Surviving

As we neared the waterfall, everything was in slow motion.

It went from 100 feet to 50 in just moments. We were 50 feet away.

Meanwhile, Paige was losing it.

"Paige, just stay strong. Don't be scared. You'll make it out, you'll see Niall again. You'll see me again. Nothing's gonna go wrong." I comforted her.

She nodded. I took the last few seconds before the waterfall to say something to Harry.

'If I don't respond to you for three years, tell everyone that they mean the world to me. But don't tell them I love them. I don't love anyone.'

'Three years?'

'By then, you'll know I'm dead. Gotta go. Wish me luck.'

10 feet away. That's all that was left between me and my possible deathbed.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Paige and I held onto the stuff on the raft as it dropped us. I looked at the length of the fall. Nothing more than 200 feet. I told myself it wouldn't hurt us.

That was a lie. When we hit the bottom, I fell underwater. I didn't open my eyes to see what was going on, or to see where Paige was. I felt something thump my head, and I was freezing cold.

I opened my eyes in time to see that I had hit a rock, and I was really far underwater. I could see blood in the water around me. My head throbbed. Then I felt something hit forehead, right above my left eyebrow. Glass.

I swam to the surface as fast as I could, not looking back for anything. The blanket I held onto was still with me. Hopefully we didn't lose anything.

I took a huge breath when I found air. Paige and the raft were both at the shore.

I went into swim star mode and swam like my life depended on it toward her. It was a good distance between us. But I kept swimming. I swam and thought.

'Harry. We're okay. The raft is demolished, but we found shore. There's a good distance between us and civilization, but we can make it on foot.'

I kept swimming. Thank god I was in my bathing suit. If I wasn't, I wouldn't swim nearly as fast.

I finally reached Paige, who was crying, and the raft. It was worse than I thought. The raft was nothing but wood in a pile, and the berries were half squished, the food crate survived though, and we still have the blanket. And we can start a fire with the glass in my forehead. That's some skilled surviving.

"Paige, you okay? What happened?" I asked, panicking.

"Toni, a stick cut my arm open a bit, but I'm fine. I'm crying because I thought you drowned. What happened to you?"

I sighed out, relieved, "I went under, smashed my head on a rock, got glass in my forehead, and inhaled a ton of sea water. But I'll live."

I looked at her, her cut was on her forearm, from his wrist to halfway to her elbow. It wasn't a good cut. Deep, wide open. Might get infected. But so might my forehead and head.

"Paige, do you wanna rest or start walking? If we walk now, we'll get to town in a couple days, maybe 4 or 5. If we wait til tomorrow, it could be 5 or 6. What do you wanna do?"

"We walk now. We need to fix your forehead. It's gross." She laughed.

"So is your arm." I giggled.

She stood, and picked up some raft wood with her good arm. I picked up the crate and put in the good berries. I got the blanket, and we started walking.

HARRY'S POV

Worried us and understatement. I was dying, not knowing where Toni was or if she's okay, it was killing me. I swear, if I didn't have her, I'd kill myself.

She said three years. Three years from today, if I don't find her, I'll slit my own throat. I'm not kidding.

No one in the world understands what we have. She's more than a sister, more than a best friend, she's more than a love. I don't like her romantically, it's something stronger. And I never thought there was anything stronger than love.

What's stronger than love? That's the question I need answered. But no one knows that there's something stronger than love other than me, and maybe Toni. I don't know why it's her. I don't even know what it is. But we have something stronger than love.

"Zayn, what's stronger than Love?" He would have to know. He loved Toni. He doesn't feel what we feel, but he felt something.

"If there's anything stronger than it, it would be... I don't know..."

Zayn knows the meaning of life, and he doesn't even know what's stronger than Love. I have to know. I have to figure it out.

Right now, Lou and I aren't even speaking. He doesn't look like he misses Toni, and he's not the best at hiding his feelings.

Alexis and Toni weren't on good terms, and Alexis only seems upset about Paige being gone.

Violet did seem upset. She wasn't close with Toni, but Paige was her best friend.

Niall is losing his mind with me. Niall's girlfriend and closest friend are alone.

Liam seems like he just lost his puppy. Toni was his first friend.

Zayn, he... I don't know. He bottles his feelings in. Then he releases them when no one's looking. You can't tell what he feels.

It's hard to tell where we're at. I see land, but it's far. And I don't see any waterfalls, so I guarantee that Toni and Paige are really far. But I've pretty much been staring at that piece of land since I could see it at all. I'm waiting for it to get close enough to see if I can see buildings.

I need three things.

1.) To get home
2.) To know what's stronger than love
3.) Toni

That's all I need, and I can live.

TONI'S POV

Paige and I were sitting under a group of trees, on a patch of grass. The sun was gonna start fading out in a few hours, so we decided to try and make a fire. One problem. We got wood, we got kindling, we don't have a way to start it.

Then I got a thought. My forehead glass.

"Paige, I have to. You know that right?" I asked.

"Let me walk away. I'll puke if I don't." She got up and walked a few trees away.

Well, I guess it's now or never.

I put my hand on the glass without cutting myself. I began to pull a bit.

"Ahhh!" I shrieked. It hurt like a bitch.

I could see blood running down my face. Thank god this wasn't in too deep, it would hit my brain and kill me.

I gotta do this like a bandaid. Quick and get it over with.

I put my hand on the glass again, and tugged a little faster. It was slowly coming out, but I was screaming in pain.

Now or never.

I pulled it out completely. I screamed out quite loudly. If you were listening, you'd think I got stabbed.... wait a minute.

"Paige, come on back." I winced. Whenever I move my face the littlest bit, it stings like a bitch.

She came back and sat by the wood pile with me, and I could tell that she was staring at my forehead.

I looked at the piece of glass. It was no more than 1 inch wide and 4 inches in length. Only 2 of those inches were covered in blood. So now I have an inch wide, two inch deep, scar forming on my face.

Well, gotta start the fire sometime. I held the glass at an angle, so the sun hit the glass and the beam hit the wood. I held it steady long enough that the heat from the glass and sun caught the wood on fire. That's right, I made two fires. We sat by the fire all night, swapping stories, talking about the old group.

"Toni, what are you gonna do when we get back to land? Go to college, just stay at home..." she looked sad when she said home. She won't have a place to go when we get to civilization. Niall is nowhere to be found.

"Well, I wanna try out for The X-Factor. What about you?"

The X-Factor was my dream since I knew I had a singing skill. But when Zayn broke my heart, I gave up on everything.

"Same. X-Factor. But if that fails, I get a job as a nurse. And if that fails, I stay at... home." She looked like she almost had tears in her eyes.

It must suck shit to not have a place to go. You go missing off a wrecked plane and no one looks for you, then you finally find your way home, and you don't have a place to go.

"Listen, we'll find them eventually, and you can move in with Niall, or Violet, or even me. Yea, you can stay with me until your settled. It would be lonely for me to be without Melissa in the house anyway. " I smiled.

She wiped a stray tear, "Thanks. Thank you so much. Now let's get on a more happy subject."

I thought of something ths we could talk about, but nothing came up. I don't want to talk about Louis, or Harry, or Niall, or Zayn. Liam, it wouldn't upset me to talk about him.

"Ha, Liam. I met him in second grade for a project. He was the smart one. Harry was the looks of the group. I was doing anything that wasn't done." I thought about the year Liam joined Harry and I.

"I bet Liam was adorable when he was younger." She laughed. I nodded. Liam was quite adorable.

"Correct. And Harry had short hair, it didn't even look curly until 5th grade. But he still had those stupid dimples." I couldn't help but giggle.

"What about Lou?" She asked. I sighed. Did she really have to bring him up? Ever since we got seperated, I've missed him as much as Harry. I could already feel tears springing into my eyes.

"Well," I wiped a tear, "I didn't meet him until highschool, so I have no idea what he looked like as a child." She nodded. "But when I met him, his hair was longer, and he didn't have a beard. And his eyes were darker."

I wiped a year from my eyes every so many seconds. Don't be weak.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up, but I gotta ask. What about Zayn? What was he like? And Niall?" Now she looked sad.

"Zayn used to have a blonde streak in his hair, and he wore glasses at one point. He was also a bad boy in school. I call him the bradford bad boi occasionally. Now Niall," Here come the waterworks, "I met him third of all the guys, yet he seems second closest. Harry's the closest, but Niall's second. He used to have long hair, and his teeth were crooked. And did you know that Niall's hair is brown, just dyed blonde?"

She stopped crying and laughed, "Really? He's not blonde?" She was almost pissing herself laughing.

"Yea."

The night sky was slowly showing, so I decided it was time to sleep.

"Well, night Paige." I yawned.

"Really? You're tired?" She laughed when I nodded. "Alright, Night, Toni."

One more thing needed to be done before I could sleep.

'Night, Stylies.'

But he never responded.

Notes

Hey yall. Alright, I eould like answers on these questions.

Q: What do you think is stronger than love?

Q: Are you Team Torry, Team Louni, Team Zani, or even Team Toniall? (Toni-Harry, Toni-Louis, Toni-Zayn, Toni-Niall)

And don't forget Team Zaffey!! (Effey-Zayn) You all better be on that team.

Hehe, the Nuall one sounds like Toenail. Alright, let me know. I also asked this question on my other story, The Creep Around the Block. Well, comment, rate, vote, subscribe.

Bye :)