Kirt Heinrich
I couldn't believe it! I couldn't believe that I woke up without being disturbed by Mr. Gallagher, who wakes all the boys up at 7.30 am by banging against their capsule doors. During the first few days, he didn't wake us up because of the wearisome bus journey. But, after three days since reaching the camp, he made sure to wake us up as early as possible. He was so persistent in waking us all up that even if one of the boys he had just woken up slept, he never gave up going back and waking him up over again. I felt strange not waking up to the bangings of Mr. Gallagher's fist against the capsule doors, that day.
I stared at the ceiling, as I lay still in bed. I recollected the adventure we had last night.
Then pulling the curtains aside, I saw that the campfire was burnt out, and the ash was washed up by the rain. I then looked up at the branches of the trees which were gently swaying, before staring for a while at a big lock placed outside on the door of Sergio's cabin.
Laying down, resting my head on the palm of my hands, I stared at the ceiling above me once again. I didn't feel like getting out of bed.
Shifaly Udawatte
Avanthi was lying on the floor. Her bedsheet was sprawled across the floor beside her.
I shook my head as I stared at her, wondering how could she be sleeping even after a great fall.
There were no birds outside chirping. It was drizzling. The trees outside swayed from side to side.
I could hear thunder, but I couldn't see any lightning.
A thick storm was impending; for, that day the sky was even darker than how it looked when it rained in the days before that day.
"Avanthi? Avanthi?", I tried to wake her up.
"Hmmm?", was the only response I got from her before she went back to sleep.
With no company (except for the sound of the rain outside), thinking it was better to spend time outside, I went outside, careful not to step over Avanthi in the process. Nothing could describe how glad I was that I didn't have to share a bed with her yesterday. If I ever did, I would have woken up with her smelly feet in my nose. Or worse… I would have woken up on the ground, with her spread like the bedsheet over the bed. They say some things never change: well, the way Avanthi sleeps is one of those things.
However, Avanthi pushing people down or kicking them in their face when they share a bed with her are not the hardest things they must bear with when they share a bed with her. The hardest thing one must bear with, when they share a room with Avanthi is the loud voice she speaks in when she is speaking in her sleep.
I saw her stir as I closed the door, on my way out.
Everyone was still sleeping, and I knew that because I saw no one in the common room. Usually, if people were awake, one would see the guys playing billiards while the girls were either watching the guys play, or gossiping. Today not a soul was in the common room, so I proceeded to go outside.
I opened the door to see if anyone was sitting by the chairs in the front yard, outside. There was no one. Those chairs and tables in the front yard were dripping wet because of the drizzle. I looked around, and after confirming that there was no one, I shut the door.
I thought of waking Ms. Dayani up, but then I realized we all were up till very late last night. For that reason, I thought it was wiser to let her sleep.
I looked for people on all three floors of the structure. No one was awake. So, I thought of spending some time alone on the terrace.
Since it was not heavily raining, I thought that it would be fine to walk on the terrace with my raincoat on. I opened the door and walked on the terrace. I put my face up looking at the sky, permitting the rain to wet my face. There are some things in life that I'd never be exhausted having: Ice Cream, Chicken Biryani, and rain on my face was definitely on that list. While I let the rain drench my face, I felt quite uneasy. I felt like was someone was looking … like someone was staring at me from the trees. I froze for a while, and then quickly turned towards the trees. There was no one looking at me. I was relieved after realizing that I was just imagining that someone was looking at me. I continued enjoying the rain until I felt like returning to my room when the rain increased in quantity.
When I was coming downstairs from the terrace, I was greeted by the only person awake: Basura. I wanted to talk to him because I thought that since he asked forgiveness, I can hang around with him. But then I thought that it was wiser to keep distance, at least for a while. I just smiled and continued downstairs to the floor my room was on, as soon as possible.
"Huh? Who is it?", asked Avanthi as I opened the door. She got up. "How did I end up on the floor?" she asked. I gave her a look, which told her that she knew how she landed down on the floor.
"Oh," she said nodding, as she went to her bag to pull out her toothbrush.
"Why is it so dark?", she asked, in a sleepy voice, while she unzipped her self-care bag. Her hair was a hot mess.
"I don't know. It looks like there is gonna be a heavy storm. It was drizzling when I went up but it started becoming very stormy. Also, the sky is very dark", I said.
The rain increased and began drumming the tin roof which covered the balcony outside my room (our room). Drops of rain pelted the windows. I looked outside the window and stared at the drops of rain streaming down the window, and saw a branch being broken off from the tree with a trr.trr..kraaaaaak by the force of the wind blowing against it.
I saw lightning and heard the crack of thunder.
Timothy McAllister
Kirt woke me up, after telling me that he had seen neither Sergio nor Seagale nor Gallagher in the camp's premises.
I too knew that Gallagher wasn't here for sure because he didn't bang on our capsule doors like he does every day.
I was very tired because it was very late when we returned from that river. I don't know how to pronounce its name. The only one who could pronounce it right is Heinrich - he's a hispanophile. He loves Spain and Spanish culture so much. While we sit and watch Netflix, he spends his time binge-watching Spanish shows on Telemundo, RTV España, and Mitele. Besides Heinrich, it's Sergio who could pronounce the river's name correctly - obviously, because he's a native Spanish speaker.
After I woke up, I got down and told Kirt, "Let's ask Alice, she"ll know".
"Do you know where Alice is?", I asked him.
"Me? Nope. Last time I saw her was when she wished me goodnight before I shut my cabin and went to sleep," said Kirt.
"Hmmm. Let's go knock on the door of the girls' deck.", I suggested.
"I'm not sure about that, because if she is still in the girls' deck, how will she know where Gallagher, Sergio, and Seagale are.", he said.
"Still worth a try," I insisted.
He nodded in agreement, and we both walked towards the spiral staircase at the back of that big, fat double-decker bus.
We knocked on the door twice.
"Yes?", said AnnSophia Fabron, who opened the door.
"Umm. Sophia, can we meet with Alice?", asked Heinrich.
"Sure, I"ll call her", she said as she went inside to just check if all the girls were properly dressed (dressed enough that guys could enter the deck).
"Come in", she said, inviting us to the deck.
The first thing that caught our attention in the girls' deck is the smell of perfume. The scent of rose and a mixture of flowers was smelled by us. Girls keep their capsules tidy.
On the way towards Alice's cabin, we caught a glimpse into the neatly organized capsules of the girls who had kept their capsule door open.
Some of the girls there were gossiping across capsules, while others were lying on their beds reading a book. Some were simply looking at us pass by.
The only inconvenience the girls' deck had was the headroom clearance. Looking up, I was able to tell that if tall guys like the Finkleberry twins had to walk through that aisle, they would have to bend. Why them? Even AnnSophia Fabron, the tallest girl in our grade, had to bend down to walk through the aisles.
Nevertheless, whoever converted this double-decker, wide and long-bodied bus, did a good job. He/she has turned the entire bus into a very comfortable, and mobile place of accommodation.
Alice came out of her capsule when we knocked on the door. As soon as she saw it was me and Kirt, she knew why we were there: to ask about the whereabouts of Gallagher, Seagale, and Sergio.
She got out of her capsule and said, "Come with me". She walked towards the door of the girls' deck gesturing with her hand that we should follow her.
We followed her down the stairs and through the boys' deck to the campfire, where we last saw Sergio early morning today when we returned from seeing the river.
She took a breath, and prepared to tell us the information we were seeking:
"So the thing is Gallagher forgot his passport somewhere in La Paz. He realized that he couldn't find his passport when he had to fill the pre-departure forms for the U.S Embassy. Thinking he just misplaced it, he gave the forms to Seagale, so that he could search it, while she filled out her part on the forms. After he gave those forms to Seagale, however, she forgot about the forms and he … he too forgot that he had lost his passport. He never searched for it, like he thought he would. But yesterday, Seagale found those forms she had forgotten about on her bed. After filling what she had to fill in those forms, she brought them to Gallagher. That's when Gallagher remembered that he was missing his passport. He searched all over his capsule and couldn't find it. Then, he remembered that he last saw it on his dressing table in La Paz. So they discussed what to do about it with Sergio, and they decided that they would go in search of the Passport coz Gallagher ain't American and if he doesn't have his passport, even though he has a Green Card, he would get in trouble in the United States…"
"How is it that they tell her and not us?" interrupted Heinrich looking at me.
"Coz you both were asleep, silly," she said looking at both of us.
"So where was I?" she asked me.
Before I could tell her where she stopped, she began: "So Gallagher, Seagale, and Sergio agreed that Sergio would drop Gallagher and Seagale in Roboré, and help them board a taxi to La Paz so that they could search for the passport. Sergio, however, will return after dropping them at Roboré to be with us. "
"Ohhh", Heinrich and I said in unison.
"So, we would be alone while they're gone until Sergio returns?", asked Heinrich.
"Yeah," Alice said.