Day Nine

"Why did you do it?" Hunter asked Hudson as they sat in his car, his knuckles bruised and bloodied. The dried tracks of tears were present on both of the twins faces, their voices both hoarse from all of the yelling and shouting they had done.

Hudson shrugged, taking a sip of his strawberry milkshake as Hunter cradled her own in her hands. It was something they always did the morning after a game day: get strawberry milkshakes from the local diner that their cousin had once worked at. It was one of the only places in the entire town that didn't seem to have either some connection to the church that Shelby Goodkind's dad ran, or any connection to Riley's family who seemingly had some insight in most things.

"I guess I just wanted him to feel how he made you feel," Hudson admitted after a moment. Hunter nodded, not knowing what to say to that. She couldn't get mad at Hudson for it; she knew he had done what he had done out of love.

Hunter turned her head away from the window as they watched some of the other football players from their school walk by, sending the twins dirty looks as the news had just broke: Riley Black was out for the entire season and the chances of a championship had just drastically decreased because Hunter had broken his heart and Hudson had broken his body.

They were the villains in everyone's story but their own, knowing that while the truth would set them free it would also change their lives in a  way that the twins weren't sure they wanted. Hudson wanted nothing more than anything to scream out the truth from the mountaintops, and Hunter wanted nothing more than to pretend the past few months of her life had never happened.

It turned out they were the villains in one more story too: the eyes of their parents. The truth didn't help the twins to be redeemed in their eyes, but rather added to the list of things that Hunter and Hudson would never be able to get right for their parents.

"Tell them Hunter," Hudson's voice rose slightly as he watched their parents berate her for having such a public and messy breakup, their voices repeating the same things over and over again about how the twins were always trying to ruin their families reputation. "Or I will. I'm sorry, but I will. Riley was abusing her!"

She wanted to, but the words didn't form. So Hudson did it. He told their parents everything just like she had done to him a week before after her breakup with Riley. How he had pushed her once, to how he had put out three cigarettes in one night on her side claiming it was just a "joke". How he had trapped her ankle in a door and caused it to sprain, how he had literally abused her for months and everyone at school had turned a blind eye. It had been obvious that Hunter wasn't that accident prone all of a sudden, but everyone had been so willing to believe the lies that it was all just a coincidence that they didn't stop to consider otherwise.

And their parents didn't care.

"We're sending you away," her mother had told her, three days later as she entered the kitchen that Hudson and Hunter shared. "No negotiations."

Hudson had put up the fight for her that she couldn't do herself. He had yelled, he had argued and he had even begged. It fell on deaf ears, ears that didn't care about separating the twins as they dropped bombshell after bombshell.

"We think it's for the best that both of you leave this town for a while," her father replied, no emotion to his tone. He had always had a softer spot for the twins but it wasn't hard to be softer than their mother considering she often told them that they were the only mistake she'd ever made in her life.

The only thing Hunter knew was promising about this was that they at least were getting sent to the same boarding school - even if it did mean moving to California. She'd always wanted a bit of a beach tan, but certainly not like this. What Hunter didn't know was that after she had stormed out of the house when hearing she was being sent to some "Dawn of Eve" retreat, that her parents had told Hudson he was attending a similar retreat for boys titled "Twilight of Adam".

Hudson didn't have the heart to tell Hunter, knowing that it would make it easier for his sister if she thought he at least was going to be able to be with their friends while she was alone on some retreat. So instead he gave her his leather band with his initials in, knowing she would need a reminder of him to keep her going.

Hudson and Hunter had never been lucky. They'd just had the good fortune of being by each others side for their whole lives.

_____

"Did you think there was some silver lining in getting to come to the retreat after what Hudson did? In getting stuck on the island?"

Hunter scoffed, looking up at the two adults as she sipped on the strawberry milkshake that she had further requested. She rolled her eyes, feeling a slight fire rise in her as she looked between them and tried to figure out if they were serious.

"That's such an adult thing to say," Hunter muttered, her fist tightening around her milkshake as she bitterly laughed. She'd never been the twin with the anger issues, but it seemed like a lot had changed since Hudson had fought Riley.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Hunter snarked, rolling her eyes heavily as she looked between the men. The Agent looked a little more uncomfortable with her obvious change in attitude while the ginger man didn't seem bothered that he was riling her up.

"Adults love to say shit like that. Something bad happens and its as if you just expect us to move on, or find something positive about whatever trauma has happened to us. Here's the thing though, sometimes moving on isn't the answer. Sometimes there isn't some magical, fucking silver lining in something. We don't need to be fixed or to move on, we just need to be able to sit and acknowledge the shit that happened to us in OUR terms. Some things can't be fucking fixed in life, they can only be carried."

____

"Hey, I think we might need to get some more foliage for the top of the shelter," Dot told them all as she looked at it, aware that while it was warm that afternoon it likely would get colder at night. They'd been managing okay in the shelter the past few nights but even with all nine of them cramped together, it had been ridiculously cold. She knew that adding a little more protection would help them to not shiver as much.

Everyone nodded in agreement, no-one even having the energy to argue if they disagreed. It had pretty much become an unspoken rule that whatever Dot said about survival stuff like shelter building was to be taken as gospel unless anyone - usually Rachel or Leah - disagreed with her thoughts.

"Nora and myself can go," Rachel offered, wanting to keep herself busy since it was now starting to settle into her head that they might be stuck on this island for a while. Nora nodded enthusiastically, happy that Rachel wanted to involve her in something that was just the two of them.

Just as everyone started to nod, Hunter opened her mouth and shocked them all. They didn't expect the girl to speak on the matter in the slightest, but it seemed she had a lot of thoughts going around in her head. She'd had a lot of time to think that morning and early afternoon, and life was suddenly seeming a lot different to her now than it had weeks prior.

"It's alright, me and Toni will go," Hunter told them all, standing to her feet and wiping sand off of her shorts as everyone looked between Hunter and Toni in surprise. The raven haired girl shared the same confused expression as the rest of them, but she quickly shoved a smile on her face as Hunter turned to look at her expectedly.

"Yeah, we can go," Toni rushed out, Fatin trying to hide the slight snigger she made at how eager Toni was to go with Hunter. The basketball player moved her foot and lightly smacked Fatin, subtle enough so that only Fatin and Leah noticed the action, causing the other girl to smile too at what Fatin was insinuating.

Everyone seemed to accept this compromise, not particularly wanting to disrupt whatever idea Hunter clearly had mapped out in her mind. If Hunter was going to sort out whatever issues her and Toni had, then it was only going to help with their survival - and on the opposite, if Hunter was going to try and like kill Toni, at least they wouldn't get blood on their campsite.

Hunter leaned down, snatching up the axe as she began to walk away. She paused to check Toni was keeping up with her, noticing how the raven haired girl was moving quickly to keep up with her as if she thought that falling behind would mean losing her forever. It was a peaceful silence to anyone else as the two girls trekked into the forest, but for both of them it felt like an eternity of nothing but awkwardness and baited breath.

They walked for what seemed like hours, but Hunter knew it was more likely fifteen minutes or so before stopping at some rough bushes and small trees that they both reckoned would be sturdy but flexible enough to be added into the structure of their temporary - but beginning to seem permanent - shelter. Toni silently agreed, pulling off the easier to snap branches while Hunter began to hack at the harder ones, the silence between them slowly starting to rip away at Toni.

Eventually, Toni had enough. She dropped the branches in her arms, making sure not to seem too aggressive or angry as she turned around to look at Hunter in exasperation. She had thought that the girl would have given her reasoning for her hot and cold behaviour that she was demonstrating but it didn't seem like it was coming any time soon.

"Look, I don't want to sound snappy or anything but I don't understand why you've invited me on this walk with you if you aren't going to speak to me?" Toni started, noticing how Hunter didn't even react to the sound of her voice. "Are you even listening to me right now?"

"You were right," Hunter mumbled, so gently that Toni wasn't sure if she had imagined the words falling from the blonde's mouth. She had frozen where she was standing, a slight quiver to her voice as she trembled a little at what she was about to admit.

"What?"

"You were right Toni!" Hunter yelled, whirling round to face Toni with tears pooling in her eyes and a shaky hand running through her hair. The other girl raised her hands to show she wasn't going to cause her any harm, instantly realising why Hunter had wanted to be away from the others. The blonde tugged at her shirt, frantically pulling over her head and running her fingers over the three burn marks on her rib cage. "They're not wax burns, they're cigarette burns. I guessed Riley thought it was funny since he kept telling me it was a joke, but I didn't see the funniness in it at all."

Hunter quivered slightly, her hands trembling as she stood clutching her shirt in her hands and looking at Toni with so much pain and hurt in her eyes that Toni found it hard to keep contact. The blonde ran her spare hand through her hair as she backed up slightly, her breath beginning to heave a little as she realised what she had just said out loud. Toni knew now for sure, Toni knew what had happened to her to make her so afraid to get close to anyone.

"Hunter..." Toni murmured, moving closer and immediately stopping in her tracks as the blonde took a step backwards, tears starting to spring from her eyes and down her face as she held a hand out motioning for Toni to stay where she was. The raven haired girl did so, even though it almost physically pained her to not be able to comfort the blonde.

"Don't Toni," Hunter rasped, her voice dry and rough as she tried to capture together her thoughts. She looked back up at the other girl, knowing that in a different life they'd both maybe have gotten the chance at a normal senior year. "I don't need pitied."

There was a short moment of silence before Toni shook her head, shooting the girl a small genuine smile as she tried to calm her down. "Hey, I'm not pitying you. I'm fucking impressed."

"What?" Hunter asked, all of her panicked thoughts pausing for a moment as she looked at the girl in complete confusion. She didn't understand what there was to be impressed by. Hunter had held this secret together as if it was the biggest shame to have ever existed, and here Toni was telling her how impressive she found the girl. "It's not fucking impressive Toni, it's humiliating!"

"Nah, I don't see it like that," Toni told her, taking a cautious step forward and holding her breath in anticipation of Hunter taking one backwards. The blonde didn't, and instead found herself holding her breath as she allowed Toni to walk closer into her bubble that she had made for herself. "You're a survivor Hunter. You've stood here, and you've told me the one thing that's been weighing you down ever since we met, and you've survived it. That's fucking impressive to me."

Hunter nodded as she took in her friend's words, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Toni didn't see her as pathetic or weak. She had spent so long compartmentalising all these feelings based on the assumptions of her parents that everyone would see it as lies or as her just being pathetic, and here Toni had torn down those barriers in her mind with one fucking sentence.

The blonde didn't know what to say, so she pulled her shirt back on over her head and turned around to crouch down and pick up the branches that her and Toni had been collecting. They probably had enough now to last the shelter for the next few nights and since Hunter wasn't really sure if she wanted to keep this conversation going, she reached over and passed half of the pile to Toni who was still standing within arms reach of herself.

Toni didn't say anything as she accepted the branches, not really sure what there was to say. She knew what she wanted to make clear to Hunter but she wasn't sure if she was welcome to speak freely about the revelation that had just been launched on her. Toni knew that Hunter had only lashed out at her the other night because Toni had caught on to what she had been too ashamed to tell them, but the dark haired girl was also aware now that the reason Hunter had been so jumpy around her after wrecking the other shelter was clearly because of her pushing Nora and yelling at the girl.

"I know you don't want to be around me," Toni said after they had been walking in silence for a few minutes, heading back to where the campsite was. She didn't want to say anything but she figured she might as well spit out her thoughts while they were alone. "But I promise I'm not like him, and I know that's why you've been avoiding me for the past few days but I'm not like that. I just don't get why you've been avoiding me and not Rachel or Leah when their temper is just as bad."

Hunter shrugged as she turned to face Toni, ever so slightly. Her eyes connected with the other girls for a moment before she turned around and continued walking ahead of the basketball player. She knew Toni was right, Rachel and Leah did have pretty rough tempers - Rachel with most things and Leah when Fatin had tried to take the book from her. She was aware the girls had vicious tempers, but that wasn't why Hunter was avoiding Toni.

"You're not like them Toni," Hunter finally admitted as they got closer to where they could see the rest of the girls lounging around on the beach since there wasn't much for them to do. "I don't care about them the way I think I do for you."

Toni rose an eyebrow at that, overthinking the statement almost immediately. She didn't understand why Hunter would care for her any differently than the others especially since it wasn't like they'd known each other before the island. She didn't understand why Hunter was holding her to a different bar than the other two anger prone girls.

Just before they were noticed by the rest of the girls, Hunter took a deep breath and stopped in her tracks causing Toni to do the same as she stared at the blonde in confusion. She tilted her head as Hunter stared at her for a moment, fidgeting with the branches in her arms as she seemed to have an internal debate about doing something. The blonde rocked back and forth on her feet for a second before looking at Toni and smiling gently.

"Mind if I try something?"

Toni nodded without any hesitation, unsure what she was agreeing to but also wanting to see what Hunter was intending to do. Before she even had much chance to think over the possibilities, the blonde girl had dumped the sticks in her hands on the ground and stepped over them, wrapping her arms around Toni's waist as she pulled the basketball player into a tight hug.

From the distance, Dot caught sight of the two girls at the edge of the forest, nudging Fatin and Leah as the three had been peeling off some of the shells from one of the packs of nuts that they had found. The trio all looked over at Hunter hugging Toni, shock filling their faces as they took in the fact that not only were Toni and Hunter seemingly over whatever issues that they had with each other for the past two days, but that Hunter was obviously so over it that she was willingly hugging the girl - something she hadn't came close to doing for anyone else.

"What the fuck," Fatin laughed, the other two girls smiling as well at the sight. It seemed as if Hunter was finally letting her barriers down for the girls and they were all excited to see where this would take them.

As soon as Hunter let go of Toni and saw the flushed look on her face, she knew that she had it bad for the basketball player. She wasn't quite ready to admit that yet but she knew just from one look at the girl that she had gotten her all wrong the other day: Toni Shalifoe was nothing like Riley Black.

_____

"Hunter, we know it's hard to talk about but I wanted to ask you about your scar on your face."

"Oh, you mean this small thing?" Hunter asked sarcastically, running her finger lightly along the healing scar that travelled from the edge of her chin across the left hand side of her jawline. "Yeah that happened long after day nine. I'm afraid that's a story for another day boys. You've had your time with me, and I just want my bed now, thanks. Like I said earlier, I'll be willing to talk more once my lawyer gets here."

Agent Young and Dr Faber shared an exasperated look between each other before Hunter smiled at them, a hidden maliciousness behind the simple gesture. She folded her hands as she leaned forward, her eyes twinkling as she flickered between them both before settling on Agent Young.

"I wrote a letter for Leah with those notepads you brought me earlier on in the week," Hunter said, her voice a little more gentle than it had just been. "I know we can't see each other because of the quarantine order but I was wondering if you could give it to her. Last time we saw each other, I said some pretty nasty stuff that I regret and I just wanted to apologise to her for it."

Dr Faber and Agent Young blinked in surprise, not having expected the girl to do such a thing. They had assumed if she was going to write a letter for anyone that it would have been Toni or even Fatin but certainly not Leah. Dr Faber nodded slowly for a moment as he held out his hand to see the letter, scanning it over with his own eyes before folding it up and tucking it into his front pocket.

"This looks fine to me," he told the other two in the room, having read it over to make sure that there wasn't anything in there that would give away their involvement in this entire experience. The girls couldn't have known they were behind it - at least not Hunter anyway. She had never displayed any paranoid traits on the island and had often brushed off Leah's constantly evolving door of theories.

Or so they thought anyway.