Mariah+L

PARADISE LOST

=Chapter one: The Call =

Tap. Tap. Tap.

A girl’s finger repeatedly tapped the table as she eagerly waits by the phone. Her shinny red hair glistened as the sun beat in through the window.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Is it ever going to ring," The red haired girl said impatiently, "It's already been a week!"

The brass handle on the door turned, and the wooden door flew open as fast as a plane.

"Relax Taylor, I'm sure we won."

The voice came from the front door which Taylor had left unlocked. A girl with rosy cheeks and brown wavy hair burst through the door and into the kitchen where Taylor was still sitting.

Taylor looked around in confusion. Her forehead was scrunched up and her eyebrows were curved upward. She asked, "I thought she was coming here with you?”

Taylor peered down the hall and out the door the brunette girl came from. The door was left open, and the blinding sun was shining into Taylor's little house. The brunette stared out onto the dry crispy grass outside. It was so dry that her shoes had left footprints when she walked up to the door.

"Mariah," Taylor grunted, "why do you always get so distracted? I said, 'I thought Priya was coming here with you."

"Oh right, sorry, I was just trying to remember if I watered my grass this morning. Mom always gets mad when I forget to.... Anyways, Priya texted me early this morning to tell me she was gonna be late. She suggested I just meet her here instead."

"Well, what was she doing so early? It's only eight o'clock in the morning."

Taylor’s mind flooded with possibilities. //Maybe Priya is inventing a rocket ship. Maybe she’s sailing the Pacific. What if she’s communicating telepathically to aliens.// Taylor had a fantastic imagination, she was the life of the party.

"She had to drive to the ferry terminal to pick up John. His parents are out of town and Priya's parents offered to do it for them," Mariah murmured as she glanced back out the door at the brown grass. "I sure hope I watered the grass..."

Beep! beep!

A old fashion car horn sounded from outside. Taylor immediately recognized the horn and jumped to her feet. There was a quiet slam of a car door and then Priya appeared in the doorway. She had long, think, dark hair, and she was very tall and thin. A short boy with dark hair and square rimmed glasses followed Priya inside. Priya squealed and scurried into the kitchen like a dainty mouse. Taylor left her station at the phone to hug Priya for only a few seconds. As soon as she stepped away from the table, the phone rang. Everyone in the room went silent.

Briiiinnnggg! Briiiinnnggg!

Then there was dead silence. They all looked around the room at each other. Taylor's heart was almost beating out of her chest.

Briiiinnnggg! Briiiinnnggg!

The four of them stood there in shock glancing back and forth at one another. All of them were afraid of answering the phone and only hear a crisp, automated, monotone voice telling them they had not won the contest. Mariah’s bright blue eyes kept flickering back and forth from Taylor and the phone. Taylor’s pale face was turning beet red from fear. If she waited any longer, a drop of sticky sweat would have rolled down her face. The phone was only an arm’s reach away from her. She took a deep breath in, filling her lungs with cool air, paused for a moment, then heavily exhaled. Gripping the phone tightly with her shaky right hand, she pressed the ‘talk’ button with her left index finger.

“Hello?” Her voice was very quiet and timid. The beet red colour of her face had now turned to a dead white. Her heart beat was racing like a cheetah.

“Is Taylor Campbell available?”

“This is she. What can I help you with?”

“Hi Taylor, I’m very happy to inform you that you have won the trip for four to Sweden to meet the one and only, Henrik Sedin!”

“AAAAHHHHHHHHH!” Taylor shrieked uncontrollably. Every feature on her face became full of colour. Her excitement was so powerful it could light up the world. The woman on the phone and Taylor finished up their conversation. It seems as though the conversation never ended. There were so many fine details that needed to be worked out.

Taylor turned around to face the others, her face still beaming.

“Well,” she chuckled, “we won.”

* * *

Flying high above the clouds, the four winners sat two by two on a small jet plane. In only a few more hours, Taylor would walk off the plane to see the man of her dreams, Henrik Sedin. Taylor was wearing a #33 jersey, which she planned to get him to sign and a pair a black jeans. Mariah was dressed quite differently. She wore a big sweater and yoga pants. Priya’s shoulders and knees were bare, as she was wearing a tank top and shorts. John, with his square rimmed glasses, was also wearing a big sweater, but he wore blue jeans with it. The one thing that made them all best friends was how easily they can be open to each other. Secrets were never kept in their friendship; none of them felt the need to.

All of a sudden the sky turned a dark, mysterious, spine-chilling black. Lighting bolts hurled from the sinister clouds as the defying thunder roared like lions from the sky. The violent air current tore the plane from side to side. The friends quickly buckled up their seat belts. John was in the bathroom moments before the plane hit the deadly storm and was now moving as fast as one’s legs can carry one back to his seat.

Mariah and Priya were sitting next to each other and without realizing it they had grabbed each others hands. Mariah glanced down and noticed that her fingers were intertwined with Priya’s; She liked it. She gazed up into Priya’s eyes and Priya eyes were already locked on her. They held this contact for what seemed like a life time. The plane drastically jerked down and Mariah broke the contact. Now, looking out the window, she thought it seems like the storm was almost over. A speck of sun was peaking out from behind a dull, hopeless cloud giving it a warm glow.

“Attention all passengers,” said a deep voice on the speakers above their heads. “We have just passed through a very treacherous storm. I must advice you all keep your seat belts securely fastened for the rest of the flight to ensure you all arrive safely at your destination. We seem to have gotten a little off course, but not to worry, I, Pilot Albert, will have us back on course as fast as you can say-”

Before Albert could finish his sentence, the plane drove in a downward spiral towards a cluster of varied sized islands. The fuel icon in the pilot’s cockpit was blinking a furious red. The ear-bleeding plane alarm started to sound as it headed straight for the island below.

As soon as the plane made contact with the sandy ground, Albert was knocked unconscious. He has a thick stream of dark red blood oozing down his sweaty forehead. The four contest winners were all conscious and uninjured. Physically, they were all fine; Mentally, they have never been worse.

Taylor wailed in distress, “I wont get to meet Hendrik Sedin!” = "Gripping the phone tightly with her shaky right hand, she pressed the ‘talk’ button with her left index finger." =

=Chapter two: The Unexpected =

Waves crashed along the shore line as the wind whipped Priya's hair in every direction. A faint beeping could be heard from inside the plane as it lay there in pieces. Salt and blood were the only scent to be smelt for miles. A huge gust of wind came from the west and shook the remains of the plane.

The four friends sat there in total shock. Each one of their faces was identical. They sat there with blood stains and scraps on their cheeks, and skin as pale as the lifeless sand among them. They shared the same thoughts, but were too afraid to say them aloud. //Did that just happen; How on earth are we alive?//

After what seemed like a life time, Taylor slowly and shakily turned around to face Mariah and Priya. "Are yo-you... O...kay?" Her voice broke as she tried to speak.

Heads began to slowly nod up and down. They were afraid that if they moved too fast, something worse would happen.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Seat belts were being unfastened as the four of them arose from their blood covered seats.

"Over there," John pointed. At the rear of the plane, an inflatable, yellow life boat was sprawled across the floor. Quickly, he ran to pick it up. Taylor, being thoughtful --like always-- rushed to his side to help him open it up. The boat burst open, and John threw it into the water.

“Food and fresh water,” John said. “This island has none of that. All it is, is hot sand and salty water.” John motioned to a neighbouring island just south of them. “There, there is were we need to be!”

* * *

Trees of all shapes and sizes covered the island. It was as if a green blanket was laid over the sand. Huge, round, spiky pineapples grew tall from the ground. If you listened closely, you could hear a trickling stream in the middle of the dense jungle.

Sun was beating down on Taylor’s head as she strolled along the beach. She was walking in just the right place so that when the waves came in, they would just kiss her feet.

As she walked down the beach, she remembered all the times she would go on family outings to the beach back home. //Burn//, Taylor thought. //All I did was burn.//

Screams came from the edge of the jungle. Taylor’s attention snapped to the noise, and her eyes squinted to try to catch a better glimpse. The three others were waving their arms frantically and yelling at Taylor to come back.

“I have an idea!” Taylor couldn’t quite decipher which friend was yelling, but she flew back across the sand to where they were standing. It turned out Mariah was the one yelling.

The four friends walked over to the shade and sat down. Their energy was completely whipped. Sitting there like slugs on a hot day, all on them looked around at each other a sighed. //Why us?//

Mariah cleared her throat and opened her mouth as if to begin talking, and then closed it. She repeated this action a few more times before actually beginning her speech. Obviously, she had her words well planned out.

“I remember watching movies at home with my family. I remember all the lessons they taught. Survival movies were always my favorite as a child, but I never thought watching them would come in handy.”

Before continuing, Mariah looked around the circle of friends. That was how her family would sit on game night. She wished she could see them more than anything right now. What wouldn’t she give to be able to crawl into her parents bed when the storm got too violent. What would’t she give to smell the freshly brewed coffee her mom made every morning.

“Taylor, you burn the easiest -being a ginger- so you will be assigned tasks in the jungle, away from the sun. Priya and john, you will stay out on the beach and make the best shelter you can. I’ll go with Taylor.”

= "The four friends walked over to the shade and sat down." =

=Chapter three: The Berry of Fatality =

It had already been three days since the crash, and Taylor and Mariah had only found berries. None of them knew what kind of of berries were safe to eat, so they were trying to be as careful as they could. They only picked berries that were similar to ones they had eaten before at home. Carefully, they’d pick through those ones and find that had a similar shape and size to the ones at home. It was the safest way they had.

The sun beat down on the back of their necks while they sat in a circle picking through berries.

“Is this one a safe one?”

Priya held a bright red berry up to the sun. She admired it for a moment before she put it back down in the pile.

John glanced over her shoulder and looked at the berry. John had taken many survivor classes before, but he never once paid attention.

“It looks safe to me,” he smiled proudly.

Priya’s stomach was making noises. All she could think about was eating food. That berry had to be good.

She popped the berry into her mouth.

Like hawks stalking a mouse, the three pairs of eyes were intensely focused on her mouth as it chewed the juicy berry.

Nothing.

Nothing was happening. She seemed to be completely fine.

Taylor looked down and saw that almost all the berries they had looked like the one Priya daringly ate. She too picked up a berry and plopped it in her mouth. Mariah and John followed her actions and ate the berries as well.

None of them could stop eating. The taste was too sweet. Meals had been missed for days, and now they had all the berries right in front of them. A feast. What a grand feast it was. They had never been so happy to see a bunch of berries.

Juice trickled down Priya’s chin and Mariah wiped it away for her. Their eyes made contact like on the plane. Mariah was getting lost in Priya’s deep brown eyes.

//Chocolate,// Mariah though. //Her eyes remind me of chocolate. Oh how i miss junk food....//

Priya broke the gaze to look down. Curiously, Mariah looked down,too. They had been holding hands. Both of them had been too caught up in each others stares to notice. Grabbing ahold tighter, they stood up and walked down the beach.

It was no secret. They both has fallen in love.

Mariah was envisioning them dancing on the beach with happy romantic music playing just like in the movies.

“What are you thinking about?” Mariah asked in awe. She hoped Priya would be thinking about her, that she was having the same vision as well, and that she wanted the same things.

“Rainbows. Lots of colours... I feel like everything is a dream.” Priya was hallucinating. “The water, it surrounds me... why?”

“Priya, we gotta get you some help. You must have eaten a bad berry.”

“Bu’ food is food, ‘ometimes ‘ou gotta do whut rain says to do.”

“Guys! Help! Priya isn’t doing too good,” Frantically, Mariah rushed her over to the others.

Priya was going limp; her body was ice cold. Her eyes started to flutter. LIfe was draining from her like a rushing waterfall.

Her eyes shut; never to open again.

Wailing in agony, Mariah fell to her knees and covered Priya’s body with hers.

One by one, they fell asleep. None of them were ever going to wake up. = “It looks safe to me.” =