Not The Same | Nick Clark | FTWD

Part 25

"This isn't a game!" Strand stopped him, "It's mob rule on land-- you think it's any better out here?"

"Back off-" Travis shook his head, too mentally exhausted to fight back.

"What're you gonna do, Travis?" Strand stepped forward, his voice threatening as I felt Nick's grip around me tighten, "You feel strong?"

Travis stood up, facing Strand head on as an uneasy silence now filled the room.

"Please, let me explain the rules of the boat." Strand began, looking around at all of us, "Rule number one, it's my boat." He said, holding up a single finger, "Rule number two, it is my boat." He continued, "And if there remains any confusion about rules one and two, I offer rule number three, it's my goddamn boat." He finished, "If it weren't for me, you would all be burned. You're welcome."

***

Strand's outburst made sense to me, as I'm sure it did for the others to some degree. For now, we need to focus on us and only us.. that's the only way we're going to be able to make sure that we all make it through this-- however long this lasts.

"I'm gonna go try to talk to Chris." Madison murmured to Travis, barely loud enough for me to hear.

"Hey- um," I stopped her, "Could I actually talk to him instead?" I asked lowly, "I just- maybe it would be better if the next person that went in there wasn't a part in what happened to his mother."

"Yeah- yeah, please do," she nodded, "I was going to bring it up with you earlier, but then the whole thing with Strand.." she trailed off, "I figure you probably have a better track record with at risk youth." She joked, referring to Nick who was off talking with Strand.

I laughed lightly, "I'll see what I can do."

***

I knocked softly on the door before pushing it open, peaking my head inside, "Hey, it's just me."

Chris glanced back scoffing, "What? My dad send you in here?"

"Actually Madison," I corrected, closing the door behind myself, "But I offered."

He stayed quiet, surly rolling his eyes as he stayed seated on the bed, his back turned toward me.

I let out a long breath, taking a seat behind him before slowly leaning onto my back, staring up at the ceiling, "When my brother was seventeen, I watched him hit my dad," I began as the room went silent, the memory playing vividly in my head, "My dad shoved him back so hard he cracked the drywall; they didn't talk for weeks after that-"

"Why're you telling me this?" Chris stopped me, looking down at where I laid.

I propped myself up, "Because your dad cares for you more than you give him credit for, ok? If I pulled the shit you did, my ass would've been overboard a long time ago."

"Well that doesn't sound like my problem-"

"I'm not saying it is, what I'm saying is take a fucking breather-" I began before he quickly stood up, cutting me off again.

"You don't get to say that, Hannah-- you have no idea what I'm going through!"

I scoffed, pushing myself up, "Chris, my entire family left me to fend for myself well before this shit started and now I know for sure that I'll never be able to see them again-- I don't even know what happened to them." I spit, "So while you got a goodbye, I got shit-- I don't even get an ounce of closure. So don't say I don't know what you're going through because I've been dealing with it for months and I still decided to come down here and try to talk to you."

"Well I didn't ask you to-"

"You didn't have to," I cut him off, not willing to continue this argument, "Listen, it's ok to be mad-- we all are, but the world is changing fast.. so it's time to grow up."

I took his silence as the end of our conversation before I left out the door, peaking back in for a moment, "Foods gonna be done soon, by the way."

_____
Lots of tension that I'm sure we'll see continue to unfold in upcoming chapters