SS4

“How'd you find this place?” Billy asks.

We are able to convince the others to come to the Treehouse by the afternoon. We drag all of our stuff over to the treehouse. The treehouse is beautiful. It looks neat. It's clean. There is fresh water close by. It's dry. We climb up the first row of steps to the first of three levels. There is a blanket there. Everyone is searching around trying to find things of interest.

I'm just taken back by the structure of how well this thing was built.

“It was actually mostly Jurnee,” Syx states.

Syx is lying honestly. He was the one who found the treehouse not me. At first I don't know why he would be giving me credit for something I didn't do but then I see Billy walk over to me and pat me on the shoulder softly.

“Good job Jurnee,” Billy tells me.

Billy Badass remembered my name and actually used it. It's strange. I mean just earlier Syx Valentine was offering to be my friend and now Billy was thanking me. This was a strange series of events.

“This place doesn't...feel...right...” Jessica states out of nowhere.

“Baby, it's perfect,” Syx says.

He grabs his girlfriend and lifts her up in the air. The way she looks around kind of makes me anxious. I wonder what it is that is making Jessica doubt wanting to be here. He grabs her underneath her ass. I watch like an idiot a few feet away as he does this.

I hate how this feels. I hate how it feels when I see Syx touching over Jessica like that.

“There's a radio!” the Spanish guy from my Bio class says.

“Give it here Jose,” Billy says grabbing the radio from him and listening to it for a while, trying to switch from channel to channel, “No signal. Nothing. Static. Everywhere...”

Jessica crosses her arms.

“Guys. Doesn't this seem weird to you?”

“It seems amazing, I don't know what you're talking about,” Richie states.

Richie is standing with two other boys who are around his age. They are survivors. A bunch of other people head upstairs. There is a girl with long stringy hair that is walking around wiping things off as though she was afraid of germs or something. People were really thinking this treehouse was home. The treehouse didn't have walls but it did have a roof. We could see all around us in the jungle. We could hang up blankets to block from crazy weather if need be.

This was perfect.

It's Syx who pulls the words out of my mind, “This could be the most comfort we see. God knows how long we have to be here.”

“Who left this shit here?” Jessica asks her boyfriend.

“Who cares?” Richie asks.

An argument starts to break out. I stay out of it. Truth is I can see both sides. Syx was excited. He had every right to be. This was way better than sleeping on the fucking beach. God knows how long we would have survived out there without any way to block the hot sun. At the same time, I saw where Jessica was coming from.

This was weird. Someone had left this stuff here. Someone had built this place.

Where were they now?

Just as always it's Billy who calms everyone down and gets the last word, “Jurnee and Syx did good finding this place. This is a good place.”

I hate how he says things and just acts as though it's settled. Sevyn on the other hand shoots me a glare. For some reason I have the feeling that she doesn't like me getting credit for this thing at all. She looks annoyed.

“It's alright,” Sevyn responds, she sucks her teeth, “I still think we had better chance on the beach. What if someone comes to find us?”

“What if they don't?” Syx argues with her, “Think about it. All the exposure on the beach. We didn't have water there. It's miles away from here. We can keep a fire going on the beach and spell out Help with rocks. I'll go back. I'll do it myself. We can't live on the beach though. It's not feasible.”

“We take shifts,” I suggest.

They all look at me. I'm surprised by it when they do. The rest of them are friends. The only person I really knew before this and spent time with was Stoney. Stoney was avoiding me. He'd been avoiding me ever since we came to the treehouse. He's near the ladder that leads to the second story of the treehouse. He is going out of his way not to be near me or say anything to me. I assume it's probably because last time we spoke I told him that I hoped he had died in the crash.

“Who asked you?” Sevyn says.

“I did,” Syx replies.

Sevyn gives me a weird look. A couple of the other people are staring my way as well. They don't like me. I can tell. They don't like me because of what happened on the plane with Stoney. A lot of them are just followers listening to what Sevyn says. I don't even know the names of most of these kids.

The guy Jose for instance is giving me these mean little looks and whispers something to Richie who laughs. They probably are talking shit about me. I'm pretty sure that's the case. Right now though I know that I have something to offer.

“We should take shifts of two. Two people spend the day over at the beach keeping a fire going and making sure that there are no ships that go by or anything.”

Billy seems surprised. He doesn't respond. He just gives Sevyn a look. The two of them want to say something negative. I can almost tell Billy Badass is itching to take on the leadership role right now but that doesn't seem to be happening because the idea is mine.

“It's a strong idea,” Syx says.

Richie and his dumbass friend aren't laughing at me anymore. The two Spanish girls have stopped giving me a weird look. The girl with the stringy hair had stopped cleaning and is nodding in agreement. Everyone seems to be listening to me and what I have to say. It's weird but at the same time I like the fact that I'm being heard.

Almost out of nowhere Billy feels like he needs to take control of this situation again, “Aaron, you have the first shift back at the beach with Helen.”

Helen is the stringy haired girl that has been cleaning up. She doesn't seem like the two Spanish girls who are clearly sticking together or like Jessica and Sevyn who have stuck together. Helen is clearly the only girl on her own.

She seems annoyed by it too, “Why do I have to go?”

“Because we said so bitch. We don't need your shit,” Sevyn tells her.

I roll my eyes. I want to feel bad that Sevyn is treating them so badly, but then I remember how they all ignored me when Sevyn was treating me the same way. Helen is joined by one of the other guys who has been up Billy's ass. It's a white boy by the name of Aaron. The two don't seem to resist any longer either. They turn and start getting ready to depart back to the beach.

I make a fire right outside of the treehouse. I'm sitting there alone for the most part. The four girls are back in the treehouse. They are making small talk. I have a feeling the Spanish girls and Jessica are more listening to everything that Sevyn has to say. A part of me feels like there is a lot of bullshitting going on. We don't have any food. We could be out looking but instead the girls are laying around talking while the guys are out bathing in the water.

I watch from the fire and notice all the other guys are out in the water. They are having fun. They are LITERALLY having fun in the water.

“What the hell are you doing over here?” Syx asks me.

I look up at him. He's soaking wet. Fuck. That body of his is amazing. Syx is in nothing but his underwear. The tight underwear clinch onto every part of his body. I can see traces of his dick under there. It's amazing really. My heart is beating so fast. I trace his crotch area up to his abs. I can see his tan lines. His skin looks like it's been kissed by honey. He keeps licking his lips over and over.

I turn back towards the fire, “I'm keeping the fire going. Then I'm going to start boiling some of this water.”

“The water's fine. Just drink it.”

“There are bacteria in this water,” I respond, “Luckily I found this piece of the plane that we can use to boil water in. I'm actually doing some work around here.”

“You need to open up and come hang out with the guys.”

I look him up and down.

“I'm pretty sure they don't want me to see them in their underwear,” I explain to Syx.

“You're right...”

Just at that moment Syx drops his underwear. My eyes just get wide as FUCK. I'm shocked. His dick is just swinging in front of me. He's completely naked. He swings it left and right as though noticing I'm looking dead at it. I struggle to look away and Syx just breaks out into laughter. It's clear he's enjoying every moment of this and I'm feeling embarrassed as fuck.

“Jesus Christ...”

“Get up. We're going in. The water's fresh. You can swim and bathe at the same time.”

Syx walks over to me. He grabs me. He is pulling me over to the water. I notice from the treehouse the girls have caught notice of Syx. The Spanish girls are giggling about seeing Syx completely naked. Sevyn and Jessica don't seem to be so amused. I can see Sevyn's eyes burning into me as she notices her naked brother attempting to drag me into the stream.

“Syx. Syx...you're embarrassing your girlfriend.”

“I don't give a shit. There are 12 of us alive. 24 hours ago I thought I was dead. And then we found this. Don't you get it. This place...this place isn't weird like Jessica says. Well it is...but in a good way. This place is special. Don't you feel it?” Syx asks me.

Syx could care less that Jessica is embarrassed. He is pulling me. I feel like I'm ready to be dunked in the stream if I'm not careful.

So I give in.

“Ok...ok...” I state.

I take off my clothes and lay them down in a neat pile. I don't go completely nude like Syx. Syx goes into the water just naked as the day he is born. As Syx and I approach I notice the other boys in the water all getting a little antsy. I'm not surprised when Billy Badass is the first one to get out of the water.

“Nah. I'll pass...” he states.

He's followed by Richie and Joey. The three boys clearly are making a scene at that moment. I can even hear Richie and Joey laughing amongst one another.

“I'm not about to be in the water with the fag...” I hear Richie whisper to Joey.

He doesn't really whisper it though. He says it loud enough for me to hear. They get their stuff and head back towards the tree house.

Syx doesn't seem to care. He jumps in the water...completely naked. He's so carefree. He's so...happy. I don't get it at first. It's confusing me. Why the fuck is Syx so happy? You would think he would be a little bit on edge. I was thinking about our survival. I wanted to plan. Syx was enjoying every moment of this. He was loving it.

His mood was so different today.

That's when I see Stoney. He's silently wading in the water. He didn't leave the water like the rest of the boys. He's just soaking in it. I see him rubbing soap over his body. He's bathing. The water gets pretty deep at parts but he is more on the shallow end.

“We skinny dipping now?” Stoney asks Syx, “Be careful something doesn't bite your dick off.”

“You guys worry too much,” Syx responds.

I get in the water. Stoney and I make eye contact but he looks away relatively quickly. It's still so awkward between the two of us. Luckily that situation doesn't exist with Syx. Syx pulls me out of nowhere towards the deeper part of the water.

“What the hell,” I tell Syx.

“Live with me.”

It's such a weird thing to say. I've never had anyone say that to me.

“What?”

“Live with me,” Syx tells me again, “We almost died so I want to live. I want to live a little. I want to live every moment like it's my last from here on out. So what do you feel about that? Jurnee. You want to live? You want to live with me?”

I look over at Syx. Something has changed about him. When I first met him in that mansion he was so uptight. He seemed like he had something to prove. Right now he didn't have anything to prove. When I looked at Syx I didn't see Syx Valentine, the heir to the Valentine fortune. I saw a cool laid back guy who didn't care about embarrassing his girlfriend or swimming with the gay guy. He didn't care if there was something in his water that could bite his dick off. Syx only cared about the fact that we could have died yesterday but we didn't. We were alive.

And maybe that's why I do it. Maybe that's why I take my underwear off. I throw it out of the water. I'm swimming naked with Syx and he's laughing.

“There you go. There you go...”

I notice the stare I get from Sevyn. She hates every moment of this.

It's clear she does.

Syx and I lose ourselves in that water for what seems like hours. We talk. We laugh louder than we should. A bunch of the others have gone to sleep. In the distance I see Stoney has been watching us for a while, but without excusing himself he gets up and walks away. There is still the strange tension between us. The thing is though I'm enjoying myself so much with Syx that I don't even notice that Stoney is gone.

Syx swims towards me. It's getting dark before we know it.

“Look my hands are like raisins,” he tells me, “I think everyone is asleep.”

“That's what we get for living too much.”

“Do you want to get out?” I ask.

I swim towards Syx. I dunk my head in the water.

He shakes his head, “Not really. I want to know more about you.”

We've been sharing stories about one another for hours. Since we got to the island Syx had barely spent much of any time with Jessica. It wasn't saying much because Jessica was spending all of her time with his sister. Still it felt good that my stepbrother actually knew that I existed on this island. Maybe this island was a miracle.

“Well I like basketball...well at least watching basketball.”

“No deeper...” he states.

He's so interesting.

“Like my career goals?” I ask.

“Deeper.”

“Like my life goals?” I ask.

He nods, “There you go. What do you want out of life? Don't think about it...just...say it. What do you want out of life.”

“I want to be married. I want to have a house.”

He laughs, “Well I can't find you a husband once we get back. Gay marriage is legal now though. I can buy you a house though.”

I laugh, “Syx you don't have to buy me a house.”

“I want to,” he states before shaking his head, “You know what I notice. You don't smile enough. And you know what I notice since I've come to this island. I've notice I like your smile.

There you go...”

Syx has swam over to me. He has pressed the sides of my mouth upwards so that I'm smiling a little bit. Him touching my face the way he does sends shivers down my spine. Then when he presses his fingers to the side of my mouth it does the same. Now that he's forced a smile on my face he moves back and studies his handiwork.

“Good enough?” I ask with a smile.

He squints at me. The way Syx looks at me...it drives me up a wall.

“Perfect,” is his response.

The way he uses the word. It lingers in his mouth as though it carries so much meaning. It makes me feel uncomfortable.

“I don't want to get out of this water ever,” I state, but then snap back to reality, “But maybe we should. We should get some rest.”

I am the first to get out. I notice I didn't bring the towel and I left my suitcase up there in the treehouse. Before I get the chance to say anything I feel Syx pressing up against my back with his towel. He's standing behind me. He's still naked. I can feel his breath against my back.

“Here,” he whispers in my ear, “Let me help you.”

I feel so awkward when he does that.

“Syx.”

“What? You think this looks gay. It's OK. No one's watching. I'm just drying your back man.”

He's right. No one's watching. Everyone was asleep at this point. The fire was still crackling away. Small embers flash over to us. I feel him press up against my body with the towel. He starts at the top of my back. He slowly makes his way to the lower part of my back. He's slow. He's so careful. Slowly Syx works his way from the top of my back to the smalls of my back. He works his way to my ass. He rubs in slow, deliberate motions on my ass cheeks drying my ass cheeks. I'm struggling to keep from getting a hard on. It's so hard. I can feel his breath.

I swallow my spit.

He gets close to the crack and for a minute I think he's going to separate my ass cheeks and dry in there. He doesn't though. He stops drying me.

He leans in, close. He's so FUCKING close. I can almost feel his body pressed up against the towel and the towel pressed up against me. He inhales me slowly.

“For a guy stranded you smell amazing,” he says.

“Glad we found a lot of soap bars huh?” I state.

“No it's not the soap. It's just your natural...smell,” he responds to me, “You ever experience that. Where someone has a natural smell that comes off of them. It's almost like this natural sweet perfume of honey and ground cloves are coming out of your pores.”

He presses his nose against my neck. He actually rests it at the back of my neck. Oh fuck. OH FUCK! My dick was beyond hard at that moment!

I had to get out of here before he saw.

“Um. I should get some sleep...”

“Here. You can take the towel. I'll let the fire dry me off,” he tells me.

He offers me the towel and then smiles.

I rush upstairs. I find myself laying on the second floor where the others are. Someone is snoring loudly. I don't know who it is but it's annoying as all fuck honestly. Billy Badass doesn't have a shirt on. He is spread out. He looks amazing. God knows his body is amazing at least. He was an asshole but he was a damn good looking one at least. I can hardly sleep. It takes almost thirty minutes until I see Syx slowly climb up the ladder to the second floor of the treehouse.

I close my eyes opening them only slightly to see what he's doing. He's in his underwear. He notices everyone else is sleeping. I'm shocked when he walks towards me. He takes a few steps towards me but then stops all of a sudden. He stands there. He looks down at me for a few seconds. Then he turns and he walks over to where Jessica is sleeping.

He lays down next to her.

He doesn't cuddle her like I think he would though. He just lays down next to her. It's dark but there is some light from the moon and the fire below. I can see him moving around in the darkness. At first I'm thinking he's adjusting himself to go to sleep.

I’m wrong.

Syx pulls his dick out of his underwear. Slowly he starts jerking his dick off.

It's the sexiest thing in the world to see. Syx's head arches up when he slowly jerks his dick off. It's almost like there is a bunch of tension that he needs to get off of him. His jerk gets longer. His stroke gets thicker.

I don't know what makes me do it.

I don't what makes me pull my dick out as well.

Syx turns at that moment!

“Jurnee. Are you up?” he whispers in the darkness.

“Yeah...”

Fuck. I was an idiot. But just when I think I'm being an idiot Syx whispers back to me and says, “It's cool...”

Then he continues to jerk his dick! He continues to jerk his dick knowing that I'm awake. He looks down at his dick. I look at it. I can make out the hard cock in the darkness. I can make out his hands going up and down. His girlfriend is so deep in sleep next to him that she doesn't even notice it happening.

I lick my lips over and over. I can't help but to frantically pull at my own dick while watching Syx.

I moan lightly, “Uhm”

At first I think I'm overreacting but then I hear Syx respond with a, “Fuck...feels go...good.”

He jacks his dark harder with me. His motion speeds up with mine. Then I notice his eyes dart towards me. They look over at my dick. Then they look in my eyes. We are having this weird moment together. It's hard to explain. It's sexual but it's something more but it's very much sexual as well. I'm not sure what this moment is.

All I know is that within the next few minutes Syx's stroke is almost in unison with me. Were we having this moment together? Or separate and just somehow comfortable enough not to mind that the other one was jerking off.

I had to know.

There was only one way.

I get up at that moment. I make my way over to him. I kneel over Syx. My eyes are examining his shaft. I'm examining everything about him.

“Can I help you?” I ask him out of nowhere.

Syx looks at me for a second. At first he seems confused by the question but then he seems to understand what I mean. Then all of a sudden he releases his dick, takes the other hand and shoves it back in his underwear.

“No, I'm fine,” he tells me, “Good night Jurnee...”

I wake up the night to a strange sound! I jump up. I turn. Nothing at first. There is silence. I turn over to where Syx was. He's asleep. Jessica is in his arms. What I wouldn't do to be Jessica right now. I roll my eyes. She's petrified even in her sleep of this island but Syx is the opposite. He has a slight smile on his face. I wonder what he's dreaming about. Whatever it is makes him happy. I can tell. He's sleeping peacefully in the jungle.

That's when I hear another strange sound! It vibrates the treehouse a little bit. The others seem to sleep through it but I'm on my feet. I'm wide away and my heart is beating. The entire island seems to be alive. The trees are rattling. It's almost like they are warning us. Something is coming! Something is out here! Out of nowhere I feel a cold...chilly hand grab onto my arm in the darkness!

“AH!”

I am jerked back and held slightly. I realize it's Stoney at that moment. I exhale.

Stoney puts a finger to his mouth warning me not to wake the others up. I can barely see his expression but I think there is a look of concern on it. He's looking out into the jungle.

“You hear it too?” he asks me.

I hear it again. It is this strange noise. It's almost like some sort of trumpet. I think for a minute I'm exaggerating what the sound is but then I look at Stoney's expression. The others are asleep at that moment. They all seem in a deep sleep. The sound fades into the silence of the jungle. I hear birds in the next few minutes. Stoney and I are just sitting there listening to see if we hear it again.

“What is it?” I ask him.

He shakes his head, “I don't know. I woke up to go pee and that's when I heard it.”

It was strange to say the least. Still. We were in the jungle. I look down in the darkness. The trumpet was far away but in the darkness I hear something else. Scuffling. I can barely see anything.

“The campfire is out,” I notice.

“It probably just died...” Stoney suggests.

“Or someone put it out,” I assume.

Stoney and I look at one another. Last night Syx and I were the last ones up. All the others were asleep. The fire down at the base of the treehouse was out. Someone most definitely put that fire out. Someone most definitely did that.

Stoney's breathing is something that is distracting at this moment. He's nervous. He must hear the sounds of movement at the base of the tree house as well. He looks at the ladder almost half expecting something to climb up there. Nothing does. His eyes don't move however. They steadily stare at the mirror looking and expecting something to climb up the stairs.

The forest gets quiet. Deathly quiet.

“Do you hear that?” he asks me.

“No. I don't hear anything.”

It was pitch black darkness. I can barely see Stoney standing just a few feet away from me. That wasn't the odd part however. The odd part was just how silent it was.

“That's the point,” Stoney tells me, “How come it just got so quiet?”

He's right. There is this eeriness about the jungle. The island seemed to have gone mute. All I hear is the slight snoring of Richie who is not too far from me. Syx is cuddled up with his girlfriend. I see them in the darkness. He holds her and she snuggles up close to him.

In the silence there is something that I hear. It's something at the base and then I hear a splash. Something...just splashed in the stream that is at the base of the treehouse.

Stoney has stopped breathing. My eyes have gotten wide...

“I'm going to go look,” I state.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Stoney asks me, “I'm not letting you go down there. Have you lost your fucking mind?”

“Why would you even care?” I ask him.

I don't wait for Stoney's response. Fuck Stoney. I get to the ladder and start climbing down. I realize that Stoney is right behind me. It's weird. For someone who betrayed me he all of a sudden seems to have an interest in making sure that I'm safe.

I am on the moist ground before long. As I walk on the soil and crush through the sticks moving towards where the fire was set up I realize that I was right. It didn't rain. Why was the soil wet?

Someone put out the fire!

“We aren't alone...” Stoney tells me.

“No shit,” I respond.

I keep moving. That's when I see Stoney walk up to my side, “I'll go first.”

He grabs my hand. I attempt to pull away from him but he isn't having it. Stoney is actually holding my hand right now. I roll my eyes hard as I follow closely behind him.

We make our way to the water. The moon reflects off of the stream. The stream stretches out into the darkness and ends at the waterfall. I look at the waterfall. The waters descend down the waterfall like an endless wave. As the safety of the treehouse gets further and further away my heart beats harder and harder.

I'm afraid.

“You see anything?”

“It's too dark. I hear the water though. Something's in the water.”

“You think it's an animal?” I ask Stoney.

Stoney listens to the sounds of the splashing water. He squeezes my hand tighter. I know my old best friend well enough to know that he's afraid. Something is terrifying him.

“It must be a big fucking animal.”

My heart starts to beat faster and faster wondering if it is a bear or maybe some sort of lion. I don't know where we are. The terrain sometimes looks more like a jungle but sometimes looks like a forest. I don't know what kind of animals live on this island. All I know is that as we may be in danger. I drop down and pick up a log from the firewood. I'm holding Stoney with one hand and the other hand I have the log. I'm ready to defend myself if possible.

We get to the edge of the water. The stream gets deep at parts. Something is in the water.

It's not an animal...

It's a person.

“Hey...hey! Who are you?”

Could someone have found us? Maybe we were in the Bahamas. Maybe there was someone after all. Maybe all this shit that we were talking about being on this island not on the map was bullshit. I don't know what comes over me. I run forward ignoring everything.

“Jurnee!” Stoney tries to stop me once I release his hand.

I make my way to the river. That's when I see the person. It's a girl. I can tell by the shape of her. I stare at that moment and pretend not to see her.

Then something happens.

The person turns around.

“You got to be fucking kidding me,” I state, my mouth dropping open.

Stoney runs to my side.

“Oh my god,” he states recognizing the person as the moon reflects in the water and hits the person's face.

She is lost. She is completely silent. She walks up to us almost like a curious child. She is completely naked. Her tits are drenched with water. Her nudity causes Stoney to turn away in embarrassment. I don't turn away however.

“You aren't here. This isn't real,” I state.

She doesn't respond.

She just stares at me...eerily.

“It's real,” Stoney assures me, “I'm seeing it too.”

“Say something. Anything,” I state.

Tears are running down my eyes. I look at her hoping something would come out of her mouth. There is nothing. There's nothing at all! My heart is beating so fast. I'm shaking my head in confusion at what is going on at that moment.

“Are you sure,” Stoney asks me, “Are you sure that's her.”

I nod.

“I know her anywhere,” I respond.

She doesn't say a word. She doesn't seem happy or surprised to see me. She doesn't have any emotion at all actually. Her face doesn't say anything. She just stares at me. But I'm sure who it is.

I'm sure this person is Jolie.

To read the next chapter in advance go to www.crushedcrown.com