CHAPTER FIVE: QUESTIONS

The group spent most of the night contemplating whether or not Caleb was right or had lost his mind due to the trauma of having survived a rather scary plane crash onto an island in the middle of nowhere.

"But that's not possible" Elijah finally said

Caleb reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone "When I woke up, the first thing I did was check on my phone and when I tried to make a call, it didn't connect for obvious reasons. But when I woke up, it was Saturday, the day we left Lemon County" He tossed his phone to Owen who was standing beside Lucas, as he caught it effortlessly "Today is Saturday, considering the time just passed a little over midnight"

Owens eyes went wide as he turned the phone to show Lucas the date and time on Caleb's phone

"Does anyone from our group have their phones on them or at least have their phones survive the crash?" Lucas asked looking over the confused bunch

"Mine was in my carry on bag. It was beside me on the flight before we fell from the sky" Avery responded

"Have you seen the bag since you woke up?" Lucas asked

"No" Her voice dropped

"Anybody else?" Lucas sighed

"Your watch" Max nudged Emma who seemed lost

"What?" She blinked twice, processing the words that just left Max's lips

"Your watch displays date and time, doesn't it?" Max said pointed to the watched strapped to her wrist

"Yeah it does but I don't think it still works considering what happened" She fumbled through her words

"Hand it over" Owen instructed

She struggled with the latch holding the watch in place, her hands shaking as her mind wandered

"Take deep breaths" Max said to her, hands on her shoulder

She closed her eyes, taking in slow deep breaths, matching Max's till her racing heart settled. Her eyes opened and she quietly took off the watch and tossed it over to Owen who yet again, caught it effortlessly

Everyone from the first group gathered round, their hearts in their mouths and their breaths trapped in their lungs as Owen held the watch to face level. He pushed the button the first time and nothing happened. He tried again for the second time and still nothing happened, same as the third and fourth time.

"It's busted" Owen said lowering the watch

There was a clear sigh of disappointment in the faces of everyone, Emma included. But then her head turned, looking at Owen

"It does that sometimes. Try holding down the power button" She said to him

He scanned her face before turning to look at the watch in his hand, his hand slightly trembled as he lifted the watch up again. All gathered round to see if there would be any difference

He held down the button… one second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds, five seconds and on the sixth second the face of the watch lit up.

The red led light on the watch flashed to reveal a few minutes passed midnight. Their eyes trailed down to the bottom right corner to see the date blinking as well.

Their collective mouths dropped to the floor as Owen called out the time and date for Caleb and his group "12:30 am Monday"

"It's fucking Monday?" Caleb asked "How's that possible?"

"Time moves differently on different parts of the island" Emma blurted out

All eyes fell on her as she cleared her throat to speak "How long did it take us to go from here to the other part of the island??"

"About an hour, I guess" Elijah responded

"Give or take" Max added

"And by the time we met on the other side, the sun was still up, yes or no?" Emma asked

"Yeah" They responded collectively

"But by the time we got back-" Emma continued to speak

"It was almost already dark" Lucas completed her sentence

"So for some reason, compared to the other areas of the island, on this part of the island, time moves the slowest or in a sense, normally" Emma noted looking over at Caleb "Where were you throughout the duration you were awake?"

"I found the rest of them-" pointing to the group beside him "knocked out on the beach floor hours after I woke up, and then we all moved inside the forest of the island cause it seemed to have more shade from the scorching sun"

"Is there anything you noticed while you were there?" Lucas asked

"It was dark" Owen said looking at Lucas

"Yeah it was" Caleb agreed "we thought it was because of the tall trees so we didn't think anything of it"

"Hold up a minute" Elijah spoke up "Owen, you said you woke up at the other side of the island as well right?"

"Yeah I did. But when I woke up, I didn't see anyone around me. I moved into the forest because I was hearing voices and like I stated earlier, I popped out on the other end I met Lucas" Owen said looking at Elijah

"How long do you think it took you to cross between the island?" Lucas asked

"I really have no idea" Lucas shrugged

"It's clear that this isn't a normal island" Max stated

Eyes trailed over each other, no one with an idea of what to say or do next. It was as if they were more afraid of what they would figure out if they kept thinking and chose to remain silent.

"Did you guys hear that scream from earlier?" Sophia asked "Before you came out from the forest?"

"We did but brushed it off as a bird or an owl" Zara Ahmed said

"Since when do owls scream?" Avery asks and then all eyes turned to look at Emma

"Why's everyone looking at me?" Emma asked startled by the eyes suddenly on her

"You're the bird lady" Max smiled at her

"One I'm not the "bird lady" and two, yeah owls tend to scream for various reasons" She responded

"See, bird lady" Max said

She threw a quick elbow into Max's side causing him to grunt in pain before brushing it off as a chuckle.

"Time moving differently, Currents flowing around the island instead of away or into the island, a gravitational pull towards the island. What other Secrets does this island hold and do we really want to find them out?" Lucas sighed looking over their almost complete group

"Did you guys come across professor Turner or Dr. Bennett?" Caleb asks looking over and around the group

"No, did you?" Sophia asks

"We didn't" Mia shook her head

"I don't think my brain can take any other disturbing information about this creepy murder island" Elijah raised his hand "I need sleep"

"Murder island?" Caleb asks

"We buried Captain Bailey over there" Lucas said pointing to the grave on the far end

"Shit" Caleb ran his hands through his hair letting out a heavy sigh "Elijah is right. We need to sleep and process privately"

Lucas nodded and turned to look at the group "Let's call it a night"

Everyone found a place around the campfire, laying down beside each other, their eyes slowly falling shut.

Owens' eyes flickered open and shut before he finally drifted to sleep. He tossed and turned as he tried to find a comfortable part of the ground to sleep on, kicking at the sensation he felt around his heel.

His eyelids dashed open as he felt a tug on his heel and before he could call out to anyone, he was already dragged into the thick dense forest by an outstretched hand covered by shadows. The words, terrified to leave his mouth as he struggled to yell for help. Crashing into branches, twigs and deep roots. His skin grazed, bruised and lacerated from impact with several sticks impaled into his flesh. His skin dragged through the rough soil causing tears and lacerations, with his bones exposed.

The hand pulled hard, slamming him into a nearby tree fracturing his ribs, causing him to bleed from the inside out. He gasped for air as he tried to crawl on his one good arm that was broken from the impact on into the tree.

"Help" He was finally able to say but the words came out barely as loud as a whisper

He could make out a figure in the distance, a feminine being strutted over to him. The closer she got the clearer her face was. Her graying hair danced in the cool evening wind as she wore a dark sadistic smile.

Professor Turner stood over his body, flipping him over so now he lay on his back, looking at the non-existent sky, hidden away by the tall cover trees.

She said nothing to him, dragging him by his hair deeper into the forest, causing a few locks of hair to tear with his scalp, a trail of blood trickling down from his head from the point where he was dragged to where he was slammed to the ground again.

He struggled to breathe as the air ceased flow to and from his lungs. His mouth filled with blood as he turned on his side to see death itself.

A dark faceless shadow rose from where it sat at the base of a tree. It rose up and moved closer to Owen before pushing him so he was now on his back again. It hovered over Owen as it spoke to Professor Turner in a language he couldn't understand

"This would do nicely"

The claws in its hands grew out from the tips of its fingers before lowering its hands down, tracing a line over Owen's chest, impaling his heart.

Professor Turner crouched down, the sinister grin still plastered across her face as she watched the life fade from his eyes. Color draining from his skin with the world around him losing its light, all he could hear was his name echoing through his mind from her lips

"Owen"

"Owen"

"Owen"

His eyes jolted open, beads of sweat formed on his forehead with more trickling down his spine as he panted and gasped for air holding on to his chest.

His eyes met Zara and Mia who looked shocked at his sudden response to being woken up from sleep. Breaking the gaze immediately he scanned his arms and legs for any bruise on his arms, wear or tear on his skin or exposed bones, but none of which could be found.

His hands flew to his head as he tapped and searched his head for blood from his bleeding scalp but his hair stood firm on his head. And finally reaching underneath his shirt to feel for a hole in his chest where the claw met his heart but his skin was just as smooth as it used to be.

"Are you okay?" Zara managed to ask, examining Owen as he displayed the basic levels of madness

He tried to speak but the words failed to form in his mouth. All he could do was breathe and process the information running loose in his mind

"I'm fine" He managed to say breaking the silence between them

"Are you sure?" Mia asked reaching to brush off the sand from his black hair

His head jolted back, as the image of his head being dragged by his hair till his scalp tore, flashed across his eyes.

She quickly withdrew her hands, taking a few steps back "We figured we'd wake you up considering how busy everyone was and we needed all hands on deck"

His breathing slowly returned to normal, his gaze trailed across the beach to see the group engaged with tasks; like Elijah, Caleb and Max stood within the shallow depths of the ocean with makeshift spears made from the branches of trees, as they engaged in spearfishing. Evan, Lucas, Milo and Avery walked along the edges of the forest, picking fruits from the trees they could reach and berries on the floor, while the rest of the ladies picked up the clothes laid loose on the beach floor and folded them into the boxes Lucas had earlier retrieved from the ocean.

"Come join us when you're ready" Zara said as they both turned on their heels and walked over to Lucas who had his eyes fixed on Milo as he climbed the coconut tree just up ahead

"Something's wrong with Owen" Zara said as she took her place beside Lucas

"What do you mean?" He broke his gaze from Milo to meet hers

"We woke him up and he seemed like someone who just survived a traumatic ordeal and he's contemplating life itself" she said turning to look at Owen who had his hands over his face

"If you think about it, we all just survived a traumatic ordeal and are still processing it" Lucas said quickly darting his eyes over to Milo who managed to pluck coconuts from the tree without falling to his death before turning to face Zara again "I'm sure he just had a bad dream. He'll be fine"

"It seemed different" She said looking at Lucas dead in this eyes

His eyes trailed over to Owen "like I said, he'll be fine" He said nodding towards Owen who was now on his feet, heading over to join the spear fishermen

She turned to watch Owen grab a stick from Max, fold up his trousers and marched into the water, taking quick Jabs into the sea bed, before laughing at himself as he missed a fish that was so close to the tip of his spear

"I don't think he's fine" She said turning back to face Lucas

He heaved a rather heavy sigh before responding to her "So what do you want me to do about it then?"

"He's your friend, talk to him and find out what happened" She said with her arms folded over her chest

"You woke him up from sleep and he was startled for a bit but he's already back on his feet, laughing and catching fish. He obviously had a bad dream and I'm pretty sure he's over it already so just let it go Zara" Lucas said before turning around to face his designated group, not waiting to entertain any further conversation with Zara

She rolled her eyes and scoffed at his "rude" exit and walked away, obviously accepting defeat with her arm linking in Mias as they joined in on the conversation with the other ladies as they all recounted fun memories, trying to block out their new reality.

Several hours had passed since everyone was given a task to complete and now it was getting dark. The group sat down around the newly built campfire Max constructed as they grilled the fish they had caught earlier on in the day. Conversation seemed to be lacking as everyone watched the flames burn and crackle, ashes flying into the night sky.

"Do you think anyone's going to find us?" Mia spoke up, breaking the deafening silence

"We can only hope" Zara said inching closer to wrap her hand around Mia's shoulder

"The school should know by now that something's wrong. I mean we've been missing for over a week now" Isabel blurted out

"You've been missing for one week. As for the rest of us it's only been three days" Owen corrected her

"I still can't wrap my head around the fact that we moved through time so quick we didn't even realize it" Caleb sighed

"How did you guys even survive out there for over a week?" Elijah asked looking around the members of the second part of their group

"It definitely felt like an adventure" Caleb started to speak

***

Caleb's eyes slowly opened as he grabbed the front of his pounding head. Blood dripped down his forehead as he stared into the endless Ocean in front of him. It wasn't rocket science neither did it take him more than a few moments to remember the moments leading up to the crash. He scanned his surrounding, looking for anything that could be used to clean and bandage his head but all he found were clothing, scattered all over the beach and the ocean

He grabbed the first thing his hands could reach without him needing to move from where he was; a white t-shirt, gripping it at the hem, pulling with all of his might till it ripped in half.

He used one half to wipe the blood from his forehead and then the other acted as a bandage as he wrapped it around his head. He groaned as he pushed himself from the beach floor, a hand on his shoulder before making a complete 360 looking at the environment around him.

"Hello" he called out "Can anyone hear me?"

There was no response as he moved farther down the left "Lucas, Mia, Owen" He yelled at the top his lungs, hoping for a response but there was none"

He paced back and forth for a while, looking lost and distraught before crashing down, knees first onto the sand beneath him. His breath shaky and he fought against the panic in his chest

Not here, not right now

He could feel his heart pounding hard and fast against his chest, his lungs refusing the air he was trying to force down, his face green with nausea as he tried to keep yesterday's dinner down. He held onto his chest as if his heart was about to burst.

"Breathe" He heard a rather familiar voice say but he couldn't lift his head up "Just breathe"

A hand on his back, rubbing around in calm circular motions as he took in the familiar but yet drowned scent "Take deep breaths Caleb"

He struggled but managed to take in the first deep breath

"That's it. Breathe in through your nose-" She took in a deep breath as well, breathing in to match his pace "and out through your mouth" She exhaled and he followed suit

They did the breathing exercise back and forth until his breathing returned back to normal, his heart beating at its regular tempo.

He looked up to meet a rather happy Mia "It's nice to see you too" She said

"Thank you" He managed to say returning the smile

***

"We stayed on the beach for a while but then decided to move into the forest which seemed like the best idea cause we wanted to hide out from the sun" Caleb said to the group "The very next day we found Zara and the rest, up the right side when we started sorting for supplies"

"There were little to no resources on the beach so we decided to stay inside the forest. It had shelter from the sun though it was a bit ominous and dark, we kind of felt safe cause we had each other" Mia said turning to look at Zara with a smile spread across her face

Caleb's eyes trailed across to look at Mia as she stared deep into Zara's eyes, his smile dissipating for a second before he looked away, turning his focus to anything and everything else.

"So you never found Ava?" Lucas asked

"We never did" Milo responded

"What I'd like to know now is; who woke up first between Lucas, Owen and Caleb?" Elijah said pushing his weight off his hands and sitting upright "Owen said he heard Lucas's voice when he woke up and followed it through the forest till he met Lucas on the other side. So if you were all awake at the same moment then you both should've heard Caleb when he was calling out names randomly"

"Do you think it's possible for sound to be distorted as well?" Max said lifting his head to look at the others

"What do you mean?" Caleb asked

"Well think of it this way, the island is letting some certain sounds pass through it and blocking out others" Max speculated

"We already know that the island, doesn't want anything around it to leave" Emma stated

"Hence the currents flowing around the island instead of in and out" Max added

"And we know that's caused by the strong gravitational pull the island has" Emma continued

"Which would explain why the plane suddenly crashed while we were flying barely above it" Elijah spoke up

"Are you trying to say that the island-" Lucas began to speak

"The island is alive and it's consciously trying to keep us inside it" Emma spoke up, as if pulling the words from his mouth

"Shit" Elijah said in a whisper