36 hours after arrival.
It was late into the night, the trio had settled in to sleep in shifts, with one eye on the horizon for the ship. It was nearly time again that the waters power to pause the islands magic would dwindle again. This time only for another three hours.
Natalie looked back at her two sleeping friends. Reflecting on the events of the last three days she looked up to sky. The brilliance of the stars glittered as the moonlight casted enough to see the edge of the jungle along the beach. Natalie sighed as she reached for the radio. Nothing but static still. She knew the ship should arrive in just about two hours, right before the waters effects would end again, as long as everything went to plan.
Within the next hour a dark swirl began to blot out the moon. Natalie looked up as she noticed the night growing pitch black. A single drop of rain splashed onto her face, then a hundred more. A torrent of water began to pour, waking up the other two. Natalie shouted to Susan and Dorothy "We gotta move off the beach!" A thick crack of lightning bolted across the sky.
The girls quickly grabbed what they could in the darkness, water flooding into their packs. It was like a typhoon had crashed into the island, winds began to pick up as the jungle shook with vigor, waves crashing upon the beach as if a hungering maw. They retreated to the treeline, and then further still, back to the cliff face. Through the darkness and thunder susan shouted "There!" as she pointed to the rock face. Just at the foot was a small crack that had formed a small indentation. Shelter.
The girls pulled back to the rocky wall as they watched the storm rage throughout the night. The plan had been sabotaged.
Natalie woke up to the morning sun with a lurch. She checked her watch, it dangled slightly on her wrist as she tightened the strap. It had been six hours since they had retreated from the storm. The water had worked through all of its effects by now, from a halfed with each sip until only seconds remained. They were now on the clock.
Natalie looked at her soaked backpack. The food was ruined, the bread had turned into a wet slop, the meats would certainly begin to mold after today. This would be the last day they had as adults, in both mind and body unless they got off the island.
Dorothy grumbled as she was shaken awake, the now college senior used to sleeping in. "Hey we gotta get to work." Natalie said. Susan was pulling back her hair again. "I don't think the boat could have made it through that storm, what should we do?" she asked.
Natalie bit her lip. "We should probably get that raft going, anything to buy us more time." Susan groaned. "You're lucky I'm young again. Alright let's get to work I guess."
Natalie checked her watch as she felt her face, another hour, another year, the group was now only twenty two.