Chapter Twenty-two - The Venting of Feelings

I finally came to the springs. It looked like a large black boulder. I walked around it until I found the entrance and pushed my way through the vines and into the small space. It looked just as it had before. Like a hot tub with a patio and a waterfall on the rock wall opposite it.

I yanked my shoes and socks off, slipped my clothes off and threw them into the water. "Honestly," I said to myself. "Those two will be the end of my sanity. If Eric doesn't start talking to me, I'm going to go insane, I know I will. And there's that stupid jerk that had to show up yesterday. Gosh, if anything, Brad is just going to –"

But I never got to finish because at that moment, someone said, "You know where Brad is!" I whirled around and saw someone stepping out of the shadows.

I gasped and stepped back a step. The person came fully out of the shadows and into the light. At first, I didn't recognize who the person was, but then it hit me. "Sally!" I said, hardly believing it. Her once beautiful, healthy face was sunken; her clothes were in rags and were no longer tightly clinging to her body but hanging loosely.

"You know where Brad is!" she asked again; and this time I heard how scratchy her voice was. Her eyes looked big and scared. I nodded. Her eyes grew a bit bigger. "Where is he? Can you take me to him?"

"Um …" I wasn't in any kind of mood to go back to those jerks.

"Take me to him, gosh darn it!" She screamed.

I sighed. "Ok, hold on. Let me get my clothes back on." I jumped into the water, staying under longer than necessary, trying to rid my body of the stench it had been acquiring over the past … I don't know … month? I didn't know how the springs made me smell better since they smelled so bad … but I don't think it was the water that was sending off the stench.

Ten minutes later (after I had insisted that Sally ring out my clothes and let them dry for a bit), Sally and I were walking through the forest, leaving the stench of the hot springs behind. I tried to talk to Sally about what she had been doing and how she had survived, but she only really wanted to talk about Brad. She made me relive how we had found him and what had happened in great detail at least twenty times. I left out some of the personal parts but she didn't seem to notice.

What I got out of her was that she had been sleeping in the hot springs and only venturing out to get away from the smell and the overwhelming humidity during the day. I couldn't find out anything beyond that.

By the time we were done grilling each other, we had walked out of the "hot spring circle" and began to hear birds chirping and distant dinosaur roars again. It was here that I hushed Sally and we continued quietly. We reached the water truck unscathed but I couldn't see a soul in sight. We gently hopped from car to desk, then I opened the hatch, letting Sally climb in before I did so myself.

The water truck seemed empty at first. But then a voice came from the shadows. "Sally!"

Sally (much to my discomfort) screamed and ran over to her boyfriend, hugging him tightly and kissing him over and over again. Yuck! I closed the hatch to try and stop some of the sound getting to the dinosaurs and switched on the lantern.

So, after the hugs and kisses came Sally's crying and Brad saying "Shhhh!" over and over again. Then came the non-stop laughing. Next the "I love you"s. Then finally they got to the stories about what had happened to them, even though practically every ten seconds they would say that; "I was thinking about you and I missed you so much and I felt like dying because we weren't together but now I'm happy I didn't because we're both fine and together again!" Honestly, if Eric hadn't come back right then, I would have strangled both of them, I swear.

"Sally!" was the first thing he said when he came in.

Sally turned to him and glared at him, though I could see her looking him up and down. I grinned. "Eric," she said coldly.

Eric gave her a little smile and raised his eyebrows. "Good thing I got more food," he said to no one in particular.

Sally got the bed for the night and I guessed that she would get it most of the time now that she was here. A month of being alone on the island didn't seem to have changed her personality. For better or for worse. She still treated Eric either like dirt or like he didn't even exist. Me, she just … I was her "teasing toy", if you will. Brad was her "googly bear" and if I so much as looked in his direction, she would yell at me until her voice was hoarse and/or we had managed to quiet her.

For the next few days, though he still wasn't really speaking to me, Eric seemed to be hanging around me a lot. He and I went on walks "together" just to get away from Brad and Sally, but we never really talked. I always brought my bow along with me, though I never really needed it. If we encountered a dinosaur, we would hide in the vines, hoping beyond hope that they wouldn't find us. They rarely did. And if they did find us, they were usually just eating the plant life. You know, herbivores.

It was one of these times when we saw a big, scaly shape up ahead that Eric and I dove into some vines hanging down around the trunk of a tree. Of course, it turned out to be only an Ankylosaurus eating the plant life. It soon moved on, past our tree (which was when we realized what it was). We laughed at our foolishness. I looked over at Eric, smiling, and saw that he was already looking at me. He quickly turned away, his smile fading and his face reddening. He pushed through the vines and began walking back toward the water truck. I followed a few feet behind him, wondering what had just happened.

We had been walking along in silence for quite a ways when Eric suddenly stopped. Yay! I had overcome my bit with running into people! But, wow, was my happy moment short lived. Because a big, huge, evil Tyrannosaurus was staring down at us. Its big, yellow eyes seemed to be dilating and its nostrils were widening as though to sniff us out. Its green, scaly skin heaved in and out with every breath it took.

My body went rigid and I kept playing one thought over and over again in my mind. You don't move, it can't see you. You don't move, it can't see you. You don't move, it can't see you …

The T-Rex lowered its head and looked around. I bit my lip, forcing down a scream. I could see its sharp, yellowish teeth sticking out from under the closed mouth and a strong smell of rot and decay blew towards us on the wind. The large dinosaur (about fifteen feet tall) narrowed its eyes, then, quite suddenly, let out a long roar that seemed to reverberate off the trees. The sound sent clouds of birds into the air. I bit my lip so hard that soon an almost metallic taste filled my mouth. I let go of my lip and instead went to biting my tongue.

After we didn't move, the Tyrannosaurus seemed to deduct that we weren't there and turned, walking off, its skin rippling with every step it took.

My body relaxed and I brought a hand up to my lip. Pulling it away showed a dab of blood on the end of my fingertips, which slowly dripped to the forest floor. I wiped my lip on the back of my hand and without a backward glance, followed Eric the rest of the way to the water truck. As soon as it came into sight, a small scream reached my ears and Sally came hurtling towards us. "He's gone!" she cried. "I don't know where he went to! He's gone! I don't know … just gone!"

Eric turned on his heel and ran off, silent as anything. Sally fell onto my shoulder, sobbing. "Brad! Come back! Where did he go!" As quickly as I could with Sally leaning on my shoulder as though I was her lifeline, I managed to climb into the water truck and set Sally on the bed, where she curled up in a ball and began sobbing. I didn't know what to say to her. She was a jerk, yeah; but I didn't really feel like leaving her there.

I knelt down on the floor next to the low bed and wrapped my arms around her, whispering soothing things in her ear. After a while, she stopped sobbing and was only breathing hard. Though my legs were beginning to cramp up, I remained on the floor with one arm over her. Five minutes passed before she sat up, wiping her eyes. "Sorry," she muttered. "I know you must feel bad because Eric's gone now, too."

"What?" I asked, puzzled.

"You like him, right?"

My eyes widened and I fell onto my butt. "What?"

"You like him."

"I don – It's just – I can – Why do you say that?" I stuttered.

"You're always disappearing with him, leaving Brad and me by ourselves. It's kind of rude, but we don't mind it all that much. It's pretty obvious."

I let my face harden, even though my insides were still squirming. "How do you expect me to like him after the way he's treated me!" I snapped.

Sally raised her eyebrows. Then I remembered that she didn't know how much of a jerk Eric had been before she came. I sighed, got up, and sat down on the bed next to her. "It's just …" I started, trying to think what to say. "Eric's been … a real jerk. I mean, now that you've come, he's been less so, but he still won't talk to me. It's kind of hard to explain. What the heck am I saying! It is hard to explain because I don't know why on earth he's doing this to me! Do you know how depressing it is to have someone there with you for a whole month but they don't really ever talk to you! And the only times they really do start talking to you, is when they're yelling at you! I mean … man!" I rested my head in my hands and sighed. "It's just … Eric and I were friends and he helped me get through Hannah's death and then … the next day … he just … He seemed to almost like me the day she died! And then … I don't get it!"

"You're so clueless, Lane," Sally said softly. I looked over at her. She was grinning at me. "It's so obvious why he was doing that." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, sitting up straight.

"I think I'll let him tell you … when he's ready. Just be nice to him, ok?"

"Why did you bother saying anything if you weren't going to tell me!" I roared. Sally's grin just broadened.

I heard something land on the half imbedded car outside. My breath caught in my throat. It's just Eric, Lane. It's just Eric. I thought, trying to reassure myself. I walked quickly to the hatch and was just about to poke my head out when I heard a chirping sound come from outside. Not the small chirping, like from the Compys, but … it was more predatory.

I poked my head out of the hatch just far enough to see. It was a Raptor, just standing there on the car, chirping. Already I could hear more Raptors crashing through the bushes. I slowly and carefully raised my arm out of the hatch and reached towards the door.

Please don't let it see me; God, don't let it see me! I thought. I grabbed the handle on the door and slowly began to pull it closed. Slowly … slowly … SLOWLY!

CREAK!

The Raptor's head whipped around and stared right at me. The door was only half closed and I was transfixed to the spot. The Raptor let out a low sort of chirp … or maybe it was as hiss. It charged in the blink of an eye. My reflexes had been improved, but not that much. I tried to the slam to door shut but a few of the Raptor's nails caught under it. It was much stronger than I was. I screamed. "SALLY! SALLY, COME OVER HERE AND HELP ME! HELP ME!"

Sally ran over to my side and grabbed the handle. We both braced ourselves and pulled down with all our might. I could hear the Raptor outside practically screaming in fury as we pulled the hatch farther and farther closed. My hands began to get slippery with sweat and I screamed again. But then, I heard metal hit metal and knew the hatch had closed. It was really hard to open from the outside but just to be sure, Sally and I grabbed some rope and tied it shut.

I sat down on the bed, panting and clutching my side. We could only stay in here so long. What were we going to do when we had to get out?

The Elfin Child Do you have an infinite supply of windows? DON'T HURT MY – uh – ERIC!

Short and proud Um … to tell you the truth, I don't know how many chapters are left, but I think I've got the story line all figured out.

Flutterby I don't know when I'm going to explain why Eric is acting the way he is, but Brad … Brad's always been that way.

Antiope I love your reviews! My gosh, you are one smart person, person! Haha – yeah.

Lauren -laughs evilly-

Un-named I get your meaning and all … but in the movies, as my friend kindly pointed out, they made jokes and such. Personally, I think I would pee in my pants, but … yeah. This is Lane … she's just … she's just weird.

Morning sunrise Yes, yes, yes. This is a Brad well known to you only he's older and –cough- cuter –cough-

Beautyqueen321 Haha – well … it says in your name that you're a queen, so I thought the song would fit.

Superguy AH! -clutches heart and keels over backward- A NEW REVIEWER! YAY! THOU ART HARTILLY WELCOME, MY FINE FRIEND! -still lying on floor, out of sight-