Flight 703

Caradoc opens his eyes slowly, letting the sunlight seep in. The night went by without a hitch, and everyone seemed a little less stressed because of it. He rolls his head to the side to see the rest of the group still sleeping, except for Fabian, who’s propped up against a tree, scanning the area.

“Did you not switch with Benjy after your shift?” Caradoc asks, pulling himself into a sitting position and Fabian looks over.

“I couldn’t sleep, anyways. No need to wake him from getting the most rest he’s got since we crashed.” He explains, tossing Caradoc a guava fruit. He nods his head as a show of thanks and digs in his bag for the scrap metal he was carrying as a knife.

They start to talk about the uneventfulness of last night. “You sure you didn’t hear or see anything?” Caradoc asks him, eating a piece from his knife.

“Nope, nothing but wildlife all night. No monsters,” he says, lulling his head back into the tree.

Caradoc nods thoughtfully, slicing the pink fruit mindlessly. “When we get off this island, researchers will probably lose their minds over the idea of a creature like that.”

Fabian lifts an eyebrow and smirks. “Probably. A market for shapeshifters on the black market would be endless.”

Caradoc laughs and spits a seed out. “Very true.” He stands and stretches his back, tossing the skin of the fruit away. Fabian watches as it flies by, but something catches his eye.

In the side of the hill is a small opening, hidden by the brush. Caradoc sees him staring and looks over to see the cave as well. They look at each other, before grabbing their things and heading over.

Fabian crouches down and looks inside, his flashlight emitting a small beam of light into the dark.

“See anything?” Caradoc asks, kneeled behind him.

“Nothing yet.” He brushes a large cobweb out of the way with the butt end of his flashlight before ducking inside. Caradoc sits there, shining his light in after him, waiting for the all clear, but after a while, he doesn’t hear his friend anymore.

“Fabian?” He calls out, repositioning the way he’s sitting.

Nothing. No response.

Caradoc shifts nervously, looking back at the group and contemplating waking them up for help.

However, before he can make up his mind, Fabian shoots back out the opening, his hands scrambling for traction as he falls on his back.

“Whoa! What is it? What happened?” Caradoc asks, helping him sit up.

Fabian’s eyes are wide as he looks back into the cave, his breathing quick. He mumbles something so quietly Caradoc doesn’t hear it.

“What?” he asks, leaning closer.

“Go get Sirius. Now.” He repeats himself, a little louder, and Caradoc looks at him confused.

“What- why? Fabian what is it?” Caradoc pressures but Fabian snaps at him.

“Go!” He yells and stands up again, his hands on his knees.

Caradoc rushes off and back to the campsite where everyone is still asleep. He makes his way over to Sirius who is sprawled out next to the ashes of their fire. He jerks the sleeping man, who awakens with less than his normal cocky attitude.

“What?” He groans, putting his arm over his eyes. Caradoc pulls his arm off his face and Sirius finally opens his eyes. “What?” He stares at him blankly for a moment until he notices the urgency on Caradoc’s face.

“Come on, Fabian needs you,” he says before taking off back toward the cave.

Sirius sighs, wiping the sleep from his eyes before following behind. He emerges through the trees to see the two kneeling in front of the opening. He walks up slowly, and Fabian snatches the bag off his back. “Hey- what are you-” Sirius starts but is cut off when Fabian flings the bag back at him after taking his larger flashlight out.

Fabian clicks it on before pulling himself back inside. Sirius tosses his bag down and watches Caradoc, who enters the cave as well. Sirius is the last inside and is immediately blinded by the darkness.

He has to crawl due to the tunnel being so low, so occasionally his back gets caught by a root. He wonders to himself what the hell he is doing. Back home he wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this, getting dirt under his fingernails and his pants muddy. But something about their urgency, their need for his help made him forget all that. At least until he got a face full of cobwebs. Then he debates on going back.

The tunnel eventually opens into a larger area, one he can stand up in, and he sees Caradoc and Fabian waiting for him, the beam of the flashlight scanning the area. Their gazes meet when they see him coming out of the darkness.

“Over here,” Caradoc calls to him as he approaches them. Sirius reaches their side and Fabian sighs. 

“Prepare yourselves,” he says, staring the two down intently.

“What for?” Sirius asks, still half asleep.

Fabian runs a hand through his hair. “I found Ethan.” Caradoc and Sirius freeze, looking at each other then back at Fabian who is pale as ever.

Marlene turns the necklace over in her hands. George sits on the arm of the couch, staring at her quietly. “I don’t understand,” she mumbles, and he presses into his temples.

“I know, you’ve said that for the last hour,” he says, his frustration coming through in his voice.

“You stole the time-turner from your friend’s office,” she asks, looking up at him and he nods, “you both used it, and ended up here,” he nods again, “but when you tried to go back, it didn’t work?” He nods a third time, and she shakes her head, eyes wide. “But how? It worked fine to get you both here, why would it stop working?” 

George groans, “if we knew that, we wouldn’t still be stuck here five years later, would we?” He pauses for a second, then, quieter still, “it was just supposed to be temporary.”

Marlene looks down again. She wants to understand, but every answer brings up more questions. 

“If you’ve been here five years, why haven’t you tried to get off the island some other way? Smoke signal, radio tower, hell, make a raft and get out of here?” She offers. He shakes his head, squinting at the ground.

“No one can see the smoke, the radio doesn’t reach anywhere, and we can’t leave through the water,” his response is blunt, and she realizes that they’ve tried everything. The feeling that runs through her, realizing that the same thing might happen to her and the people on the plane makes her nauseous. 

“Why not?”

“Why not, what?” He raises an eyebrow, and she turns to face him in the chair.

“Why can’t you take the water?” she asks, trying to get an explanation for everything.

His eyes drop again, taking a big breath. “People have tried. No one has ever made it past the reef.” Marlene thinks back to the beach, seeing the colorful coral underneath the surface, and the occasional fish swimming by. A threat out there is inconceivable. George seems to pick up on her confusion and continues. “We call them grindylows. Buggy little bastards. Every time we’ve tried to send a raft out, the second it makes it to the drop off, its ripped apart and most of the people on board never made it back. They drowned.”

“Most of the people? You mean other than you and Fred?” She looks up at him, and he seems to freeze a little.

“There were other people on the island when we got here. Probably still are, but we keep our distance. The ones who wanted to get off the island with us ended up getting killed by the hide behind or the grindylows.” She shakes her head a little, and he nods in realization.

“The hide behind, it’s a creature that can shapeshift. It can look like a bird, a mammal, big or small, it doesn’t really matter. The only thing that doesn’t change are the eyes,” he kicks at the bark on the floor below him, deep in thought, “they stay a cold white.” Memories flash over Marlene, going back to their first night on the beach. The creature that killed Ethan, the blood that clumped the sand together yesterday, seeing his cousin’s mourning face before she went into the forest for fruits with Dorcas and Lily.

Marlene stands up, the impending level of “you’re screwed” finally dawning on her. George follows, holding out an arm as she bends over, placing her hands on her knees. “We’re stuck here.” George tilts his head, his mouth falling open slightly, not quite sure what to say. She feels her chest tighten as she struggles to find her breath.

“Look, you guys went missing, there were over 200 people on that flight according to the manifest, so someone is looking for you. No one would know where to look for us, even if we were in our time period, okay? It’s not the same, someone will come.” His voice sounds so sure, and Marlene is sure she hears a bit of optimism in it. It’s understandable. Even though it was horrible for the passengers, to the twins, the plane crash probably gave them more hope than they’ve had in a long time.

She takes a few deep breaths, standing up straight and George looks at her, trying to determine if she’ll freak out again. She just gives him a nod. “I have to go back. I need to tell my people... I don’t know, but I have to get back.”

He thins his mouth into a line and nods. “Okay, I’ll get Fred to take you back,” he says, and she looks up.

“Why can’t you take me? He doesn’t seem to like me very much.” She asks and he laughs a little. 

“I have to stay here. Don’t worry he’ll get you back.” He says before heading back to the other room to get his brother.

Marlene looks around and grabs the manifest, shoving it into her backpack quickly before slinging it over her shoulder.

The brothers come back, and she looks at them. Fred is more serious, a few small scars run along the top of his arms, they sort of look like claw marks. He catches her staring. “Grindylows.” he says bluntly, shrugging on his jacket, covering the marks. She looks back at George.

“You said people who made it to the edge of the reef didn’t make it back.”

“No, I said ‘most’ of them didn’t make it back.” he says quietly, holding a hand out to the exit. She looks back at Fred who pushes past her and out into the hallway. “Be careful,” George tells her, and she nods.

“Thanks.” She doesn’t know what else to say, so she turns and follows Fred out of the burrow.

James tosses a ball against the side of the cabin of the plane, it bounces back at him. Frank told him it was okay to get up and wander, which James took advantage of instantly, but he quickly realized there’s not much to do other than get lost, so he came back to the beach. Frank explained that he had a concussion and he’d be okay, but his head still throbbed occasionally.

Peter limps over to him, a hand on his abdomen. “Didn’t expect you to be up and around,” Peter says with an amused tone as James tossed the ball again. “How do you feel?” He asked.

“I don’t know,” James replies, throwing it again. “Better than last night.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it’ll get better soon.” Peter says, nodding slightly. He sits down on one of the nearby scraps of metal, while James tosses the ball again, harder this time.

The noise it sends out is eerie, a loud echoing clang of metal that reminds Peter of the crash. He remembers talking to the flight attendant, her blonde hair tied up on top of her head in a bun, and her uniform a few sizes too big. They were deep in conversation about Massachusetts, her Boston accent clashing with his own accent, creating a bit of a difficult challenge for them to communicate, but they were doing so regardless. She was filling up the person across the aisle’s wine glass when they hit the first bit of turbulence, sending the red liquid flying everywhere as everyone braced themselves against their seats. Peter remembers seeing her clutching onto the back of the seats, trying to make her way to the front of the cabin to the phone, likely to tell everyone to fasten their seatbelts when they hit the next violent current. This one sent her flying to the ceiling, as well as a few other of the smaller passengers who hadn’t been able to clip their belts closed yet. Peter was fumbling with his own belt, which was stuck in the seat, not allowing it to extend. People were crying, a few were clawing at the ceilings above them for the oxygen masks, which weren’t dropping. Not that they would’ve helped, because the next instant, the plane ripped in half, pulling everything out of the back of the now open cabin. A few chairs were pulled from their bolted positions and the unfortunate souls who were able to seatbelt in, couldn’t get out in time before they were thrown into the ocean below. Everyone who hadn’t lost consciousness at this point was screaming, including the flight attendant, who was holding onto the leg of one of the seats for dear life, her loose uniform and her hair that had fallen loose, flapping violently in the wind. Peter doesn’t remember much after seeing that, but he knows he wasn’t able to get his seatbelt on, which is probably how he ended up under a part of the plane instead of inside of it like the others who were strapped in.

He runs his fingers over the stitches on his stomach, feeling nauseous as he relives the experience for the thousandth time since he woke up.

He hasn’t seen the flight attendant since then. He furrows his brows thinking. 

“What’s up?” James asks, catching the ball once more, finally looking over at him. 

“Is Regulus still in the med tent?” He asks, looking up at James who is shielding his eyes from the sun.

“Should be, Frank told him to stay put, but I get the feeling he isn’t used to doing what he’s told.” Peter laughs a little, nodding. “Why?”

“I just wanted to ask him something. I would ask Marlene and let him rest, but I haven’t seen her.” He plays with his shirt hem before shaking himself out of his trance and standing up. “See you in a while,” he says before leaving James with his toy and heading over to the makeshift tent.

James tosses the ball once more, the echoing sound ringing in Peter’s ears as he ducks inside.

Regulus is lying on his bed, with his arms raised above him and his wrists limp, like a zombie in a poorly made film. Peter looks at him confusedly, until Regulus realizes he’s there. He drops his hands against the bed with a thud and turns his head slightly to look at him. 

“You need to stay out of the sun for a while, mate,” Regulus says with his eyebrows raised. Peter is suddenly very aware of the red skin that blisters him, especially his face. He chuckles and sits down on James’ old bed, across from him. 

“Not a lot of places to hide from the sun, you got lucky,” Peter says before immediately dropping his mouth open, “not lucky! I mean- You get to be in the shade, you’re definitely not lucky... Sorry.” He gives up and Regulus smirks at him.

“No worries, I’ll agree with you,” he groans looking at his stomach, “definitely not lucky.”

Peter gives a sympathetic smile, racking his brain on whether he should ask what he wants to. Screw it. 

“Were you awake? After the crash, when you were in the cabin?” He mutters the question, but it’s quiet enough on the beach now for Regulus to hear it. Peter looks up to see Regulus squinting his eyes out of the entrance to the tent, where the plane cabin lays in the distance.

“For a little while, when that blonde girl found me. Why?” He looks over at Peter who is chewing his bottom lip.

“Did you see a body in there?” Peter pauses, enough for Regulus to prop himself up on his elbow, looking at him with shocked eyes.

“Obviously I saw bodies in there, Peter...” he is clearly addled by Peter’s question, so he quickly covers his tracks.

“No, I know, I mean a specific one? There was a flight attendant in our section. I lost consciousness, but last I saw her, she couldn’t get into a seat, I just didn’t know if you had, you know... seen her?” He rambles and looks up at Regulus who seems less taken aback by the question, but still confused. 

Peter knows it’s silly, but it’s something else to think about. Regulus pinches the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know, honestly, I don’t remember it all that well. Sorry.” Peter sighs, bouncing his leg up and down.

“No, it’s alright, I shouldn’t have bothered you with it. How are you feeling?” He quickly changes the subject and Regulus waves a hand lazily at his body. 

“Like I was in a fucking plane crash.”

Peter looks up at him, his eyes wide, not sure what to say to that. Regulus looks back at him and starts laughing. It starts off quiet, but eventually it grows louder, and he is shaking, squeezing his eyes shut. Peter laughs with him until Regulus groans and holds his abdomen, laying back down onto the bed. He watches as Regulus touches his wounds tenderly, just barely grazing them and he can’t imagine the pain he’s in.

“Do you need anything? I can go find Frank.” Peter offers, but Regulus just waves a hand.

“I’m fine. Just want to get off these stupid cushions.” He readjusts the way he’s lying and Peter tilts his head.

“Not much out there to do,” he says, and Regulus shakes his head.

“My brother’s obviously found himself something to do being that I haven’t seen him.” He stares at the ceiling playing with his fingers.

“He’s fine. Got a limp, but who doesn’t? Him and a group went out for water; they’ll be back soon.” He assures him and Regulus pulls his arms up again, like he was doing when Peter got there. “What are you doing?”

Regulus looks over at him. “It feels funny. When all the blood flows out of my hands and down into my shoulders, then I put them down quickly and it all rushes back. It takes my mind off these,” he points at his wounds and Peter nods. 

“Try it.” Regulus says and Peter looks at him, confused. He waves a hand over at him. “Lay down and try it. It’s fun. Well as much fun as we can have here. You’ve got a wound, take your mind off it.”

Peter tilts his head before laying down on the cushions below him. He gives Regulus an unsure look and he nods his head encouragingly, so Peter raises his arms up and lets his hands go limp, like Regulus.

They sit there like that for a few minutes, and sure enough Peter’s hands start tingling, and going pale. He looks over at Regulus and he smiles. Regulus drops his hands, and they bounce against the bed and Peter does the same. The blood rushes back into his fingertips, leaving him feeling, yes, funny. He laughs quietly and Regulus smiles, wiggling his fingers as the feeling comes back to them. Once they regain feeling and blood flow, they raise their arms and do it again.

Caradoc walks behind Fabian who is pointing the flashlight down the cave. Sirius is just behind him, and they are making their way down carefully. “I found Ethan” rings over in Caradoc’s head over and over again, the goosebumps on his arms not going away.

It’s dark and damp down here, so they stay fairly close to one another. They don’t have to go far to find the bumped-out part of the cave to their right. It’s a small area, with a slightly higher ceiling than the general area that they are standing in. Sirius gasps quietly behind them and rightfully so.

Unlike the rest of the cave, this one is even darker, but not from the absence of light. Instead, the blood that coats the dirt and rocks is thick like paint, covering nearly every inch of it. Most of it is dried, but there are some places that Fabian points the light at that are still wet. Caradoc feels his stomach drop as his gaze falls to the floor.

Bones are scattered all over it, most are old and yellowed, and many are broken. There are a few newer looking ones, that still have flecks of meat and fat still attached. These bones aren’t what Caradoc finds himself staring at though. Instead, he stares at the body laying limp in the corner.

It’s bloody, unnaturally so, but he can make out the face enough to recognize the boy he saw on the first night. Ethan’s body is ripped to shreds, mainly surrounding his torso, which is completely hollowed out. Caradoc feels nauseated to the point where he needs to take a minute to step away. 

Fabian talks behind him, but he can’t really focus on what he’s saying while fighting off the urge to vomit.

Ethan was just a kid, he couldn’t have been older than twenty, and seeing him like that is just cruel, even though Caradoc didn’t even know him. He takes a few deep breaths, trying to compose himself before turning back to see Sirius and Fabian talking amongst themselves quietly. 

“So, what do we do? How do we do this?” Caradoc asks, maintaining awkward eye contact with Fabian to prevent his eyes from drifting back over to Ethan. 

 Fabian pushes out a breath, “A stretcher is probably our best bet, it’ll be the easiest way to get him out.” Sirius squeezes his eyes shut and sighs. “We’ll need some long sticks, and we can use the tarp from my bag. We’ll need something to tie it too.” Fabian explains.

“Remus has some wire in his bag, I can grab it,” Sirius says and Fabian nods. 

“We’re going to need Benjy’s help. Then we can all hold a side,” Caradoc says, and Sirius tugs his jacket tight around himself.

“I’ll go do that,” he mumbles before heading back through the cave with the small flashlight. 

Caradoc looks hesitantly back over to where Ethan is, his breath shaking. He practically jumps out of his skin when Fabian places a hand on his shoulder.

“Caradoc, I’m going to need your help,” his voice is soft, but words still hit him like a bus. He sighs, running a hand over his face quickly.

“I know.”

Fabian grabs Ethan’s legs, slowly pulling him down to lay him flat. Once he does, he lays his jacket over top of him, and Caradoc feels himself sigh a little in relief. If he had to look at him while they were hauling him back, Amelia would have had to take his place.

Fabian props the flashlight up to provide as much light as possible while being able to use both his hands. Caradoc stands there, rubbing his hands together, waiting for Fabian to tell him what to do. Behind them, they hear the dirt loosen, and they turn to see Sirius walking over again, but this time Benjy is behind him, drowsy eyed.

Caradoc watches silently as the tiredness leaves his face and is replaced by shock. 

“What is this place?” he mutters, and Sirius shakes his head, dropping the two long sticks he brought with him. 

“I think it’s the den,” Fabian says pointing to the opposite end of the cave, “It looks like there’s a bedded spot over there, where it sleeps.” 

Benjy turns quickly with wide eyes, taking a few steps back away from where Fabian was pointing. “Well, then. Let’s hurry up and get out of here before it comes to bed.” They all nod in agreement and get to work. Sirius and Benjy hold the sticks still while Caradoc and Fabian tie the tarp to them with the wire. Once it’s tied and sturdy, they lay it down next to Ethan and they position themselves across the stretcher from him.

“Okay,” Fabian says while they lean over and grab Ethan carefully, “we’ll pull him on three.” 

“One, two, th-”

“Wait! On three like, ‘one, two, pull’ or ‘one, two, three, pull’?” Benjy blurts and Fabian shoots him an annoyed look.

“The first one. That’s what ‘on three’ means.”

Benjy nods and they all position themselves again. 

Fabian sighs. “One, two, three!”

They all pull and surprisingly it’s easier than they expected. Sirius and Benjy practically fall backwards from pulling too hard as Ethan’s body flings onto the stretcher. Caradoc heaves and stands up quickly as Ethan’s hand falls out of the cover of Fabian’s jacket and onto his lap.

Fabian promptly shoves it back under the jacket and they all take a breath. 

“Okay, that wasn’t too bad,” Sirius says and Caradoc gags.

“Easy for you to say.”

They all stand around the stretcher and grab an end. They lug him upwards and again, it’s easier than they expected. Sure, they are four grown men, but there’s no way Ethan was this light before he got dragged off. 

They clumsily make their way back through the cave, Benjy taking a few quick looks to the bedded area before they get to the tunnel to the exit. Fabian hands his end off to Benjy and crawls up the hole, and they position the stretcher so they can shove it up to him. It’s awkward and takes a few minutes, but eventually, Fabian gets a good grip and lugs the stretcher to the surface. The rest of them don’t take long to get out themselves.

Once they are all back on solid ground, they take a few more breaths before they hear Amelia and Remus calling out for them. Right Caradoc thinks to himself. They’ve been asleep, they don’t know yet.

“Over here!” Benjy calls back and Amelia and Remus come around the side of the hill looking frantic.

“Where did you go?” Remus asks, noticing his bag in Sirius’ hand. “Why do you have my stuff?”

“Sorry, needed to borrow something,” he tosses the bag back to him and picks up his own from where he left it at the opening to the cave.

“Wait,” Amelia says quietly, finally looking down at the stretcher between them, “did you? Is that?” They all nod and she squeezes her eyes shut. “Damn.”

The guys pick up their ends and they walk back around to the waterfall. “We need to get him and the water back.” They all fill the water bottles and get ready to set back off to the beach.

“What are we going to tell Sam?” Amelia asks, walking next to Caradoc, matching his pace.

“The truth. It’s all we can do,” he says quietly and Amelia sighs, looking ahead through the trees.

“I wish we could do more.” She mutters, falling back to walk with Remus.

Fred ducks under a branch, walking behind Marlene who didn’t have to dodge it. The height difference isn’t too bad, but a few inches can result in a scratched-up face if he doesn’t pay attention. Marlene slows to a stop and Fred tilts his head over to their right and she starts walking again. Marlene holds her bag strap tightly, praying he doesn’t realize that she took the manifest even though he has no right to be upset about that. It’s theirs not his. They need it. She shakes the thought from her head, as they break through the trees revealing the beach. It’s not their beach, but it’s sand and ocean so she sighs in relief from the familiarity.

“Your people are down that way,” Fred says, pointing a finger down the beach.

“You can come with me,” Marlene says shrugging her shoulders, “When we get out of here, we can take you guys with us. Tell them that you were on the plane, we can figure out a story.” She insists and Fred shakes his head.

“We’ll be around. If you ever do get rescued you can come find us, but we’re comfortable where we are.” He says and Marlene nods slightly.

“If you ever need anything, either of you, you can come back,” she says and Fred smiles slightly, the happiest she’s seen him in the last day.

“Thanks. Go on,” he says shooing her off before turning back into the forest.

“Fred!” She calls out and he turns to her. “Be careful, okay?”

“You too.” He disappears into the trees, and she sighs before heading off down the beach quickly. 

The sand absorbs her footsteps as she comes around the bend revealing their crash site. People are walking around, carrying supplies or otherwise preoccupied, so no one really notices her return until she’s in their peripherals.

“Marlene!” Lily calls out, dropping the suitcases she was carrying and rushing over to her. “Oh my God! We thought something happened to you!” Her concern quickly turns to frustration as she shoves her slightly. “Where the hell did you go?”

“I’m sorry! Really, I just got a little tied up,” Marlene explains, gesturing to the trees and Lily crosses her arms across her chest.

“You can’t just wander off! We were worried sick, we sent people out looking for you!” Lily holds a hand out helplessly and Marlene drops her head. She knows that they can’t spare groups, especially with all the people out looking for Ethan. They need to be accounted for; they can’t be running around the island looking for people who are being careless.

“I’m sorry,” Marlene says and Lily sighs, uncrossing her arms. 

“At least you’re okay,” she smiles and places a hand on Marlene’s arm before pulling her back towards the others. 

Dorcas practically trips over her own feet sprinting over to meet them, dropping her end of the large metal piece her and Frank were carrying. Frank loses his balance and drops the metal, glaring at her before realizing why she took off. He jogs over to join them near the water.

Lily watches as Dorcas hugs Marlene tightly. She recalls the previous night, when she and Alice watched Dorcas pace back and forth across the fire, biting her fingernails and turning quickly whenever she heard something, hoping it would be Marlene coming back. After Ethan, everyone had been really cautious during the night, but Dorcas’ mind wasn’t on anything but Marlene.

Dorcas doesn’t release her from the hug until Frank catches up. Marlene gives him a weak smile. He reaches over to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly. Dorcas scans Marlene with her eyes. “Are you okay?” she asks anxiously as Marlene nods, rubbing her arm sheepishly. Dorcas looks relieved.

“Where were you?” Frank asks, looking back down at the beach where she came from.

Marlene grips her bag tightly, “I need to talk to everyone. When the groups get back, there’s something I need to tell you all.” 

Dorcas raises an eyebrow. “Why can’t you just tell us now?” Marlene sighs, knowing that it’s just because she knows it’s going to be confusing enough for everyone, and she doesn’t want to have to explain it multiple times. 

“I need to rest first. I’m exhausted.” Dorcas stares at her for a moment like she wants to keep asking questions, but eventually nods.

“You can sleep in my tent being that you don’t have one yet,” Dorcas says, placing her hand on Marlene’s shoulder, leading her away from the others. 

Once they get inside Dorcas’ tent made with some tarps, Marlene places her bag at her feet and sits down on the seat cushions. She looks up to see Dorcas staring at her again, her concern practically radiating off of her. 

“Hey,” Marlene says, standing back up, “I’m okay.”

Dorcas nods, but she doesn’t look completely convinced. Marlene sighs, hating the fact that she worried everyone, but especially her friend. 

“Just-” Dorcas starts but pinches the bridge of her nose as if she can’t think of how to say what she wants to. “Just, don’t do it again. You can get some rest here. I’ll come get you when they’re all back.” With that, she turns and exits the tent, leaving Marlene alone with her secrets.

Benjy trips over a root that is protruding from the ground, causing the other three holding the stretcher to stumble. Caradoc, carrying the rear with him, quickly reaches over to grab Benjy’s handle before they drop it.

“Shit!” Benjy says as he collides with the ground. Amelia jogs over and helps him stand back up. “Sorry,” Benjy says, brushing the dirt off of his hands and taking his handle back from Caradoc. 

“It shouldn’t be much further; can you hold out?” Fabian turns his head and asks from the front and Benjy nods.

“I’m not tired, I just tripped, I’ll be fine,” he explains and Fabian nods, turning back around. 

Benjy readjusts his hold and looks over to see Remus limping alongside Amelia, slightly ahead of the rest of them. They’re chatting with each other, but Benjy can’t make out exactly what is being said. It doesn’t stop him from trying though. He’s always been a nosy person, and he could really use a distraction right now. Every time he thinks about what exactly they’re carrying, he has to fight the urge to throw up, drop his end of the stretcher and run off into the woods. So, he watches Remus and Amelia, hoping that somehow, he will get the ability of super hearing so that he isn’t so incredibly aware of the fact they’re transporting a dead body.

He’s trying to read Remus’s lips when something catches attention. Just beyond the two, Benjy can see the beach peeking through the tree line. He sighs to himself, readjusting his hands again, and he guesses that the others have noticed too. Sirius slightly picks up his pace, making it so that the rest of them have to as well, and Caradoc slightly relaxes for a moment. 

They make their way to the beach and see everyone wandering around. Benjy is so happy to be back until he remembers what happens next. When he does, his heart drops to his stomach and he is met with that same familiar urge to run. His grip tightens around the wooden pole as they make their way towards the others.

Remus greets James who is sitting against a part of the plane in the shade. Once James notices what they’re carrying though, he quickly stands up. After this, one by one, the rest of their group seems to notice. Some people stop in their tracks. Others cover their mouths. Then the thing Benjy dreaded the most happens. Sam emerges from his tent, likely to see why everyone went so quiet. It takes him a moment to register what’s happening, but Amelia makes her way over to him. Except this time, Benjy is glad he doesn’t have super hearing. He is so glad he doesn’t have to hear her break this news to him. Break his heart.

But Benjy is still cursed with normal hearing. He is stuck in place as he watches the sobs rip out of Sam’s body. The sounds hit Benjy’s ears with such force that it feels like he just got punched in the gut. He nearly drops the stretcher again. Sam shakes his head as Amelia tries her best to comfort him, and most of the others around the camp drop their heads out of respect or simply because they don’t quite know what else to do. Sam finally breaks away, pulling himself toward the stretcher. Ethan’s body is covered, but the blood has seeped through Fabian’s jacket making Sam cry harder.

“We can bury him. If that’s what you want.” Remus says, holding his arm as he watches Sam cry over his cousin.

Sam nods slowly, trying to get control over his breathing. “Okay,” he breathes out, and Fabian nods.

“James, Remus. Get a few others and make some shovels,” Fabian instructs and Sam chokes on a sob, making him hesitate for a moment before looking back at them, “meet us near the north end of the beach,” he tilts his head down the beach and the two nod, heading off to do what he said. 

Sam doesn’t tear his gaze from the stretcher when he asks, “How bad? How bad was it?” The four of them look at each other, not knowing what to say. Amelia places her hand on his shoulder. 

“Come on, let’s go pick a spot,” she says softly, and he cries, placing his hand on hers. It takes a moment, but eventually he steps to the side and makes his way down the beach.

And as soon as they are out of earshot, chaos ensues. Members of the group surround them, bombarding them with questions. However, it doesn’t last long before Fabian immediately shuts it down. 

“Hey! Have a little respect for the dead, yea? Let us at least put him to rest before you start panicking,” he snaps at them, “Sirius and Caradoc have water, so does Remus. Go take care of that while we do this. We will answer your questions later.” His tone is set in stone, and everyone else seems to think so. Caradoc and Sirius take off their packs and hand them to two of the others before they carry Ethan down the beach.

Frank ties some dried vines around the stick a few times, attaching it to the small scrap metal piece he found. It’s slightly curved and a decent size for a shovel. He looks up to see Remus and James silently doing the same. Tensions are high, from finding Ethan, to Marlene coming back, leaving them all trying to process everything. Frank cuts the excess vine and stands up, stabbing the shovel into the ground a few times to make sure it’s sturdy. He scoops up some of the dirt and tosses it away, as Remus and James finish up. They tie theirs off, testing them before they agree that they’re good enough. They each made two, which should help the process go by faster. They pick up the shovels and head towards where Fabian told them to meet. They follow the tree line to try and stay in the shade. It’s already the afternoon, so hopefully they’re able to finish before the sun goes down. 

They walk up to see the four that were carrying the stretcher sitting in the sand, watching as Amelia tries to console Sam, who is now pacing. They approach, and hand off the extra shovels to Fabian, Caradoc and Benjy. Sirius insists on taking Remus’s shovel, but he refuses and starts to dig in the place Amelia says Sam picked. It’s just past the tree line, off the beach and underneath a large tree. 

Frank begins tossing the dirt into the pile they’ve started and moving rocks out of the way. Sirius helps Amelia try and make Sam drink some water or eat something, which takes a lot of convincing, but eventually they get him to sit down. It’s quiet work, just the noises of the metal scraping and tossing the dirt, and occasionally Sam’s sniffles.

As he suspected, it doesn’t take long, only about an hour and a half to dig a suitable grave, however, the sun is now setting. They work together to lower Ethan’s body into the hole and remove the stretcher. Amelia headed back to the camp to retrieve everyone else who wanted to attend the funeral, which ended up being everyone. Once she returned, they had already exited the hole and were waiting on Sam to see if he was going to say anything. Everyone stands around the grave, except for Alice who sits down on a log next to it, holding her stomach. 

“I know that none of you knew Ethan, and that you probably didn’t even notice him until he was attacked, but he was the greatest person I’ve ever met. We practically grew up together, and although we weren’t really brothers, it felt like we were. We were only a year apart in school and lived just down the road from each other. He’s the best friend I’ve ever had. One time, we rigged his father’s leaf blower with bottles of glitter,” he laughs to himself, and a lot of people smile which makes Benjy smile. He hasn’t seen so many people this happy, even if it is under a sad circumstance since before the crash. “Oh, he was finding sparkles on his sidewalk for months afterwards. And even when we were grounded for it, he still called me every day, planning our next prank. Ethan always found a way to bring light to a situation, and he would be way better at this than me and I suppose that’s ironic, isn’t it? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now, but I promise you that I’ll get home. I’ll tell your mom how unfair this whole thing is and how after the crash you helped so many people.” A girl in the group holds her bandaged hand gently and Benjy faintly remembers seeing Ethan helping her away from the fires that first day. “And I want to thank you,” He looks up at Benjy and the rest of their group, “You brought him back to me. You brought him to something familiar. Thank you.” Benjy gives a sympathetic smile when Sam’s eyes tear up again. 

Sam bends down, picking up a handful of the dirt from the pile they made. “You won’t be forgotten Ethan, I swear it.” With that, he drops the dirt on top of his cousin, watching as it trickles to the sides of his body. A few tears fall down his face and into the grave below, before he backs up and they all get to work filling in the rest of the grave. Everyone stays for a few moments, but eventually, people start heading back to camp. 

It doesn’t take nearly as long for them to fill in the hole as it did to dig it, which gives Benjy a weird feeling, even though it makes sense. The atmosphere is low, even after Sirius and Amelia take Sam back to the campsite. But eventually they finish and can wash their hands off in the cold ocean water and head back to camp.

Once they return, they notice everyone standing around waiting for them. As Benjy expected, Fabian steps up to hear and answer everyone’s questions.

“Where did you find him?” A short man with black hair asks.

“There was a cave behind a waterfall in the forest that we found him in.”

“But there’s a fresh water source?” A blonde woman interjects.

“That’s right.”

“Did you see that creature again?”, “Why hasn’t it come back yet?”, “What was it?”.

The questions keep coming, and slowly, Fabian starts running out of answers.

“We don’t know what it is. Just that it nests in that cave. We didn’t see it, and we don’t know why it hasn’t come back.” Fabian tries his best, but with each response, five more questions arise.

“A hide behind,” Marlene says from somewhere in the crowd. Everyone goes silent and moves so she can head to the front. “The creature that attacked us, it’s called a hide behind.” A few murmurs ripple through the crowd, but they let her continue. “It’s a creature that can alter its appearance however it pleases. That was the thing that attacked us that first night.”

“What are you trying to say? There’s a shapeshifter on the island?” A man scoffs, crossing his arms while a few people clearly share his skepticism.

“When I left, I found people. Well, I guess they found me, but they told me everything. About the hide behind. About the island! They-”

“Wait, stop. You found people? What part of the plane were they on?” Frank interrupts and Marlene looks at him, shaking her head.

“No, you don’t understand. They weren’t on the plane.”

Again, people start whispering amongst themselves and Marlene takes a deep breath. 

“They’re brothers. Fred and George. They know all about this island.” She says, gesturing to the trees. 

“And where are these mysterious people, huh? Why haven’t any of the rest of us seen them?” A woman asks.

“They live underground, deep in the forest.” Laughs emerge from the crowd and Marlene looks around at the faces that are staring down at her. She looks over to Lily who drops her head slightly.

“What? You don’t believe me?”

Dorcas steps forward a bit. “It’s been a long few days, Marls. “It’s hot, and you were out there for a while. Maybe you imagined it?” She says cautiously, obviously not wanting to be the one to say it, but she figured the blow might not strike as hard if it came from her. But it doesn’t. 

Marlene steps back staring at her with wide eyes. She looks at everyone else who seemingly agrees with her. Marlene shakes her head. 

“No, wait,” she rips the bag off her shoulder and throws it into the sand. Dorcas watches as she kneels down and opens the zipper and rummages through her bag. She tosses mangoes out of the bag before tearing a white binder out and holds it over her head. Marlene stands as everyone reads the cover. “They found the manifest. Our manifest.” 

“Where did you find that? We looked everywhere for it! Have you had it this whole time?” The same man from earlier questions, and Marlene drops her shoulders in frustration. 

“Don’t you understand? They found it! They’re real!” Marlene tosses the binder over to Lily who opens it and raises her eyebrows as she realizes it really is the document.

“She could’ve found that anywhere in the jungle, it doesn’t mean there are other people here!” Another person shouts out and is answered with a cacophony of agreement. 

She looks over at Dorcas, who shrugs gently. “I don’t know Marlene. That isn’t really proof of life, y’know?” Marlene exhales sharply in disbelief. She looks at everyone again before biting her lip to keep herself from saying anything more. She shakes her bag empty, dropping the remaining mangoes, watching them roll in the sand before stomping off angrily. 

“Marlene!” Lily calls out. 

“You’ll see.” Marlene says, only to herself. “You’ll see.”