"Hey!"
The girls all turned towards to ocean at Rachel's shout, before they all hurried over to help the exhausted girls out of the water. They made their way back over to Marcus and Rachel dumped a metal box onto the sand, a smug and accomplished smile on her face.
"You found the black box?" Marley piped up, still exhausted and resting her head on Toni's shoulder.
"Took a lot of effort but yeah we did." Rachel replied.
-----
The girls all sat around in a circle, the box in the centre, all unsure of what to do.
"So what do we do with it?" Martha asked, as the others turned towards Dot.
"What are you looking at me for?" asked Dot, just as confused as the others. "I don't know dick about planes, I mean, a few days ago was the first time I'd ever been on one."
"We should open it." Leah spoke up.
"I agree." said Marley.
"But it says on the side-" Martha argued.
"I know what it says Marty, but if we open it we could find something useful," said Marley.
"She's right. Like the recording .. find out what actually happened to us out there." Leah added.
"Don't we already know what happened?" asked Martha, in a quiet voice.
"Do we? I mean does anyone actually remember the crash?" Marley spoke, "Because all I remember is waking up. Nothing about a crush. Just turbulence. Then it's blank."
"Besides," Leah added, "I mean, look at how big the DO NOT OPEN letters are. It's like it wants us to open it. Like it's being ironic."
"Fuck, no!" The girls all turned to Rachel, "We're not opening it." Marley noticed Fatin and Leah immerse in a murmured conversation but figured she shouldn't bring it up.
"Nora you said there could be a transmitter in this thing, right? It could beam out our location?" Marley turned to face her, bringing the conversations back to what matters.
"Yeah, it's called a beacon, I think." said Nora. "It's like a um .."
"A nautical term," Marley aided, sending the girl a small smile.
"Okay, but if they haven't found us yet wouldn't it be best to assume that this beacon thing is busted?" Shelby questioned. "I mean, if we just try-"
"What part of DO NOT OPEN do you lot not seem to understand?" blurted Rachel, cutting off whatever Shelby was going to say. Marley flinched back slightly at the tone, earning a quick worried look from Toni. "What if we open it and break a completely functional beacon? That would completely wipe us off the grid. Is that what you all want? Because if it is then you're all fucking damaged."
"There's a bulb inside but it's out." Dot spoke up, from her position crouched over the box.
"So that means it's definitely broken right?" said Martha.
"I swear if anyone suggests opening it again," Rachel seethed, wringing her hands together.
"What do you think Dorothy?" Fatin piped up, turning to Dot.
"Woah woah woah, this isn't a decision that we should all pile onto one person." Marley spoke up, earning a thankful look from Dot.
And that was the first time the group voted, with all but Rachel and Nora raising their hands in favour of opening the box. But what they heard wasn't something they liked. At all.
***
"So you, ultimately, regretted that decision?" Faber asked, looking towards Marley, who rested her head on her arms on the table.
"I don't know about everyone else, but it's something I wish I had never heard."
"And we've heard that you immediately walked away from the group? Even away from Toni?"
"Well, yeah, I was in shock. I was scared."
"And you didn't want them to see you that way? Not even your best friends?" Young asked, in a softer tone than Faber.
"No. I didn't. Everyone was going through shit and the last time I got emotional around Toni she smashed my car and we didn't talk for months and I .. well I didn't have the best decisions." Marley let out a humourless chuckle, as the men before her looked at her pityingly. "I needed some space to let my feelings out." She looked up at them, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Hearing about how we should have died got all of us emotional. They probably told you it was suspicious that I walked off for half hour or so but I cried. The entire time. And only Toni and Shelby noticed when I got back."
***
A while after hearing the recording, the girls had all gathered again and Marley made her way back to the group, wiping her eyes.
"Hey," Toni moved over to her, "Mar, why did you walk off-" Toni noticed the state of the girl before her and simply wrapped her arms round her tight, as the girl clung to her, hiding her face in the crook of her neck.
"We should have died, Toni," she muttered, her voice raspy.
"But we didn't.. we're here together .. and I know that's not much but it's what we have." Toni muttered, kissing the girl's head.
"Everyone gather up whatever stuff we can. We're going to that cave." Dot spoke up.
Marley pulled away from Toni and wiped her eyes before walking off to help sort out supplies and resources, leaving Toni stood watching her go, nervous.
-----
After packing everything up and hiking for God knows how long, the girls had finally made it to the cave and started to unpack everything and set up in their new 'home'. Marley grabbed Shelby's arm lightly and pulled her to the side.
"Everythin' alright?" the blonde asked as the pair made their way out of earshot from the other girls, ignoring the way Toni stared at them as they went. "I saw you crying earlier.."
"Oh no I um I was just in shock. I just wanted to apologise," Shelby looked at Marley confused, "About earlier, I was really snappy with you and I shouldn't have been. It was just the storm you know? It threw me off."
"Oh, that? Don't worry about it we were all on edge." Shelby replied, her usual cheery tone back in her voice. "You don't have to apologise for being scared, Marley." The two girls chuckled softly.
"Right, yeah, just wanted to clear the air." Marley gave the girl a small smile before going back over to Toni.
"Everything okay?" Toni asked.
"Yeah I was just apologising, for being so snappy." Marley replied.
"Right, well then, you can help us have some kind of organisation." Toni chuckled and the girls got to work helping to sort everything out and create a somewhat liveable environment.
The girls all sat - or laid in Marley's case - around the cave as the sun set, feeling fairly comfortable in their new situation, knowing at least, that they would be a little safer here.
YOU ARE READING
i could never hate you {toni shalifoe}
Fanfiction"when are you going to get it through your head that i could never hate you?" i do not own the wilds or the characters, i simply own Marley and her storyline i'm simply a girl who fell in love with a show and wanted to write in her own character but...
