CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Mass hallucination.

             LENNON

Before I knew it, three days had passed from the crash. They had been excruciatingly long, what with not having our usual luxuries of our phones to keep us entertained. We mostly spoke amongst ourselves, still keeping within our groups prior to the crash. Imani hadn't really spoken to me much, still pissed off that I had made her share her designer items with everyone else. But I knew Imani well—too well. She would stoop for a while and then she would come running back after realising she had been dramatic. It was just a matter of time.

Within those three days, we had managed to build our camp a little more. Everyone had designated spots where they would sleep at night, on top of parachutes we had pulled from the plane and cut up into pieces to lay flat onto the damp ground. Our fire had gotten a little bigger, after Ethan and Ivy had tended to it, gathering enough wood to do us through the day, keeping us warm at night. Our food and water rations were split between us as fairly as we could, making sure there was enough to go around. It wasn't exactly enough to fill our stomachs, and we knew we had to find some more food soon, but without any means, it was hard to begin finding food in the middle of nowhere.

The hardest thing we had done was take the bodies from the plane, planning on burying them further from the camp. Ivy had insisted we had to make sure we got the bodies far enough away to not draw any attention from animals that could be living on the island and we had all agreed. It had been hard at first, carrying the bodies far enough from our camp, but after a while, we had almost become numb to it.

I had gone with Ethan to the second crash site, to see if there were any remains of his mother that he could bury. There hadn't been and a huge part of me had been relieved. If there had been anything left of her, I was sure it would have been a horrifying sight that I didn't want myself, nor Ethan to have to witness. It had hit him hard, knowing that there was nothing left of his mother, but I had assured him that maybe it was for the best, and after he had cried in my arms for a while, he had managed to pull himself together for the walk back to camp.

It was late in the evening and we were standing around the graves we had dug out with whatever scraps from the plane we could find, using them as makeshift shovels. The sun was beginning to set through the trees as we stood in a circle around the graves, the bodies already laid to rest. We hadn't known exactly how deep six feet under the ground was, but we had just dug until we were exhausted. We had to make sure were thorough enough—after Ivy's warnings about not wanting to draw wild animals towards us. After all, we didn't really know what was out there quite yet.

No one spoke a word as we stood there, staring down at the graves. Maggie, Eden, Maggie and I had created cross-shaped graves for them using twigs with vines that we had used to tie them together. We had managed to find a sharpie in one of our suitcases and had used it to write the names of the dead on the sticks. The writing was hard to read, but easy enough to know who's grave we stood in front of.

I was standing in front of Rebecca's grave, my head tilted downwards as I stared at the freshly dug dirt that lay in a pile. It felt odd that her body was beneath there, becoming one with the earth. I couldn't help but think of how lucky she was—how lucky they all were. Of course, death wasn't something I would usually wish upon a person, but it almost felt like the easier option. Sometimes, dying was easier than living.

"Lennon," I brought my head up, glancing at my sister when she said my name. The way she was staring at me told me she had already spoken my name aloud but I hadn't heard her, being too deep in my thoughts. She put her hand on my arm. "Eden was just asking if she should say a prayer for them." She told me, making me glance across at Eden who was smiling softly, even though she had tears in her eyes.

I mustered up a smile, "Sure, Ede. Of course." I said, gesturing with my hand.

Eden offered each of her hands to June and Imani that stood on either side of her. They both took a hand each and it gave the rest of us the initiative to latch onto the person beside us. I took both Ivy's and Hattie's hands in mine, turning my gaze back towards the grave in front of me.

"May you always walk in sunshine, and God's around you flow," Eden began saying, hanging her head as she collided her eyes, "For the happiness you gave us, no one will ever know. It broke our hearts to lose you, but you did not go alone. A part of us went with youThe day God called you home. A million times we needed you A million times we cried. If love could only have saved you You would've never died. The Lord be with you and may you rest in peace." As Eden said her prayers, the sound of crying intensified. I felt my own eyes burn as I stared at the graves.

                     Once Eden finished her prayer, silence washed over us. No one spoke a word, just sniffled and cried for the deadly departed. Minutes passed before anyone said a word.

"Do you think they're somewhere better?" Maggie dared to ask, turning her blue-eyed gaze towards Eden, as if she would have all of the answers.

"Our Heavenly Father would have welcomed them graciously. I'm sure they're all being taken care of." Eden assured her, offering up one of her kind, innocent smiles. I wished I could believe Eden. I did think they were somewhere better—but only because they weren't with us on the island. I wasn't sure if I believed in Heaven anymore, but I did believe in a place better than where we were. Anywhere had to be better.

"And anywheres gotta be better than here, right?" Nora spoke up with a scoff, her curly brown-blonde hair beginning to get a shine to it, like the rest of us since it hadn't been washed.

"I'll say amen to that." Kitty agreed, holding her smaller sisters hand.

Just then, a sound none of us had been expecting to hear filled the air. Each of us perked up as birds flew from their perches, the jungle suddenly coming to life, growing louder. There was a howling in the far distance, and it wasn't coming from one singular creature, but multiple. It sounded like wolves.

The sound sent a shiver down my spine. It was the last thing I thought I would hear on the island. I didn't think there would be such a thing as wolves living in a climate so warm—I didn't even think where we were had the ability to be cold enough for wolves to live. But we all knew what we had heard, the sound was undeniable.

Evie's eyes were wide, "Is that wolves?" She asked over the howling in the distance, shrinking closer to her sister.

Hattie's face was screwed up in confusion as she looked out into the darkening jungle, "The climates too warm for wolves... that doesn't make any sense." She said, more to herself than anyone else. But her voice held uncertainty because she could hear it like the rest of us.

"What other animal could make that kind of noise?" June asked, her brows furrowed together, her grip on my hand even tighter than before, her palms turning clammy.

"Coyotes?" Imani suggested.

"It doesn't make sense for them to be here either," Hattie said, shaking her head as the howls continued into the dawning night. She looked around, blue eyes scanning the jungle. "This isn't right." She said, making a wave of paranoia wash over me. Was there the possibility we had made it to some kind of place where animal that shouldn't be able to survive in its climate actually did? And how did they even get there in the first place?

"I guess it's a good thing we buried the bodies so far from the camp, then?" Ethan spoke up, looking to Hattie for confirmation.

"I'm not so sure," She responded, turning to face him. "I didn't think there was this kind of predator here. If what we're hearing is right, and there are wolves here, they'd be able to sniff this out from miles away. And then they'd be able to find us too, no matter how far the bodies are from our camp. Our scents are all over them." She said, a frown working its way onto her face.

"Is there any chance we could be having a mass hallucination or something? Because I heard that—"

"God, Brooke, we are not having a mass hallucination," Abby spoke over the fellow blonde girls suggestion. She shook her head in disbelief. "You can be so dense sometimes." She said with a scoff, earning a hard glare on Brooke's behalf.

"Sorry, Abbs, but if there's fucking wolves on an island they shouldn't be able to survive on then anything's possible—"

"Not mass hallucinations! We're not that far gone!" Abby exclaimed, growing frustrated.

I quickly jumped into the conversation to stop a quarrel from happening, "Maybe we should move inside of the plane for tonight? Just in case. And we can figure it out in the morning." I suggested, feeling the hairs in the back of my neck standing up. Since hearing those howls, I had a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach—and not just because we were hearing something that should have been impossible; but because something just didn't feel right.

"You want us to sleep in the place we just pulled dead bodies from? Lennon, their fucking blood is still all over the place!" Imani exclaimed at me, more than willing to begin giving me a lecture since she was still mad at me.

I turned to look at her, "Would you rather sleep out here with the wolves?" I snapped, my eyes narrowing at her. She hung her head, not giving a reply. I released June's hand and took a step forward. "Look, I'm not thrilled at the idea of sleeping in there either. But it's got to be a lot safer than sleeping out here tonight. It's the best chance we have." I tried reasoning, looking amongst the faces for someone to agree with me.

Kitty threw her head back, a groan escaping her lips, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Twin Number One," She spoke up, surprising myself and everyone around us. Kitty had been the one to disagree with me the most since the crash. She threw her hands up. "I just care about keeping my sister safe and if this is what's gonna do it, then I'm more than willing, alright?" She said, growing defensive at the disbelieving stares.

Following her lead, Hailey nodded, "Yeah, I agree too. Being eating by wolves is not the way I wanna go out." She said with a shrug, her brown hair with pink streaks tied back into two low-pigtails.

Ethan nodded, "It's probably for the best. It's a lot safer in there than it is out here. Plus, it might be a little warmer with the shelter." He said, earning a small smile from me.

"Alright, then it's settled. Everyone, grab your shit and get to the plane." I ordered, making everyone disperse, heading back in the direction of the plane that was at least a twenty minute walk in the dying sun.

When we arrived back, Ivy had put out the fire by stomping on it, not wanting to draw anymore attention towards us. I had headed towards the tree where I had my bag of my three personal belongings I had chosen to keep to myself; my Polaroid camera, my medication and my Pirates jersey jacket.

I was grabbing the blanket I had been sharing the last two nights with June, tucking it under my arm when I heard a noise form behind me. I stopped in my tracks, glancing my head upwards and out into the dark forest. Somewhere in front of me was the sound of twigs snapping and it made my stomach drop, fearing that the wolves had already found us, ready to make us their next meal.

But instead of spotting a wolf, I was sure I saw something move through the trees that had a human-like figure about my height. It was brief, moving so quickly that I barely had the time to see it properly—but it had been there. I saw it with my own eyes. There was something in there, and it was watching us.

I straightened my back up, bringing my hand into my bag to pull out my Polaroid camera. I grasped it, my finger finding the capture button in the dark. I pressed it, momentarily illuminating the forest. And that's when I saw it, clear as day standing in front of me with its back turned to me. It was a person—a woman from what I could tell and she had long dark hair stretching down the length of her back. But as quickly as I had saw it, it disappeared again when the light from the camera cut out.

I jumped slightly, startled by the sound of the picture printing. I anticipated what I would see in the picture, my hands shaking as I pulled it out, eyes wide, body rigid.

Ethan passed by me, a large stick wrapped in fabric that we had been using as a torch lit to light his way as he ushered everyone towards the plane. I caught his arm with my free hand, stopping him in his tracks, "Let me see that." I said, my voice coming out in autopilot as I snatched the torch from his hand, lowering it to the photograph I had taken.

My eyes widened, but not because I had caught the woman I had saw so clearly with my own eyes on camera, but because I hadn't. There was nothing in the photograph except the vast trees around us—not even a silhouette of the woman. There was absolutely nothing.

From beside me, I could feel Ethan boring holes into the side of my head as he stared at me in concern and I knew I must have looked horrified, "Len, are you okay?" He asked me gently, taking a step closer to me, glancing down at the Polaroid picture between my shaking fingertips.

"I—" I stopped whatever I was about to say, because what exactly was I going to say? We had been out there for three days. It hadn't been long enough for us to be going delirious and seeing things that weren't there. And I didn't want him to think I was crazy. Or maybe, I just didn't want to accept that maybe I was. That maybe it was happening again.

I turned my head, putting a fake smile on my face, "Nothing. It's nothing. I'm just paranoid," I assured him, trying to convince him along with myself. I handed him the torch, shoving the Polaroid camera and the photograph into my bag. "Go head inside. I'll meet you in a minute." I said, turning to face the forest once again.

Ethan lingered a moment longer before giving my shoulder a squeeze and leaving, taking the majority of the light as he went.

I stood there for what felt like forever, staring out into the forest, half excepting the woman to be standing right in front of me. But she wasn't. The forest had gone deathly quiet again, with no sounds other than the wind and crickets chirping into the night.

I sighed, rubbing my temple before heading towards the plane, deciding that I needed a good nights sleep. When I entered the clearing near the plane, illuminated by the moon above us, I reached into my bag, pulling out my medication.

I pulled out the container, popping it open and spilling the contents onto my hands. My lips parted. I only had four more pills left, which felt like some kind of lifeline, especially now that I was seeing things that might not have been there to begin with. We were only a to be at Nationals for a week, and that was all I had took with me—a weeks worth of the medication that made me a functioning human being. Without it, I knew exactly who I was, and I didn't want to be that person. I didn't want to be the crazy girl off her meds.

I swallowed hard, "Hey, Lennon! Get your cute little ass in here!" Abby called out to me, popping her head out of the door to the plane. "Unless you want to be food for the wolves." She added.

I glanced back into the forest, my stomach churning. And then I made my way inside of the plane to where everyone had huddled together, either on the floor or on the seats. I took my place next to my sister, sitting down without a word as I stared straight ahead.

June glanced at me, her hair tied back into a ponytail, "You alright?" She asked in concern, giving me a small nudge.

I glanced out the window on my sisters side. It was one that hadn't shattered, but only cracked ever so slightly. In the moonlight, I could see my own reflection looking back. I wasn't so sure I could answer her question honestly because then, I would worry her. And I didn't want to be a burden to June, she already had enough to worry about what with being stuck in the island.

I passed the blanket to her, putting a little of it over my knees, "I'm fine."

             AUTHORS NOTE.

              What do you all think? Is Lennon losing it or is she really seeing some weird shit out there? Let me know!

               — taylor xx