Scott wakes to ringing in his ears and a sharp pain in his left arm. He's disoriented, unsure of where he is or what he had been doing before now. He looks up and sees pillars of smoke ascending into the sky. Scott's eyes follow the smoke to the ground.
Now he remembers.
He was on a plane to see his mom. It was an hour in. They were passing out drinks and little packages of nuts and dried fruits. Scott was chatting with the old man next to him, as he reminisced of the days of his youth; Scott listened, hiding his amusement. Then the plane began to shake. Drinks spilled. The seatbelts sign came on. Worried murmurs spread throughout the plane. The plane abruptly dropped, people screamed. Oxygen masks fell from the ceiling. The plane shook as it descended, objects flying through the air.
The plane crashed. And now, Scott looks to the pain in his arm. He knows he's screaming, even though he can barely hear it. The majority of his arm is missing, leaving a charred stump. The pain grows stronger by the second. Scott goes to stand, but realizes his lower half is trapped under rubble.
He's survived.
But he's going to die here.
***
Scott wakes to the sound of running water and moonlight shining through leaves. He glances around, realizing his legs have been freed, and the pain in his arms has begun to fade, the stump now wrapped in fabric. The moon is full, light falling through the branches, scattering light across Scott and his surroundings. He's near a stream, water trickling around rocks, creating a calming music.
It's now Scott notices the other man, crouching by the mouth of the stream, filling a salvaged water bottle. His eyes meet Scott's.
"You're up," he says, smiling. "I wasn't sure if you'd make it."
Scott is lost for words.
"I'm Isaac."
"Thank you." Scott says, "For saving me."
Isaac nods.
"You were the only alive one I could find." Isaac says. "All the others were..." Isaac trails off. "You hungry? I found some berries nearby, and you should probably have some water." He says, handing Scott the water-filled bottle. Scott moves to sit up, but forgetting his maimed arm, looses balance and falls backward. His back hits the hard ground, and he winces at the painful reminder of his life-changing injury.
"Sorry," Isaac says, hastily extending his hand. Scott takes it.
Scott is brought to his feet and he nearly topples over, his legs still uncoordinated after being trapped under the wreckage. He stumbles into Isaac, who catches him.
"Sorry," Scott says.
"It's alright," Isaac says, "It's a good thing your legs still work."
Isaac leads Scott over to the stream, where he washes his face. The cold water is shocking, but refreshing, sinking into his pores.
"We should probably get some sleep," Isaac says. "A rescue team should be here tomorrow, but we should still get some rest. You especially, after all your... injuries."
Scott knows Isaac is right. After several gulps of water, and a handful of the berries Isaac found, he once again lies down on the hard ground, lit only by the moonlight and stars. It's only now Scott thinks of his mom, how she was expecting his plane to come in about now. She must be so worried. Unlike the other parents, friends, family, lovers waiting, worrying, he will be reunited with his mom. Scott knows he is lucky, to be one of two survivors, to not leave his mom alone.
He wonders who's waiting for Isaac.
***
When he wakes Isaac is gone.
Scott becomes frantic, going to sit up, but once again looses balance and falls. Cursing, he manages to get himself on his feet. He yells out Isaac's name, but no response. Scott's panic rises.
Scott eventually finds Isaac sitting by the beach, staring past the airplane rubble to the rolling ocean. Scott is relieved to see him, and Isaac apologizes profusely, having thought Scott would sleep longer.
Now they sit together on the sand, staring off into the distance. Sand has blown around during the night, coating the wreckage with a sheen of sand. Though Scott knows it only happened yesterday, it seems like a distant memory. He can't even begin to comprehend the loss of life that's occurred, how lucky he is. But for now, Scott and Isaac sit on the beach, hand in hand, as the sun rises. Scott isn't sure how his and Isaac's fingers became intertwined.
He doesn't care.
They stay there for a while, but soon their stomachs begin to grumble, and they head off in search of berries like those Isaac had found yesterday. With Isaac's navigation, they soon find the bush again, and Scott is more hungry than he expected, nearly devouring the whole bush. Isaac laughs. Scott laughs with him.
They walk back toward the stream where they'd spend the night, past the wreckage, still scattered across the beach. For the first time, Scott truly absorbs the damage. Giant patches of sand are still stained black from explosions, surrounded by large pieces of shrapnel. And the bodies. Overnight, the smell has begun, filling the air with a sickly feeling. Red splotches are scattered across the sand, not fully washes away by the tide. Isaac squeezes Scott's hand, pulling him back towards "camp".
After a refilling of their water bottle, Isaac suggests resting. While Scott doesn't feel tired, he agrees, for lack of better things to do.
Scott and Isaac lay in the shade of the trees, their heads rested on piles of leaves. Once again, Scott finds his hand in Isaac's. He turns his head to Isaac, and their eyes meet. It seems only natural when Isaac kisses him. In Scott's mind, he's frozen in shock, but his body responds as though it's been expecting it for days. Isaac cups his face, deepening the kiss.
Scott slips into unconsciousness in Isaac's arms.
***
Scott wakes to the feel of rain, falling through the leaves of their alcove. Scott sits up wiping the water from his eyes. Next to Scott, Isaac lays, still asleep. The water falls across his face, clumps of wet hair sticking to his forehead. He's beautiful.
But Scott still goes to wake him. He brushes the wet hair off his face, and leans down to kiss him on the cheek. He whispers "Isaac" in his ear, and gently shakes him. He still doesn't move.
It's only now Scott realizes Isaac's chest is barely rising.
Scott is thrown into a state of panic. He loses balance, tumbling onto the ground, his injured side taking the brunt of the fall. He winces in pain, but all his can think is Isaac.
He rolls Isaac onto his back, and discovers bandages, covering Isaac's abdomen. Dark lines lead up past the bandages, up to Isaac's heart.
The rescue team arrives minutes later, loading Isaac onto one of the helicopters, a medic at his side. It's all a blur to Scott, the responders arriving, watching Isaac leave, vision blurry from tears, being loaded onto another helicopter, shock blanket over his shoulders.
People are trying to talk to him, figure out exactly what's happened, but Scott is in a trance, mind flooded with memories; the color of Isaac's eyes, the sound of his laugh, the feel of his hand in his. The terror of feeling his unmoving chest, and being unable to help him.
Scott's trance is broken by the sound of his mom's voice. The comfort of her arms around him is medicine to him, and he starts shaking, releasing all his tears, holding his mom tight.
Isaac's hooked up to a machine in the hospital. The doctors say it's a miracle he's still alive, but he's still under, and they're unoptimistic about him regaining consciousness. But Scott still comes, every day. Sits by Isaac's bed from the start of visiting hours to the end. He sits in silence, holding Isaac's hand in his. Thinking, maybe, if Isaac could save him, against such odds, he can save Isaac. His mom visits him in the hospital, bringing him lunch, but keeps her distance. She can't even imagine what Scott's going through.
It's been weeks. The doctors persistently encourage him to give up, but Scott won't listen. He stays, alone in that room with what others consider a corpse, keeping hope.
The doctors tell him they're pulling the plug tomorrow.
Security has to pull Scott back.
He sits in Isaac's room, holding his hand, tears dripping down his face. For the first time in these few weeks, he speaks.
"Thank you," he says. "For saving me. And..." Scott tries to hold back a sobs, but it still comes out. Scott speaks through tears.
"And I'm sorry I couldn't save you." Scott stands, squeezes Isaac's hand, and leans down to give one last kiss on the cheek. Tears beginning to falls, he turns to leave.
A machine start to beep.