Sacrifice

With Each Other

Together. They were together. Ben and Louise, Louise and Ben. It was still the same day, same hour, same minute, but it all appeared to move slower now that the two of them were together again. Ben listened to Louise's story as she had listened to his, "Even if no one comes for us, Ben...." Louise said, "I think we'll both make it out of here, ourselves." She determined. "Besides all the teeth and claws, this island isn't all that bad." Louise added.

Ben looked at her, biting into another mango. "I agree," He said with his mouth half full. Louise chuckled as she noticed the mess that Ben was making. "Come on," Louise said as they reached her camp again, "You can wash up in the fall." She directed her hand over to the waterfall. "I got that," Ben replied, wiping his mouth off with his hand.

"Are you sure this water has no leeches?" Ben asked as a precaution. "It's clean." Louise smiled at him. Ben walked over to the water and knelt down, thinking how he's never seen Louise actually smile before, she smiled when she was laughing with Kenji, but Ben wasn't sure if she saw her smiling.

"Some Sinoceratops' were drinking out of here a few days ago." Louise said, "Was it a few days ago?" She asked herself. Ben cupped his hands together under the water and brought it up to his mouth but not to drink it, just to wash the fruit juices off of his face. "Do you get dinos 'round here often?" Ben asked as he splashed some water on his arm. "Sometimes." Louise replied, "Never any predators though."

"Mainly herbivores like the Sinos and I think there was a Ankylosaurus here once." Louise said and Ben froze at the mention of an....Anklyosaurus.

"I think the cliff is too low for Brachiosaurus'...." Louise spoke out loud. "I feel like I'm missing some others...." Louise thought to herself. "Oh, Stegosaurus! There was a Stegosaurus."

"Oh, yeah, that's....that's nice, Louise." Ben said as he stood up from the waterfall, wiping his hands off on his shorts. "So, what now?" Ben asked. "I can't go back to my camp knowing your out here." Ben said.

Why was Ben trying to leave so quickly? Was it something that she said? "Oh, well...You could always come and visit." Louise responded, feeling a little crushed inside, "If you can find your way back."

"I'm not sure if I could..." Ben realized, looking around to see if he recognized the area. "Well, I could help you find your way back, I'm due for some exploring." Louise suggested.

"But before that...." She trailed off and Ben looked over with a questioning look.

She hesitated, it was a rather uncomfortable and awkward question to ask him. "What?" Ben puzzled, staring at her like she had five heads. "Do you mind if I took a look at your shoulders?" Louise finally asked him. "It might be too late for me to do anything now, but I could try." She explained.

"You can say no, I'll understand." She said.

Ben was completely taken aback by her sudden question. "I never really noticed if they were bad." Ben answered, "I mean, it hurts...they hurt." Ben said. "I tried to cover them with leaves," He added.

"But I guess since I moved my arms so much,...I-I needed to....They never had time to properly close."

Ben was rather vulnerable in this moment and he almost looked away in shame, as if he was silently beating himself up for letting himself become like this. "It's okay, Ben. I struggled to make it out here too..." Louise said, "I didn't know what to do at first, but I found my way." She assured him, "And it seems like you have too." Louise said. "Don't think I didn't notice your new wardrobe choices." She joked.

And Ben appreciated the comment and laughed, laughing because of Louise. "Okay," Ben said. Now, Ben was sitting near the large rock, Louise standing up behind him with the med kit opened up and placed on top of the rock. Louise grabbed an alcohol swab and wiped it against the crusted blood along Ben's shoulders.