Chapter 16
Fair Game
Tina slapped a large green bug off her arm and grimaced. "First Frisky, now Jeremy." The sun was beginning to set and rays of purple light lit up the surface of the ocean, framing it in a citrus-orange outline. The heat from the sand wavered in the cooling evening air.
Mitch watched as a fly buzzed obnoxiously over top of the stinky fish he'd caught. The fly was Jeremy, and the stinky fish was this situation. "If we can't manage to get this fire going, we might as well eat these things." He poked at the large fish with a forked stick.
"The weird-looking fish or the fly? Ew, I'm not that desperate yet." Tina laughed.
"He should have been here by now," said Maren. Maren kicked some sand into the makeshift fire pit. "He could get this fire started."
Mitch stood up and walked the perimeter of their campsite―a small clearing on the sand with a pile of dry sticks and tree branches at its center. "Frisky!" he called out.
"You could call for Jeremy too," said Maren under her breath.
"Yeah, I can't wait to see what kind of pointless danger he puts us into this time. Maybe he can set the island on fire so we have to go swim with the hammerheads. He has so many talents."
"Hey!" Tina rose to her feet and smoothed her red mini skirt down. "Let's not have at each other's throats, 'kay? I share some of the blame, too."
“Oh no! I can't face my own demons! Quick everyone, let's eat some acid and then fly this plane to a desert island! Oh good, we're still alive. Now I can write a really deep poem about this experience and sing it while I dance in my fabulous outfit.” Mitch pranced around the beach. “And did you notice my perfectly disheveled hair?" Mitch pretended to toss his hair around as he did pirouettes.
"No, I'm just saying I feel really guilty right now,” said Tina, rolling her eyes. “I'm such an idiot and I feel terrible, and you're being so negative!" She threw her hands up. "This is the worst mistake of my life."
"So what you're saying is that the second you decided to venture off with Jeremy―"
"Mitch!" Maren frowned. "We need to move forward."
Tina smiled. "Mitch, I've never known you to be so jealous."
Mitch snorted.
"Seriously," Tina flipped her hair back. "Maren, Jeremy's an amazing catch, I totally get why you would choose him over crew cut over here."
"Have the decency to at least whisper," grumbled Mitch.
Maren blushed and leaned towards Tina. "So, um... what happened on the plane if you don't mind my asking? Before the crash and all that." Maren shot a guilty look at Mitch.
"Between you and Jeremy?" She leaned forward. She didn't care how pathetic she felt gossiping on a desert island while Frisky and Jeremy were lost. Mitch's analysis of Jeremy bothered her immensely; it was kind of spot on.
"So you are into him!" Tina gave Maren a playful shove and then looked to the sky. "Jeremy, wow. I wished you'd told me you were into him when I first asked you. Not that that would have stopped me―just kidding! He's so gorgeous, Maren. I tried to seduce him." Tina's face went red all over and she giggled. "He's intoxicating, I don't know. I've never met anyone like him. I tried to kiss him but he turned away. He told me he wanted to escape reality, so I gave him acid. Oh, I was so stupid." Tina shook her head. "He just kept stringing me along; I didn't know where it was going. He promised me he'd sleep with me."
"What?" Maren sprang up.
"No, only that he'd sleep on the plane! He was so mysterious, Maren. But I knew he was thinking about you." Tina smiled, suppressing a laugh. "What is it with him, anyway? He sort of has this magnetic thing going on. I've only known him for a day and feel like I could write a book listing his faults, but to be near him for a second... it just chases all of that away." Tina now spoke freely because Mitch was busy carrying manly amounts of driftwood to a pile in case someone could get the fire started.
Maren could feel her cheeks burn as she nodded. Cajjez Jeremy Chikalto. How many young girls had fantasized about him? And why shouldn't she? Maren brushed her fingers across her lips. She felt changed, liberated, and carnal.
"Jeremy!" squealed Tina.
Jeremy had appeared at the edge of the jungle, bearing gifts. He waved with his free hand and made his way across the sand.
Maren watched as he unzipped his backpack and pulled out water bottles, crackers, cheese, and grapes. Then he pulled out two Cornish game hens, still wrapped in their grocery store packages. He looked up at Maren, beaming.
"Thank you, Jeremy," she said, reaching for the crackers, keeping her eyes on him. She stuffed a few in her mouth and then made for the cheese.
Mitch grabbed a water bottle and eyed Jeremy suspiciously. "How did you get this? All this food is probably expired and rife with parasites."
Jeremy laughed.
“Yeah, good joke. Dysentery is hilarious.”
"Relax, Mitch," said Maren.
"We're on a resort." Jeremy shook his head. "And before I forget...." He pulled out toothpaste and toothbrushes and set them on a rock beside the fire logs. Next, he held his hand over the wood. Jeremy allowed a blue current to char the wood and then blew on it. Soon, a fire crackled to life.
"You got it so fast!" said Tina, getting to her feet to inspect the fire.
"Matches from the resort." Jeremy winked at Mitch before sitting down to unwrap the game hens.
"Okay, well, that's great news! But Jeremy, I'd like to talk to you over here for a second." Maren motioned for Jeremy and he abandoned the hens and followed her. Tina, meanwhile, had descended on the feast like a starved dog, and Mitch reluctantly joined her.
Maren led Jeremy, cradling a bunch of grapes in his hand, back into the jungle. The two walked for a time in pregnant silence, passing under a canopy of lush vegetation and into a hidden hollow. The sunset was dimming and moonlight filtered through in rays, streaking their faces with shades of blue.
"I went back to New York through the Haze," Jeremy said before she asked. "I'll bring everyone home real soon. I just had to figure out how best to get there. I don't know if I'm familiar enough with Tina's house to―" Jeremy stopped and looked down at Maren. "Is something wrong?"
"Frisky's missing." Maren affectionately tugged on his shirt collar. "After we eat, we need to find her."
"Of course," said Jeremy, furrowing his brow.
"And another thing?" Maren rested her hands on his chest and took a deep breath.
"Yes?"
A vine from overhead fell to the jungle floor and Maren had to do a double-take to make sure it wasn't a snake. She felt uneasy and groped for words, suddenly conscious of the electricity that seemed to pulsate off his body. She looked up at his face and could see his moist lips, the white teeth behind, the dimples. He must have sensed her hesitation because he placed a firm hand under her chin and lifted it, bending down now for a kiss. Their lips met and Maren felt her body flutter. She felt pleasure, the yearning, exploding through her limbs. She found herself unbuttoning his shirt, and he slid it off and gripped her by the arms.
"Maren?" he said, blowing lightly on her neck. A tingling sensation traveled up to her ear and she shivered. "I'm getting pretty excited here. How far were you planning to go?"
"Oh," Maren dropped his shirt which she had been holding in her hand, and stood there, stupefied. He popped a grape into her mouth. "You don't have to stop," he said, guiding her hand across his abdomen, pulling her closer to him with his other.
"No! I'm sorry," Maren pulled away from him and stooped to the ground.
Jeremy joined her and wrapped his arms around her. "It's okay. Whatever you want, you just tell me."
Maren ran her fingers through her hair and laughed. "I am so sorry." She shook her head.
"No need to apologize, I like where this is heading."
A frog began to croak in the silence that passed. It was a deep, hoarse song, drawn out with a sharp blip at the end. "I just want to know what's going on with us," she said in a hushed voice.
&nbs
p; "Well," Jeremy ran his hand over her leg, "you know that I adore you. I sense you have feelings for me, so..."
"So?"
"Can we keep doing this?"
The words caught her off-guard and she had to wait a few seconds to grasp their meaning. "Doing what?'"
"Ah," he said, pulling her close. "I mean, well," he was sputtering now and fidgeting. "I know that I'd love to be with you and if you'd... be with me? That would be the next step." He bit his lip and waited.
Maren could see the embarrassment flush his cheeks, vulnerability and openness in his wide eyes. He was more lovely than she'd ever seen him. "I'd really like that." Maren smiled and kissed him on the cheek before leading him out of the canopy.
Back at the campsite, Tina and Mitch were sliding the cooked game hen from off their sticks and cooling the juicy meat on large palm leaves. Mitch divided the meat into five small piles. He hoped they'd find Frisky. When they'd all finished eating and felt rehydrated, Mitch led the expedition, followed by Tina and Jeremy and Maren at the rear.
"Hey, Jeremy? Just straight back this way? Remember how you're the only one who knows where we're going?" yelled Mitch from the front, weaving in between the thick green leaves and stringed vines. The hum of insects nearly drowned him out.
"Yeah, the resort's somewhere on the other side. But let's keep an eye out for Frisky," Jeremy called back.
The party continued to call for Frisky as they climbed fallen tree limbs and stepped around mud puddles. At last they came to the face of the mountain that rose in the island's center.
"She climbed up here," said Tina sadly.
"Ssh!" said Mitch. He pulled himself up over the first rock. "Do you hear that?"
Jeremy, Maren, and Tina stopped to listen.
Silence.
"Maybe it was a bird?" offered Maren.
A small rock came tumbling down the side of the mountain. Everyone froze, watching the rock intently as it gathered more pebbles and debris in its descent.
Then, a weak moan came from over the ledge about twenty feet above Mitch.
"That's her! Frisky!" called Mitch as he clambered up the rocks.
Tina and Maren cupped their hands over their mouths and began to shout up to Frisky. Mitch was making slow progress.
"Okay," Jeremy looked around him. No one was paying any attention to him. "Let me just... handle this." He slowed his breathing down. If something were to happen to Frisky, it would be on his conscience. He couldn't stand around and wait. Jeremy crept away from the group, circling around the mountain a bit, out of sight. He'd attempt to weave in and out of the Haze, like in his dream. He'd fly to her. Jeremy closed his eyes and began his ascent. He pulled into the Haze, and quickly jumped out. He was about ten feet in the air. Now he was free falling. And in the Haze again. He tried to weave back out and found that he couldn't. Must be rock, he thought, and then moved up. The next few minutes were tricky. At last, he landed on a ledge five feet above Frisky, and thirty feet away from her. As he walked closer along the ledge, he could see she was covered from head to toe in mud. And something else. Blood. Jeremy cursed. He knelt down to lift her up; her face was ashen and bruised. She had lost a lot of blood and was in shock. He looked over the side of the rock ledge and saw a confused Mitch, ten feet below. "She's hurt," said Jeremy. "I'll um, I've gotta go. Be back soon." And with that, he ran to the far side of the ledge, away from Mitch's probing eyes, and disappeared back into the Haze.
"He's got her!" Mitch called out. "Frisky! What happened to her?!" Mitch lifted himself up. "Hey, Jeremy!" No answer.
"What's going on up there?" yelled Tina.
"She's hurt! Badly. Hey Jeremy!"
Mitch walked along the side of the mountain, puzzled. But Jeremy was gone.
Mitch made his way back down and related everything he saw. Maren knew that Jeremy must have taken Frisky back to New York through the Haze. “Maybe Jeremy is rushing her back to the resort for medical treatment” she offered.
Mitch didn't buy it. "That bastard! You should have seen the look in his eyes. It was guilt. He did something. Those two were the only ones missing; something's happened."
"No Mitch," said Maren. "He feels guilty because he brought us here in the first place, and no other reason."
"He's not violent or unstable?” Mitch stared at Maren, daring her to deny it.
"It was the acid," mumbled Tina.
"Relax, he'll be back."
"I'm finding this resort." Mitch climbed down the rocks and took off in the jungle. Maren and Tina chased after him.
Hours passed and there was still no sign of a resort, Jeremy, or Frisky. It was now the dead of night and Maren convinced everyone that they should rest and then head back to the mountain, since that was where Jeremy might go to look for them.
"Why not just keep looking for the resort?" protested Mitch. But Tina was too frightened, and Maren, too stubborn, so at last they fell asleep on a pile of palm leaves beneath a large tree.
"Frisky! Jeremy!" yelled Tina. The next morning brought on a futile search. Their thirst was fierce under the tropical sun. Mitch was able to bring down some coconuts from the trees and smash them open on rocks. Maren, Tina, and Mitch greedily drank the sweet milk and resumed their walk back to the mountainside.
"Okay," said Mitch slowly, as he took his sneakers off. "We're here now, Maren. You were always so reasonable, but I'm beginning to have my doubts."
Tina took her sheer leopard print shirt off and lay out on a rock in her red bra and mini skirt. She had nothing to lose by getting a free tan. "What did Jeremy tell you, Maren?"
So they knew they weren't privy to something. Maren suspected they'd want to search for the resort again soon. If Jeremy didn't arrive in the next hour, they'd rebel against her direction. "Jeremy knows this place really well," she found herself saying.
"Oh yeah?" Tina sat up and squinted down at Maren. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I mean," Maren stammered, lost for words. "I just have a lot of faith in Jeremy. You should, too. You know how cautious I am. I think we'll be okay if we just wait here a little longer." These words, at least, were sincere.
"Mitch is right, Maren. You're cracking up. We should find the resort, get off this island." Tina chewed the side of her mouth. "You're protecting him, which means you know the full story and we don't."
"Huh?" Maren's pulse quickened. "Protecting Jeremy?"
"You're afraid my parents will turn him in to the police. He stole my dad's jet and kidnapped us."
"And you're afraid about what he did to Frisky," said Mitch.
"He didn't do anything to Frisky except save her!"
"He left without a trail. Why would he do that unless he has something to hide?"
Maren threw her hands up in the air and sulked off to the edge of the jungle, where the foliage started growing thick again beyond the mountain. A monkey screeched down at her and threw something out of its tree. Maren jumped and ran back to the rocks. "Okay, there is no resort," she said between breaths.