All My Luck [Dated Early March, open to all]

[noonelaughed]

Chris reckons he's mostly just lucky that he's got something to keep his mind off it.

Tony's not exactly his best mate, but he's still a mate, so finding out that he's disappeared like so many others is kind of fucked. Though, everything sort of works out for Tony back home, doesn't it? Yeah, so he's in the accident and it's really, really shit, but he gets through it. He's Tony, so of course he does, just like he said he would that day at the pool. He'll just go back to all that.

If that's even how it works when people leave. Maybe it'll be different for Tony and it won't even happen at all this time.

Either way, it mostly just reminds Chris of how he can't go back, and how he's not gonna see his mate again unless the island brings him back. It's fucked up that it works that way, that there's nothing he or anybody else can do about it.

But fuck it, sitting round, being sad about it's not gonna do anyone any good. It's not gonna bring Tony back and it's definitely not gonna make any of this make sense, or make him stop thinking about what'll happen if Maxxie or Cass wind up being next.

Or anyone, really.

The hut's been up for over a week now and the tanks are in place, but he's still got to get the stuff to go in them. Rocks and plants, fish and water. Over a month and he still hasn't got a fucking clue how he's gonna get all the water in it. Or exactly how he's gonna manage to get the massive rock he's found not only up the beach, but into the hut with the tanks, then into the actual tank.

He should have known he'd be shit at this.

Flopping down on the sand next to the rock, he sighs and leans against it, then closes his eyes for a second as he digs his fingers into the sand. When he brings his hand up again, there's something clasped in his palm, something that was there, just under the surface. It's not real gold, of course, but it reflects the light just like Chris reckons it might if it were real gold.

It's not like it matters that it's not real, though, mostly cause Chris know just where it's come from. Maybe the details are all fuzzy from when he first got it on account of the drugs they gave him in hospital, but he does remember bits. He remembers Jal's voice, for one.

Not that any of that really matters all that much, anymore, what with him stuck where he is, knowing that he's the only one he knows who won't ever get to go back home.

Chris wipes grains of sand off of the coin, then turns it over in his hand.

Luck. That's all this is.

Comments

[yeah_wow_lovely]

"Don't be sad, Chris," says Cassie, coming alongside him as quietly as she ever does. She's sad herself, albeit for far different reasons, and in her pining has decided to be selfish. She's not certain she can bear both their losses.

Reaching down, she smooths his hair. "Whatever is so awful will get better."

[noonelaughed]

"No, no, it's okay," Chris says, because it really is. Mostly, he's just been reminded of how much he misses Jal, but it's been that way ever since he arrived on the island. Maybe there'd been Claire and there'd been that one girl he shagged on his birthday, but missing Jal never went away, not really.

Sometimes he wonders if it ever will.

Chris looks at the coin for another moment, then pockets it, even though it's still got sand clinging to it.

"D'you think there's any way we can get this rock up to the aquarium?" he asks, changing the subject, gesturing to the massive rock in the sand he's leaning against. It's only about half as tall as he is sitting, but when it comes to weight, about half as tall as he is sitting is really fuckin' heavy.

[yeah_wow_lovely]

"Magic," says Cassie, something sad in the word, but she leans, too, eying the rock. "Liang would know," she says, even before she's truly considered it. Liang, she believes, could do anything.

"But we could put logs down. Like they did at Stonehenge, yeah? Roll it."

[noonelaughed]

"What, like on top of them or something?" Chris asks, frowning, trying to work out just how all that would go.

Even rolling it, it'd have to be like... really fuckin' heavy anyway. Maybe they can get Billy's boyfriend to help out or something; he has bigger muscles than Chris does, he can help push.

[yeah_wow_lovely]

Even having left her teenage years, there's still something in Cassie that doesn't trust adults, nor does it at all occur to her that anyone other than Liang would help. "I suppose that bloody big robot is gone now. We can't lift it, Chris. We shall have to be creative."

[noonelaughed]

Chris can think of a few people who might be up for it: Olive, maybe Wardo and Neil. Though even the whole lot of them would probably have trouble, just getting their hands on the rock to lift it. Plus, it's like a mile just back to the tanks.

"Alright then," he says, "I suppose we've gotta go find some logs, yeah? Since the giant robot decided to fuck off."

[yeah_wow_lovely]

"And some saws," says Cassie, "and...whatever else one uses?" It does occur to her that they are woefully unprepared for the undertaking. And will also be handling sharp blades. "Perhaps we won't do any spliff that day, yeah?"

[noonelaughed]

"Come on, Cass," Chris replies, "Like that's gonna make much of a difference."

Though... maybe making sure to stay away from drink and LSD and MDMA that day isn't such a bad idea.