Phantasm

[Ruggahissy]

((Jonah Heartgrave continued from Flagrant One))

Jonah was sweating from the heat and from exertion. He decided to head in the direction of the lake in the hopes that they might be able to clean up. Both of them would undoubtedly scare someone at first glance.

"Hey," he piped up, shifting Arizona with his arms to stir her in case she'd fallen asleep again. "Wake up, pumpkin. We're at grandma's," he said gently.

He let go of their bags which dropped with unceremonious thuds. In one was all the weapons, in the other was all the food he'd looted from Quinn. Jonah knelt down and eased Arizona off his back and onto the grass.

They'd come to rest under a tree near the lake. Far off, he could see a little structure that looked to be in pretty bad shape. The area was quiet and still. The lake reflected the nearby trees with mirror precision. Jonah took a deep breath and ripped his shirt off. His arm had been bleeding continuous since they left the woods. Tossing the shirt onto the ground, he could see it had some of Arizona's blood on it.

He turned to the bag that had been his, now the food bag, and dug around the loose items until he found the iodine.

"We can use this to purify the lake water and, uh, clean up some."

[Deamon]

((Continued))

Ignorance was elegance.



Jonah had been carrying her. She hadn't been focusing on where he was taking her. Just that they were together. It was her only comfort. Every time her eyes closed she was greeted by the same images. A ruin that had once been a body. An endless red expanse she was drowning in. Eventually, she had submitted to her body's desire to rest even though she knew what it would bring.

At some point, Jonah had decided to take them to the lake.

That was where ignorance worked for their benefit. Jonah had no idea what she had done and she had no idea he was taking them there.


And they had arrived.


On that first day, she had made a decision that she had been pushed to the back of her mind ever since she found Jonah. But he had brought her back without even realizing.

Forced to confront the past.

Her wounds had stopped bleeding but she could still feel them, they stung and throbbed. The blood itself still caked her face. He was right, they did need to clean up. But she couldn't bring herself to go near the water's edge.

As he took his shirt off and tossed it aside she saw his arm. Bleeding. He had been hurt as well. She hadn't noticed.

She nodded when he spoke and looked out at the glistening water.

Eventually, she blinked and looked back at him.

"I need to tell you something."

[Ruggahissy]

The iodine rolled a little from the grass they were on onto the sand and pebbles that ushered in the edge of the water. It clinked softly when it hit a slightly too large, smooth rock, which prevented it from falling into the water and being lost forever.

Jonah looked up when he heard the noise, then turned back to the bags. He was digging around, trying to find anything he could use to carry water. The only thing he found was the Wu-Tang hat. It would have to do.

His eyes snapped back to Arizona as soon as she said something. It had been awhile since she'd spoken and the break in the sounds of silence and nature was a little startling. His fingers curled around the hat a little tighter when he saw her face again: bloodied and tired.

She was still so hot. Maybe even hotter than ever.

Don't say that. That's the wrong thing to say, idiot.

"Sure," he said instead. "I'm all ears. Until someone cuts them off," he said with a smile and a shrug. He held up a finger to indicate he'd be back in a moment.

Jonah scrambled up and walked a few steps to the water's edge to collect water in the hat. In the water he could see her wavy, shimmering reflection behind him. She was magic.

He shook his head, collected up some water, grabbed the little iodine bottle from the ground, and sat in front of her. Feeling like a potions maker, he dropped a few drops of iodine into the hat-water.

"You can tell me, but close your eyes."

[Deamon]

She obliged Jonah and closed her eyes.

If anything it made it easier for her.

She didn't try and sugarcoat it or build up to it. Instead, she tore the bandage off. They'd agreed to be honest with each other. He deserved that honesty.

"When I first woke up, I was by this lake and..." She paused and collected herself.

"I tried to drown myself."

[Ruggahissy]

"Wait, what?"

It was too late for him to stop and the water poured down her face just as she made her confession. Jonah quickly went back to the bag and pulled out the surgical mask. He'd dumped out most of the first aid items when he filled the box with marshmallows, so many of his things were floating around in his bag. The mask seemed decently absorbent and cleaner than his bloody shirt.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," he said, trying to dry her face, wipe away blood, and be as careful as possible with the cuts and injuries. He took deep breaths. Panic breeds more panic. Be calm. Like a lake.

"Um, why did you want to do that?" he said trying to sound calm and casual.

[Deamon]

"Fucking christ!" Arizona gasped as the cold water was dropped over her head. Her eyes snapped open in shock. Whatever she had been expecting it wasn't that. Jonah was immediately apologetic and set to work trying to wipe the water away. She wasn't mad, just surprised. She didn't have enough energy to be angry.

He asked why she had done it and she gave him a shrug.

"Fear I guess, or curiosity. You ever like...have an oven you've had on for a while then you open it? And when you do the heat hits you in the face and you think 'what if I just put my hand on the rack?'. I felt like that looking out at the lake except I didn't see anything after it. No way out of the situation. It didn't feel real and I didn't feel real. I was just there looking over the water and..." She bit her lip and refocused her gaze back onto Jonah. "And I jumped in. Either on autopilot or instinct, I don't know which. I was just detached from everything. I felt like I was watching myself and I was okay with it. I accepted it. But then I started drowning and I guess I woke up."

Her fingers picked at the skin by her nails, peeling away layers as she spoke.

"You deserve to know. It didn't seem fair for me to call you out when I've done the same thing."

[Ruggahissy]

Jonah put his hand gently over Arizona's to stop her from picking at herself. The action was gentle, but quick and somewhat subconscious.

"I understand," he said, returning to his tools and starting to dab an antibacterial wipe onto her wounds. "Not exactly that example since I worked at a restaurant so like, I would mostly only be thinking of the health violations instead of....that. But I've had other similar thoughts. Like 'What if I drove my car off this bridge?'"

"But I..." he said softly to her last statement. He turned and got some bandages. The butterfly closure strips would probably be best for some of them, particularly the lip injury. It made Jonah feel really calm to be taking care of someone. It helped.

"I've been like that. I was... I was really sick last year and I thought maybe I wouldn't make it. So I guess I've already thought a lot about what dying means. And I think I -- I also feel like this was inevitable for me. Like it made a mistake and it's coming back for me like we're in Final Destination."

He leaned back to look at his work.

"So you were right. You're right a lot," he said with a chuckle. "Maybe give someone else a chance."

[Deamon]

Jonah placed his hand over hers and she placed her thumb over his fingers in turn. Then he broke off contact to continue working on her. He dabbed at the cuts across the right side of her face with a wipe and she hissed softly. The cold anti-septic moisture of the wipe seeping into her wounds, cooling and stinging in equal measure. The was still blood coating her arms and she picked at the itchy places. She watched as it flaked away from her skin. It was a mixture of hers and Quinn's but she had no way of telling it apart. It was all the same. Jonah spoke and she silently listened. Eyes focused on him, taking in everything he said.

She stayed still or turned her head to the side as needed. Aside from that, she didn't do anything further. Just let him work and listened. She could see a couple of places on his body where he was bleeding. But he was prioritizing her. She didn't say anything about it. It wasn't important and it would take away from what he was doing for her. He spoke of when he had cancer and a pang of guilt hit her. The same one she got every time he talked about his illness. It was just like being back at their mean before prom. Where they'd spoken about themselves and Arizona had realized she knew nothing about Jonah. She hadn't known about his cancer at the time. Not in a conscious sense.

As he continued she frowned but didn't interrupt. He applied butterfly strips to the gashes Quinn had opened up on her face and then they were done. She nodded when he finished speaking. Her hand subconsciously went up the side of her face. Her fingers lightly running the length of the strips.

"Thank you." She said softly. "For helping me, back there and now and I..." Her words fell away and the fingers that had been rubbing the strips moved across her eyes before dropping into her lap.

After she reached out and took his hand in hers. The entirety of her focus on his face, committing it all to memory.

"I love you."

[Ruggahissy]

Jonah sat back and continued looking at her. It wasn't half bad work and his fingers had been honed to fine dexterity from years of working on cars. Not that she was like a car, no. That would be a very bad thing to say, he thought to himself. Definitely shelf that one.

"Of course," he said in response to her thanks. He had still just enough sense left to not continue on in his knee jerk response of "what are friends for?" Again, he was mortified internally at nearly screwing up but a little self-congratulatory that he didn't. She just made him nervous. She made him a little dumber than normal sometimes.

But then she said that she loved him and he couldn't stop himself before he blurted out the first thing he thought.

"What? Why?" he asked, mystified.

He blushed deeply, having realized how stupid and rude that was for a response. His eyes were wide, and he was very close to her face with his hand in hers. Jonah broke the gaze, looking down demurely. She was too pretty to look at -- even bloody -- such that it pained him a little.

"I mean, I love you too," he said, exhaling and hoping perhaps some of that pain and his nervousness would exit his body along with the air.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace he had bought for her at the Smithsonian, near the minerals and gems section of the Natural History museum. It was a piece of tear drop shaped amber surrounded by a silver floral filigree, leaves framing the top and bottom of the stone, on a silver chain.

"I bought this for you at the Smithsonian. I wanted to give it to you...." he said, unwilling to say "when we got home."

[Deamon]

Jonah's reaction wasn't the smoothest. For a moment, Arizona also wasn't sure what she had said or why she had said it. It hadn't been planned. She'd said it because it felt right. As the time it took Jonah to process and react to what she said extended into what felt like years she began to doubt herself. Did he feel the same way? Did she really love him? What if he just left her? Had she fucked up in one of her most vulnerable moments? She needed to hear him say it. In that slice of time, she needed it more than anything else. The seconds however, were just that, seconds. Jonah looked away and panic rose in her gut. But luckily he said it back. She got to hear him say it. Unlike when he asked her out to prom she didn't need to prompt him for it.

He reached into his pocket and withdrew a necklace. He told her the story behind it and she couldn't believe she'd ever doubted him. The amber glowed as it caught the sun. As it rotated in his grip she saw the different colors and imperfections across its polished surface. All of them catching the light slightly differently. It was beautiful. He'd bought it at the Smithsonian in Washington. Somehow he had managed to keep it all that time. Throughout everything, he had kept it for her. Back when they were apart he'd kept it, hoping for the moment they'd meet.

She was glad they did. He was special. Reaching out she gently took it from him and looked at it up close. After running her eyes over as much of its detail as possible she turned her attention back to him.

"It's beautiful." She said, hooking it around her wrist before taking his hands and leaning in to kiss him.

"Thank you."

[Ruggahissy]

Jonah's eyebrows raised and then relaxed when she kissed him.

"If you don't like it, I think I've got the gift receipt around her some place," he said, pretending to search his pockets.

"Shut up, loser," Arizona said, smiling just a little.

It was weird, but it made him feel a little bashful to be called "loser." Not because he thought she meant it or because he felt bad about it but because it was kind of a term of endearment. Something other than his own name.

They were still filthy, covered with blood, sweat, dirt, and the general stickiness of the island. The pair disrobed carefully. Jonah folded their clothes into neat little piles next to each other and Arizona rolled her eyes at it. Arizona was visibly nervous about the prospect of going back into the lake. Jonah reassured her that he would be there and lead her in by the hand, strong and rough fingers around her own. The lake wouldn't get the better of them now. They stood in the water up to their shoulders and smiled at each other, neither one drowning this time. The wind blew gently and rippled the water around them. The trees swayed and rustled gently.

After some discussion, they swam out to the little island and pulled the small rowboat with a hole in it back to their shore. Both of them were tired and wanted to rest before going out to look for Darlene (and Max, Jonah thought to himself).

They fell asleep together inside the little boat next to their things. They'd made a kind of nest with all their belongings and the emergency blankets in the first aid kits. It was good enough camouflage; anyone who looked at the scene would just see the little vessel unless they looked inside. They slept the sleep of the dead, now clean and bandaged.

When they were awoken by the announcements on the morning of the 7th day, they stayed still in their makeshift bed as the voice recounted what they had done. The pair were silent for a long while, looking up at the clouds and the trees. Finally, Jonah broke the silence.

"Darlene and Max are still safe. He never killed Kelly. Or anyone," he said quietly, lying next to Arizona.

[Deamon]

"Yeah..."

The prior evening had turned into something that felt right. They'd gone into the lake. Jonah had helped her through the process. They'd washed and explored then made a den. It was there, huddled together in the boat they'd fallen asleep in one another's arms under the stars.

Her dreams weren't good. Visions of what she'd left of Quinn haunted her. She'd dreamed of being out on the water in the boat. Lying next to Jonah, they'd been sleeping. There were noises surrounding them, steadily getting closer. She could see something moving beneath the surface disturbing the water. It drew closer but she couldn't move or call out. Jonah was asleep, unaware. She had managed to tear herself away and lie back down in the boat. The disturbance passed and she was awake beneath the stars. Then Quinn's decaying body had emerged to pull her underwater. As they sunk together she lashed out and destroyed Quinn's skull all over again but her hands remained tight and she'd sunk into nothing.

Waking up was a relief. Waking up next to Jonah was an extra reward of its own. As they lay there her hand found where the necklace he had given her the day before lay on her chest and absently toyed with it.

"They're all still alive." She murmured, looking up at the sky and distant clouds. Finally, after another long silence, her guilt took over.

"You want to try and find them?"

[dmboogie]

((Abe just kept on retracing his steps, didn’t he?))

Maybe that was kinda inevitable when he’d decided that buildings weren’t for him, because as tempting as it was to just go balls-deep and walk for hours into the woods where no one would ever find him, he remembered his panic way back on the first day, that sleepless night, that hike in the dark, and the closer they got to the end the more likely it seemed that the terrorists would bar them from the massive fucking forest that covered like half the island, because they wanted the good little children to kill each other in a shorter timespan than a month, so yeah, no way in hell was he gonna venture more than a ten-minute sprint’s worth into the heart of the woods.

Abe’s sentences were running about as much as he was, haha. Well, he wasn’t really running right now. No reason to, he needed to conserve his energy, everything was fine for the moment, he was strolling, just strolling along the lake where everything had been alright just a few days earlier, along the lake where just a little bit into the woods you’d find Andy’s body, which was why he was walking along the lake, in the open, like a dumbass, and not using the trees for cover, because he really didn’t want to see that shit again, alright?

Even if he wanted to find the spot where he’d been camped out with all the people who didn’t matter anymore (that was a lie by the way keep your eyes peeled that’s gonna keep happening, Abe thought to his own inner monologue) well, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to, ‘cause a lake was a lake was a lake, y’know? Just a bunch of fucking water and trees, and a boat? That was new. Maybe he could do something there.

It’d be pretty funny if he could just take the boat and row it out into the middle of the lake and just chill there for a while, right? Like, that’d be the unorthodox pro-tier strats the winner’d be doing right about then. Just had to make sure he didn’t fall asleep in it. And even if it was too rotted or whatever to use like that, it’s not like he had anything better to be doing, he didn’t see any poor defenseless people around to rob.

Whistling flatly to himself, Abe walked up to the boat, close enough to see over its edge - and met someone’s eyes. Two pairs of eyes. He reacted just like he’d been practicing.

Raise the gun. Aim the gun. One-liner.

“Fuck - uh, this isn’t a threat, I’m just panicking, good morning guys, tell me you won’t shoot me and I’ll lower the gun, haha, sorry about this, it’s just, times are tough, y’know?”

Okay, that was a pretty bad job, but it was his first time, cut him some slack, holy shit was that Jonah?

Jonah who had a gun and also probably a grudge, of course, maybe the two were kinda mutually exclusive, because if he had the gun but he never found the ammo that Abe dumped outta his bag, well, he’d have a gun and a grudge but maybe the gun would be outta gun juice, and if he was still very gunned and ammoed maybe he’d be willing to let past burglaries remain in the past, y’know?

[Ruggahissy]

"I --"

Suddenly they heard the intrusive noise of a human. There were footsteps and the rustling of clothing that people made when they walked but were usually not notable in the presence of other humans also making human noises.

Jonah nudged the weapons bag between them towards Arizona and unzipped it just a little with his left hand. His right hand was on his Desert Eagle. Maybe whoever it was would leave without looking in the boat, or at least he hoped so.

But then the footsteps got closer. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead just in case and tightened his grip on the gun.

Then, he and Abe were looking at each other, both with their guns.

Whoever he imagined it might be, this wasn't who he was expecting. He felt a little relieved that it was someone he knew at least, but also angry about Abe stealing his bag and running off on them. Jonah wanted to be understanding. Seeing what they saw in the forrest could cause anyone to freakout and run. But it wouldn't usually cause someone to steal.

"M- morning," he responded. He looked at Arizona and then back up at Abe. He held the gun by the barrel with the harmless handle facing Abe.

"I wouldn't shoot you," he said, his calm tone not belying his racing heart. Slowly, he hoisted himself out of the boat.

"I guess times have always been tough, huh?" he said bitterly as he planted his feet on the dirt.

Very, very slowly, he put the gun on the ground.

"I'm trying not to be mad at you because this is a rough draw for everyone." he said, standing back up slowly as well. "About you stealing my stuff and about this whole -- what you're doing. I trusted you and I like you. I'm pretty mad, but I wouldn't lie to you and I wouldn't shoot you, Abe," he said, eyes big and wide. He smiled softly.

"Not sure about her, though."

[Deamon]

Whatever response Jonah was going to give was interrupted. The sound of another person destroyed their peace. Suddenly the threat of their situation returned. The short reprieve they had earned for themselves destroyed by an interloper. One who was pointing a gun at them. Abe's intentions clearly weren't to kill them. If they were he would have already shot them. He had the time and advantage of surprise. That meant it was more likely he wanted to rob them. She knew of him. Jonah had brought him up at one point. It was part of his explanation of his time on the island.

Abe had robbed him way back when. It looked like history was intending to repeat himself. But this time there was a difference in the situation. Jonah got up and started talking. Meanwhile, she slowly slid her hand into their bag. Jonah had told her about a gun they'd got from Quinn. He had packed it away along with the double knife and a whip. Now she was going to have to point a gun at a second person in two days. Unlike Quinn, Abe was a regular person. He hadn't been on the announcements that she had been aware of. Just like at George Hunter she didn't know much about him. She knew nothing of the person he was prior to the situation they found themselves in.

That didn't mean he was going to be let off easy. Her hand found the grip on Quinn's gun and slowly she withdrew it. Jonah was buying time. His movements were painfully slow. But they did their job. They bought her time. Her wrist still hurt from using the desert eagle the day before. But hopefully, she'd be able to pull the trigger if she needed to. She heard what sounded like a cue from Jonah and that was when she rolled over and up. Her arms resting across the side of the boat. Gun pointed at Abe. Finger on the trigger.

"Drop your gun."