This story is a work of fiction and all characters are fictitious. Where any organisation is mentioned it must be assumed that none of the characters named in this story as connected with that organisation bear any resemblance to , nor are intended to represent, any character really associated with that organisation. There may well be some activity in this story which is of a mildly sexual nature, and involving a minor. If this is offensive to you, or if it is not legal for you to read it, please do not do so. Having said that, any such activity is of a loving kind and is not intended to be pornographic. Again, if it is pornography you are looking for, look elsewhere.
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Marooned Chapter five
By Jonah
"Come on Rob, it's time to get up".
"You get up I'm too tired".
"I'm going to get fresh water. You need to get washed by the time I get back because I'll be emptying the basin".
Darkness fell as the curtain fell back into place.
What just happened?
I scrambled out of the dingy. Ben was nowhere to be seen.
"I said you need to get washed".
"Al right, keep your hair on", I replied to nobody in particular.
"My hair doesn't come off - does yours?"
I walked to the water basin and began splashing water over my body. I'd no sooner finished than -
"Are you washed yet?"
"Nearly" I replied.
"I told you that water's going", said the voice as the water in the blanket emptied itself on the ground.
Well it didn't quite empty itself. It might have had more to do with the middle of the blanket being kicked upwards by Ben's foot. His face was wreathed in smiles and a strange gutttural noise came from the back of his throat.
"All right, you can laugh. How's the ankle?".
"Thank you. Still hurts a little but not too bad.", said the voice in my head. as Ben emptied the blanket he was carrying into our makeshift water basin.
"Well don't over do it. How long have you been able to do that?"
"Do what?"
You know very well..... the telepathy thing"
He took the shell and got himself a drink of water.
"I suppose I must have always been able. I just had nobody I could do it with before, except Carrie, and Carrie's dead".
"You know Carrie's dead?"
He'd stopped drinking and was looking at his feet.
"She was unconscious before the plane hit the water. Some of that loose stuff must have hit her. Ma and Pa couldn't get free bacause they were strapped in. The fuselage broke just behind the wing when we hit the water, and a few people who weren't strapped in made it out of the plane, but I think we were the only two who made it to the surface".
"Shit!" I said. "That's not good".
"Bummer!" he agreed.
"No I mean, if it looks as if everybody went down with the plane, they won't be looking for us. The plane's ELT will have brought them in, but we don't know how far we drifted."
"Bummer!" he repeated.
"Breakfast ", I said.
Why am I talking out loud?
He produced a banana from behind his back.
"I've had mine, and you can talk out loud if you like. You'll get a sore throat before I do."
"Do you hear everything I think?"
"Don't think so, but if you think something I don't hear, I won't know about it"
I scowled.
"Nobody loves a smartarse", I said.
"Oh, but you do love me" said the voice in my head as he pulled me into a close embrace. "We wouldn't be talking like this if you didn't"
"Fine," I thought, "I fall in love with a minor - a deaf and dumb minor - and before you know it the kid can read my mind. I'm looking forward to explaining THAT one to the judge when we finally get out of here. ' Your honour, I know I masturbated him and let him suck me off, but we ARE in love and besides we're telepathically compatible' . That should go down a treat."
"AND kissed, AND sucked my toes", he added, suddenly angry.
"I did not suck your toes", I protested.
"But you wanted to yesterday afternoon when I was lying down".
"How long have you been able to read my thoughts?" I demanded.
He turned and walked awkwardly to the tree line.
"I thought you loved me", said the voice.
"If you can read my mind you know I do" I replied out loud.
He stopped and fell sobbing to his knees. I'm a sucker for a crying child. I walked over and knelt beside him, pulling him into a hug. We stayed like that in silence for some time. I didn't even dare think how delectable was the beautiful naked boy in my arms. As we cuddled the sobs subsided to sniffs, and eventually to regular breathing as I knelt cradling a sleeping child. I picked him up and carried him back to the dinghy. Gently I laid him amongst the clothing on the floor.
"Oh no you don't", said the voice as I stood to leave. "Stay!"
I lay down and spooned with him. We must have lay there for another hour.
Eventually I disentangled myself and walked down the beach to see what I could find for dinner. There was nothing in the rockpool, but a quantity of kelp was scattered about the beach. I gathered what I could. and retraced my steps. I spread the kelp on the woodshed roof to dry and then lit the fire. The feet were in the dinghy doorway. I walked over and looked down at them.
"I'm not asleep", thought Ben, "just putting on a show for you".
"It's going to take a while to get used to this", I thought in return.
"You're doing fine", was the answering thought. "Go on, you know you want to".
"Business before pleasure", I thought. "No food this side of the island. I'm going mountaineering and then coming back round the other side. There's some seaweed drying that's edible for now, Just stay there and rest."
The feet disappeared.
"I'm coming with you".
"That'd be nice, but not on your ankle. Rest and look after the fire."
The feet reappeared, but I hadn't time to appreciate them.
I took the spare emergency blanket, in case I found anything to put in it, and headed for the foot of the mountain.
I wonderd how far away Ben could read my thoughts. It did occur to me to wonder if he would tell me, then I wondered if he knew I was wondering that. Damn! A guy can think himself round in circles like that. Of course telepathy works both ways, but then he knew all about it and I was a novice. Is there a way of controlling whether your thoughts can be read? Is there a way of blocking out the other person's thoughts? Ben probably knew the answers to those, but what were the odds on his telling me? How much do you have to love somebody to throw away a natural advantage and lose control? That's a silly question. I had admitted to loving Ben, but I had never asked whether he loved me. He's eleven years old for Pete's sake. He doesn't act or think like an eleven year old, but then he's used to being deaf. He's probably had to develop in ways that eleven year olds usually don't, just to be able to cope.
I was above the tree line by the time I'd finished tying my brain in knots. I'd seen a few birds, but we'd no way of catching or killing those. In any case I didn't recognise most of the species. If they were carnivores, or scavengers, we certainly didn't want to be eating them. I'd seen pigeons yesterday, at least they looked like pigeons, but none today, and we couldn't catch them anyway.
The sun was heating the rock, so it was just as hot as yesterday. Not quite hot enough to singe my bare feet - at least not if I kept moving. It was hard to remember that I was supposed to be searching for food. The bare rock couldn't conceal anything edible.
It was past noon when I reached the top, and I had found nothing on the way up. I did, however find something when I got to the top. A grubby looking grey motor launch was anchored about four hundred yards off our beach. The trees concealed the camp from here but if they had come ashore just there they would have to have lowered a boat and rowed in. If they found Ben he wouldn't have been able to communicate so they wouldn't know I was here. Best get back down before they go without me. As I started to scramble down one thought flashed through my brain.
"HELP!"
Now I knew why I had brought the survival blanket. I put it on the rock and sat on it. I could slide down the mountain muck faster that I could run - at least as far as the tree line. I could probably get a good way through the pine woods like that too.
"I'm coming Ben" I thought desperately.
"Be careful", said the voice in my head. "Danger!"
The trees were coming up fast now. I bent my knees so that my feet were on the blanket too.I was headed straight for a pine trunk and the rock had given way to soft needle mulch. I leaned to my left and moved my feet over that way. The tree slid by and I quickly twisted to avoid the next one. The slope was steep enough to slide on the mulch, I just had to avoid hitting trees.
"NO, NO, PLEASE DON'T", suddenly rang out as if I had actually heard it. Next my head was filled with the most ear-splitting screech I had ever heard.
The slope was easing now and I was slowing. I siezed the blanket by it's edge and leapt to my feet, already running. I crashed through the ferns and the undergrowth. I was almost into the jungle proper.
"Slow down Rob", came the voice. "Don't let them see you. If they do they'll catch you too".
I dropped to my belly and began silently wriggling through the undergrowth. I could already smell the smoke from our fire, so it could only be yards to the edge of the jungle. A few more yards and I could actually see our camp.
My heart sank.