I feel Lockie squeeze my hand before he speaks.
‘Morning,’ he says.
‘Morning,’ I reply.
Ozzy lets out a little snore, inadvertently letting us know he’s still sleeping.
Careful not to wake him, I roll over to face Lockie. His hair’s a mess, his eyes are still heavy with sleep, and I’ve never been more attracted to him. He looks at me like he’s still not sure last night actually happened.
‘You doing okay?’ he asks.
‘Yeah,’ I reply, keeping my voice down. ‘You?’
He nods as he brushes hair from my eyes, gently tucking it behind my ear.
‘Good morning, campers,’ Tony calls out.
Lockie and I give each other some space as the gang head over. Ozzy wakes up and climbs out of bed, leaving the two of us in bed together.
Lockie gives my hand one last squeeze under the blanket before letting go. Then we get up too. I suppose we have to face the day eventually. Before we know it we’ll be clinging on to our sea vessels for dear life, hoping for the best, probably expecting the worst.
I know it’s going to sound crazy, not only because I didn’t want to come here in the first place, but also because I’m not exactly cut out for desert island life, but I actually, kind of – and I can’t believe I’m saying this – don’t want to leave. The thing is, I’m happy. I’m actually happy. I have Lockie, I have my friends, we have our simple island life. Would I like a Starbucks and a manicure? Yes. But am I worried about what’s going to happen between me and Lockie when we go back to real life? Absolutely.
But we’ve all jumped to action, we’re sticking with the plan, and we’re doing it.
Lockie stands beside me, watching the others gather supplies.
‘Are you ready?’ he asks me.
‘To send ourselves adrift?’ I check. ‘Born ready.’
Lockie laughs.
But I wish we could go back to the waterfall, just the two of us, and stay there.
Do you know what though? As scared as I am – about the raft, and letting Lockie hold my heart in his hands – for the first time in a long time, I have hope. Yeah, some things have been shit (on and off the island) but there’s hope for getting rescued, and there’s hope for me and Lockie. If I just let myself be an optimist for once.
Yes, I’ve woken up with my usual island backache, but I almost don’t mind it, probably because I know it’s my last one. Well, when I’m back home, I know I’ll look back at this whole experience and remember the good things because there have been some.
‘I might use the outhouse, one last time, for old time’s sake,’ Lockie says.
I laugh.
‘Make the most of it,’ I tell him.
Lockie heads off, back up the beach, and I don’t know why I turn to look at him – probably just because he’s nice to look at – but he doesn’t go to the outhouse, he disappears into the trees, moving like… I don’t know, like he doesn’t want to be seen. What on earth is he up to? I suppose there’s only one way to know for sure.
So I follow him, creeping barefoot, keeping a few paces back, ducking every time he glances around. He heads deeper into the jungle, behind the old production building – somewhere no one ever bothers going.
My heart is pounding. I guess it’s scary, following someone, but there’s just something about his body language, like he’s up to no good.
I give him a few seconds to get a little further ahead of me, just to see what he’s doing because – if it’s bad, then I need to catch him in the act.
Except I’m scared to look. What if it is something bad? I don’t know what, but I don’t know what good it could be either. I just feel like things are so good and, if I look around that corner, and I don’t like what I see, then that’s it.
I have to look, don’t I? I’ll always wonder if I don’t.
‘Yeah. We should be on the boat in under an hour, keep on camera forty-two when we set off,’ he says into a walkie-talkie. He’s standing in front of an open hatch, one I’ve never seen before. ‘Use the GPS in the wristbands to get a location pin on us. You can intercept as soon as we’re?—’
