Chapter 7
That night they slept together, hugging each other. They felt physically and emotionally exhausted. They had no idea when and if the rescue was going to come to take them away from that island. However, that night they didn't care about it. After dropping some tears of desperation, the relieve came in the comfort they found in each other's company.
In the following morning, Sawyer woke up first. He felt better and the headache wasn't bothering him as much anymore. He saw that Ana-Lucia was still asleep, holding his body. He kissed her forehead and gently pushed her away, so he could get up.
He walked towards the ocean and noticed that the pieces that belonged to the back of the plane were already totally submersed. Besides that, there were a few bodies floating along the shore, others were stuck on the sand. A putrid smell of blood and bodies in advanced state of decomposition made him uncomfortable. Sawyer made a face and walked away from the water, going back to Ana-Lucia.
When he got up, she inevitably woke up and now she was sitting under the tarp in their small tent, drinking water from a plastic bottle.
"Good morning."- He said with one of his charming smiles.
"Good morning."- Ana-Lucia said smiling back to him. She put the water bottle aside. "How are you doing today?"
"Much better."- He said. "The headache finally left me alone. How about ya?"
She stretched her arms slowly until she felt her muscles aching and said:
"I'm fine. The best somebody could be after being on a plane crash."
"What do ya think it happened?"- He asked her.
Ana-Lucia shrugged.
"I have no idea."- She said. "But I'd like to know."
"It seems we're the only survivors."- Sawyer commented.
"At least from the tail."- Ana-Lucia said. "Since the moment I was able to come out of the cabin, I only could see the plane tail. I'm sure the front part of it fell somewhere else."
"I've walked a good deal inside the jungle after I got out of that tree and, I didn't see any sign of the rest of the plane."
"We don't know the size of this island, it could be anywhere. But if the rescue finds it before us, I hope they'll remember to look for the back of the plane."
"While the rescue doesn't come, what are we going to do?"- Sawyer asked.
Ana-Lucia looked around them and suggested:
"We could make a SOS signal with rocks,light fires in the evenings and pray for an airplane to see us."
"Or we could go after water and food."- He said. "I don't think our supplies will last long. When I was in the jungle, I saw a small lake."
"Sawyer, if we leave the beach, a plane could fly over the island and not see us."
"It could take weeks for a plane to pass by, chica. Do you really want just to stay here, burn in the sun waiting for the best to happen?"
Ana frowned.
"What other choice do we have, cowboy?"- She retorted. "The accident happened only two days ago, I'm sure they must be looking for us since the very moment the plane stopped answering the base."
He looked at her and saw determination and hope on her face. She really believed the rescue would come soon but, for some reason he didn't believe that much himself.
"Alright, let's wait one or two days. But I tell ya' that if the rescue don't show up soon, we'll have to take care of ourselves.
Ana-Lucia nodded. Two days came by and nothing happened. Three more days passed and Ana-Lucia started to think that it was a bad idea to stay so close from the shore because the water was coming up a little more everyday. The bodies were decomposing on the beach and attracting a great number of animals trying to feed on the poor human carcasses.
One night, when they're sleeping, a wild boar that should had weighted about 90 kilos came inside their tent and scared them. Sawyer became furious with the animal's invasion and promised to go after it and get revenge. Ana had fun with the situation.
They ended up creating a huge fire to burn the bodies of the ones that didn't make it; more four days passed by and still no rescue. The potable water they had was coming to an end and the food on the beach was scarce. None of them knew how to fish and their failed attempts only made them hungrier.
For that reason, when Ana-Lucia left to take a walk alone on the beach that morning, like she did every day, Sawyer decided to go on a little adventure inside the jungle. He had a plan in mind and hoped it was going to work.
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Later, when Ana-Lucia returned from her walk, she rushed to thei tent to get out of the hot sun. She sat under the tarp and slowly drank some water. She was enjoying the recomforting liquid when she realized Sawyer wasn't around.
"He must be at the bathroom."- She thought.
She took advantage that he wasn't there and used some of the water to wash herself. She used to clean up every day in the ocean but the salty water made her skin a bit dry. She had found some flowers near the rocks and got some petals. She mixed some of them in the water and used it to clean where she mostly needed.
It was terrible not being able to clean up herself properly. She hoped the contraceptive injection she had taken a few months before traveling to Sidney continued to stop her period to come. She couldn't imagine to go through that on the island, especially with Sawyer around.
Since they had met again, they didn't talk about what had happened between them back in Sidney. Sawyer never said anything, she never asked. She got to the conclusion that what happened was a one-night thing and due to that situation they were in, it would be stupid to talk about romance. However, once in a while she'd catch herself watching him, looking to those beautiful blue eyes he had, and the dimples on his smile, oh that smile was really incredible.
When the nights were cold and they hugged each other to warm up, Sawyer behaved as a perfect gentleman and Ana realized she was waiting for the moment he'd misbehave. Still, she felt guilty when she had those wishes because there were only a few days since they had burnt the bodies of all those people that had succumbed to the plane crash. She supposed to be grieving or something like that but nature was weird.
As much as the scenery around them was shocking and their lives could be threatened, little by little they started getting used to their routine of surviving. The instinct guided them, pushing them to keep going every day.
"Love could also be instinctive."- Ana-Lucia said to herself, giggling.
She changed her beat up and dirty denim pants for a little black skirt she had found among the debris. She used a folded blanket as a pillow because she couldn't find any of the airplane pillows they had, and decided to take a nap while she waited for Sawyer. As soon as he was back, they could split a fruit for lunch.
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Sawyer smiled in front of his work. It took him a long time to do it and he barely had had time to go to the lake and wash himself after he finished. But it was ready. All perfect. He had built a bigger tent for them, closer to the lake, made with bamboo trunks. He'd still need to put a tarp on the top but they could do that later. Inside their new tent, he had placed the pillows from the plane and a blanket.
He had found a few ripe mangos on the ground, he washed them and cut them in half so they could share. He finally had been able to catch a fish with a bamboo spear he had made it. He grilled the fish in a small fire and filled the plastic water bottles with potable water. He made sure everything was the way he wanted before he left to go get her.
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It started to get dark and Sawyer hadn't come back yet. Ana-Lucia was concerned, imagining where he had gone. They have had that talk about exploring the island and look for other survivors many times, but he always promised her that if they decided to do that, they'd do it together. She didn't imagine he was just going to disappear like that. She felt so angry at him.
She didn't realize but her anger soon became desperation and from desperation came sadness and the realization that if he didn't come back, she'd be the only living human being on that island. Her chest ached and warm tears came out of her dark eyes.
At this moment, she felt a presence behind her. She felt a knot of anxiety in her stomach and her entire skin shivered when she heard his voice saying her name.
"Ana."- Sawyer softly said.
She turned to him. Her face was wet by tears.
"Were ya crying?"- He asked, concerned.
Ana wiped her tears with the back of her hands and said:
"Of course not! Why would I be crying?"
He tried to touch her face and Ana-Lucia pushed him away abruptly.
"Where were you?"- She asked, angry.
"I was doing a little exploration in the jungle."- He answered, evasive.
"I thought that jungle explorations should be communicated before happening."
"As I said it was just a small exploration. But there's something I want to show ya."
"What?"- She asked, suspicious.
"Come with me."- He asked her, extending his hand to her.
Ana-Lucia took his hand and he guided her further down the beach, towards the jungle.
"Sawyer, we're going too far."- She said before they got into the trees.
"We are not"- He said. "We can still hear the sound of the ocean from here."
"You sure?"
He smiled that way she loved and that was when she noticed he was clean and his hair was combed, part of it was tied up with an elastic. The hairstyle made him look sexier.
"Come!"- He insisted.
She hesitated.
Sawyer surprised her by picking her out of the ground to carry her in his arms. She giggled.
"Man, what are you doing?"
"You'll see."
He walked a little more with her still in his arms; Ana-Lucia was too comfortable in his arms to want to go down.
"We're here"- He announced when he put her down.
Ana-Lucia was impressed when she saw the bamboo tent he had built.
"Do you like it?"- He asked, proud of himself. "This is our new home. We need to bring over the tarp and there are some adjustments I want to do but I thought what the hell, we don't know when the rescue is going to come…"
"Is this grilled fish?"- She asked sniffing on the great smell coming from inside the tent.
"Yes, I caught the fish myself."- Sawyer told her. "I got the fish and cooked it for you."
She turned to him, faced his eyes and jokily asked:
"Do you want to marry me?"
Sawyer laughed out loud. Ana-Lucia laughed too. They both laughed together for a few seconds until they're not laughing anymore. They're looking deeply into each other's eyes. The moon was providentially bright that night. Their hearts were beating in the same rhythm.
He brought his face close to hers first. She corresponded to his movement. Sawyer kindly held her chin up. She stood on her tiptoes so their mouths could meet. Ana-Lucia sighed when his soft tongue touched hers. That moment, she didn't feel any guilty.
To be continued…