‘I’m sorry for talking to you like that. I’m not myself – not thinking straight,’ he said. ‘And you scared me – I thought you were about to start gulping it back, and we can’t afford for you to go down as well. We can’t lose you.’
He forced a smile, and Naya looked at him, then at the others, noticing again how red-faced and sweaty everyone was, the clammy heat out here never letting them catch a break. Perhaps what she’d discovered here could still help them – she could still be useful to them after leading them all astray.
‘Well, let me at least try and cool us all down – we’re all overheating out here. I can soak my swimming towel in thewater and you can hold that to your head – that’s OK to do with the water, right?’
Scott nodded.
‘OK then,’ said Naya, turning and moving towards the edge of the stream, the others close behind her, throwing her rucksack back over her shoulders. She made her way to the edge of the water, watched it flowing by, whipping past her feet. The air here was cooler, cleaner. The cloying, damp scent of the jungle had gone. She breathed in the freshness, closed her eyes for a moment.
And then a branch cracked right behind her and she was jumpy, so jumpy after everything they’d been through, on edge, nerves shredded, and she startled – her foot somehow slipping forward, losing its grip on the edge of the water.
Her hands flailed wildly, reaching for something – anything – desperate to cling on to something solid, not to be swept away.
But they only moved through air, and more air.
And then the cool shock of the water as her body plunged in and the rushing stream dragged her under, into its gloomy depths.
SCOTT
‘Naya! No! NAYA!’
Scott didn’t realize he still had the energy to roar her name, didn’t know his voice could even reach that volume with his energy levels so low, his throat so hoarse and dry. But the sound erupted from his body like the wail of a banshee as he watched Naya’s limbs flail in the chaotic water, her hands grabbing at something – anything – and then at nothing.
He yelled her name frantically over and over, as he watched her head emerge briefly, too briefly, from the frothing white foam that gathered on the stream’s rushing surface; he saw her take a huge gulp of air –come on, Naya, breathe!– and then go under again. With every passing second, the current was taking her further and further down the stream, which would soon begin to bend away from them.
He would soon lose sight of her.
Breathless, panting, Scott handed Mira into Carly’s arms, and started to race along the water’s edge, calling out, the other two staggering behind him, crying Naya’s name, knowing it was futile as his screams of panic would no doubt be drowned out by the rushing water.
For one wild moment, a second of pure insanity, he considered flinging himself into the water after her, his shaking legs almost barrelling into the raging stream. He stopped himself in time; he knew if he did that, they’d most likelybothend up drowning – and that would do nothing to help save Naya.
What should I do then? WhatcanI do?
Drained of energy, suddenly hit by the full force of seeing her thrashing in the clutches of the rushing water, Scott bent his head over, placed his hands on his knees, eyes still facing forward, searching the stream.
‘Scott, are you OK? Did you see Naya? I lost sight of her!’ He jumped at the sound of Carly’s panicked voice; she was behind him – trailing a few steps further back, he caught sight of Mira slowly making her way along the water’s edge.Thank God– he’d been running for at least a minute and could have lost them too.
Mira spoke next, her face blanched, even more horror etched into the grooves of her forehead. ‘Where’s Naya? Scott, did you see where she went – were you able to keep your eyes on her? Please tell me you did!’
‘I don’t know!’ He gestured further downstream in the direction of the current, where he thought Naya had been swept to. ‘It was somewhere up there... I can’t see her any more – can you? Can anyone see her?’ Carly and Mira’s eyes scoured the water too, then they turned back to look at him; both their gazes empty.
Stop looking at me like that.
Don’t look at me like you’re giving up.
‘We need to keep searching for her,’ he said. ‘Do you think she can climb out by herself – maybe if the current eases offa little further round the bend?’ said Scott. ‘It’s moving fast, but it’s shallow in places – and she can swim, right?’
The other two said nothing; just stared at the stream in mute shock.
‘Think, Carly, Mira – did she swim at the waterfall, or was she just paddling?’
‘I – I can’t remember,’ whispered Mira. ‘I’m sorry.’ She looked defeated; hopeless. Carly did too.
They can’t give up. And neither can I.
Come on, come on.
‘What’s wrong with you both? We have to help her – and her baby!’ He didn’t mean to say it – the words seemed to splurge out of his mouth – and Scott felt a hot stab of guilt that he’d revealed something Naya had told him in confidence. It wasn’t his secret to tell.
