Chapter 2

Someone moaned. “Oooh, I think Rachael is waking up, that’s good, right?” Sunni asked.

“Yes,” Jeremy said. Tying the four green branches to Gary’s elbow he ripped two more strips from the bottom of his T-shirt. “Sunni can you tie these to Gary’s arm, right here at the wrist?”

“Uh yeah, I’m not stupid, you know.”

Rather than arguing, Jeremy said, “good, real tight when I tell you, okay?”

“Okay!” Jeremy put his foot against Gary’s upper arm and grabbed his wrist and pulled. Gary screamed and there was a pop as the bone slipped into place.

“Tie now, Sunni,” he said, looking at the girl who looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming train. “Sunni, now,” he yelled, and that broke her out enough that she tied the two strips of cotton onto the splint.

“You didn’t just kill him, did you?” Sunni asked, alarmed.

“No, he had a broken arm. I set it. Trust me, it was better this way.” He put his shirt back on.

“Is everything okay? I heard a scream,” Rachel asked, hurrying over.

“So did I,” said Sara, who sat up a few yards away. “Where are we?”

“It’s an island, but its not Australia, at least that’s what Jeremy says,” Sunni supplied.

“What island it is, I have no idea,” Jeremy said. “Look, you girls stay here. It looks like everyone is waking up and I need to look around some more.”

Sara remembered the week before she left quite vividly. She had come home early one day and heard voices in her parents’ bedroom. It was too early for her dad to get home, so she called out. Her mother answered and quickly exited her room. Sara asked who was there with her, and she said that Jeremy was fixing a leaking pipe in their bathroom.

Jeremy came out a few minutes later; something was odd. She just couldn’t put her finger on it. Jeremy, of course, went home shortly after that, her mother handing him some money for the work that he did. She was a little worried about her mom. She had been sick a lot lately, in the morning, but she usually got better by the evening.

She called Shannon to talk. It was a pretty good conversation even if not much was said. Shannon kept on about how good she had looked that day in volleyball and wanted to know if they were going to go to the mall or the movies or something that night. It was decided that the movies would be best, and she picked up Shannon and Tiffany at Shannon’s house.

After the movie, they went and ate burgers and continued back to Shannon’s house. Sara called her mom and told her that the three of them would be staying there that night. Shannon’s parents were hardly ever around, and it wasn’t unusual for her to sneak some of the box wine from the fridge. This night was no exception. She had a small refrigerator in her bedroom that she had stocked with a box before she left and the girls drank wine and talked until Tiffany suggest that they play a game.

Sara asked what game, and Tiffany suggested truth or dare. Sara remembered asking if they were twelve again and in middle school. Tiffany then said okay how about this? We play truth or dare, but we can’t leave the room. Again, Sara admonished her friend. We could always take pics of our dares for posterity, Shannon suggested, holding up a camera. “Oh, hell no!” Sara remembered saying, but somehow they talked her into it.

She had started with truths, mostly, was there anyone she liked, yes. Had she ever thought of doing it with a girl? No. Then the dares came, pictures of her and tiffany half clothed, her and Shannon half clothed. She must have blacked out at some point. It was pretty fun. In the morning, while they were nursing their mutual hangovers, she asked Shannon about the pictures. Shannon had replied that the camera hadn’t worked for some time. The flash worked so it looked like it, but it was all for show, for Tiffany really, and to add some risky excitement to the game.