Page 10 of Double Dragon


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“I did, and I thought she’d be interested to see what we found. Vincent survived as well. We’ll have to take water to him, and then we can figure out what we’re going to do next,” Thomas said. I had the feeling that this was a fragment of another conversation they had had outside of my presence.

“What have you brought me here to show me? What’s more important than Vincent’s life?” I asked, crossing my arms across my chest. I was getting tired of their games. William smirked and stood aside, showing me the way in. I walked into the old tree, sighing, and shook my head vehemently.

The hollow led into what amounted to a small cave, although instead of sand underneath my feet, there was soft soil. Thomas and William had already made a small fire, which crackled and illuminated the cave in a soft orange glow. I breathed in the smell of burning wood and my eyes watered as plumes of smoke drifted pass. I caught sight of the small crate, an oblong box which had been opened and an empty packet of peanuts sat on top of it, but as my gaze moved around the cave it settled on what the brothers had found. There were two skeletons, sitting together at the rear of the cave. I moved forward carefully, reverently, and reached out to them.

“I told you it was worth for you coming here,” Thomas said. I was silent as I moved closer to them. From a cursory glance I could tell that it was a man and a woman, and from the way they were sitting, they were close. Their clothes were in tatters around their bones and they had evidently been here for a number of years.

“They must have died together,” I said.

“Were they the inhabitants of the island? I have to admit I was expecting to find a vast metropolis or something, and I wouldn’t have expected to find bodies outside of tombs. What does this mean?” Thomas asked. He had other questions, ones I didn’t bother listening to. Breath caught in my throat as I gazed upon these two people, these two strangers, and then realized that they weren’t strangers at all. The closer I got, the more detail I was able to make out on their torn, tattered clothes, and when I did I lost all feeling in my legs and I fell to the floor. Thomas rushed up beside me.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, helping me regain my balance. I couldn’t take my eyes off the skeletons though.

“They’re not people who lived on this island, just people who died here.” I ran a thumb along my pocket. “These are my parents,” I said numbly.

The world seemed to melt around me as I gazed at the two skeletons. The more I looked the more I could see the same clothes they were wearing. On the blank bony faces, I saw my father’s smile and my mother’s tears. I saw the way they held each other on long winter nights, and remembered how they used to whisper secret things to each other. I flipped open the locket and held it up, and as soon as I did, tears streamed down my cheeks and my entire body trembled.

“Oh my God,” Thomas said. He wrapped an arm around me and I didn’t care that I didn’t like him, I was just grateful for the feel of human warmth. I wept fretfully as I grasped at his clothes like a frightened child. He made comforting noises, and he tried to tell me that everything was going to be alright, but I knew he was lying. Nobody could guarantee that. Eventually, I pushed him away and scrambled to be with my parents. I sat at their feet and looked up to them, wishing that somehow they would come back to life, but their hollowed eyes stared blankly into nothing. Somehow, like me, they had survived the plane crash, but they couldn’t endure the island.

“I knew she’d have a meltdown. Thomas, we need to go,” William said.

“Go the fuck away!” I screamed, and because he was too far from me, I ended up pushing Thomas with all my might, although he stood his ground, and I ended up falling to the floor. Thomas directed William to go and wait outside while he came back to me and sat with me.

“You can push me again if it’ll help. Hell, you can even punch me, although I’d ask you to avoid the face. It’s already taken enough of a beating today,” he said, rubbing his bruise. “I know this can’t be easy for you. Hell, I don’t know how anyone is supposed to feel in this situation, but if you want to talk about it, you can. I know we didn’t get off to the best start, but I’m here and, well, it doesn’t seem like you have many other options right now.”

I don’t know what it was exactly; I must have been desperate in the moment, but I found myself opening up to him.

“I’m a fool. When I washed up on this island I thought they might be alive, I thought that if I had survived then maybe they had too, and I could actually be reunited with them after all these years, because deep down the real reason why I’ve wanted to come back to this place is just to find them. I wanted to know what happened…I wanted to see them again. And now I have, and what has it cost? Two people have died, and there’s a chance that we’re going to end up just like them. Is it even worth it? Is that what my life has amounted to?”

“I know you didn’t come here just for them Amber. You told me yourself that it’s more than that, but at least you have closure now. And we still have the whole island to explore. You never know what we might find while we’re here.”

“I can’t imagine anything we’ll find is going to be worth it,” I said morosely. I ran my sleeve across my nose and wiped my eyes. I stared at my parents, at what was left of them anyway again and pushed myself to my feet.

“Is there anything I can do? Do you want to bury them or anything? I’m sorry, I really didn’t expect them to be your parents. I guess the excitement got to me.”

“It’s not your fault, and it’s probably better that I have a reunion like this now rather than live in hope. I guess it’s just a reminder that the impossible never happens and we don’t live in a fairytale. Let’s not worry about burying them. They’ve been at peace here for this long, we might as well leave them undisturbed.” I trudged out of the hollow and ignored William. I barked at them to get the crate and to follow me, for I had to get back to Vincent.

9

We walked in silence. I got the feeling that William wanted to speak, but that Thomas had forbidden it. At least he was proving himself to be something of a gentleman and respected that I was going through something huge. My parents must have washed up on the shore like the rest of us, and they had died here. It didn’t prove to be a good omen for us. If they weren’t found, then the chances are that we wouldn’t be either.

I called out to Vincent as we approached the cavern and he called back, glad to see me.

“I thought something might have happened to you,” he said.

“Well, I did run into some nefarious characters,” I said with

a smile, tossing my head towards the Mapother twins. Vincent smiled out them and held out a weak hand.

“It’s good to see you boys. I’m glad you survived.”

William and Thomas set down the crate and pulled out the water, handing a bottle to Vincent. He took small sips, knowing that he had to make sure his body got used to water again. Thomas also handed out some rations and we all nibbled at them while I pulled out the sticky leaves. I checked with Vincent that it was what he needed, and he nodded. I unfolded them and placed the sap on the wound, cleaning away the dirt that had gathered there, and then I pressed the leaves onto his skin. Vincent gasped with relief and wore a satisfied smile.

“There’s something else,” I said, and proceeded to tell him about my parents. He listened solemnly and pressed his hand on mine.

“I’m sorry Amber. That can’t have been easy. I’m sure they would have been thinking of you when it happened, and I know they would have been proud of you,” he said.

“It does make me worried though,” I spoke to all of them, “because if they couldn’t make it off then I don’t know how we’re supposed to. My parents were two of the most resourceful people ever and if they couldn’t make it off this island then it’s not going to be an easy thing. I think we’re all confused about the storm, and if that does rage all the time then it’s going to be easy for people to assume that we’re just dead. We have to think of some kind of signal.”

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