Eye of the Storm

Chapter 3

Sandpaper rubs against my eyes, a burning sensation flowing through my veins like wildfire. Where am I? Noises crash together, unrecognisable. My body like an old stone, heavy and cracking. I can’t move.
“Esme?” Is that my name? “Esme wake up!” the words singe my ears pulling me out of my death like trance, heaving the sandpaper off of my eyes.
“Leo?” pain shoots through my throat like a bullet.
“Stop, don’t talk,” his eyebrows arch as he looks around at our surroundings, urging me to do the same. My heart rises out of my chest then sinks lower than the bottom of the ocean. The ocean tickling at my feet.
“Where are we?!” I cry, jolting up. I ignore the pain.
“I don’t know,” I spin my head discovering pain in places I never knew existed. Tall trees spot the coastline, nothing like the trees at home. “I think we…”
“…crashed,”
“I’m so sorry, I-
Darkness.

The sandpaper feeling is quickly there and gone as my eyes peel open.
“Ezzie!” f*ck. “Are you ok?” how do I even begin to answer that question when I don’t know where I am? “Ezzie answer me,” I feel my body being hauled upwards, shooting pain like shattering glass. We crashed. They told me it would be ok, they promised. Everyone promised.
“Don’t talk to me,” dribbles off my tongue. I don’t even know if I’m making sense because the only thing I can make sense of is my pounding headache.
“Esme I’m so, so sorry,” Lorenzo holds me in his arms staring at me with a genuine expression. I don’t care if he’s genuine. I don’t even care if he’s sorry. Apologies aren’t going to fix anything right now.
“Leave me ALONE!” the words crash out without an ounce of control, not even giving me a chance to think.

The sand is different to home. It’s not white and fluffy like marshmallows under your feet. It’s yellow, coarse. Like walking on nails, red hot nails. Trees tower above and slowly die out forming a small semicircle around us, an atoll, if you will. Everything is unfamiliar, unknown. Intimidating. I let the water dance against my toes, the salt seeping into all my wounds. My brain still can’t comprehend, it all happened so fast. For all I know I could be asleep on the plane and this could all be a dream.
“Esme,” I turn around. Leo stands there. Everyone took a battering. Leo’s shirt may as well be off and his arms are stained a rosy red. “They…” he turns around to the group, huddled under a tree avoiding the suns glare. “Wanted me to come over,”
“Why.” As unwelcoming as my voice is, he sits down next to me.
“You don’t remember, do you?” he asks, looking at me earnestly.
“Remember what?” he looks taken aback, but at the same time like he was expecting that.
“You were very drunk, I don’t expect you to remember,” my heart sinks down pulling my throat with it making it feel tight. I nod slowly. “About six months ago, you and I… we…” he fiddles with his shirt, pulling threads out of the singed ends. “We didn’t do anything bad, we only went as far as making out, I think…”
“What?” I rack my brain but nothing comes out, I don’t remember any of that. I don’t even know who this guy is! As far as I know we’ve only played soccer together in mandatory tournaments.

“I don’t think that’s what we should be talking about, though. I wanted to ask if you’re ok,” he looks me in the eyes carefully, as if he’s studying me.
“… I’m fine,” I’m not fine. My plane just crashed, I don’t know where I am, my bones are aching, dried blood coats my skin like a layer, tears threaten against my stinging eyes and I just found out about a one night stand I had with the guy I thought I was getting close with.
“Don’t lie to me Esme,”
“Well what do you expect me to say!? We just crashed!!!” I yell, digging my heels into the sand. I’m not an angry person, normally. I can’t control myself right now. My brain is overloaded to the point where I may explode. My hands fly to my head to contain myself, fingertips digging into my scalp. “How are you not freaking out?!”
“Because I know they’ll come,”
“So you’re just going to sit here like a mindless sheep?!” sometimes when I speak I wish I could just shove the words back down my throat.
“Seems like it,” his jaw tightens as he speaks. “I think Ethan can take it from here,”

Each hour brings everyone a new emotion. Ranging from grief to confusion to anger. Some people lie passed out on sand, exhausted. How did this happen? I don’t know what to feel. Ethan leans on me, his breath hitching on my shoulder.
“Did you know?” I ask.
“Know what?” his voice sounds like he’d rather be anywhere else. Which I think is a common theme amongst all of us. I point subtly to Leo. He nods.
“Why didn’t you tell me,” I ask, feeling a little hurt. Does everyone know? Is that why I get weird looks whenever I talk to Leo?
“Because maybe I wanted to forget too,”