i could never hate you {toni shalifoe}

04 . the phone

It was surreal for all the girls waking up the next morning, realising that what they hoped would be a nightmare, had actually happened. If you were to look from above, the girls had somewhat stuck to the small groups they had arrived in. 

Waking up, Marley decided to sit by the rocks as she had woken before most of the others and so she looked out at the sea and sunrise. When Toni awoke and saw Marley sat alone, a frown forming on her face, before she noticed Martha shivering and she quickly hugged the girl from behind, reassuring her that she wasn't alone, knowing that Marley was alright. 

"Rise and shine, we're in hell," Marley heard Dot say, as the other girls started to stir. Sliding down from the rock, she made her way over to sit by Martha and Toni, who now sat up beside each other, offering each of them a small smile. Fatin was the only one still lying down, and the look on Dot's face was spooked as she nudged her slightly, the girl's eyes startling open.

"What the fuck? I was sleeping."

"Yeah well, thought you were dead, dick." Dot stated, Fatin simply rolled her eyes and pulled the drawstrings of her hoodie to cover her face before laying back down groaning. 

"Should have left her," Marley joked, a small smile on her face, earning a middle finger gesture from Fatin herself.

"Six, seven.." Shelby muttered, doing a headcount of the girls. "Guys we seem to be missing a person." At this Rachel looked around, surveying the faces in the group.

"Leah. Hey Marley, you were up before us, did you see her?" Rachel asked, her voice stern and nerve-inducing.

"No, not whilst I've been up," Marley replied, as she wrapped one of Fatin's jackets round her shoulders as the morning breeze hit her.

As if on cue, Leah made her presence known walking through the sand, dragging her feet slightly, a solemn look on her face.

"Where have you been? What happened?" Marley asked, wrapping her arms round Toni and Martha to try and warm them up a little.

"It's Jeanette's," she mumbled, holding out a cellphone in her sand covered hand, earning looks of confusion from all the girls in the group. The girls stood up and followed Leah to the makeshift grave they had dug for Jeanette the previous night, all except Martha - because of her ankle - and Toni - who wanted to stay with her and make sure she was okay.

"I could stay too?" Marley asked, feeling guilty about neglecting her friends.

"Don't be silly, Marley," Martha replied with a smile.

"Yeah, don't worry about it, I'll stay here with her and you can come back and tell us what they say." Toni reassured her with a small smile, and Marley nodded, placing a light kiss to Martha's head before following the other girls.

"I heard it ringing last night, " she heard Leah say as she got closer. "It just didn't seem real." she muttered. "So I followed the sound and I.. I.." she couldn't finish her sentence. 

"You dug it back up?" Marley asked, joining the group at the same time as Dot stated:

"You frisked a dead body." Dot's expression stoic and almost defeated, Leah nodded in response, fiddling with the phone in her hands.

"But then when I finally dug it out of her pocket, it died in my hands.." Leah said, confusion laced in her tone.

"Just like that?" Marley asked sceptically, noticing the nervous waves coming from the brunette, only earning a nod.

"But the weird thing is that this is her second phone. The first one was lost when we were in the water .. I saw it sink." Leah continued. "This is an entirely different one .. one she didn't even mention to us. It worked and she kept it a secret from us. Don't you think there's something at least vaguely messed up with that?"