Tearjerker nods, sucks in one more breath of air, and spins on his heels, taking off. I don’t waste a second. Letting fear for Maria’s health fuel me, I sprint after Tearjerker, rounding the back of the plane and running onto one of the many jungle paths on the island.
Tearjerker and I fall into a clipped pace. Our feet hit the jungle floor in tandem as I follow directly behind him. Several minutes later, my lungs are breathless and burning, and I am increasingly surprised by Tearjerker’s athletic prowess. He’s gone from completely winded at the plane to an endurance runner in very little time.
I suck in a quick gulp of air and increase the length of my stride just to keep up with Tearjerker. Ghostly leaves smack against the skin of my exposed legs as we start a hasty upwardclimb. I take that moment to scan my surroundings. I can hardly tell one tree from another, let alone which path we are on now. Tearjerker has taken several unfamiliar turns, and I’m not sure where we are.
I see the shadowy outline of Tearjerker’s head turn back to look at me. Then, he increases his pace, oblivious to the fact that if he could see my heated face, he’d know I’d reached my max speed a quarter mile back. As the distance between us stretches, my eyes are opened to just how dark our surroundings are. There is no color, no light. Not even the stars and their otherworldly glow can be seen through the leafy canopy above us. I feel cut off. Claustrophobic in the darkness around me. But then I picture Maria and run harder, following the faintest sound of Tearjerker’s tread and his silhouette several lengths ahead of me.
“How much farther?” I wheeze.
He looks over his shoulder just as he reaches the base of a small hill. “Not long.”
It’s then that I feel pressure on my big toe. A root stops me mid-stride, and I fall onto my hands and knees. A rough patch of dirt scrapes the palms of my hands as I protect my face from colliding with the ground. “Tearjerker, wait.”
But when I look up to make sure he hasn’t left me, I find him stopped at the top of the hill, his body fully facing me. Good. He stopped at least. His silhouette tilts its head slowly, as if deciphering where my body lies among the layers of foliage.
“Sorry.” Tearjerker’s voice is husky and ragged. Wild, almost.
“Sorry?” I whisper.
I don’t get an answer. All I hear is the rustle of leaves as he turns his back to me and runs over the hill, completely disappearing from sight and sound.
“Tearjerker … Tearjerk …” I pop to my feet and run to the top of the hill, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, but he’s gone. He’s just … gone.
The jungle, for all its persistent, chaotic noise, feels utterly silent. He’s gone. But Maria. Why would he ask for my help just to abandon me? For the craziest moment, I let my mind circle two very unstable words:What if.
What if Tearjerker had been lying only to bring me out here? But no, Maria’s fall. He couldn’t make that up. Just yesterday, Bill and Maria had talked of going to the tide pools again, promising to take Tearjerker. So why would he lead me here only to leave me? Unless … he’d wanted to get me away from camp, away from someone or something.
Images of Tearjerker’s proximity to my backpack at breakfast yesterday come to mind. My backpack? Could he have made up such an elaborate story for my backpack? But then again, the story wasn’t even elaborate. He knew I had a soft spot for Maria. Why did I ever think he wouldn’t use that to his advantage?
I step beyond a waist-high bush and look down at the ground, hoping to glimpse the trail, but find that I’m not on one. All this time, I had my eyes trained on Tearjerker while my mind spun with thoughts of Maria in pain. I’d hardly noticed the trail.
I’m so stupid.I shove my face into my hands and mentally curse Tearjerker’s name.
“Ugh,” I grumble. This is exactly the type of situation I’d watch on my TV at home and shout, “DON’T FOLLOW THE BAD GUY! HE’S PLAYING YOU!”But then again, never in all of my days of watchingSunsets and Sabotagehad I seen someone do something as nefarious as this. Put a lizard in someone’s bed, sure. Literally trip someone just before the finish line, definitely. But this … I was in uncharted territory in the dead of night in the darkest part of the jungle. Alone.
Alone in the dark.The thought seeps deep into my bones. Realizing that I’m going to have to forge my own way out of this jungle, I turn around and start retracing my steps back to camp, but after several minutes, every tree and branch looks identical to the next. I’m lost, with no Tearjerker in sight. It’s the equivalent of being blindfolded, dropped in the middle of the ocean, and told to find your way home.
The rhythmic jungle sounds morph into an eerie hum, sending my heart beating to an unpleasant march while the darkness engulfs me like an old foe. I look up, seeking the stars. But there’s nothing but a leafy barrier between me and the sky above.Stars. Why are there no stars?
Directly behind my ear, I hear the sharp cry of an animal. A call that’s nearly human. My body flinches, and I immediately step away from the tree nearest me.
“It’s okay, Missy. It’s just a bird,” I tell myself. “Nothing scary here.”Except for flesh-eating snakes, spiders, and darkness.
Another bird from my nightmares calls to me, and I jump away from the sound, but the sudden movement causes my face to slide against the long finger of a bony branch. I instantly raise my hand to my cheek. My face burns. I pull my hand away, feeling warm liquid seep between my fingers. I don’t have to see the color to realize it’s blood.
“You’re okay. You’re okay. You’ll be fine. You’ve gotten yourself out of worse scrapes than this, Missy. You’ll be just fine.” I chant this affirmation aloud; all the while, blood spills down my cheek and drips from my chin. I wipe it away. “You’ll be fine. You know how to figure this out.” I force the words out of my mouth, but it’s no use. It’s so dark. So dark, I don’t want to move. My breathing comes in deep and ragged.
Just then, I step backward to reorient myself, and to my horror, there is no ground beneath my foot. Quickly, my body follows my foot off a craggy ledge, and I tumble nearly six feet.My back skids forcefully down patches of rough dirt, only for my ankle to slam against a jagged piece of lava rock. I clutch my ankle on impact, the pain radiating through my leg. Hot tears prick my eyes.
I try to pick myself up, but when I finally get to standing, I crumple back to the ground, my foot unstable and throbbing. There’s no way I’m going to get out of this jungle now.
“No, you’ve got this, Missy. You can do this,” I say weakly, fighting against my internal voice.
But then I realize that my only options are to crawl around in the jungle until I find a way out or to call for help. I look down at my lapel camera and mic. For all the people that the equipment is reaching at this moment, they can’t help me right now. Logically, my best bet is to wait for someone to find me, but that could take hours. And how would anyone find me at the bottom of this gully that’s draped in blackness?
“Help!” I yell. “Help!”
I start to scream, but the screaming morphs in my head, until I’m hearing the memory of another’s screams. Mama’s screams. The phantom sounds thrust me back to a night from years ago.
