Wrecked (34 page)

“I need to start heading back soon if you guys want fish for dinner,” said Candi.  

“Oh, man, I definitely want that,” said Kevin.

The others agreed.  

“Let’s get moving then,” said Jonathan.  “I suggest we loop a little towards the west side of the island, see if there’s maybe some sugar cane over there where it gets full sun most of the day.”

“Might as well,” said Sarah.  

“Let’s do it,” said Kevin.

“Lead the way, Jonathan,” said Candi.

The group made a turn, heading towards the west side of the island.  They reached the line of trees near the water, but it looked much the same as the east side of the island where they had landed in the lifeboat.

“Well, this is a bummer,” said Jonathan.  “I had hoped there’d be something else over here.”

“We haven’t gotten all the way around, Jonathan, don’t give up hope yet,” said Kevin, clapping him on the back as he took the lead.

***

Kevin’s stride hadn’t let up, even though they’d been walking for a few hours.  The others started to fall behind a little as the humidity and lack of energy caught up with them.  

They didn’t see exactly what happened next, but they heard Kevin’s yells.

“Holy … shit … what the … hey guys!  Need a little help here!”

The others followed the signs of his tracks – broken leaves and branches, along with footprints in the soft ground – and found him standing in what looked like a sandy bog.  He was sunk in up to his ankles.

“What are you doing, Kevin?  Quit messing around, get out of there,” Sarah insisted.

“I would if I could.”

“What is that?  Sand?”

“Try
quicksand
.”

“No friggin’ way,” whispered Candi.

Sarah looked at Candi, who appeared to be as stricken as Sarah felt.  Her eyes went back her brother again, unable to compute in her mind what was obviously playing out in front of her.

“Don’t struggle,” ordered Jonathan.

“Yeah, I know.  That’s what got me in this deep – trying to get out.”

Kevin was twisting his body around trying to see them behind him.  All that did was manage to sink him in up to his calves.  “Don’t get too close!  You’ll get stuck too.”

“Kevin, stop moving!”  Sarah panicked as she watched the lower part of his legs disappear under the gelatinous-looking sand.  He was now in up to his knees.  “I’m going in there to get him,” she declared, brazenly.

“No!  Stay right where you are,” ordered Candi, holding out her arm to block Sarah from walking any closer to her brother.  

“We can’t just stand here and watch him get swallowed up in that quicksand! 
Shit
, I didn’t even know quicksand was real!  I thought it was just in the movies!” screeched Sarah, on the edge of hysteria.

Jonathan was staring at Kevin and the bog, tapping his fingertips on his chin.  

“Kevin?” 

“Yes, Jonathan?”

“I need you to trust me on this, okay?”

“Sure, man, I trust you.  What are you thinkin’?”

“Okay, what I need you to do, is lie down in the quicksand.”

“Ummm, no thanks, Jon.  I think I’ll just stay right here standing up like this.”

Sarah looked at Jonathan like he was a madman.  “You must be out of your freaking mind!”

“Shhh, no, I’m not out of my mind.  You just have to trust me.  I’m pretty sure this will work.”

“Pretty sure?” asked Kevin.  “You’re
pretty
sure?  Couldn’t you be more like ‘really sure’ or ‘almost one hundred percent sure’?” He laughed nervously.

“Well, I’ve never actually tried this before, so I can’t be totally sure, but according to the laws of physics, this should work.  You and I will just have to trust in those laws together.”

Kevin barked out a short burst of bitter laughter.  “See, though, the problem is, Jon, that physics and I have never really been on the best of terms.  I got a C in my last physics class, and I’m pretty sure it’s because the teacher liked the firepower a little more than she should have, and not because I actually had a friggin’ clue what she was talking about all semester, sooo … ”

“You don’t have to understand physics to be its bitch.  Now either do what I say, or sink.  It’s up to you.”

Everyone looked at Jonathan like he was totally off the range.  

“Great,” Sarah threw up her hands, “he’s finally cracked.  Now.  When we need his brain the most.”  She walked over to Jonathan and snapped her fingers in his face.  “Hello!  Is there anybody in there?  Jonathan?  We need you to come back to us, babe.”

He brushed her hand away from his face.  “Listen, this is what’s called tough love.  Now, Kevin, lay your butt down horizontally in that sand and then roll over here to where we’re standing.  It’s the only way out.”

Kevin sighed. He looked around, as if trying to find another solution but coming up empty.  “Okay, Jon, you win.  So far you’ve never let us down, so I’m going to trust you.  I’m putting myself in your hands.  Brothers?”

He held up his hand ceremoniously.

Jonathan held up his hand at Kevin.  “Brothers.  Now throw me your backpack.”

Kevin obeyed and then leaned forward so that he could get his body horizontal in the muck.  It was difficult at first – his legs didn’t want to come out, but eventually the weight of his upper body pulled him down.  Then he began to float on the top of the surface.

Sarah clasped her hands together and squeezed for all she was worth.  She began bouncing up and down on her toes, chanting, “Come on, come on, come on …”

“Now roll over here!” yelled Jonathan, in an excited voice.  “Ha, ha!  It’s working!”

Candi looked at her brother in horror.  “You act like you’re surprised!”

Jonathan shrugged, smiling.  “Well I am, kind of.  I mean, I suspected it would work, but I didn’t know for sure until he actually did it.”  His face was alight with the joy of the discovery he’d just made.

Sarah shook her head at him and swallowed the lump in her throat.  She turned back to Kevin just in time to see him roll out of the muck at Candi’s feet.

He moved to get up, but before he was completely vertical, Candi grabbed him in a huge bear hug.  She was so small compared to Kevin, it didn’t look very effective, but he seemed to get the idea behind the gesture.

“Hey, little Gumdrop, are you happy to see me?”

“Yes,” she answered from his shirtfront.  “Don’t
ever
do that again.”

Sarah, now much more in control after seeing her brother safe and sound, walked over and slapped him on the arm.  “Yeah, don’t ever do that again.  You scared the crap out of me.  Can you imagine what Dad would say?  ‘Oh yeah, sorry Mom and Dad, but Kevin sank in a pit of quicksand while I watched … sorry ‘bout that.’  Yeah, that would go over really well.”  

Jonathan reached out and touched Sarah’s arm.  She nodded at him, acknowledging his support.  

Sarah caught Kevin watching what was going on between them, a mystified expression on his face for a moment, before he turned back to address Candi’s attentions.  “Hey, little sand fairy.  Rasta girl.  I’m okay, you can let me go now.”

“Oh, yeah, right.”  Candi let go and stepped back quickly.  “Sorry about that.  I was just happy you weren’t, you know, dead.”

Kevin chuckled.  “Yeah, well, me too.  Let’s go home.  And here’s a tip everyone … put your spear out in front of you while you’re walking, and poke it in the ground.  If it pokes in too easy, don’t step there.”

They laughed, letting Kevin’s humor help wash away the fear and stress that lingered over their heads.  It was all too easy to forget how dangerous this island could be if they lowered their guard too much.

***

They eventually reached the point where Jonathan said they had to turn in eastward so they wouldn’t end up taking the long way back around the whole southern end of the island.  

They arrived at the treehouse with about an hour of daylight left.

“I’m going to go try and get us some dinner,” said Candi, grabbing two spears.

“Mind if I come along?” asked Kevin.

“No, not at all.  I’d like the company.”

They made their way over to Candi’s favorite fishing spot in companionable silence and climbed up on the rock together.  “Aren’t you going to fish?” she asked him.

“Nope, I’m just gonna watch you.  I’m not very good at it.  Yet.”

Candi laughed.  “Okay, suit yourself.”  She got quiet, her eyes scanning the water for telltale signs that a fish was nearby.  She didn’t have to wait long, noticing movement in the shallows below her.  

Kevin squinted at the place he saw her focusing on.  It was more difficult to see with the sunlight fading, but Candi looked like she had her target locked in her sights.

Kevin watched as she poised on the balls of her feet, her right arm cocked back.  She was holding the spear in her fist and he could see her grip was solid.  The muscles in her forearm were bulging.  He looked down at her legs, admiring the way her quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles were flexing, showing off their lean definition.  All those morning workouts, rugby games, and karate lessons were really making a difference. 
Sweet
.

He thought back to how she had looked in school versus how she looked today.  She was super tan now and had some really cute freckles across her nose and cheeks. 
Who knew freckles could be so sexy? 
Her hair was nearly blond with all the sun streaks.  She had those cool dreadlocks, that for some reason really worked for her, making her look all badass and, well, different.  He’d never seen anyone but a professional athlete look as lean and fit as she did standing here on the rock in front of him today.  All in all, her look had changed and Kevin approved, even though admittedly, she had looked pretty fine even before they got to the island. 

Probably the biggest difference he saw in her was not in her appearance, though – it was in her self-confidence.  She walked differently.  She had a stride now, when before she’d had just a plain old walk.  Before, she’d been afraid of her own shadow; she was always hiding behind her shyness or something – like she wanted things but didn’t have the guts to go get them.  Now, she was different.  Sexier.  Funnier.  Cuter.  More powerful or something.  The more he studied her, the more he realized he was seriously attracted to her, and it wasn’t because she was the only girl in his world.  

He thought about his last three girlfriends.  Compared to her, they were empty shells.  They had nothing going on upstairs and there was nothing different or special about them that he had ever noticed.  They were like cookie cutter girlfriends – they all looked and acted the same.  He couldn’t imagine any of them standing here on this rock, wearing dreads, and spearing fish to feed his family.  Not a chance.  And yet, here was Candi, his little sand fairy.  The girl who today couldn’t stop herself from grabbing him when she had thought he was going to die. 
Man, am I stupid or what?  What am I waiting for with this girl?

“Candi?”

“Shhh.”

He whispered back.  “Oh, yeah, sorry.  I’ll wait.”

No sooner had he said that than she sprang into action.  Two seconds later she was standing in the water with a huge fish on the end of her spear, up in the air wiggling around, trying to break free.

“Woo hoo
, that’s a big mother!” she yelled, smiling wide as she climbed back up onto the rock.  She pulled it off the spear and ran a string through its gills and mouth, passing the knot that closed the string through the loop at the other end.  

“You were saying?” she asked Kevin, sitting down across from him.  Water was dripping down her face so she gave her head a quick shake, spraying him with water.  

He squeezed his eyes shut.

“Oops, sorry about that.”  She reached up to wipe a drop off his cheek.

Kevin opened his eyes, grabbing her hand midway, holding onto it.  

Candi looked at him in confusion.

“You really are amazing, you know that?”

Candi looked down at the rock, instantly appearing self-conscious and embarrassed.  “Stop.”

“No, I’m serious.  Look at me.”  He used his other hand to take her chin and gently force her face up.  “I was watching you.  You’ve changed since we came here.  You were pretty and cool before, but now … now you’re even more amazing.  You take care of all of us.  You’re a good person.  And you’re hot as hell with your dreads and your tan and that rockin’ body.”

Candi breathed out a single note of laughter. “You’re crazy.”

“No, I’m not.  I consider myself very observant of the female form, actually, and you have the whole package.  Not only do you have a killer body, you’re also a really nice girl and super smart.  Normally I’m scared to death of girls like you, so I go another route, but I’d like to think I’ve learned a few things since we came here.”  He took her hands in his and continued.  “I don’t want to screw up what we have here, but if you’re willing to seriously give me a shot, I’d like to ask you to be my girlfriend.  Like, officially.”

Candi’s face got redder and redder, the more he said, but she didn’t respond right away.  

“What are you thinking?  I can tell your brain’s going a million miles an hour right now,” he said, smiling at her encouragingly.

“I’m not sure.  My head is pretty much spinning right now.”

“In what way?  A good way or a bad way?”

“Both, maybe.  I don’t know.” She sat there staring at him, occasionally glancing down at his arms and then back up to his face.

He’d give anything to be in her head right now and know what she was thinking.  She wasn’t letting any of her inner thoughts show on her face.

“I’m waiting for your answer … but hey, if you need more time, just tell me.  I mean, I’m not going anywhere, you know?”  

Kevin was trying to make her laugh to ease her stress. 

“I guess I’m wondering if you’d still want to be my boyfriend if we weren’t on this island.”

“I’d say yes, I would want to, but would you even believe me?  And does it even make a difference?  This island is where we are now.  This is our life for the foreseeable future.”

Candi bit her lip for a few seconds and then said, “Oh, what the hell … why not?”  A huge grin split her face.