I laugh. “Not at all.”
“There’s just one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Did you fall in love or what?”
I laugh, suddenly feeling a million times lighter. “I actually did.”
I’m telling her all about Kei when Betty comes back in the room with a little cup of pills. I tell my mom I’ve got to go, I love her, and I’ll be home soon.
Betty gives me a moment to blow my nose and wipe my tears. “This one is so your foot doesn’t get infected,” she says, holding up a white capsule. Oh. My left foot is wrapped in bandages. “This one’s for pain—” she holds up a large, round pill “—and you’ve got an anti-histamine for your stings, and one to help you relax, okay? Down the hatch, here we go.”
I take the pills, and it’s lovely. All the physical pain melts away, and although I’m still anxious, it’s like my worries are separate from me. I can see them, I know what they are, but they aren’t a part of me. My aching muscles relax, and I slip into sleep.
I wake up to Betty placing a lunch tray on my bedside table. The beef is gray with a strange gasoline sheen on it. There are a few piecesof broccoli cooked to a lifeless green, and some clumps of mashed potatoes. It is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted.
“Any news?” I ask Betty, as she comes in to clear the tray.
“I promise I’ll tell you as soon as I hear anything.”
I watch some TV, a Canadian talk show hosted by four women who don’t seem like they’d be friends in real life. Another police officer arrives, this one much less friendly, to ask more questions about Tyler and Gabby and the show, and lots about the Silver Fox. I’m finding it hard to concentrate, though, so Betty suggests that he come back later, that I need to rest after my ordeal.
“My ordeal.” That’s what everyone is calling it.
At some point in the afternoon, the nice policeman strides into my room with a huge grin on his face. “Good news,” he says. I hold my breath. “We’ve located six out of ten of your friends. They have been transported off the island and will start to arrive here within the hour.”
A sob escapes my mouth. “Are they okay?”
“They’re hungry and tired, but they’re all okay. Thanks to you.”
I sob for a minute; my relief is so overwhelming. Betty holds my hand while I cry. But then I process his words. Six out of ten.
“What about the other four?” I ask, wiping my nose.
He nods, his face set in a grim line. “We’re looking for them. We’ve got someone combing the coastline, looking for the two on the beach, and there are helicopters and ground crews searching the island. The woods are very dense, but we’ll find them, don’t you worry.”
I don’t know how to feel. I’m so thrilled Harmony and the others are okay, but all I can see are Kei and Sue-Ellen, alone on the beach. How could I have left them?
I try to sleep, but my mind won’t settle enough, and watching TV only makes me more restless. Betty brings me a book that someone left behind, but the words won’t register. I don’t know what to do with myself. I feel like a caged animal. So I just wait.
Eventually, I hear sirens in the distance. Betty comes into my room, her face bright with hope. “That’s them!” she exclaims. “Well, someof them. We only have three ambulances, so it will take a while to get them all here, but that’ll be the first of them.”
My heart soars. “Can I see them?”
“Once they’ve been admitted and checked over by the doctor, then yes, you can see them, but you’re going to need to sit tight for a while first. Let me get you a wheelchair—you won’t want to walk on those feet.”
“Cleo Des Rochelles?” I turn to find a middle-aged man with shaggy brown hair in my door. “I’m Austin Mitchell, reporter for the Northern News. Can I ask you some questions?”
“Um—” I start to say, but he interrupts me, holding a phone up to my face.
“Great. Is it true that you swam across Pearl Lake and walked twenty kilometres barefoot to save the ten other people that you were competing against on a reality show?”
I blink. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I don’t know how long a kilometre is.”
