Chapter 33
Anamnesis- [an-am-nee-sis] The recollection or remembrance of the past; reminiscence.

"You'd better catch it on the first try." Jasper narrowed his eyes at the blonde on the top of the hill. Said blonde pursed her lips and placed her hands on her thinning hips.

"Just throw the stupid mangoes." Rosalie griped. "Stop wasting the five minutes left of sunlight and throw—HEY!" While Rosalie had been about to put Jasper in his place, he hurled the mango at her like a (American) football. The teen barely had time to react, luckily catching the fruit and glaring down at the boy. Just barely, she could hear Alice chastising Jasper for his actions. "Stupid idiot." She grumbled before letting the others know she was ready to catch the other fruit they tossed up at her, less viciously than the first one. After all the fruit was safe and sound at the top of the hill beside Rosalie, the pair began to climb the vine ladder. Jasper had some difficulty, what with his wounds, but made it to the top with Alice nonetheless. On the positive side, he didn't split open his wounds from the exertion.

Once they'd gathered up the fruits, they walked over to the others to split their findings.

~S.O.S~

Lauren was in a state of utter despair. She couldn't escape the overwhelming guilt that engulfed her entire being. She sat with her knees locked and pulled up with her arms were around them. Her forehead rested against them as the turmoil of emotions continued to drive her insane. 'I killed her. I ruthlessly pushed her down the hill. Me. It was all my fault! At least when it came to killing Alice, I could shoulder some of the blame onto her. But now… What am I going to do now? What will they do to me if they find out that I killed her on purpose? I can't believe I killed her! She was my only friend here. Now I'm left alone here. It's all my fault. All my fault. All my fault. All my fault. All my fault…'

Her thoughts continued on in and endless loop. She blamed herself immensely. The others tried to talk to her, and when the mango was split, they offered her a slice. But she didn't eat it, she didn't acknowledge them, she didn't move. She stayed in her spot, lost in her own self-pitying thoughts. Nothing anyone said could help, and they seemed to know and gave her space.

It didn't seem like much time had passed before a slight commotion could be heard as the boys returned to the bunker safely with their rescued peers in tow.

"Oh that's convenient." Leah commented when she noticed the clothes creating a tented area. "Much nicer sleeping quarters than the past few days." She immediately took the vacant spot between Quil and Eric. "What the heck happened to him?" he asked in horror when she noticed that Eric's legs were covered in bloody rags.

Rosalie pinched the bridge of her nose and frowned slightly. "We've been through a rough patch. I'm sure we've all got stories to share with each other. For now, let's get comfortable before we discuss such things. It's going to be a tight fit, but I think everyone should be able to fit in sleeping area." After Rosalie had finished talking, she took a seat next to Eric, while Emmett sat on the very edge next to his girlfriend. Jacob reclaimed his spot next to Bella, while Felix sat down next to Angela. The others sat closer to Lauren, as there wasn't much room anywhere else. Edward sat directly next to Lauren, wanting to be as far away from Jacob as possible. "Oh, we have mangoes by the way. We saved some for you all." Rosalie passed slices of mangoes to those who had returned and soon everyone empty bellies were partially filled. "So Leah, you asked what happened to Eric?" said boy was currently asleep, although no one could tell as the sun had set.

Leah swallowed what was in her mouth before speaking. "Yeah." She replied softly.

Rosalie reached out and blindly sought out Emmett's hand. She then began explaining what happened to her and the others. She told everyone present about her adventure on the island and the tragedies that befell her peers Ben and Eric. It was hard to reclaim, but she told them because she felt like they had a right to know. However, she kept the part about herself having to finish off Ben in an act of mercy. After she finished telling her story, Alice told the story of how she and Jasper survived. It was shorter than Rosalie's story, a Rosalie covered some parts for Alice. After Alice, Bella told a longer story of how she had survived and gotten everyone together. By the time she was finished, most of the teens had fallen asleep. The only ones left awake were Bella, Jacob, Felix, Rosalie and Leah.

"So tell us your tale Leah." Jacob prodded gently. Bella was leaning against him softly, head against his shoulders, fighting to stay awake.

Leah drew in a sharp breath and released it in a huff. "I must say, this has been one of the worst vacations ever." She griped sourly.

"What is all that noise?" Leah asked, annoyance clear in her voice as she opened the door to her cabin, only to have Tyler rush past her and duck under her bead. "What the—

Lighting crashed and drowned out everything that Leah said and thought. She took one last glance at the cowardly boy hiding under her bed before heading out to the deck where everyone was running around like chickens with their heads chopped off. Rain immediately drenched her, and with the temperature having dropped, she shivered as she made her across the slippery deck. Leah spotted most of her classmates leaning over the railing. Then, unexpectedly, Austin was launching himself off the boat and into the sea below. This had Leah absolutely flabbergasted and she quickly took a spot next to Lauren who was blubbering over the boy going overboard.

"Is that a glacier?" Alec asked surprised.

Leah overheard Jared yelling a response, but found herself unable to process anything as her world began to spin into chaos. She wasn't sure what hit the boat, but one moment she was standing on solid ground, the next she found herself sinking into the depths of the ocean. The cold clinging to her body, overwhelming her senses and leaving her unable to move or process any thought. Death was imminent as she began to sink. Just as Leah closed her eyes to embrace in her fate, slender arms wrapped around her and suddenly her head broke the surface, air engulfing her lungs and sending her into a coughing fit as some water had entered her lungs.

After nearly coughing up her lungs, she felt half of her body no longer in the water. Opening her eyes she hadn't realized she closed, Leah found herself floating on what appeared to be a small door that used to belong to the boat. She tried to pull more of her body onto the door, but was too drained and it began to sink with more weight. So instead she let her legs trail behind her.

"You…okay?" a tired voice asked beside her.

Leah turned her head a bit and found herself face-to-face with the guy who saved her. "I'm f-f-fine Embry." She stuttered from cold.

Embry was still swimming in the water, but had his hands on the door. She noticed his feet kicking behind him and was steering them away from the wreckage. It was so dark, she could hardly see anything, and with the wind howling, she could hardly make out any noises aside from Embry's splashes against the water and his words. "Before the sky got this dark, I saw an island up ahead. I guess I'll steer us in that direction." He spoke calmly. Being directly next to him allowed her to hear his words clearly.

"I can't swim." She told him guiltily.

"I know. Don't worry about it. I think I can get us there. Just hold onto this and stay afloat." He replied.

Leah sighed, the weight of their situation beginning to dawn on her. "Do you think the others are okay?"

"I doubt we're the only ones to survive." Embry responded truthfully. "But this is quite a pickle we're in."

Leah didn't respond. Instead she closed her eyes and allowed the swaying of the ocean to lull her to sleep.

Leah knew just by the feeling underneath her body, that she was not sleeping on her bed. Her hand twitched and the ground beneath her fingers shifted. She cracked open her eyes and was assaulted by the afternoon sky. She covered her eyes with her hand and sat up slowly. The vast ocean sat a few feet away, carelessly crashing against the shore. She looked down at the tanned sand beneath her and found the door that had allowed her to float atop it, lying next to her.

"Oh good! You're finally up!" Embry jogged over to her from a coconut tree behind her. "I was beginning to worry. You've been asleep for almost three days."

Leah's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. "THREE DAYS?!" she screeched.

"Well technically if you'd slept through today, it would have been three days." Embry scratched the back of his head nervously. "I think you were in shock or something."

The news of her slumber had Leah shivering in fright. But she masked it and instead glared at Embry. "You should've woken me up." She snarled.

Embry frowned and passed her a coconut and sharp rock. "I would've but I was really nervous. I thought you might've died…but then I noticed you breathing so I figured you'd wake up eventually." He then began to bludgeon his own coconut, creating a jagged hole with which he was able to obtain the milk inside. Leah followed his lead and was soon drinking the sweet milk and realized for the first time that she was hungry. After consuming all of the liquid, she broke the coconut into pieces before eating the fleshy insides.

"Where are the others?" she asked, finishing up the coconut. "You haven't run into anyone in the past couple days?" Leah asked confused. "We can't be the only ones to have survived." She mumbled, worry settling into her stomach along with the coconut mix. This made for a bad combination and soon she was upchucking everything she'd just eaten and drank.

Embry patted her back awkwardly, then helped her to her feet so she didn't step in her own vomit. "I never traveled far. I didn't want to leave you. There could be others around here, and now that you're awake, we can go check…"

Leah paused in her story-telling and fiddled with her fingers. "We spent the next few days looking for the others. We then came across Alec, Jane and Jared. They had all ended up on the island together. Jared knew how to fish so they were actually eating really well. Then when we looked for even more survivors, Alec and I got caught in the cave-in and I think you know the rest."

Everyone was a tad confused by the abrupt ending, but left Leah alone. Some things about the island where best left unshared, and they figured that she just wanted some time to herself.

"Sounds like you had it fairly decent though." Rosalie noted. "Not too bad of an experience compared to some. I must admit, I'm a bit jealous." As Rosalie was speaking, she laid down and rested her head against Emmett's open arm. His light snoring had always been a soothing sound.

Leah shrugged before realizing that no one could see her. "I suppose. Although being trapped in a cave wasn't the most fun thing. But I'm tired, so I'm going to sleep." She muttered, leaning back until her head touched the hard ground covered by what felt like a camisole. She fell asleep almost instantaneously, along with Rosalie who had nodded off after their conversation had ended.

"What do you think she's hiding?" Felix asked, managing to keep his voice down. Angela was asleep beside him and he ran his fingers through her hair softly.

Jacob didn't know it, but he was mirroring Felix's actions, but with Bella, instead of Angela. "I have a hunch, but I doubt it." Jacob replied dismissively.

Felix snorted at Jacob's lackadaisical response, but didn't press for further explanation. Fatigue was beginning to wear him thin and he decided to give in to the exhaustion by closing his eyes and falling asleep.

"Bella, you still awake?" Jacob whispered as quietly as he could. He felt the girl shift slightly before responding just as quiet.

"Just barely." She yawned, before finally settling down and also laying down instead of sitting up. Jacob followed her and she curled against him, snuggling into his chest.

Jacob silently reached out for her hand before clasping it gently. "I'm starting to wonder if we're going about this all wrong."

"What do you mean?" was Bella's sleepy response

"Maybe we need to build a raft or something and escape. We've been here for so long and no one has come to rescue us. Maybe we should take the initiative."

Bella shrugged against him, eyes haven closed. "But who's to say we would survive out there. We'd likely die on the ocean. I think we have more of a chance to live if we stay here. But Jacob…" Bella released a sigh and soundless tears seeped from her eyes, damping Jacob's shirt. "I don't think we'll ever get off this island. I think we're going to die here."

Jacob felt the tears and reflexively clutched Bella tighter to his body. "Don't think like that." He whispered harshly. "There's no way I would let you die here." He paused and drew in a deep breath as he thought logically. "But if we do die on this island," Bella shivered from the thought. "There's something I need to tell you."

Even though Jacob couldn't see her, he felt Bella move, as though she were tilting her head up in his direction. Her brow knit in confusion at his suddenly serious tone. When his hand slid to her cheek, she blushed and tried to look away. But the hand kept her looking in his direction. "What is it?" she spoke, suddenly breathless. Her heart hammered in her chest and the emotions lying dormant inside of her began to wrap around her like a blanket. She just couldn't place her finger on what it was called, having not felt it before.

"I love you." He confessed before leaning forward and planting his lips against hers.

'That's what this feeling is called; love.' She thought to herself, proud that she could place a definition to the feelings she was feeling. At that precise moment, she realized what was ensuing and her whole body went rigid while her eyes nearly escaped from their sockets.

A/N: Wow, Lauren o.e So just in case anyone is confused about Lauren's 180 behavior, let me explain briefly. When she thought she killed Alice, she was able to shoulder some (if not all) of the blame on Jessica. So she didn't feel as guilty (if guilty at all) and her only instinct was survival. But what she did to Jessica was more like a backstabbing that hit her later, AND to top it off, she (and technically Jess) didn't kill Alice so just killed her only friend for nothing. She's not completely heartless as you can see.

And wow! That ending ^o^ Finally gave y'all what ya sought after for the previous…32 chapters O_O I need to stop holding out on y'all. But where is the fun in that? ;D I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! ^u^

P.S: Thank you everyone for your condolences. Means a lot to me c: