Day Two
Rachel
"That sister thing, that twin thing, it's like a foreign country. You can only really understand if you're in it. So no, I don't want to talk about what happened to her. But I do want to tell you our story. Alone, surrounded by people but still alone. That's how I felt waking up in that place. Realising it wasn't just a bad dream. We were truly, and actually fucked. Some were lucky, they had someone to hold on to. I should have too, but I couldn't let go of the blame."
___
Hunter knew she had an issue, she did. Hudson had been the first to ever confront her about it and it wasn't long before other people had started to slightly pick up on it at school. The girls on her team had expressed their concerns to the coach about how Hunter would shy away from them during pyramid stunts, her brothers friends had noticed how she would flinch every time they raised their hand to her for a high five and even some of her teachers had noticed how she would manoeuvre herself in the corridors to try and avoid making any physical contact with anyone else.
But no one wanted to make any accusations. No one wanted to ask questions that they were scared to have the answer too. So Hunter just remained broken, her pieces falling further apart with every waking day.
Those on the island that hadn't necessarily noticed her issue with human contact noticed the morning of that second day, when Dot had noticed that she hadn't woken up with the rest of them. The other Texan had just woken Fatin who was less than happy to find out that it wasn't a dream, and she had tasked herself with making sure that Hunter was alive and hadn't died in her sleep like they were all secretly worried that someone would ever since Jeanette had just dropped dead.
"Boyd, get up," Dot spoke as she crouched beside her, not wanting to touch her after last night's display. Hunter had positioned herself further away from the rest of the girls than everyone else had - being a good 15 metres further away from the camp than the rest of them. Dot didn't know too much about the girl but she knew this was extreme behaviour even for her.
"You're gonna need to shake her," Rachel announced as the sleeping Hunter made no move to wake. Just as Dot, Shelby, Martha and Toni let out yells telling her not to do that, Rachel reached down and clamped her hand onto Hunter's shoulder and gave it a firm shake.
Almost instantly, the girl's eyes shot open and she zoomed backwards across the sand, leaving long lines in the ground from where she had literally dragged herself quickly away from where Dot and Rachel had been towering above her. Toni let out a curse at the scene, knowing that it wasn't going to help anyone in the slightest. Even Shelby sighed, believing that Hunter truly wasn't going to ever trust them to sleep again.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Rachel asked, rolling her eyes before she stormed back off to the campfire site. Hunter took deep breaths as she tried to calm her heart rate, looking around frantically as she tried to readjust to her surroundings. Toni, Martha and Shelby all shot Rachel annoyed looks as she rejoined the group, while Shelby began counting them all as she realised something was off.
Hunter looked up as Dot crouched down so that she was eye level with the blonde cheerleader, but so that she was also a nice enough distance away from her that Hunter didn't feel suffocated. They both eyed each other for a moment as Dot sighed and ran a hand through her short hair.
"Hey, Boyd, breathe," she called out gently, not having cared for the cheerleader or any of her friends before but now realising that there was something seriously not right with the girl. "Count to five."
"One," Hunter breathed, focusing on her fingers as she tried to calm her breathing. "Two, three, four, five..."
"Six, seven, eight..." Shelby murmured from where she was sitting by the fire, noticing that they were missing their ninth member of the group of girls. It would have been ten, but Jeanette was buried and dead - the harsh truth of the situation they were finding themselves in. "People, we're missing a person."
"Leah," Rachel realised as her eyes widened slightly, Dot coming to rejoin the group as Hunter had finally calmed herself down from her surprise awakening. Before anyone could say anything else, the girl in questioned appeared with a phone in her hand and a guilt ridden look on her face.
"It's Jeanette's," Leah told them all, Hunter scrunching up her face as she realised just where Leah would have had to have been to be able to get a phone that Jeanette had concealed on her. Turning on her heel, Leah began to walk back towards the makeshift grave without saying another word.
All of the girls followed without question, Hunter jogging slightly to catch up to them as Toni raised an eyebrow at her. The blonde nodded slightly, almost as if she was non-verbally apologising for what had happened the night before. Toni paused for a moment before nodding back, accepting that this might be the closest thing she'd get to one.
"It was in her pocket," Leah told them all as she held on to the phone as if it was going to just disappear at any given second. "I heard it ringing, but it didn't seem real. Not that anything does anymore. So I followed the sounds and I, um..."
Dot shook her head as she looked at the grave of Jeanette before looking back up at where Leah was trying to find the right words to say.
"You frisked a dead body."
There was a painful silence as Leah nodded, and Hunter felt the bile rise in her throat at the thought of Leah having to dig with her hands to try and reach the phone that was ringing.
"But then when I finally dug it out of her pocket, it died in my hands," Leah continued, trying not to let her voice waver as she told the group the lie she had formed that morning. The phone did die in her hands, but not until after she had wasted a call on a man who wanted nothing to do with her. "The weirdest part is this is her second phone, the other one we lost out in the water. But this, this is an entirely different one."
Hunter's eyes shot up in surprise to meet Leah's, sharing the same confusion at why Jeanette would have had two phones and why she had kept this one a secret from them.
"One that worked, and one that she chose not to tell us about. Isn't there something like, vaguely messed up about that? Like not even vaguely but deeply."
"Let me see it," Fatin asked, reaching out to take the phone from Leah. The girl passed it over as everyone watched with close eyes to see what Fatin wanted to see. The girl turned it back and forth in her hands before looking up and addressing the rest of the girls again.
"It is kind of a sketchy phone," Fatin agreed but unsure what point they were all trying to prove here. Shelby echoed the sentiment out loud, unsure what the point of this was.
"So what exactly are we trying to say here?" The pageant queen asked them all, raising her hands in slight exasperation as she tried to avoid looking down at the grave they were crowded around.
"I don't know," both Fatin and Leah echoed, slumping too as they realised that they sounded like conspiracy theorists. This was no time for making up conspiracies but rather forming plans of how they were going to survive.
"I'm just wondering if the simplest explanation might be the right one," Shelby continued, trying to ease everyone's running minds. "So she had two phones, it's not that crazy. She'd been knocked around so bad, she probably just forgot. Jeanette wasn't just in shock yanno, she was dying."
Everyone paused as Hunter finally spoke up, having her own doubts but also knowing that they needed to all calm down as there was nothing that could be done now.
"I know plenty of people who have two phones, it really isn't that unlikely," Hunter spoke before Dot rolled her eyes and looked back at her with a slight annoyance. It might not have been rare for people like Hunter or Hudson that could afford two phones, but the majority of people she knew could barely afford to keep one running.
"What, like your drug dealing boyfriend?" Dot snarked, knowing that it was an incredibly hypocritical thing to have said but being unable to stop herself anyway. She was still frustrated at Hunter being snappy with them all and not thanking them or apologising for her behaviour.
"Ex-boyfriend," Hunter snarled back instantly, everyone sighing as they realised that another argument was about to break out. Just before the blonde could continue her sentence, Rachel interrupted everyone by spitting harshly on Jeanette's grave.
There was a silence as everyone looked at the girl in disbelief and slight disgust that she had just spat on a dead girl's grave. There was a moment of awkwardness as Rachel's chest heaved in anger as she glared at the grave.
"Sorry, but like, fuck her if she forgot! That could have been our only way out! Okay," she breathed before her eyes narrowed as she looked up in realisation at Leah who was still looking at the grave. "But why didn't you wake us up?"
"I don't know," Leah admitted, her hands in her pockets as she tried to avoid making eye contact.
"You...you don't know?" Rachel asked, her temper rising. "You hear a phone, and instead of waking us up you sit there and you contemplate what's fucking real and what's not so that by the time you get to the phone..."
"Rachel, it was confusing-"
"I'm not confused at all!" Rachel yelled back, her anger at an all time high as she glared across the circle at Leah who was trying to explain herself and her actions. "You could have found it before it died, but you didn't did you?"
"No," Rachel mumbled out as Rachel nodded in disbelief once more.
"Cool," the diver growled before turning around and storming away from where they had all gathered around the grave. As Hunter watched Rachel storm away, she couldn't help but wonder if the diver was right. Was that phone their only chance to get off this island?
___
While everyone paired off into their own little groups again, Hunter found herself going through her suitcase and seeing what they had that hadn't been destroyed by the water that had gotten into it. Her clothes were all relatively dry now after having been laid out the previous night, and she had been able to find somethings that Hudson had helped her pack in watertight food bags since he was always worried that shampoo would burst over everything in his case - not that Hunter usually listened to him.
She could faintly hear Toni and Martha talking from where Toni was checking out the bandage around Martha's sprained ankle. Shelby had wrapped it previously, but it didn't seem to be getting any better at all.
"I don't understand, I thought it was getting better," Martha told Toni as the other girl pulled back the sock to see the swelling was slightly worse and now a horrible purple colour of bruising.
"It's a sprain, they're always worse the next day," Toni told Martha, and Hunter almost nodded from where she was sat eavesdropping. She had plenty of sprains in her life, and she knew fine well how to deal with them. "We should ask Hunter, I'm sure she'd had a few sprains before from cheering."
"Coach, I said I'm sorry," Hunter said as she hobbled after the man, moving her crutches at her side quickly so that she could keep up with his quick pace. "It was an accident, the doctors said it'll heal by the homecoming game, I promise."
"You can't promise me that Boyd! How can you be so reckless? Letting a door slam on your foot, who even manages that?" He sighed back, pausing in slight pity as he let the girl catch up towards him. She had sprained her ankle plenty of times during season, but it wasn't like her to have sprained it doing something stupid and non-cheer related.
Hunter jumped slightly as an arm was thrown over her shoulders, the backpack in her hand being taken away from her as her boyfriend appeared with a grin on his face. He smiled warmly at her cheer coach who smiled back, well aware of the award winning quarterback, Riley Black.
"Mr Black, great game last weekend. I know it wasn't the result you hoped for but the team is still playing much better than last year."
"Thanks Coach," he replied, his eyes drifting down to Hunter's ankle and back up to the coach. "What's this one like, huh? So accident prone these days, yeah babe?"
"OW, TONI!" Martha's voice jolted Hunter out of her moment, causing the girl to look over at where Shelby had now joined the best friend duo. She looked back to where her suitcase was, noticing a familiar looking watertight bagged pouch poking out the top.
While she obviously wasn't likely to need her bank cards on the island, that wasn't what she was looking at. Rummaging through them, she felt a smile form on her face as her fingers found the little polaroid that Hudson had packed without telling her.
It was taken of them on the State Championship Game night, just after their big win. Hunter had been leading the cheering on the sidelines and Hudson had scored the final touch down to win them the championship. The twins both swore that it was the only time they'd ever seen their parents proud of their children.
"The biggest obstacle to patient recovery..."
"Is infection," Toni interrupted Shelby as they bickered over Martha's ankle.
"And... negative energy," Shelby replied with a sarcastic smile. "I'll let you think about that while I go get this one a drink, okay?"
As Shelby skipped past her, Hunter sighed before casting another look over at Martha and Toni who were looking at the girl's ankle in confusion. Taking a deep breath as she rose to her feet, the girl wandered over to where they were lying on the sand. The duo looked up in slight surprise and caution as she approached them and stood fiddling with her leather bracelet awkwardly.
"Do you mind..." Hunter trailed off as she motioned to her ankle. Toni looked to Martha for approval before scooting over slightly as the Boyd girl crouched down and took a deep breath before pulling out a sock that she had dried from her suitcase.
As she lightly moved and prodded at different parts of her ankle, Toni couldn't help but open her mouth to speak to the girl while making sure she kept a slight distance from her. She knew that there was obviously some sort of reason as to why Hunter was so afraid of contact, so she didn't want to cause an issue while she was looking after her best friend.
"It'll likely take a few days or a week to heal, depending on how you sprained it," Hunter spoke gently as she cast a quick glance up at Martha, her words coming out before Toni could ask her that exact question. "If it was jammed into something it'll likely take closer to a week, but if it was just a small sprain it won't take as long, in my experience."
"In your experience?" Martha asked, just trying to start a conversation but instantly realising that was maybe not the best of question to have asked the girl as she instantly paused with what she had been doing with her hands.
"Yeah, I've had a few sprains," Hunter spoke, but she didn't quite hide the waver in her voice as she blinked before continuing with putting the sock back on Martha's foot. "Try not to put too much weight on it until it heals a bit better."
As Hunter sat back down at her suitcase, sorting things for Dot to be able to add them to her inventory, she became aware of a figure that had followed her from Martha's side. She squinted slightly as she looked up at Toni, watching as the girl looked down at her with a much more gentle look than usual.
"Thanks," Toni muttered, before noticing the polaroid that she had been holding in her hand previously. Her eyes ghosted over how attached to the polaroid Hunter seemed, and noticed how the cheerleader had her arms wrapped around a football plater. "Is that your ex?"
Before she could reply, Rachel announced that Shelby, herself and Leah were going to head off to try and scope out the island from the top of the mountain in the distance. They looked to Hunter, but it was pretty clear that the girl had no intention of going anywhere with Rachel from her wakeup call this morning.
As everyone left and went their separate ways, Hunter found herself sitting with Fatin and Dot as they looked through the combined contents of Fatin and Hunter's suitcases. Fatin pointed to the remainder of the evacuation slide that Dot had brought back, drawing their attention away from the golden watch she was trying to hide from the other two. Hunter noticed it, but chose not to say anything as she knew it wasn't like a watch was going to save them.
Besides, if she and Fatin were having to give up everything they owed, she assumed they deserved to keep something for themselves - for it, it was her polaroid and if Fatin wanted to keep a watch that had sentimental value then who was Hunter to judge?
"Oh my god, are those swag bags?"
"What is swag and why would it be in a bag?"
"Swag. It's like rah-rah promotional junk. Stupid and thirsty."
"This one has my name on it," Dot announced as she held a bag up for the other two girls to look at. Hunter raised an eyebrow as she sniggered lightly, the other two pausing in amusement at the girl smiling for once.
"Sunscreen," Fatin listed as she rummaged through the bag. "Cheap pink goggles, oh and just when you thought it couldn't get any cringier, it's Grandma's fucking golf hat!"
Dot placed the pink visor on to her head with a big smile, showing it off to the other two girls as she smirked at her new attire. Hunter smiled back, gracefully taking some of the sunscreen and applying a little bit on her face as she felt the sun start to beat down on them. She knew it was a luxury, but she didn't want to end up sunburnt two days in.
"You know, I actually kinda love it," Dot said before her eyes widened at a piece of paper in the bag. "Oh shit, its my itinerary for the weekend. Depending on what time of day it is, I'm either supposed to be at a pottery class or swimming with dolphins."
"Honestly, I wouldn't be too torn up about the last one. I've been swimming with dolphins like four times, and their tiny teeth are horrifying."
"You seem a lot better than yesterday," Dot said to Fatin before turning and looking at Hunter who too seemed much more responsive than yesterday. "You too, Boyd. I mean Fatin, you were kinda like sliding into the abyss."
"Yeah, well I guess it fucked me up, you know?" Fatin replied, honestly lacing her voice as she looked between the two Texans. "The almost dying thing?"
"What, did your life go flashing before your eyes?" Dot joked, before noticing that Fatin wasn't laughing, but rather avoiding her eye contact. Her face dropped immediately as she realised what she said, and Hunter furrowed her eyebrows too. "Shit, it did and it bummed you out."
"Let's just say I've had a shitty few years," Fatin simplified for them before noticing that Dot and Hunter were looking at her with nothing but understanding in their eyes. They'd both had shitty times - different time completely - but shitty all the same.
"Hard fucking same," Dot said, nodding in agreement. It was silent for a moment before Hunter spoke too.
"Make that three of us."
The three of them stayed in that silence when something that none of them expected happened: Hunter reached out and placed a comforting hand on both of their shoulders. It only lasted a second before she withdrew her hand and rose to her feet, but the other girls couldn't help but share a surprised look.
Maybe this island wasn't going to be as bad for them as they expected.