by C. L. Taylor
I glide effortlessly through the water until my palms touch sand then, keeping low, I creep out of the water and onto the beach. The turtles don’t pay me the slightest bit of notice as I stand stock still, hands on hips, watching them. Instead they scoop at the sand with their flippers and hump their bodies over the sand as they head for the sea. It’s one of the most magical things I’ve ever seen.
As the turtles slip effortlessly into the sea and disappear under the waves I drop down onto the sand and lie spreadeagled, eyes closed, breathing the warm air deep into my lungs. All the anger and fury that squeezed at my chest has gone, but my heart still feels tender. Prod it too hard and it’d hurt. I don’t think Milo was leading me on the other night, when our fingers entwined. I think he was trying to tell me that he was there for me, as a friend.
Sighing, I sit up and gather my knees to my chest. I should go back and tell the others about this beach but I like that it’s just mine, for now at least. My stomach rumbles and I press a hand to my belly. Jeffers was right about us gathering food. I can’t remember the last time I ate, and I’m going to struggle to swim all the way back unless I can find some fruit. I scan the trees at the edge of the jungle. I can’t see any coconut palms, fruit trees or banana plants but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any a little way in. As I get to my feet a low humming sound makes me pause. It’s not animal or human. It’s—
I turn sharply and stare out to sea. And there it is, cutting through the water like a hot knife through butter and headed straight for me.
A boat.
Chapter 14
DANNY
Danny stands by the dead fire, staring out to sea, his hands in the pockets of his shorts and his heart twisting in his chest. It had hurt, Jefferson implying that he was homophobic and none of the others sticking up for him, when all he was trying to do was find out who’d scared his girlfriend. Honor had looked so bloody uncomfortable, standing beside him, watching him flounder and fail. He’d been trying to protect her, not embarrass her. He’d taken Jessie to one side to try and explain why he’d gone after Jefferson, but there was no convincing her. In her view Jeffers could do no wrong, and the snake and the spiders had been down to some ‘other group’ that no one had seen and probably didn’t exist. He hadn’t planned on telling her about Milo, but then he’d seen how much her eyes shone whenever she mentioned his name and how much she valued his opinion and he knew he had to set her straight. Milo was a good friend, the best, but he and Jessie were never going to get it together. They’d been at it for years – flirting then pulling away then flirting again – and, as far as Danny could see, nothing was ever going to change. The moment they got back from holiday they’d find someone else to hook up with.
He realized he’d made a terrible mistake the second he told Jessie about Milo’s ex-girlfriend. Her face fell and she looked gutted. Absolutely heartbroken.
‘Banana?’ Meg says now as she wanders out from the jungle with an armful of fruit.
‘Sure. Thanks.’ He takes a banana, peels away the skin and shoves it into his mouth.
I’ll make it up to Jessie when she comes back from her swim, he tells himself as chews. He’s not entirely sure how he’ll make it up to her but he’ll do something to put the smile back on her face. Milo’s too. He’s hiding it well but he must be gutted about Bella not wanting to get back together with him. Danny can’t even begin to imagine how broken he’d feel if Honor ever left him. He finishes the last of the banana and chucks the skin at the dead fire. Pieces of burnt wood scatter over the sand and Honor, sitting about as far away as she can get from the shelter, weaving something out of banana leaves, shakes her head disapprovingly.
‘Hey, Dan!’ Milo waves a hand from further down the beach, beckoning him to the shoreline.
‘What’s up?’
As he walks towards him Milo points into the distance where an empty Coke bottle is bobbing on top of the sea. ‘Fancy helping me check the nets? Jessie isn’t back from her swim yet and Meg says she’s too knackered.’
Danny glances back towards the shelter and the remains of the fire with a banana skin lying in the centre.
‘If we find any fish we’re not going to be able to cook them.’
Milo raises an eyebrow. ‘Someone should have been nicer to Jeffers and then we’d have a flint and steel.’
Danny sighs heavily. Milo is right. He shouldn’t have gone wading in the way he did, not when Jefferson has most of the things they need to survive. He should have confronted him after they’d asked for a flint and steel. Why doesn’t he think? He’s such a short-sighted idiot. If this was the island of arseholes, he’d definitely be king.
All thoughts of dead fires and being the biggest loser on the island go out of Danny’s head as he swims out to the homemade Coke bottle buoy, Milo gliding effortlessly through the water beside him.
Please, Danny prays as they draw closer to the fishing nets. Please let there be fish.
Six fat, healthy fish would put everything right. There’d be one each to fill their aching bellies and one to take to Jefferson as a peace offering in exchange for the flint and stone. He might even offer to start the fire for them if they brought him a fish.
‘Ready?’ Milo bobs in the water beside him. They’re quite a long way from shore now. Fair play to the girls for laying the net. Danny’s out of breath and he hasn’t even dived under the water yet. But he’s not going to let his lack of fitness get in the way of them eating something good tonight.
‘Ready.’ He nods at his friend.
A second later he’s underwater, squinting as his vision blurs and the net looms in front of him, an indistinct green blur. He grabs hold of it and works his way along it, his heart sinking the further he moves. Where are the fish? It’s been in place for a full forty-eight hours. They have to have caught something! The air in his lungs runs out and he bobs back up to the surface. A split second later Milo joins him.
‘Anything?’ Milo asks.
Danny shakes his head.
‘We need to dive a bit deeper. I couldn’t get right down to the bottom on the last go.’
‘Me neither.’
‘OK. Ready? Three… two… one…’
Danny dives down again, not taking so much air into his lungs this time, weaving his fingers into the net to pull himself deeper. His heart leaps in his chest as he spots something grey and silvery a foot or so away and he frantically kicks his legs. His lungs ache as he reaches out a hand to grab it but… damn it… he’s still too far away and his fingers only graze the tip of its tail. He needs this fish. Not because they’re starving, there’s more fruit on the island than they could ever eat, but to prove to the others that he’s not a complete loser. He imagines the delight on Honor’s face as he walks, victoriously, out of the sea with the fish held aloft, his finger hooked through its gills. It’s for Jeffers, he’d say and she and Meg would give him admiring nods. Danny isn’t such a dickhead after all.
His pulse pounds in his ears as he passes one hand over the other, dragging himself closer, inch by inch, to his prize. Jeffers will be so surprised that he, Danny, is the first to bring home some fish. He’ll nod begrudgingly then hand over the flint and steel in return for a share of the haul. Then Danny would return to their camp, start the fire and they’ll have a good night, eating tiny portions of fish and finishing off the vodka.
His lungs start to burn as he pulls himself the last few inches towards the fish. Every cell in his body is telling him to let go of the net and swim to the surface, to take a breath, but he grits his teeth and grabs at the fish with fumbling fingers. The sea pulls at his body, trying to snatch him away, but he fights back, keeping one hand entwined in the net as he wraps the other one around the fish. Even under the water it feels slick against his palm and his hand slides away as he pulls. He tries again, squeezing it tighter and yanking it harder until, finally, it comes free. Jubilation then relief course through him as he tips his head up towards the sky, lets go of the net and kick
s as hard as he can. He breaks through the water, hand held aloft, the fish a shimmering prize, and sucks the warm sea air deep into his lungs.
‘Yes, man!’ Milo, already bobbing beside him, shoves his hands in the air too to show off his spoils. ‘That’s three fish for tea!’
Danny looks towards the shore, hoping Honor’s left the shelter and is waiting for him on the sand, but there’s no one on the beach. She must still be resting.
‘Race you back!’ Milo’s eye sparkle with excitement and satisfaction. ‘Three… two… one…’
He’s off before he says go and Danny feels a surge of adrenaline. There’s no way he’s going to let his mate show off his winnings to the girls before he does. He powers through the water – or as powerfully as he can given his sloppy front crawl technique. He can see Milo, taller and stronger, pulling away so he puts his face into the water and concentrates on curving his arms through the air. All his concentration is focused on getting back to shore and across the beach as quickly as possible. He feels the fish shift in his right hand as his fist hits the water and he tightens his grip. But he squeezes too hard and it slips out of his hand.
No! He stops swimming and stares desperately around. Where’s it gone? He twists to his right and stares into the water. He catches a glimpse of something grey and silvery drifting away and ducks back under the water. His fish, his prized trophy is sinking, one dead eye staring accusingly up at him as it plummets towards the murky depths of the sea bed. Danny swims desperately after it, cupped hands pulling, legs kicking. He can’t go back to the others empty-handed. He just can’t. But the fish is too far away. There’s no way he can recapture it.
As he resurfaces, his heart heavy and his dreams dashed, he sees Milo splashing out the sea, arms aloft, fish dangling from his fingers.
‘Loser!’ Milo shouts. ‘Loser!’
Danny raises a hand and gives his friend a middle finger salute.
Chapter 15
JESSIE
A boat! I can’t believe someone’s already sent one to rescue us! How did they know? Was this always part of the plan, that part way through the week they’d send someone else to the island to join us? Could it be another instructor? Maybe another group of kids? A hundred thoughts fly through my head as I hold a hand across my eyebrows and squint into the sunlight, trying to get a better look. There are two people in the boat, one driving, the other sitting on the side, but I can’t make out more than their silhouettes. I’m guessing they’re male but I can’t be completely sure. Not a new group of kids then, they have to be instructors. Although… I squint more… that’s not an old, battered Thai boat they’re in. It’s modern, the sort tourists rent for day trips. I feel a sudden stab of worry. What if it’s bad news? What if something’s happened to one of our families?
Oh God. I press a hand to my chest. Please don’t let anything have happened to Mum or Dad. Please. Please.
I wait, heart pounding, blinking under the shield of my hand as the boat draws closer. There are definitely two men in the boat but they don’t look like anyone’s parents. There’s something familiar about them though. They’re young, topless, tanned and…
I take a step backwards as they jump out of the boat. They’re the two lads from the pool. The older one, Jack, who was talking to me at the table and Josh, who tried it on with Honor. Josh, whose hand I nearly skewered with the leg of my chair. I take another step back.
‘Hey!’ Jack waves one arm above his head as he walks through the waves behind his brother. ‘Fancy seeing you here! Long time, no see.’
There’s a friendly tone to his voice but it does nothing to slow the thump-thump-thump of my heart. As they walk closer, bare feet slapping against the sand, their flip-flops in their hands, I am frozen by indecision. They’ve got a boat, big enough to fit all six of us in. We could get off this island and go back home. We wouldn’t have to worry about any more phobias coming true. I wouldn’t have to worry about my phobia coming true.
The small one with the nose piercing is close enough that I can see his face now. He’s smiling, but there’s something dark glittering behind his eyes and I glance to the left; to the rocks that separate me from my friends. They’re so high there’s no way I’d be able to scale them. And no way Jeffers would be able to reach me quickly, even if he heard me scream. The fastest way to get from this beach to the other is to swim and I can’t get to the sea, not with Jack and Josh in the way. My only escape route is the jungle.
‘Hello, hello.’ Josh draws to a halt a couple of feet in front of me. He hooks his thumbs into the belt loops of his cargo shorts and tilts his head to one side. ‘Well, look who it is!’
‘What are you doing here?’
He shrugs. ‘We heard you guys talking about this place the other night and we fancied a little… getaway. Seeing as you didn’t invite us we decided to invite ourselves.’ His eyes glitter menacingly.
‘Where’s blondie?’ his brother calls from the shoreline.
‘Honor,’ I say, before I can stop myself.
‘I’d take her honour,’ Josh says. ‘Where is she?’
‘Why do you want to know?’
He raises his eyebrows. I’m not the only one who can hear the tremor in my voice.
‘We just thought we’d say hello.’ He rubs the fingers of his left hand over his right. There’s a huge, lumpen black and green bruise on the back of his right hand. I glance away quickly.
‘Yes, it does hurt, thank you for asking.’ He looks me up and down, his gaze resting on my misshapen hands. ‘What’s your name?’
‘J-Jessie.’ I feel a stab of anger towards my own voice. It’s betraying me, letting him know he’s got the upper hand.
‘Have you ever had a broken bone, J-J-Jessie?’
‘No.’
‘Want one?’ He steps towards me.
‘No.’ I take a step back, closer to the jungle.
‘Are you religious, Jessie?’
I shake my head.
‘Me neither, but there’s some good stuff in the Bible. You ever read it?’
I shake my head again. My whole body is shaking now. The air between us is thick with menace.
‘I’ve read it.’ He raises his eyebrows, still staring right at me. ‘I like that bit about an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But I’m…’ He frowns, as though considering something, ‘I’m wondering if that also applies to hands?’
Before I can answer he turns to look at his brother, walking along the sand towards us. ‘Jack, I’m having a philosophical with Jessie here. We’re wondering if—’
I don’t wait for him to finish asking his question. Instead I run.
Chapter 16
DANNY
Danny traipses down the beach, Milo’s fish hanging from his fingers. Milo said that as he’d caught it, he was the one who should take it to Jefferson. But then Meg stepped in, telling her brother that getting Jefferson back into the group was more important than him showing off.
‘Danny’s the one who needs to put things right,’ she said sternly. ‘Can’t you just let him get on with it?’
Milo huffed and puffed a bit then shrugged his shoulders and patted Danny on the back. ‘Good luck, mate. I hope you can talk him round.’
He turned then, to follow Honor into the jungle to collect water and fruit. Danny watched her go, her blonde hair tied into a messy bun on the top of her head, her short denim shorts barely covering her bum. She hadn’t wished him good luck. She’d barely even looked at him when he’d walked out of the sea.
She’s just tired, he tells himself as he finds the gap between the trees that leads to Jefferson’s camp. She barely got any sleep last night. None of us did. We all just want to go home.
He spots Jefferson through the trees, lying in his hammock, eyes closed, and for a moment he feels the strong urge to run at him and shout, ‘Boo!’ They used to get on well, before the fight when they were nine, and, although Jeffers’ dad forced them to make up and shake hands afterwards, the incid
ent left Danny feeling shaken. What Jeffers had said had been like a bullet to his heart, ripping through the emotional armour he’d put up to protect himself. Afterwards he was wary of going anywhere near Jeffers in case he said anything else. The fight was years ago and, logically, Danny knows he’s got nothing to fear but age hasn’t made Jefferson any less tactless and, if anything, he’s even more likely to speak his mind.
As Danny noisily clears his throat Jeffers sits up sharply, arm extended, a knife in his fist. He’s lost weight, Danny thinks, staring at his friend’s taut, sinewy arms. It’s only been four days and he looks skinnier than ever.
‘Who’s there?’ Jeffers shouts.
‘Just me,’ Danny replies. ‘It’s Danny. You’re good.’
As he emerges from between the trees and steps into the tiny camp, Jeffers slips out of his hammock and faces him, the knife still in his hand. Danny rubs his dry lips together. This isn’t going to be easy. Jeffers is staring at him, his face impassive, his pupils huge behind the sheen of his glasses. He barely seems to be breathing he’s so calm. Danny, on the other side, feels like his heart is about to beat out of his chest. The air between them is thick with tension. He needs to play it cool. He’s still pretty sure that Jeffers is behind the snake and spider scares but he needs to be clever, play him at his own game. Going in all guns blazing was a mistake. He needs to pretend that he got it all wrong, get Jeffers back on side and then keep a very close eye on him. And to do that he’s going to have to persuade him to move back to the original camp.
‘I’m sorry,’ Danny says, forcing himself to look the other boy straight in the eye, his arm still outstretched with the fish dangling from his fingers. ‘I was out of order.’
Jefferson raises a blonde eyebrow. ‘What for?’
‘Everything.’ Danny looks down at his feet. ‘Taking the piss out of you, having a go, accusing you of the phobia stuff. Basically…’ He shrugs. ‘Basically everything. Everything I’ve said. I’m sorry.’