Epiphany *The wilds*

Day Twenty-Three

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I'm not sure how long we've been in this place, I'm not sure what it even is.
By now, it's clear that our parents will not be coming to pick us up.
Sighing, I decide to pick myself up and walk towards the mirror to see my broken reflection.
"Fuck." I whisper to myself, taking some water and wiping my cheeks off.
I turn the faucet off and walk closer to the wall to make sure I'm not seen by the camera, before thinking of earlier when Shelby and I got to meet. She put something in my shirt when she hugged me, and now was my opportunity to see what it was.
Taking the crumpled up paper that was tucked into my bra out, I unravel it to reveal something I wasn't expecting, especially from Shelby.
"You were RIGHT!!!"
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"It's literally a bloody shank... all fugly and veiny and dripping." Fatin says, staring at the goat cooking on the fire in disgust.
"Yet it's the most beautiful thing I've seen in my entire life." She continues, making eye contact with me and smiling wide.
"Smells so fucking good." Rachel Groans out, not tearing her eyes away from the fire.
"Hey, Nora?" Leah asks suddenly, causing the quiet girl to jump up, almost nervous.
"Where's your journal?"
"I think I.... I think I left it somewhere. Like, on... the bluff or something? Why?" Nora stutters out, a little too quickly.
"I know you've been keeping track of the dates. Has to be close to the Fourth of July, right?" She questions her, raising her eyebrows.
"It's June 29th."
"Yeah, I was just thinking it must be close to the 4th... here we are, having a barbecue. It's like if you squint your eyes and you forget 95% of our reality, it's almost like you can convince yourself everything normal." Leah shrugs, staring at Nora the whole time with knowing eyes.
Before the conversation could go any further, Shelby and Toni walk up with big smiles on their faces.
"Oh! And here I thought we'd be saving the day!" Shelby laughs, gesturing to the animal on fire.
"Looks like we've been upstaged." She continues, causing dot to stand up and look at them suspiciously.
"Where were you guys?" She questions the pair, knowingly.
Shelby smriks and drops a shirt full of fruit.
"Well... do you have a good chunk of time? Cause that is a long story which starts with this serious wrong turn into the glade..." Shelby starts nervously, but Toni cuts her off.
"Yeah, we got lost and, you know, thought it'd be safer to camp out than hike back in the dark."
I nudge fatin and smirk, fully knowing that they didn't get lost.
"Lydia, is that the goat?" Toni questions, staring at the fire, then looking over to me, clothes still mostly stained with blood.
I nod at her, and she walks over to me and sits down.
She doesn't say anything, but I know that's her way of comforting me.
"So, big game Hunter, am I doing this right?" Dot laughs, gesturing to the fire.
"Oh, god, no. You got it all wrong. You got to get the guts out first." She giggles, getting out her knife to begin tearing into the animal.
"So, you and shelby?" I smirk at Toni, who turns a bright shade of red.
"Shut the fuck up, we're not..." she trails off, avoiding eye contact.
I laugh and pat her on the back,
"Yeah, sure man. Whatever helps you sleep at night."
She rolls her eyes at me,
"More importantly, are you okay?"
But before I could respond,
"Hey, Lydia?" Rachel asks, causing me to look up at her and nod.
"How'd it feel? You know... Taking down that goat. It's been a minute since I had a W like that. Give me the details. Let me live vicariously." She continues, walking over to sit down next to me with a big smile on her face.
"It wasn't fucking fun, if that's what you're asking, Rachel.  You think I enjoy sitting in fucking blood? You know what, fuck off!" I yell at her, grabbing my bag and walking away.
Rachel's smile drops and she looks at the rest of the group, who is clearly shocked from my outburst.
"Is the whole family fucking crazy? Damn." She mutters, causing Leah to glare at her.
"Fuck you, Rachel." She sneers, grabbing my shorts and one Fatins sweatshirts before walking away to find me.
"See?" Rachel snickers, watching us walk away from them.
Leah and I sit in silence after I changed, watching the waves crash.
Having your younger sister with you while being stranded on an island is fucking hell.
Leah's a lot of things, but she doesn't deserve this.
"Do you remember..." I begin, turning my head slightly to look at her,
"When we were kids and we found that piece of rope in the garage and we tried to make that rope swing?" I ask, while giggling.
She laughs and nods her head,
"Yeah, We we're having a barbecue that day, and we both had really nice clothes on. Everything was fine until you got on it and it snapped so you fell into the big mud pile on the ground and got me and you both covered in mud!"
We both laugh remembering the silly memory, wishing that time hadn't gone by so fast.
Leah abruptly stops laughing, turning her body to look at me,
"Hey, so.. while you were out literally saving the day, I saw-" but she's quickly cut off by foot steps.
"Hey, y'all. It's ready." Shelby smiles, gesturing to the goat in the fire by the camp.
We nod while getting up, Leah going ahead of me.
"Are you alright? I know that must of been hard, Lydia. But, I hope you know what you did won't be forgotten. Thank you." Shelby says, while grabbing my arm and pulling me into a hug.
"Thank you, Shelby. I'm okay, but Rachel... she needs to back the fuck off." I answer, hugging her back.
She pulls back and gives me a sorry smile, but doesn't say anything.
We walk back to the camp and I sit next to dot.
"Here." She says, handing me a big leaf with some meat on it.
I give her a small smile and take it from her, ready to eat for the first time in days.
After a few minutes of everyone sitting in silence, enjoying their meal, Leah suddenly stands up, wiping the sand off her butt.
"Where are you going?" Nora questions her suspiciously.
"Just the bathroom." She replies casually while walking away.
"Are you okay?" Nora questions again, not taking her eyes off of Leah.
"Yeah, it's not some five alarm E. Coli thing. I think she's just adjusting to not being empty anymore." She says while grabbing her stomach.
"I'll be back soon." She finishes, walking towards the woods.
"So, I know I keep asking this, but are you okay?" Dot asks me with a concerned look on her face,
"Cause, what Rachel did was fucked, and I know I should of spoken up but-" she continues, but I cut her off with a small kiss.
"It's okay, Dottie."
Shelby laughs from beside us,
"Excuse me, are you stealing my nickname?"
Laugher ripples through the group,
"Yes! It's not my fault that you and fatin picked nicknames before I did!" I fire back, laughing.
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom too." Nora cuts in, standing up to walk to the woods.
I furrow my eyebrows and nod slowly at her,
"Be careful." I say to her, watching her walk the same way Leah did.
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After about 30 minutes, I notice Nora come back without Leah.
"Hey, where's Leah?" I question her, crossing my arms.
"Oh, I.. uh. I think she needed some space." She stutters, causing me to glare at her.
"You sure?" I ask her, making her to look away from me.
"Yeah. She said she wanted to be alone." She nods, playing with her sweater.
"If Nora said that she said she wanted to be alone, then she wanted to be alone." Rachel cuts in, feeling protective of her twin.
"Alright, damn." I say, putting my hands up in the air and walking over to Shelby and Fatin.
"Hey, I used to love those things" I say to the girls, pointing to the paper fortune teller in fatins lap.
"I used to always ask if I was gonna marry Edward Cullen or Alice Cullen... Twilight is basically a bi-girls wet dream." I continue, sitting down in the sand.
They both laugh while Fatin picks up the fortune teller.
"Yeah, this is a true testament to the depths of my boredom." She laughs again.
"Should we give it a whirl? Are we in the actual Bermuda Triangle?" She asks the paper, folding her fingers back and forth to get an answer.
She opens the message and Shelby reads it aloud,
"Obviously, you dipshit."
"I mean, I made the thing, so..." Fatin laughs, handing it to Shelby.
"You wanna try? Do you have any burning questions for the oracle" she says dramatically, waving it around.
Shelby grabs it and looks at the item in her hand.
"Do I have to say the question out loud?"
Fatin and I glance at each other before I respond,
"Ideally, but if you wanna be a mysterious bitch about it, then fine."
Shelby laughs and closes her eyes, saying the question to herself.
"I don't fucking know." She reads out loud, looking at her answer.
"Well, that wasn't fun. The whole point of these things is they're supposed to give you the answer, right?" Shelby continues, taking the game way too seriously.
"Jesus" I say, not meaning to say it out loud.
"I mean, if you're so worried about how she's feeling, maybe you should go ask her yourself." Fatin smirks, nodding her head towards Toni.
Shelby gasps and widens her eyes.
"Please. I know sexual tension when I see it. I knew dot and Lydia were gonna be together on the first night." Fatin laughs, making both Shelby and I blush.
"But, don't worry." She continues, sealing her lips.
"Same here, Shelby." I nod towards her, giving her a soft smile.
But, Shelby just looks away, not wanting to have this conversation anymore.
Getting the hint, I decide to walk towards dot and Martha, who have been trying to keep the fire going.
"Hey." I say to them, sitting down next to the warm fire.
"Hey." They both reply, Martha sitting up a little more.
"I know literally everyone on the island has asked you this, and I don't wanna bother you, but, how are you? I love animals, and what you did was so strong, and i don't know if I could ever do it." Marty rambles on, setting her hand on my shoulder.
"Honestly? I feel like complete shit. He was old, you know, and... I looked at his teeth after cause that's how you can tell. Nine years old maybe. But... I had to do it. I tried to shoo him away from Shelby and Toni..The way he kept looking at me... I feel like he was telling me to do it, Almost like he was asking me. But, I don't know. Maybe I'm just telling myself that so I don't feel as guilty." I shake my head, putting my head in my hands.
"Or he wanted you to live." Dot speaks up, looking at me sadly.
"He was willing to go and move on.... Because he knew you deserved a chance at real life." She continues, sitting down next to me and putting her hand on my thigh.
"So don't blow it." She whispers, pressing a kiss to my temple.
"You guys are cute." Marty blushes, playing with her hands.
Her comment makes us both blush and smile at the innocent girl.
Fatin suddenly walks over with Martha's game of uno and asks to to play with her.
Sitting in a circle, I look over and notice Rachel walking towards the ocean, but I think nothing of it.
"Plus 4, motherfucker!" Dot yells out, making fatin groan and all of us laugh, but our laughter is soon cut off by loud screaming.
"NORA!" Leah screams from the other side of the island, covered in dirt, looking a mess.
Nora stands up quickly and stares at the angry looking girl.
"What the fuck is happening?" Fatin questions, looking back and forth between the two girls.
"Don't fucking move." Leah screams again, marching towards Nora.
I look closer and notice Leah has blood on her.
She walks straight up to Nora, but before she could speak,
"SHARK!" Marty screams, pointing towards the ocean.
We all gasp and Nora runs towards Rachel who is floating right next to the shark.
"RACHEL!" She screams while running into the ocean, determined to save her twin.
Dot grabs my hand, knowing the events that are about to take place.
Nora jumps into the water, swimming as fast as she could towards her sister, but it's too late.
"RACHEL!" We all scream, watching the shark take the girl down.
All of us except for Leah run towards the water, but quickly stop when we can't see either girl anymore.
We can only hear the screams of Nora and Rachel, before it goes silent.
After a few moments, Rachel pops up close to the sand, gasping for air and screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Rachel!" Dot screams out, running towards the injured girl.
"where's... where's Nora?" Rachel cries out, coming in and out of consciousness.
I finally notice her bloody arm, seeing her hand was chewed off by a shark.
"I lost her!" She cries again, not even caring about her hand.
"We have to cauterize it." Dot declares, in a panic, causing all of us to grab the girl and pull her to the fire.
Dot grabs the axe and puts in the fire, unable to look back over to group.
We all stare at her, waiting for her to come over, and when she finally does, we wish we hadn't.
She puts the hot axe straight onto Rachels wound, causing her to scream out in agony, and most of us to groan and look away.
Leah grabs my hand tightly, afraid to let go.
"You're going to be okay, Rachel." I whisper out, grabbing her hand.
She squeezes it tightly, still in agonizing pain.
"It's all going to be okay."
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As I'm sitting in my bed, the alarm goes off. I smile to myself and walk towards the door and head down the hall. I put my hood up and run as fast as I can towards the courtyard, and find a door to a long hallway.
I run down the long hallway, hearing static and beeping from people behind me. I try to run faster but end up in a big room with lots of doors.
Picking the first door I see, I run in it, locking the door behind me.
I keep as quiet as I can, trying not to expose my hiding spot.
I let out a sigh of relief as I hear them walk away, and turn around to look for a light switch.  When I find it, I see a computer with lots of screens and monitors.
Confused, I walk towards it slowly.
On the screens are a group of boys around a fire, on what appears to be a stranded island.
'The twilight of Adam'  reads on of the files in front of me.
Looking closer, I notice a familiar sweatshirt but can't make out the face.
"What the actual fuck?"
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Notes /// omggg rip Nora kinda 🤸🏻‍♀️🤸🏻‍♀️
Also. For season two, I will be changing the outfits bc im sick of looking at them so ur prolly sick of looking at them 🤣 so yeah 😗 they'll be similar but yk.