Chapter 3: Rescue and Reconcile
The sun rose the next morning to reveal a scene of a few downed trees, soaked landscape, chairs, and other objects strewn about the courtyard of the hotel. In her hotel room, Barbie stretched out her arms and legs having just woke up. She was about to head to the bathroom to freshen up when a sudden cry startled her out of her thoughts along with the sound of frantic barking.
"Barbie! Skipper's still gone!" cried Chelsea as she, Stacie, and the puppies ran into Barbie's room.
"She's still not back! What if something happened to her out there!?" added Stacie.
Barbie was now fully awake and extremely worried. What if something really did happen to Skipper? She immediately began to create a plan.
"Okay guys. Since she's still not back, we'll get dressed and look for her. For now, get ready." she instructed her sisters, who rushed off to get dressed.
Barbie changed out of her PJ's and into a pink pair of shorts and a white shirt with a tropical floral pattern. She grabbed her phone and left her room to join her 2 younger sisters and the puppies before gobbling down one of Stacie's energy bars and heading out the door with them. Within minutes, they arrived at the beach in front of the hotel.
"Okay guys. We'll check around the beach for now. Then, we'll look in the hotel just in case Skipper came back." said Barbie looking around.
"What if she's not at any of those places?" asked Chelsea worriedly.
"Then we'll check the forest. She may have gone up the path to Lookout Ridge on the hill last night." replied Barbie.
With the plan agreed upon, the sisters and their puppies began searching up and down the beach. They made their way past some early morning joggers, but of course, Skipper wasn't among them. Then, they searched all over the hotel, splitting up to cover more ground. Barbie and Taffy searched the upstairs floors, Chelsea and Honey searched outside in the courtyard, and Stacie, DJ, and Rookie searched the lobby area and Skipper's favorite place in the entire hotel: the internet cafe. Being in the internet cafe only reminded Stacie of how her older sister loved Wi-Fi, internet, video gaming, and coffee. Earlier, Skipper had told Barbie that she wanted to stay in one place to work on her photo blog. Being in Skipper's favorite place only pained Stacie even further. Oh, Skipp, why did I call you a geek? Stacie thought miserably as she laid her head down on one of the tables as DJ and Rookie sat at her feet. A hand on her shoulder startled her out her thoughts. Stacie looked up to see Barbie's concerned face staring back at her.
"I guess you guys didn't find her." said Stacie glumly to Barbie and Chelsea.
Barbie only nodded in reply. "Don't worry Stac. We'll find her. I promise." she said softly.
"Yeah." said Chelsea. "We still have to check around the forest and up to the ridge."
Stacie lifted her head and turned around to face her 2 sisters. "But what if she's not in the forest or on the ridge? What'll we do?!" she asked, her bright green eyes wide with worry.
Barbie and Chelsea looked at each other and sighed. "If we can't find her, we'll have to file a missing person report with the police so they can help us look for her." said Barbie grimly. "But let's not go there just yet. Let's go look on the forest path."
Stacie nodded and got up to join Barbie, Chelsea, and the puppies as they left the hotel and hiked up towards the forest path.
Meanwhile…
Skipper began to wake up. Blinking her eyes, she saw the sun was out and it had stopped raining, although she was still a bit wet. I must've fallen asleep. She thought. Skipper tried to stretch, but then realized she couldn't. Her left arm, both her legs, and her entire body up to her lower neck were trapped in a shallow vat of quicksand. Her memory began to return as she recalled the events from the previous night. The argument, the storm, and falling and getting trapped. Skipper tried again to move, but to no avail. The quicksand held strong.
Skipper looked around. There was no one in the vicinity aside from the trees and plants growing up alongside the quicksand vat. As she felt her stomach growl, she remembered just how dire her situation was.
"Oh no, I need water and food real bad! What if no one finds me?! I'll starve!" she thought aloud.
She also remembered that an average person could go 3 days without water. If no one finds me within 3 days, I'll die of dehydration! And it may be even shorter than that! It's getting hot out here! And it was. With the sun continuing to rise higher in the sky, the temperature and humidity were both rising rapidly. Skipper already began to feel beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead and neck, rolling down onto her face.
Then, she felt something else on her. Something crawling on her shoulder. Skipper glanced over at her right shoulder and instantly regretted it. Perched on her shoulder was a large brown spider with green markings on its back. Oh my gosh, NO! Skipper tried desperately to wiggle a bit to shake it off, but the spider wouldn't budge. She then tried to using her free arm to reach over and flick it off, but it was just out of reach. The spider then began to crawl ominously towards Skipper's neck. OH NO! NO! NO! NO! IT'S GONNA BITE ME AND KILL ME WITH ITS VENOM!
Panicked, Skipper screamed as loud as she could. "HELP! A SPIDER'S ON ME! IT'S GONNA KILL ME! I'M GONNA DIE! SOMEONE! PLEASE! HELP ME!" she shrieked in terror, but no one replied or heard her.
Skipper closed her eyes as tight as she could and waited for the fatal bite. A river of tears streamed down her cheeks and she felt her nose become stuffy as she saw her life flash in front of her, from dancing at Chelsea's dance competition to all the fun times she had with Barbie, Chelsea, and even Stacie. Skipper desperately wished Barbie could be there holding her and telling her everything was going to be okay like she had during thunderstorms when they were younger back in Willows. Finally, she imagined the news headlines:
"Teen Blogger Found Dead in Quicksand Vat of Spider Bite"
"Hawaii Tourist Trap Traps and Kills Teen Girl"
"World-Famous Fashion Designer Barbara "Barbie" Roberts Quits Job; Sells Multinational Firm Grieving Loss of Younger Sister"
Skipper couldn't take it anymore. She let out a panicked ear splitting scream that echoed throughout the whole forest sending birds flying out of the trees. Her scream was so loud that even far from far away, 3 girls heard it.
Barbie, Stacie, Chelsea and their puppies had started hiking up the path to Lookout Ridge where unbeknownst to them, Skipper had camped out the previous night. They were ¼ of the way up, but Chelsea was already getting tired.
"Whew! It's getting hot out here and I'm getting sore!" she gasped, taking a massive gulp from her canteen.
Stacie wanted to tease Chelsea for getting tired so quickly, but remembering what she had said to Skipper earlier, she held her tongue. Instead, she went back and took Chelsea's hand to help her up.
"I've got ya Chels." smiled Stacie as she helped Chelsea along up the hill.
Barbie smiled seeing Stacie learning her lesson and helping Chelsea. As Stacie and Chelsea caught up to her, all 3 of them and the puppies heard an ear piercing scream not too far away. Their eyes widened as they recognized whose it was!
"SKIPPER? SKIPPER!" cried Stacie.
Without hesitation, she let go of Chelsea and tore up the path. Behind her, Barbie, Chelsea, and the puppies followed as fast as they could.
"Stacie, wait up!" called Barbie. "Skipp! Skipp! We're coming!" she yelled.
The 3 sisters and the puppies raced up the trail until they came to a bend about ½ of the way to the ridge at the top of the hill.
"It came from this way!" cried Stacie as she jumped off the path and began sprinting through the undergrowth.
Barbie, Chelsea, and the puppies ran after her. Barbie noticed that the undergrowth on the path that Stacie was going had been trampled the previous night. Maybe Skipper had went this way after all!
A short distance away, Skipper was still shaking as she felt the spider crawl onto her neck and stay there. What is it doing? Isn't it going to kill me? Just then, she heard 2 familiar voices yelling in the distance.
"SKIPPER? SKIPPER!" one of them yelled.
"Skipp? Skipp! We're coming!" said the other one.
It's Barbie, Stacie, Chelsea and the pups! They heard me! "Stacie! I'm here! Help me please! I'm trapped!" cried Skipper as she renewed her struggles.
Seconds later, an 11 year old girl with straight blonde hair wearing a white band it, a multi-colored shirt the the letter 'S' on the front, and a brown fanny pack full of energy bars burst through the vegetation and stopped just short of the pit edge. Upon seeing Skipper, her face broke out into a huge, relieved smile.
"SKIPP!" cried Stacie. "You're alright! I found you!"
Skipper was lost for words as the 2 briefly forgot about their fight the previous night. She locked eyes with her younger sister and reached her free hand out to Stacie, who reached over and took it eagerly.
"Stacie! You found me!" cried Skipper as she squeezed Stacie's hand tightly.
Just then, Barbie, Chelsea, and the puppies arrived behind Stacie. Barbie and Chelsea's faces lit up with relieved grins.
"SKIPPER!" cried Barbie and Chelsea simultaneously as the puppies barked excitedly behind them.
DJ was the most excited of all! "We found Skipper!" she barked excitedly to her siblings, who all agreed.
DJ wanted to jump into Skipper's arms, but Skipper saw it coming. "DJ, no! You'll get stuck like me!" she cried, sensing DJ getting ready to jump over. DJ saw Skipper's plight and backed off.
"Good girl!" smiled Skipper. "Speaking of which, can you guys help me out?" she asked her sisters. "AND GET THIS SPIDER OFF ME! PLEASE!"
Barbie then spoke up. "We have to get her out of there!" she said to Stacie and Chelsea. "Chelsea, take Stacie's other hand, I'll take your left hand. On 3 we'll pull Skipper out." instructed Barbie.
Her sisters nodded and got into position with Chelsea taking Stacie's left hand, and finally, Barbie taking Chelsea's left hand.
"Okay! One...Two...THREE!" said Barbie as the 3 sisters began to tug with all their might.
It took a few minutes, but slowly, Skipper's body began to emerge out of the quicksand. Finally, they pulled their sister free and dragged her away from the quicksand vat. The spider jumped off Skipper's shoulder and skittered off. Skipper was a mess. Her pink 'Paradise' shirt was torn from tumbling down the hill during the storm, her hair and body were covered in wet sand, and her face was red from both sunburn and crying. Skipper tried getting up, but Stacie was quick to help her.
"Here Skipp, let me help you!" smiled Stacie as she took on of Skipper's arms and pulled her older sister to her feet.
As soon as she was able to stand on her own, Skipper ran over to Barbie, almost knocking her older sister over and gave her one of the tightest hugs she had ever had!
"Barbie! You guys found me!" she cried.
Barbie gave a relieved grin. "It's okay Skipp, I've got you! Everything is going to be alright!" she said in a comforting voice as Skipper buried her face into her older sister's chest.
When she felt better, Skipper breathed a heavy sigh, backed up and dusted herself off. "Thanks for the help Stac." she said hesitantly, smiling gratefully, but avoiding eye contact.
Stacie then knew what she had to to. She took Skipper's hand and looked directly into her eyes.
"Skipp, I'm really sorry for last night. I didn't mean to call you a geek and a wimp. And what you said made me think. Maybe I have been way too reckless and competitive lately. I took advantage of your fear on the zipline and used it to tease you. I didn't realize it could've been a life or death situation." she said to her older sister.
Skipper was surprised. "Uh, wow Stac." she said, unable to figure out how to respond. "But why did you call me a geek and a wimp?"
Silence followed and Stacie almost looked like she was ready to cry. "Because...because...I'm the dumbest in the family!" she burst out. "I can't design stuff like Barbie, solve problems and bring out the good in people like Chelsea, or create things like you Skipp! All I can do is play sports! All my puns are lame! It was my impulsiveness that caused me to try out the zipline without doing any safety checks. I...I...I just can't think like the rest of you, and I tried making myself feel better about well...me." she finished softly.
Barbie, Skipper, and Chelsea were in shock, especially Skipper. While it was true that Stacie wasn't as bright as herself, Skipper had no idea that Stacie was jealous of the her, Barbie, and Chelsea. Personally, Skipper had always been jealous of Stacie for her fast reflexes, stamina, and sports skills.
"Stac, is that why you were such a control freak not to long ago? Because you thought you weren't good for anything else? And why you cracked up so many lame puns earlier in our trip?" asked Skipper.
Stacie just sniffed and nodded, ashamed. Behind them, Barbie watched the scene unfold with almost as much shock as Skipper. Since when had Stacie been jealous of her? Feeling only pity for her younger sister, Barbie moved forward and wrapped Stacie in a hug.
"Stac, no one here thinks or ever thought you were stupid." Barbie spoke in a soothing, reassuring voice.
"Yeah Stacie!" added Chelsea joining the hug. "You're always so cool with your surfing, your skateboarding, and your… everything really!
Skipper tapped on Barbie's shoulder and one look at her face was all Barbie needed to know. She moved aside to allow her younger sister hug Stacie.
"Stacie, look at me. You're not stupid. You're one of the most adventurous people I know. It's just.. you can be a little bit uh… intense sometimes. I've always loved how your physical strength could solve certain problems. And I'll admit that I've always been a bit jealous of you for that. And yes, of course I forgive you Stac!" said Skipper.
Stacie looked into her older sister's soft blue eyes. "Thanks Skipp. I guess I am a bit intense sometimes."
Skipper then grinned. "You know all the amazing pictures I get to post on my blog? Almost all of them are from crazy adventures that you dragged me into! You're The reason for many of the pictures on my travel blog!"
Instantly, Stacie's tears vanished and she began to both laugh and cry. "You got me Skipp! Heck yeah I'm the one who drags you all over the place!" she smiled.
Barbie Chelsea, and the puppies watched the 2 sisters embrace, laugh and cry from afar. DJ and Rookie took the opportunity to run up to their owners and give them a slobber attack!
"So Barbie, where's my hug?" asked Chelsea with a cheeky grin.
Barbie smirked back at her youngest sister. "Right...HERE!" she laughed as she grabbed Chelsea in a bear hug.
Seeing this, Skipper, Stacie, and their puppies Taffy, DJ, Rookie, and Honey ran over and tackled them both to the ground where they landed in a laughing heap. After a few minutes, they all got up.
"Alright! What do you say we get you back to the hotel to get you cleaned up Skipp?" offered Barbie.
Skipper looked down at herself. She was still covered in sand, her wet hair was matted against her back in tangles, and her shirt was torn.
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea right about now!" she replied as the began making their way back to the hotel.
Epilogue:
"By the way, what kind of spider was on me?" asked Skipper as they headed down the hill.
Barbie thought for a moment. "I think it was a Tropical Sweat Sucker. They're completely harmless!"
Before Barbie could continue, Stacie jumped in.
"Yeah! It must have been after all of your sweat Skipp! Not to mention that and the quicksand both really sucked! Eh?! Anybody?! " she giggled.
This time, her sisters caught on with the pun and all laughed. "Yes! So nailed that one!" celebrated Stacie.
Remembering Skipper had been out all night, Stacie knew that her older sister probably needed something in her stomach and soon.
"I know you don't like these, but… energy bar? Stacie asked, offering Skipper and energy bar.
Before Stacie could react, Skipper snatched it out of her hand.
"Gimme that!" cried Skipper as she ripped the cellophane wrapper off and snarfed it down. It was gone in seconds.
"Wow! Not even I can eat them that fast!" said Stacie in amazement. "You should sign up for eating contests Skipp!"
But Skipper didn't reply. Instead, she just stared down at Stacie's fanny pack.
"Uh Skipp, is anything wrong?" asked Stacie worriedly.
But Skipper just kept on staring with blank expression and eyes as wide as plates. Then, she began to advance ominously on her younger sister, her stomach wailing, demanding to be filled.
"Need more food." she said in a somewhat desperate tone. "Gimme the food."
Stacie begnan to get nervous. "Whoa, Skipp, um, take it easy there!" she said as she backed up.
Suddenly, Skipper reached out for Stacie, who moved aside just in time.
"Uh, Skipp, relax will ya? Please?!" cried Stacie as she made a break for it down the trail with Skipper on her heels. "No! Stop! Barbie help me! Do something!" she begged.
"Gimme the food!" yelled Skipper as she pursued her younger sister.
Behind them, Barbie and Chelsea laughed as the puppies decided to join in the chase. "Sorry Stac! You're on your own!" laughed Barbie as she and Chelsea hurried to stop Skipper from eating both the all the energy bars (and maybe even Stacie with them!) and enjoy the rest of their vacation!
Fin!
Author's Notes: So, what did you guys think? Feel free to comment!