Trenton

It’s midnight when Eric and Dawson replace us for watch. Eric and Serena exchange a few words. I lie down by Nathaniel (we made a rule separating the genders when sleeping) and warm up by the campfire. I throw two more logs in because it’s dying and it heats up again. It snaps and crackles and sparks fly up in the sky. I lie down and gaze up into the sky. I feel wide-awake, full of energy. Sleep won’t come easy tonight. I sit up and sit by Dawson and Eric.

“If you guys want to, you can go sleep. I’ve got this,” I say.

“But it’s not your turn,” Eric says.

“I can’t sleep anyways.” He doesn’t seem satisfied. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry. Go rest. You guys need it.” They finally accept and go lay down. I sit by the fire and stare out into the ocean. I think over everything that’s happened, out current situation, and what might come. I am vaguely aware of my surroundings as I think. Time becomes imperceptible and, before I know it, the sun is rising. I stand up and stretch my clenched muscles. I jog around the island and get a view of everything. It’s fairly small, but very beautiful and peaceful. Palm trees are abundant, and it’s warm with a breeze that makes it just the right temperature. As I circle back to our camp, I check the dock to see if there are any new boats. I get back as Kathryn is waking up. She’s an early riser, and she’s caught unaware when she sees me up and active. She suddenly becomes angry.

“Why didn’t you wake me up for watch last night?!” she asks me.

“Calm down,” I say. “I wasn’t tired, it was peaceful, and you guys needed your sleep.”

“You could’ve been killed!” she retorts.

“Nah. I’m pretty good at not getting killed. I could tell it was gonna be fine anyways.” She harrumphs under her breath and walks away muttering. I smile and walk over to the nearest palm tree. I look up and, just as I expected, see multiple coconuts. I grab a knife and shimmy up the tree. Knife in my mouth, pirate-style, I reach the top. I start cutting them off the tree and the fall to the ground with a plop. I count six before I climb down and go to the next one. I stop after the fourth tree when I have twenty coconuts. I gather them in my bag and head back to camp. I pull out my canteen and crack the coconuts. I collect the juice in the canteen, then put the halves in a group. Kathryn comes back from collecting firewood and helps me. It’s hard work, but after half an hour, all the juice is collected. I lean back and wipe the sweat off my brow. Kathryn and I high five and collect the coconuts. Eric and Kylie have woken up and are going down to the water to wake up a little bit. Meanwhile, Kathryn and I scrape the flesh of the coconut out and into a bowl I made out of banana leaves. When Eric comes back, I assign him the take of finding bunches of bananas. Kylie comes back and sits on a fallen palm tree near Kathryn and me. I assign her to go collect big leaves for a shelter. By this time, everyone is awake and scrounging for food. I had laid out breakfast earlier for them with the little food we had left. When they finish, Kathryn and I are almost done with the coconut flesh. Kylie has come back a lot of leaves, and Eric is back with four bunches of bananas. I take stock of what we have mentally. Everyone looks at me, waiting for commands.

“Okay. So who here is a good swimmer?” I ask. Eric raises his hand. “Okay. I want you to go into the ocean and look for oysters.” He nods and I hold out a woven basket to hold them. There are holes small enough for water to exit through, but oysters with stay put. He pulls off his shirt and dives into the water.

“Okay. Next order of business. Who can lift heavy objects?” Dawson raises his hand.

“If I use my power, I can lift almost anything,” he points out.

“Right!” I say, completely forgetting about our powers. “Okay. I want you to take the cleaver and chop down trees with it. Use a rock to hammer the knife into the trees.” I hand him the cleaver and he nods. He takes off into the jungle of palm trees.

“Kylie. You remember how to read a sundial from when we were in the time-lock, right?” She nods in confirmation. “I want you to teach Nathaniel and make a big one in the sand.” She nods again and walks over towards Nathaniel. “Oh, and Nathaniel,” I say. He turns and looks at me. “Fire and sand makes glass. Experiment with that and make some sort of makeshift glasses for us.” He nods and I turn to Kathryn and Serena.

“Kathryn. I want you to use your power to bounce around the island and look for a water source.” She nods.

“Serena. Do you want to come with me?” she asks.

“Sure,” she replies. She climbs on Kathryn’s back and they bound off together. I turn back to the coconuts. I remember how to make coconut milk and that it’s very healthy. I grab two canteens- one with warm water and one with coconut juice- and a small bowl. I pour the water and juice into the bowl along with the flesh. I covered it with a leaf and swished it around for a while. I threw in a rock and kept shaking it. Closest thing to a blender I could get. After about five minutes, I took off the leaf and looked around for a strainer. I realized I had none, so I took of my shirt and ripped a long portion of it off. It was right in the front, so the shirt was like a vest now. I placed the cloth over the bowl and turned it upside down. A white liquid came out and into a bowl I placed over it. All the liquid is out of the bowl and there is still some pulp in the shirt. I squeeze the shirt to get as much juice out as possible. I toss the remaining pulp and start again. I fill one bucket before Eric comes out of the water with a full basket.

“Woah,” I say, astonished. “That’s a lot of oysters.”

“There’s a lot down there,” he replies. “I’m gonna go get more.” With that, he dives back into the water. Kathryn and Serena come back, but when I ask them if they found any water, they shake their heads dejectedly.

“Are you sure?” I ask. “Did you look everywhere?”

“Yeah, we did,” Kathryn says. We hung our heads as we thought of ideas. After a couple minutes, after coming up with no ideas, I told them how to make the coconut milk. They get to it and I walk over to the water edge, where Eric is calling me. He holds up a small silver object that glints in the sunlight. I can’t tell what it is, so I shrug and he swims in to shore. He hands it to me.

 “I don’t know what it is, but it looked useful,” he says as I turn it over in my hands. I finally realize what it is, and I rush over to a tree happily. I jam one end into the tree and put a bowl under it. Everyone crowds around in anticipation. Finally, a small trickle of water starts streaming out into the bowl.

“It’s a spile,” I explain eagerly. “It directs the water out of the tree. This is our water supply!” I clap and rush back to grab more bowls. As I’m coming back with the bowls, I see Dawson with three trees. His eyes look a little bit red, but I say nothing. I have Serena fill all of the bowls and then bring them back to base camp. Dawson and I carry the trees back and lay them down. I draw a design plan in the sand and try to get started. Eric, coming in with the last batch of oysters, helps me start. It has two upright poles, split at the top. Another pole rests in the split of both trees, almost like a BBQ spit. It’s about four or five feet off of the ground, and leaves hang down from the center pole as a canopy. It’s big enough to fit two people under it for a rest. They’re pretty quick to make and Dawson, Eric, and Kathryn help. Serena helps when she’s done with her chore. Kylie and Nathaniel call us over when we have two done to show us the sundial. Its about twenty feet in diameter with a large tree in the middle of it. Two-and-a-half tall glass numbers line the outer rim. It’s only about ten yards from the campsite. We get back to work, and by the time the sun is setting, all of our tents are done. Serena and Kylie weave mats to sleep on and we prop leaves on the sides and front for protection against the wind. We have four huts in all. Kathryn’s in one, Serena and Kylie in another. Eric and I share one, leaving Dawson and Nathaniel with the last one. We all gather on the shore and relax, sipping coconut milk from cups fashioned from coconuts by Kathryn. The sun sets, turning the sky blood red. We all stare into the sunset, happy and carefree. I see Serena and Eric share a quick kiss. I grab Kylie’s hand. An important thought comes to my head. I give her a light kiss on the cheek and whisper, “Happy Birthday.” She leans her head on my shoulder and I allow it. We sit there long into the night, even after the others have gone to bed. We finally go to bed when Kathryn calls us. But not before sharing another hug.