Is This Real? (Nick Clark X OC) Fear The Walking Dead

Stars

       Nick and Frankie get to the top of the stairs to see Willa's and Harry's gigantic room. They're located at the top floor so the ceilings are tall enough to hold a bunk bed for them.

      "Whoa, cool! This is your room?" Nick exclaims and walks over to the ladder of the bed.

       "Yeah."

       "Wow. And who are these guys?" Nick picks some toy soldiers that are placed on the ladder steps.

       "These are campers. Neighbors. The Colbys. And Uncle Kyle."

        "What happened to them? What's this?" He squats down and points to the red dot on a toy's forehead.

         "It's what has to happen now when people get sick." Harry picks up another and doesn't make eye contact.

         "Yeah. Hey, that won't happen to you." Nick reassures the kid.

          "I know, because I have power pills!" Harry raises his voice excited.

          "Yeah!" Nick copies him, then throws his hands up confused. "I don't know what that is."

          "It's like a vitamin. If I take it, my family stays together." Frankie inches closer to the two and squints, still confused. She squats down next to Nick.

           "I have to take pills too. To keep the monsters away. Is it like that?"

            "Not really." Nick sets the toy down.

           "So which one is your favorite?" He changes the subject.

           "The general. He has a gun, too. You just have to put it on him." Harry explains pointing to a figurine.

            "Right." After ten minutes of Nick playing with Harry and Frankie watching from afar, she stands up from the chair she was sitting on.

            "Sorry Harry, but me and Nick should head back to our boat now." Nick nods and stands up.

            "Aw." Harry says disappointed.

            "Sorry Harry, but we're gotta go." Nick says and gives a waving motion.

           "Bye." The two go down the stairs and out to the Abigail. They stroll down the long dock in silence for a while gazing at the stars above. Frankie always liked the night sky, it was better than the ceiling in her room, or her cell. Anything is better than those places.

            To be completely honest, Frankie didn't really see a difference between those places. They both kept her imprisoned for torture, and you could say they were both her father's fault to begin with. The only small difference is that Frankie remembers everything that had happened to her in that haunted house. The cell took months and months off of her life that she won't ever remember, or get back.

            They both reach the ship and board. Nick lays down on the couch on deck.

           "What are you doing?" Frankie questions.

            "Can't we just sleep out here instead?" He says in a small voice. Frankie rolls her eyes.

           "Fine. Just give me a second." She disappears down below the boat for a few minutes then reappears with a blanket in hand. She tosses it onto him. "Scoot over." She says with a smile. He sits up giving her room to sit. She has a seat and he lays his head back down on her lap. The two admire the stars above them for a few minutes.

            "Did I ever tell you why I got addicted to pcp?" Frankie breaks the silence, still staring at the stars.

           "No. Why?"

           "Well, there's a reason why it was that and not just heroin or cocaine or something. It's cause I wanted to see something other than my boring room. My dad used to keep me locked in there for days on end, and I'd have nothing to do, nothing to see, nothing to feel. All I had were those bland white walls. And I'd just stare at 'em. That's all I'd do. I was 15 at the time. About a year before we met. At school one day, I saw these kids doing angel dust and I wanted to try. They told me that it would make me see cool things. And it did. Something that they didn't tell me was that it was addictive. I was hooked ever since." She finishes her story.

          "Once you got out of there, do you think you would've quit if you could." Nick asks.

          "If I could. That drug is the cause of my schizophrenia. They say psychedelics can trigger a person to develop it. So yeah, if I could." She nods her head.

          "But I mean, you quit now."

           "We both quit." They sit in silence for a while and gaze at the stars. Alicia comes out onto the deck wrapped in a blanket.

            "Hey, you want to know what the most underrated perk of the apocalypse is?" Nick speaks to Alicia and Frankie. "No planes. No noise pollution. No smog. Just stars."

            "Yep, well, we definitely stopped the climate crisis. Awesome." Alicia adds and sits on the armrest of the couch. "Why are you two up?"

           "Why are you up?" Frankie repeats the question back.

           "I drank too much wine. My mind's racing. Come on, what's your guy's excuse?"

           "It's these kids, man. They've seen more than their share, you know? Like, what they're living in now and what they're gonna live in, like, it's-- I don't know. Things are never just gonna be normal for them, you know? It's not fair." Nick rants.

            "I mean, at least they're prepared."

            "Yeah, they're prepared like it's the end times." Nick comments.

             "Isn't it?" Alicia and Frankie speak at the same time.

            "No, you guys, it's not the Rapture. Something is off here. Everything's off. Everywhere."

           "How can you be sure it isn't the end of the world?" Frankie looks down at Nick.

            "I mean, we're all still alive."

            "I think it's the end of the world." Frankie pauses. "But it's by no means the end of all of us, ya'know. Like our story is just the beginning of the new world. I know it."