[dated to Jan 28]
Alexis didn't want - no. She didn't just not want. She refused to believe it at first.
They were supposed to meet, and when he didn't show, at first she just figured he was running late for some reason. It wasn't a big island, but when you had to walk everywhere, it wasn't hard to misjudge how much time it might take to get from one place to another. But when he still wasn't anywhere to be seen two hours later, she'd gone from worried to annoyed, then right into full-on panic mode. He wouldn't have stood her up, and he wouldn't have let her worry about him.
She took off to every single place she could think of where he might have been, searching the beaches, the paths, all the public gathering places and the compound. Every time she got near the compound she stopped by, at least half a dozen times, looking everywhere inside including his room. She checked each of the clinics.
No Cooper.
By the time the sun was beginning to set, Alexis was back at the compound, and after checking all over the ground floor and in the laundry room yet another time, she ended up back in his room. It was conspicuously bare of everything that had made it Cooper, and she supposed she'd known from the beginning, but she didn't want to know. She didn't want to know her boyfriend, her first love, was gone. She didn't want to know she would never get to see him again, never talk to him again, never kiss him again. She didn't want to know.
She'd grabbed his hoodie from her hut the last time she was nearby, but had just been carrying it around with her. Now, Alexis pulled it on as she sat on the bed that used to be her boyfriend's, and oh god, it still smelled like him.
She hid her face in her hands and wept like her heart was broken - which, in fact, it was.
They were supposed to meet, and when he didn't show, at first she just figured he was running late for some reason. It wasn't a big island, but when you had to walk everywhere, it wasn't hard to misjudge how much time it might take to get from one place to another. But when he still wasn't anywhere to be seen two hours later, she'd gone from worried to annoyed, then right into full-on panic mode. He wouldn't have stood her up, and he wouldn't have let her worry about him.
She took off to every single place she could think of where he might have been, searching the beaches, the paths, all the public gathering places and the compound. Every time she got near the compound she stopped by, at least half a dozen times, looking everywhere inside including his room. She checked each of the clinics.
No Cooper.
By the time the sun was beginning to set, Alexis was back at the compound, and after checking all over the ground floor and in the laundry room yet another time, she ended up back in his room. It was conspicuously bare of everything that had made it Cooper, and she supposed she'd known from the beginning, but she didn't want to know. She didn't want to know her boyfriend, her first love, was gone. She didn't want to know she would never get to see him again, never talk to him again, never kiss him again. She didn't want to know.
She'd grabbed his hoodie from her hut the last time she was nearby, but had just been carrying it around with her. Now, Alexis pulled it on as she sat on the bed that used to be her boyfriend's, and oh god, it still smelled like him.
She hid her face in her hands and wept like her heart was broken - which, in fact, it was.