no regrets | harriet - tmr

chapter twenty-two

(two weeks in)

It had been two weeks now since the Right Arm Camp was destroyed. Everyone had slipped into a new normal at the port. The ship was still being fixed bit by bit and it was a known fact they wouldn't be leaving for while. That was why everyone had a job; whether it was helping with the breakfast, chopping up some of the wood for fires, helping with the repairing of the ship. Nobody had a set job but everybody was expected to pitch in when needed.

"Bea you need to take a break," Thomas told his sister.

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"Tom, I'm fine. Okay?" Bea reassured, tilting her head up from the radio she was fixing to make eye contact with her brother, who was standing at the entrance of the room.

"You need a break from this. You need to do something fun. Keeping yourself in this room isn't going to do you any good," he argued, folding his arms across his chest.

"Well waiting until God comes along to magically fix this radio isn't going to do us any good either," Bea countered, glaring at him as she retied one of the wires to the disks. "We need to get our friends back, okay. We-we have to. A-And that's what I'm trying to do, okay?"

Thomas' eyes softened at his stressed-out sister as he walked forwards, crouching down next to her. He slowly took the radio parts out of her hands and placed them on the wooden desk she was working on.

"We will get them back Bea," he sympathised in a mellow tone, "I promise. Since you found this stuff in the basement you've been in this room 24/7. You need to relax. Take a day off - hell, take a few days off. We will get them back but not when you're stressing yourself out."

Bea let out an exhale, nodding slowly. "Okay," she mumbled, giving in to him. She packed away the parts into one of the drawers before turning to face Thomas.

"Fry just finished cooking dinner, let's go eat," Thomas said softly. Bea sighed following him out of her room. Her stomach gurgled and it was only then she realised how hungry she was.

"You finally managed to get her out of that room," Harriet called out once they had made it to the kitchen.

Bea just rolled her eyes, "Shut up Harri." She plopped her self on a chair to the right of Harriet and to the left of Frypan. Immediately she grabbed a fork, digging into the plate of pasta in front of her. The tomato flavours swirled around in her mouth as she swallowed it.

"Have I have I ever told you how much I love your food?" she asked Fry through a mouthful of food.

"I dunno but you won't be able to tell me again if you don't chew the damn food," he scoffed but he was still grinning, "But I appreciate the compliment."

"So how's the radio coming along?" Harriet asked, taking a gulp of water. Bea shuddered, her eyes trailing across the table to meet Thomas' who digging into his own bowl of food.

"I don't even wanna talk about that right now," she groaned to which Thomas let out a small laugh.

"That bad, huh?" Frypan questioned, raising an eyebrow. Bea pulled a face, telling him everything he needed to know.

"Also, Vince wanted to do bonfire tonight - since we've settled down here now and also because everyone's been a bit depressed lately," she added to which everyone agreed with her statement. She quickly wiped her lips with a napkin before discarding it. "I'll meet y'all out there in a bit. I need to help him set it up. Bye!" The group waved at her as she exited the room, out onto the beach area.

Bea let out a breath, finishing her last forkful of pasta. Her stomach was now satisfied and Thomas was right - it was good to get out of the planning room.