Following Martha’s breakdown with Josh and the visible setting of the sun, the band of Martha, Josh, Lily and Doug had decided to make camp. Josh had read enough books and attended enough camps to know how to get a decent fire going, and the travelers had two backpacks full of foodstuff on them. Minus the fear of the unknown that hung in the air like a taboo topic, the group genuinely enjoyed themselves as they sat around the fire and talked with one another. Josh had been discussing the finer points of his religious upbringings to Lily who clung on every word he said. Martha had remained quite distant from the conversations and replied only to the occasional inquiry that Doug passed her way.
“So you were thinking of becoming a teacher when this was all done?” Doug continued to prod Martha with questions even though she wasn’t even looking at him. Instead, Martha stared off into the setting sun, wondering the fate that had befallen her sister, and unsure if they would ever find any other survivors on the island. As the thoughts circled around in the jumble of Martha’s brain, Doug nonchalantly repeated his question. This time the words of the man penetrated the mists around Martha’s mind and she was able to formulate a sufficient response for the soon-to-be teacher.
“Yes.”
“Oh, that’s cool! Any reason why you wanted to become a teacher? Is it because you think you’ll be well suited to handle immature students and help deter the eventual decline of society? Or are you more interested in seeing something you have control over develop?” The rather well thought out question would have been a topic that Martha could have entered hours of discussion on, were it not for her current dilemma. Doug sat expectantly awaiting a response from the younger girl, hoping something truly inspirational to come from the lips of the intelligent Martha. Silence followed, broken only by the distant conversations of Josh and Lily. Soon enough Martha took note of the silence and did her best to break it, still unsure of the topic that had been presented by Doug.
“Yes.”
With eyebrow raised, Doug shook his head as though he were disappointed with the answer. Somehow judging this inappropriate response, Doug stood up and smiled at the sitting Martha. “Martha, I apologize for the interruption. Let me give you some more time to think, you clearly need it right now.” With that, Doug walked over to Lily and Josh. Had he not already been turning his attention to the new conversation he could have possibly heard Martha’s under the breath third “Yes” as he passed by the fire and sat by the other two.
Taking a seat close to his other two companions, Doug casually eyed them both as he listened to their conversation. The topic really didn’t concern him, as Doug was far more interested in people; in this case Lily was of the most interest to him. Since arriving on the island, Lily had been a veritable ‘basket case’ having originally been found sobbing about the entire affair. It had only been the words of the religious Josh Chambers that had wrestled her away from complete despair. Now Lily sat and listened to further religious discussion from the man, a topic of which she hung on every word. Doug was interested to discover if Lily’s apparent interest in the subject was related to the content itself, or more interest in the man who spoke it. For now Doug was content to sit and listen to the two continue their talk, as it was far more interesting than sitting dully in the corner with Martha.
“So, how long do you think we’ll be on this island for Josh?” Lily’s question had cut the man off during a small speech about his previous religious schooling, but Josh and Doug could tell that the girl had been bottling the question for far too long. Unsure how to answer Josh gave a startled look to Doug who shrugged his shoulders slightly. Realizing Doug’s shrug would be a terrible place to leave the conversation, Josh spent a moment collecting his own thoughts before he replied to Lily’s question. Based on the look of the girl’s face, he could have thought about it for an entire week, and she would have still been happy to get a response.
“I pray it’s soon. Though as the old adage goes; ‘the Lord works in mysterious ways.’” Josh raised his arms and waved his fingers in a mock mystical way, trying to relieve some of the tension that hung in the air around them. Lily smiled and looked down at her lap, blushing as she did so, hoping to hide it from Josh and Doug’s eyes. Josh used the brief distraction to come up with a suitable follow-up to pacify the girl and prevent her fears from taking over. “Though in all honesty, I think for us to get off this island we’ll need to keep searching. We can’t sit here and expect something to happen. If we did, we would be waiting on a miracle, and while I do believe it could happen, I also know that the Lord helps those who help themselves. Perhaps if we are able to rescue other survivors we will be gifted with a way out of here.”
The overdone religious tone was already beginning to grate on Doug, and he was nearly ready to stand up and depart when Lily spoke up, peaking his interest. “So… You think that if something good were to happen unexpectedly to someone, it would be a miracle?” The simple question didn’t even have much to do with the message of hope that Josh was trying to instill, but it was a way to keep Lily’s mind off the despair of their current situation. Josh smiled and nodded for a moment, and Doug nestled himself back on the cleared dirt, now interested in hearing where this conversation was going.
“Oh yes Lily! Of course miracles like that don’t just happen every day, and when they do, they only happen to special and worthy people. Such things should not be squandered, if you are given a gift from God, you should use it for the well being of others.” Josh prattled on about his own thoughts on the topic of divine miracles. Lily’s eyes had grown wide with understanding as the words touched her ears and entered her mind. Slightly back from the discussion, Doug took note of Lily’s religious epiphany and wished to see how this changed the girl, hoping to see someone stronger and more self-sufficient than the scared little girl he had first met when he had joined the motley crew.
As the topic of God, miracles, and prayer continued by the fire, Martha Porter continued to think of her long lost sister. Though she would have never spoken a word of it to Josh, Martha secretly prayed for her sister, hoping she was safe.
›
Angela Riverton had been walking across an unknown island for the better part of a day now. She would have considered the experience unique and interesting were it not for the seriousness that had come before her drifting ashore. With the boat lost, and all of her fellow classmates (not to mention brother) missing, Angela should have been a veritable emotional wreck. There was however one emotion that kept the girl on task. It was not fear of the unknown, or determination to find her missing schoolmates, or even distress at the possible loss of her brother. At this exact moment it was instead Angela’s hatred of Stacy Decker that kept her feet moving.
Walking at a pace slightly above brisk, Angela’s right arm flailed with each step. Her left arm was clenched tightly around her tank top, which was now curled up in a ball that she carried with her. Too damp to wear any longer, Angela had removed the shirt after the first few hours, not wanting to stop to let it dry under the sun for fear that she might have to actually endure a full conversation with Stacy. Angela had thought about stopping on the beach and drying her clothes there, but Stacy’s sudden appearance had put a stop to that. Had Angela taken a stop at the beach, our story might have turned out quite differently than it has so far. Instead, Angela now continued her trek, clad only in a red bra, a black skirt, knee high boots and clenching onto her still damp top.
“Ange! Seriously, hold up a second. I like really need to catch my breath!” The dense voice of Stacy yelled up from behind. The entire day had been interrupted for Angela by the constant whining calls from Stacy. Since she was not an evil person, Angela never really considered the idea of abandoning Stacy and going off in search of others by herself. No, the two of them were so far the only two survivors on this island and they would need to stick together; whether Angela liked it or not. It was not the best pairing in the universe, but the two did somehow fit together as a duo, likely because Stacy’s mere presence drove Angela far beyond her regular limits in search of other lost survivors. In search of anyone aside from Stacy Decker she could associate with.
“Come on Ange. Let’s sit down, I’m really getting tired”.
“Fine, whatever.” Angela relented to the constant assault of Stacy’s voice. Stopping mid-trek, Angela turned around and looked at Stacy. She was unsure how Stacy had done it, but her two piece attire was back to its perfectly dry state; even the small frill flapped in the wind without a touch of dampness. Had Angela cared about such things, she might have been jealous with the confidence that Stacy exuded around herself. Instead the grinding gears of Stacy Decker’s voice had been the only thing that Angela cared about, and at least by stopping her walk she had stopped the nagging tone of the girl’s voice.
“Oh, thanks Ange. I know you must be totally worried about your little brother, but I’m guessing he’s probably alright.” The stupidity of Stacy’s words reeked to Angela, though the sentiment was well intentioned. Angela could only roll her eyes when Stacy turned to look around, ensuring the girl continued to remain oblivious to her seething anger. “I mean, he’s probably been reading about this kind of stuff, and like knows what to be doing. I mean, he’s probably already got like a tent and stuff.”
“Thanks Stacy.” The words came out like teeth pulled from a dentist, and Angela couldn’t expand on the sentence anymore than that. Even thanking Stacy had taken a vast amount of effort and Angela had no intention of dwelling on that particular statement. Instead the girl paced around her seated companion, eager to continue on with their sojourn across the uncharted island. Stacy remained completely oblivious to the situation, sitting and smiling up at Angela as she paced around her. In Stacy’s mind she was doing Angela a great favor by staying close, and she knew that this would make them even closer as friends.
“Oh no problem!” Stacy’s smile widened as she nodded to Angela agreeably, still unable to notice the visible scorn on her would-be friend’s face. “I guess we should be getting some food for ourselves. I think I’m going to get really hungry soon, and I bet there aren’t any good restaurants on this island!” The silence following the statement caused Angela to worry that Stacy might have indeed been stupid enough to believe there could be a restaurant on an island like this. An eventual giggle snapped Angela back into reality and she realized that her companion was not quite as stupid as she had thought she was. That still meant Angela thought Stacy far from an intelligent girl.
“Yeah. We’ll probably have to go check out deeper on the island. Maybe we’ll find someone to help us, or at least find some food.”
Stacy nodded agreeably, her face still maintaining a radiant smile in spite of the dire nature of their situation. Without any food or viable drinking water, the two would likely starve in the next few days; but here was Stacy Decker, oblivious to the entire situation. Angela despised the popular girl for just how perky she was in face of such a terrible catastrophe. It was almost as if Stacy was glad to be paired with Angela, it meant the two of them could spend time together in a forced environment. Angela’s thought was right; Stacy was indeed enjoying her time being paired with her typically surly and quiet classmate.
“Oh yeah! And then we’ll find your brother, and then we’ll find our friends, and then we’ll find our teachers and get rescued and go home!” The statement came out as if it were more of a cheer than an actual phrase. Angela’s face turned red and she scowled at Stacy for a quick moment before collecting herself. Even the moment to calm her was not enough to stop Angela from seizing the opportunity to take down Stacy. Unlike other people who would have been able to stop themselves, Angela went on the offensive after such an obviously uninformed and overly optimistic statement.
“Stacy, they’re probably all dead! Don’t you get it; we’re likely the only two people who survived the storm.” Angela could see the color departing Stacy’s face as she pounded the facts into the popular girl’s mind. Most people would have felt some pity for Stacy; like hitting a cute animal when it misbehaved and stopping after the first strike. Angela believed in tough love. “If anything we’re going to have to fend for ourselves, so you better start making yourself useful around here. I don’t know what you’ll be good for, but hopefully you know how to start a fire, cook food in the woods, and maybe even construct some shelter! Well… do you?”
“I ummm… no.” Stacy’s simple reply gave continued insight into the lack of depth to her character. Angela now crossed her arms disapprovingly over her chest; as though she were angry at a young child. “I can maybe learn though?” Stacy mocked a smile that immediately fell apart as Angela’s penetrating eyes continued to stare down at her in sheer contempt. Even if Angela had known of Stacy’s admiration for her, she would have remained firm in this conviction. Tough love was the only way to go with someone as spoiled and clueless as Stacy Decker.
“Whatever.” Angela said as she turned and continued to walk onwards. For the first time since their trek Stacy remained seated, not immediately jumping up to follow after Angela as she strode off into the deeper recesses of the uncharted island. Instead Stacy sat and had a rare moment of contemplation, unsure what to do with herself after the scolding she had received from her trusted friend. In Stacy’s mind she knew that Angela was right, and that she would have to adapt to this harsh place. Stacy would adapt. She would make herself better. Then Angela would be happy with her, and then they could keep being friends. Stacy promised herself that she would make this happen.
›
Josh and Lily were the first to move after the two giants had arrived overhead. The ample rear end of who they all recognized as Stacy Decker, separated Josh, Lily and Doug from Martha, and for a few minutes they were unsure if the poor girl had been crushed when Stacy had sat down. None of the comparatively tiny people risked yelling up to the enormous girl for fear that she might move and accidently crush them. Josh had taken hold of the now shaking Lily and directed her in a wide circle around Stacy’s rear, trying to reach the other side in hopes of finding Martha. Doug remained transfixed by Stacy, though strangely unafraid; his body perfectly calm and still.
When Martha emerged from the nearby brush and waved at the two of them in a shocked slack jaw fashion, the immediate sense of urgency was slightly lowered. Slightly. There was still the issue of the colossal girl who had nearly sat on them as though they were bugs intruding on a picnic ground. None of the present students had any association with Stacy, aside from knowing that she was the most popular kid in school. They most certainly had no reason for knowing how she had suddenly attained such a massive size since their last encounter. Josh and Martha were able to deduce that the two had no idea of their new size; a bad omen for those below. The two had also pieced together the conversation between Angela and Stacy, able to understand the contempt Angela had for Stacy when even the now goddess-like girl could not.
In a low sighing voice, almost the perfect volume for the assembled tiny group below, Stacy Decker spoke. “Don’t worry Ange, I’ll prove myself to you. Then we really can be best friends!” With that, Stacy stood up to her full stature, casting a humbling shadow on the four below. Adjusting her bust slightly, only adding to the embarrassment of the group, Stacy put on a perky smile and began to walk away. The assembled survivors didn’t speak a word until Stacy was far away and the tremors that each of her steps brought had become a low rumble. Astonishingly it was Lily who broke the silence with a simple statement.
“How did she get so big?”
“How did she get so stupid?” Martha replied.