Welcome To The Jungle

Prologue:

“Carolina O’Mahney! If you don’t bloody hurry up, the boat’s going to leave without us!”

At the sound of Liz’s voice, I threw some socks into the bag. We were leaving for a cruise of the Pacific, and we were supposed to be in Downtown Los Angeles fifteen minutes ago!

“Caro, if you don’t get your bum down here, I will be forced to go up, chainsaw in hand, and personally hack open your door.”

I didn’t have to recognize the voice to know who said that. Arielle Harper was nutty, zany, loopy, sarcastic, and odd. She was also one of the greatest friends you could ask for.

Grabbing the suitcase, I rushed down the stairs, and out to the cars. Arielle’s ancient Suburban looked ratty next to Samantha’s shiny new VW Rabbit. Victoria was driving the Suburban, because no one trusted Arielle to, with Adrian, Arielle, and myself in tow. Samantha, responsible enough to drive her own car, took Liz, Drew, and Cory.

After a rather uneventful ride, we arrived at the port, and boarded the boat, unaware our lives were about to be altered forever.

Chapter 1: Unscheduled Stop

We were on a 14-day cruise. The first week and a half went as normally as anything with this group of kids could go. It wasn’t until the tenth day that things started to go wrong…

“Don’t you even THINK of stealing this spork, Cory Longman! I know you have a special ‘attraction’ to them, but I’m actually eating right now!”

I entered the dining hall to what most would consider a peculiar sight. Tiny Samantha stood atop a long table, clutching a spork over her head, while Cory stood underneath, clutching Samantha’s petite leg, screaming, “ACK! SPORK! SPORK! SPORK!”. Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, a composed Victoria was calmly sipping from a rather large cup of Earl Gray Tea.

An exceedingly hyper Arielle came up behind me, and did her ‘hyper-tap’ on my back. “OMG!” Yes, she actually said the syllable ‘omg’. “I FOUND WHERE THEY KEEP THE ENERGY DRINKS! MONSTER FOR ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Liz, who was trailing behind her, followed by a hysterical Drew and Adrian, shouted over Arielle, who was now ranting about the effects of Rock Star ™ on the brain of a rabid squirrel, “You know, Victoria and I found that on our second day. We didn’t tell you, Arielle, because we feared for our lives.”

Arielle stopped mid word. “Why would you fear for your life? It’s not like I spaaaaaaaaazz out or anything.” Arielle then continued talking about mating rabid squirrels and llamas.

Adrian piped up. “Yes, you do! Remember during Bye, Bye Birdie in 6th grade, the time you had sweet tea before rehearsal? You freaked out! You literally ran into a wall!”

Everyone but Victoria gave an involuntary shudder. As cast members in the show, everyone had an awful memory. Drew, who had the worse, for he had to act romantic-like with a 5th grader, rocked back and forth.

Victoria, who hadn’t been in the show, shouted out, “WE LOVE YOU, CONRAD! OH, YES, WE-“

The rest screamed. Conrad Birdie screamed, though out of terror, not out of love.

Awkward silence. cricket cricket cricket

“GIVE ME THAT FREAKING SPORK!”

“NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

A relatively quiet afternoon followed. Adrian and Arielle flirted incessantly (now let’s just hope neither of them read this, for my own sake), Samantha ended hiding that stupid spork, and I finished reading my book! It wasn’t until about 8 that whispers of a faulty engine and a hole in the boat started circulating. At 9 whispers became shouts. And at 10, for us, shouts became fact.

We found out the truth rather oddly, so to speak.

“ACK!!!” Arielle, still hyper, was now knee-deep in water. Wearing nothing but a thin sundress and a light jacket.

Before I could call for help, my head was submerged in water, and I was trying, though failing, to swim to the surface.

The last thing I remember is Drew grabbing hold of me. Drew saving my life.

Then, blackout.

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