I remember those first few days after the crash. Everyone was tired or sad, and we were all on edge. Hope was dangling limp above us all, and it was the not knowing of it all that really clouded our heads those days; strangling us with the possibility of rescue but just like the nightmare situation we had been placed in... nothing ever happened, and winter would be coming sooner than any of us could have expected, and we would lose. Lose.. No. That's for another entry, but my point is, the mood around that first camp at that time was bad, but it was nothing compared to what was still to come. The things we... no, back to it. The few rations that we had found in the wreckage were fading quickly, and people were getting restless, and I just have to ask whoever read this journal entry.
Where were you then? When we were still... Them?
******
Aliya squeezed the bloody rag into the bucket full of blood. Devon was sticky and gross, and the sling the doctor woman Aliya now knew as Harper, may have been working to mitigate the pain he was in, but it didn't do anything for how it looked or his mood about how it looked, or anything else that inconvenienced him in the slightest. Mr. Sowell and a few of the others had found a few surviving bottles of water, and now they were rationing it, but Devon wouldn't drink his, and Aliya was beginning to worry.
"This must be what a dirty plate feels like." Devon joked, back to her.
She looked up at him. His entire back was exposed, and if she ignored the nasty cuts and gashes (and the years of constant verbal abuse), she'd have to admit that it was a pretty nice back. Big, brawny, and tanned...
Nope! She shook her head. She wasn't touching that with a ten foot pole.
"Yeah, maybe."
He sighed. "You ever thought if you were any fun, maybe then somebody might wanna fuck you?"
"Fuck you." She dropped the rag. "Now that I think about it. I don't even know why I'm helping you. You're a dick."
She stomped over to the door.
"Bye, Hartman."
******
"Here you go, Sandra, lunch." Lyle said, holding out his hand, revealing the few nuts and berries Mr. Sowell and some of the others had found, and a bottle of water he was instructed to only let her get three gulps of each hour.. hour and a half, and he was still reeling over the fact that they were perfectly clear that he had to make sure she only got three gulps, like he was supposed to actually count them out or something. He had just been letting her drink as much water as she wanted, and if the bottle ran out, he would just sneak her a new one. They were treating her like some kind of deranged lunatic, when really. She was just a grieving old lady.
"Oh. Thank you, kid." She said as if he had just pulled her out of deep thought.
He smiled. "What were you thinking over there so intensely about?"
He lowered himself next to her in her little area at the edge of what They were calling the campsite. It was an welcomed job, however. No matter how many times Mckenzie tried to call him stupid for doing it. It wasn't like they were doing anything other than sitting around and waiting, and unlike her, he wanted to be helpful. Even Aliya, the person she attacked, said that it's "fine and she doesn't care anymore, the woman is obviously mistaken, and to just keep her away from me... Keep her away from me. Not, keep her under constant surveillance.
During the morning and afternoon she was watched by him, and they had developed a quick bond. She was cool when she wasn't tripping out and seeing demons or whatever. An added bonus was getting away from everybody. They were all beginning to smell, and he had a great nose. It was already becoming a nightmare to get any sleep, but this far away from the group, it was only their two smells, so it was manageable. For now, and she didn't snitch when he stole a few minutes of shut eye.
She scratched the scab on her head that covered a massive area in the area where her hair had burned off and smiled big. "I was just thinking... My eldest, Cane. He would always say he wanted to take me camping, said I'd enjoy it, and if I didn't, he'd enjoy watching me lose it..." her smile faded, "I used to always tell him by time this, babe.. ba... this..."
"It's okay, Mrs. Sandra, there's no need to relive such a traumatic experience." He said, trying to force some happiness in his tone.
"What traumatic experience?" She asked, now picking at the scab.
"Nothing at all. You've gotta eat Mrs. Sandra, so that can heal."
******
"It's ok, Care. I've been off my meds for long periods of time before, and everything ended up fine in the end. This will be no different." Doddie tried smiling reassuringly, but the sudden growling of her stomach just made it awkward all over.
"You have to eat something at the very least, because if you're going to turn into a raging psychotic bitch, you might as well eat while I still like you. Because I might just change my mind later and decide to starve you to death." Carrie said, pulling a small bag of M&Ms from out her pocket, holding it out with a sly grin playing on her face. Doddie knew she didn't want to admit it, but Carrie also needed to eat, and she didn't know that Doddie knew that she was hiding a limp in her step, but if Doddie brought it up, Carrie would just deny it, and switch the subject.
Doddie sighed, but a small smile formed on her face before she took the offering. "Thanks, Care. I don't know what I'd do without you."
Care smiled at her.
"Oh! Perfect. Can one of you girls help me with this real quick?" A grown man with a strong accent asked, exiting the wreckage of the plane.
Care inhaled sharply, and Doddie rolled her eyes. She could practically hear Care's panties drop so hard that they made a cartoon shaped hole in the ground. She loved foreign men, emphasis on men.
They looked at each other, and Care gave her the "make an excuse to leave," look, and doddie smiled slyly, making kissing faces at her before turning back to the man.
"Angelo, right? I hear you and Mr. Sowell haven't been getting along lately."
He tilted his head and smiled. "Didn't know I had a fan."
"Eww, no, you're not my type, or my age..." Whack. "Ow!"
Care had smacked her in the back of the head.
"Don't you think that was a little hard!?" Doddie, whispered shouted, rubbing the back of her head.
"Leave."
"Fine, have fun with age not appropriate over there, don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"Thanks, I will." Care said, basically floating over to him.
"Sorry for my friend she's just overprotective of me."
"No, I understand. I have an older sister." He smiled, put a hand on her back, and led her up, and inside the plane.
******
"Don't you think that's just a little weird?" Anthony asked the girl, waving her friend off to go flirt and other things with a man that had to be at least twice her age.
She turned her attention away from her friend and stared daggers at him.
He acted as if he were afraid and pointed at her from the branch he was perched on.
"Ah, I'm quaking in my boots."
"Leave me alone, Kirk, I'm not in the mood."
"What are you going to do about it, huh? I am still your friend, right? You know.." he pulled out the two vicodins he had got from Mckenzie. "Art buddies."
He smiled.
"Fuck off."
"Only if you ask me nicely babe." He leaped off the branch and landed perfect, as expected right in front to her.
"What. What are you doing? Get away from me!"
"Hey!?" A familiar voice shouted, running up and pushing him away from the girl."Are you ok, Doddie?" The familiar voice that belonged to.. Mckenzie asked, turning her angry glare on him. "What is wrong with you, are you... like, incapable of being normal!?"
He laughed, and Mckenzie looked at him completely discombobulated as Doddie took off without a word.
"What? What? What!? What is so funny?"
He laughed so hard that he hiccuped, and she went quiet, watching him as if he was having a stroke.
"No, it's. It's just that you always look so cute when you're mad." He said, mastering himself.
She scrunched her nose. "You're so weird."
He grabbed her by the chin and lifted her head upwards. "You sure are getting big with me lately. Maybe I'll go see what Doddie will do for these.." He shook the hand with the vicodin.
"What!? No, I gave you the fucking vicodin Anthony, no."
He wrapped the hand that was around her chin around her slim waist and pulled her close, kept the pills away but held his face close to hers, so close that he could almost kiss her.
"Take them."
She hesitated at first, but eventually, she started to lean in, and he smiled victoriously.
"Uck, really! Flirting In the open like you're not doing something wrong."
Mckenzie stopped just short of his lips, and he groaned loudly.
"Why are you still drawing breath through your lungs, Aliya?" He asked as Mckenzie pushed away, and any chance of a good time for him went out the window.
"You know, lately, I've been thinking it's to stop parasites like you and Jezebel over here, from destroying a Five Year Relationship!" She said, emphasizing the last part.
"It's over now, so just drop it, ok?" Mckenzie said, putting distance between the two of them.
Aliya scoffed and shook her head again. "Dropped." She walked away, and so did Mckenzie but in the opposite direction, and he yawned. He'd take a half-hour nap before he went out and explored some more.
******
"You know, for being a massive slacker in school. You have been surprisingly useful out here, Tyler." Mr. Sowell said, looming nearby as Tyler finished flirting with doctor Harp.per. The love of his life. She was older, smart, and sexy and she was the flirty type. He'd do anything for her.
"Bye, doctor Harp.per, maybe next time we can talk somewhere private?"
She bit her lip, and her words came out breathy. "If you were a little bit older, I'd strap you to that makeshift gurney, and then I'd..."
"Control yourself, Harper, we will be rescued any day now, and you don't want to return a criminal, now would you?" Mr. Sowell asked, raising an eyebrow.
She smiled playfully. "I was only teasing the boy." She looked at him with a look that he could only guess said, "she would devour him," but what she actually said was. "He wouldn't know what to do with me anyways."
"I bet you'd know what to do with me." He said back as Mr. Sowell grabbed the front of his shirt from behind and pulled him forward.
"We don't have time for this, you two. I need to find... Angelo."
"Who?" Harper asked?
"No time to explain right now, I'll fill you in on the details later." Sowell said, finally letting go of his shirt.
"And then maybe I can swing by and fill you in."
She rolled her eyes and continued with what she was doing.
"I'm in love." He said, falling in line.
Sowell snorted. "Even if she wasn't older than you or out of your league. She's right. You wouldn't know what to do with her, now keep walking."
"Dang, teach, why you gotta do me dirty like that."
******
Aliya wasn't sure how she felt when she ran into Doddie, who was apparently also storming away from those two idiots. According to her Anthony had tried hitting on her and Mckenziehad stopped it, but Aliya was never sure with Doddie. She hadn't talked to Doddie since the night Aliya had caught their once shared friend, a girl who also survived the crash, Carrie's dad, sexually molesting her in the bathroom, and they begged for her not to say anything. Told her that she just didn't understand.
Just didn't understand! What was there to understand? He was doing inappropriate and horrible things to her; a 48 year old man touching on a 12 year old child, by the way; and they wanted her to lie for him. She couldn't have people who'd ask something like that in her life. So she cut all ties, and this would be their first time speaking since.
"Hey..."
******
"Hey girls." Mr. Sowell said, looking exhausted. "Have either of you seen a Latino man? Names, Angelo? I believe that he has tattoos?"
"Yeah, he's in the..." Aliya started.
"He's in the forest! Scavenging for nuts and berries and stuff." Doddie said quickly. She wouldn't let someone like Aliya Hartman of all people to get in the way of Care's fun.
He looked at Aliya, and Aliya rolled her eyes.
"No sir, he's not scavenging for nuts and berries and stuff. He's doing unspeakable things to a young girl in the plane currently."
Doddie scowled at her, how had she known they were even in there in the first place? She hadn't seen her... had she been listening in from somewhere? And living up to his title as the most useless person in Barton High school, Tyler, who had apparently been here the entire time, without a word, just started laughing all extra-like.
"What!?" Mr. Sowell exclaimed and took off, stomping towards the plane, with Tyler right behind, still freaking laughing like a moron.
Doddie turned her focus towards Aliya. "Why do you always gotta stick your nose into other people's business!? Huh?She was just having a little fun."
"Just having a little fun," Aliya snorted. "She could be his daughter, and he could be her dad... That's just weird."
"Oh like you're miss freaking perfect get off your high horse you stuck up bitch!"
She pushed her down into the overgrowth.
******
"I never thought there'd come a day that I'd meet somebody who listens to Denzel Curry as much as I do." Carrie said thinking of an excuse to get closer to Angelo. What a name. Angelo. Short for angel with a halo. Maybe he was her angel, and he had come to save her from her empty, sleepless, meaningless existence.
He was preparing the bodies for the big fire they were planning, to help lay to rest the souls of those who died in the crash, and they were talking about their favorite music, hobbies, but he was so far away. He had her taking off the clothes of one of the pilots and a sterwardess.
"He just resonates with me, you know?" He said, laying another body down with the others.
Her entire body shook. Even she had her limits when it came to handling dead people. A limit she had only just recently discovered.
"So um, I'm done with this, and I think that I'm just gonna..."
"Good, bring it over here, please."
She perked up.
"Okay."
She rolled it up into a map like shape and walked it over to him.
He took it from her, their hands touching for a brief moment, and the spark there was like lightning in her blood. He examined it before looking into her eyes and saying in that heavy accent of his. "Magnificent."
She blushed. "It's just a blanket."
He bent down and slowly lowered his head until they were in kissing distance. "We both know that I wasn't talking about the blanket."
They kissed. Hard and fast. It was everything she needed, and everything she knew she shouldn't be doing, but it made her feel something, something... more. More than the day to day, the.. endless pit her life had become, and she needed this so, so, so...
She stopped the kiss.
"Are you okay?"
"No."
"Get away from that little girl you animal." Mr. Sowell scowled as he swiftly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from Angelo. She immediately ached for the warmth of him to return.
"We weren't doing anything wrong, just talking, about the living situation in fact, I've been meaning to speak to you about that." Angelo said as if it were actually true.
"Sure keep telling yourself that, but for now this young lady is leaving, and you are going to stay away from her, got it?" Mr. Sowell and Angelo were staring each other down, and Carrie rolled her eyes. She had had it with this poor show of man testosterone.
"Let me go," she ripped her arm free of his grip and settled herself. "I'm going, and you're not my father, so you can't tell me what to do, and especially not who I can or can't talk to." She headed towards the exit and wouldn't have stopped walking if Mr. Sowell wouldn't have called her name. She turned to see him closing in on her, and yet, all she cared about was Angelo smiling and waving at her. Mr. Sowell caught up with her in a few seconds.
"You'll thank me later."
"I'm sorry to tell you this, nobody asked you to save me, so next time, just stay out of it."
Without letting him get in another word, she took off, leaving both men so she could go find Doddie.