I glanced anxiously at Kirin and his face was full of concern. His eyes met mine and we made an unspoken decision. Kirin took off running and I followed, barely managing to keep up. We crashed through trees and bushes, cracking branches and twigs and leaving a trail of destruction in our wake.
I stumbled and fell, scraping my knees and palms on the rough ground scattered with small stones and twigs. I cried out in pain and Kirin looked back at me. Oh great, now he’s going to think I can’t even run. Good going Elise, Good going.
Kirin hurried towards me, worry in his expression. “Are you okay?” he asked, as he helped me up.
“Yeah I’m fine.” I brushed off his concern and shook myself off. It was a little bit annoying that he didn’t think I could take care of myself, but also really sweet that he actually cared.
We walked the rest of the way together, following the sound of the voice. The branches rustled around us in the morning breeze, making it difficult to hear very clearly.
After many minutes of stumbling through the forest, we came across a small clearing in the trees. By now, the voice had stopped, whoever had been yelling for help had no doubt gotten worn out, but I could see movement in the clearing. Someone was there. I was prepared to just step right into the clearing and help, but Kirin stopped me with a hand on my shoulder and beckoned for me to follow him. Even in a tense moment like this, his touch made my breath hitch and my stomach flutter.
He led me to a large clump of foliage, and I followed, trying not to make a noise. My breathing was heavy from the trek through the dense forest, but I tried my best to hide it. We knelt down behind the bush and peeked through at the clearing.
Bound to a tree in the center was a teenage girl. Her long, raven black hair was tied in a loose braid down her back and she was wearing a pink t-shirt and black leggings.
I gasped, and the girl looked up. She glanced around frantically, trying to find the source of the noise. Then, she began to scream for help again. We had to do something!
Before Kirin could stop me, I got up and ran into the clearing. The girl’s eyes zeroed in on me and her whole face lit up.
“Oh my gosh, thank god you came!” she exclaimed as I came into earshot. She seemed disoriented and almost hysterical, her words coming out in panicked breaths.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of there,” I reassured her. “Just a sec, let me go find something sharp to cut the rope with.” She nodded, calming herself and I went back into the forest to find a sharp rock that would be able to cut through the girl’s binds.
As I searched the ground for something pointy, Kirin walked up to me. “I got one.” he says, holding up a white rock with gray specks. He took my hand and led me back to the clearing where the girl was waiting anxiously. She seemed to have regained control of her terror and her eyes widened as she saw Kirin with me.
“Ooh you’re soo cute together.” she teased, glancing at our interlocked hands. I quickly let go of his hand, flustered.
Kirin smirked, undeterred. “I’d watch what you say.” he shot back playfully. “I’m the one with the rock and if you wanna get off of that tree, you better be nice.”
“Woah, woah, woah,” she said. “That’s taking it a little too far, buddy.” she sighed, exasperated. “Whatever, I can argue with you later. Just get me outta here please.”
Kirin laughed and began to saw at her restraints. “Your wish is my command,” he replied sarcastically.
As he worked away at the ropes, the three of us began to talk. She told us her name was Iris. She had no memory either and she’d been tied to that tree ever since she had woken up yesterday afternoon. She had been stuck longer than I had. Her upper arms were rubbed red and angry red welts were starting to appear. Just looking at them made me want to wince.
My stomach grumbled, interrupting Iris as she described waking up in the forest. They both turned to look at me, and my face turned bright red.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m really hungry.” It was true, my stomach felt completely empty and hollow. We hadn’t eaten in a whole day, and I was absolutely starving.
“Me too,” exclaimed Iris and Kirin in unison. They looked at each other and burst out laughing, leaving me standing there watching them awkwardly. I felt a sudden wave of jealousy seeing them like this, but I pushed the feeling down. That is so stupid, it’s not like he even likes me anyways.
Once everyone calmed down, we began planning.
“We really have to find a water source, asap,” said Kirin. “We need water or else we’re all as good as dead.” I inhale sharply. What he said was true, but it sounded so much harsher in words.
“I think there’s a stream or a river somewhere close by,” said Iris. “Last night when it was silent, I could hear running water.”
“That’s great news.” I exclaimed, practically jumping in joy. “Let’s go!”
We ended up standing there shock-still in complete silence for a couple minutes, listening for sounds of running water. Neither me nor Kirin could hear anything -I guess we’re just deaf- but Iris claimed that she could hear the water.
“This way,” she told us, gesturing to her right. We decided to trust her hearing abilities, and we headed that way, following her lead. A long time passed, and I finally began to hear the sound of rushing water. It got louder and louder until it was all I could hear, surrounding and engulfing me. The roaring sound of water echoed in my ears, taunting me. Why weren’t we there yet?
My mouth felt suddenly dry and I desperately longed for a sweet, refreshing drink of water. I could imagine the feeling of cool water in my mouth, wetting my parched lips and-
Suddenly, a figure appeared out of the trees right in front of me. I screamed in surprise and the figure jumped back, startled. The others rushed up behind me, hearing my cry. I recovered from the initial shock and I saw that the figure was a teenage boy with jet black hair and dark brown eyes. His cheeks were red and he looked out of breath, his tan coloured shirt drenched with sweat.
“Hey,” he said casually. Somehow, he didn’t look surprised to see us, as if he expected us to be here.
“Hi,” replied Iris. “What’s your name?”
His name was Dominic and like us, he had no memory. He had been drawn here because of the sound of running water, also like us. We didn’t waste too much time talking though, we could catch up later. We had to find water. Fast.
After another painful minute of pushing our way through the trees, we stepped into a clearing in the woods. In the middle was a large, cascading waterfall.
We stared in awe at the massive, roaring falls, marveling in its beauty. The water fell in shimmering curtains that glittered in the light. It shifted from white to blue to purple in a stunning show of colours that I had never imagined could be found in a waterfall.
“Wow,” I breathed, captivated. No wonder the sound was so loud, the water was falling from 15 feet high.
We finally began to move again, fueled by thirst. We walked away from the cascade, following the river until we reached a spot where the water was decently calm.
I hurriedly cupped my hands and scooped up a handful of water, pouring it into my mouth. The others did the same. The water trickled down my throat, sweet and cool. Never had plain water tasted so heavenly. I gulped down handful after handful, until I was finally satisfied.
“We should bathe,” suggested Dominic. “We’re all so dirty.” I glanced down at my mud caked arms and legs, and grimaced.
“Good idea.” The next few minutes were spent swimming in the river, fully clothed, cleaning ourselves off. The river was actually quite shallow, the water just high enough to wet the tips of my hair. It was a nice temperature too, just warm enough so that you didn’t freeze, but pretty cold to keep you nice and sharp-minded.
As I was cleaning off the cake of dirt on my legs, I was suddenly pushed underwater. I swallowed a huge gulp of water and almost choked. Sputtering and coughing, I surfaced and saw Kirin grinning down at me. “Hah, Gotcha!”
I narrowed my eyes playfully. “Oh you’re gonna get it.” I splashed water at him, hitting him square in the face and soaking his hair. He shook it off, grinning and splashed me back. I dodged the brunt of the impact, but some of the water managed to flick me in the eye. We continued like this, getting each other's clothes more and more wet until we were completely soaked, head to toe. He was stronger, but I was smaller and quicker. I took that to my advantage and dodged the water coming at me. Kirin quickly got tired of splashing, and picked me up, throwing me hard into the river. I fell head first into the water, grinning wildly.
I opened my eyes underwater and looked around for the first time. The river bed was armoured with rocks and stones, covering its entire surface and making for a hard landing if Kirin had thrown just a little harder. I realized how stupid we had been, pushing and throwing each other around. One of us could’ve been seriously hurt.
I noticed a dark rock, almost black in color, and picked it up. It was smooth and round, no edges or points. On it were four letters engraved in gold. I surfaced and pulled myself out of the water onto the riverbank, intending to show the others. My clothes dripped onto the dirty ground, changing into mud where the river water droplets hit. But I didn’t care about my soaked clothes or my damp hair.
“Guys,” I shouted. “Look what I found.” Everyone gathered around to see the rock and the engraving.
“What is that?” asked Iris, tracing her finger along the indented words. “USAP,” she muttered softly to herself. “Sounds familiar.” I also felt like I knew those four letters from somewhere, but I couldn’t quite place the feeling of deja vu.
“Maybe they’re just random marks and we’re overinterpreting this.” suggested Dominic, shrugging his shoulders.
“Yeah…” I said unconvincingly, “Could be.” But no one actually believed it. Those marks were no doubt man-made, etched into the rock on purpose. Someone had left their mark here and wanted us to know.
We were silent for a few moments, then I put stone on the ground near my feet. We all went back to cleaning ourselves off, the playful energy gone, replaced by a somber mood. I stayed out of the water, having finished washing the mud off.
I was blanked out, staring off into space when suddenly, the sound of twigs snapping underfoot and leaves rustling broke the silence. I jumped to my feet in surprise and whipped around.

Two girls stepped out of the trees. One was tall and slim with long black hair and big, brown eyes. She wore a light pink tank top and black leggings with white stripes down the sides. The other had dark brown hair that fell in smooth curls, framing her face and olive skin. She wore a black Adidas shirt and gray sweatpants. They both looked dirty and exhausted, their clothes caked with mud and dark bags under their eyes.
More people?? I thought, How many of us are there on this island?
I was the first to speak, trying my best to welcome them warmly.
“Hey,” I said, stepping forward to meet them. “My name’s Elise and these are my friends Kirin, Iris and Dominic.” I gestured to each of them in turn. “What’re your names?”
I realized that I had greeted them so casually as if this was a very common occurrence. To me, this was starting to become my norm, and I didn’t like it.
The girl with black hair spoke up, looking both shell shocked and relieved. “My name’s Sylvie and this is Amber.” Amber waved timidly and smiled.
“We’ve been walking around for ages.” exclaimed Amber, shaking her head wearily. She sighed and rubbed her rubbed her temple. “We haven’t had anything to eat or drink-” she stopped mid sentence and gasped. “Water!” she cried. She stumbled clumsily towards the river with Sylvie at her heels. They drank for a few minutes straight and we waited for them patiently.
Once they were done, we filled each other in. Iris informed the two girls about the rock I had found in the river, and to my surprise, they said that they had discovered a similar one on the beach where they had first woken up.
“The rock we found also had the same engravings,” said Sylvie when we showed her the four gold letters that were written on the stone. “Strange.”
After waking up on the beach, the two girls had followed the shoreline all the way around the area and they confirmed that we were in fact on an island in the middle of the ocean. I had thought as much, but this still somehow shocked me. I half listened to their conversation, mind wandering.
We were really stuck on an island. Now how was I supposed to get back home? Do I even have a home? I could feel panic coming on and I tried to push it away, fighting against the tide of fear that was about to wash over me. My vision blurred and I felt faint. I shivered despite the warm tropical temperature and took a shuddering breath. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t…
I felt someone lightly bump my arm and I looked up to meet Kirin’s worried gaze. You okay? He mouthed silently, his expression anxious.
I’m fine, I replied, forcing a smile. We both knew that I was far from it, but he let it go and looked back at Iris. She was recounting the story of how she had been rescued from the tree by Kirin and I, waving her arms excitedly and making me seem like a hero.
After all the stories were told and everyone had calmed down, we were on the move again. We had agreed to continue following the river, heading towards the mountains in the distance. The plan was to climb the mountains and get a better view of the entire island. It was a lousy plan at best, crazy and irrational at worst, but it was our only plan. I could see the mountain range peeking out from the top of the palm trees, tall and frightening. I shuddered. How did we plan on climbing that? There was no way this was going to work.
Amber and Iris had immediately gotten along, chatting and laughing the whole way. They led the group along the river, towards the mountains. Kirin and I were in the back, walking in comfortable silence. I had stopped shaking so much and I felt a little better than before. Honestly, I had no idea what had happened. I guess I had just completely panicked and spaced out.
Now, I let my mind wander while I walked. I thought about Kirin and I. What kind of ‘relationship’ was this? Was this even a relationship at all? Were we doing this as friends or as more? Do I want this to become more? Did he even like me back or was I imagining things.
What the actual heck Elise. Stop daydreaming about him, you’re way overthinking this. You’re not in any kind of relationship. You’re just friends, and that’s how it’ll stay. He doesn’t like you so you need to stop liking him.
I was pulled abruptly out of my thoughts by Iris’s cry. “Guys!” she said, stopping. “Look what I found,” she pointed down at the ground near her feet. I shook myself out of my thoughts and went to check out what Iris was looking at. There, half hidden behind a shrub were six metal water bottles. They were completely out of place, their bright shiny surfaces standing in stark contrast with the mud brown ground, looking completely unused and new.
“Water Bottles?” I exclaimed in disbelief. This made no sense. How were six completely untouched water bottles lying on an island in the middle of nowhere? And exactly six, one for each of us. It was too suspicious.
“That’s sketchy,” said Dominic, shaking his head. “It’s like these water bottles have been placed here on purpose, just for us,”
“There’s definitely something weird going on here,” muttered Amber, almost to herself more than to us.
“No duh,” said Iris sarcastically. “Someone took a bunch of teens, erased their memories, and plopped them smack dab in the middle of a tropical island. Doesn’t seem weird to me at all.” She sounded so angry and she looked ready to explode or just punch someone. Slyvie noticed too and stepped in.
“Okay everyone, let’s just deal with this calmly,” she said. “Here’s a positive point: we all have water bottles to store water in now.” Iris glared at her and she shrugged. “Let’s just deal with this positively and think of this as a good thing okay?” We all mumbled our agreement and Iris nodded unhappily.
I picked up one of the water bottles to look at it closely. At first glance, it seemed like there was nothing special about it. I rotated it in my hands, welcoming the cool feeling of the new metal. Yup, the material was still cold. Definitely just arrived here or else it would already be burning hot. I flipped the water bottle over to look at the bottom and saw something that made my jaw drop open in shock.
The middle of the circular base was marked with a logo. Three overlapping blue circles with four golden letters overtop. USAP.
I dropped the water bottle in shock. It hit the ground with a metallic thud, sending up a spray up dirt that showered over my foot and clung to the edge of my still wet pant leg. I didn’t bother to brush it off, my mind on other matters at the moment.
“Guys…” I said, trying to get their attention. I turned around slowly to see that they were all staring over my shoulder at the logo on the water bottle, stunned into silence.
“It's the same as the rock,” observed Kirin softly. Dominic nodded solemnly.
“Who or what’s USAP?”asked Iris, saying out loud the question we were all thinking. We were once again silent. No one had an answer.
‘We should take the water bottles.’ Dominic pointed out, breaking the awkward silence.
We agreed and took one each, filling them with cool water from the stream. I stuck mine into the river and the water flowed into the bottle, filling it up within seconds. The cool water splashed against my arm in gentle ripples, leaving droplets of water on my hand. I watched the drops slide down the back of my hand and fall back into the river current, lost in thought.
The sounds of the forest began to fade away and I was suddenly acutely aware of the movement of the leaves on every tree around me. I could feel, sense everything in remarkable detail. I felt the river rushing in front of me, small animals scampering through the plants. I could feel the air around every object, bending and pulsing with life.
How was this happening? What was going on? I thought, oddly calm.
My mind was racing but my body remained still and concentrated, seemingly indifferent to the panicked storm of thoughts inside my head. I could hear everything clearer, the sounds around me echoing in my head and blending together into a dizzying whirlwind. I could hear the steady thump thump of my beating heart in the background, becoming faster and faster as my breaths came out in sharp, ragged gasps. My vision started to fade, getting blurry around the edges. Suddenly, it all grew to an overwhelming crescendo in a flash of light, covering my vision in white dots. I could feel myself slipping into unconsciousness as my body went slack.

     I was the first to notice the shift in the air. It was as if the atmosphere had grown heavy, weighing me down. I quickly screwed the cap back on the water bottle I was filling and turned to the others. 

     “Do you guys feel that?” I asked, looking up at the sky in bewilderment. There was definitely something weird happening and I blamed USAP, whoever or whatever they were. Ever since I had woken up on the island, I could feel something in the back of my mind, fighting to get out. There was something that I knew before I had forgotten everything, that was essential to our survival. The thought was always right there, too far for me to grasp it, but close enough to taunt me.

     When Elise had found the rock with the USAP carving, it triggered something in my memories. There was not an inch of doubt in me. I absolutely detested USAP. Somehow, I knew that they were the ones behind this all.

     “Um, no,” answered Amber, eyeing me curiously. “What do you mean?” The others looked as confused as Amber was, not understanding what I was saying. I was shocked. How could no one else feel it?

     “You mean you can’t feel the air shifting?” I asked. Most of them shook their heads, looking at me like I was crazy, but Kirin nodded his head slightly. I looked at him hoping for some backup, maybe he felt it too. Kirin just furrowed his eyebrows and gave me a look that said it’s probably nothing, let it go. I was getting annoyed. He felt it, so why didn’t he say anything and help my case? I couldn’t let it go yet.

     “The air, no, the space is changing and moving unnaturally.” I tried to describe it, becoming increasingly frustrated when none of them understood, the expressions on their face turning from confused to worried. I knew this was something important and it angered me that no one was listening. 

     “Are you okay?” asked Sylvie, stepping forward and putting a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged her off, dismissing her worry along with everyone else’s.

     “I’m fine.” I lied, sighing. They wouldn’t get it anyways so I should just stop trying. Kirin was probably right, it was nothing. 

     We began to make our way out of the clearing and into the trees for shade, each step taking us farther away from the river and our source of water. It was getting hotter as the sun slowly creeped its way higher in the sky and I could feel sweat dripping down my back. Although the day was bright, it was decently dark under the trees. Their leaves only let in small pinpricks of sunlight that scattered the otherwise dark forest with golden spots.

     As I walked, I tried taking Kirin’s advice, concentrating on letting go of my thoughts. But the air still weighed down heavily on me, making it very difficult to forget. Even as the feeling slowly faded away the farther we got from the river, I still didn’t understand, I thought Kirin or Sylvie would get it. They seemed observant and understanding. And Elise, out of everyone, I thought she would have- I stopped mid-thought. Elise, where was she?

     I looked around as we walked, and couldn’t find her. There was Amber and Dominic… Kirin, Sylvie. I found myself panicking even though she couldn’t be in trouble. After all, we were safe. But a part of me continued to scream run, run find her, help her.

     “Guys where’s Elise?” I asked, trying to keep the panic from showing in my expression. Kirin answered first, a look of confusion on his face.

     “Yeah, where did she go?” he looked around, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand. “I think she was just here a moment ago…” he trailed off, looking back in the direction we had just come from. I followed his gaze. At first I couldn’t see anything, but then I saw what he was looking at.

     In the distance, Elise was still hunched at the edge of the river, her back facing us. From here in the trees, she looked like a human shaped dot, but if I squinted my eyes, I could make out Elise’s brown hair and black tee. 

     What was she still doing there? I wondered. Why hadn’t she come with us into the forest?

     “Elise!” yelled Kirin, cupping his hands around his mouth. “What are you doing?” No answer. He asked again, raising his voice even louder. She still didn’t answer and I was starting to get very worried.

     “Elise! Are you okay?” I asked, yelling as loud as a possibly could. My voice echoed in the forest, but I knew she couldn’t hear us. The distance was too great, and even if I could yell loud enough, the river would drown me out.

     By now, the others had gathered around, looking on anxiously and watching Kirin and I scream our lungs off. She started to sway slightly, and went limp. I gave up trying to be calm and ran my hands through my hair, debating what to do. My french braid came out and strands of hair fell onto my face, covering my vision. I blew a hair out of my face as I thought hard. She definitely was not okay and yelling wasn’t getting anywhere.

Screw it.

     I made up my mind, taking off at a run towards Elise and the river, leaving Kirn, Amber, Sylvie and Dominic behind. It was a decently long run and by the time I reached the halfway point, I was already breathing heavily and a cramp was starting to form under my left rib. I turned around, clutching my side and gasping for air. No one had followed, watching me from a distance. I felt a sudden flash of anger. Did no one else care about her? Did no one else want to know if she was okay? I finally caught my breath and started running again, going faster than ever.

     I was now in yelling range with Elise and I opened my mouth to call her name. Instead, I cried out in pain as my side lit on fire, making me double over, clutching my left rib cage. I didn’t have any memory, but I was pretty sure that this was the worst cramp I had ever had in my life. Was I really that out of shape? Not possible. Somehow I knew that the pounding in my head and the sharp pain in my side were caused by something else. 

     My mind immediately went to USAP, although that didn’t make any sense. Why would I be blaming them for… whatever was happening? 

     I pushed it aside and struggled to suck in another breath. Why was this so difficult? I bent forward with my hands on my knees as I was hit with a wave of nausea. I stood up with difficulty and looked back, wobbling unsteadily. There were four blurry figures coming towards me. Squinting my eyes, I could make out Kirin, Amber Dominic and Sylvie, running towards me. Their mouths were moving but I couldn’t hear what they were trying to tell me. I tried desperately to control the oncoming panic. What was happening? 

     Through my blurry vision, I saw Kirin point at something behind me. His expression changed to one of horror and he started to yell. Or at least it looked like he was yelling. I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure of anything anymore, just that I was so tired and my head hurt so much. Kirin continued to point and yell, running even faster. I wondered what he was so worried about. What was he pointing at?

     Mustering all my remaining strength, I forced myself to turn around. It was hard to focus, my head was spinning and knives were stabbing into my side. I took a slow breath and concentrated on what was in front of me. I could see someone kneeling on the ground by the edge of the water. My muddled brain struggled to figure out why someone was kneeling by the river and why that would worry Kirin… Elise! 

     The thought brought a gut wrenching feeling and a sense of doom washed over me. Something was wrong, I could feel it. I struggled to my feet and took a stumbling step towards her. A flash of white exploded in the corners of my eyes and my head spun wildly. I couldn’t see, couldn’t feel. Then it was over, my vision returning to normal and the pain in my side gone. Only my head still throbbed, although a lot better than before. I let out a relieved gasp and ran towards Elise.

     Just before I reached her, it all came back in double force. I was knocked to my knees, gasping for air. I heard someone yell my name over the sound of blood rushing in my ears. A scream. Pain. “Grab her! She’s falling!” I couldn’t tell who was yelling and who they were yelling at. More shouting. “Iris! Grab her!” The sound of my name pulled me out of my fever. I looked up just in time to see Elise slowly begin to fall into the river.