Chapter 1-Worry

It was late in the night, and Melissa was lying in the tent, trying to get some form of sleep. After hours of tossing and turning, and staring at the tents roof, she realized she wasn't getting any, so she might as well get up for the day and start on some chores. Why not, it was probably only a half an hour before the sun starts coming up.

So she slowly got out of her sleeping bag, hoping to not wake anyone up. Suddenly Jackson stirred next to her, but luckily he just mumbled something incoherent and drifted back off to dreamland. Melissa smiled at this, thinking to herself about how cute he looked when he was asleep. On more than one occasion, she had stayed up, and just watched him sleep. He looked so peaceful and at ease, like all the stress from the island didn't matter.

She stepped out of the tent and went to go get the fire started. Sitting on a log around the fire pit, she started thinking. About anything, everything. She thought about her family back home, what they were doing, did they know something was wrong.

Her thoughts drifted after a while to the boy who was always in the back of her mind. Jackson. Yes Jackson. The boy who never left her thoughts no matter how hard she tried. She thought of his past and what he had told her on that night he ran away from the camp. The fight, Juvie, his family. How hard it must have been for him. It seemed so unfair that he had been put through so much in his life. Stuff that most teenagers should never have to deal with.

All of the sudden something touched her shoulder, she jumped up and screamed.

"Whoa, Hey, Mel it's me, its Jackson." He was trying to get her to keep quite so she wouldn't wake anyone else up.

She had been so focused on what she was thinking about that she forgot there were other people here with her.

"You okay, why are you so jumpy" Jackson's voice was filled with concern.

"I'm not jumpy. What are you doing up?" It was then Melissa noticed the sun was basically up. She didn't know she had been out there that long.

"I thought I would get an early start to the day. Why are you up so early?"

" Oh, I just couldn't sleep that's all." She could never actually tell him she had been thinking about him all morning.

"I'm sorry. If you want, you could go to sleep now, I'll do your chores this morning."

"No, that's okay, I'll just get started on some laundry. I don't want you to have to do anymore work than you already are." After all, he did have a hard job. Chopping down trees all day must have taken a toll on his body. Although he never did seem tired. But he must have been, she knew he was. He just never showed it.

"Okay, if you're sure." He was confused at why she would turn down such an offer. But she just answered with "Yep." And took off for the tents to gather everyone's laundry.

Jackson had sensed something was wrong with Melissa. She hadn't been sleeping much lately, and she seemed out of it a lot. He was concerned about her. It isn't healthy to pretend everything is okay all the time, and that was what Melissa did. Sometimes she couldn't admit when things were going bad. She always tried to be the one who saw the positive in bad situations. She was the rock for her friends.

He thought about moments with her when she wasn't happy and upbeat. There weren't many of them. One moment in particular came into his mind. It was the day when Taylor and Eric had played her tape for everyone to hear. She had been humiliated, afraid that he would never talk to her again. She was devastated, but he didn't think it was a big deal. He had liked her too. He didn't tell her though, because he didn't want to make things more complicated than they already were. So he made the rule that there were to be no relationships on the island. He always thought about telling her, but every time he came close, he backed out.

He just sighed and picked up his backpack so he could go collect some firewood, just as everyone else came out of the tent.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Nathan sleepily walked out of the tent and grabbed himself a banana. He realized that the fruit supply was going down and that he should gather some more. He picked up his backpack and headed out into the jungle.

He had gathered all the fruit he could fit in his pack. On his way back to camp he saw the tree he had climbed days ago to gather coconuts. He wished he would have been able to get them down, just to prove he could. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to climb it again; maybe he could get to the top this time and get the coconuts down. Yeah, what were the chances of him falling a second time? He could do it.

He wrapped his shirt around the tree and started to climb up. Step by step he was getting closer. The coconuts were coming closer into view. Then all of a sudden he lost his footing and the next thing he knew, he was falling. The coconuts were becoming smaller and smaller. As his body collided with the ground, he blacked out.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was getting lunchtime and Daley had made everyone a plate of fish and fruit, the food that made up every one of their meals. She passed out the food to everyone. Until there was one plate left.

"Does anyone know where Nathan is?" Daley hadn't seen him in a while.

"I haven't seen him since this morning, I saw him take his backpack with him, he probably went to go get fruit or something, I'm sure he'll be back soon." Lex said, trying to reassure Daley. But Daley was just becoming worried.

"Who cares, Nathan's a big boy, he can take care of himself. Stop acting as if he's some child who needs babysitting." Eric spoke up, "Why is it that whenever someone is gone for the slightest bit of time, you guys feel the need to bring in the search and rescue committee?"

"I'm just being cautious, I don't want anyone of us to get hurt, or worse. I'm gonna go look for him." Turning to Melissa she said, "I should be back within the hour. I don't know why but I have a weird feeling something's wrong."