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Josef was on the back porch, sitting in one of the chairs with his head in his hands, watching the sun sink low to nothing across from him. He was so close to escaping this. . . this nightmare, yet his dream drove off right before him. |
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Out of the hundred pictures Sadie had taken, only ten were good enough to keep. One was of a rock in the water, light shining on the gentle waves, another was of a seagull on a log on the beach. Her favorite was of a little red bird on the sand, looking serenely out at the ocean. The little red bird had flown away soon after she'd snapped the picture. She made up her mind that she would keep 10 pictures a day, and only the best ones. But as Sadie looked through them again, she found something wrong with every single one. And now that she'd seen the flaws, she couldn't unsee them. The rock and water one had a dead starfish on the rock, the seagull had a wing splotched with mud, and the little red bird had her shadow across it. Frustrated, she began deleting them all. It seemed like on this island, she couldn't get anything right, not even photography. She paused at the red bird, finger hovering over the delete button. Sadie stared at it, feeling more tears coming on. What was wrong with her? She never cried. NEVER. This trip was a horrible idea. She never should have come. If only she could rewind time and refuse the business oportunity to take marine photos. Sadie shut off the camera and set it on the wooden porch beside her. She set her head in her hands and thought, occasional tears punctuating her depressed mind. |
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The man stood, walking inside and sitting on the couch, drifting off into thought. If only he hadn't gone drinking the previous night and awoke the next morning tired as can be, drifting off on the beach. To when he missed the ship. How could he have messed up so much? |
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'First question: Why did this have to happen? Second question: What am I supposed to do now? Third and probably most annoying question: What do I do about the guy?' Sadie refused to think of him by name. 'What's gonna happen? Are we slowly going to starve and then one of us will have to kill the other to survive? Like in the Hunger Games?' She wasn't a huge fan of the book series, since it involved so much mindless murder, but it seemed a good thing to compare her life to right now. Those questions and many more assaulted her, until she grew so tired of them that she couldn't just sit there. She stood, grabbed her camera, and marched into the cabin. She walked through the building, finding that there was one main room which included a kitchen, a tiny, tiny couch, and dining room table, a small bedroom that had one twin-sized bed, and a bathroom connected to the bedroom with a tiny shower, toilet, and a sink. She was relieved that there was at least a shower. But how much water was there? Enough to last as long as they needed it? As for the bedroom, it would be possible to fit two people in the bed, but not without physical contact. Sadie rolled her eyes. The couch in the main room wasn't large enough to sleep on, even for how small the guy was. Great. Someone was going to have to sleep outside. Either that or they squished onto the bed, which didn't sound comfortable at all. |
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Eventually he grabbed one of the worn pillows, sticking it behind his head before drifting off fairly easily, leaving behind all the thoughts as a deep sense of dread filled him. His eyes flicked open. Bright light. Unfocused vision. A heart monitor beeping steadily beside him. Shapes in blue blurring around. "Well, looks who's awake." A cheerful voice chirped, writing something down on their---her clipboard. Josef studied the woman, remembering her from his long ago stay. She cleared her throat, smile and joy slipping away from her expression. "Josef. . . it hurts for me to say but," The woman paused, glancing back at her clipboard. "We found cancer." |
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Sadie sighed. There wasn't much to do here. She'd had her fill with photography for the moment, and with no cell service or any kind of, well, anything, she couldn't come up with anything she was in the mood for. Sadie sat down in a chair in the kitchen and watched the guy sleeping on the couch. She knew it was creepy, watching someone sleep, but to be honest she didn't care. He looked like he was at peace. 'Strange,' Sadie thought. 'That he can look so calm when we both have no idea how to get off this freaking island.' But with the peace there was... what? Fear? Worry? No, it was... Dread. That was it. He was probably having a dream, Sadie concluded. Either that or that's how he always slept. She kept watching him, mind wandering. |
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Josef's brow furrowed, twitching slightly. ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 'What?' He wasn't sure where the voice had come from, but it was his, panicked. 'How bad is it?' There was a dredful silence, the only sounds the hum of the blinding overhead lights, the heart monitor beeping faster now, and the sound of the nurse clearing her throat. "Stage 4, we need to get you started with chemo immediately." The man remembered the dreadful word, keeping it hidden and going out to dinners with his friends, excusing himself before hurling it back up, the sleepless nights, how tired he became.... |
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Sadie focused back on him when she saw movement. He seemed really troubled. Hopefully it was just a dream and not a memory of some kind. Wait, why was she thinking that? She didn't care if he had something bad happen in his life in the past. She shook her head and rolled her eyes at herself. 'Time to get out of this stuffy place,' she thought, then stood to leave. She shot a backwards glance at the man on the couch before opening the squeaky door and going outside. |
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Josef woke with a jolt, expecting to be blinded by the lights or hear the blaring of a heart monitor, finding the sound of silence and the gentle crash of waves lapping on the shore off in the distance the only noise. He stood up, walking over to the kitchen and grabbing a cup from the cabinet, thankful for the running water from the sink, hoping it was clean as he filled up the glass, taking a sip. |
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Sadie heard the water turn on and stopped. Should she go back in? There wasn't much else to do. She should see if he was okay, at least. She turned around and walked back inside, seeing his back to her as he stood at the sink. Sadie opened her mouth to say something but changed her mind and simply sat down at the kitchen table. |
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Sunny
