WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

I woke up disoriented and switched the alarm off. I was beat. Yesterday’s events flooded my mind. Alan! I don’t have Ethan’s number and I don’t know if Alan was awake or has his mobile on him. I decided to give it a try. I hunted my mobile and was about to search for Alan’s number when I got a call from an unknown number. I picked up.

“Hello?” I said in my sleep tight voice.

“Ana, it’s Ethan” the beautiful voice said he sounded little breathless. My heart sped up for no reason. And I was alert within seconds. I frowned at my reaction.

“Is Alan okay?” I asked.

“Yes he is Ana, the doctors said that he was ready to go home” he said.

“Thank you for staying there with him Ethan” It should have been me.

“He is my friend Ana, It’s my responsibility, I was wondering whether I could pick you up on my way to college, In case you haven’t retrieved your car still” he said. I grimaced. My car! I quickly decided to take the day off. I was too tired anyway.

“No Ethan,  I am going to take the day off, my dad had made arrangements for the car” I added.

“You ok?” his anxious voice was little high.

“No, No I am fine, I’m just tired Ethan” I explained.

“Okay Ana, Take Care” he said.

“Sure Ethan, bye” I said and hung up the call.  The rest of the day went in a blur, I was all alone at home and tried to read for my upcoming exams, but couldn’t concentrate. I tried to sleep, and couldn’t do that either. I can’t keep the various images of Ethan flipping one by one in my mind. I couldn’t figure out his character. None of his actions makes sense and none of my reactions to him makes sense either. Anger, Frustration, Disgust, Anxiousness, Gratitude…I have never been so confused in my life. Everything about him is confusing. I filed these thoughts away from my mind and fell asleep after a great struggle.

       It was the day of our field trip! My sister was unusually quiet. My dad gave me a huge sending off speech. I could see that he wants me to be safe and return back sound. He is way too cautious when it comes to our safety. I am sure I will miss them terribly ‘cause this is the longest, I am going to stay away from home. I am mostly concerned about them, they are not used to me staying away, not more than a day. Both of them hugged me tightly. I assured them that I will be back in no time. I hopped in my car and revived my engine. I was as usual early to college. My backpack was little heavy than the other days. Once I got off the car I spotted Sharon and walked towards her. She was talking with Mr. Snitch who was bent over a map his spectacles sliding off his nose.

“Good Morning, Mr. Snitch” I said with a smile. He looked at me over his spectacles.

“Good Moring, Miss Clandestine”, he said.

“Where exactly are we going sir?” I asked bending over the map trying to make sense of the lines drawn all over it.

“Here” he said and pointed at one of the many cluster of green background in the map. I grimaced. Is that supposed to help?

“Two forest officers will accompany us and will guide us throughout our journey, so don’t worry” he said

“When will we reach the destination sir?” Sharon asked with a frown.

“By midnight today Miss. Brown” he marked a random spot on the map with his pen.

“Sir, if it is a jungle shouldn’t we worry about predators or wild animals?”I asked

“No, Miss Clandestine the officials said there have been no predators for three years now” he said convincingly.

“Sir considering the vastness of the jungle, how do we keep track of the right path?” Sharon asked. I was wondering about the same. She smiled at me knowingly.

“Look at this river over here” he traced the blue line flowing across the map. “It runs right through the jungle and leads straight to the ocean. From that beach approximately eight miles east is the forest department office” he said and looked up. We nodded at him. He looked around.

“It’s time” he shouted out to our classmates with a loud clear voice.

“Everyone gather around!” he said. Almost all our classmates were here. I searched the crowd for Alan they said he will be here…. Alan had a gauze wrapped around his forehead other than that he looked cheerful, just like everyone else.

“You look better” I observed when I was beside him.

“Sorry for the trouble that day Ana, I had a series of problems breaking out in my family, I wasn’t thinking straight, I don’t even remember how I lost control of the vehicle. Thank you so much for helping me” he said. My eyes widened and I felt guilty instantly. I had wrongly assumed that it was all about Ethan.

“No, you should thank Ethan, it was so nice of him to stay with you in the hospital” I said.

“Yes, he is a very sweet guy, he was the one who helped me get over my problem” he said. I was shocked.

“But, when I noticed you in the parking lot that day, you dint look that happy about him” I stated questioningly.

“I still regret my stupidity that day Ana, he was trying to help me, but I was too emotional to even realize that. Despite my hostile behavior he reached out to help me, when I woke up in the hospital” he said. I was so shocked. Alan got a call and excused himself. I treaded back to Sharon guilty and aghast.

“What happened? Is he ok?” she asked. Of course everyone was aware of his accident. I just shook my head masking my face and distracted her by changing the subject.

 “Sharon? Where is john?” I asked with a frown. She let it drop.

“He will be here in a minute” she said. Maggie joined us.

“Ana that dress looks so good on you!” she exclaimed as soon as she was within our earshot. I looked down at myself. I was wearing a dark blue turtleneck shirt and faded grey jeans.

“You read my mind Mags” Sharon said, Trying to lift my mood.

“Thanks” I said. They rolled their eyes at me. I aint good, neither in distinguishing between compliments and mockery nor receiving one. I am sure they could  detect my anxiousness but they din’t question it.

“I will be right back” Sharon muttered and made her way towards John who was just closing his car door.

“Everyone board the bus” Mr. Snitch commanded.

“Come on let’s go” Maggie said and walked towards the bus. I got in and took the seat right behind the driver’s and Maggie sat right beside me. She could see the road, on which we were travelling. I know she prefers it that way. I turned back to look at Sharon, she was sitting near the back door with John. She waved at me to assure me. Eric, who was finally back from his vocation, has been ignoring me for the past couple of days. And he has stopped sharing our table during the lunch, this deeply worried me, I honestly have no clue what to do about it. He was seated two seats before Sharon with one of our classmates Lily. I smiled at him, he smiled back at me but turned away quickly. I sighed. I don’t want to lose him. Right before him was Ethan seated beside Alan. Odd. I looked around the bus for Kate and she was behind Sharon with her sidekicks. I frowned and looked back at Ethan. He was looking right at me. I turned away quickly but not quickly enough, at least not before my heart did a somersault. I frowned at my reaction for him. His look was so intense I thought. Idiot I cursed myself to even have spared a thought about him I don’t want to be confused any more than I already I am or get entangled in his split personalities.

       At eight we had our supper. It was the last of our home made solid food. From tomorrow on, we will be ‘making’ food out of the jungle resources under the guidance of the officers, who were seated on the last row of seats with Mr. Snitch. Slowly conversations started to ebb. I couldn’t sleep, I was looking out the window.

“There is no reception at all” Maggie muttered, frustrated and showed her mobile into the bag. She rested her head against the head rest and closed her eyes.

“Come here you” I whispered and put my hand on her cheek and placed her head on my shoulder.

“Thanks Ana” she said and sighed deeply. I know she will be fast asleep within couple minutes.

“Hush now” I said. I looked into the dark night outside my window, the moon and its accomplices were nowhere to be seen the heavy dark clouds distilled the otherwise clear sky and weighed them down with their burden. Something about the flying dark trees made me wonder about the living creatures it holds.  I was lost in thought, when the sudden change in location brought me back. There were high bushes instead of huge trees. On the left hand side it almost looked like rocky surface, the ground was hard and after few feet the rocky surface slanted down to nowhere. We have been traveling slightly upwards as if we were moving uphill. I turned back and found almost everyone asleep. Only one head was up and it was turned towards me. He was still looking at me!? I raised an eyebrow, a reflex reaction. I wondered whether he can see me ‘cause, I barely can, it was too dark with all the lights dimmed. He did not look away. His eyes were blazing brighter by the minute. It appeared as if he stole the luminosity from the moon and star and arrayed them in his eyes, they left my head clouded and like the sky. I shook my head with a frown and turned away. What was with him? And what is the problem with you I cursed my heart appalled. I sighed and rested my head on my headrest and closed my eyes and drifted.

There was a huge sound like the thunderclap! My mind alerted in an instant and searched for the source of the sound through my window into the calm bushy forest, only then did I realize that the chaos was inside the bus! Maggie jerked awake and was looking around wildly, we did not even have time to wonder aloud as to what was happening, the bus started to lose its control! Adrenaline coursed through me and made it impossible to hear. I was trying to make sense of what was happening. To our great horror, the bus suddenly veered to the left and crashed right into the roadside barrier. The ear splitting crash brought my hearing sense back, as if a switch was turned on, the screams of my classmates filled my ears in a gush. The bus has not yet come to a stop it was moving on its own, over the now, flat barrier and was making its way slowly down the side of the cliff. The driver’s voiced boomed inside the bus, he was shouting at us to get down. We hurried to get off, the students at the back seats were already filing out of the back door, blindly jumping off on to the sliding rocky surface! Amidst the clamor, I could hardly find Sharon. I hope she is okay. There were too many of our classmates blocking the front door of the bus trying to get out. The weightlessness at the back pushed the bus’s leverage to the front and made the bus to move faster than before. I clutched Maggie’s hand and made for the door, suddenly the bus shifted horizontally and swept our feet off the ground, I quickly clutched one of the seats, but Maggie lost her grip on my hand and landed hard on the front glass of the bus, with a huge thud. I looked at the glass wide eyed the cracks were growing rapidly! Notwithstanding her weight. “Maggie!” I shouted and extended my right hand towards and tired my best to reach for her.

“Maggie give me your hand!” I shouted panicked.

“Ana, the glass… The glass is breaking…I can’t.” she stuttered horrified.

“Maggie, look at me, I am not leaving you. Just grab my hand we can get out of here!” I pleaded. I have to get us out. I firmly wedged my feet between the seats and grabbed Maggie’s hand. As she moved, the cracks grew violently and the glass shattered with a piercing clash. I managed to pull Maggie towards me with all the strength I can conjure. My right arm was screaming in protest.  I looked up to see that the bus was almost empty than four other students, as the weight reduced the bus sped up.

“Help!”We shouted at them. They didn't hear us! within few seconds we somehow managed to find our footing, with great difficulty. Maggie clutched my hand tightly, we together managed to move towards the door . Right when we thought we are gonna survive a backpack came rolling down and hit me at the back of my knees. My legs gave out.