Part 3.

The first night showed them mercy. No predators had neared the beach and they all woke up to ashes and a lighter sky. Warmth embraced them as the sun rose and they continued their routines by drinking and eating, getting new water and then exploring the sea to see if anything had washed in.

Ten told the others that he saw something far out in the water, and he and the two others climbed up upon the cliff and from that place they could see the sails float upon the water.

  “We could use that.” Johnny said but took a seat while watching it.

Jaehyun tiptoed. “Where’s the boat?”

  “Sinking towards the bottom probably.” Johnny mused. He messed up his hair in frustration. “Why did we think a boat trip was a good idea?”

Ten and Jaehyun shook their heads. Ten rested his head in his palm. “How could we know?”

Johnny stood, but reached out a hand to give a reassuring touch on Ten’s shoulder and Jaehyun and Ten turned to watch Johnny leave with widened eyes.

  “Did you see that?” Ten asked in a whisper. Jaehyun nodded and then gave Ten a smile.

  “He is good, and he has feelings, you-know.” The pale skinned boy said and Ten nodded.

  “He just never showed.” 

  “He remembered when you were hit, he never cared about sports.” Jaehyun said and then frowned. “Actually why would he remember that.”

Ten smiled brightly. “Maybe he likes me?”

Jaehyun huffed. “Yeah right Mr. "I’m really romantic, let’s cuddle". Johnny hates people that are touchy.” 

Ten gasped; offended. “Well I’m sure he likes it deep down.”

The smaller stood up and followed Johnny’s path down to the beach. Jaehyun followed. “We were a weird group of friends… but we stuck together.” Jaehyun said out loud and Ten turned around to help the other down.

  “Let’s continue to be friends to honor the other three.” Ten said. “Taeil, Yuta and Taeyong would’ve wanted us to stick together.”

Jaehyun nodded. “They would.”

 

Johnny came walking towards them with a long stick in hand. “We should make this into a spear.”

  “How?” Ten asked but Jaehyun went forward and grabbed the stick.

  “I think I know how.” Johnny smiled. “I have some others too. Maybe we could make a bow too?”

Ten frowned. “How long are we gonna be here?”

Johnny shrugged. “I’m not sure. But let’s make a big bond fire; maybe the smoke will gather attention?” 

Ten nodded. “Let me do that. You guys make weapons.”

Ten walked back and forth from the jungle and to the beach. Johnny and Jaehyun managed to make a spear, but couldn’t make a proper bow without thread. They made arrows and used the broken glass from the beer bottles that had been tortured by monkeys.

Johnny crawled up upon the cliff. “The sail is coming closer.” He whispered to himself and tried to make out the distance. “We could swim…”

  “Hey guys!” He called and crawled down, but slipped on the way. He landed a little unsteady but managed to continue his walk towards the shore. Ten and
Jaehyun looked up from what they were doing. “We could swim out and get the sail. It’s closer now.” 

  “No.” Ten said. “Unless you want to end up like Tae…” Ten silenced and blinked, Johnny felt a pang of guilt. Ten looked up at him. “Don’t you ing dare.”

Jaehyun shook his head. “We can’t trust the water.” He said and Johnny knew there was much more to it than just the sharks. The water destroyed their boat and killed their friends. The water was out of limits.

 

  “Fine, then let’s use the spear and go hunting.” Johnny surrendered and Ten dropped the logs and followed Johnny. “Who’s gonna go?”

  “Johnny you’re smart.” Jaehyun began. (“I know.” Johnny muttered.) “So it’s better for you to go.”

Ten silenced. “Jaehyun you should go too.”

Jaehyun looked up from his work. “What?” 

  “You’re the strongest.” Ten said shortly.

Johnny frowned. “Ten you’re just saying that so that you won’t have to kill an animal.”

Ten turned away from Johnny as if he didn’t hear him. “I’ll get the bonfire going.”

Johnny raised his brows. “Be careful of the flames… They’re hot.” He said lips curving upwards. “Hotter than me.” He smirked.

Jaehyun grimaced and Ten spun around. “Like you’re hot!” He exclaimed. “I’m definitely hotter.” 

Johnny shook his head. “No, you’re cute.”

Jaehyun’s jaw dropped.

Ten squinted at Johnny suspiciously, but his cheeks turned red. “Did you just call me cute?”

Johnny blinked and looked Ten dead in the eyes. “No.” He answered and left.

Jaehyun chuckled and Ten crossed his arms; offended. Jaehyun gave a short wave and then collected the weapons and followed Johnny. 
 

After walking in silence, Jaehyun smiling to himself and Johnny observing their surroundings, Jaehyun spoke up.

  “Have you ever thought of that you and Ten-”

  “No.”

Jaehyun blinked in surprise at the quick answer. “But you seem like you could be-”

  “No.” Johnny stopped. “Hell no.” He said and turned to look at Jaehyun who seemed dumbfounded. “We’re absolutely not gonna talk about my love-life while being stranded on an island. No.” Johnny said finally and continued to walk, Jaehyun followed, eyes downcast.

Then he muttered. “But it gives me hope.”

  “Hope?” Johnny said with raised brows, expression looking mild.

  “That there’s a life after this, that love can still happen even after this darkness.” 

Johnny silenced and then reached out to pat Jaehyun’s shoulder in a silent, awkward way of comforting the other. “Maybe there will be.” He said in a soft murmur and then marked a tree with a knife made of wood and a shard from one of the broken bottles. Jaehyun stopped and watched the ‘x’ with a small smile.

Johnny was right. Maybe there will be.

Deeper into the jungle they found themselves breaking through a wall of bushes before facing a sight they had never seen before. Before them was a free fall down to a small lake where a waterfall let its water rest, two small streams led it away and into the sea. Johnny guessed the one leading to their right was the one he had found. The sun’s rays looked bright and peaceful as they found their way through the tree crowns. There was a low hummer from insects and birds sang in the trees. On the other side upon another cliff rested a black panther and the boys gawped at its beauty. They watched the place in awe and saw monkeys use lianas to get from place to place. Johnny squinted at the lake and noticed crocodiles resting on the small beach. 

  “It looks like paradise.” Jaehyun muttered and Johnny side-eyed him.

  “Yeah, except that almost every creature would enjoy killing us.” Johnny eyed the monkeys. “Or see us as a threat.”

Jaehyun mused over it, pressing his lips into a thin line. “If only we could make them not see us as a threat and on the same time not see us as a prey…”

Johnny looked up, he could see the blue sky. For a moment he thought of Ten currently battling branches and flames and felt amused. Then he shook his head, as if shaking off the thoughts of Ten.

  “Let’s observe the animals for now, figure out their patterns, how they live in harmony and how we can live in harmony with them.” Johnny said and smiled proudly.

 

No matter how smart you are, you will make mistakes. Their self-made traps didn’t exactly work as planned. Johnny kept on saying that going for something big would be a stupid idea. So they came home empty-handed. Instead they decided to hunt for coconuts.

  “This.” Johnny said. He held out liana that had one stone at each end. “Can you crawl with this?”

Ten pressed his sneakers against the bottom of the tree and held onto the liana that was around the trunk of the palm tree. He kept on raising it while crawling upwards, but it took him a few tries to get it under control. Johnny and Jaehyun sat with their backs to the fire that embraced them in a warm light and made them look like two shadowy figures. Johnny was doing his best to make tools out of wood and stone and Jaehyun tried to help using his strength. 

  “We need to make a good working trap.” Johnny said while biting down on a strip of liana he was using to bind a blade in his new dagger. Jaehyun nodded and looked at Johnny who was watching Ten, the older was hitting on the coconuts with a fist, knocking them down. Johnny cheered and Jaehyun raised his hand into the air. 

  “Yeah!” He exclaimed and Ten slid down the tree with an exhausted grin. He didn’t even carry the coconuts with him but instead walked over to the other two and collapsed with his face in Johnny’s lap. Johnny looked up with an expression of surprise mixed with disbelief. Jaehyun snickered and stood to pick up the coconuts. When he turned around Johnny was already nagging at Ten about private space and pushed his face away so that the other lied on the sand instead. 

  “But I want something soft to rest on.” Ten whined.

Johnny looked alarmed and moved away from the other just in time. Ten had tried to put his head on Johnny’s thigh once again. “I ain’t soft.” Johnny snapped and Ten looked up with a creepy smile.

  “Oh but you are.”

  “GET AWAY CREEP!” 

Jaehyun laughed and went over to the cooler to bring a water-bottle to Ten. As soon as he stood above the other he poured water in Ten’s face. The older released a cry but sighed afterwards.

  “Thank you, Jaehyun.” He said and took the bottle to gulp down the water. Johnny just scrunched up his nose and continued his work.

If Johnny should describe their situation it wasn’t good. The second night crawled closer and Johnny felt as if it was a sign that their cry for help hadn’t been heard. Their bonfire lit up in the gloom that surrounded them and they all watched the sun set with heavy hearts. What would become of them? Would they really die out here? Could they keep up the good mood or would they turn on each other? Johnny closed his eyes and leaned back against the stone wall, Ten was sleeping beside him and Jaehyun was facing the fire of their smaller fire. The bonfire had nearly burned out, tomorrow they had to try again. 

Johnny looked at his self-made daggers and sighed. Would it all be enough? What if they starved?

All this made Johnny sit awake until sleep took over.

Johnny slept through the night until he was awakened by a gut-wrenching sound.

 

Ten screamed. 
 

And he didn’t stop screaming.