WHATEVER COLOUR THEIR FACES HAD HAD DRAINED AWAY, and they started to look like cartoon characters. Will's handsome face turned an eerie sort of green, Jade's face had paled and become entirely white- which made the slight dusting of freckles on her face stand out like inkblots, Kai's face had taken a distinct shade of purple, Theo had his head down and was pacing the length of the room.

Shay's legs were rooted to the ground, her world whirled around her. Panic washed her body like a tide, and she found herself being suffocated. She felt like walls were closing in on her, oxygen not quite reaching her lungs.

Kai willed himself to move and scanned the whole room, his eyes finally landing on the cabinet. He opened the drawers of the cabinet and rummaged through the contents, then drew something out.

He stared at it then raised it so that the others could see it. It was black, with a pointed edge. A gun.

"What are you going to do with that?" Rose asked what Shay wanted to ask, but her throat felt closed up. Rose's voice was uneven. Shay paced the length of the room, her hands gripping the edge of her spotless white suit. Her knuckles turned white, but Shay didn't feel any pain.

"What else?" Kai's shrugged as he told them. Jade's eyes widened, "Are you going to shoot them?"

Another shrug. "Not really." Kai's voice was light, but Shay could sense the tight tension in it. He was trying to lighten the pressure. Will had zipped open their duffel bags and handed each of them to the other guys. Questions flooded into Shay's mind, but she didn't ask them out. She knew it wasn't the time for questions, so she kept them to herself, they were eating her mind.

Shay trusted them. She trusted whatever they had in their minds.

The siren was still wailing. It was too loud for Shay's liking. One part of her wanted to cover her ears and curl up in a corner, another part wanted to scream until the siren would stop ringing. It was loud enough to wake the people of the neighbouring Isles.

Kai beckoned them towards the door without a bolt, and they start piling things up against the door. They knew it was futile, but it would buy them some time.

Shay heard the sound of faint footsteps of many people over the loud siren, and her breath was knocked out of her lungs, even though she knew it was coming, and she prepared herself for it.

The guys pulled out some masks and handed some to the girls too. They drew their hoodies over their faces as the girls covered their faces with their hair, creating a curtain separating them from the rest of the world.

Shay scanned the whole room for any signs of escape, and she found herself staring at a large window with the others. Before they could formulate any plan, they heard a crashing noise. Shay stared in horror as the guards swarmed inside the room, pointing their guns at them.

In the midst of the thoughts, Shay didn't realize that they had positioned themselves in a strange manner. Will, Kai, and, Theo stood behind Shay, Rose, and Jade respectively. Over the chaos, she heard Theo whisper. "Plan B." He said.

There was only one problem: Shay didn't know what the hell Plan B was.

Will pulled Shay towards him, her back against his chest. She gasped. She didn't even notice the knife Will put against her neck. His other arm was around her waist, his grip gentle.

She could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck, his hair tickling her. She felt and heard the rapid hammering of Will's heart over the sound of her heart pounding against her chest. Shay didn't move, she didn't look anywhere. She kind of had a hunch that Jade was being held by Theo in the same way, Rose by Kai.

The siren had stopped. But her heart pounding against her chest was loud. She wondered if Will heard it too. Shay heard Kai shout, "Put your guns down, or we will kill these innocent doctors we found walking in your hallway."

Shay was surprised at Kai's tone. It was even and loud, with no signs of fear or lower confidence. It was clear and demanding.

Will bent down and whispered in her ear, his face against her blond hair, she felt leanly built muscles against her back. They were pressed together tightly. Her breath hitched. "There is a low window behind the couch in the right corner of the room. When the guards are momentarily distracted, we are gonna run towards the window, break it and jump down. As we are on the upper ground floor, a jump won't damage us that bad." He said in a low voice and leaned back, Shay was both disappointed and relieved at the same time.

Will had whispered those words very quickly, and Shay had to run over it twice to understand what he said.

"I said put your guns down, not lower your guns. Come any closer and we will slit their throats." Kai said threateningly, his voice unwavering.

The knife at Shay's throat was shaking and Shay patted Will's hand which was at her waist. "Steady," she said. The guard's guns had lowered more, and they looked at each other dubiously. "Go, go, go," Will said as he let go of her.

Shay ran towards the window Will had told about, crouching behind a couch when she heard the unmistakable sound of gunshots. "Duck! Duck!" She heard someone say as she went to the back of another couch, missing a bullet by a hair's length.

She leaned on the couch, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She now saw that the others have joined her, Theo risked taking a small peep and leaned back immediately, cursing.

"Crap, they are aiming at us!" He said nervously as he took off his shoe and threw it. Shay heard the sound of it hitting someone as Theo smiled in victory. Meanwhile, Kai closed his eyes and patted himself. He aimed the gun at the window and shot three bullets. Crack, crack, crack.

"Shit, shit, ahh," Kai cursed, dropping the gun before picking it up again. "It's hot, it hurts." The intensity of the shooting had increased, so Shay took off her shoes too, throwing them. Both of them hit two armed guards square in their faces. Shay grinned with victory. Kai hissed under his breath, "We have a gun goddammit, why are you hurling your shoes at them? Shoe shopping takes a lot of time and those were the most expensive shoes we ever owned!"

Oh, no. Shay realized. My most favourite and expensive shoes, gone.

Well, she thought. I'd throw my entire collection of clothes I've ever owned if it means getting out of here.

"Go!" Rose urged Shay. Shay ran towards the window with large cracks blossoming on it. She gave the window a hard push, and it broke under pressure. Shay hacked away the stray pieces of glass hanging onto the frame.

"Jump!" She heard someone say, and she did. At first, Shay felt nothing but then gravity took over. She landed gracefully on her legs and she rolled over. Shay always had total control over her body since her childhood, but it was good to know that total control and gratefulness was still there after two years. Even after she had quit her school's track team.

She started running at the fastest pace possible, the sinking soft mud slowing her down. She ran as if her life depended on it. It did depend on it. The fast blurring of the surroundings around her made her dizzy, but she kept going.

The booming footsteps behind her compelled her to run even faster, she never ran out of breath. Shay was the first one to reach their motorboat, Kai reached next. After everyone had got inside, Shay accelerated the engine and their motorboat sped away.

Whew, Shay thought. Now that was a close call.

+++

After they got far away from Isle Aquarin, Shay stopped the motorboat. They were adrift in the wide vast sea, their Isle visible to them. They stared at each other for a moment, their eyes locking.

Then suddenly, all of them burst out laughing at the same time. Shay was giddy with relief as she laughed to her heart's content. She felt a moment of pure happiness, her mind only concentrating on the satisfaction she felt now. It lasted for a minute or so. Then everything flooded in, what happened to her grandparents, her father, Will's mother: Marina.

Her loud laughs trailed away, her mouth was soon set into a straight line. Her memories constantly hindered her happiness, this was the first time she somehow enjoyed a minute of pure joy and happiness.

Shay chuckled as the others stopped laughing then again burst into fits of laugher, barely able to contain their delightedness. Will had a similar expression to that of Shay's, and she suspected that the same things had happened with Will, too. They shouted and screamed at each other, patted each other's backs and ruffled each other's hair. They threw the knives and gun into the tranquil water, ripples emerging from the water.

Shay looked up at the beautiful sky, dotted with stars everywhere. The wind blew, whipping her hair against her face. Shay's favourite smell surrounded her, the sound of the calm waves was soothing. "It's so beautiful," Jade whispered in awe.

Theo looked sideways at Jade with a gentle smile. "When happy, everything looks more beautiful. Even though we look at this sky every day, the feeling of our happiness is what makes it more beautiful."

There was a silence. Then everyone except Will, who smiled, looked at Shay with obvious dread. Shay had picked up the words 'what makes it beautiful.'

But Shay had been in an unusually good mood, so she started singing loudly. "You're insecure, don't know what for, you're turning heads when you walk through the door." She sang happily, blissfully ignoring other's protests. Surely her singing wasn't that bad.

"You are eighteen years old! A legal adult, not an eleven-year-old kid! Start acting like it and stop the damn song, Shay!"

"God, she's so bad at singing."

"I'd rather get arrested or face those guards again."

She tuned out the rest of the protests. "Oh, my favourite part is coming up!" She muttered excitedly. Shay looked at Will, who was looking at her intently. His lips tugging upwards with a gentle smile. Motivated by that, Shay started singing even louder.

Others, who realized that Shay wouldn't stop singing had stopped protesting. But after she increased her volume, they shouted even louder.

"BABY YOU LIGHT UP MY WORLD LIKE NOBODY ELSE, THE WAY THAT YOU FLIP YOUR HEAD GETS ME OVERWHELMED, But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell, YOU DON'T KNOW, oh oh, YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR BEAUTIFUL." Theo mouthed 'stop' to her. Like hell I would, Shay thought.

"If only you saw what I can see, You'll understand why I want you so desperately, right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe, you don't know, OH OH. You don't know your beautiful, OH, OH. That's what makes you beautiful!"

"Shay?" Kai whispered weakly, clutching her hand.

"Yes?"

"Would you please, please, please do me a favour and shut up?"

"Nah."

"I will throw you out of the damn thing!"

"I know you won't!" Shay sang.

"Please," He said, his voice taking a distinct tone of whining.

"Fine!" Shay said gruffly. Everyone except for Will sighed with relief, Will looked kind of sad. Before Shay could ask what was bothering him, Theo asked something which made her heart stop.

"Wait. Where is the hard drive?"

Shay's eyes widened as she looked at Theo with horror. Every positive emotion she felt till now, popped like a balloon. Shay's heart dropped into her stomach. She suddenly felt like she was wallowing in sadness and hopelessness.

Kai's tone was furious. "I gave it to you!"

"I know! I know!" Theo said with despair and panic. He leaned back heavily before running a hand through his dark brown hair, his brown eyes scanning everywhere with panic.

"Good job, Theo," Rose said.

"Shut up, Rose!" Theo said as he patted his pockets.

"Theodore Jonah McCallister," Kai said, enunciating every word. "I swear to god I will personally kill you if you don't find that thing. I tear your limbs, limb after limb. No, your bed is right beside mine, isn't it? That's it then, I will press the pillow against your face and wait until you can't breathe. Or I can choke you while you're eating your breakfast."

"Hey, Shay?" Jade asked from the steering wheel. "Could you check my white coat's pockets? It's over there." Jade said, pointing to her abandoned jacket on which Leo was sleeping.

Shay gently pushed Leo away and retrieved something from the coat's pockets. The hard drive. She let out a breath with relief. She held it up but Theo and Kai didn't seem to notice.

"... I can always tie you up to a chair and narrate the deaths of your favourite fictional characters, or drown you and hold you in the water until you can't come to breathe. Pour acid on you, slit your throat with a butter knife, trick you to come hiking with me, and leave you in the deepest of the forests, or-" He was cut off when Shay when she waved the drive in front of Kai's face.

"Oooh! Yes, yes! I remember now! I slid the drive into Jade's pocket when those guards arrived. Oh, thank god." Theo said jumping up and down cheerfully.

"Hey, what's the time?" Shay asked Will, who glanced down at his watch. "It's past midnight, and here we are, our boat adrift, and we are making memories which will last us a lifetime." Again, Shay caught the words 'midnight' and 'memories.'

"Will?" Kai hissed under his breath to Will, who blinked repeatedly, trying his best to stay awake. Shay sang Midnight Memories by One Direction loudly, and when she looked around, she realized they were almost home.

"Five foot something with the skinny jeans, Don't look back, baby, follow me, I don't know where I'm going but I'm finding my way, Same old sh- but a different day."

Before she could go any further, she was cut off by Theo. "We're here."

Shay hesitated, wanting to sing the whole song. "Out," Kai said, pointing at the shore.

"Fine. I'm getting out of the damn thing!" Shay muttered under her breath as her bare feet met cold water.

All of them looked at Will who fell asleep. His breathing was even, a soft smile on his face. He looked young, looking like he didn't have a worry in the world.

"How he fell asleep with that crazy thing shouted at the top of her lungs is a mystery," Kai grumbled under his breath but spoke those words with affection. He smiled at the sight of Will. "The poor guy worked the hardest of all of us today."

Kai and Theo exchanged looks before they carried Will out of the boat, Kai holding Will's hands and Theo his legs. They grunted at his weight as they carefully dodged the big rocks.

"What does he seriously eat? I didn't see any rocks on the plate this morning," Theo said to nobody in particular. They stopped from shared a look. Both of them dropped Will onto the soft, fine sand with a 'thud.' Shay was surprised that Will didn't wake up.

Kai and Theo collapsed beside Will, panting hard. "There's no way I'm hauling him all the way to the house and upstairs," Kai said, shaking his head. "No freaking way."

"If I do that," Theo said, "My eyes would be closed, and I would be laying on the ground just like our Will but the major difference is that I wouldn't be breathing and contributing to the earth's ecosystem anymore," Theo said, closing his eyes.

Jade fell asleep on Shay's shoulder as Theo let out soft snores. Just when Shay was closing her eyes, she heard faint voices and a siren.

"... and they headed towards Blackwood. All the security guards were roused and are patrolling Isle Aquarin, but it is now confirmed that the people who broke into Aquariaa are currently in Blackwood." One voice said.

"We need to just patrol the last house located here. The sources say that they saw the motorboat head towards the north side, and we just need to have a look at the last house located in front of the beach. Just check for suspicious activity." Another voice replied.

Shay looked at Kai and Rose, alarmed. If they saw six members with a motorboat, wearing the same dresses as the 'people' who broke into Aquariaa, they would be suspected and thrown into jail for sure.

"Just a sec, I think I got this," Rose said as she got up, hauling Kai along with her. "Goddammit, woman. Give me a second, I can walk!"

Rose dragged Kai along with her, away from the house and the beach, in the direction of the police. They stopped. Shay couldn't see their faces properly but could make out the outlines of their bodies in the moonlight.

"Wait a minute, I think I see two teenagers there." Shay heard the first voice say.

After that, Rose did something that shocked Shay a lot.

She slapped Kai. Very hard. So hard that it sent Kai rocking back onto his heels, and the sound echoed in the air. She heard his quick intake of breath. "What the-"

Rose grabbed Kai by his collar, "How dare you? How dare you come to my house after I caught you cheating on me? You bastard! My sleepover with my best friends is ruined because of your mere presence."

"I-"

"You cheated on me, Kai," Rose said again, nodding vigorously. She raised her voice again, "I can't believe you! I trusted you! I liked you! Go find another girl who will believe your lies, take your lies to your next girlfriend. Oh, wait. I'm not letting another girl come near your cheating lying- "

"Oh, boy," She heard one of the cops say.

"But babe-" Kai said, finally catching on to what Rose was trying to do.

"Don't you dare call me that! " Rose said, moving her arms wildly.

"Give me a chance, please. I can-"

"I don't care!" Rose shouted at the top of her lungs. "Get away from me!" She said, breathing hard.

There was a moment of silence. She heard the second voice say, "What do you mean 'You want to see what happens next?' It's just a teenage couple fighting. Let's go."

The other voice replied, "But I thought I saw someone there. Should we go and check?"

Without realizing Shay was going to do that, Shay pointed at the sky. "Hey, look Rose! An octopus! Give me your camera!" Shay paused and talked again.

"Rose, where are you?"

"I'm here, Shay!" Rose replied as she walked towards Shay. "Where were you?" Shay asked, with fake concern in her voice.

"Shay, you are not going to believe this. That jerk who cheated on me had the audacity to come to our house."

"I hope you hit him," Shay said, glancing at the direction of the cops.

"Yeah! Slapped him! It felt so good!"

"Dammit woman. You had to hit me, hadn't you? You couldn't act that you were slapping me or something?" Looking at Shay's expression, Kai added, "Yeah, they went away. I checked."

Groaning, he sat down beside Shay and looked at her with amusement. "Really? An octopus in the sky?"

Rose snickered and Shay chuckled, "I couldn't think of anything else." Kai smirked but groaned immediately, putting a hand to his red cheek. "Oh, man."

Rose smiled as she looked at the sky. "Today's night is perfect isn't it?" She asked, indicating their friends sleeping around them and the beautiful sky. "Yeah, but my cheek isn't," Kai grumbled.

Shay glanced at the sky.

One starry night. Spent with the people she loved. The weather was nice. Leo grunted with happiness on Shay's knee and Shay patted his head.

Close calls and death threats. From breaking in to breaking out. The shoe fight. Rose's and Kai's act. The adrenaline rushes.

Midnight memories with her best friends.

There was one word with which Shay could describe her day.

Perfect.

+++