Naya watched the waves near the shore. If she looked closely, she thought that she could still see blood and ash, but then if you could look like it might have just been the light playing tricks on her eyes. How long would it be before they all starved? Would a helicopter ever come to save them?

"What is wrong with you?" A boy screamed. Naya flipped around to see a group of teenagers rushing towards the shore, the girl leading holding a little boy by her side.

"What's wrong with you? Do you even hear yourself?"

Naya got up and started jogging to the group, a few others joining her such as Orion-the mute ginger that Naya had recently been acquainted with-and his friend Zeke, along with a boy with a huge gash in his face whom she thought was named Hedi, if she remembered correctly. Naya winced at the sight of him. The group spread out, revealing a small kid in the back who looked both sad and scared at the same time.

"What happened?" Zeke asked. "Where are the others?"

"They should be back soon," Quinn said, making occasional sour-faces at Sparna. Jayed was the only one who really knew why-Quinn couldn't stand her, for reasons he didn't like to be brought up.

What's wrong with Nico? Orion asked, Zeke translating for everyone else.

"And him?" Naya asked, pointing to the boy near the back. A few heads turned and the boy was startled at first, as if he hated being put on the spot.

"Them," Nico said angrily. "Ty is a them." Naya rolled her eyes. Whatever. What did pronouns matter, anyways?

"Nico claims that when they were out in the woods, he fell asleep and woke up to the sound of Ty screaming. Then, he says that they told him that they were taken by a two headed monster with razor sharp claws and blood-sucking teeth," Karimah Leya said. Ty blushed. "Ty told him to run away, saying that it would get them, but nothing came."

Bullshit. That's what it was. Who in their right mind would believe a crazy little kid? It was their one voice against all of the other nineteen, even though that other young boy was on their side about the attack.

"Okay, Nico, really?" Zeke asked skeptically.

"It's true! Ty, tell them!" Nico said, turning to Ty. But they stayed silent. "Come on, Ty!"

"Neeks, that's a little far fetched," Sparna said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, it kind of is," Quinn agreed, trying not to come off too harsh.

"No, it's not!" He said, turning to Ty again. "Ty, please! Make them believe us!"

They were speechless. Looking around at everyone, it was like they were debating whether to lie or tell the truth.

"I-I..." They trailed off. "I-I ran, I-I didn't get a c-clear look." It was obvious that they weren't confident in their answer.

"He's crazy," Naya muttered.

"I told you, Ty is a they," Nico snarled, looking as if he was about to loose it.

"Oh look, Teddy Bear wants to fight!"

"I will if it means getting you to shut your fat-a** mouth!"

"Just be quiet!" Sparna yelled, glaring at both Naya and Nico.

"I promise, Ty knows what they saw!" Nico said, but nobody seemed to care. They all just looked at each other, seemingly trying to figure out what to do with the crazy boy. "Goddamn it, will anyone believe me?"

"Nico Keith O'Keel!" Sparna snapped, grabbing him by the arm. Naya leaned in and tried to understand what she said, but it was difficult to make out anything besides "not thinking straight... nap... feel better... wake up."

"Don't treat me like a baby, Sparna!" He yelled, yanking away from Sparna's grasp. "I trust Ty, and if they say that this island isn't safe and something almost attacked them, then it's true. I don't care what you fricking idiots have to say about it!" Nico walked over to the boy that Naya assumed was Ty, and he grabbed their hand, pulling them over near the shore and rubble where no one else was.

Naya looked around at the others, waiting to see if anyone was going to speak up. Because it wasn't going to be her.

"Bull," Liam muttered under his breath. "Poor kid can't tell the difference between reality and nightmare."

"That's my brother you're talking about," Sparna snapped.

"He's talking about the other boy, idiot," Naya said, rolling her eyes.

"I agree with you," Hedi said. Everybody was quite surprised to see him speak, since he hadn't yet, except to Zeke when the others were gone. Jayed looked at him for a second, quickly directing his eyes to the others when Hedi looked his way. "I hate to admit it, but their story was way too farfetched to be believable."

Well, this whole situation is pretty unbelievable, Orion signed. A few of the students looked at him with a puzzled look, for most of them did not know Orion, but Zeke cleared it up.

"Orion means that we've been through a lot of unbelievable things already, so it's not as hard to believe this one as well."

Even though Orion had not said it directly, it was exactly what he meant.

"Well, what if the story is true?" Jayed asked, blushing as Hedi and everyone else suddenly looked at him. "What does that mean for the other group?"

"Woah, woah, woah, you're not starting to buy this shit, are you?" Naya asked.

"N-No, of course not, but what if?"

"Let's just hope that it's not true and that delusional little boy didn't see what he thought he saw," Liam said.

Naya scoffed. There was no way that Ty was right about what he saw. Monsters didn't exist.

Right?

***

"Where do you think they are?" Zeke asked, and by 'they' Orion knew that he meant the other group of six. The first group had come back with the two little boys and almost no one believed them, insisting that the shorter one's eyes were just playing tricks on them. They stayed pretty quiet, the taller brunette boy doing most of the defending. Orion didn't know where he stood on the story. It was quite unusual for them to crash with no explanation in the first place, but a two headed monster? Wasn't that a little too far fetched?

Not sure, Orion sighed.

"I hope they didn't get eaten by the clawed monster," Zeke teased and Orion grinned. He could tell that Zeke didn't believe what the boys said.

I bet that they'll be back soon, Zeke. They are probably going to walk out here any second now.

"I hope," Zeke said. He paused. "I don't know how I would be able to take loosing anyone this quickly, even if I hardly know them."

They're fine. You'll see.

"But what it they're not?"

Something was bothering him. And Orion was going to help.

Spit it out, He signed.

"What do you mean?"

What's wrong? And don't say that it's nothing.

He grinned a little, pursing his lips. "You really know me, don't you, Rion?"

Orion smiled at his nickname, feeling his cheeks turning the slightest bit pink as well.

"It's just... remember that girl that bumped into me while we were on the plane?" Orion nodded. "Well, I got to know her better, and it turns out she's really nice, and funny, and brave." Zeke's smile grew, and almost startled to chuckle as well. However, with every compliment, Orion's expression turned more and more upset and annoyed, which was confusing because he didn't know why.

"And really, really pretty," Zeke said in a dreamily tone, looking at his hands with a large smile. Orion adjusted his position, his heart suddenly dropping completely. Usually he was happy around Zeke, but at that moment he was anything but joyous. He was annoyed, and even a little hurt. He raised his hands to start signing but decided against it. Instead, he fidgeted with them and tried to look anywhere else.

"I don't know, I guess I am just worried about her a little."

That's when Orion's fake smile turned upside down entirely. Why did he care so much if Zeke liked someone?

He didn't even have to think about that question for more than a second before he knew the answer, but he was too embarassed and cowardly to even put it as a possibility. There was no way that it could be true. He didn't want it to be.

With all of the strange energy floating around his heart, Orion stood up, trying to hide his face from Zeke's as he walked away. Zeke called back to him, asking what was wrong but eventually didn't follow him. Orion was half glad and half sad at the same time, wanting to be away from him at the moment but also hurt that he want to didn't come with him to make him feel better.

Maybe he just knew that he was upset and didn't want to interfere? Orion didn't know and just didn't want to think about it any longer. Thinking about it made even more conflicted emotions fill his brain.

He just needed to explain his feelings to someone before it killed him.

···

"Can we talk?"

Orion pursed his lips as he wrote that message in the sand. He looked at Tal, waiting for her response. He was worried that telling her such a big secret after he just met her was going too far, but he needed to consult to someone, and the only other two people that he really knew, Liam and Zeke, were definetly out of the picture.

"Sure, but I've got to warn you, I am terrible at giving advice."

He wanted to smile, but he just couldn't. "Don't judge," He wrote, the letters quite small and sloppy.

"Of course not, I hate when people judge."

Orion took a deep breath and thought for a second on what to write. Then, his shaky hand started to trace the words in the sand. "So my friend likes somebody, and don't know why..."

He stopped, taking a moment to continue.

"...but I feel annoyed. And sad. And angry. All at the same time."

He lifted his finger away from the sand, looking back up at Tal. "How long has it been happening?"

"Since takeoff. That's when he met her." Orion looked at Tal hopefully, still feeling sad and confused. She shifted positions, thinking of what to say next.

"Do you dislike the person that your friend had a crush on?"

"No," Orion wrote, even though ever since Zeke met Marisa all he could feel is hatred for her. It wasn't personal, he didn't think. She hadn't done anything bad to him except for ruining his and Zeke's hilarious conversation and just turning it awkward.

"Did you ever think that you maybe like him?"

Orion thought to himself. Did he? "Maybe," He finally decided on writing. And he knew that it was obvious to Tal what his real answer was.

"Why'd you tell me?" She asked. "Why not Zeke? He knows you much better. Plus, you two are such great friends."

He didn't write anything, and after a moment, she sighed. "Oh," She said with guilt in her voice. She moved closer to him, dragging her legs with her and putting her hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be okay," She reassured, smiling to make him feel better.

He grinned a little. Sure, Tal and him weren't very close and didn't know each other too well, but she was a good listener. Just the one he needed. He mouthed "thank you," and Tal nodded in response.

"No problem. But I still don't know why you came to me."

Orion moved over a little, brushing the sand letters away before writing another message. "You don't seem like the kind of person who would make fun of me for what I told you. Plus, you're my only other friend."

Tal grabbed him from the side and gave him a quick hug before releasing, and Orion started to write. "Is everything really gonna be alright? Because being around Zeke makes me feel weird now."

"I can't promise that," She started. "but if you tell him how you're feeling, maybe he'll surprise you."

Orion gasped. "I can't do that!"

"Well then I don't think much is going to change."

He had two options, both equally terrifying.

"Hey," Tal said. "How about you just forget about it for now? You can look after the sick patients, stay here with me, Karimah Leya and Sparna, whatever you want to do."

His smile widened. "I'd love that," He wrote. Then, he touched his hand to his chin and moved it downwards, like he was blowing a kiss. After seeing Tal's confused look, he mouthed "thank you" once again, repeating the sign. She nodded her head as he showed her the sign for "you're welcome", making them both laugh as she did it back to him.

Maybe he would feel better tomorrow after a nice, long rest. It was already dark after all. Plus, some people had already fallen asleep like Eira and Jayed. There were enough people awake to watch guard.

Orion nudged Tal in the side, then doing his best to sign sleep in a way that she could understand, and she did almost immedietly.

"Oh, ok," She said, nodding. "Do you want me to leave?"

He shook his head. He wasn't going to make her get up. However, he was too polite to go somewhere else. Plus, if he was being completely honest, he was too scared to sleep away from everyone else in the current situation. He moved a little bit away from Tal, laying down and setting his hands under his head.

For some reason, there was a feeling in his stomach that kept him from sleeping. He knew it wasn't the fact that it was physically hard, since it was dark and cool enough. It was more because of the fact that he couldn't get Zeke out of his head.

It was almost impossible to.

Orion tried thinking of things like his family, his friend Mae who lived right next to him, and even his dog, but no matter what it would always tie back to the brown haired boy. His fourteenth birthday party; Zeke was there. The time he went to the movies with Mae; Zeke stayed home sick, even though he was dying to go. And a few minutes ago, talking to Tal. About Zeke.

Why was he being to obsessive about him, anyways? Not that he really wanted to stop...

"Orion!"

Orion jolted awake, not realizing that he had gone asleep at all. It took a few moments to realize who had woken him up, but when his eyes did focus he jumped. There was Zeke, still shaking him with a worried look on his face.

What was that for? Orion signed, annoyed. He was still angry at Zeke, even though part of him was anything but mad with him.

"He's awake," He said, and at first Orion thought he was talking about him, but then he continued. "Lanier. He woke up."