Shipwrecked (A short story.)

Shipwrecked Chapter 14

Shipwrecked Chapter 14: Discovering Truth

The next day was filled with awkward silences and even worse conversations that consisted mainly of me asking one of them something, and them nodding or grunting. Even though I wasn't much different to before, it was excruciating to see the ice between Lucy and Dan. Every time I looked at Dan, he looked away as if I had done something wrong. It was the worst thing I had ever witnessed, except seeing my dead brother laying in the sand. Nothing could erase that pain.

It was around ten in the morning (but obviously we couldn't know for sure) and I had just had enough. After thinking all of those thoughts, I decided to go collect some more fruit, as I had dropped it yesterday when I heard the scream. I told Lucy and Dan (who promptly ignored me) and then wandered into the forest, wanting to be alone with my thoughts.

Why had Dan blamed Lucy for the horrible burn on his hand? Maybe he had just tripped into the fire, which was completely okay. But what if Dan was telling the truth, and Lucy was a psycho with nice hair? I would find out somehow.

After collecting a decent amount of fruit, I tucked it under a large leaf near the beach where I could remember its location, and then I just had a walked around, wanting to explore a little on my own.

I walked for a while deeper into the forest. I knew that it was dangerous being out here alone, but I had to. I couldn't stand the tension. Suddenly, I heard a noise from above. As I tilted my head to see what it was, I realised that I was being stupid and paranoid. There was nothing here to hurt me. Just a bird.

I decided to go back.

As I reached the leaf where I had left the fruit, I had a weird urge to have a look behind Dan's shelter. I don't exactly know why. Maybe my subconscious mind thought that there may have been a clue there as to what had attacked Dan. Some fur or something like that.

I approached Dan's shelter, staying very quiet so that they wouldn't hear me and wonder what I was doing. We didn't want and more tension, now did we? No, no we didn't. I got on my hands and knees and padded closer to the back of his shelter. At first glance, there was nothing there. Just a patch of mossy grass and a few un-used twigs. Nothing out of the ordinary. A little disappointed, a decided to go back into the forest and come out the way I came, but as I turned, something orange caught my attention. I backtracked and found the source: an orangey yellowy piece of fabric that had been caught on a twig. I picked it up and examined it further. It was obviously man-made; it was woven with some kind of posh fabric. Somewhere, deep in my mind, recognition tugged my memory. Where had I seen this material before? Somewhere, I knew that. I decided to ponder further later on, as I pocketed the fabric in my shorts.

I walked back to the beach, deep in thought about the material. It wasn't right that just behind where Dan had been attacked, was a man-made piece of material that I recognised. I needed to find out where I recognised it from. And soon.

Kissing Dan on the cheek, I sat down beside him and leaned against his shoulder silently.

'Hi, gorgeous,' He greeted me. I smiled at him just as I noticed that Lucy wasn't there.

'Where's Lucy?' I asked.

'Oh, you mean the psychopath? She's over there, swimming,' He said bitterly, pointing her out in the sea.

'Oh look,' He continued. 'She's decided to grace us with her presence.'

Sure enough, she was walking out of the sea, a big smile on her face. Her hair was soaked, dripping on the sand, and her washed out pink nails were glistening. She looked really innocent at that point, and I couldn't imagine her putting Dan's hand in the fire.

'Hi,' She sand, extending the 'I' so the word sounded like 'Hiiiyyyy'.

And it was just then that I realised the colour top that she was wearing. Her dirty, loose fitting over-top was a orangey yellow, with a chunk missing from the left hand side. The exact same colour as the fabric that was burning a hole in my pocket. I added everything up in my mind.

Had Dan been telling the truth? Had she shoved his hand in the fire? Had she attacked him? I couldn't be sure, I was going to find out.

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