Friendship And Hardship

[Chapter 16] - What We Shouldn't Know

There was an uncomfortable silence that rested in the GUP, you could hear the tiniest pin drop there.

"What are we supposed to do about all of this?" Barnacles asked. Sure, the big deal he made with the arrows was something, but this was a whole different story.

Now they actually had someone to blame for it.

"Don't ask me!" Parker shouted.
"It's your island! Do something!"
"Like what?!"
"I'm asking you that!" Barnacles screeched.

"Can we please just go home..." Kwazii muttered, scooting back away from the arguing group.

"Can you ever come up with an idea of your own?!"
"I don't think you'd know what to do in this situation!"
"I hope you fall into a ditch and no one comes to save you," Barnacles snapped, turning back to the wheel.
"I hope you get abducted by aliens and they never solve your missing persons case," Parker fired back.

"Oh so that's how it's going to be."
"Captain, can we please just go home?" Kwazii asked again, trying to snap them out of their tantrums.
"Agreed, for once," she added.

Silence set in, and it was almost sickening.

"Speaking seriously now, what are we going to do?" Barnacles asked.
"What are we supposed to do now? I say we go back to the Octopod and accidentally drink a tad bit too much melatonin and sleep forever."
"That's morbid, I'm never asking you that again. Kwazii, any thoughts?"
"Nope, not a single thing," he answered.

It went quiet again, and it was a good silence for once.

~

To tell the truth, no one knew what to do. Even after the situation was explained to everyone, not even a tiny idea was thrown out on how to fix all this.

But still, Barnacles wouldn't stop asking her if she had a plan, or at least an idea of what she could try and do by herself.

Every answer was the same.

"No."

When the night came around, Parker laid in bed, stiff as a tree. What was she supposed to do? Maybe to others, it seemed like she had things under her control, but now she didn't, and... good god, what now?

"Barnacles?" she called out, hoping that he was still awake. Not like she knew, it was pitch black.
"Hm?" he replied. Maybe she legit woke him up.

"What do I do now?" she asked. "I don't have a plan, I don't have any idea on what I'm supposed to do next, and I don't have the capacities to do anything about this. What if whoever was on the island wants me dead or something? Is that why they're here?" 

Barnacles reached over to turn on a light before turning back to Parker. "I think you have the capacities to do this. You've done so many things, why give up now?" he questioned, looking at her from his side. She rolled over to face him.
"And if I don't? I feel targeted, offended almost! This has never happened before, what am I expected to do?"

"What do you mean by 'expected to do'?" he asked.
"Don't you expect me to, I don't know, have a plan or at least an idea of what's going on or what to do next?" she explained.
"I don't expect you to."

"But you always do. Do you just... never crack under pressure? You just have plans for everything?"
"Parker, everyone here cracks under pressure. Trust me, I've been a witness to all of it. But sometimes I don't even have a plan for things."
"No, you always do."
"After thinking about it. It's not always off the top of my head sometimes," Barnacles explained. "If you're this stressed about it, I promise you that we'll try and make everything better."