Castaways {Jariana}

The Storm

"Ariana!", Jai screamed into the rain-soaked wind. He wiped a drenched hand over his wet face to try and clear his vision. It was hopeless; he couldn't see a thing.

He thought he should just let her blow off some steam, so he didn't go after her, at first. However, then the first drops of rain started and Jai realized it had the potential to be the caliber of storm which forced them to seek shelter in their cave over three weeks ago. Now, he's been searching the island for over an hour and she's nowhere to be seen. With the rain pounding down as hard as it was, Ariana could be standing right in front of him and he wouldn't realize it until he ran into her. One last call for her and Jai took a deep breath before looking around to find his bearings. Then, he turned dejectedly back towards the cave.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!", Jai shouted at the cave walls as he peeled off his soaked shirt and shorts. Despite the normally warm temperatures in the tropics, being pounded by the pouring rain and fierce winds for an extended period of time had left him feeling cold and shivering. Grabbing his hoodie from the back corner, he quickly pulled it on and sat down, huddled with his back against the back wall.

This was all his fault.

Jai pulled his knees up to his chest and collapsed his head onto them.

If he had just kept his mouth shut, things would have turned out so differently. They would have...

but what's the point of thinking about that now. God, he hoped she was alright.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Jai woke up to the familiar feeling of Ariana's thin arm splayed across his chest. It rose and fell with the rhythmic rise and fall caused by his own breathing. Without opening his eyes, he reached over to stroke it. Something was wrong, very wrong. Her arm felt scaly and dry, but very smooth and hairless. Ariana normally felt warm and bony with a feather dusting of peach fuzz on top. Suddenly, Jai realized what he was touching when he heard a slight hiss and Ariana's arm slithered down his stomach and onto the ground. He reflexively grabbed the snake and flung it out of the cave as fast as he could and didn't feel the least bit embarrassed when he realized he had just screamed out as the snake went flying. It was a very manly scream, after all.

"A snake... it was just a snake", he gasped as he tried to bring his breath under control. The offending reptile quietly slithered under a bush and disappeared from sight. "Probably crawled in here to get warm during the storm."

Jai looked around in momentary confusion when he realized that he was talking to himself.

"Oh, hell..."

He suddenly remembered the previous night and quickly pulled on his damp shorts and mostly dry t-shirt. Jai stood for a moment in the bright sunshine and judging from the location of the sun, he realized it was almost noon. How could he have slept for so long when Ariana was out there somewhere alone and lost?

Jai didn't know how long he'd been out searching, but his voice was raw from shouting and his gourd of water was almost empty. Leaning against a tree trunk, he pulled out the stopper and poured the last few drops down his parched throat. When he reached down for the stopper to re-cork the gourd, he found it was missing.

The cork was gone. At first, Jai thought he had just mislaid it, but then, he heard a distinctively teasing clicking sound coming from the tree above him. Craning his neck to look up, Jai caught sight of a medium sized brown monkey gaping at him from a low-lying branch. The monkey was balancing on a branch with its feet and tail while playing a little game of catch from one hand to the other with the gourd's precious stopper. It had taken three days to carve that thing with a combination of nail file and cuticle scissors and Jai wasn't about to lose it now.