Washed Up ≫ A.I

Chapter [13]

  [Charlotte Kendall]
Day 7

All conversations have been dead for the past couple of days. Everyone was exhausted and starving. On the beach, the water was too low yet the lagoon was too far of a walk. Benson was the only one going in and out of the jungle constantly to retrieve water every time the group ran out. There are too many of us to look after.

Days ago we were on a mission to find other parts of the island. We were heading north that night Ashton and I separated from the rest of the group. While we were away Tyson got sick with ivy and Ashton and I found the twins on the southern end of the island. We have sat here in the same spot ever since, still waiting hopelessly for rescue that should have arrived days ago. If it had, Tyson wouldn't have gotten sick and Ashton wouldn't be afraid to sit by anyone.

Speaking of Ashton. . . he wasn't around again.

I only see him in the mornings now, still by the embers of the fire with his elbows rested on his knees and his smile fallen from his chapped lips. These past nights I have heard screaming from the tent. I was always with Tyson and the other night Ashton's screaming woke him so bad that I had to calm him down. Both boys panicked for all the odd reasons. I remember hearing a low cry last night too, but shuffling ran up behind and I saw Denise helping Ashton back to the campsite.

It broke my heart to see someone act like that. The boy was so alone and so scared. I wanted to comfort him as well and tell him what he's told me nights before, we'll get out of here. But now, Ashton was too depressed to sit around, he wanted nothing to do with me, and if this was still over him hitting me while asleep then he is just absolutely ridiculous. I can handle that, I could handle anything for him.

I trusted him, and Emma and Tyson of course, even the twins were trustworthy people. . . they were doctors anyways. Benson. . . well he was an oddball but I guess I could handle and trust him too. Everyone was good here and Ashton was just bringing himself down over one small accident.

While thinking about Ashton, I glance beside me and watch his tired eyes droop with dark purple bags underneath. His skin was pale and scratched up still, leaving two pink scars in particular across his cheekbone. The boy was exhausted, but he's not the only one with sleep insomnia here.

When I wake up to the screaming or the loud rustle against the leaves that we have spread out around our campsite, I always open my eyes immediately thinking it was a killer animal coming for us but it's never anything like that. It's always Ashton getting up and stumbling down to the ocean. I never follow him because he always comes back shortly after and lays back down with bright eyes staring straight up into the night sky.

Suddenly a loud noise snaps between the air and everyone's heads shoot up to look towards Robert Benson. He's sitting still and slicing a coconut perfectly through the shell before pulling off the green hairs. Ashton looks at him with worried eyes and then down at his own coconut which had no progress. Benson had gone out to get water about an hour ago but also came back with a net full of coconuts. Said he climbed the tree himself and poured all that was left into the fishing net from the lifeboat's first aid kit. It was a small net, but handy.

Benson stabs the coconut against his sharp stick and peels off another end of the green cover. Before you know it the brown hairy shell falls out and Benson is stabbing the top off with a rock. When he twists off the top and puts his lips on the coconut he stops to notice us all watching in awe.

"Dude, who are you?" Brandon mumbles out loud and Denise slaps him in the chest to shut up.

Benson chuckles slightly and puts the coconut to his lips again as water spills out lightly into his mouth and down the side of his chin a bit. When he finishes the water, he takes the rest coconut and smashes the rock on it. The brown shell cracks in half and the smooth white middle is finally revealed.