Mako
Lily stared into the mirror at her reflection, feeling particularly insecure that specific summer day. Her long, curled ginger hair was put into two low bunches. Freckles were dotted unevenly across her face, and her pale skin didn't fit well in that part of Australia, where the sun kissed everybody skin except for hers, so it seemed. She was wearing a magenta tank top with a large flower in the centre of it.
It had white around the edges, and was paired with a white, pleaded skirt in order to match it. "Hurry up, Lily!" Her youngest sister screeched, and Lily sighed as she gathered her shoulder bag, heading down the stairs. At the bottom, her very best friend was sat. Her brown, curly locks were unmistakably hers, even from behind. Lily tapped her shoulder, and Mary darted around, hugging her tightly.
"Finally!" Mary exclaimed. She was gorgeous, with amber eyes which complimented her perfect button nose and Cupid bow lips. She wasn't exactly skinny, but was certainly not overweight. Mary was wearing a dark, red corset top paired with dark blue flared jeans. "Your outfit is so hot!" Mary exclaimed, complimenting every intricate design of Lily's clothing choice.
"Okay, but yours? Those jeans are to die for!" Her thick, Australian accent showed very obviously in her voice, more so than Mary's. "Ready to go?" She asked Mary, who in return nodded quite eagerly. The pair walked for a few miles, passing the lake, smoothie bar, a few neighbourhoods and forests until they reached the docks.
There were boats parked up into every port, the wood on the dock creaked under their step, and it made Lily feel slightly anxious. Mary, on the other hand, was happily skipping along - as if this ancient wood didn't feel nor sound like it would break under their combined weight at any second.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lily asked, aware that her voice was shaking slightly. Mary scoffed and confidently put her hands on her hips as she stared into the glistening ocean, as the sun shone high in the sky.
"Course, don't even stress Lils." Mary responded, as she continued walking down the damp, wooden dock. Nearing the end of it, a familiar voice called out to them.
"Hey girls," Dorcas Meadowes said, gesturing for Lily and Mary to edge closer. "I don't bite." She quipped, her long, dark braids were absolutely gorgeous, although Lily would never specifically mention that to her face. She had dark skin, a straight nose, plump lips and was extremely rich and renowned.
Next to her, was a small, red, inflatable boat. "Lily, do you mind helping me mend it?" She asked, tilting her head sideways slightly in an alluring manner. Mary stepped forward and opened her mouth to speak, but Lily spoke quicker.
"I don't mind," She said, raising both her eyebrows to tell Mary that it was alright. Lily cautiously stepped onto the boat, feeling it shake slightly below her. She swallowed the lump in the throat, and began passing Dorcas the tools which she asked for, with Mary watching carefully.
"Someone nicked the spark plug," Dorcas commented, trailing around the dock as she avoided eye contact with Lily. Her sage green converse made splashed with every step, but not big enough to actually hit anybody above the ankles.
"Does it work without it?" Lily questioned airily, as she dug through the box of tools which were set down near the front of the boat. Weird, they looked cheap, and Dorcas' father was famous for being rich. Suddenly, Lily felt a jolt, which launched her forwards, causing her to land flat on her face. "Fuck!" She exclaimed, and she looked up and turned around to see Mary screaming at Dorcas.
Dorcas, ignoring this, called out towards Lily who was now drifting way, "Nope, see you later Lily." Lily cursed herself for falling right into this trap. She pulled her knees up to her legs as she slowly but surely drifted out to sea. This is surely how I die, she thought. Mary could be seen running down the slippery dock, looking for somewhere near enough for her to jump on. Lily clasped her eyes shut, hoping that this would all stop
Suddenly, a jolt almost made Lily fly off of the rubber boat. "Sorry for startling ya." A girl around her age said. She had short, blonde hair which was cut into a messy wolf cut. Her sun kissed skin had freckles across it, although they looked more like a watercolour painting compared to Lily's messy ones. "I'm Marlene." She put her hand out for Lily to take, and so she did.
"McKinnon, I know," Lily said without thinking, and Marlene gave her a very suspicious glare, "We have classes together." She finished off, quick and embarrassed. Marlene held up a small plug in her hand, and that's when it clicked in her mind. "You took that." She pointed towards Marlene, who very proudly grinned ear to ear, before plugging it in. The inflatable boat sprung to life. Marlene sat by the drivers seat, and steered the boar around the waters a bit before turning around and splashing Dorcas.
"Ha!" She chuckled, and Lily tried to suppress her laugh as well. Mary suddenly came running down the dock, and leapt on just as Marlene had. Soon, the three of them were all headed out to sea, and Lily was becoming increasingly more nervous.
"Are you sure we'll be able to get back?" She asked, and Marlene scoffed before confidently replying.
"Course!" As if on queue, the boat spluttered a bit before coming to a stop. "Oh." Marlene managed to choke out, as she glanced around. Lily picked up a wooden ore which was on the floor of the boat, and Marlene pointed towards a distant island with a large volcano surrounded by greenery. "Let's paddle to there?" She asked the others, and Mary mumbled in agreement.
"That's mako island!" Everybody turned to face Lily, who had significantly paled in the face, "It's surrounded by sharks," nobody seemed to care, "and mangroves." She finished, but yet again, none of the other girls seemed to mind. They collectively decided that it was their best chance of not being stranded at sea for the night, and so all paddled towards the mysterious island.
By the time in which they had arrived, the sun as beginning to set already, casting an orange haze over the ocean's shine. "I wish James was here." Lily sighed, as she continued to heave the paddle forwards and backwards. Marlene continued pretending to paddle, although it was becoming increasingly more obvious that she had never started at all - whilst Mary had been giving it her all.
"Who's James?" Marlene snickered, clearly mocking the mere idea of Lily being romantically involved with a boy.
"He's her geeky but somehow popular friend," Mary said in an extremely thick Australian accent, "They've been mates since forever, and Lily totally has the hots for him." She made pretending kissing noises with the air.
"Lay off, he's popular because of those stupid pranks he pulls with his friends." She hummed, but as she opened her mouth to protest the final part, she felt her body almost fly forwards. They had reached shore.
The thick greenery stretched out far past the beach which they were on, and the stars were sprinkled above the horizon beautifully. "What a view." Marlene sighed, putting her hands on her hips as if she had done something to be proud of.
"Enough sightseeing, let's find somewhere to stay for the night." Mary stated casually, before Lily choked on air. This was unbelievable, did Mary MacDonald, Lily's best friend since forever, really want her to stay the night on a spider infested island?
"Catch yourself on!" Lily a quipped in amusement, "I'm not staying a night here, we'll be crook by the time the suns up," Marlene nodded at this, understanding the distress which Lily was in. Weird, she didn't seem to be the empathetic type. "Besides, we haven't got any supplies." Lily then turned to gesture to the air around her, which was obviously lacking camping gear.
Mary gave an exasperated sigh followed by some annoyed mutters. She hesitantly agreed that they should probably explore the island more before deciding that they'd stay, and everybody was soon on board. The island was lush, vines hung from branches, the faint sound of insects always lingered in the air, and an overwhelming darkness overtook the forest soon after sunset.
If there was one thing which Lily hated more than spiders, it was the dark. And Dorcas Meadowes, but that's for an entirely different reason. Hating a person is justifiable, whereas simple phobias are completely randomised and irritating. Marlene was in front, with Mary in the middle and Lily in the back; a sandwich. Soon enough, after what felt like hours of walking (it had been roughly forty minutes), Marlene came to an abrupt halt. Mary stopped behind her, causing Lily to bump into her.
"Why'd we stop?" Lily called from the back, nervously. Mary's brown curls were still springy from coming to a stop, and Lily couldn't peak her head around them.
"There's a river here," Marlene commented, slight intrigue in her voice. "Let's jump." Lily had known Marlene for long enough to know that she was absolutely bat-shit crazy. Mary was clearly on board, as she stepped out from the line and stood next to Marlene to inspect the river.
"I'll jump first." Mary declared, and Lily surrendered. She knew that arguing was futile, but she was in disbelief that Mary would make her jump this, since Lily can't swim for the life of her. Lily balled up her hand into a fist by her side, as she watched Mary jump. She leapt off of the rock with a slight slip, but landed safely on the other side nonetheless.
With a stumble, Mary adjusted herself before giving Marlene a thumbs up. Immediately, Marlene jumped as well, with less grace but not a single moments of hesitation or stumble. The two girls hugged, before turning back and urging Lily to take the leap as well. Mary was stubborn, she knew this, but she also knew that she'd be rightfully stubborn in this situation, as there wasn't any other way around this river.
Lily braced herself with a shuddering breath, and the world seemed to stand still. She took a few steps back so that she'd have a running start, and when it was time to go she closed her eyes. Tight. Letting the darkness envelop her, she opened them once again, and offered a sweet smile to the expectant faces of the other girls.
Finally, she took off. Lily sprinted at full speed towards the edge of the rock which she was stood on, but, she forgot about the slip. Just before she could jump, she slipped on some wet moss, and roughly tumbled downwards into some sort of pitch-black room. It felt like she was sliding on obsidian, the rocks stabbed her back but didn't hurt her due to the coat of water on-top of them. "Lily!" She could hear a voice call from above.
Lily placed a hand on her head, trying to steady her thoughts as she pulled herself up and stepped out of the enclosed room. Without warning, Mary came tumbling down as well with a "Woah!" If Lily hadn't moved, they'd be like a pile of mangled limbs on-top of each other. "Throw down a rope, Marlene!" Mary shouted towards the top of the cave.
Unfortunately, Marlene didn't seem to understand that concept, as she was surely sliding down as well. "McKinnon! I told you to the throw a rope down!" Mary scolded, but Marlene looked utterly unbothered.
"What rope?" She looked at Mary with an unserious face, before Mary gave in and shrugged. Once they had all gotten to their feet and stepped out of the dark room, they were greeted by a cave which had sand floors, that same dark rocks along the walls, and a glistening yet alluring pool of water. They were inside a volcano.
"I thought volcanoes had lava?" Marlene asked, earning a scoff from Lily.
"They can have both, wisen up." Lily stated, not in a joking around nor educating mood. Lily inspected the cave which was surrounding her, it looked utterly magical. The moon was peaking slightly above their heads, making the water seem slightly sparkly. "What is this place?" She asked nobody, in a hushed voice.
Mary was crouched down next to the circular pool which was on one edge of the cave. It had those same black rocks surrounding it and looked as if it had somewhat of an opening at the end. Mary dipped two fingers into the icy water and placed them onto her tongue, which Lily found somewhat alluring in a way. Lily watched with a tilted head as Mary closed her eyes, as if she were thinking deeply.
"Salt water," She whispered under her breath, but Marlene didn't seem to notice. In fact, Marlene appeared to be zoned out as she stared at the half-visible moon hung overhead. "This leads to the ocean, we can swim out of the cave through here." Mary said, as she heaved herself off of the ground with her hands on her knees.
Mary brushed the sand off of her jeans as she turned to face Lily, who was quite literally quivering in fear. "Lils, I know you're not good at swimming," She started in a soft voice.
"I can't swim, it's not that I'm not good." Lily interrupted. Marlene was stood at the side, looking confused and completely oblivious to Lily's inability to swim.
"Alright I get that, but what if I swim first, come back, tell you how long it is, and then you just have to hold your breath whilst the rest of us swim and pull you along?" Mary explained, and Lily was thankful that she broke it down. "You think that's alright?" She continued, as if Lily was an illiterate toddler.
"I guess that's fine." Lily mumbled, still unsure of being underwater at all. Mary grinned widely as she nodded, before sitting down on the edge of the pool and pushing herself in, splashing the area around the pool and drenching her clothes as she did. Lily glanced around nervously, before giving Mary a reassuring nod.
Mary was soon enough fully submerged underneath the water, and swimming out the tunnel. As they waited for what seemed like years, Marlene and Lily paced around the cave in silence, terrified for Mary's safety.
Finally, she came back up, gasping for air as she wiped the wet hair from her eyes. Mary rubbed her eyes before beaming up at the other two girls, and Lily could only offer a toothy grin back. "Twenty seconds under, maybe thirty." Mary said as she paddled. Without hesitation, Marlene jumped in, and soon enough Lily was slowly climbing in after the both of them.
Lily wasn't fully in the water unlike the other two, there was a small ledge with a rock on it that she was sat on, half of her body underwater. Wordlessly, Marlene offered a wet hand for Lily to take, and she pursed her lips together as she took it. In the utter shock of being in such deep water, Lily fell completely under at first, grasping the water above her for a breath of fresh air.
Luckily, Mary and Marlene both heaved her up soon enough, and they were all just kicking in the water. The full moon was now fully over their heads, it's silver gaze piercing into them. It seemed magical, the way that sparkles levitated off of the water, the three girls gaped as glitter seemed to float upwards - being pulled in by the moon.
They didn't have long to admire this mystical phenomenon though, because after a quick minute of gaping at the display of light, they were surely fully underwater, kicking through an exit. Mary and Marlene both held onto Lily's hands, as she kicked after them like a drowning dog.
Finally, they had a breath of fresh air, when they found themselves in the pitch black ocean with a siren blaring in the distance. Lily hyperventilated as she held onto Marlene's shoulder and Mary frantically waved and cried for the boat in the distance's attention. "This is the water police." An automated voice over a megaphone called out, as they clambered onto the ship.