gold rush [the wilds, toni shalifoe]

chapter 25

Day Twenty-Five

"So, take it we're all still ignoring the elephant in the room?" Fatin asked Dot when she woke up on the morning of their twenty-seventh day on the island. Dot nodded, continuing to use the axe to chop up some of the branches for the fire that Toni and Shelby had gone to find.

"I mean, depends which elephant you're talking about," Dot replied, wiping sweat off her brow before turning around to look at Fatin and at Shelby, who had joined them at the edge of the water. "But I assume you mean all of them."

Shelby smiled grimly as she looked back to camp, noticing the two figures sitting alone beside the campfire. She didn't need to be a fly on the wall - or log, was maybe the better term in this scenario - to know that there was not a word of discussion between the duo. It had been like that for two days now and it appeared today wasn't going to be any different.

"Rachel's silence, I get it," Fatin replied, looking glum as she turned back to look at the other two. "She lost her twin, the one person in the world who understood her more than anyone - we saw how co-dependent they were so it makes sense she's hurting this much."

"We're all hurting," Shelby mused but Fatin interupted her point of view.

"Yeah we are, but we didn't lose our literal platonic other half. Think about Hudson and Hunter, you know them both from school, think about how they'd react if the other died - like, we're talking having your entire life ripped apart to an unthinkable level. We don't know that pain, and we probably never will."

The three girls thought over what Fatin had said before the girl finally continued the point she was trying to make. 

"I don't understand what's happened with Hunter," Fatin admitted, almost sounding ashamed of herself for admitting it outloud. She wanted to help her friend but she had no idea where to even start. "She won't even let anyone else near her - not even Toni. I don't even think she's slept."

It was true. Ever since Hunter had came to her senses properly after they had used CPR on her, she had refused to let them touch her. They'd assumed she'd at least let her girlfriend comfort her but that only seemed to put Hunter more on edge. She tensed up whenever all of the girls even came within a metre of her - all of them minus one: Rachel.

Shelby had noted that Toni had been brushing it off and telling them all that Hunter was fine and that this was just shock. But it had been two days, and it seemed to have no sign of changing. Martha had even mentioned when Toni and Leah were out collecting branches that she was worried the girl was going to go comatose or something. She was barely eating, barely drinking and even though she was letting Rachel near her, it meant almost nothing since they didn't even acknowledge each others presence. 

"It's like she's almost mirroring Rachel," Shelby admitted as she sat down on the sand, letting the water brush over her toes. "Maybe she feels like, guilty. She was out in the water with them too remember. Whatever it is, something is wrong, I agree."

"Well, good luck trying to tell Toni that," Dot muttered, having had an argument with the basketball player the night before as they watched Hunter shiver next to the fire but refuse to lay down with the rest of the girls. "She won't hear it."

"I don't think it's her who needs to hear anything," Fatin muttered, looking over to Hunter for a second as an idea began to form in her head. Shelby looked up at the tone of Fatin's voice from where the girl was standing and instantly knew that this was about to be a disaster.

"Fatin..."

"Where's Toni?" Fatin asked, looking around before looking back at the two other girls. "Is she out with Martha?"