Canadon't - A Hatchetfield Story

Got It Wrong

The next 10 hours of John's life were lost to unconsciousness. He had visions of lightning and endless waves, but he didn't know if that was reality or a hallucination. John found himself on a shore that felt strangely familiar. He was tired, and half-present in the situation. He looked around for any sign of human life and found nothing, except for 1 lady who'd washed up.

He identified her quickly as, "Georgiana!" and checked for a pulse. She sat up and looked around, in the same half-conscious state, "Are you alright?"

Georgiana formed a response, "Yeah, I.. think I am. What about you?"

"I'm fine. I think we should be worrying about.. where everybody else is."

The duo looked around to realise there was no sign of the plane, any other passengers, nor the 2 figures John caught at the back of the plane. It was as if they'd entered a new reality, one where nothing went wrong. But that was ridiculous. They'd washed up on some Canadian island, no doubt. John was worried about finding some civilisation, fieldwork and survival wasn't his forte.

"Say, uh, John.. d'ya know where we are?"

"I don't know, there's not much to see around here. Mind, I think that's a town down the road."

"Yeah, that's goo- oh, my rib."

"Are you alright?" John said between breaths.

"Yeah, just, bit of an ache," Georgiana didn't want to trouble John with her problems right now. She'd give him an update at a later time, thinking most of the damage was just shock.

"We just fell out of a plane, G- Georgiana," John let his dizziness catch up to him, losing track of his words. He fell onto the sand below him.

An unknown voice approached him, "Sir, are you alright?"

John got up and turned around to identify the man. Sam Sweetly. John smiled with relief, he was home. Somehow. He announced, "Georgiana, we're in Hatchetfield!"

She smiled, with a second wind, "How? We were up in- oh I don't care."

Sam was confused, "Do you need medical? I can call the ambulances. Just wanna help."

John wasn't usually used to this kind of kindness from the cops, but he was in no state to complain about it. "I think we'll be fine, thank you officer."

Sam smiled, "See ya! Gonna go see the ol' wife."

Walking forward, Georgiana got herself together and led John into Hatchetfield. The roads were polished, buildings clean and organised. Everybody on the street wore smiles, with a sense of.. community. Was this actually Hatchetfield? John appreciated the optimism, but something felt different. For a lack of better words, Hatchetfield was a dump, but this time it wasn't.

Georgiana remarked, "Looks better than we left it. Maybe crashing was a good thing after all."

John allowed himself a laugh, because it distracted him from his skepticism. He had the idea of getting coffee, subconsciously guiding himself to Beanie's.

But something had gone wrong.

John spoke, "No, no.. this isn't right."

"What's up?"

"Beanie's isn't here."

"Right, and..?"

"It's usually here, I go here every day."

"Maybe ya just got lost. Surely there's a Starbucks or something anyhow."

John settled for Starbucks, looking across the road to find.. a 7/11. John's breath grew a bit shakier. He sat down on a bench, remarking, "Something isn't going right today, Georgiana."