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

[just_dance_it]

Ever since Tony's been gone, Maxxie's been quiet. Quiet for Maxxie, that is, which isn't really quiet at all but subdued. He talks to fill the silence around Effy, for both their sakes, but elsewhere he's got a look like he's in his own head a lot. The constant smell of marijuana clinging to his clothes has got a lot to do with that, too.

He doesn't shout out to greet Chris right off the bat when he sees him, but shuffles across the beach, hands in the pockets of his shorts and a joint clutched between his lips. He doesn't notice what Chris has got in his hand, only that he's got something.

"Pirate treasure?" he murmurs, sitting down beside his mate.

[little_moons]

He's quiet, which isn't like him.

It doesn't take a fuckin' genius to figure out something's happened. So, when I sit down next to him, I'm quiet, too, knees drawn up to my chest and my bare feet sinking down into the sand.

"What's that?" I ask, nodding to the coin in his hand.

[pointzerothree]

Though there's nothing really novel about it after over a year on the island, Eduardo still finds that he spends a lot of time on the beach, if only because it's too convenient when he lives just nearby. He's never been given to too much time for leisure, but here it's unavoidable, especially with the school term over, and there are few better places for it. Spotting Chris there, just sitting in the sand, is unexpected, but instinct brings him over anyway, smiling automatically as he takes a seat at his side; his expression fades slightly a moment later. He isn't used to seeing Chris look thoughtful like this, so still, making it almost impossible not to guess that something might be wrong. It's unsettling, but it just makes him glad to be out this way.

"Hey, man," he says, chin lifting in greeting. "What's that you've got?"

[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."