Chapter 6

Losing Hope

“Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?” came a muffled voice from the radio.

            “Sort of. We’re stranded, and we need help!” Nolan shouted into the radio. A lot of static was coming from the radio, but no response. Nolan shouted into the radio again, but all that we heard was static.  That sound rang in my ears, I didn’t know what to do next. After a moment or two, a red light blinked at the top of the radio, and the static was gone. Watching that light go out was like watching our chances disappear. I was so devastated, I couldn’t even speak.

            “Great! Now what do we do?” Kayley moaned. I could tell just by looking at her that she was really panicking about this, not that I wasn’t.  We all just sat there in silence, not knowing what to do next.  Everyone was engulfed in their own thoughts. I thought about my loving family back home, and if I’d ever see them again. I thought about if they even knew what happened to me.  And even though three of my good friends were surrounding me, I’d never felt more alone.

            It was almost nighttime, so the four of us lit a fire to stay warm.

            “So, what are we going to do?” Nolan asked.

            “Well, I could try to fix the radio again,” Tyrone answered.

            “Do you think that would work?” Kayley questioned.

            “It’s worth a try,” Tyrone shrugged.

            “What do you think, Rachelle?” Kayley asked. I didn’t really know what to say, I had no ide..

            “Um, I guess we should just try to fix the radio again,” I mumbled.

            “That’s it?” Nolan responded. “You don’t have any other ideas?” I just shook my head in response.

            “Great. We’re never going to get out of here,” Nolan shouted.

            “Just calm down, Nolan. We’ll figure something out,” Tyrone stated. I was skeptical about him being right, but the look he gave me changed my mind.

            “Whatever,” Nolan grumbled. “I’m going to sleep.” He stomped off to the little shelter, and Kayley followed him.

            “Probably just his frustration getting to him,” Tyrone stated. I couldn’t tell if he was talking to me, or himself. So, I didn’t say anything. “I hope he can get a hold of himself, we can’t get out of here if we’re fighting.” Tyrone grumbled.

            “Tyrone, do you think we’ll ever get out of here?” I meekly asked.

            “I think so, if we work together,” he responded. “If we don’t, who knows what will happen.” I nodded in agreement. I could feel the tears building up in my eyes. What had started off as a magnificent privilege had turned into a tragedy. Without saying another word, I slowly trudged off to go to sleep.

            The next morning was no different from the others. Nolan was gathering up everything that he thought might be useful to us, Tyrone was working on the radio again, and Kayley and I tried to think of ways to escape. Tyrone and Nolan weren’t talking, which kind of made me feel uneasy about us leaving. I had hoped that they would have made up first thing in the morning, but they didn’t.

            “Don’t worry, Nolan can’t hold a grudge for long,” Kayley claimed.

            “Are you sure? He seems so frustrated,” I answered.

            “I don’t think that he’s mad at Tyrone, just mad about our situation,” Kayley stated.

            “I hope so,” I sighed.

            Towards the evening, we all gathered together after being apart all day.  We all discussed what we had accomplished that day.

            “I made some progress on the radio, I just can’t get it fixed for some reason,” Tyrone sighed.

            “Well, you tried,” Kayley claimed in hopes of lifting the mood.

            “Yeah, oh well,” he responded. “What did you find, Nolan?”

            “I didn’t find much, just some more water, some random things, and a little bit of food,” Nolan shrugged.

            “What do you mean ‘belongings’?” I questioned.

            “Nothing important. Just some books, and a broken phone,” he answered.

            “What were the books?” Kayley asked.

            “I don’t know, they were all tattered and destroyed,” he sighed.

            “I’m going to go look, just in case,” Kayley stated, and off she went.

            “Wait, did you say a broken phone?” Tyrone exclaimed.

            “Yeah, why?” Nolan questioned.

            “There might be something in the phone I can use for the radio!” Tyrone exclaimed. He ran off to find the phone, just as Kayley was coming back with a book in her hand.

            “Guys, guys, I found something!” she shouted. She ran closer and handed me a ripped-up old book.

            “What help is this?” I asked.

            “Open it!” she shouted. I opened the book and looked through with excitement.

            “I don’t believe it!” I screamed. “This is great!”

            “What is it?” Noland asked.

            “It must have been some sort of atlas that the pilot had! It might be able to help us!” Kayley exclaimed.

            That night, I fell asleep feeling a lot better about then I have for the past few days. We had the atlas, hopefully the radio, and each other. Tomorrow, it was time to figure out where we were.