Emma gazed intently out into the horizon as a vaguely familiar island slowly came into view. Years later, Emma returned to the island where she spent a good portion of her high school junior year.

She had graduated college now and was working as a veterinarian. Before that, she had spent a good many years cooking aboard a warship until the world war finally ended.

Biting her lip, Emma found herself gripping the railing of the ship until her knuckles went ghostly white. What if all her friends had died? What if there was no one to visit? No one to rescue?

Emma titled to her head, breaking her watch on the island in the distance, to look at her husband. She had met him in the warship and had dated him throughout college. He drove the ship with steady hands.

He smiled at Emma and she smiled back. "Don't worry," he seemed to say silently.

The island inched closer and closer until-

Emma's husband docked the boat on the shore of the island.

This is it, Emma thought, having a main character moment.

Steps slow and measured, Emma got off the boat. Her boots met the rocky shore of the north part of the island. Many of the stones, she noted, had been rearranged or taken away.

And there was a girl. She was young looking and had short, fiery hair. Her face was dotted with freckles and she looked relaxed, laying in the sand. Her name was Joy, but Emma didn't know that yet.

"Hello?" Emma inquired.

Joy snapped up and let out a gasp. "Hi!" Her face broke into a smile. "Who're you?"

"I'm Emma."

"Emma? Really? Oh my gosh! Emma!"

"You... know me?"

Joy rushed up to her and took her wrist. "Of course I do! My mom and dad told me about everyone! Now come on!" Fast as light, Joy led Emma away from the shore and into the thicket.

Past the thicket, the energetic girl stopped and released Emma.

"Aunt Pierre! Aunt Adeline! Emma's here!" Joy called.

Emma gasped when she caught sight of her old friends. It had been so long. They looked so different, yet still the same.

Pierre's wavy hair had been cut to right-below-ear length. She looked older, obviously, and her glasses were nowhere to be found. Adeline's features had grown sharper and she looked happier.

"Emma!" Pierre welcomed.

"Emma?" Adeline asked in disbelief. "How did you get here?"

"My husband took me," Emma said, breathless. "I just had to come here. Lexie and Elijah agreed, but their both busy with their kids-"

Adeline held up a hand. "Lexie and Elijah are still together? With kids?"

"Let's go find mom and dad!" Joy squeaked in delight.

"You're Jovie and Chad's kid?" Emma asked.

"Yes! I'm Joy, the third and youngest," she said.

Emma tried her best not to let her jaw fall, but, then again, was it really so hard to picture Jovie with three kids?

Joy rushed the three of them to the west, where Jovie and Chad still lived. The campsite had been rearranged with a stronger, larger shelter for Jovie's large family. Ruby's old shelter had been dismantled.

Emma's breath caught and her hands flew to her mouth. Upon spotting Chad, she let out an embarrassing gasp. Chad had turned from a scrawny teenager into a man. For some reason, Emma had expected to find all of her old crashmates still young like she left them.

"Emma!" Chad greeted, once he spotted her. "How'd you get here?"

"Her husband took her here!" Joy told her dad. "Now, hurry! Get mom, my brothers, and Joey!"

Chad nodded and went to go find everyone else. Once everyone was found, they sat together in the center room of Jovie and Chad's shelter.

"Emma!" Jovie had shirked when she sighted Emma. She was much thinner, but still carried the same energy. "No way! I can't believe you're here! How's everyone? Have you kept up with them? How long are you staying for?" Jovie couldn't stop the long string of questions until Emma began to answer them.

"Lexie and Elijah are married now. They adopted four kids, all super sweet. I live near them so we get to see each other often. It's nice to keep in touch," Emma said. "I can only stay for an hour or so, but I brought some things for y'all! And... a couple of questions..." Emma shifted her sitting position.

"Go ahead," Pierre said. "Ask away."

"Well, first and foremost, I was wondering how y'all are," Emma said. "I see Little Joey has grown quite a bit." Her eyes moved to Joey, who was now much older than before.

"Ha!" Joey laughed. "No one has called me that in ages. God, it's good to see you Emma. It really is."

"It's good to see you too, Little Joey." Emma smiled. "And the three babies? Well, not babies now..."

"Yes," Jovie nodded, "Seth, my oldest, Oliver, the middle rat, and Joy, the youngest and the ray of sunshine."

"Hey! I'm not a rat," Oliver protested mildly.

Jovie ruffled his hair in response and Oliver rolled his eyes.

Emma laughed and then began standing up. "Come on to the boat, everyone, I have gifts and things for all of you."

"Gifts!" Joy shrieked and jumped up from her place on the floor. She was quickly followed by everyone else. Emma led the group back to the boat, where she called for her husband to bring out the duffel bags she'd brought.

"Chad first," Emma said, pulling out a bottle of tequila and handing it to him. "You probably hadn't gotten one of these in a while."

"Not since my seventeenth," he breathed, taking the bottle. "Thank you," he said.

Emma smiled and brought out the next gift. It was a clunky box of adult fantasy books. "For you," Emma said, handing the set over to Pierre.

"Why thank you!" Pierre's smile spread to her eyes. She hadn't read a book since the crash. It would be hard without her glasses, but not impossible.

"And this," Pierre pulled out a bottle of sunblock, "is for you, Jovie."

"Thanks!" Jovie took the bottle. "Now I can finally swim during the day without my skin peeling away!" She laughed and everyone's hearts warmed at the sound. Laughter can cure so many things.

Emma pulled out one last item: a scuffy violin for Adeline. "I saw it at the thrift shop and thought of you," Emma said.

"Oh thanks," Adeline said, taking the violin. "I'll have to relearn how to play this thing..."

Emma nodded. "Now, I also brought snacks and food. You four kiddos will get first pick since I didn't think to get you any gifts."

"Oh thank you! Very thoughtful of you," Joy smiled.

"Yes, yes." Joey bobbed his head. "Many thanks."

Emma climbed onto the boat to unload three boxes. Two were stuffed with food while the other was filled with an assortment of thrifted clothes.

Seth opened the two snack boxes and began dividing up snacks among the younger people while Pierre sorted through the clothes.

"Many thanks," Pierre said, repeating Joey.

"Of course," Emma said. "I knew clothes would be in low supply."

"Jackets!" Jovie cheered when she caught sight of a white puffer coat. "Winters are going to be so much better now."

Emma smiled, happy to make others happy. They would think of her whenever they zipped up their jackets or took some chips from the snack bin. It was good to be thought about.

Once everything and everyone was settled, Emma popped her final question. "Does... does anyone want to come back with me?" she asked. She didn't know why, but she was almost afraid to ask.

"To America?" Joy gasped, eyes wide with disbelief.

Emma shrugged. "Yeah. If you want."

Pierre looked at Adeline, someone who was now her best friend. They had grown close, and Pierre didn't want to leave that behind. Pierre didn't want to leave the island behind.

"I think I'll stay here," Pierre said. "Unless..."

Adeline sighed. "Yeah. I'm staying too." A smile appeared on her lips.

"Mom, can I go?" Joy asked.

"You want to go to America?" Jovie asked. "Chad and I are staying here, is that okay, honey?"

Joy gave a confident nod. "I want to go with Emma to America."

Emma nodded. "Just her then?"

Joey, Seth, and Oliver all nodded their heads.

"Come on then."

Joy said goodbye to her parents right before she boarded the boat. And she knew it would be some of the last words she ever uttered to them.