((Cathryn Bailey continues from The Final Curtain))
Cathryn couldn't do anything but laugh right now. She laughed as she found herself stumbling back towards the sports complex, as she found herself running in circles, back to places with memories, places that held the slightest semblance of meaning. Then again, the announcements hadn't left much choice, and nor had Jackson. But still, her laughter rang loud and clear across the quiet, snow-covered resort as she headed towards the buildings, and it reverberated as she entered the tennis court, and saw bits of shrapnel scattered on the floor. It faded away for a bit when she followed the trail of blood, just out of curiosity, wondering what morbidity awaited, but when she found that Leah Bissard's corpse was what awaited her, fucking stuffed behind some closet full of basketballs, Cathryn could do nothing but sink to her knees, doubled over in laughter. Her laughter was accompanied with a few tears streaming down her face, yes, but it was laughter, nonetheless.
She had spent such a long time talking about nothing at all with Jackson, just sitting there on that fucking bench, without even the slightest knowledge that in the very same building was the one person that meant anything to her on the island. They had not a clue. If that wasn't some big fucking joke, then what was a joke?
Her laughter risked giving way to sobs, showing its true colors, but Cathryn opted instead to bite her lips. Her tooth broke flesh, and drew blood. That did the trick.
If this were yesterday, or even just a few hours ago, seeing this body would've just shut Cathryn down, like Nina had. Shock was what had worked the first time she'd heard about Leah, back when she was still alive. Leah, a killer. That was a completely new one. Unheard of. But so much had happened between then and now, and now nothing could shock Cathryn. She'd been shot already, by someone that could've been her ally no less. She'd killed two people in cold blood, both kids that she knew. Even setting that aside, she'd already seen so many people kill and be killed. Brutally. Shock just wasn't in Cathryn's system anymore. She was bare.
After her laughter subsided, Cathryn sat down in front of Leah. Didn't really matter where she sat, right? She pulled out a first-aid kit from her bag, and pulled out some tweezers and sterilized bandages. Splotches of blood, dripping from her arm and ear, accompanied every footstep she took running away from the theater. Parts of her felt colder than the winter weather, colder than the air that nipped and bit at every bit of exposed skin. She needed to take care of this quick, before she collapsed. She had to live, had to, had to, had to.
She pulled her sleeve back, exposing the gore that marked her shoulder. With every small rivulet of blood came a wave of nerves set aflame. Cathryn noted that there was no wound on the back of her arm, only on the front. Which meant only one thing.
"Fuck!"
Cathryn tried, but failed, to stifle her words as she used her tweezers to get the bullet out. She could see a slight glimmer from the metal, but it was deeply embedded. But no pain, no gain, right? Applied to this island in general, really. After a deep intake of air, she plunged her tweezers into the wound. She stamped her foot on the ground many times as she muffled her screams, and then took her fingers out when she couldn't take this anymore. This repeated a few more times before she was finally able to take the bullet out. When she finally did, she slumped a bit, relaxed.
Leah would probably grimace at Cathryn's wounds, maybe cringe a bit, if she could see this. If. But she couldn't possibly react now, right? Couldn't frown, couldn't say 'Gross,' couldn't even look away. She couldn't do anything.
Before she could think, words started spilling out of Cathryn's mouth.
"You know, I didn't think you were gonna be on the island."
She shifted her weight a bit, looked Leah in the eyes, those eyes that would never blink again.
"I mean, think about it. I only had, what, three, four friends in that school, out of hundreds. Who'd have thought that two of us would end up here?"
Cathryn paused, as if waiting for a response. She wrapped the first bandage around her arm in the meantime. When a few seconds had passed, she went on.
"You know, even if I knew you were here, I wouldn't even think you would even do anything, much less kill someone. Before me, too. And I would've liked it that way, if you hadn't done anything."
The first two layers were wrapped tight around her arm. Red flowers slowly bloomed from beneath the white cloth. She decided to add another two layers, just to make extra sure. She wasn't looking at Leah anymore.
"But now that I know that you'd do something, I just have one question to ask. Just wanna know. The announcements said you had a gun, Leah. I guess they pilfered it off of you or something, and that's why I don't see it right now."
Her voice was beginning to crack. She paused for now, took a breather. The bandages were plenty tight already. She wrapped three layers around her forehead, with the bandages centered around her ear. She did so quickly, much sloppier than with her arm. She tore off the ends with force, leaving them frayed. She tied a knot, and then continued.
"Why couldn't you use it, Leah? You'd used it once already, on some Damion kid. I don't know what he did to deserve that, but I don't wanna go there yet, not yet. I just have to say that I think it's fucking ridiculous that you couldn't stay alive a bit longer, you know? Like, I didn't wanna believe that you were on this island, but if you were, I'd- at least, I would've liked to talk to you for a bit. Just for one. Damn. Second!"
She punched Leah in the shoulder, and recoiled as the fist made contact with cold flesh. But it was spilling out the gates, this anger, this rage that should never have been directed at Leah, it had nowhere else to go. And the fist made contact one, two, three more times at this bag of flesh, this fucking useless, lifeless bag of flesh. Cathryn grunted, almost screamed every time, and when she finally stopped, she hyperventilated, found herself sprawled on the floor, with sweat and tears dropping from the side of her head.
Leah still lay there, looking at something a thousand yards away, never blinking, never moving. Reactionless, emotionless. And nothing would ever change that.
Cathryn punched her one last time.
"Useless," she muttered. "Fucking dead."
After a minute or so of silence, she sat down again at her place next to Leah. The words came out of her once more, this time more reluctantly.
"And- and even though you're dead here, just looking without seeing, even if you've probably begun to rot already, you're still the one fucking person on this island I can say anything to. All my life, I haven't had anyone else to open up to, and I mean really open up. Those other people were just decoys, fake niceties I put up for something. But you, you actually understood. That's rare as hell."
She fidgeted with her fingers for a moment. Distractions were always nice. But they were only temporary.
"You know, if we'd actually found each other, we could've been fucking unstoppable... I mean, we know now that you can kill, that's for sure. And I sure as hell can. I'd have someone to help bandage these wounds here, maybe. And maybe I'd help heal yours. It sucks being alone sometimes."
Cathryn took in two shaky breaths, and used her good arm to wipe away some of the tears.
"The Leah and Cathryn team, one fueled by fear, I guess. That's the only reason I can think of as to why you'd do that. And the other fueled by- by fear, too, I guess."
She swallowed down the lumps in her throat.
"Even though all I've wanted is to stop being scared. Fear of death, perhaps. And that's understandable, but still, I'm tired of being scared. Even when you rest, you aren't resting, you're always worried, worried about some crazy chick coming at you with guns and shooting, without the slightest hesitation. After what I did today, with Alice, I guess I'm that crazy chick already. But I don't feel like it."
"You know, I want to blame you for this, for some reason, for me becoming like this. But I can't. It started with Jewel, that goth girl, when she killed Naomi, and then she spoke to me, offered me some sort of deal, and I was so scared, Leah. And then, there was Lucia. I should've killed her, maybe gone down with her, but I- I just couldn't. And I hate myself for that. I don't know why, I guess I just broke."
All of a sudden, she smiled. It was a slight, almost not-there smile, just a small curve of the lips, but it was still there.
"But, you know what, Leah? I haven't heard Lucia's name once on the announcements since then. I could kill her for you, make it hurt as much as it did for you. Revenge. For you."
It was a nice thought, surprisingly, a goal she could cling onto. And nice thoughts weren't that common anymore. So, she decided to end the conversation with that. There wasn't anything else to say, anyways. She'd just be repeating herself at this point.
Her eyelids began to droop now. More than 24 hours, she'd been awake. It was time for some peace, however fleeting it was. And so, she laid herself next to Leah, on top of the trail of blood, and closed her eyes. Weird? Yes, it was, but Cathryn had her justifications. Anyone passing by would think that the girl had finally met her end. And they'd never even realize that what used to be Leah was right there, much like Cathryn the day before.
---
By the time Cathryn woke up, it seemed to be late afternoon. The clouds had aged a bit by then, as gray as her mother's hair the last time they met. And the snow was getting a bit stronger. Having slept surprisingly well, Cathryn prepared for the outside world. The episode earlier left her a bit raw, a bit exhausted, it had left residues. And that rage, anger, fear still remained, although a bit diminished. But she was in control now. She was rather surprised that no one had run into her, but apparently the building was all hers. Count your blessings, count your blessings.
She finally got dressed into longer, warmer clothes. Some Nina's, some hers. She changed into a pair of jeans, with a white tank top and a long jacket blouse. The bandages weren't damp, thankfully.
Her supplies were laid out in front of her, circled around her. Thanks to Nina, she had twice of everything. Twice the food also. So, she had herself a buffet. After all, she also hadn't eaten since the aqua-museum, back in the time of routines, with Bella, Will, and then Gene and his chaos, then Lucia. Since forever. It's not like conservation would matter much anyways. Given how far they were into this game, whatever happened to Cathryn, she'd have, at most, a day left.
Another 24 hours. 24 hours that, any other day, could be wasted, passed by without a single memorable event. Wasted waking up, going to school, trying to avoid certain enemies, going home, avoiding Dad, filming a vlog, and going to bed. The first routine. It meant everything, now.
A few minutes after she finished eating two Subway sandwiches, and also a few minutes after the announcements, while packing up her stuff, a crackle suddenly rang out.
A voice echoes from Cathryn's collar.
"Ey, Cat. Can I call you Cat? I think it's cute. Cats are... well, not always cute, but they can sure take care of themselves.
"Ey, Cat. Can I call you Cat? I think it's cute. Cats are... well, not always cute, but they can sure take care of themselves.
She would've preferred not, but she didn't feel like wasting energy replying.
"Anyways, Cathryn, I just wanna say there are a lot things that I'm good at, oh believe me there are. But there are things I'm really bad at. And making it through it all, when people are tryin' to kill you and you're tryin' to kill them... I don't know when to say, 'Quick! Go for the eyes!' or 'Wait! Don't go for the eyes! He's got eye armor!' But you've got that all figured out.
"So I don't really know if I can help, but I want to, because I wasn't kidding at all when I said you were my top pick. So I will, kinda, just by saying pretty much everyone's alone out there. And you're not, eh? Keep doing what you're good at, 'cause I want to see you in person. Ain't that right, Garu?
"C'mon, squawk or somethin' so the lady can hear ya.
"...Ah, well."
"So I don't really know if I can help, but I want to, because I wasn't kidding at all when I said you were my top pick. So I will, kinda, just by saying pretty much everyone's alone out there. And you're not, eh? Keep doing what you're good at, 'cause I want to see you in person. Ain't that right, Garu?
"C'mon, squawk or somethin' so the lady can hear ya.
"...Ah, well."
...not alone? Was, was he talking about Leah?
Before she could curse out Caesar once more, she heard the faintest hint of a voice, somewhere else in the building. And then another. One of them sounded familiar. Part of her wanted to head towards that familiar voice, but, then again, they were many. She only had a spear with her, and she was wounded to boot. Her wounds stung, as if to remind her of something. Another time, Leah, another time.
She noted the snow, and decided to wrap her feet in layers of socks, and her face in one of the shirts provided to them, so that only her eyes were exposed. Then, she walked towards the exit, and, just for a second, glanced at Leah, gave her a little smile. It was the closest thing to a goodbye she could manage. Then, without another word, she left.
((Cathryn Bailey continues in Silver Lights))
