Digging up the Graveyard

[Anna Marie Solmers]

Anna Marie was beginning to enjoy the quiet of the island. Now that she knew she wasn't completely alone here, it was much easier to explore without feeling afraid. She was used to silence and solitude, so it was nice to get away for a moment and have her own thoughts without worrying about twisting up her words and making herself sound crazier than ever.

One of her shoelaces was broken, and although she'd done her best to knot it so it would stay tight, it was still making her look like she had something of a limp as she made her way through the charred remains of the plane crash. The place was pretty haunting, but she couldn't help but notice the beauty of the melted metal, the way it jutted towards the sky as if it had sprouted from the island itself. Anna Marie glanced around, and, seeing no one, sang a few lines from something her father used to sing to her.

"Oh, winds of the night, may your fury be crossed,
May no one who's dear to our island be lost.
Blow the winds gently, calm be the foam
Shine the light brightly and guide them back home."

She couldn't put her finger on it, but this place made her painfully homesick. Though her da was long gone, she knew her mother was sitting at home, desperately worried. It was her mother's way.
Anna Marie felt a tightness in her chest thinking about her mother. They'd never been close, but she was all Anna Marie had left, and if she had any way off this island, a visit to her would be the first place she flew to. That is, if she could work up the guts to walk into an airport again. Perhaps she'd take a cruise back to Maine. I mean, they were right on the edge of the US, surely they could work something out for all the trouble they'd put her through.

She continued to rummage through the remains of the plane, hoping some of Eric's luck had stuck with her. If he could manage to find a canteen and a knife, surely she could find something of use here. She sighed a little and got a good grip on a rather sizeable sheet of metal, and grunted as she tried to move it. It wouldn't budge. She moved on to something smaller, some kind of large spring, sat down and began to dig beneath it with her hands.

"The currachs tomorrow will stand on the shore,
And daddy goes sailing, sailing no more
The nets will be drying, the nets heaven blessed
And safe in my arms dear, contended he'll rest."

Surely if she couldn't find anything of use, she'd be able to dig up some memories of the crash. She felt so unnerved by the large patch of memory missing from that day.

[Jed Owen Thomas]

You know, it was a really good thing people didn't believe everything they saw on TV. If they did, they might think that when a bunch of young strangers crash landed on an uncharted island, they could use their conveniently varied set of everyday skills to miraculously survive until help showed up, all the while taking down an evil corporation that happened to be conspiring against them and developing romantic relationships along the way....

Yeah, Jed had three words for that. Complete, utter, bull.

See, TV didn't take into consideration that the average teenager's skill set is limited to what they learn playing video games, and all that catch-a-fish-with-your-hands-and-make-a-fire-with-sticks? Yeah, no. Lets go back to not burning the mac and cheese in the microwave. And people- right, because there was a nice group of them- NOT. Here's what there was. Sand. Sand. Sand. Trees. He was never going to a park again for as long as to lived. Jed was starting to go crazy from the silence and monotony (yeah, forget about the injuries and hunger and all). He'd been walking around for who knows how long, who knows where, and to top it all off completely, it turned out he'd been going in a CIRCLE the whole time.

Well, to look on the bright side, at least he was where help would show up.. if help did show it.. which probably wasn't going to happen.. but he definitely wasn't going to be thinking about. Feet splashing as he walked along the edge of the water towards the remains of plane, he grimaced, thinking about what he remembered... Honestly, not much other than plumetting. Oh, and then waking up next to a dead guy. (Excatly how everyone wants to start their day). He supposed he was supposed to be counting his blessings or whatever though.

He survived. Now he got to die slowly on an island. Hallelujah.

Now, back on earth (the one that was void of sarcasm in tragic situations) the plane was completely lost from his mind, replaced by gaping (tactful, i know) shock at a female who was.. digging(?). Maybe she'd gone mental too. "Hey! Hey!" Well, his voice sounded appealing. He gave a wave . "You were on the plane, weren't ya? Man it's good to see movin' people. Don't take this the wrong way, but what'chu doin'?"

[Anna Marie Solmers]

Her fingers closed on something in the earth and she shook the soil from it happily. It felt like something solid, she was rooting for something useful. She held it in the fingers of her left hand and brushed the debris from it with the other. Some kind of sprocket. She mumbled a few curse words under her breath and kept digging.

Anna Marie heard his footsteps before she heard the boy's voice. She turned around but didn't bother getting up: was it cocky of her to assume she could take whatever came running towards her? Maybe it was because she'd been on the island for a whole week without encountering any large animals (which was strange--where there's drinking water there's critters, as her girl scout leader used to say), but Anna Marie was no longer jumping at the sound of creatures.

Her assumption proved true when she heard the voice. An...interesting one at that. What kind of accent was that boy sporting? She could hardly understand him.

"'Lo." she said softly, trying to be understanding. It seemed she was the first person he'd seen, and she knew from meeting Eric what kind of effect that could have. She offered him a shy half-smile.

"I'm, err, yeh, I was on the plane. I'm lookin' fer, you know. Stuff. Are you thirsty?" She reached around to find her makeshift gourd canteen, still half full, and offered it to him.

"I s'pose if you're still around you know some fresh water source, yeh? But maybe you're still thirsty?" She tried to smile a little wider and found herself blushing a little. This guy seemed full of energy for someone lost on an island for a week.

She wasn't trying to be off-putting, she was just still getting used to talking to people. For a deserted island there seemed to be a lot of introductions as of late. She couldn't help but wonder how many days would include meeting new people, because she was much better at the plain old surviving aspect.

[Jed Owen Thomas]

The girl (...or woman?) living thing with female parts didn't exactly seem pleased to see him. Jed supposed either that last few days had been particularly cruel to her, or she'd already met a bunch of people and was living happily in a settlement that he was the only idiot who didn't know existed.

"What kinds'er stuff you expectin'?" He wasn't trying to belittle her efforts or anything. Just.. it was a big hunk of burnt out metal with some body parts and suitcases sprinkled around. He'd take his chances with the needle in the haystack.

Of course, what he did know? She had water. She found water. Yeup, he was the only idiot on the island. He took the offered gourd but didn't drink out of it. "You can get more, right? I don't want none otherwise." Okay, so it was rude to take it either way. But if there was a big old lake somewhere nearby he wouldn't feel as bad.

Jed smiled back when she did (not much else they could do these days, huh?). He wasn't totally oblivious to the fact he came on kind of strong but it was ya know, if there was a book on how to behave during this kind of stuff, he just kind of slept through the movie version. First time talking in a week and it was goona take a good bit to shut him up. "Naah, I found my carry on. " He laughed a little and slipped a backpack off one of his shoulders (the other'd been bandaged up with ripped clothes. Cut it on the same thing that bashed in the other guys head. Bled like a bitch but can't complain.) to show her.

"I'ad sneaked a bit when the cart was comin' 'round. Apple juice and gummy worms. Guess they got 'em watered down enough to make 'em cheaper. Still makes ya sick after a couple'a days though. If ya want the rest they're all yers." Eh, a 100% sugar diet had its pluses and minuses. "Names Jed, by the by. And how about you? You sure seem like ya know what yer doin'. Guess I ain't the first person you ran inta, huh? "

[Anna Marie Solmers]

Anna Marie's expression at seeing this boy pull out a pack of gummy worms was worth paying money to see. She couldn't decide whether she was more angry or embarrassed at herself: Anna Marie had packed a carry on. She remembered which one it was, a canvas tote with some stupid quote on the side. She could remember what it felt like hitting her leg as she walked in the terminal. She could feel herself turning scarlet. Where the feck was her carry-on? She could remember nothing past waking up about forty feet from the crash site--she assumed she'd been half-dazed on impact and walked or crawled as far from the wreckage as possible.

Now all Anna Marie could think about was all of the novels she'd packed in her bag. She'd been in the middle of a particularly heart-wrenching book of poetry, and she was almost sick thinking about the bag of goldfish and Oreo cookies she'd packed for the long trip. If her memory served, she even had a foot-long Subway sub with all the fixings she liked in there. The thought made her mouth water and for some inexplicable reason, brought tears to her eyes.

"Ye can help yerself to the water, I've fecking loads of it," she said, slipping into her father's vernacular in her frustration. Anna Marie wanted to scream. She'd been eating worms this week. Actual worms. And beetles and bugs of all varieties. She hadn't been able to find an animal to roast, not that it had been cold enough to require a fire anyway. She'd found plenty of fire making materials but hadn't even bothered to collect them because the summer nights were sweltering anyway.

"I need to...I just..." she placed the canteen on the ground and put her hands on her head, jumping to her feet and walking away, trying to make herself breathe. She was acting like a child, and she'd been so strong for the sake of her own survival this week. Maybe, at the stress of meeting someone new while simultaneously reminding herself of what was lost, that careful reserve of calm was starting to leak.

She breathed slowly through her nose, picking up the charred scent of bodily remains and twisted metal, before walking back to the boy.

"I'm sorry," she said, collecting her cool and her American accent from the same location, "I'm Anna Marie. I just made a right fool of myself and I'm sorry. It's been a hard week of eating bugs and sleeping on the ground, and I'm afraid seeing you have your own stuff made me pretty jealous, and it was stupid and I'm sorry and where is your accent from anyway, I can hardly understand you?" She bit the inside of her cheek and tried not to turn a darker shade of red. Anna Marie seemed to have two settings on her mouth: stuttering and babbling. She wasn't sure which was worse, but she she'd trade both in for a third option any day.

[Jed Owen Thomas]

Nodding a bit -and deciding not to say anything since she seemed like she needed to cool down (from more than the heat. they could all use a pool party)- Jed lifted up the canteen and let some of the water fall into his mouth. You never really realize just how thirsty you are until water from who-knows-where actually tastes good. Feeling a lot better now that his mouth didn't taste like hot gum and salt water, he handed it back to her and wrinkled up his nose as she started stammering and - and walking off.

Well, this was slightly awkward.

He busied himself staring at the ground (stupid sand) and looking up occasionally to see where she was going (nowhere). He wasn't near timid or considerate enough to apologize when he had no clue what he'd done (even if it would mean getting in the good graces of the one person who he'd seen on the island). Luckily, it didn't depend on his word choice. She walked back on her own.

Okay, so he could get that. Here he'd been thinking that she was the smart lucky one, but she obviously things the other way. Grass is always greener on the other side, unless, you know, you're on an island, where there's only sand. And bugs. Did she really- gross. Never mind. He was growing the green grass. She was blushing and rambling and then she brought up his accent and he grinned widely. He could have pulled out the "I don't got an accent, you got an accent" card- which was exactly how he saw it- but he was getting used to these comments. Besides, she'd been through enough shit. He could be kinda nice.

"Ya know I was just about t'ask about yers. 'Feckin'?" He tried to mimic, eyebrows raised up but grin still set- mostly at his own failure combination of their accents. All in good fun. "I"m Chinese." He tried to hold a straight face but ended up laughing. "Naw, I'm from Alabama. And don' worry about it. Like I said, these're all yers. Enjoy." He placed the candy bag in her hand. "Sides, I bet we could prob'ly find yer stuff lyin' around too. More likely than diggin' up gold there. D'ya remember where ya woke up?"

[Anna Marie Solmers]

She accepted the gummy worms hesitantly and plopped down onto the ground next to him. She laughed breathily, still upset, as he attempted her accent, and before responding pried off a piece of melted gummy worm and placed it on her tongue.

Euphoria. She couldn't think of any other way to describe it. She'd loved gummy bears as a kid, and when worms melted you couldn't tell the difference anyway. It brought her back to thoughts of sneaking candy into the movie with her dad, who was too cheap to buy it at the theater, and she felt an urge to shove a large clump in her mouth but resisted. Part of it was selfish, knowing she wanted to conserve this amazing little treat for as long as possible, but at least a little part of her was stuck thinking about Eric (although, she did that a lot anyway) and figuring he'd like some of it, too.

"Thank you, for these. That's really...really nice of you." She wasn't sure if she'd have given up her own things if she had them, although now she found herself thinking about whatever was left in his bag. Did he have a change of clothes? Extra socks? Oh Jesus clean socks sounded wonderful. She tried to focus on their conversation.
"You look a little Chinese," she said, "but the accent sounds very Southern." She tried to return his smile, knowing she'd have to work hard to match his energy level probably even while he slept.

She glanced around her at the ruins and lifted her hands as if in defeat. "As fer finding my stuff, I am apparently the very worst search dog in history. If we ever have to go searching for treasure, y' prolly want to go find Eric. He's..." She searched for the appropriate word and then gave up on it. "He's the other person I've found so far."

She looked down at her hands and tried to count off his questions on her fingers. "What else did ye ask? Oh, the accent, umm, I'm from Maine?" she scrunched her nose up. "But obviously the accent is not. My dad and mother were raised in Ireland, and it kind of rubbed off, I guess." She shrugged, hoping he wouldn't make a big deal of it. Then again, with his accent, he probably got his share of teasing and was not likely to make fun of her for the way she spoke.
"Aaaand. I woke up, umm, that way." She pointed up and to the left, away from the water.

[Jed Owen Thomas]

For being stranded on a deserted island, Jed figured things could have been a hell of a lot worse. You know, at least there wasn't a monsoon or a bunch of man eating wild.. anythings. Even Miss Anna Marie seemed to be loosening up a bit (which took full credit for). "Do I?" He glanced down, looking over his arms, tee shirt. He always figured Chinese people looked a little less... American, but then again, you didn't see all too many Chinese people running around where he was from. Cool. learn something new every day.

"Well, if you're tryin' ta be like a dog then yer doin' it all wrong, straight from the sniffin'. But I ain't ever seen a dog dig up gold afore anyway. They keep busy with bones and what all. Now if ya can be a bit like a raccoon I don't think we'd have too many prob'ems out here. They get inta everythin'." Really, talk about a useful critter. They'd probably have a bag just full of snacks if they were half as good at searching.

He couldn't help his grin from widening as she started futzing over how to refer to Eric. Maybe there was some budding romance on total drama island after all. "Only one, huh. Did yer fella not want to come along out here or are ya lost?" Shrugging, he figured if you only knew there was only other living person around this whole place, you probably wanted to stay close. Or, ya know, maybe not. There was always a chance he was some creep.

"I'da thought that everyone in Maine talked like that if ya didn't tell me otherwise. But Ireland, huh? That's cool. What'chu tryin' to hide it fer?" Nosy, yep. Definitely considered an invasive question for someone he'd met all of a few minutes ago, but he couldn't help it. He was curious. He followed her hand with his eyes, away from the crash site. Of course, its always in the general direction that describes nearly everything. "Aw, well, that eliminates about uh.. point five percent a the island. Couldn't make things easy, huh? S'pose we'll prob'ly find more lookin' around what's a-left of the plane. If not yers than.." he waved a hand, getting up to his feet. It was someones who wouldn't be coming back for it, "ya know."

[Anna Marie Solmers]

This boy was absolutely silly. There were worse things, of course, although Anna Marie did worry a little that he might end up getting on her nerves. She'd try to think of him as an energetic puppy. Who could get fed up with a puppy?
She didn't want to consider herself a raccoon, but maybe she was beginning to resemble one. She cleared her throat, not sure what to say. Then it all came out at once, before she could stop it:

"They say you can catch a raccoon by putting something shiny in a hole: he'll stick his hand in and grab it, then he's stuck b'coz his fist holding the shiny is too big for the hole. He'll sit there all day, some say even starve to death, an' he still will n't let it go, on account of he wants the shiny thing so bad." She blinked a few times and looked away, frustrated with herself. Was she getting herself stuck by focusing so much on what she might find? Maybe they could find something more important on the island, split up into teams...although honestly, even if she wasn't here, she still wouldn't know what to do.

Her forehead creased as he talked about Eric. "He's not ma fella!" she exclaimed in a huff, which even she recognized as sounding ridiculous with the accent. "Just...a friend. And I asked to start on my own, y'know. I'm used to being on my own, and then when you're with someone for hours nonstop...I just needed a minute. An' see, it was good. I found you here. You, who of all people should know why I try and hide the accent. You've never been teased over your accent before?"