Girl Overboard! Read online

  “Oh, we have a walkie-talkie!” Pink remembers. “Quick, how do we use it?”

  “Let’s see,” Rosie says, pulling out the instruction sheet from her pocket, “it says to press the ‘menu’ button in the middle first.”

  Pink presses the button, but nothing happens. She presses the buttons on the side and there’s still no sound. “What’s wrong with this thing?”

  “Check the batteries,” Rosie says. Pink turns the walkie-talkie over and slides open the lid to the battery case. “Ahhhhh!” she screams.

  “What? What?” Rosie shouts.

  “There are no batteries!” Pink wails.

  After a few minutes of total panic, Pink takes Rosie by her shoulders and says firmly, “Okay, Rosie. We’re going to have to be brave now. We’re going to be okay. We’re smart, right?”—she nods her head and waits for Rosie to do the same—“We’re not going to let anything scare us, right?”—Rosie nods her head again—“And we’re going to make it to the camp site, right?” Rosie nods her head vigorously.

  “Good,” Pink says, “now follow me. We’re going to—”

  CREEECH…KERCHUK…CHH…CHH… CHH….

  “Uh, Pink, what was that?” Rosie asks as she looks around, wide-eyed.

  “Probably just some bird in the bushes,” Pink says, trying to sound brave.

  “Well, that bird sounds like it’s big and it’s coming closer,” Rosie says. “Um…a lot closer!”

  She runs to hide behind a huge tree and motions for Pink to join her, but Pink seems to be rooted to the ground.

  “Psst, Pink, get over here! You don’t know who it is! It could be a murderer!”

  Suddenly, Pink picks up a small branch and runs to hide behind the tree with Rosie. Rosie quickly looks around for a stick and the closest thing she can find is a twig. She shrugs and mutters, “Well, at least I can poke his eyes out.”

  “Okay, we’re ready, right?” Pink says. Rosie nods as the two girls hold their sticks in the air. They also hold their breaths as they listen to the crunching sound of feet stepping on dry leaves—and heavy breathing.

  Rosie grips her twig tight and is ready to swing it.

  CRUNCH! “Hoo hoo…” someone says as he steps towards the girls.

  “Hai ya!” Rosie and Pink both yell as they jump out from behind the tree and start swinging their sticks.

  “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!” a boy cries out. “What did I do?”

  Recognising the voice, Rosie quickly stops and grabs Pink’s arm. She stares hard at the boy. “Ben?”

  “Yeah, it’s me! What are you guys doing?” Ben asks, rubbing his arms. “You guys hit hard!”

  “Uh, sorry about that,” Rosie says. “We thought you were a murderer or something.”

  “Ahem…” Pink pretends to clear her throat. Then she boldly says, “My name is Pink.”

  Ben flashes a big grin. “Oh, so you’re Pink! Rosie talks about you all the time.”

  Pink giggles, which surprises Rosie. “Uh, yeah,” Rosie says with a puzzled look. “Pink, this is Ben. Ben, Pink.”

  Pink giggles again. Rosie stares at Pink for a second, then asks Ben, “Where’s your map?”

  “I lost it,” Ben says. “That’s why I was following you guys.”

  “Where’s your buddy?”

  “I didn’t get one.”

  “Where’s your walkie-talkie?”

  “Um, didn’t get that either.”

  Rosie can’t believe it. “Oh, this is just great. So what do we do now? Any ideas, Pink…Pink?”

  Seeing that Pink seems really distracted, Rosie grabs her shoulders and forces her friend to look at her. “Earth to Pink. Hello, are you there? We need to find our way to the camp, remember?”

  As if Rosie has broken a spell, Pink shakes her head. “Um…what? Yes, got to figure out which way to go. No map, no problem. Three heads are better than two, right? Okay, let’s go.”

  Ben chuckles as Rosie starts to get annoyed. “What’s wrong with you, Pink?” Rosie demands.

  “Nothing,” Pink says, then giggles. “I’m just wondering if we should go this way”—she points to the right—“or that”—she points to the left. “What do you think, Ben?”

  “I say we go this way,” Ben says, pointing to the right. “My gut says that it’s the right direction.”

  “Okay,” Pink cheerfully agrees.

  Rosie frowns. “Let’s just hope we don’t get even more lost.”

  5

  Run!

  Dear Diary,

  We are lost…so lost. The map that Sharon gave me turned out to be a map to West Coast Park! I knew she was mean, but I can’t believe she did this to us. Now we, I mean me, Pink and Ben are going to die here or get eaten by cannibals or savage beasts on this mosquito-infested island! Wait, I don’t think there are cannibals here… I hope not. HELP!!

  “Rosie, come on, let’s keep walking,” Pink says encouragingly.

  Rosie sighs and puts her diary back in her backpack. “Just five more minutes, please? I’m really tired from all the walking we’ve already done.”

  “But it’s getting dark, Rosie,” Ben says. “Pretty soon we won’t be able to see anything at all.”

  Suddenly a monitor lizard scuttles past them just a few feet away. “Ahhh!” Rosie jumps up. “Lizards are just as bad as spiders!”

  She heaves her backpack onto her shoulder. “Okay, okay, let’s get out of here pronto!”

  “I say we should head in this direction,” Ben says. “I think we are on some kind of path. See how the grass is slightly flattened here. It means that it’s been stepped on…so it’s likely people have been walking this way.”

  “That makes a lot of sense,” Pink says, flashing a big smile.

  Rosie frowns. “Oh, come on, let’s just go already,” she says impatiently.

  The three friends start walking along a narrow grassy path, each of them aware that the sun is setting.

  “So do you know why Pulau Ubin is called Pulau Ubin?” Ben asks.

  “Well, pulau means island and ubin means granite in Malay,” Pink answers. “There are a lot of granite quarries here. Of course they are all abandoned now. The granite here was used to build the Causeway…you know, the bridge you cross to get to Malaysia.”

  “Wow, I didn’t know that, Pink,” Rosie says. “That’s cool.”

  Pink smiles. “Yeah, but I wish I knew where we were. If only there was someone around we could ask.”

  “Well, we’re going to keep walking till we find someone or something,” Ben says. “This island isn’t that big. We’re bound to hit a person, a house or the beach sometime soon.”

  Just then a couple of bats swoop down from the trees. “Ahhh,” Pink and Rosie scream and start swatting the air around them.

  Grrrrrrrr…

  “What was that? Don’t tell me it’s a bear,” Rosie says, starting to panic.

  “Bear? There are no bears in Singapore,” Pink reminds her.

  “Uh, that was my stomach, actually,” Ben confesses. “I’m kind of hungry.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Rosie says. “Let’s see what I have in my backpack. I think my mom may have thrown a few things in here.”

  Rosie unzips her backpack and starts rummaging through it. “Uh, I’ve got peanuts, trail mix, cookies, dried mango, crackers…” She tosses packet after packet of snacks behind her, then looks up to see Ben and Pink staring open-mouthed. “What?”

  “Look at all this food, Rosie!” Pink says, excited.

  Rosie smiles sheepishly. “My mom…she’s always prepared for worst-case scenarios. Come on, guys, let’s eat!”

  The three clear a spot on the ground and sit down, sighing as they stretch out their legs and fill their bellies.

  “This is brilliant,” Ben says, smiling contentedly.

  “I think we should take small sips of our water,” Pink cautions, “you know, just in case. We don’t know when we’ll find…more water.”

  “Do you think we’ll make it out of thi
s place alive?” Rosie asks.

  Pink and Ben immediately answer at the same time, “Of course!”, then look at each other in surprise and start laughing.

  “Don’t worry, Rosie,” Ben says in a comforting voice. “We’re definitely going to make it.”

  “Sharon hasn’t seen the last of us,” Pink says.

  “Oh yeah, Sharon,” Rosie repeats, shaking her head. “It’s actually been nice not having to deal with her all day. But she’s going to pay for what she did to us!”

  “I still think she should be taught a big lesson,” Pink says, looking thoughtful. “Girls like her need a big wake-up call, you know.”

  “Well, when you come up with the perfect plan, let me know,” Rosie says. “I’m ready!”

  They sit and eat in silence for a while longer before Ben flicks on his torch. “Come on girls, let’s try and see if we can get to camp.”

  Pink and Rosie grab their backpacks, turn on their torch and follow Ben as he pushes through the shrubbery and tries to find a way out of the forest. After a long while, they finally come to a clearing and breathe a sigh of relief as they keep walking.

  About 20 minutes later, Pink says, “I think I see a light over there.”

  Rosie shines the torchlight to her right, where Pink is pointing.

  “Yeah, I see it too,” Rosie says. “Come on, let’s head that way.” She starts trudging towards a small hut, the light of her torch bouncing as she walks.

  When they get to the hut, they see that the light of the hut comes from two candles sitting on a shelf. Ben turns off his torch, then joins Pink on the floor, glad for a place to rest.

  Rosie walks around, fascinated by the hut. Suddenly she gasps. “Oh, cool! Look what I found on the shelf, guys, a doll…and there are some oranges, too? Does anyone want an orange?”

  Pink looks up as Rosie comes over and shows her a Barbie-like doll with brown hair in a glass case. “Ahhhhhh! Where did you get that?” she screams.

  “Over there,” Rosie says, pointing. “Look, it’s a whole shelf of stuff…nail polish, perfume—”

  “Uh, Rosie, put it back right away,” Pink says adamantly. She has turned on her torch and is standing by the shelf. Reading a newspaper clipping, she says, “This is the German Girl Shrine…it is said that the doll holds the spirit of a German girl who died in the quarry in World War I.”

  Suddenly a strong gust of wind blows through the hut, followed by an “eeeeeeee” sound. The three friends freeze. Then a second later, they hear THUMP THUMP.

  Rosie quickly puts the doll and oranges back on the shelf and grabs Pink’s arm. “I’ve got your backpack, Pink,” Ben says as the three of them rush out of the hut in a panic.

  With Ben leading the way, the three of them run as fast as they can, not thinking about which way to go. After 10 minutes, Rosie says, “Guys, I’ve got to take a break. My heart can’t take all this excitement.”

  They sprawl on the ground, panting and taking swigs from their water bottles. “I’ve…pant, pant…never…pant, pant…been pant, pant… so…scared…pant, pant…in my life!” Pink says, wheezing.

  “Neither have I!” Ben agrees.

  Lying on her back, Rosie asks, “What shall we do now? I actually don’t think I can walk any more…”

  “Maybe we should just sleep here tonight,” Ben says. “We’re probably not going to find the camp anytime soon.”

  “Sounds like a good idea,” Pink says. “We’ll definitely find it when the sun comes up.”

  “But we have no camping stuff…” Rosie says.

  Pink is suddenly all no-nonsense. “Well, let’s look at what we have. I have a hoodie and a plastic raincoat. You guys have your raincoats, too, right? We can use them as tarps to sleep on. And we can use any extra clothes as pillows.”

  “That sounds great,” Ben says and starts laying out his clothes.

  “But what about the animals?” Rosie asks.

  “We should make a little fire to keep the animals away,” says Pink. “The smoke from the fire will keep the insects away too.”

  “Wow, Pink, you’re amazing,” Ben says, impressed. “How do you know all this?”

  “My uncle is a park ranger and, well, he’s always telling me how to survive in the wild,” Pink replies. “But I was just going to say that it’s too dark and it will take us forever to make a fire.”

  “And that’s why you have me,” says Ben. “I have matches.”

  “You carry matches with you?” Rosie asks.

  “It’s in my survival kit. I do try to be prepared,” Ben says. Pink grins, secretly impressed.

  Feeling a little more hopeful, Ben and Rosie follow Pink’s instructions to clear a small area, dig a shallow hole, build a circle of stones and gather some dry wood. Ben then takes out his matchbook and gives it to Pink. “Want to do the honours?”

  Pink grins and pulls out a matchstick. With a flourish, she lights the wood and they all cheer as the flames pick up.

  “Are we far enough away from the…you know…the doll?” Rosie asks.

  Just then a strong cool breeze blows around them and they hear what sounds like a howl in the distance. Rosie looks nervously at her friends.

  “We’ll be fine,” Ben quickly says. “You know what? Why don’t we take turns sleeping? You girls sleep first, then I’ll wake one of you up, and then you can be up while two of us are asleep and then—”

  Ben stops as he hears someone snoring softly. Pink giggles. “Rosie’s asleep,” she says.

  “Oh, well, I should turn in too,” Ben says.

  There is silence for a moment, then Pink quietly says, “It’s so great how prepared you are for the outdoors.”

  Ben chuckles. “No, you’re the one who’s prepared, Pink. For a city girl, you sure know a lot about surviving out in the wild.”

  “Hey, how come you didn’t get a buddy for this trip anyway?” Pink asks.

  “I signed up late and everybody was already partnered up,” Ben replies. “I told Mrs Irons I didn’t mind not having a partner. So that’s how I ended up solo.”

  Pink feels her cheeks getting hot but she bravely ventures, “That’s a good thing for me, uh, I mean us, yeah, Rosie and me, you know. Who knows where we would have ended up if it was just the two of us…uh…”

  Feeling a little embarrassed, Pink quickly covers herself with her hoodie and whispers, “Good night, Ben,” before turning around and lying down. As she closes her eyes, she hopes she will fall asleep quickly.

  “Oh, good night,” Ben says, surprised and a little disappointed. But he shrugs his shoulders and covers himself with his sweatshirt. He sits up for a while more, listening to the night sounds of the island. For a moment he thinks he sees a pair of eyes looking at him from behind the bushes.

  “Rawrrrr,” he says, and thinks he hears skittering footsteps. “I’ll show them who’s king of the jungle.” Laughing to himself, Ben lays down and stares at the flames of the campfire before finally falling asleep.

  6

  Rise and Shine

  Hearing a rooster crow, Rosie opens her eyes, then bolts upright. She takes a moment to take in the scene before her: the woods, Pink stretched out in front of her, Ben to her right. And the memory of yesterday rushes back. She pinches herself to make sure that she’s alive and what she’s seeing is definitely real. Ouch!

  Rosie stretches her arms over her head, then takes out her diary.

  Dear Diary,

  I am still lost. But for some reason, I am not scared any more. Not like I was last night when we went to this haunted house. Can you believe it was a shrine dedicated to a German girl? And I was hungry, so I picked up an orange. How was I to know it was the German girl’s? Anyway we got out of there really quick ‘cause a big gust of wind came and there were all these weird sounds. That was so scary! Well, I’m not scared any more ‘cause it’s daytime. Or maybe ‘cause Pink and I have Ben with us. Whatever it is, I’m sure we’re going to find the camp or someone who can get us back to the camp.
We have to!!!

  Oh wait, guess what! I think Pink and Ben like each other!! LOL! Maybe or maybe not. Love is in the air!

  Just then, Pink wakes up and rubs her eyes. “Good morning, Pink,” Rosie says cheerfully.

  “Mmphgr…” Pink answers before laying back down. Rosie thinks she has gone back to sleep, but after a minute, Pink pushes herself up and yawns loudly. “What’s up?” she asks, staring at Rosie. Then she gets up and shuffles into the bushes.

  “Where are you going?” Rosie asks.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be right back,” Pink replies.

  Fifteen minutes later, Pink comes back, carrying something in her sweatshirt. “Here, we have breakfast,” she says as she lays out her sweatshirt on the ground.

  “Rambutans and mangoes?” Rosie asks in disbelief. “Where did you find these, Pink?”

  “There are a lot of fruit trees around,” Pink says. “I also saw some durian trees, but I wasn’t going to wait around for a durian to fall…plus I wasn’t sure how you guys feel about durians.”

  “Not a big fan,” Ben says, getting up and pulling out a Swiss Army knife from his backpack. “Thanks for getting us this fruit. Let me cut them open.”

  Ben slices open the fruit and soon everyone is quietly enjoying the juicy and flavourful treat. “Best breakfast in the wild,” Rosie says with a smile.

  Feeling a little more cheerful, the three of them wash their sticky hands with their carefully rationed water, then start cleaning up the campfire.

  “Fill the soil back in the hole,” Pink instructs. “Leave the place as natural-looking as possible.”

  When they are done, they continue their search for the rest of their group, on what looks to be a well-used trail.

  “Do you remember the name of the camp site?” Rosie asks Ben.

  “Let me check the handout,” Ben answers. “I think I brought it with me.”