Day Twenty-Three
"I know this is delicate, but we do need your account of what happened that day."
"Right."
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Toni thrased against Shelby and Fatin's grasp on her forearms, desperately wanting to lunge forward into the depths of the water where the three girls had vanished under. Her voice was already feeling raw from the screams and shouts that were leaving her mouth and fingernail indents were forming on her arms from the grip that Fatin and Shelby had on her.
Every so often they'd catch a glimpse of one of the girls - a glimpse of the three here and there - as the battled the strong waves. Every so often they'd notice the tainted red water that swirled around them. But the shouts from Rachel, Nora and Hunter didn't go away as the three girls screamed out in what Shelby would describe later as only a mix of pain, terror and an emotion of loss so intense that she didn't know how to describe it.
Hunter's blonde hair stuck out against Nora and Rachel's darker hair, making her a little easier to spot out of the three girls. Tony stopped thrashing against Fatin and Shelby as she accepted she wasn't a strong enough swimmer to go into the waves, but her voice continued to scream out the names of the three girls with everything that she had in her.
Nora and Hunter grappled at Rachel as the three girls finally regrouped, Hunter going to swing Rachel's arm around her shoulder to hold the girl up. She reached her hand into the water as they thrased against the waves, feeling around for rachel's arm before she finally allowed her eyes to focus on Rachel's arm - or rather what was left of it.
Hunter had tuned out the blood in the water at first, which is maybe why it took the girl so long to notice it. Mixing in with the blood that she hadn't realised was pouring from her and Nora, it almost looked like spilt paint but Hunted knew better - they all knew better. Nora grabbed Rachel just as another wave crashed into the three, sending them tumbling deeper into the depths of the ocean.
It was like she was tumbling head first through the water, and her eyes were getting more and more blurred as Hunter panicked, trying to find the surface of the water. Her arms were beginning to get weaker now, and she was starting to wonder if Rachel was going to bleed out in the water. No matter how much she pulled the water with her arms, it was as if she wasn't getting any closer to the surface of the water and just whenever she thought she was about to get her head out, another wave would send her tumbling through the waves again.
Hunter's thoughts all began to drift away as her arms moved slower. She just wished she had another chance to see Hudson.
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"We couldn't see them, you know," Toni continued, swallowing the lump in her throat as she recalled that day on the beach. "But we could hear them."
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Fatin held Toni close to her as they all stood helpless, watching the waves for any sign of the girls. Rachel's head was the first to come into view as she screamed out for Nora - a scream that was so heartwrenching that it sent chills down the spines of the girls waiting on the grainy beach on the island.
All of the girls watched as Nora broke the surface for the last time before the screams died down to just one set: Rachel's.
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"If I'm being honest, I can still hear them," Fatin murmured, eyes looking off into the distance. "It could have lasted a second."
"Or maybe an hour, I don't know," Toni recalled. "But then she was just..."
"Gone," Dot confirmed, the words barely rolling off her tongue.
"She was gone," Shelby whispered. "Nora was gone."
"It was Dot, who saw Rachel first," Fatin informed them, her eyes flickering between the agents. "Leah saw Hunter first."
"Some of us froze."
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As Dot rushed over to Rachel, Toni stared out at the water for a moment longer as she prayed to a God she didn't believe in that Hunter was going to pop out of the water at any given second. Dot's screams about Rachel casued Toni to push the unconfirmed loss of Hunter back for a moment as she took a deep breath and rushed to help Dot carry Rachel out of the water.
Toni almost gagged once she caught sight of Rachel's bitten off arm, the blood still pouring out and coating the sand below them. She held Rachel down tightly as Fatin passed a belt over for the diver to bite into, Dot heading straight to the fire with no hesitation to sterilise their axe to quarterise the bleeding of Rachel's arm.
Shelby looked up at where Leah had been standing, noticing that the girl had turned and started taking off towards the edge of the water slightly along the beach. Her eyes narrowed for a second as she tried to see what Leah was running towards before they focused on the shape lying face down in the wet sand.
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"But some of us just sort of knew what to do."
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"DOT!" Leah screamed as she turned Hunter over, trying to check the girl for a pulse but her shaky hands were able to press down in one spot. Dot looked up from where they were crowed around Rachel, noticing Leah on her knees in the sand as water gently splashed around her knees and Hunter's sides. She looked to Martha and Shelby who nodded, reassuring her that they would stay with Rachel.
Toni had already left Rachel's side, sprinting across the beach and sliding to her knees across from Leah as she pressed her hands on either side of Hunter's face, shouting her name as if she was expecting the girl to open her eyes and say it was all a joke, that she was fine. Dot reached her seconds after, immediatley hovering over Hunter and beginning CPR.
Leah's reeling mind immediatley thought back to their first day on the island when they realised that they all knew CPR, and as she watched Dot pound on Hunter's chest she wondered if this was all just a part of some master plan that Nora and whoever she was working with had came up with. Fatin joined them, falling to her knees next to Toni as they all watched with baited breath for the girl to even react, to do something at all.
Dot paused for a moment, causing Toni to think that the Texan was giving up on her classmate.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? KEEP GOING!" Toni yelled, getting shoved back by Dot when she got too close to the other girl. Fatin sprung forward and wrapped her arms around Toni again as she motioned to why Dot had stopped, trying to get Toni to calm down and look at the situation.
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"Some of us took it harder than others, who let the whole thing... shatter them."
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Hunter flinched ever so slightly for a moment before turning her head and coughing up the salty sea water that she had swallowed. Toni felt tears spring to her eyes as she scrambled on the sand to pull Hunter closer to her, the clothes she wore now tainted with the blood of Nora, Rachel and Hunter and her face stained with the tears that were now freely flowing down her face.
"Don't you DARE leave me," Toni muttered to Hunter as she held her shaking body. Fatin smiled at Hunter with relief, and Hunter managed a half smile back. Her eyes trailed over Toni's shoulder as she noticed Rachel lying on the ground with Shelby and Martha before looking back to Dot.
"Where's Nora?"
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"There are no... upsides. And I don't think there ever will be."
"But what I will say for all of us..."
"Is that it tied us together."
"Into, like, I don't know... something more than we were."
"Yeah, after that happened, we became, like... There's no other way to say it. We became a family. It was how fast it all happened. That's what's hard to believe... that idea that only three weeks before, we... we didn't know each other at all. There was awkwardness, distance... a lot of glances... politeness. We were cautious, with our walls up, just strangers heading in a new direction... ... with no f*cking idea what was coming."
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Day One
Hudson Boyd was pretty sure he hated his parents. He knew Hunter wasn't their biggest fan but she always wanted their approval, she always wanted some validation from them to make herself feel loved.
Hudson Boyd didn't need that. He knew he was loved by the one person that mattered most to him in the world: Hunter. The bracelet around his wrist was enough of a constant reminder for him to know that despite being sent on different 'troubled teen' experiences with the same company, she was with him in spirit. He guessed it was only fair if he had to go on one of these trips, so did she.
What Hudson Boyd didn't find fair was that his parents had told him that he had to make a video tape before his started talking about how excited he was to go. Hudson Boyd was many things, but excited to go on some weekend break without his sister who was clearly on the edge of a mental breakdown was not one of them. He pressed play on the video as he got comfortable in the plane seat, his earphones in as he watched himself back on the screen of his smashed phone.
"I'm Hudson Boyd, I have a twin sister who is also doing one of these retreats. She's the only reason I'm doing this because my awful parents don't want to have to put up with me or her and would rather ship us off for a weekend than be actual parents. Not a single part of me has any intention of taking part in any paddle-boarding or campfires, so if you're expecting to find me celebrating my arrival, think twice."
On reflection, Hudson did wonder if he was a bit harsh in the video but keeping the secret from his sister that he was also going on a retreat had taken a toll on him. The Boyd twins never lied to each other in recent years, but Hunter's relationship on Riley had brought that change around for the siblings.
"This is already going to be shit."
Hudson looked across the ailse at the tall boy that had flung himself into the seat next to him. He appeared to be slightly taller than the Boyd boy, something that surprised him as not many people were. They shared glances as Hudson took his earphones out, nodding in agreement with the boy.
"I'm Kirin," the boy introduced himself, having already decided by the sports jumper that Hudson wore that they were likely to have similar vibes. "So, who came with you?"
"What?"
"I just figured someone came with you," Kirin replied, motioning to a boy a few rows behind on the plane. "He came with me, and I think those two came together and then I heard that scrawny kid say one of the others were his brother."
Hudson shrugged, looking around at the plane and not recognising anyone else.
"I don't recognise anyone so I don't think so, bro," Hudson replied with a shrug as he looked back to Kirin. The other blonde boy shrugged, not really caring about whether or not he came with someone. "I'm Hudson, by the way."
Kirin nodded. There was a moment of pause as Hudson went back to looking at his phone as the last boy boarded the plane. He breifly looked up for a second before back at his phone. It was like a sudden realisation hit Hudson and he slowly looked back up, his jaw immediatley clenching as he stared right back at the boy that was looking at him.
"You've got to be fucking joking," the other boy spoke, wanting to turn around and get off the plane only to find the flight attendant had closed the door over already. All of the boys looked away from what they were doing as they looked between the two burly boys glaring each other down on the plane.
"Fuck off," Hudson groaned, slamming his head against the back of the chair. He glared at the boy as he moved past the row that Kirin and himself were sitting in, turning his head to bark at him as he sat at the back of the plane. "Stay the fuck away from me."
"What the fuck was that?" Kirin asked, having realised that was his answer to who came with Hudson.
"That is Riley Black," Hudson noted, huffing as he turned back around in his chair. He would admit later that he did get some satisfaction seeing the big bruise across Riley's cheek still hadn't budged. "He should be lucky that this trip is only a weekend, or I swear I'd kill him if I had to spend any more time in his presence."
Just as Kirin went to ask what the beef was between the two Texan boys, they were interupted by the flight attendant wheeling out a trolley with slices of cake on it. He hoped his parents had told them he was vegan cause he sure as hell was craving something to keep his sugar levels up after seeing Riley Black get on the plane to the same retreat as himself.
"Vegan?" The flight attendant asked as he passed the plate to Hudson who smiled and accepted it. He ignored the judging look Kirin gave him, knowing that it was a choice he made that seemed unusual - he'd had enough jokes made about it by his sister, Hunter, throughout the past year. Besides, it wasn't like there weren't tons of great vegan options available in shops these days, and Hudson saw no point in killing animals for food.
Hudson had always seen the world in black and white. He didn't know that things were about to get very, very gray within the hour.
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Hello guys! So glad to be back writing this story for you all! Just a quick wee chapter to get the season started!
I was a littttttle disappointed with how little screentime the girls got this season so I'm going to try and flesh it out a bit. I'll have bits of the boys in the book (mostly because Hudson / Riley and how that will effect the dynamic of the boys) but I probably won't include all of their scenes from the show and instead will focus more on Toni / Hunter and the girls!
Although I did love the season a lot - and hoping that it gets picked up for a season 3!!
What was your favourite part of the new season?