(Untitled)

[five_hours]

    "Like This?" I wanted to be angry, maybe deep down I felt like I deserved it, but instead my voice cracked and sounded weak. I took my glasses off wishing the blood would just wash everything away, take every moment with it. I asked again more softly as I hit my knuckle against my nose, I barely heard him say "Stop," as he pulled my hand away

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[little_moons]

There's a cup of tea shattered on the tile at my feet. Soaking into the grit, under the soles of my bare feet. I stand there watching it... I dunno for how long, before the silence shatters again and I remember why I dropped it in the first place.

I don't mistake the voice for Logan's. Or Joe's. Or Duck's or Mamet's or anyone's. I've only heard it, full grown, through the projector, pictures flickering onscreen, film clacking through the metal gears. But maybe you don't ever forget shit like that.

I was always shit at forgetting anyway.

I step over it, porcelain cracking under my heel, digging in but not breaking the skin, and I step through the door, plowing nearly into the back of him. Fucking Christ.

[five_hours]

I sigh in relief and open my mouth to ask how long I've been out when I notice small changes in him. They aren't drastic, but there isn't any way they could have happened in just a few minutes or hours. I don't know why this bothers me more than the fact that I'm in a room I've never seen before, but it does.

"Where are we?" At least I sound more like myself now, even if maybe it felt like I was asking the wrong question.

[little_moons]

I draw in a breath but I just... I can't fucking think of what to say. I've done this shit a dozen times but now I'm just staring like a dumbfuck, and I hear my own voice rattle around in my head. What the fuck are you gawking at?

"You're bleedin'," I choke out, reaching out to curl my hand around the bear, crushing it's little head, but I don't pull it away. He's bleeding and fuck if I don't know exactly where he came from.

[five_hours]

"Oh." I didn't let go of the bear, but I turned my hand so I could see the dried blood again. I hadn't forgotten, I guess this all just seemed so much more important than that. The bear didn't act like it cared about his hand closing around its head. I suppose it was used to stranger treatment.

"I..is there a bathroom close?" It seemed the right thing to ask. I wasn't sure why he hadn't answered my question, but everything seemed so surreal maybe I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

[little_moons]

"Yeah, come on," I nod, head bobbing loosely, stuck in a fucking loop. I tug him forward gently by the goddamn teddy bear and lead him toward the bathrooms, hand hovering near his shoulder but suddenly afraid to touch him. Afraid of his reaction and afraid he might splinter, shatter, and even though the calm's eerie, it's better than the screaming I know might come.

"I got... a whole fucking lot to tell you, so... let's just get you cleaned up first."

I almost ask him... How long's it been again? Ten years, five months... How many days? Fucking hours. Eleven, almost twelve years for me now and how the fuck do I explain that shit?

[five_hours]

I nodded It was easier just to focus on one thing at a time. Even if I wasn't trying it was hard not to notice the surroundings that we passed. It was easier just to follow now anyway. His words and the way he said them, even more than how unfamiliar this place was, made it pretty clear I hadn't just blacked out.

It would be hard to clean up with the bear in my hands, so I would eventually have to put it down, but for now it was comforting so I held it as tightly as possible.

"I should probably be sitting down then when you actually tell me." I wasn't sure how long I would stay calm, but for the moment I felt screamed out. I didn't have the energy for arguing just yet.

[little_moons]

"Yeah, probably," I mumble, shouldering my why through the door and leading him over to the sinks. I don't even think about it, just start going through the motions of grabbing a clean washcloth, holding it under the taps 'til the water gets warm, then I step closer, hesitating. Hovering like a goddamn mother hen and trying to pretend like my hands aren't shaking.

"We were in his house, right?" I ask, voice pitched low, cloth held up and he can either take it or I'll wipe the blood away for him. I don't know how much longer I can look at it.

Those goddamn giant glasses and the blood and those wide eyes. Tiny little erased face, superimposed over the top of this older version, and I blink a couple times, swallow hard and clear my throat. Fucking hell.

Here we go...

[five_hours]

I sat the teddy bear down as I took the cloth beginning to work on getting rid of the blood. "Yeah, Eric was going to come back for us. Someone was at the door." He remembered clearly their attempt to escape.

The glasses were saved for last. I put them under the water then wiped them off with a dry cloth. They were slightly streaked, but it didn't matter. I could see a little better at least. "I..how long has it been for you?" That some time has passed was undeniable. It was then I noticed he was wearing some jewelry. Shells? That didn't make any sense. I would definitely need to sit down.

[little_moons]

The question surprises me. Most people don't pick up on that so quick. I guess maybe I really do look that different.

"Two years. Almost two years," I say, looking over his shoulder at myself in the mirror. I don't tell him that I actually come from before that. All that stuff, in Coach's house? I didn't live through any of that. Just saw it up on a goddamn movie screen. That's not really something we need to cover right now.

I pick up the bear and turn it over in my head, trying to imagine sitting in that living room again and feeling sorta sick. "It's an island. Some kind of crazy, fucked up, magic island, and you're not crazy and you're not dreaming and you haven't blacked out. 'Least I don't think you have."

[five_hours]

It was a number of things, but the differences in how Neil looked sort of made it hard to deny that some time must have passed. I hadn't expected to hear that it had been two years though. I held onto the edge of the sink watching him with the teddy bear. It was easier to think of questions to ask, and not to dwell too much on what two years actually meant.

"Magical Island?" That explained the shells, but it didn't explain how we had gotten here. "Then how did we end up here?" I would likely remember something like being brought to some strange Island. I didn't think I could be out for that long.

[little_moons]

"Fucking... timewarp? I don't got a clue. Blink your eyes and you're here, there's no sense in it," I answer, looking down at his fingers white-knuckled on the counter. I wanna tell him something, anything, that'll make all this shit seem okay, but I know there's nothing.

"There are a whole lotta people here. Three hundred, at least. We all ended up here the same way."

[five_hours]

I let go of the sink. "This building can't be that big?" Of course I'd only seen one part of it, probably not even one full floor so it could be, but it was a little hard to imagine..especially attempting to take in everything else.

"Timewarp?" I couldn't stop a small, slightly nervous sounded laugh from escaping. I wasn't completely convinced this wasn't some bizarre dream, thinking like this was probably the only thing keeping me somewhat calm.

[little_moons]

"Timewarp," I repeat, lips twisting into a crooked smirk, leaning my hip against the sink, just 'cause standing's getting to be a little too much.

"It's uh, five floors. Four of 'em underground. They call it The Compound. But most people live out in huts and shit, all over the island. I've got a place, not too far from here."

[five_hours]

I nodded not really sure how to respond to the idea of this place having some sort of 'timewarp' ability. I could accept there didn't have to be a readily apparent explanation, but there had to be some reason in the end, right?

Eventually I would have to get used to it, if this wasn't all a dream, but I wasn't ready for any exploring. I wasn't sure when I would be either. I wanted to say something insightful instead I only managed to say, "At least there are bathrooms and running water."

[little_moons]

"Clinic. Kitchen. Food. People to cook for you," I shrug, smiling faintly, "I know it sounds... really fucking crazy. Probably always will."

Pushing the bear into his hands, flattened and bloodstained and pitiful looking, I heave out a sigh and say, "Wanna go back out there and sit down for little while?"

[five_hours]

Crazy just about covered it. Knowing there were others going through all of this wasn't exactly comforting, but strangely it did help a little.

"Yeah." I said taking the bear in my hands not caring how pitiful it looked. "Sitting down sounds like a great idea." At least if I paid attention I could find my way between two places at least. It wasn't much but at least it was a start.