would be if one of them just went missing...

My throat closed up at the thought of what they might have done if this accident had happened after I told them. I'd been avoiding heading to Osaka early this week because I'd made up my mind. I was finally going to tell them. No backing out. But that didn't mean I wasn't still terrified. I might live at the dorms now and wouldn't necessarily have to worry about them kicking me out of the house, but they might still disown me...my sisters might never speak to me again. The thought made me sick. But I had to do it.

An hour went by and Taeyong was still not back yet. Anxiety bloomed in my chest, but I stayed on the mattress, fiddling with the coals from last night's fire to make a new one. He wouldn't be in trouble would he? Taeyong was like, a genius when it came to this survival stuff. He was probably out there looking for something ridiculous to make, like a bow and arrow. After 15 or so more minutes of watching the tree line, the nausea started. I could see his footprints leading into the right side of the trees but I couldn't hear or see anything else. I stood up and began to pace.

"He's fine. He's fine. He's Taeyong. Nothing can hurt him." But even as I said those words, I remembered that he WAS hurt. Even if he was out there looking for something for us to eat, it was entirely possible he could be taken by surprise. We didn't know what animals lurked in the trees. We could definitely hear them at night, squawking and screeching and hollering, but what if there was something bigger? Scarier? Lions? No... Lions were in Africa. And didn't live on islands. I shook my head and picked at my nails as I debating looking like a moron for going after him. Even if he wasn't hurt, I could still help, right? I hesitated for only a few more seconds before pulling on my sneakers and setting off into the trees to find him.

Breaching the tree line was like stepping into another world. The complete opposite of the sandy beach behind me, so much so that it was a little disorientating. God, it was much cooler in here. And so much darker. I should have brought Taeyong's hoodie that I had been wrapped up in the last two nights when it was too cold for just a sheet and body heat.

"Taeyong?" I called out. I stopped moving for a moment so I could hear if he answered but he didn't. Damn it, where the hell was he?

"Lee Taeyong if you got yourself killed by something stupid like a fucking scorpion I'm gonna..." I mumbled to myself as I went further and further into the forest.