AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was breathing lightly, his head tipped back against the cave wall. Even in sleep, his grip on me hadn’t slackened.
I let myself enjoy that fact for a moment. It felt so good to be held by him, which was something I would never have expected. Maybe it was as simple as the fact that he was asleep and therefore not being annoying—but in reality, it felt like more. I felt like my opinion of him had changed after all that we had been through in the past twenty-four hours.
I twisted myself a little in his grip, trying to get out of his embrace—I was hungry and thought I would go looking for another coconut for us to have for breakfast. I didn’t want to wake him because I didn’t know how much sleep he had managed to get, so I was glad when I was able to slip out of his arms without any trouble. I crab-walked out of the cave and into the warm sunlight, where I got to my feet and stretched.
It was hard to believe that I’d been so cold last night. I still remembered the shivers that had wracked my body, but the morning sun on my skin was already making me sweat. I didn’t even mind that all I had to wear was Jake’s t-shirt, which hung down to mid-thigh on me. I thought it was cute in a shipwreck-chic way.
What a weird thing to be thinking about.
I headed down the beach to the place where I’d found coconuts last night. Jake had said he’d check the plane for supplies today, and I was hopeful that there would be more to eat there, but one way or another, we were going to have to figure something else out pretty quickly. We couldn’t eat anything but coconut for very long.
I wondered how long we were going to be stuck here.
As I collected a pair of coconuts, I noticed a long, sharp stick on the ground. In a way, it reminded me of a spear, and I instinctively picked it up, wondering whether I might be able to use it to catch fish. I’d definitely never tried anything like that before, but if we could get some protein, that would supplement the coconut really well.
I dropped the coconuts on the beach and walked down to the water’s edge, not really sure of what I was doing. The water was clear and cool, and I tightened my grip on my makeshift spear.
Of course, the fish scattered around me as I walked in. The good news was, there were plenty of them. After a few seconds, they began to group around my ankles again.
There was nothing for it but to try. I slammed the spear down into the water.
The fish swam away again.
Maybe I was being stupid. This couldn’t possibly work.
I choked up my grip on the spear. I couldn’t quit after one attempt.
I lowered myself down onto my knees in the water so I wouldn’t be stabbing from quite so high. Then I forced myself to keep very, very still. I slowed my breathing as much as I could and waited.
Gradually, the fish reappeared.
I kept waiting. I wanted them to be as comfortable as possible. I wanted them to see me as a part of their environment, as natural as a rock or a piece of coral.
They swam closer, brushing up against my legs.
I eyed a particularly fat one. It was moving a little slower than the others as if it had nowhere urgent to be. I watched it come closer to me and readied myself to strike—and when it passed by me, I stuck the spear hard into the water again.
At first, I thought I had missed and that I’d stabbed the sand again, but then I looked down and saw the fish wriggling on the stick.
I actually did it.
The problem was that I had no idea what to do with the thing now that I had caught it. I got to my feet slowly, carefully pulling my spear up so I wouldn’t lose the fish.
“What the hell?”
I turned. Jake was standing on the shore, staring at me. “What are you doing in the water?”
“I—” I held up my catch, showing him.
His eyes widened. “No way. Olivia. No way. Are you serious right now?”
“Are you upset?”
“Am Iupset? Did you catch that?”
“Yeah, I thought… I mean, I didn’t know if I would be able to, but it seemed worth trying.”
“You arecrazy.” He came splashing out to me and took the spear from my hands. “I can’t believe you did this. You hunted a fish like a wild woman.”
