Chapter Seventeen
Turbulence
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Yoseob rubbed his eyes and looked around. He knew that the smell of smoke had not been his imagination, but he couldn’t see where it was. Jumping up, he realizes that the fire they had left burning the previous night has spread from the stones, igniting the jungle around them and creeping toward their hut. Not wasting any time, he began throwing precious purified water on it. That did not seem to help much. Aggravated, he yelled for everyone to wake up. He wasn’t sure how anyone else had slept through the smell of smoke. He certainly couldn’t have. The first one he went to was Eli, who was groggy from sleep.
“The island’s on fire!” Eli could hear the urgency in Yoseob’s voice, and feel himself being shaken. Finally waking up enough the notice what was going on, he scrambling to his feet. “A…? Fire,” Eli’s eyes grew wide when he realized what Yoseob had been waking him up for. Not knowing what else to do, he helped the other boy to wake everyone else up.
In a very short time, everyone was up and running, after grabbing what belongings they could. There was nothing they could do about the island. The important thing was just getting out of there.
After what seemed to be an eternity of running, they reached the rocks. Everyone was trying to figure out what to do about staying away from the fire, and their minds were still scrambled. After a moment of thinking, Jessica looked at the others. “I think the water is our best bet. It won’t burn, and we’ll be safe there…for now.”
Jonghyun smiled at her. “You always have great ideas…and the only logical one.” He seemed to be a bundle of nerves, when he was usually very chill.
Jessica blushed and smiled back at him. She was scared, and this was not the time for butterflies in her stomach, but she couldn’t help it. “Thanks.” She spoke softly, looking around at the others. “Is everyone okay?”
Yoseob smiled, still shaken. “Yeah. Thanks.” He looked at Eli, who was silent. The other boy was now sitting in the water, looking through their belongings. He seemed to be afraid, which was out of character for the tough guy. Yoseob moved over to him. “Hey, are you okay? You seem…strange.”
Eli nodded. “Yeah. I’m just…” He shook his head. “Tired. When will this end?” He had spoken quietly, while sitting in the water.
Yoseob knelt down next to him, placing an arm around him. He knew the other boy wasn’t talking about being physically tired, and it wasn’t only because of the fire. He glanced around, realizing that they all probably felt the same way. Eli lay his head against Yoseob’s chest, closing his eyes. Yoseob smiled, despite the situation. It was nice to be able to comfort him and be this close to him.
The day passed slowly, with everyone either on edge and grumpy or quiet. Yoseob didn’t know which one was worse. It was difficult for them all, not knowing what was going to happen. He decided to start talking to pass the time. A lot of their conversation revolved around food, which they did not have much of. All they had was a little bit of breadfruit and coconut that lay had been planning on cooking for breakfast. They talked about favorite foods, and Yoseob spoke about all the recipes that he would not have an opportunity to cook, unless they got off of this island. He swore he would never cook with anything tropical again.
The conversation seemed to ease the tension and worry, so it was good for
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