Lynne opened her eyes slowly, clutching her aching shoulder in one hand. Her fuzzy mind sought desperately to remember where she was.

The plane…

As her vision cleared, she found that she was still on the plane, in her seat, but they were no longer moving. Had they landed already? How long had she been asleep?

She glanced around, noting with curiosity that all the other girls were asleep as well. It struck her as particularly strange because a glance at her pocket watch confirmed that it was half past noon. Her shoulder throbbed once more, and the pain broke through the last of the fuzz.

What happened? Why does my shoulder hurt, and why is everyone asleep?

She glanced instinctively to her right where he sister had been sitting beside her, only to find an empty seat. Threads of panic began to weave themselves in the tapestry of her thoughts.

Something happened…

That’s when she noticed that the plane was tilted. It was slight, very slight, but her long ginger hair hung to the left instead of straight down, despite her even posture. No airplane landed sideways. Lynne stood up with a jolt.

“Bibbon?” she tried to call, but it came out as a mere whisper. Her throat felt so dry, like she had swallowed cotton.

Walking past the other girls, focused solely on finding her sister, Lynne made her way to the front of the plane. She spotted Bibbon up ahead, in the threshold of the pilots cabin, and raced forward.

“Bibb-” she froze instantly as she saw over her little sister’s head.

“Th-the…” her sister whispered.

Beyond them, barely a two feet away, was their pilot, beheaded by a sharp piece of the plane.

Bibbon let out a shriek of horror, and Lynne quickly pulled her back and closed the door, spinning to put herself between her sister and the gruesome sight that lurked behind the door. She braced herself against the door as if to keep it shut, panting harshly as he mind tried desperately to comprehend what she had just seen.

Even though she couldn’t wrap her mind around, she knew she had to keep the other girls, likely to be awakened by Bibbon’s scream, from witnessing the horror.

The sea lapped at white sand like no other sea Jessica had ever seen before. Almost gentle, like the touch of an owner to their dog's head, most unlike the brutal North Sea she was used to. The blue colour of the water was brighter than the sky, too, which was strange. She stood at the edge of the lapping water, staring at it, and wondered when she had started. She couldn’t remember starting to stare. She couldn’t remember standing up, even. But she supposed she must have because her clothes were sandy.

She turned to look at the plane, tipped on its side like some metallic beached sea creature, or a monster from one of her grandfather’s books on Ancient Greece. It had torn a deep trench across the beach and flattened some of the trees at the edge of the jungle, making one side of the bay look scary and broken.

She looked around her, frowning. She couldn’t see anybody around, just trees amongst areas of pinkish rock and a long stretch of white beach. She took two steps, out of the shade cast by the plane and jumped up onto a rock. The sounds of rippling water distracted her from her search and she ran to see what it was. It was hard to run in her school shoes . . .

Further up the beach by a sort of break in the trees was more pink rock that made a little pool about knee-deep next to a flatter area. She climbed up the rocks and dropped some pebbles absently into the water.

Boy was it hot . . .

Jessica put a hand up to shade her eyes from the bright glare of the sun, sparkling off the sea as if it were beaded with tiny diamonds. There was nothing on the horizon, not a boat or a ship, a yacht or a lonely swimmer.

A small, lost feeling welled up inside her. What if there was nobody else? What if she was the only one? Her head hurt, ached.

“Hello?” she called out, cupping her hands around her mouth.

Lynne was broken out of her trance by the sound of someone calling out. Though Bibbon was still sobbing and shaking, Lynne managed to lead her out of the plane through a large tear in the wall.

Together they stumbled towards the source of the noise, Lynne leading and Bibbon blindly following. The air around them was baking, drawing sweat to their skin almost instantly due to all their layers. The glaring sun burned their eyes, bathing them in heat and cruel, searing light.

“Is somebody there?” Lynne called out. She hardly noticed the stunning cerulean sea that kissed the golden sand, or the magnificent cliffs that jutted from the jungle, colored like a blush of a girl standing before her true love. These things faded; color, texture, beauty. They bowed before the colossal goal of finding someone, anyone.

Spotting a girl sitting by a pool in the shade, Lynne let out a cry of joy and raced forward, unknowingly leaving Bibbon behind.

“You there. Hello?”

"Hello-helloooo!" she called out again and again, hoping someone would hear her. Someone from the plane? There were lots of people on it before -- someone must be around. She shuffled uneasily on the rocks. The combination of her cardigan and the heat was amking her skin itch, so she took it off and tied it around her waist by the sleeves. She had just about given up on shouting, and was absently thinking of home whilst throwing more pebbles into the pool, when she heard someone’s voice.

“You there. Hello?”

At first she wasn’t quite sure she’s heard it, thinking maybe it was just her mind playing tricks on her. It was hot after all. Hotter than any summer Jessica could remember.

She stood up and looked around, then smiled as she spotted a girl who looked older than her, run towards her over the sand. Her shoes kicked up sprays of sand behind her almost hazily before the subtle warm breeze scattered it back across the bay, leaving only misshapen footprints as a clue.

“Hello,” Jessica called with a smile and a small wave. She climbed down from the rocks, happy she wasn’t alone. “Do you know where this is? I mean, it’s a strange place, don’t you think?”

Lynne returned the smile, her entire face lighting up with the brightness of it. Her relief at finding someone else, someone she could talk to, plan with, washed over her like the sweetest perfume. It calmed her, allowing her take in the facts that floated around her and knit them together to form reality.

“An island,” she said with confidence. “A plane crash would alert the locals, and they’d be bound to come for a look. The only explanation is that there are no locals, that we’re alone here.”

The thought of the sleeping girls crossed her mind, bringing with it the image of their pilot. Lynne cringed at the memory and forced it out of her mind instantly. Fear would cloud her judgment, as would sorrow or pity. It was best to let the man pass on without leaving behind such unhappiness. Remembrance, she decided, wasn’t always a good thing.

“Strange, perhaps,” she said slowly, successfully bringing herself back into the present. She continued, “But not in a bad way. It seems like a good place.”

She flashed another dazzling smile. “My name is Lynne. What’s yours?”

Jessica didn't like the sound of the girl's suggestion that they were alone. And maybe there were locals, and that they just hadn't heard. Jessica herself couldn't remember a crash, though the wreckage was obvious. She only remembered her grandfather at the airport waving her goodbye, and then standing on the beach.

“My name is Lynne. What’s yours?”

"Jessica," she replied. "But my friends call me Pippa." She gave the girl a small smile and looked down at the ripples of water coming nearer their shoed feet as the tide began to come in.

"How do you know it's an island?" Jessica asked. The beach was long and curved round further along to the right before disappearing into the sea, and the other way, the beach became craggy rock faces. If they were on an island it must be very big. "Maybe there's pirates?"

Then she noticed somebody else near the plane, out of the corner of her eyes. A small figure - another girl from the plane, perhaps?

"Lynne, who's that?" she asked cautiously, peering round her.

"How do you know it's an island?" Jessica asked. Lynne had to think for a minute to remember where the thought came from.

“The jungle is so close to the beach,” she said finally. “You know, almost as if there wasn’t enough room for the beach to spread out.” That was the logic, the foundation that she stood on to give confidence to her words. Still, the most convincing thing was the aching feeling of lonliness, as if the entire world was now confined to a small, clauserphobic space.

She giggled at the mention of pirates, but her laughter was cut short when Jessica reminded her of Bibbon. Spinning on her heels, she saw that her sister had collapsed onto the ground where she had left her, paralyzed still by shock and horror. As her senses focused, she could make out the sound of sniffling.

“Bibbon!” she called, her voice a mix of annoyance and sympathy. “Get up and come here. Introduce yourself to Jessica.”

When she made no move to get up, Lynne sighed and went to fetch her. She helped her little sister up, nearly carrying her over to where Jessica stood.

“Sorry about her. She can be a real baby at times.” Lynne brushed a piece of hair out of her face. “This is Bibbon, my younger sister. Say hello, Bibbon.”

When her sister sat her chubby bottom onto the ground and wailed, Lynne gave a harsh sigh of exasperation. She was all to aware of the beginnings of a blush on her cheeks. Why did her sister have to embarrass her so?

Falling, falling, a scream, darkness, and... another scream? Anna's eyes flew open as she glanced around the plane. Her back was wracked with pain and she could hardly bring herself to move. She managed to stand and shook it off, or tried at least. With slow, wobbling steps, she made her way down the aisle and to the broken part of the piolet's cabin. There, in the dust from the crash, was the headless man who'd once smiled at her and made her uncomfertable. It was strange to see him like that; horrific, but surreal.

She wobbled to the door and down into the sand with a harsh thud. The white-hot granuals burned as she lay for a moment, trying to get her barrings. Anna felt like she was developing one of her migranes again, and the beating of the ssun was not helping. The heat ate her alive like a monster, and although she was in the shadow of the plane itself, it still seemed intolerable.

She heard the calls of girls further off, but could barely make out what they were saying to one another. It was like being in a terrible dream, from which there was no waking.

Jessica frowned when the girl laughed at her, but didn’t dwell on the thought for long though as Lynne went to fetch the littlun. It was hot and she didn’t like the heat. The heat made her feel dizzy. The sun was so bright it created so many sparkles on the sea's surface that she could hardly see the horizon through the hazy glare.

She smiled weakly at the wailing little girl as Lynne introduced them. She must be scared – the plane looked scary there on the beach all broken and twisted like it was. Lynne didn't look happy, but Jessica didn't mind. She would have liked to have had a sister. She knelt down on the warm white sand in front of Bibbon, and pulled the cloth bag of marbles from her cardigan pocket.

“Here, Bibbon. You can play with these if you like,” she said, quietly. She held the cloth bag out hesitantly, almost wishing she could just keep them to herself and not risk being parted from them. “They’re special, y’know, so don’t loose them,” she added with a smile.

Bibbon accepted the marbles, sniffling and wiping her nose on her sleeve, much to Lynne’s chagrin. Bibbon took a few out and cradled them to her chest, as if they were fragile wisps as opposed to glass.

Lynne let out a soft sigh. “Bibbon, be careful with those. Mum will scold you if you break them.”

“I’m not gonna!” Bibbon protested, yet held them more tightly. Giving Jessica a wide-eyed looked, she lisped softly, “I promith I’ll be careful with ‘em.”

Lynne stared at the sea, her mind just now realizing what she had said. “Mum won’t scold you…”

Bibbon looked surprised. “ ‘Course she will.”

Lynne spoke slowly, “No… Mum isn’t here… and the pilot left…” Already her mind had rid itself of the awful image, replacing it with one where the pilot simply left the island to do grown-up things. “There aren’t any grown-ups here…”

Bibbon look frightened with the thought. “There’s gotta be.”

Lynne ignored her, smiling brilliantly. “No grown-ups!” She spun around in joy, then ran to do a cartwheel. Taking Jessica’s hands, she excitedly gushed, “No grown-ups! Won’t this vacation be fun?”

Jessica smiled at Lynne's delight, and at Bibbon who didn't seem so fearful now. If she thought it would be fun, then maybe she was right. After all, it was like a summer holiday. There was a beach, and it was much nicer than the ones her grandfather would take her to in the summer. Cromer and Great Yarmouth always had a strong wind, even on hot days, that made your skin turn redder than sunburn.

Suddenly a thought popped into her head and she dropped Lynne's hands to look around her. "Do you think there are more of us? I mean, all the girls from the plane? I don't remember anything, but that's the plane and here's the beach, and I was here but you were in there. There might be more of us." Her words sounded confusing spoken out loud so she tried again. "There might be more. We should look for more."

Lynne nodded sagely. “There are lots more. They’re in the plane, sleeping like babies. They’ll come out when they wake up.”

“What if they don’t wake up?” Bibbon whispered.

Lynne gave her an annoyed glance. “Of course they’ll wake up. That’s what you do when you sleep. You wake up.”

Bibbon shook her head. “I mean, what if they… you know, aren’t sleeping?”

Lynne sighed. Leave it to Bibbon to spoil a perfectly good vacation with all her pessimism.

“They’ll wake up. Trust me. You trust me, don’t you?”

Bibbon’s eyes widened and she nodded fiercely.

“Then that’s that. They’ll wake up, and then all of us can play together,” Lynne said with a tone of finality.

Harmony woke because the sun was in her eyes. It filled her closed eyes with a glowy redness that made her uncomfortable and irritated. She opened them and put her hand up to sheild the sun, surprised to find herself inside the aeroplane she suddenly remembered being in before . . . she couldn't remember after that.

She wriggled in her seat and unstrapped her seatbelt which then flopped beside her. The girl next to her was small, and Harmony remembered how she had snivelled for the first hour of the flight about missing her mother. She was unconcious now, and blood matted her hair where she'd been hit by a box that now lay at her feet. Hesitantly, she checked the girl's pulse.

. . . Nothing.

She checked again, moving her fingers over the girl's warm, but stiff neck. Still nothing. Harmony breathed deeply and glanced out the window over the girl's shoulder and saw sliding blue seas and a hazey horizon dividing the sky from the ocean. They must have crashed. She looked back at the little girl's face, shiny in the bright sunlight streaming through the window.

"You're dead," she murmered, not sure fo her voice in the strangeness of it all. She wasn't meant to be here, in this place, wherever it was. She was meant to be in the sky, on her way . . . where? She couldn't remember.

She turned away from the little girl's body and twisted herself in her seat to see others, in their seats or in the isle, some clearly dead, others with faint hints of life; the flutters of their eyes, the slow, rhythmic rise of their chests. She worked her way down the isle towards the cavern of light falling through a gash in the side of the plane. Twisted metal played spooky tricks with the shadows.

Then she heard voices.