Misplaced (COMPLETED)

6. a squishy root

Forty-seven percent. Forty-six percent. Do I dare hope for a whole minute to pass before my phone drops down to forty-five percent? Remember how I explained Google's definition for infinity? Yeah, well I'm experiencing another one right now except instead of being transported to a tropical paradise deep through the windows of Zach's lush eyes, I'm trapped in a hellish eternity of sitting on a numb mangrove for what feels like hours if not decades. 

My phone that I had been using as a small light much like Zoe and Zach, is now dropping in battery percentage faster than the beat drops at a classic end of the school year house party. Miserably, I switch off the torch on my phone and stare up at the galaxy of burning stars in the night sky above me. It's pretty and in a strange way its comforting to look at it. Unfortunately, I'm in no mood to take note of 'pretty' things.

"I think we should be alright to go back now," Roberto eventually says, breaking the tense silence. 

His tone alone conveys to me that we have something in common - boredom. While we've probably only been here for fifteen minutes, the dank rot of the mangroves and silence we've all been sucked down into is driving us both a little insane. The density of the forest means there's no reception here and as a result, entertainment availability on our phones is practically non-existent.

"They're still there," Zoe responds, toneless. In times of crisis such as these, Zoe has the remarkable ability to think with the utmost amount of logic. 

"And how'd you know that?" Roberto's voice is sarcastic, mocking. I think we all know his words aren't out of spite, rather out of irritation for the anti-climatic flop the night has dramatically turned into.

A long, tan arm stretches into the night, pointing towards a clump of mangroves indecipherable to my eyes, "Because I can still see the red and blue lights flashing."

As the two of them argue in hushed tones and aggressive flickers of the eyes, Zach and my own heads turn to each other the way they would've in similar situations in the past. It's the sort of look that's conveyed only when two people need to show each other they're not alone to the main conversation they're outsiders to. 

Eventually I give him a small smile which he returns. The adrenaline that had been racing around my system has since withered away into the night and I'm left felling exhausted and wanting nothing more than a hot shower and my cosy bed. 

The volume of Roberto and Zoe's passive-aggressive argument increases and Zach, sensing an approaching storm interjects, "Isn't there another way out of here?"

All voices stop for a second until Roberto answers, "Yes," just as Zoe replies with her own forceful, "No."

Roberto's head whips back to Zoe's, "There is! The one I found with Blake and Shauna that time. I told you about it." 

Zoe shakes her head right back at him, "No way. You guys were covered in so many cuts and bruises after that! And weren't you guys half-pissed on Tequila then? Another point, you did that in the day, it, in case you have not noticed, is very much night now. You'll never find it again!"

"Whoa, ye of little faith!" Roberto places a hand to his heart as if physically pained from her blunt words, "I remember it well enough. I got us this far from the bonfire didn't I? I can find it again."

"We're going to get lost if we try following your crazy goat path! Let's just wait for another fifteen minutes and they'll probably be gone by then."

"No way, our path takes us straight back to the edge of town and is only a ten minute walk."

Zach and I share a second worried glance. The two of them could be fighting for ten minutes themselves. Zoe's idea is smart and logical. However, if Roberto's path is legit then we'd get back to the hotel much faster and avoid any potential run-ins with any lingering officers.