The third day they were abandoned there it began to resemble what Lydia had always imagined of a desert island. The sun's rays hitting them with force, the girls staying in bikinis and approaching the water to cool off. Most were constantly looking for a shady secluded spot where they could rest and take a nap, but they didn't want to stray too far from the group in case something happened.

With the heat searing her brain and boredom from having nothing to do, Lydia felt like she was starting to go crazy. She lay down on the sand, her legs and arms stretched out to avoid contact with herself and thus be warmer, and every time a shadow passed near her she imagined that it was some waiter with a refreshing drink for her. But when she realized the reality, it was just Toni and Dot, pacing back and forth, either trying to keep busy so as not to think, or to check that the blonde was still alive.

The lump that Lydia felt that afternoon on her chest was justified, as the food reserves were running low, and her stomach was asking for something other than nuts or snacks that she had not had since she was five years old. For hours, the idea of ​​going to the forest had danced in her mind, to see if there was a tree that gave any edible fruit or if there was a lake where they could fish. But even that thought didn't seem to satisfy the hunger she felt.

However, it began to get dark when, according to her calculations, it should not be dark yet. Lydia narrowed her eyes when she saw the clouds approaching them, and neither she nor the rest of the girls could do anything to alert each other: the storm surprised them that very moment. Cries of anguish began to be heard; the water was ice cold, and the blizzard didn't help. They struggled to gather their belongings and keep them close to them, but some of the girls were too tired to move.

Dot was the one who took the initiative to collect all the inventory that she had written down the day before, and Lydia followed her moments later, feeling guilty that it was the Texan who apparently tied them to what little mental stability they had left. Lydia felt the cold sink into her bones as others pulled on the jackets and sweatshirts Fatin had provided, and when she saw the remains of the slide, she clung tightly to the fabric.

"Alright, come on! Everybody grab an end and get under!" Lydia screamed to be heard in the storm. The slide was heavy, and the storm wasn't helping, but she felt a force inside her that probably had arisen from the circumstances. The girls were positioning themselves under the material, but Lydia frowned when she saw that one was missing. "Leah, come on! Grab an end!"

The nine of them breathed a little more relief when the water no longer hit them so fiercely, but the chill caused by the humidity was still too noticeable. "Quick thinking, well done!"

"How's your ankle?" Someone asked, whom Lydia quickly identified as Shelby, and not just because the Texan spent the day with Martha as if they were attached to the hip.

"Better, I think. It's so itchy," complained the one from Minnesota.

Lydia looked her way, not understanding why a sprain would sting. She turned quickly to Dot, as if instantly coming to her for an explanation. Other girls started complaining, and Dot cursed out loud. "Shit. Sand fleas."

"Sand what?" Fatin protested, horrified.

"Sand fleas. They're not really like fleas, they're more like tiny, little shrimps," Fatin kept shaking her head, as if just seeing those creatures made her faint —Lydia thought she was right, probably. "They're not dangerous, they're just annoying. Once the rain stops, we can just go scrub them off. You know, before they get a chance to..." Dot was interrupted by lightning, but they all understood what she had meant.

Fatin let go of Lydia's grip on her —as the girl had not been very cooperative in grabbing one end as she had struggled to remember— and stepped out of the temporary shelter they had set up only to shout "Fuck my life!" so dramatically it reminded Lydia as if she were in a movie and the villain had just lost everything.

"Fuck it, indeed," Lydia yelled. "But fuck it here!" And she dragged her back to her, getting wet in the process, causing the skin on her neck to crawl. Fatin fell on top of her, still screaming and wailing, so the blonde shook her a little so she would stop moving and calm down. When she looked at her, she thought that in another situation it would have seemed funny, because the waterproof makeup that had been applied had not worked, and now it was running down her cheeks like a waterfall.

They were silent for at least half an hour more, occasional conversations arising after that, when the storm had passed for a bit. The sky grew dark, so Lydia thought that it would be time for dusk, and that the storm would probably have robbed them of another hour of light. She frowned as she missed the warmth she'd felt that morning, how she wished that warmth was now in the sky.

The girls began to climb out from under the slide, feeling cornered and wanting to breathe air. It was the first time they had all been so close together, and Lydia could see that more than one of them was bothered by such closeness. Nora and Rachel left quickly, and Leah did the same. However, others like Fatin, Shelby or Martha remained close to the group, probably looking for warmth and company.

The cellist lay down on the sand and huddled over herself, earning pitying looks from the other girls; at least from Lydia. The young woman approached her. "Are you cold?"

Fatin shook her head, covered by her hood, and muttered something none of them understood. Lydia shrugged as she looked at the others, not knowing what to do to comfort Fatin, who was notoriously upset. Lydia lay down on the sand, her gaze lost in the sky, trying to find a star, but the sky was so overcast it was mission impossible.

She wondered how things would be at home, since they were still under the same sky after all. She wondered if her grandmother was doing something for them to find them, if her parents had found time in their jobs to think about their daughter, who had disappeared God knows where and with little hope of getting out of there. Her eyes suddenly filled with tears, she didn't know if from helplessness or true sadness, but she bit her lip and looked up at the sky again to prevent them from falling.

Suddenly she felt a body move and cling to her side, and she saw Fatin, still in her leopard jacket, wrap her arm around Lydia's waist and snuggle against her without saying anything. "Okay then," Lydia laughed softly and placed her arm on the girl's back, falling asleep shortly after.

The next morning, when she woke up, a strong smell invaded her nostrils. She opened her eyes, somewhat annoyed by the smell, but when she saw Dot in front of her with wet wood and two stones in her hands, she understood. "Need help with that?" The Texan heard Lydia's raspy voice and looked at her, nodding and gesturing for her to come over to her.

"Rub those stones, see if you can make some fire. I'm going to get more wood." Lydia nodded and knelt by the fledgling fire, ready to carry out Dot's orders, who wandered away from the camp but not far, as Lydia saw her stir wood for use.

"Lydia, what is that?" Shelby asked several minutes and several failed attempts later.

The British woman looked up to answer the Texan, but paid no attention and hit the stone against her own finger instead of the wood. "Fuck," she complained. Fortunately, the blow had caused nothing but redness on her skin; she breathed in relief to see that there was no more fresh blood. Shelby frowned, feeling somewhat guilty. "Dot says wet wood gets us black smoke, which gets a signal fire. Probably a good idea to keep it during the day."

"And guys," added Dot, coming from the woods with a couple more branches. "You know, I was pretty slack on this yesterday and it cost us. We gotta get real about a shelter, if we all pitch in, grab a material— Yes, lady in the leopard?"

"That sounds really unappealing, and I'm exhausted. And there's rescue coming, so, for those reasons, I'm out."

Dot and Fatin kept arguing some more, never raising their voices; maybe because despite Fatin's inactivity, he was still good company, or maybe because Dot wasn't in the mood for an argument. Lydia stopped rubbing the stones when some more fire came out and blew from one branch to another, and turned when she felt hands on her shoulders.

"We gotta bounce before we get on this bullshit," Rachel muttered for only Lydia to hear, who snorted but hid it with a cough.

"Ready when you are."

Lydia accompanied Rachel to shore, both of them grabbing the plane wreckage they would use to swim to the plane. "Nora, you coming?" Rachel asked, and it took both Lydia and Nora herself by surprise.

"Um, I mean, if you want me to."

"Yeah, why not? Nora's a good swimmer. We're both water babies," Rachel smiled a little, so imperceptibly that it was hard for Lydia to notice.

"Hey, where y'all going?" Shelby asked, covering her mouth with her hands because the wind was getting uncomfortable again.

"We're swimming up to the wreckage, see if we can find anything useful," Lydia informed her.

"Alright, just real quick: what do you guys think about building a shelter?"

"Not interested in laying down roots!" The athlete replied, not even bothering to turn to answer. She had a goal permanently installed in her mind, and no one on that island was going to stop her: she had to go back to her old life, to her true life.

"Au revoir, babes!" Lydia waved her arm high and said goodbye to the others. She felt the adrenaline rush through her veins, mixed with the emotion, as if swimming to the plane was going to get them out of there.

The water was much warmer than yesterday, and thanks to the heat they felt, it was almost a pleasure to come into contact with the sea. The three girls put on their swimming goggles before lying down on the remains of the seats, because they did not know what awaited them out there, and it was better to be careful and with things planned than to improvise in a place like that.

They didn't talk much, and thanks to that they were able to reach the high seas in less time than they had expected. After all, the original plan was for it to be just Rachel and Lydia, but with the unexpected change of mind about her sister from the first girl, they had taken much less time to arrive.

The water was clear. Every time Lydia looked down at the sea, she could clearly see the bottom, the algae, the sand, she also thought she saw some fish swimming near them. Luck was smiling on them for once, Lydia thought it almost seemed like everything was prepared. After so many misfortunes —the mirror, the storm— now they seemed to see the light at the end of the tunnel, or the plane at the bottom of the sea.

Lydia's heart skipped a beat when she saw it totally shattered. They had not even found it whole, just a part of it scattered in that great ocean. She realized that they could have been there, inert at the bottom of the sea, without anyone looking for them. Not that she needed that hit of reality, but she swallowed hard when she realized the gravity of the matter, and the adrenaline she had previously felt faded as quickly as it had appeared.

Rachel was the first to go down to investigate, barely saying anything, and Lydia looked at her sister in surprise. "She doesn't like to waste time," was the only explanation she gave her

The swimmer resurfaced almost a minute later, visibly exhausted and out of breath, and this deeply discouraged Lydia. "I'm gonna need one of you down there with me. You ready to bring your A game?" She asked the blonde directly, and Nora, despite wanting to be useful to her sister, realized that this was not her setting.

"Born ready, baby," the Brit adjusted her swimming goggles, and sank into the water when she had taken in all the air she could.

Lydia's pulse quickened as they reached what looked like the tail of the plane. Rachel was moving faster than her, obviously, so when they got to the fridge, Lydia was in charge of catching the Cokes that had been trapped on the plane. She picked up the cans as best she could, placed them in the bag on her back, and began to rise to the surface to deliver them to Nora, but Rachel stopped her. She pointed to a large purple suitcase, which Lydia helped her remove, only to discover that behind it was the black box of the plane.

"The black box, the fucking black box!" Rachel snorted tiredly, trying to catch her lost air. Lydia rested on the raft, propping the bag on her back for Nora to take care of as the two of them descended again.

"It sends out a GPS signal with the location," Nora provided the information, and it was enough that her twin was willing to go back down to take it with her.

Rachel nodded to the water to save energy, and Lydia understood instantly. They swam back to the bottom of the sea, now knowing the path by heart. They gripped the device tightly, trying to get it out of where they wanted it to be hooked, but their attempt was in vain; so was the second, and the third, and the fourth, and the exhaustion was beginning to take its toll visibly, at least on Lydia.

But Rachel was not giving up. She even went down on her own once —because, she thought, if it was up to Lydia, she was screwed— but if four arms couldn't do it, she was even less capable of doing so. The British woman was waiting for her on the surface, clinging to the raft as if her life depended on it while she tried to get enough air to try again.

The athlete surfaced once more, her mouth opening to catch the air more easily. In her hands she carried the ax that had been taken from the camp. "Come on, one more time."

Lydia nodded, ready for action again, and they dove at the same time. They reached the black box again, but once again it seemed impossible to remove it from its place. Lydia raised her hand to get Rachel's attention, who looked angry even in the water. The athlete backed away, leaving Lydia free to act. She rested her feet on either side of the walls where the black box was attached, and with both hands she grasped the handles and pulled them towards herself. Rachel's eyes widened when she heard a metallic sound and the box fell out of place, and she grabbed Lydia to help her remove the black box.

The two girls returned to the raft, out of breath again, but this time with something that might help them more than they thought. Lydia took off her goggles and sucked in as much air as she could, her lungs craving it. Rachel held back her excitement, but patted the raft impressed. "Well fucking done, Churchill!"

"I have a name, you know?" Lydia retorted breathlessly. "I think I liked Lady Di better."

They moved their feet as fast as they could, Nora being the one with the most energy in reserve. As had happened the first time, they did not speak too much on the way back, this time out of fatigue and not out of anguish. They reached shore shortly thereafter thanks to relentless effort, and as Nora and Lydia carried the raft and the finds they had found, Rachel ran toward the others with the black box in her hands.

Lydia dropped to the sand, her knees almost appreciating the contact with it, and breathed a little more calmly again. Then she lay down on the raft, earning a sympathetic look from Nora, who understood her fatigue and wished she could have done something else to take that weight off the blonde.

"You sound like one of my hookups when he comes in five minutes," Fatin snorted.

Lydia looked at her, still lying on the raft. "How I wish I was this breathless because of a fuck and not because of this BIG FUCKING OCEAN!"

Fatin gaped at her, surprised that someone as sweet-looking as Lydia could say such things, but she laughed nonetheless. This caught the other girls, who giggled.

Shortly after, when the three who had gone out to sea had recovered, they all sat in a circle, something that already became a tradition. Lydia stayed close to Fatin, as usual, and more so after what had happened last night. Not that they were in the ideal circumstances to make friends, but she felt a connection to the cellist; maybe because despite everything she kept her in a good mood, which she couldn't say about other girls.

"So what do we do with it?"

"What are you looking at me for? I don't know dick about plans, two days ago was the first time I've ever been in one," Dot excused herself with a frown.

"We should open it," Leah chimed in, earning a threatening look from Rachel, who remained silent despite everything.

"But it says..."

"Martha, I know. But if we were to look inside, we may find the actual recording, the actual tape of what happened."

"Don't we, kind of, already know what happened?"

"Do we? Can someone tell me, like, the full account? From the turbulences to the moment you woke up here," There was a great awkward silence, caused by everyone thinking Leah was right. "Besides, look at how big the sign is. Part of me feels it's like it's telling us not to listen, as if it was being ironic."

"Fuck no! We're not opening it," shouted Rachel.

"You said there was, maybe, like a transmitter in here, sending out our location?" Dot chimed in, speaking directly to Nora.

"Yeah, it's called a beacon, I think. It's like a nautical term."

"Okay, but if they haven't found us yet, can we assume this beacon thing is busted? I mean, maybe if we just try—"

"Do not open it!" Rachel screamed again.

"Don't yell at her!" Lydia interrupted her, and she didn't know why, it just bothered her by Rachel's attitude towards everyone. "She's just saying what we all think. Nobody knows what to do with this, okay? We all want to leave this fucking island once and for all, we just think we'll be closer to that if we heard what's in there. Or at least, we could know what happened up there."

"There's a bulb inside, but it's out," Dot cleared her throat, breaking the awkward silence Lydia had caused with her screams.

"We could just... vote on it," Leah proposed, aware that most would want to open that box and punch Rachel in the face. Most of them murmured in approval, except for Rachel and Nora.

"Those in favor, raise your hands," Shelby announced, and all, once again, except the twins, raised their hands. Lydia was a bit sorry for Nora, because she probably would have voted 'yes' too if it weren't for her sister. "Alright then, majority rules."

Looking at all of them for a few seconds, Dot made sure that this was what most of them wanted. Detecting no more complaints than Rachel's growl or her sister's inactivity, the Texan proceeded to open the box. It seemed to Lydia that it looked like something like a computer on the inside, full of interconnected colored cables and metal devices whose names she didn't even know. Dot looked carefully at the box, and finally triggered the recording on the box.

"Holy shit," she said when the box made a sound. "Do you think that means it's working?"

Nora responded to Rachel's reproachful gaze. "I don't know, but we have to assume yes."

"So it's on? Are they gonna find us?" Martha chimed in, a small smile and a hopeful look in her dark eyes.

"Fuck yes," Toni encouraged, also smiling and clinging to her friend's arm. Lydia looked around her, her big blue eyes searching for Fatin, who bit her lip, intent on stopping the smile that was born on her lips.

"Wait a second. I think this is it," Dot spoke and caused a great silence from the girls. "The recording from the flight."

Leah took it in her hands, and Lydia looked at her with concern. The girl was so convinced that there was something strange out there that Lydia feared Leah would lose her temper any moment; so she looked at her carefully. Finally, after seeking everyone's approval gaze, Leah pressed the button.

They heard voices at first, which clearly belonged to the pilots. Leah skipped a few seconds, judging that there was nothing relevant to start with. However, little by little she found what she thought she was looking for. The pilot was beginning to panic, sounding alarm, saying they had lost two engines.

The cabin was without oxygen, the girls had passed out. Chills arose on Lydia's skin, who, far from feeling cold, felt completely alien to that situation. The horrified voices of the crew made her sick, thinking about the fate of those poor workers. She sought comfort in the eyes of the others, and her heart broke to see Martha sobbing, leaning on Toni; in the same way that she felt horrible when she saw Nora covering her ears, clearly traumatized by the situation.

She felt unable to respond to this situation, completely paralyzed and feeling weaker than ever, shock written notoriously in her eyes. She searched for something that would bind her to reality, and she clung tightly to the hand of the person closest to her. She met Shelby's eyes as she covered her hand with her own, realizing that Lydia was shaking. She moved a little closer to her, awkwardly wrapping her arms around her as if that display of affection was somewhat uncomfortable. Nonetheless, Lydia allowed herself to be hugged and rested her face on Shelby's shoulder, a fresh tear rolling down her cheek.

"We should've died," Leah spoke once the recording stopped.

"But we didn't," Dot countered. "We're alive."

"Come on," Shelby nudged Lydia, who wiped the tears away quickly. "We're moving."

"We are?"

"Yeah. Dottie and I found a cave in the forest. It's better than sleeping outdoors, right?"

So that night Lydia slept warmly, and not just because of that sweetness in her stomach.