SS2

Syx Valentine had never been much of a swimmer. There was even the time in Bora Bora that he almost drowned and his babysitter had to jump in and save him.

Maybe that's why he opens his eyes to see that he is in a body of water. He's just floating. Right in front of him is someone. He stares wondering if he's dreaming. Then he sees who it is. It's Ashley Dunkin. Ashley isn't moving. Ashley is just floating...her eyes wide open. Her body is lifeless just floating in the water.

Ashley Dunkin is dead!

Syx panics as he struggles to swim and he reaches to the top of the water...”

“HELP!” he hears.

He rises to the top. The plane went down. He knows that much. He can't remember what happened afterward. He blacked out. Luckily he was floating right now on one of the horizontal stabilizers from the plane. He turns to his right trying to see where the voice is coming from.

“HELP!”

“Where are you?” he screams.

There is chaos everywhere he looks. He can't see the person screaming for help. He struggles to clear his eyes. In the distance he can see two boys. At first he doesn't recognize them but soon he squints and sees that one is his homeboy Richie and the other is a kid by the name of Alexander. They are swimming towards the shore frantically.

At first he wonders if he should join them but then he hears the screams again.

“HELP!”


He panics when he sees the person going under again. He doesn't think. He doesn't hesitate. He just acts. He swims as fast as he can. That isn't very fast. The person is sinking to the bottom. He goes under the water to see what is holding them from floating.

That's when he sees who the person is. It's the kid Stoney.

Syx doesn't hesitate to grab him and start helping him, “You Ok? Don't struggle.”

“I can't feel my leg...” Stoney says to him.

“Hold onto my back.”


Syx never thought that he was really the one to play hero or anything. He didn't know much about this kid Stoney except that he was some wannabe. He'd seen him around hanging out with his stepbrother Jurnee. The last thing Syx remembered about Stoney was that Stoney somehow managed to embarrass the hell out of Jurnee on the plane. Syx didn't know why Stoney would do something like that and it kind of made him dislike the guy. Jurnee was a weirdo...definitely and he was a little bit odd but if the guy was gay then he was gay. Syx didn't understand why Jurnee's so-called friend would set him up like that.

Still, regardless of this guy's character a life is a life.

And that's why he ends up dragging Stoney to the shore with him.

“Thanks man. I owe you. I owe you my life man,” Stoney says.

Syx is breathing heavy. He can't even think right now. He looks around for his sister. His sister is a better swimmer than he is. How could this have happened? How could this plane have gone down? Where the fuck were they?

He stares behind him. The beach is long and extended. Right behind the beach is nothing but trees. They are tropical looking trees.

Had they crashed into Bermuda?

“There's people out there still,” Syx tells Stoney, “People are still in the water.”

“I can't help you,” Stoney replies.

Stoney signals to his leg. Syx takes a look at it. It's clear that he's fucked up. Stoney is bleeding heavily from his leg. Syx doesn't think. He takes his shirt off at that moment and tries to wring all the salt water from it. He knows this is going to burn but he knows that he at least has to stop Stoney from bleeding.

“I'm going to tie this around your leg,” he says.

“What?”

“Hold up...”

Syx wraps the thing around Stoney's bleeding leg and hears Stoney screaming. Syx looks around frantically for other survivors as Stoney cries in pain. He sees in the distance a few people he knows. They are all up on shore. Luckily one of the people he sees is his sister.

Syx gets up. He has to go see if she's OK.

“This is karma,” Stoney says grabbing Syx by his arm.

Syx is confused when Stoney grabs his arm. He looks back down at the kid. He wonders if he's delusional or something. He has no time for the small talk though. He has to go check on his sister. He has to go see where his girlfriend Jessica was too. What about his friend Billy? He has to go make sure that everyone was OK.

“Are you going to be OK?” he asks Stoney, “I got to go check up on my sister...”

“This is karma,” Stoney repeats.

“What the fuck are you talking about? We crash landed...”

Stoney is crying. Syx was never a big fan of showing emotion or being extra sensitive. His dad had always taught him to be tough. Real men acted. Real men took their emotions and turned it into success. That was what his father had always taught him. He'd spend his life trying to live up to his father's expectations. He knew what it took to be a real man and Stoney wasn't showing that right now. It kind of annoyed him to see weakness in another individual.

It's why he never really cared for Stoney or for his new stepbrother Jurnee. They were two of a kind. They were too soft. They were too emotional.

“I shouldn't have done that to Jurnee,” Stoney says, “I shouldn't have set him up like that.”

Syx was surprised that this was why Stoney was crying.

“Your prank isn't what caused the plane to crash,” Syx responds.

Stoney is still crying. He shakes his head frantically.

“Can you find him?”

“Who?”

“Can you find Jurnee? Please.”

Syx sighs. He knows that he should protect his sister. He knows that he should probably go see if she was injured but Stoney was right. There were more people in that water. The plane was scattered everywhere. God knows how far out parts of the plane were.

He had to go back. That's when Syx remembered that he was never a great swimmer.

But he knew that he had to make up for that by being very much a man.

I get slapped in the face a few times. The water splashes on my face.

“You should wake up.”


I open my eyes at that moment. That's when I see a face. I don't recognize the face. It's a strange face. The person has brown skin. There is a mark underneath his eyebrow. At first I think it's a scar but after a few seconds of looking I realize it's a tattoo. There is sand underneath me. Who the fuck is this person? I never saw him before.

He wasn't on the plane...

Just like a dream I faint back again.

Two minutes later I wake up again. I can hear screaming in the distance.

“Don't move...”

I turn to see Syx of all people walking towards me. Was he the boy who woke me up? No. It couldn't have been. Was it just a dream though? I'm so confused but I don't have time to really gather my thoughts. Within a few minutes I feel Syx grab me from underneath my ass and he lifts me. He gathers me in his arms. He's so strong.

The guy has no shirt on. My body is pressed up against his muscles.

“What's going on?” I ask him.

“Hug around my neck. I don't want to drop you,” Syx explains to me.

I do what he says. His muscles are glimmering in the light. I know I shouldn't be thinking about this right now but that's all I can think about. Was this some sort of dream? Here I am on a golden beach where Syx Valentine comes and scoops me up in his arms. For a minute I swear that this is some sort of beautiful sex dream. Syx is going to lay me down on the warm sands. He's going to take off my clothes and then he's going to make love to me all night long. That's what was going to happen. I was sure of it. That is what had to happen.

“Where am I?” I asked.

“You were one of the lucky ones. You washed up shore?” he says.

He looks down on me. I'm hugging around his neck as he carries me. We have never spoken so much in our lives but here we were carrying on a whole conversation. His breath smells so sweet as he talks down to me. His biceps are so strong. You'd think someone so muscular wouldn't be comfortable but he's so steady as he carries me. It's almost like I don't weigh much of anything at all.

“What happened?” I ask him.

“You don't know?” he asks.

“No.”

“Jurnee. We crashed.”


My heart is racing. Just at that moment he turns me towards the water. In the distance I can see wreckage. The fuselage is sticking out of the water. Two or three kids are hanging off slats in the water. Not too far away I see a body floating face down in the water. Others are looking on from the shore. Some are crying. Some are just watching. I recognize only Stoney immediately. He's one of the ones that is tearing up and laying there.

No one is helping the guy floating in the water.

“Oh my god,” I state, “Let me down.”

“That's not a good idea.”

“LET ME DOWN!” I scream at Syx.

I don't know what gets over me. I just come to the realization that this wasn't some romantic dream. This was real life. We had really fucking crashed. Tears are dripping down my face. I can feel a strong panic come over me at that moment.

I don't make it two steps before I collapse again to the ground.

“There's no use. You are probably injured,” Syx tells me.

“There are people in the water. There are people that need help.”

Syx shakes his head, “I searched the water three times. At the least.”

“My sister... my sister Jolie. I don't see her on the shore Syx,” I panic looking up at him.

Syx shakes his head, “I looked for her. I promise I did. A lot of people...a lot of people died in that water. A lot of people died...”

I get quiet. A bunch of us do. We huddle on the shore. Only a few of us aren't injured. Syx Valentine isn't injured. Neither is Richie. There are about 7 other people that aren't injured. The rest of us seem to have something wrong with us. With me it's my head. I have a hug lump on it and I can't stand very long without feeling a bit light headed.

I see Stoney hopping over to me. Something is wrong with his leg I believe. I've been staring at the water forever now. Any moment I just want there to be some sort of miracle. I want Jolie to just come out of the water. Every minute that passes I realize that no one else is coming out of that water. This is becoming real.

It's becoming too real.

“Jurnee,” Stoney says looking over at me, “Are you OK?”

“Fuck off,” is my response.

“I...”

“Maybe you should give him some time,” Syx tells Stoney, “His sister just...”

Stoney stares over at me. I know that he wants to say something. Nothing he could say would make me feel any better about what happened with Jolie. Nothing could make me feel any better about what happened before the crash. Stoney had betrayed me. In my last minutes with Jolie she was pissed at me. She was pissed because her brother was planning on having sex with the guy she loved. If he stole my last moments with Jolie over that petty bullshit, I would never forgive Stoney.

Never.

Stoney turns. He limps away. My eyes burn on his back. I hate him with such a passion right now. I hate him more than I've ever hated anyone. As he does it I realize that Syx has his eyes set on mine.

“Hey you should take a minute and you know...reflect,” Syx says, “The rest of us are having a meeting trying to piece together anything that we know. You can join us after...”

“No I'll come now.”

Syx raises an eyebrow at me, “Are you sure? You lost someone.”

I shake my head. I look at the body floating in the water. There was only a fraction of students on the beach right now.

“I wasn't the only one who lost someone,” I tell him.

Syx nods. He seems like he feels bad. He attempts to offer me a hand or something. A part of me wants to take it but after what happened on the plane I don't trust him or anyone else for that matter. If my best friend could stab me in the back, then why would I trust anyone else. I deny his hand and start slowly making my way to the group of other survivors. Syx looks a little disappointed that I didn't grab his hand but I don't really care. Fuck disappointment. Fuck everything right about now.

The group of survivors are all kids my age. I don't know what happened to the pilots. There were even some flight attendants on the plane. They were gone too. They were probably in the water.

It's Billy Bad Ass who stands up.

“I gathered everyone because things aren't looking very bright. I climbed that palm tree over there about 20 minutes ago to see if I can see anything...or anyone...”

“And?” Sevyn asks.

Sevyn was still alive. I look over at my stepsister. She is one of the ones in good condition. I can't say the same for Syx's girlfriend Jessica. Jessica looks like she has been pretty banged up. The two girls cuddle close to each other. I don't see Ashley Dunkin who is usually the third one in their group. There are a lot of people missing right now.

“Nothing,” Billy Bad Ass says.

“Where the FUCK are we?” a Spanish boy screams out.

I've seen him a few times. He's standing next to two girls who were also Spanish. All of them go to my school. I don't know their names. I just know that the Spanish guy was in my Biology class. He was sort of a class clown who entertained Richie who was also in my Bio class. The Spanish guy wasn't really attractive and used to contort his face to make Richie laugh. Right now Richie was looking on but I don't think anyone found this shit funny anymore.

“Stop being such a pussy and let Billy talk,” Sevyn says.

The Spanish boy shuts up. Sevyn gets up. She stares at him hard and takes a stand next to Billy. Why am I not surprised the two of them were taking charge? They took over the school so this was no different. A part of me just wants to fade into the background and be helpful.

With Sevyn standing up a lot of the questions and crying subsides a little bit. I have to admit that she is managing to take control of things.

“My sister's right,” Syx states, “I understand everyone is upset, but we need to all be calm. We need to let Billy talk.”

We all turn to Billy. While people were afraid of Sevyn and Billy they genuinely seemed to like Syx. Syx had a calmer milder tone. He was gentle but in a strong, tough way. He had this steadiness about him that was beyond sexy. It didn't help that he was standing there with his shirt off and jeans that cut right below his torso.

“It's getting dark,” Billy says, “Right now we need to start a fire. That's the best thing to do. Does anyone know how to start a fire?”

No one raises their hands.

“We're fucked,” I hear Jessica say out loud.

I don't think she means to say it out loud but it's clear she is saying what the rest of us are thinking. We're fucked. No one even knew how to start a fucking fire.

“I saw it a few times...on a TV show,” I interrupt.

Everyone looks over at me. It's awkward because they all remember what happened right before the crash. I don't my embarrassing moment was at the top of their concerns right now but I can tell they are still feeling a little awkward with what happened by their reactions.

“You...know how to start a fire?” Sevyn asks me.

She crosses her arms and looks over at me.

“I think so...um...” I start off.

“All of these real men around here and no one else is stepping up?” Sevyn announces to the group, “You guys are leaving it up to him? Really?”

I don't know if she even means to be a bitch at this point. I don't even know if she realizes it. She is honestly concerned. I shake my head at how rude this situation sounds. I'm trying to keep my calm. The last thing I need to do is to be arguing with someone about this...especially someone who had a muscular brother and an over protective boyfriend watching her back.

Surprisingly that isn't what happens.

“I'll help him with the fire,” Syx says.

“Good. Everyone who can swim needs to get out there and try to see if we can collect all the luggage. If you can't swim then you need to tend to each others wounds,” Billy Bad ass says, “And hey...uh...Syx what is your stepbrother's name again?”

I don't wait until Syx responds.

“My name is Jurnee,” I tell Billy.

“Right Jurnee,” Billy says, “Make sure that fire is started before night fall. OK?”

He doesn't wait for a response. He walks away with Richie and a few of the other guys back towards the water. I look in the corner of my eye and see Stoney staring at me. He's watching me as though wanting to have a conversation with me but that isn't exactly what I plan on doing. Not now and not ever. Fuck him.

I take off towards the forest at that moment.

“Wait!” I hear Syx saying behind me, “Wait up...”

“What?”

“Where are you going?”

“I'm going to get wood. We are making a fire. Remember?”

I know I'm being a little short with Syx. Every part of me just wants to cry about Jolie. Every part of me just wants to be alone so that I can break down but I had my chance. Syx offered me a chance to be alone. I didn't take it. Now he was following me throughout the woods.

He stands close to me as I attempt to find some good wood that is nice and dry.

“You would think someone would have seen our crash by now and come running, huh?” Syx says, “Isn't that weird. Guess they don't give a fuck in Bermuda huh?”

It's awkward as fuck as we're walking. Syx just watches me examine trees. It's clear that he doesn't know what he's doing really and he seems to just be watching me. Maybe that's why he asks me the question that he asks me. It's so awkward between us. Every part of me wants to talk about Jolie but every part of me knows that I'm going to break down at some point. I have to take my mind off of it. So maybe that's why I turn to Syx.

“What makes you think we're in Bermuda?”

“The waters blue. The sands are white. It's humid as fuck. We're definitely somewhere tropical,” Syx tells me, “We were on our way to Bermuda. So I figured we're in Bermuda.”

“The storm could have thrown us off course.”

“Not by much I don't think. I don't know. I could be wrong,” he says, “You seem a lot smarter than me. Why aren't you just picking up sticks from the ground instead of trying to break them off.”

“They are damp. We're looking for something nice and dry. Dead wood.”

“How about these?”

Syx breaks off a piece of wood off of the tree. He hands it to me. As he hands it to me our hands graze over one another. There is a silent pause and an awkward moment. I take the wood from his hands and clear my throat.

“Yeah these are fine.”

We start collecting snags from the trees. We also collect some of the dead branches that have fallen off trees but got caught on the lower branches and bushes. We also gather some thin plant material that I think could be used as tinder.

Once we have the tinder, the kindling and the firewood we make our ways back towards the beach. I guess it's the safest place to be right now. God knows what was inside of that forest. I didn't want to learn either. The sun was going down but the others were still trying their best to scavenge things from the plane.

I make sure that I isolate myself away from the others. I do this because Stoney is in that group. I don't want to be anywhere near Stoney right now.

“He's sorry about what he did,” Syx says.

“What?” I ask.

Syx looks across the beach. Stoney is staring over at us. Stoney is too far to hear what we are saying. He looks like he's applying pressure to his leg. Most of the other injured people are near Stoney. That included Syx's girlfriend, Jessica. They all gather around each other licking their wounds or what not.

“I think your friend is sorry for what he did.”

“Why do you care?” I ask.

“I don't,” Syx states shaking his head at that moment, “Just making convo.”

“It's a little too late for that huh?” I say.

I don't even realize I'm saying it. I guess after all the shit that I've been through I was having a little bit of word vomit or something. I struggle to change the focus. I grab a piece of the hardwood. I make a notch in the hardwood and take a long stick and fit it into the notch. I start to roll the stick between my palms as fast as I can.

“What's that supposed to mean?” he asks me.

Fuck. I definitely wasn't trying to make this into a big deal. I just find myself rolling the tinder a little bit more. I roll it a little harder. I roll it harder and harder.

“Nothing. Let's just start this fire. Hopefully one of the guys in Bermuda will see it and come save us. That way you don't have to keep following me around.”

“I'm not following you around. I'm helping you. What's your problem?” Syx asks.

“I don't have a problem.”

Syx sits there and stares at me. I'm spinning the wood in my hand as hard as I can trying to make friction in my notch of firewood. A few awkward minutes pass and Syx is still staring a hole in my head. It's almost as though he's trying to figure me out or something.

Here it is this guy who I've had a crush on for the longest time sitting across from me with no shirt on, on a beach and staring at me with those sexy eyes. The sun is going down fast. I don't have that much longer to create a fire. We would be out here in the dark if I didn't succeed at this.

“You mind?” I ask him.

“What?”

“You're distracting me,” I state.

“I haven't said anything to you in ten minutes,” he responds.

The guy was distracting me with his mere existence. He had no idea how fucking distracting he was with his shirt off. I mean he has this chest that looked like it was carved in stone. His abs were tight as fuck even when he was sitting down. How was that even possible? His gigantic arms were just bulging out.

“I just want to be alone.”

“Is it because I don't have a shirt on?” he asks me.

“Are you serious?” I ask.

“You just keep looking at my chest. Would it be better if I turned away?” he asks.

“I'm not distracted because I'm attracted to you,” I lie.

I wonder if I even sound reasonable. I can't believe he is suggesting that right now. All of a sudden Syx breaks out into laughter.

“Relax. I'm joking. I'm just teasing you about that whole airplane thing,” he states, “Trust me. I'm not one of those straight guys who thinks every gay guy is attracted to them.”

He was wrong. I was very much so attracted to him.

“I'm not gay,” I respond.

“Really? We all saw what happened on the plane,” Syx states before catching himself, “I mean. Not that anyone is judging. Not that there is anything to judge. I mean it was obvious. Um. Not that you're obviously gay but god. I'm mean it was gay. Your actions were gay but...uh...I'll just shut the fuck up.”

Things get really awkward. I can tell Syx isn't used to talking about this. He probably never met a gay person in his life. Twins High wasn't exactly the most diverse place in the world. The crème de la crème of society didn't produce gay children. Syx is looking at me like I'm some sort of unicorn or something. At the same time, I kind of feel like...he's trying. I'm not sure why but I feel like he actually wants to help right now.

“It would help if you had a shirt,” I admit.

I can't believe I just said that.

“So... you are gay?” he asks me.

I sigh, “I... suppose.”

“Damn. Does Mrs. Edwards know about this?”

A part of me wants to correct Syx. My mother's name isn't Mrs. Edwards. It's Mrs. Valentines since she married his dad. I don't correct him however. I just shrug.

“No. She doesn't know.”

“ You should tell her,” he says.

“You think?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he responds, “I mean at least you should tell her you are having those feelings. Maybe she would be able to help. You know. And you know what. Maybe I can help too...”

“Why'd you want to?”

He shrugs, “I don't know. I always wanted a brother.”

Brother? I'm more annoyed at this then I realize. Here I am looking at this attractive fucking guy and he was talking about how we were stepbrothers again.

“How could you help me?” I ask him.

He shrugs, “Me and my sister are good people, believe it or not.”

I start cracking up at that moment.

“Bullshit...” I respond.

He raises his eyebrows at that moment, “Excuse me?”

“I'm sorry to tell you but your sister is the devil,” I tell Syx.

“Yo. Don't disrespect my family. I didn't disrespect yours and my sister did nothing to deserve that. I'm very protective over her,” he warns me.

His warning is loud and clear. Syx is bigger than me. He looks serious right now when I mention his sister. I think about apologizing. Then I think about Jolie. I think about how she fucked with Jolie. I think about how Sevyn fucked with me on that plane and set me up with Stoney. Sevyn was the devil. That's what she was. She was the fucking devil and there was no way in hell I was going to let her get away with it.

“Yeah whatever,” I state trying to change the subject, “Can you blow?”

“Oh shit...you're starting it.”

“Get me some more kindle. We have to make sure it doesn't go out. Blow...”

I can't help but to look at Sevyn's lips when they purse together and he starts to blow slowly. Sevyn blows on the firewood and the spark starts to catch. A slow fire starts at first. We pile on more wood and dry leaves as fast as we can. Sevyn's lips press together more. His soft beautiful lips. I can't help but to want to kiss them.

“You did it man,” he states, “Listen. I'm sorry about getting defensive just now. Everyone is a little bit on edge.”

He offers me his hand to shake. I look down at his hand. It would be so easy. Maybe Syx was actually trying to get to know me. Isn't this what I wanted? I wanted peace but why did I feel so empty inside. With Jolie gone what was the point of making peace with these people?


“I'm not on edge,” I state, “I'm sorry. I'm not overreacting Syx. I have a feeling you don't really know the type of person your sister really is. I notice how she plays innocent but she is a very...spiteful person.”

Syx takes back his hand, “Really. I'm trying to make peace and you come at me with this bullshit. Maybe Sevyn was right about you.”

“What did she say about me?”

“She said that you and your family married into the Valentines to start trouble. She said that your’e con artists trying to take our money.”

Was he serious? The fact that he was even considering listening to Sevyn blew my mind. He really thought this girl was some angel. He didn't see the devil inside of her. She always put on as though she was some perfect girl. He had no idea who his sister really was and I was getting frustrated.

“Fuck your money,” I respond, “Honestly fuck your family. I'd rather die than be anywhere near that miserable bitch of a sister of yours.”

I don't see it coming until it happens.

Syx punches me dead in my face. The fist flies hard against the side of my face. I fall to the ground and spit up blood immediately. I feel weak when he does it. The punch lands and he stands over me. At first I think about staying down but then all of the pain comes to the front.

“I told you not to disrespect my sister didn't I?” he says, “I didn't want to fucking do that but I warned you, didn't I? Don't fuck with me yo...I'm not a fucking punk.”

The pain of what happened on the plane and then the crash. Losing Jolie comes to the front of my mind and I feel anger. I feel pain.

And I plan on fighting back.

I just charge at Syx as hard as I can. I tackle him into the sand. I start punching wildly at his face. Syx defends himself wrestling me off of him. We roll around in the sand punching at each other like crazy people.

The others start running towards us.

Syx is on top of me. He's gotten the better of me. He delivers a fist to the side of my face bashing my brain and continues to pummel me. He is beating the dog shit out of me but I'm managing to keep in the fight. I'm scratching and biting him. I'm managing to punch him even though he now has me pinned down and is sitting on my chest.

It might have just been a few seconds but it feels more like a lifetime by the time they drag Syx off of me.

Richie, Billy Badass and a few of the other guys pull him off of me. I shake them off when they do. I'm bloody but I realize Syx's arm is bleeding from where I took a large bite out of his flesh. Sevyn is over her brother.

“What the fuck did he do to you?” Sevyn attempts to look at her brother's wounds.

“It's fine!” Syx says.

I've never seen him raise his voice at his sister before. I've been secretly watching for years too. He always treated her with kid gloves. I'm not sure where it comes from either. Did something I say before our fight get in there. I wasn't sure. Maybe it was simply the adrenaline. I was just imagining Syx being upset. That becomes even more clear when he stands a few feet away from me and seems to start calming down.

It's Stoney who grabs me. He attempts to restrain me but I'm kicking wildly. I'd never been in a fight before. My adrenaline was making me feel more like an animal than human. The others watch me and it takes Stoney staring in my eyes to calm me down.

“This isn't you,” Stoney is telling me, “Calm down please. Calm down. Calm down for Jolie.”

How dare he talk about my sister?

“Get the fuck off of me,” I tell him.

Stoney takes a deep breath but he does what I say. I can't stand to be around him. When he releases me I push past him and sit in the sand. A part of me wants to go after Syx again but my eye is swelling up fast from one of his punches. If I wasn't in enough pain from the plane crash this was just getting worse.

“We can't have this,” Billy Badass announces.

“No shit,” Richie laughs.

I roll my eyes. Knowing Richie nothing is really that serious. He is finding this funny. I've seen him try to be the life of the party before and that wasn't working.

“Seriously, guys I don't think you all realize the situation we are in,” Billy Badass states, “We can't have people fighting. We have to figure out what's going on here...”

I'm confused.

“What are you talking about?” Syx interrupts Billy.

“We found one of the pilots in the cockpit. Everything was really weird in there. The compasses weren't working. The radios weren't working.”

“Was the pilot alive?” Syx asks him.

“Yeah. Barely. We managed to get him out but he died before we could get him to shore,” Billy explains.

“Did he say anything?” Syx asks.

Billy and Richie look at one another. They get quiet. All the other survivors are walking towards us as well. It's now that I finally count that there are 12 of us in total. 12 of us that survived the crash of the private plane.

Billy announces to everyone, “We were on our way to Bermuda when we went into a storm. The storm took us...off path somehow. The problem is it took us way past anything we could imagine.”

I get up at that moment and make my way towards Billy. I don't talk much, but right now I need to talk. I need to say something.

“Where are we?” I ask him.

Billy gets quiet.

“Answer him,” Syx says aggressively.

“The pilot didn't know. He said this island shouldn't be here. The maps from the cockpit...the navigation show that nothing should be here. It's like we disappeared in that storm and we came back somewhere...else. Somewhere that doesn't make sense. He doesn't know where we are. No one knows where we are. We're...stranded...”

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