The sun rose over the beach and the sleeping prisoners, casting a golden glow. Warren, who was one of the two on watch, spread his fingers out in front of him and let the light pass through, moving them slowly to create different shadows across his face. The sky was cotton candy, orange and pink and purple spread out to meet the turquoise waves. That was the second thing that Oliver noticed —right after Warren's fascination with the light. The waves were beautiful then. Not like the night before when they were cold, black, and merciless.

"Should we wake them up?" Oliver asked.

Warren snapped out of his trance and looked over the people sleeping around him, sand dried to their skin, clothes, and hair. "Yeah I guess so. Earlier they're up means the earlier we get to go find food. It's been one night and I already miss prison food."

"And shelter."

Warren shrugged. "Less important."

"Less important? We almost froze to death last night..." Oliver said quietly while Warren started to wake people up.

Within the minute everyone was pushing themselves up off the ground and brushing sand from their faces.

Audrey let out a disgusted whimper. "I feel gross! I hate this!"

"I don't feel like any of us are really enjoying the experience, princess." Warren said as he walked by. He jumped away when she tried to smack him. "Oohhh, so close."

"Alright kids!" Paradox threw her arm into the air to get attention. The sleeve of her prison jumpsuit fell down slightly, showing off the bright red cuts from the rope that only hours earlier had held her underneath the waves.

Warren felt slightly nauseous looking at it, so he turned his head to the side and looked out at the now perfectly calm sea. The rolling waves we're so repetitive that they were almost hypnotizing.

"I can hear your stomach's growling from here, so I think it's time we discuss how we're going to find food," Jake spoke once Paradox had gotten everyone's attention.

"I'm sorry, but don't you think that Nicole and I should be in charge of you kids?" Foster folded his arms across his chest.

"I don't mean to show any disrespect sir, but I feel like I have more experience," Jake sighed.

"Army veterans." Foster grumbled. "Think they can do everything."

"That was really disrespectful," Kithara whispered.

"Do any of us here really deserve respect?"

"Okay!" Aurora yelled. "Shut up or be shut up." She jumped on top of a trunk and stood with her legs shoulder length apart. Her arms hung at her side.

Everyone did as she said.

"Thank you," Jake said, looking up at her. She nodded curtly in return. "Now, I suggest we break up into teams so we can get thing done faster. We can have some people look for parts of the ship that may have floated to the shore, a group can look for more dry wood we can use tonight for another fire, we'll need people to look for food—"

Audrey interrupted him mid sentence with a panicked voice. "Who's going to stay here and watch our stuff?"

Everyone else on the beach just gave a blank stare.

"Why... why would we need anyone to do that?" Kithara asked cautiously after way too long of a silence.

"So nothing happens to it?" Audrey replied, rolling her eyes.

Another silence followed before Foster burst out into laughter. Everyone else —except Aurora— followed suit.

"What?" Audrey screeched.

"Audrey..." Mirage sighed. "What's going to happen to them? We're alone here."

"How do you know that?"

*******

Nicole was put in a group with Paradox, Oliver, and Kithara in charge of getting more firewood. She had wanted to be with the group searching for food, not looking around for some old, dead trees. The three younger ones trudged ahead of her while she scuffed her feet through the sand behind them. She didn't believe that they really needed her help in any way, shape, or form. She watched how each of them acted. Kithara was very clearly the youngest of the group, excitedly picking up a sand dollar and showing Oliver then stuffing it in her pocket. Oliver, she thought, must've had siblings from the way he treated Kithara. And then there was Paradox, who walked a few meters ahead of the other two, very clearly on a mission and not straying from it. She had a few smaller pieces of driftwood in her arms, while Oliver carried the bigger logs that they'd found. Still, it really wasn't much. The four of them had decided that they'd only scour the beach this time while looking for firewood in case they had gotten lost while traveling any farther inland on the island.

"How much are we trying to find?" Nicole finally spoke up.

"As much as we can find," Paradox answered.

Nicole rolled her eyes. "Do you think they've got food yet?"

"Considering how long it's taking us to find some sticks..." Oliver smiled, one corner of his mouth lifting higher than the other.

Nicole sighed.

The group was reaching the bottom of an incredibly steep, rocky cliff. "Are we going to turn around here?" Kithara asked. She didn't look like she wanted to.

Paradox bit her lip and then smiled up at it. "No way."

Nicole let out a groan, but was silenced immediately when the other three turned to stare at her with disapproval. "I guess we will be able to get a better view at where we are from up there..."

"Exactly." Oliver nodded, dropping the firewood in his arms. "Shall we?"

They made Kithara go ahead of them so they could catch her if she lost her footing. She didn't seem to need it though, and climbed up like a spider monkey. Nicole raised her eyebrows as she watched.

These kids are just full of surprises.

Paradox and Oliver both had different ways of going about it. While Paradox seemed to have a calculated, effective approach, Oliver grabbed anything he could to pull himself up higher. Fast, and reckless. Unlike the two girls ahead of him, he didn't test anything before putting his weight into it.

Stupid.

Nicole climbed up in awkward, slow, jerky movements. She focused on the rock directly above and ahead of her rather than looking around at anything else. She felt dizzy immediately if she did, especially if she looked down. Nicole shook her head to throw her red hair out of her face, taking a deep breath as she did. She had begun to regret going last, due to the terrifying fact that every time anyone else above her found a new place to put their feet, tiny rocks would tumble down the cliff towards her.

"How much further?" She finally called up.

"Not that much. You've climbed up more than you have left," Oliver quickly replied. He sounded incredibly out of breath, saying each word slowly and deeper than usual.

"Thank god," Nicole whispered. Not because she was trying to be quiet, but because a whisper was the most she could manage. It was taking all her strength to told herself up. Her arms were shaking so hard that they were almost vibrating, and her legs felt like jello.

"AAH!" Oliver screamed.

Nicole looked up to see him swing to the side and smack against the rocks. He was holding onto a branch from a tree hanging off the side of the cliff.

"O l i v e r!" Paradox, now at the top, dropped to her stomach and threw her arms over the edge, reaching for him.

He frantically grabbed at her with one of his hands, keeping the other firmly on the branch.

Nicole shook her head, thinking back to when she noticed the way he climbed without checking his footing. It didn't take long for Oliver to pull himself up with the help of Paradox, and then it was only Nicole left of the cliffside. All of the sudden she started to feel even more nervous, and the wind seemed to get faster.

"Oh my god." She heard Paradox gasp. "Nicole, get up here! You need to see this."

HELLO EVERYBODY! The school year is back and so am I ~
To anyone still in school or university/college, what's your favourite course that you have this semester?

Thanks so much for reading and please vote/comment if you enjoyed it and want to read the next part of this adventure!