Hello everyone. Here we are, this is the last chapter, writing this I haven't started it yet. But of course when you read it I will have. So I hope I will be able to write something you're all happy with it (including myself) here it is.

Epilogue

And so slowly things had so briefly returned to reality. The ten teens, young boy and Captain that had been on a deserted island in the middle of the pacific had eaten dinner cooked, had been drinking water they didn't have to boil before and slept in beds with mattresses and sheets. They had said hello, hugged and held on tighter than ever to the friends and families they were returning to.

Not long later, when they all- including the captain and the younger boy who had advanced math and science classes, including cameras from a local TV news had met up in the auditorium of Hartwell School and it was time to answer questions, whatever they were.

"If I have understood this right…" Mr. Marin, the one that had been at the airport a few days ago was here too asking the questions, right now turned to his granddaughter. "….right before you went away there was an election. That you won by only a few votes…." Daley nodded agreeing but waited for him to continue with the question. "And you told me that if you won there were several things, in this class and at this school you would like to point out and change. Have those changed anything? Or do you have any different priorities now rather than when you left?"

Before they had left, had Daley been asked about what she wanted to do for her school she could have talked for hours and hours. And she wouldn't miss a chance to tell everyone that she had won against Nathan with ten very important votes.

Right now she was more than ready to speak them out loud and let everybody know.

"We have all learnt a lot during the past month." She started, sitting in between her brother Lex and her good friend Nathan- who had come second in the election. "When we came there I tried to take a leader role. And sort of ration with the food and water we had to make sure everyone had some, amongst other things. But…"

She would have liked to be as confident as she had always been before. As she had been if they had been saved from the island only a few days before they were. But all of a sudden the memories of her devastation when Abigail, Jory, Ian and Captain Bob had turned up and they were all split turned up. And how she hadn't stopped the critique on herself since then.

"I think I have learnt most of all, that there are times we have to stick together or we won't make it through. Quite late during the time on the island we were split up and it could have ended up way worse than it did, if we hadn't been saved then."

"But…" Lex interrupted her, still a bit shyly like his usual ways. "You were the one who turned the light up towards the sky. And we'd never have been saved if you didn't do that… Therefore it's thanks to you we were saved."

Lex was thinking it, they all did even though no one wanted to speak it out loud. Hadn't they been found and saved when they were, risk was that typhoon Melissa would have killed them all.

"That was only you."

"It was." Nathan agreed Daley was blushing but he continued. "And besides. If you hadn't made sure we shared it fairly, Eric would have eaten all the food we ever had and the rest of us would have starved to death."

Maybe he could have tried to make people laugh, maybe people at their homes when they watched him say it on TV about who was the hungriest of the people on the island. Maybe they would be able to laugh at this, when the memories and feelings and fears weren't so fresh anymore. When they weren't still hungry from not being able to eat all they wanted for almost a month.

When Nathan had hopefully turned, from remembering. Into the future when he'd finally know he wouldn't be the only one stopped at an airport. The day he could take his beloved little sister out without worries of being called the police on.

"I'm a hungry man." Eric protested and glared at the darker guy. "I can't help it."

"So…" Mr. Marin turned the microphone again. "…Was that what you missed the most during this month? To be able to eat without having to think about if you had too much or if you would have anything to eat for the next meal?"

"Yes." Eric answered, a bit too quickly. "And types of food. When we went from the airport, before we went home I made my dad go and buy McDonald's food. More than I have ever eaten in my life. I just couldn't stop eating."

Eric's answer to what had been surprising to no one. After all, he was exactly the hungry man they all- including himself knew. And also Taylor, and Lex gave answers that would have surprised no one and would stay in their mind, probably forever.

"A shower. When we were on the island Lex made a shower to use for us to use and I will be forever grateful for that. But to be able to step into the shower, and turn the water on, and then use it so hot it's steaming and just stand there." Daley patted her brother's shoulder again at the mention of his name and gestured for him to say something.

"People have been acting like what I did was something special. But really, I just did what I could to try and keep people's spirits up. Even when things looked at their worst. And even though, being there, without knowing if we'd ever be saved or come home again…." He smirked slightly. "I guess we were lucky I've been going to the scouts ever since I can remember. And I just did whatever I learned, pretty much all of it."

"So, is the best thing back at home now, that you don't have to be the one who comes with the solutions?" Lex hesitated. "I can only imagine all the pressure you have been under as the youngest…" Lex shrugged. "So, is it?"

"I guess… Maybe I'll feel it more when some time have passed by and normal, real life goes on. Right now I think the best thing of coming home was to sleep in a real, soft bed."

The answers came and went from the different students and what they had longed for the most. Some had too been eating at McDonald's right after coming home, after being tired of cooking from scratch for weeks. Someone else had taken hours' long surgeries like Taylor as if they wanted to wash off everything that had been.

But in a corner of the group sat a certain, brown-haired and blue-eyed boy that still hadn't said much. Even though everyone knew he had had one of the most important parts in their group…

Cody Jackson hadn't said it out loud yet. But he knew there was something among burgers, French fries and sheets that he had longed for. And it was when he felt as a certain Asian girl slipped her hand into his. She had barely noticed them at the airport when Jackson hugged his mum hard, then when she was led away crying for him. From that moment on, maybe from always she knew she had to be there through everything he needed. And somehow, right now she knew he needed for someone to hold his hand, for a little bit of strength to raise his voice.

"I think… No. I know about all of the things we've missed. Foods, sheets, running water… everything we're used to. But things like that we can find anywhere in the world… What we missed most were our families. Our friends too, of the ones who weren't with us. But especially the family we had to come all the way home again for."

Random fact

"Phew" I've been working on this chapter for weeks. For some reason it was soooooo slooooow to write. I'd sit down to write, write maybe 50 words, lose concentration and then I was done for like two days forward. Then I finally decided exactly how to write it and I hope everyone liked it.