-Endless Summer-

- VI | The World Has A Habit Of Crushing You -

P A R T T W O
C h a p t e r  S i x
T h e  w o r l d  h a s  a  h a b i t  o f  c r u s h i n g  y o u.

Your lungs felt like they were on fire, your legs burning from sprinting all the way from the seaside airstrip, trying your hardest to keep up with Estella.

I swear to god I had better have some toned ass and legs from all the running.

You thought bitterly as you pressed a shaking hand to the stitch at your side. The wound from the saberthooth's claw was beginning to tingle unpleasantly, and you knew you would have to have Michelle check it out if you didn't want it infected.

"Come on, come on!" Estella mumbled impatiently to your group, who all finally managed to make it past the gated fence at the grand resort entrance. Estella, Sean, and Jake heaved the heavy gate closed and backed away. Thirteen pairs of eyes watched the forest in a tense, silent hope that the sabertooth or any other deadly predator did not follow. God knows what else was on that stupid island.

"I think we made it." Estella grinned, and everyone breathed out an exhausted sigh of relief.

Raj was huffing and panting, placing his large hands on his knees as he wiped sweat from his forehead. "Whew, that's enough exercise for the rest of my life." He groaned, collapsing into a heap on the cool ground and sighing happily at the contact. The simple action of sighing made the wound on your torso burn even more, and you whimpered as you desperately clutched at it.

"Estella, where are you going?" Lila asked suddenly, and your head snapped up. The brown haired beauty had distanced herself from the rest of the group and was currently slipping her small frame through the fence's bars.

"I got you back to the resort alive. You're welcome. But now I've got things to do." She turned to stare at you, now on the other side of the bars, and you remained silent for a moment, panting slightly.

"Estella... be careful." You said at last, and a small genuine smile appeared on her lips as she stared at you and nodded.

"I will, Elena." She nodded her head at you once in respect, and you turned towards the rest of the group as she vanished into the rainforest, leaving you and your classmates alone.

"That girl gives me the creeps, but at the same time, I really wanna be her friend. Is that weird?" Raj asked, climbing to his feet again and frowning in the direction that Estella had disappeared.

"A little." Craig nodded.

A sudden wave of exhaustion and emotion crashed over you, and you doubled over, clutching your stomach, trying to catch your breath. Michelle came up beside you and took your hand, leaning down to inspect the wound and wincing at the mess of torn flesh and crusted blood.

"Elena, you alright?" Sean asked, concern on his features.

"I'm fine. I just need to forget." You shook your head, the image of a bottle of alcohol appearing in your minds eye.

Good god I need that alcohol.

"Forget?" Sean echoed as you stood up straight again, Michelle mumbling something about rubbing alcohol and bandages and stitches.

"Just... push it all out of my mind." You elaborated, and Jake reached across the ruffle your hair.

"You got that right, Princess. Take it from me. When you spend your whole life seeing crazy things, you learn to just keep it all out."

You closed your eyes, the blackness soothing the pounding in your skull, and took all of the things you had seen: the tiger stalking you, the plane's gas tank catching fire, the fact that sabertooth tigers were apparently now a thing, and pushed it all from your mind, as if it were nothing but a bad dream. Instantly your breath returned to your chest and you felt almost... cheery.