a study in shackles

finally.

Eventually, though, the trees thin and the beach is in sight, so you have to let go. Toni subtly steps away from you so that there's about a metre's distance between the two of you, and you feel her absence like a phantom limb. Your hand tingles where she'd once been holding it.

You fold your shirt in half and the two of you use it as a basket for the lychees you'd both been carrying - as you walk down the beach, Toni's hands find the straps of her gym bag, twisting at the rope.

You pathetically kind of wish your hand was the rope.

The camp slowly comes into sight - there's a fire going, and all the girls are sitting in a lopsided circle, staring at something. That something comes into view a few moments later, and you fight the urge to gasp when you see the bloodied, matted brown fur of a goat.

Instead, you plaster a smile onto your face, Toni doing the same. "Whoa!" you exclaim, all energy and brightness. "Here I thought we'd be saving the day! Looks like we've been upstaged!"

That part is pretty obvious - what's a few lychees to actual meat from an actual animal? You've definitely been upstaged - the question is by who.

Toni's eyes dart immediately to Martha, and then widen fractionally. You follow her line of sight.

Oh. That's who.

Martha's clothes, face, hands are all covered in blood. She sits alone, a dejected, distant look on her face, staring into the fire.

Your first instinct is to see if she's alright, but you think maybe it'd be best if you didn't, especially as Toni tenses beside you. She's a few seconds away from bolting to her best friend's side, and you really don't want to intrude on whatever conversation the two of them will be having.

Dot squints up at the two of you as you pour the lychees from your shirt-pouch-basket into the sand. They tumble down like a pink and fruity waterfall.

Heh, your brain thinks absurdly. You know what else is pink and fruity?

Before you can scold your brain for that, though (you're not that sunburned, you try in vain to convince yourself), Dot speaks. "Hey," she says. "Where were you guys?"

Uh oh. Moment of truth.

You shift a little, starting with a chuckle, a pat on your lap (how Texan can a person be?) and a breathy, "Well."

You exhale a little, feeling Toni's eyes on the side of your face. "Do you have a good chunk of time?" you continue, trying to laugh it off, but then immediately realize your mistake.

Do you have a good chunk of time. Are you being serious right now? You're all stranded on a desert island! What else do you have but time?

Dot sets down her hatchet (She is absolutely mangling that goat carcass. She is definitely not doing that right at all, you think absentmindedly) and focuses a little more on you.

Well, shit.

You clear your throat and start awkwardly, "Cause that is a long story, which starts with a serious wrong turn into the glade-"

You're floundering, that much is clear, so Toni smoothly interjects, "Yeah, we got lost and, you know, thought it'd be safer to camp out than hike back in the dark."

You flail your arms about a little as if that's sufficient corroboration of the story, but it doesn't matter - Rachel's lost interest, and Dot nods and looks back down at the mess that is the goat. They believe it, and why shouldn't they? It's perfectly logical.