Day 34
Hunter's heart fluttered as she clung to Toni's hand as they headed back to the camp site just before the sun started to set. It had been weeks since the shark attack that left her leg with a deep, gnarly wound and she could finally say that she was starting to feel a little bit like herself again.
That encounter with the shark had shaken her to her core, instilling in her a fear of the water that she had never known before. For a while, even the gentle lapping of the waves had been enough to send shivers down her spine. But today, something had changed. Toni's unwavering support and love had chipped away at Hunter's fear, allowing them to share a moment of tenderness. As they approached the campsite, the girls couldn't help but notice the smiles on their faces and the newfound lightness in their step.
Hunter pecked Toni lightly on the cheek as the girl approached Martha, knowing that she wanted to check in on her best friend. Hunter let go of her hand before turning on her heels to see Fatin grinning at her with a knowing look on her face. Hunter rolled her eyes, brushing past the others as Fatin squealed quietly into Hunter's ear as she began to chant and circle Hunter playfully.
"Hunter and Toni, sitting in a tree... K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
Even Shelby chuckled from where she was crouched beside them, helping to get the twigs and dry wood ready for their nightly fire. Hunter lightly shoved Fatin on the arm, sticking her finger up at her as she crouched down to help Shelby with the twigs.
"Alright, alright enough of that," Hunter said. "We should get this fire going before the sun sets completely and we don't have any light left."
The girls worked together to build the fire, gradually becoming absorbed in conversation about their various life experiences. Fatin recounted a story from her childhood, involving a mishap with a pet rabbit she had when she was younger. Shelby shared funny anecdotes from her time helping her dad with their local spin classes, while Hunter talked about her dreams of one day travelling to distant lands and experiencing different cultures - far, far away from her and Shelby's judgemental town.
As Fatin and Shelby discussed their plans for the fire, Hunter's eyes started to wander around the camp site. Suddenly she noticed that something was off - Dot was standing not far away, a concerned look on her face as she stared at Hunter's leg. Hunter noticed the way her eyes were scrunched as she looked at the blood stain on the back of the white bandage, her eyes flickering up to see that Hunter's were watching her every move.
Hunter tensed up as Dot approached them slowly, her hand hovering above Hunter's shoulder while gesturing towards her leg. She didn't want to touch her without her permission - knowing that Hunter had taken significant steps backwards after the shark attack. Dot was sure that it must have activated some part of her mind that Riley caused, a constant worry that any touch was going to be violent.
"I noticed you haven't changed your bandage yet today," Dot said quietly before offering to take care of it for her. Hunter looked down sheepishly before nodding in agreement, knowing that this was something that she should have done earlier but had been too distracted with Toni's presence. She also felt guilty using up their bandages when Rachel literally had half an arm, but she knew that if she said no then Dot would tell the rest who would eventually guilt trip her into putting a new bandage on. "Hey, I told you, we don't want you to get infected while it's healing."
They sat in silence as Hunter perched herself on one of the fallen tree branches, gritting her teeth as she went to peel the bandage off the wound that it had stuck to. Dot noticed her hesitation, taking a breath before hovering her hands gently over Hunter's own in a silent ask for permission to help her. Hunter breathed out through her nose for a second, before nodding and moving her own hands out of the way so that Dot could have a proper look.
The cheerleader watched as Dot carefully unwrapped the bandage, revealing the jagged wound. She knew it looked bad, but she had been trying to ignore it as much as possible, not wanting to face the reality of what had happened. As Dot began to clean the wound, Hunter couldn't help but wince at the stinging sensation, jumping a little as she felt herself start to get a little overwhelmed. Hunter bit her lip, trying to push away the memories of the shark attack that flooded her mind every time she saw her injury. It was almost as if the shark and Riley were combined into one, two separate entities that had been put on this planet to cause her irreversible damage.
As Dot cleaned the wound, Hunter focused on the sound of her own breaths, trying to keep herself calm while the other girls continued their chatter around her. She was wary that Shelby and Fatin were keeping a close eye on both of the girls, just in case Hunter suddenly freaked out on Dot. Instead, Hunter let her eyes drift to Toni and Martha, who seemed to be in an intense conversation about something. Hunter hadn't seen Martha annoyed often, but it seemed that she had a lot of pent up frustration towards Toni for a change.
"Sorry," Dot murmured, noticing Hunter's discomfort and thinking it was her hands against her leg that was the cause. "I'll be more gentle."
"It's okay," Hunter mused, her lips in a tight line. "It's not you, it's me."
"Hey, what's going on in that pretty little head of yours?"
"It's like... any pain I have just reminds me of it all," Hunter muttered, not wanting to be pitied as she admitted to Dot what she had bene holding back from telling the rest of them. "I just feel like I make so much progress, and somehow he still manages to fuck things up for me. It's... like... pathetic."
"I don't think you're pathetic," Dot simply said, no pity in her voice as she continued to wrap the bandage around Hunter's leg. This was a dance they'd been doing a lot more often, and Dot would be lying if she said it wasn't easier now that Hunter was finally letting them gradually go back to touching her casually. "I just think healing isn't always linear, and you expect too much from yourself, that's all."
After a few minutes, Dot finished rebandaging her leg and patted her shoulder reassuringly. "All done," she said with a smile. "Just try to take it easy tonight, okay?"
"Whoop, whoop! Surprise!"
Hunter and Dot turned around in surprise as Leah and Rachel entered the camp, a complete 180 turn from how they had been all week. They both shared a confused look as everyone laughed at the two girls, noticing that they were carrying a large box between them.
"Yeah, surprise they didn't murder each other in cold blood," Fatin muttered to Shelby, loud enough for Dot and Hunter to also hear and smile at her words. She was right - this was an unexpected turn of events especially from Rachel and Leah.
Dot supported Hunter as they got to their feet, the self-appointed wilderness survival expert letting Hunter use her shoulder to steady herself as she gradually put weight back on to her injured leg. It was definitely getting better, but she had a long way to go before she was going to be back to doing cheer stunts, that was for sure.
"Where'd that come from?" Toni asked, her eyes immediately falling on to the box as she tried to figure out what the girls had brought them.
"Pulled it out of the water," Rachel said with a grin, causing everyone to smile at her in surprise. They hadn't expected her to go back into the water like it was nothing, but desperate times called for desperate measures - even if the box didn't appear to be a care package like Dot hoped.
"What the hell's in it?" Fatin asked, her arm brushing against Hunter's as the girls all moved to crowd around the box. Rachel grinned back at them, proud of her and Leah's recent discovery for a change.
"Take a look. Bet you'll like it!"
"Or at least be, like, mildly amused and confused by it," Leah informed them all, her typical realism shining through Rachel's extreme excitement. Hunter chuckled, sharing a look with the taller girl before watching as Toni reached down to pop the box open.
"Party supplies?" Toni and Hunter said at the same time, the lovers sharing a quick smile before Fatin interrupted with a slight scoff as she raided through the box of supplies.
"Um... an old person's party," Fatin butted in, holding up a sash that clearly displayed the retirement greetings across the shiny fabric. "Even better, an old person named Barbara."
"Why on earth are y'all acting disappointed? I mean, look at these!" Shelby exclaimed, a grin on her face as she pulled out a packet of bright red plastic forks. Hunter shared a skeptical look with Fatin over Shelby's excitement over cutlery, but she couldn't help but break out in a smile as Shelby continued to wave them around like they were gold dust.
"That... yeah, plastic forks."
"Yeah, but they're, like, the fancy plastic," Shelby said, passing them to Hunter who flipped the package over in amusement as she read the label on the back of the bag. "Like, full-on dishwasher safe."
"She's right - they are," Hunter added, causing Toni to snigger as she snatched the packet from Hunter's hands, passing them back to Shelby who was still singing the praises of the forks while the other girls continued to look at her in disbelief. The last thing anyone expected was for the pageant queen to be fangirling over forks.
"And aren't you excited to eat with a frickin' fork again? Oh, my God. How precious are these?" Shelby said without stopping for air as she held up paper plates that read 'Off The Clock' - a very poor retirement joke, Hunter thought.
"Fuck yes, plates," Hunter mused, taking them from Shelby nevertheless and grinning ear to ear as she closed her eyes for a second and almost hummed at the thought of not having to eat using a leaf for a while. She hated the thought of her food touching dirt - even if it was probably going to anyway.
"First Shelby, now you're also gonna lose your girlfriend to this kitschy party shit," Fatin joked to Toni, a gleam in her eyes as she tried not to laugh at Hunter's sudden enthusiasm for the paper plates. "I mean, can you get her off like this?"
"Oh, she definitely can," Hunter said out-loud, not thinking before she opened her mouth. There was a slight stunned silence for a moment as the blonde blushed at what she just admitted, her mouth opening and closing like a comical goldfish cartoon. Thankfully, Shelby moved the conversation on before anything else could be said about Toni and Hunter's sex life.
"This Barbara knows how to party!"
"Hey, Fatin, there might be something for you yet," Rachel gleamed, holding an unopened bottle of champagne in her hands towards Fatin. The girl cheered, shoving Toni to the side as she snatched the bottle from Rachel and held it close to her chest as if she was cradling a child.
"Okay, I take back all negative commentary. Barbara, you're a fucking legend!"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Shelby said, catching all of their attention as she pulled out a piñata that looked like what Hunter could only imagine was Barbara's former boss. She laughed with the other girls as they looked at the figure, images of an old woman swinging and repeatedly hitting her target while her boss watched on in disbelief flooding Hunter's mind.
"Oh, it's a piñata. And candy!" Martha cheered, a grin finally breaking across her face as the inner child inside her soared at the sight.
"Holy shit, Babs, you were gonna beat up your boss in effigy?"
"Yeah, I can't tell whether that's punk rock or disturbing."
"Both," Hunter and Fatin mused at the same time, high-fiving as they realised they had spoken in sync. Everyone continued to study the piñata before Leah's hysterical laughing broke their concentration. As she cackled manically, everyone else joined in with laughter at her laugh, surprised that she was having such a strong reaction to the piñata.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. It's just the piñata," Leah explained as they all looked at her in shock. "My dad has this friend named Top Ramen. His name is actually Paul but we call him Top Ramen because this one time on a ski trip, he got very drunk and snorted, like, ten lines of ramen seasoning... The piñata looks just like him."
All of the girls burst back into laughter again, Hunter leaning against Toni as she smiled around at her group of friends. It was moments like this, that she almost forgot they were stuck on an island with no escape. Sometimes, Hunter wondered if that really was a bad thing.
She just wished Hudson would be here with her too.
____
"Leah!" Dr Faber exclaimed as the girl burst into the room, her eyes falling on the girl that was sitting in the chair with her back to the door. Leah's shoulders deflated a little as she made no effort to move, no effort to turn around and even look at the girl who had crashed the quietness. "Hi, uh, she's fine."
The orderly that had chased Leah down the hall shared a weary glance with Dr Faber before moving towards the blonde girl that was sitting with her knees tucked to her chest. Leah recognised the sweater that was covering her frame - knowing it stuck out like a sore thumb from the itchy ones that they had made all of them wear.
"Leave her, she's fine. I'm sure she'll be glad to see her friend," Dr Faber said as he shooed the nurse away, turning his full and undivided attention now onto only Leah. "Uh, please, have a seat."
It was almost like he planned it, Leah mused. Why was there suddenly a spare chair in the interview room when there had always been one on the side of the interviewee? Another failed notch in his plan - she saw right through them all.
She moved forward slowly, almost as if she was worried any sudden movements would startle the blonde that was still to look at her. Leah sat down in the seat next to her, craning her neck to try and catch her eye.
Hunter Boyd continued to just stare at the table.
Leah felt rage fill her as she looked at the shell that had once been her friend. Hunter had progressed through many stages since they'd first met on that plane, and it infuriated Leah to see her friend in an almost comatose state. She could only assume that they'd finally told her about her twin brother. Hudson Boyd had died on his island, yet here Hunter was. It was like Nora and Rachel all over again.
"I've got a great story for you," Leah said as she leaned back in her chair, fire running through her veins. "Would you like to hear it?"
"Yes, please."
"Once upon a time, two plane crashes were staged. All of the victims were dosed and stranded on two islands, ten on one, ten on the other. Though that number was subject to change. I met Rafael tonight. We've been catching up. But you already knew that, didn't you?"
Dr Faber said nothing as Leah hummed as she took his silence as confirmation of what she had already figured out. She leaned over and took his mug, running her finger along the lip of the mug as she stared him down. Hunter's eyes flickered from the table to Leah's arm.
"You've got eyes on us all the time. There's no way I would have been allowed to stay in that room if there wasn't something that you wanted from him. Something you can't seem to get. Something you think I can. You're not in charge here. I mean, that's, like, painfully obvious. But I want you to tell whoever is..."
Leah paused as her eyes flickered to the one-way mirror behind Dr Faber. Her eyes narrowed for a second before she flickered them back to Hunter. The blonde's eyes met her own, a sign that the girl was now acknowledging her friend was in the room with her. Leah stood up, moving so that her face was almost against the mirror glass.
"... that I can get them what they need. But there's something I want too."
Leah watched as a small portion of the glass fogged up in front of her, a smiley face being written into the mist. She smirked as she felt the justification inside her that she had been right all along - everything had been orchestrated including their moments here.
Her eyes flickered back to Hunter who was now looking directly at her from where she had been sitting. Leah took a moment to really take her friend in - she was clearly distraught from the news about her brother, anyone could see that.
But there was something in Hunter's eyes that Leah had seen a few times on the island. Something that the adults that had been watching them hadn't quite picked up on yet. Hunter Boyd was distraught, she was broken and she was in absolute misery, but Leah saw behind it. Hunter Boyd was absolutely, uncontrollably furious.
Leah wasn't sure what scared her more; the notion that she had been right all along, or the hard truth that she had no idea what Hunter Boyd was going to do next - and she wasn't sure if it was going to be good.
____
Beneath the star-studded canopy of that night, Hunter and Shelby sat side by side on one of the weathered logs that had been propped around by Dot, their faces illuminated by the dancing flames of the campfire. All around them, the deep, unbroken slumber of their friends painted a tableau of peaceful exhaustion. Hunter supposed that thirty-four long, arduous days of being stranded on this deserted island, and the sense of isolation, was enough to knock even an insomniac out.
Shelby turned her gaze from the fire to Hunter, the flames casting a mesmerizing glow on her features. Her eyes shimmered with a rare vulnerability, a whisper of secrets shared only with the silent night. Hunter titled her head to look at the blonde who was still sporting a mismatched hair cut.
"You know, Hunter," Shelby said softly, her voice carried away by the gentle rustling of the palm leaves, "sometimes, a part of me wishes we'd never be found."
Her admission hung in the air for a second, and Hunter noticed how Shelby almost looked like she regretted saying it out-loud as soon as her mouth snapped shut. Hunter wondered how often Shelby had felt like that - silenced. She wasn't sure she even wanted to know how it felt to have grown up in the Goodkind household.
"Why do you say that?" she inquired, her voice warm and comforting, like the firelight that cradled them.
A wistful smile tugged at Shelby's lips as she peered into the crackling fire, realising that Hunter wasn't immediately shutting her down for speaking her mind - even if some of the others around the fire pit would do everything and anything to just get home.
"Back home, everything was so... small. Everyone expected us to be the same, to conform, to never question the status quo. But here, on this island, we're free, Hunter. No judgments, no expectations, no heavily religious rules and strict parents or threats of boarding school... just survival. It's like... liberating, in a strange way."
"I get what you mean," Hunter replied, her eyes reflecting the flickering flames. "Out here, we've had to rely on ourselves, learn and adapt. It's a different kind of freedom, that's for sure."
Shelby leaned in closer to Hunter, their shoulders brushing gently. "Do you think you'll go back, Hunter? To our town, I mean."
The question hung in the air, heavy with unspoken longing and uncertainty. Hunter hesitated for a moment, her thoughts drifting to a place far removed from their tropical sanctuary.
"I have Hudson," she began, her voice carrying a hint of melancholy. "We've always been inseparable, and I miss him every day. If I could choose, I'd do anything to be back with him."
Shelby's eyes softened with empathy as she listened to Hunter's confession. Hunter noticed how her shoulders almost seemed to slump for a moment, and she immediately continued before Shelby could retreat in on herself.
"Your feelings are valid, Shelby," Hunter said, her voice gentle. "I just hope that wherever we end up, you find that connection and freedom you're looking for. You deserve that, at the very least."
The crackling of the campfire, like a chorus of secrets, intertwined with the quiet whispers of the night. As the night wore on, they sat in companionable silence, their hearts entwined by the profound connection they had forged in this unlikely place.
So, on that deserted island, under the infinite expanse of the night sky, Hunter and Shelby found themselves at a crossroads, torn between the allure of newfound freedom and the pull of the ties they had left behind. Little did the blondes know, Hudson was having the same internal debate on an island just like theirs.