SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

Camilla took in Lucas' angry outburst in silence. Took his slightly skeevily-toned assurance of his truthfulness with the same, along with Jonathan's not-quite apology and confession of murder.

As he said he planned on surviving with just him, Declyn, and Emmet.

How dare he? He knew Camilla was a close friend. Did he not know who Declyn was traveling with beforehand? Did he not know why Declyn had been separated from those people? Jonathan was getting on her nerves. So was Lucas. Sure, he might not be lying about Sierra, but how he called her darling and said he 'respected' her too much to lie sent bristles down her spine. Did he not get the memo the first time?

She drew in a breath. Again, it was shaky. She stared at the ground.

Her voice was noticeably lower.

"Declyn was supposed to stay with me."

Lucas sighed and shook his head. He supposed he should be thankful that Jonathan was understanding of his outburst there. He had been bottling that up for a while and once it came out he couldn't stop it. At least Jonathan apologized for bringing Camille into this shit. He didn't feel better about all this, but it was better than nothing.

Jonathan admitting to killing Sierra Cook was certainly unexpected. He was surprised she hadn't come up earlier in the announcements as either a victim or a killer. How and why is irrelevant at this point considering she is dead. He could respect that Jonathan owns up for his actions and not casting blame or something. He could have not said anything and made himself scarce, but didn't. He could be lying about it being not deliberate but Lucas might be willing to give him some benefit og the doubt.

He looked back to Camilla when she spoke, so quiet.

"Lots of people were suppose to stay, Cam." Lucas said. "I am sorry for your loss."

Jonathan thought it was kind of strange that they hadn't seemed to care that he had killed someone and it kind of chilled him to the bone. There was something eerie about people not reacting the way you think that they would and Jonathan was going to try to not let it bother him too much. Right now he had to put his focus back on Camilla who still didn't seem like she was doing so well. He wished that things would get easier for all of them but he knew that that was never going to happen.

One person to go back home.... What the heck am I supposed to do about that...?

"No one.... No one should have died...."

He glanced down at the ground briefly and he kicked at nothing in frustration, thinking that he needed to DO something more with all this heartbreak, bloodshed and misunderstandings between everyone on the island. He hated how there were not that many people left alive and that it was a very terrifying thing to even think about.

"I'm sorry for not keeping Declyn safe, Camilla."

Camilla slowly turned her head back up. Sympathetic words. It would all turn to vinegar, come the morning. And it would be wrong to say she didn't understand Jonathan's apology, but she still didn't like it. Of course he couldn't keep Declyn safe.

Nobody could.

Not truly.

But there was nothing for her here other than grief and misery, and she'd have enough of that sooner rather than later. Yet, she wasn't done here, not yet.

Fiddling with the tiny clasp for a moment, and then she took the necklace off. She then reached over and fastened it around Julien's neck. Still tried to not look at his face.

"It's... it's not fine, no. But I forgive you," she murmured, not quite knowing who she was talking to.

She raised herself up, taking her bag with her, and walked to the door.

"I can't stay. I have places to be. People expecting me."

She laughed- for a generous definition of the word. A single, forced "Ha."

"I..."

She didn't know what to say.

"Be seeing you, I guess."

Good enough.

She walked out of the room, took a glance at the ropes still on the floor as she made her way out of the house. Camilla thought about taking them. But she didn't.

Maybe someone called her name, or maybe she imagined it, but she pretended she didn't hear them in any case. Her destination was the woods, and if there was any justice in the world, she would disappear into the trees.

[Camilla Bell continued in Everlasting - True Love - I Am Yours]

Cam got up and left. Lucas figured he should have said something, maybe try and stop her. However, he just stood and watched passively as he left the room. Clearly she wasn't in the right mental state, which was understandable given the various stressors that they all faced over the last few days. There should be a time to process all that is happening, but there could never be any time to process.

In the end, when the dust settles there will be nothing more than a single broken person left standing upon a hill of corpses. Maybe in time they'll come to terms with what happens, but that time will not be any time soon.

He looked over to Jonathan.

"...So," Lucas spoke up after a moment. "What now? You gonna go after her or what?"

He paused for a moment, thinking. Should they go after her? He had no reason to. She wasn't important enough to him that it warranted going after her. She was just some girl that he barely knew. Sure, she was cute, but so what? Lucas may have the reputation of being a manwhore, as much as he may hate to admit it, but that doesn't mean he has to go save every girl that exists in the school. The girls he would have gone after are mostly all dead. What consideration did Camilla deserve above all else?

"You know what?" he said. "No, I'm not going after her. I've got more important things to focus. I'm out of here. I've wasted enough time standing here. What you do now I don't care."

He turned and walked towards the door, leading out into the darkness of the island.

((Lucas Abernathy continued in Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse))

Lucas and Cam were both gone now and Jonathan had been left all on his own. He guessed he should have gone after Camilla to make sure that she was alright but he decided that what she wanted to do was none of his business anymore and that he honestly didn't care what Lucas was going to do. He really needed to get on with his own goals in mind and he didn't want to stay in the room with a corpse anymore.

"Goodbye, Julien."

((Jonathan Meyers continued elsewhere))