Time flew by. However, the trek through the foliage and trees seemed to draw on.

   Now that his greatest flying fear had come true, his mind was free to linger on other subjects. Was there anyone else on the island? Would he die? How did he of all people survive a plane crash? Must've been because I was the only one scared, he thought. Of course it would be him. Not his more capable friend, not some educated adult with their whole life ahead of them, him. 

   Felix let out a deep sigh. Finally, he came upon a pond of clear water. His reflection on the water terrified him.

   His once orange and fluffy hair was now matted with dried blood, the warmth coming from his ear appeared to be from where his earring was ripped out, and some black substance streaked across his forehead and left cheek. Probably oil or something, he assumed. This wasn't even the worst of it.]

   A long cut was visible from below his cheekbone almost to his nose, scabbed over in some spots and still leaking blood in others. Scattered across his forehead were small cuts, all dried up; well, besides a small chunk of metal from the plane that was lodged into his skin.

   Felix wanted to hurl. His instinct took over. He pulled himself away from the horrid image and ripped the metal from his flesh. Pain seared from his forehead as he tossed the metal to the side in disgust. Seconds later, his eye twitched closed. Blood slid down his face, dripping onto his eyelashes and weighing them down.

   Felix rubbed his closed eye with a balled up fist, creating more of a mess to clean up than he had before. He ignored this and leaned over the pond once again. Even through his clouded red vision, he could see that he had made a stupid mistake.

   Where the metal once resided was torn open more. None of the flesh underneath the wound was visible, thick maroon liquid concealing it all.

   The image beneath him rippled as the blood dripped from his head to the water, distorting the reflection of himself. Felix sighed again and gently cupped water in his hand. As gently as possible, he lifted the water to his face and washed off as much blood, dirt, and grime as he could. 

   He flinched as he started to pour water over the open wound. It was probably a stupid idea; however, he'd much rather be able to see out of one eye now and risk infection than haphazardly stumble about the woods. After successfully washing as much as he could, Felix started his journey to find people or shelter.

   A solid forty five minutes passed before Felix found anything besides trees. At this point, his head was throbbing, and he was eighty percent sure the wound was infected. The thing he came upon that wasn't woods?

   A cave. A dark, damp, spooky looking cave.

   The fact that Felix's stomach growled angrily in hunger didn't help his situation; alongside his burning throat. He wasn't sure when the last time he had a drink of fresh water was. Probably on the plane with the horridly over expensive food. Of course, he wasn't sure how long it had been since then either.

   Felix decided to shake it off. With a yearning in his heart and voices echoing in his mind, he made his way into the cave.

   As he walked deeper into the cave, the voices became louder, more realistic. He winced and put his hands over his ears, attempting to block out the noise as well as sooth the pain. Knees feeling weak, he stops walking and looks up. A scream escapes his throat as he stumbles back. 

   At the back of the cave, barely visible and sitting on a rock was Chris's corpse, pole still impaling his stomach.

   Chris's lifeless head turned to look at him. Felix whimpered in panic. This isn't real, he thought. None of this could be real, he was dead and in the plane over at the shore. 

   Felix steadily moved backwards, failing to notice the rock he tripped on. The wind knocked out of his lungs as he fell and landed directly on his back. Still covering his ears, Felix rolled to his side to have Chris in his line of sight, watching him cautiously.

   Instead, Chris's fatal injuries slowly faded to nothing, the pole disappearing as a smile formed on his face.

   "Heya, Felix," Chris said. "Just relax, Bud." He lie there, baffled.

   "You're not real, you can't-" A cough ripped from his throat, interrupting his scratchy sentence. It was then that he realized how long it had been since he had last talked. Chris just flashed a smiled at him, shifting himself to be sat properly on the rock.

   "I'm about as real as they come, Lix. Just calm down."

   It was easier said than done, Felix's vision distorting and ears ringing. He could barely hear what Chris had said in the first place. 

   Chris hopped to his feet and made his way over to Felix, any sign of the plane crash completely gone. Once Chris's feet had become square with Felix's curled up body, he leaned down and pat his head comfortingly. Felix heard a call of his name from his right.

   Looking up, he hesitantly asked, "Mum?" He could just make out her gently smiling face above him.

   She nodded and walked next to Chris, crouching down to Felix's level.

   "Yes. It's me, Sweetie," She said softly, cradling his face in her hands. "Oh, my little Aussies. You both did so well! I'm so proud of you boys." 

   As she brushed her thumb across Felix's forehead, the aching in his head subsided.

   "Really?" He choked out, voice wavering as tears pricked at the corner of his eyes. His mum nodded. Chris crouched down next to her and pat Felix's shoulder.

   "Yeah! You don't have to keep fighting anymore, Lix. You can rest now." Chris said, getting up with Felix's mum and backing up. Felix's vision became a blinding white. He squeezed his eyes closed to try to prevent it; however, it didn't help.

   He gave up and peeled his eyes open again. Felix could no longer see anyone else in the cave through the blurriness. He let his head rest on the floor once more. His eyes grew heavy as they slowly slid closed.

   "Mum? Chris...?" He weakly called out. Only dripping water responded.

   Drip... Drip...

   Felix whimpered and let out a shaky final breath.

   Drip... Drip... Drip...