[Dated to the night of April 10th]

[the_intersect]

When Chuck had seen the announcement on the bulletin board for a big party, he'd pretty much figured that he and Sarah would make an appearance. They'd been to all of the other island parties, anyway, and it'd probably be bad for the cover if they just skipped this one. Especially because someone had asked Chuck if he and Sarah were going, and he'd

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[the_support]

Chuck had told Ellie he'd be right back with Sarah. Their huts weren't very far away, and when Chuck wasn't back by the time she had gotten ready for the party, she started to get worried. Telling Devon she'd be back soon, she headed out to trace her brother's steps.

It didn't take very long for her to realize something was wrong. Chuck didn't have that expression often.

"Chuck?" she called out, taking a few more steps closer, her brows creasing in immediate concern. "What's the matter?"

[the_intersect]

He'd forgotten that he had told Ellie and Awesome that he'd be right back. In fact, he'd been sitting there outside of Sarah's hut for close to ten minutes when Ellie walked up.

With a sigh, Chuck scrunched up the left corner of his mouth, looking up at Ellie.

"I think--I think Sarah might be gone." He said.

[the_support]

"Gone?" she repeated, finally just easing herself into a seat next to him. She hesitated when she realized what he might have been talking about. She'd heard the story before.

"You don't mean...?" she asked, trailing off. She didn't even want to say it.

[the_intersect]

"All her stuff's gone, Ellie." Chuck said, which was probably enough of an answer. If Sarah had gone off somewhere, he figured that she probably would have mentioned it.

Probably.

[the_support]

Her face fell a little at the news, knowing full well what it meant. She fell silent for a long moment before reaching up to place a comforting hand on his back.

"Oh, god. I'm so sorry," she spoke, knowing the words wouldn't do much good. "I've heard of that happening before, but I never thought...I don't know."

It felt like the island gave good things and then immediately took something away in its place. A feeling of guilt washed over her as she thought about it, knowing now that she had Devon and the island had taken Sarah away from Chuck. It just wasn't fair.

[the_intersect]

"Yeah, well, it was bound to happen. Sooner or later, anyway." Chuck reasoned. But just because it was bound to happen didn't mean it hurt any less.

He looked down at his hands, then over at Ellie again. "Kind of wish I'd had some kind of warning though."

[the_support]

"I wish you did too," she sighed, looking down. Him saying that it was bound to happen sort of put a little twist in her stomach - she didn't like thinking anyone else she knew would go disappearing.

"Come on," she said, softly, when she stood up and offered him her hand. "Let's go back to the hut. Sitting out here won't do anything."

[the_intersect]

"I-- I think I'm just gonna hang out here for a while," Chuck insisted, before pressing his lips into a straight line.

Ellie was right, there wasn't anything that he could actually do, but for some reason, he didn't want to leave just yet.

[the_support]

"Alright," she replied, resting her arms on her lap. "Then I'll stay here with you."

They had weathered a lot of things together, and this time wasn't going to be any different. She just knew she wasn't going to leave him alone out here when he was going through this.

[the_intersect]

"No no no," Chuck said, almost immediately, "You guys were gonna go to the party-- don't stay home on account of me."

The last thing he wanted was for Ellie to miss out on having a good time just because his ilfe had gone from crappy to worse than crappy.

[the_support]

"It's not a big deal," she shook her head, in a tone that didn't leave much room for argument. "I probably wouldn't have known many people there, anyway."