Chapter Twenty-Seven - Friendship Reborn

We walked around to the entrance and pushed the vines (with the leaves as big as my torso) aside and walked in. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a slender figure crouched by the waters edge. The person looked up. Even though her cheeks were hollow and smeared with mud, and her eyes were big and scared looking, I could have recognized that face anywhere.

"TINA!" I yelled.

Before Tina could recognize who I was, I flung myself on her, rapping my arms tightly around her now boney body. I pulled away and looked into her deep blue eyes. Her once shiny blonde hair was caked with mud and fell down her back in clumps. Her clothes were nearly as loose as Sally's had been when I found her.

A spark of recognition flashed in Tina's eyes and with a rusty grin, she pulled me into a hug. "I thought I'd lost you," she whispered.

"I thought I'd lost you too," I murmured back. "But I always hoped."

We pulled away from each other and smiled. Sally cleared her throat and we both stood up to look at her. "Um …" She said. "Hey … Tina. It's good to see you."

Tina nodded curtly.

"Listen, let's get you back to camp," I began, only Sally interrupted me.

"There's no way we're letting her look like this on her sixteenth birthday!" She exclaimed. She was grinning from ear to ear.

Tina's mouth dropped and she looked back and forth between us. She looked rather freaky – kind of like a fish – so I reached over and shut her mouth.

"Come on," I said. "This water feels great."

We all lined up on the side of the water, held hands, and jumped in at the same time. We came up laughing and coughing. We pealed our wet clothes off, scrubbed the white and blue fabric as clean as it would come, then put our garments to the side to dry. Afterwards, we spent what felt like hours cleaning Tina's hair out. By the time we were finished, we decided there wasn't any time left for relaxing, so we climbed out of the water, pushed the water off ourselves, and slipped our damp clothing back on.

The walk back to the tree seemed longer than ever. I kept glancing over at Tina, just to make sure she was really there. Her hair seemed much longer than it had been. It was now down to her shoulders when it had been right at her chin. As we walked, her hair dried out, and though it wasn't as shiny, it was its usual blonde color again.

Sally went on ahead to tell Eric and Brad that we were coming. Because we were still on the floor of the forest and well away from the springs, Tina and I refrained from talking, although I wanted to very much.

Tina fell into step beside me and grabbed my hand. I looked over at her and she smiled, making her face look even freakier. I grinned back at her. It was so good to at least have one of my best friends back. And to think I was gaining friends. Brad and Sally seemed to get less and less annoying every day and Sally was beginning to get easy to talk to. I hoped that things wouldn't change now that Tina was back. But I would have rather had her back than a thousand Sally's. She was my last remaining best friend, and I loved her like the sister I never had.

We walked through a few bushes, but stopped dead in our tracks. There, just ten feet away, was a Raptor, bending over something.

Tina and I slowly backed up and silently hid ourselves in the bushes. I peered out, wanting to see what the Velociraptor was eating. Blood seemed to be everywhere, but I could see no signs of a struggle. The animal must have attacked without warning. I strained a little farther. The mangled body of the victim was torn open and the Raptor was feasting on the intestines. I could see two legs, two arms, a head … and blood stained blue fabric. I had no doubt who this Raptor's afternoon meal was. It was Sally.

I climbed up the tree with Tina closely in tow. I ran words over and over in my head, trying to come up with a way to tell Brad what had happened. But I couldn't. How could you explain to someone that their loved one had just died? Being eaten by a Raptor was certainly not painless and she had lasted so long. I wanted to hit myself for allowing her to go on ahead.

I reached the top of the tree and pulled myself over. I helped Tina, then walked through the branches into the living room.

Brad looked up as we entered and Eric stood up to greet us. He stopped when he saw Tina was with me. "Tina?" He asked. It didn't seem as though he believed what he was seeing, just as I hadn't.

Tina nodded roughly but didn't say anything. I wasn't sure if this was because of Sally's death (she hadn't had time to get close to her as I had) or because of her resentment towards him.

I looked past Eric at Brad, who had stood and was smiling at Tina. Did he not notice that his girlfriend wasn't with us?

He finally looked beyond us into the passage, then back to my face. His smile was no longer there. "Where's Sally?" he asked.

Tina shifted from one foot to the other and I looked down at my worn out sneakers. "She's dead," I whispered. I hadn't intended to say it so bluntly or suddenly, but it had just popped out.

A rush of tears I hadn't known were there suddenly came rushing down my cheeks and I looked up at Brad, who looked deathly pale. "We saw her," I said. I didn't feel choked up, but the tears continued to flow freely, dripping off my chin and onto my damp clothing. "She went ahead to tell you guys we were coming. We found a … Raptor … it was eating her."

Brad's face didn't change, but looked white and stony. Without a word, he brushed past us and disappeared into the passage. I looked over at Eric. He was already looking at me. He looked shocked, but not nearly as much as Brad had.

"Should we go after him?" Tina asked.

Eric shook his head. "He needs some time to be alone."

There was a long pause of silence before he said, "Do you guys want something to eat? Sorry we don't have anything better for your birthday, Tina, but dino-sushi will have to do."

Tina grinned and took a long, thin piece of Compy from Eric. I silently took one of my own. "I love sushi," I said quietly.

Tina nodded and began eating ravenously. "I haven't eaten in days!" she said once she had swallowed the last bit. I gave her the rest of mine and she seemed to swallow it whole.

"Now," she said, rubbing her hands together and sitting down. "Tell your story and I'll tell you mine."

I thought of what I would have to tell Tina. Yet another person to tell about the death of a loved one. I wasn't sure if I could do it. "No, you go first."

"There isn't much to tell," Tina shrugged. "I mean, I've been on this island as long as you have – I was not talking to you, Eric! – so you know just as well as I do what kind of animals live here. I've just been running from them, sleeping in the trees, and coming down only when I found a carcass I could pick clean. I found the hot springs today because I thought it might be food and entered the rock because the stench was coming from inside it." She shrugged again and leaned back against the branches.

"What happened that day we got separated?" I questioned.

Tina scrunched up her face as though she couldn't rightly remember, then her features relaxed. "Ah, yes. We were running and I heard you scream, so I turned to see what had happened. But I tripped over a root or something and fell into a thorny bush. The thorns must have been six inches long! I watched you run away as blood poured down your back from your gash. The Raptors couldn't get to me because of the thorns, and once they were gone, I tried to follow your trail. When it started getting dark, I climbed a tree and remained in the branches most of the past month and a half."

"You girls have a good sense of time," Eric commented. He was still dining on Raptor meat. I smirked at him and looked back at Tina.

"My turn?" I questioned. Tina nodded. I cracked my knuckles and leaned back, making myself comfortable. This was going to take a while.

Niniane, Lady of the Lake You … you poked me! How dare you! I shall mow over your crop of poking sticks, I shall.

Captain Oblivious Yes, yes, yes. We all know you're going to be in the next one, sister dearest. -frowns when she realizes she's in a room with EVILL BRAD but grins when she gets a wonderful idea- I will fix this! -whips out her wand and transforms EVIL BRAD- There we go; he is no longer evil and … well … a completely different person. –grins-

Moonlights Sundance Thanks for the cookie! It was very good. Chocolate is nice. -pets the chocolate- My prrrrrrecious.

Short and proud You should know me well enough to the extent at which … no, I'm not going to tell you the ending, even if you are 15 and even if you did pass your permit test and EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN SEE OVER THE WHEEL! -composes herself- You'll just have to wait like all the other pretty little reviewers.

BonitaBella Ah. They're still developing their relationship! Hehe. I don't want their past quarrels to be mended just like that. But since this story is classified as Drama/Romance, then there's obviously got to be something coming, right?

Libby Yeah, I agree with the coincidental meeting thing. But it's just ever so much more fun this way. And I want Lane to have some happiness; things have been so gloomy for her.