Driftwood

[Ludub]

Okay... Thanks for that analysis Red. (I knew you'd try to convince me that he's a bad'un!  I obviously don't agree but I can see how you've come to those conclusions) but for the purposes of this story you're gonna have to see him through my 'rose-tinted' glasses, lol! 

Thanks again to everyone for the feedback.  Hope you enjoy this chapter x

 

Chapter 14

 

Alarms! He could hear alarms sounding loudly, deafening, reverberating off metal walls. People screaming, crying, wailing… Sounds of fear and suffering and desperation. He felt someone stand heavily on his shin as they stumbled past him, and heard a woman screaming as she called for help along the hallway. The sudden pain in his leg had jolted him out of his stupor. He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, blinking to try to bring his eyes into focus, and trying to understand what was happening. The screaming disappeared into the distance and all he was left with were the sounds of the alarms and distant yelling. It was dark here but there were emergency lighting strips illuminating a track along the wall… or was that the floor?! He didn’t remember there being carpet on the walls of the ship but he couldn’t be sure. Above him, he could see an open doorway, and as he glimpsed the room inside, he slowly began to realise that everything was on its side. The ship had tipped over! He was lying on the wall of one of the corridors. There was water spilling in through the balcony doors in the room above him and washing towards him in waves. Water was cascading down on top of him. He was cold and wet. One thought passed through his mind; the ship was sinking! ‘Okay, think!’ he told himself, trying to calm himself down, “Just think! Where are you?! What’s going on?!”  He put his hands out to his sides and tried to feel what he was lying on. He was right beside an open doorway! He could have fallen right through! He lifted his head and tried to sit up. That was when he realised! There was something very wrong. The pain in his abdomen hit him like a freight train and he collapsed back onto the floor with his heart going a million miles an hour. He lifted his head again and tried to look down at his stomach. There was a large piece of metal sticking through his side. It looked like a piece of the tramline lighting fixtures that he’d seen on the ceiling above his bed. It was a long strip of metal that was curved into an angular C shape and it had pierced his shirt right through to his stomach. He put his hand on the floor and tentatively passed it underneath his lower back to try to feel if the strip of metal had passed right through. He gave a shuddering sigh of relief when he felt that it hadn’t. Still, he didn’t know how far it had gone in, or if it had hit any major organs. He tried to take in a deep breath but it just made him cough. The pain was overwhelming. He lifted his hand and looked at it. It was covered in blood and he was shaking badly now. He needed to get up. He needed to get to the muster station and see if he could find everyone else. He needed to get help. He put his hand around the metal strip in his belly, trying to hold it in place, and took as deep a breath as he could manage. He knew how much this was going to hurt. Gritting his teeth and giving a loud groan, he rolled over onto his side and managed to get onto his knees. Just then the ship rolled violently to one side and he fell against what was now the wall, driving the metal strip even further into his belly. The cry that he gave was like that of a wounded animal, and he sat with his head leaning against the wall as he tried to calm his breathing. “Okay, Matt” he told himself again, “Get up, just get up!” With great effort, he pushed himself away from the wall and held the piece of metal in place. The ship was rolling from side to side quite violently now and it became clear to him that he wouldn’t be able to walk all that easily. If he fell again, with this piece of metal in his side, he would run the risk of driving it right through, and that could be the end of him. He was going to have to pull it out! He was going to have to do the one thing that they always tell you not to do! He began to unbutton his shirt but it took him a while as he struggled badly with his shaking hands. With great effort, he managed to get his arms out of the sleeves and then he had to tear the material to remove it from around the metal strip. Now he had the shirt in his hands, he looked down at the metal as it disappeared inside his body and wondered what would happen once he pulled it out. How much would it hurt? Would he bleed to death?! Would he just die here in this hallway?! He wasn’t sure that he was ready for this… He looked down the corridor and saw that water was now pouring in through all the open doorways in what was now the ceiling. The room below him was quickly filling with water too. He needed to get out, and he needed to do it now! He began tearing the shirt up into strips, using his teeth to start the rips at the edges, and then threw the pieces over his shoulder to try to keep them dry. “Okay, just do it” he growled at himself through gritted teeth, before balling up a piece of the shirt and pushing it in his mouth to bite down on. “Mrrrhhhhhmmmm” he cried out, as he pulled the metal strip out of his abdomen in one quick movement, and then dropped it to the floor. Blood began to pour out at an alarming rate so he quickly grabbed part of the shirt that he’d ripped up and used it to pack the wound as best he could. He was shaking violently now and his eyes were watering badly from the pain so he could hardly see what he was doing. Wiping his eyes and his sweaty forehead with his forearm, he took the longer strips and tied them together.  Taking a pained breath, he began to wrap them tightly around his stomach, pulling it as tight as he could manage, and tying it off right above his hip. He leaned forward against the wall, panting and moaning in pain, and knelt there for a moment trying to regain his strength. “Okay, get up” he said to himself again, glancing down the hallway and wondering how far he would have to go to get out. “Get up!” he growled at himself as he pulled himself shakily to his feet and began to stagger along the corridor towards what would have been the exit. He had no idea what lay ahead of him or how he was going to get out, but he had to try…

“Matt?” said Roo, giving his knee a little shake and looking at him in concern. He’d suddenly stopped talking and was simply staring into the distance as though he’d taken a leave of absence. “Are you okay?” she asked, seeing how much he was shaking.

“Matt, we can take a break if you need to” offered Aden, reaching for the Dictaphone and motioning to him that he would turn it off if he wanted him to.  He gave Roo a puzzled look when Matt didn’t respond. “Is he okay?” he asked, glancing at Alf and grimacing a little.

Alf shrugged as he looked across the table. Matt had gone a terrible shade of white as though he’d seen a ghost. He’d been talking about trying to get out of that corridor on the ship when he’d suddenly stopped mid-sentence as though he’d just remembered something long forgotten. “Maybe he needs a glass of water?” suggested Alf, going out to the kitchen to get him one.

Matt continued to stare into the distance and Roo glanced at her father in a worried sort of way when he returned with a glass of water and handed it to a thoroughly dazed looking Matt. He’d accepted the glass without even looking at it. “Matt?” she said, rubbing his leg and gently turning his face to look at her. He was staring right through her. “Matt, you’re scaring me…” she said, “Baby, look at me!”

The interview had been going surprisingly well up till now, and both Matt and Roo had opened up a lot over the course of the last hour. They’d started off the interview with stories about the first few days of the cruise when everyone had been having fun. A group of about twenty of Alf’s friends and family had set off on a cruise that was to take them up the coast to Brisbane and then do a big loop around the Solomon Islands before sailing back to Sydney. The night of the shipwreck had been one of the formal evenings and everyone had been dressed to the nines. Roo had chosen a red floaty chiffon dress to the ground and joked that she might have chosen something else had she known that she’d be wearing it for the next four years. Matt had worn black tie, but by the time they’d ended up on the life-raft, he’d had only a pair of black trousers and a t-shirt that he’d managed to salvage from some discarded clothes in one of the hallways. Neither of them had understood what had actually happened that night. They’d ended up on that island with very little idea of what had caused the shipwreck and even less of an idea of where they were. They knew now, of course. They’d read a lot of the news coverage from the time of the disaster and even watched clips of the rescue operation on YouTube. Alf and some of their friends had also helped to fill in the blanks. In short, the cruise liner had sunk when a rogue wave had overwhelmed the ship and caused it to roll onto its side. A storm had ensued and the ship had been battered and tossed around by colossal waves. It was for this reason that the cruise company had managed to wriggle its way out of paying any compensation to the victims. They’d called it an ‘Act of God’. The storm and the wave could certainly be defined as an act of God. That couldn’t be denied. But what was not an act of God was the illegal use of gas appliances in the ship’s galley, which had resulted in a massive explosion, when the ship had rolled over. The blast had blown a hole in the ship’s hull and water had begun to spill inside at a rate so overwhelming that the ship had sunk within a matter of hours. It had also resulted in extensive injuries to a great number of the passengers during the evacuation. That was going to be the basis of the case against them. Ship’s kitchens should not be using open flame appliances and the explosion caused by the leak on that fateful night had expedited the sinking of the ship and left hundreds floating in inflatable life-rafts in incredibly choppy waters. It was a wonder that more had not been killed!

“Baby… look at me!” cried Roo, giving Matt’s shoulder a little shake.

He’d been lost in a flood of memories, so overwhelmingly real that he’d been finding it had to breathe, but suddenly he shook his head and took a deep shuddering intake of breath. In a flash, he was on his feet and backing away towards the kitchen sink. “I… I… I need to go” he stammered, running his fingers through his hair and blowing out a big breath. “I’m sorry, Roo” he said, giving her an apologetic look and shaking his head, as tears began to well up in his eyes, “I’m sorry Aden… I can’t do this… I know I said I would… but I can’t…”

“It’s okay” said Aden, turning the Dictaphone off and setting it back on the table, “Matt, it’s okay… We can do this another time…”

“No… not another time” said Matt, shaking his head emphatically, “Not any time… I can’t… I’m done!”

“That’s okay” said Aden, nodding at him sympathetically, “It’s okay.”

“I can’t!” he repeated, shaking his head at him again and pulling his arms around his chest tightly. Flashes of that night were still coming back to him, so vivid and real, and this time he couldn’t shut them out. He could almost feel the water all around him, chilling him to his very bones, just like that night on the ship. He’d nearly drowned that night, gasping for air, and desperately trying to find his way out. The place had been a death-trap. It had filled with water so quickly and with the ship on its side there had been no easy way to find an escape. If he hadn’t been such a strong swimmer, there was no doubt in his mind that he would have drowned. As it was, he’d come close on a number of occasions. He still didn’t know how he’d managed to find Roo or how they’d found themselves on that raft. All he really knew was that he was lucky to be alive.

Roo got to her feet and walked towards him. She put out her arms and tried to pull him into a hug but he pushed her away and backed towards the door.

“I can’t” he said, shaking his head and putting his hand on his chest as though he was having chest pains. “I need… I need…” he stammered, a little breathlessly, as he looked around the kitchen in a wide-eyed and staring sort of way. He wasn’t sure what he needed. “I need… some air!” he said finally, hyperventilating and clutching at his chest. With that, he disappeared out through the back door and vanished into the darkness.

Roo stood in the doorway for a moment with her hand placed gently around her own throat. She knew that she had to let him go for now, because he clearly needed some space, but it didn’t stop her from worrying about him. “I’m sorry” she said, turning and tilting her head at Aden apologetically before returning to her seat. She nodded at the Dictaphone and gave Alf and Aden a half-hearted little smile. “I can do a bit more…” she sighed, “If you want?”

“Okay” said Aden, smiling at her kindly and clicking record again, “If you’re sure….”

He listened as Roo began to tell him about the first few days that they’d spent on the island, and how she’d been sure that Matt was going to die. She talked about trying to keep him warm, and caring for his wound, and listening to his laboured breathing for hours on end with the ever present fear that it would stop. As he heard her speak, he couldn’t help letting his mind drift back to the final hours that he’d spent with Belle. Lying beside her, listening to her breathing, and waiting for it to stop… It had been the most painful experience of his life. Knowing that it was going to stop. Knowing that it was going to happen… He’d lain there for hours by her side, just watching her in the dim light, and listening to the weakening of her breath-sounds. He’d wanted to be there for her in that moment. That terrible moment when it all stopped. But somehow he’d missed it. In that one fleeting moment he’d been asleep. She’d had to do it alone. It was something that he couldn’t forgive himself for. It was something that still woke him in the middle of the night. He knew that she’d simply lost consciousness long before she’d stopped breathing, and that she’d peacefully slipped away, but he couldn’t stop torturing himself with questions that had no answer. Had she been afraid in that final moment? Had she needed him?!

“Do you have any idea what that’s like?!” asked Roo, staring down at her hands as she clasped them nervously in front of her.

He sat up a bit straighter, suddenly very aware that he hadn’t been listening, and flushing a little red out of guilt. Much to his relief though, she just continued talking, so she hadn’t really expected a response. He was surprised at how much Roo had opened up to him once she’d started talking. It was like the flood gates had opened and she simply wanted to unburden herself. He was more than a little relieved, because Alf had made it clear that neither of them had spoken about these things much before. He hadn’t been sure that he’d be able to get them to speak to him at all. Given their obvious nervousness, he was glad that he’d chosen to tell them about himself. It seemed to have gone a long way to putting them at their ease. He’d told them about the childhood abuse that he had endured, albeit in very limited detail, and about the loss of his wife at a very young age. He hadn’t gone into a massive amount of detail but he’d made it clear that he hadn’t exactly had an easy life either. He didn’t like to think of it as some manipulative gimmick that he used to get his clients to talk, or like he was looking for pity and sympathy, but he felt that offering information about his own troubles often made him a little more relatable. It made them feel that he could be trusted and that he was someone that might understand their pain and suffering. He didn’t want them to see him as some big city lawyer in a flash suit, who didn’t know the first thing about what they’d been through, and who was just looking to make a fast buck. He wasn’t that guy. He’d never be that guy no matter what he was wearing. He just needed them to see that.

 

*****

 

Aden gave a little sigh as he sat down on the bed and looked around his accommodation for the night. He smirked a little at the thought of what his colleagues would say if they could see him now. It was certainly a bit of a step down from what he was used to. He hadn’t stayed in a caravan for God knows how many years. He could easily have booked himself a room at The Sands at the firm’s expense, but something about staying in one of these tin cans tonight somehow seemed appropriate. Like returning to his roots in some way. He pulled off his tie and undid the buttons on his shirt collar, and then reached down to untie his shoes so that he could kick them off. Normally he would have picked them up and set them carefully beside the wall, if he’d been staying in a hotel, but again, being in this caravan made him feel like behaving like the teenager that he’d once been. He kicked one shiny shoe across the floor with a little self-satisfied smile, and then kicked off the other. He threw himself back on the mattress and put one hand behind his head. “I’m here again” he said, closing his eyes and smiling a sad little smile as he rested his other hand down by his side. “Can you believe it?” he asked, turning his head with his eyes still closed as he tried to picture her there in the bed beside him. He imagined her as she’d been then, giggling and teasing him like she always had. So young, and vibrant, and full of life. He could see her cheeky little smile, and the flash of mischief in her eyes when she thought that she’d got one over on him. Half-remembered bits of conversations floated through his mind, and he giggled a little, much to his own surprise, when he allowed himself to think of that first night that he’d climbed through her window uninvited. Why she’d let him stay that night, he’d never know! He’d been a drunken slobbering mess but she’d let him stay with her anyway. He’d climbed into her bed and slept beside her. He’d known then that she was the one. She would always be the one, he reflected sadly. He splayed his fingers and tried to imagine the feeling of her hand as it slipped into his own, her fingers intertwining with his, as though they were becoming part of him. It was then that his stomach gave a sudden jolt. There it was… that old familiar pain. It never fully went away. He missed her so much and not having her here by his side still hurt… even after so many years. Her bed had been the only place that he’d ever really felt safe. There’d been other women over the years. Lots of them. Some had meant more to him than he’d ever expected them to, but in the end, they simply weren’t her. He didn’t think that he’d ever love anyone in the way that he’d loved her. His very brief stint with Nicole had been the closest thing to a real relationship that he’d had over the last ten years. No-one else had managed to get anywhere near as close, but even with Nicole, he’d been holding back. He just couldn’t let her go. She’d given him so much more than she’d ever realised, and when she went away she’d taken it all from him again. It wasn’t her fault of course, but it was true. With her, he’d been able to become a man, secure in himself, and able to give his heart to someone else. Without her, he’d become that stupid and frightened little boy again. In some ways, that more confident man had died with her. He was successful from a professional point of view but he wondered if he'd be single for the rest of his life? Some part of him wondered if he was being ridiculous? They’d been so young. How could he possibly have known what real love was?! Had he simply placed her on a pedestal because she’d been his first love and she’d been stolen from him in such a cruel and untimely way? Would they really have stayed together if she’d lived? Would they really have made a go of things?! Their journey hadn’t exactly been smooth-sailing. They’d gotten together and broken up so many times that it had been hard to keep track. They’d let each other down on a number of occasions, each time promising never to do it again. Were they really the soulmates that he remembered them to be or was he just over-romanticising things because she was gone? He gave a heavy sigh and rubbed his face with both hands. He was tired, and being here in the Bay was stirring everything up for him again. This was probably the most that he’d allowed himself to think about her for a very long time. “I know… I know” he sighed, seeing her in his mind’s eye as she gave him a scolding little shake of the head. It was as though she was saying ‘Stop feeling sorry for yourself’.  With a little groan, he pulled himself back up into a sitting position and reached for his suitcase beside the bed. He wasn’t going to ponce about in this business suit all night long, he thought to himself. There were people that he needed to see and he didn’t want them thinking that he was trying to show off or something. This was a small seaside town after all, and a more casual style of dress was probably what was called for. He began to hunt through his neatly dry-cleaned clothing and located the least dressy shirt that he owned, and a pair of more casual grey trousers. “You win!” he said, laughing at himself a little as he caught himself talking to this imaginary version of her again, “I’m here now, so I might as well make the most of it.” He looked at his watch. It was already 8.30pm! He needed to get a move on! He wanted to see Irene tonight but he didn’t want to leave it too late and he was hoping that he might be able to persuade her to come to dinner. He figured that he owed her that much! He got up off the bed and began to get undressed, placing his shirt on a hanger and hooking it inside the tiny wardrobe beside the bed. He did the same with his trousers and then hung the suit jacket up too. As he turned to get the other shirt off the bed, he glanced at his briefcase, and thought of the other case file that was in there. He looked up to the ceiling and gave a sad little smile before kissing the gold band around his finger. He had some unfinished business with this town and a promise to keep that he didn’t intend breaking. But right now, his stomach was rumbling, and he had old friends to track down.

 

*****

 

“Sorry” said Matt, peeking his head through the bedroom door and looking at Roo in a shamefaced sort of way. He knew that he shouldn’t have run out on her like that but in that moment he had felt as though he was slowly suffocating. Every inch of his body had told him to get out and start running. In fact, that’s exactly what he’d done. He’d been running for the last two hours. Running as though his life depended on it. Running in the dark like a madman. He was soaked with sweat from head to toe and he was shaking in the doorway because his muscles had turned to jelly. He’d barely made it up the stairs.

“It’s okay” sighed Roo, lying on the bed with Alfie in her arms. He’d fallen asleep while she was breastfeeding him, but she’d been enjoying the cuddle, so she hadn’t had the heart to wake him up and move him. “I’m getting used to you running off and leaving me all the time” she huffed, avoiding eye contact with him and making it clear that she was upset.

“I really am sorry” he said, walking in and sitting down on the bed with a sheepish sort of expression. “I just really needed to get…” he started to say, but he could see that she wasn’t looking at him. “Roo?” he said, reaching across the bed for her hand but she pulled it away.

“I needed you here with me” she said quietly, as she leaned down and gave Alfie a gentle little kiss on the forehead. She began shuffling over towards the side of the bed to get up and lifted Alfie up onto her shoulder to carry him to his bed.

“I know” he said, hanging his head and staring at his feet, “I just… I had to get some air… I couldn’t breathe.”

“I, I, I..” snapped Roo, turning to glare at him after she’d placed Alfie in his cot. She was keeping her voice low in an angry whisper so as not to wake him. “Do you ever think that I might be struggling just as much as you are?! Just ‘cos I don’t go having panic attacks every five minutes doesn’t mean that I’m not hanging on by a thread! This is hard for me too! …I didn’t run off and leave you minding the baby, did I?!”

“I know that, Roo!” he snapped back at her, “I know I’m not the only one but… I can’t do what you do… I don’t know how to talk about things the way you do!”

“You open your mouth and you use your words! It’s not that hard!” she snarled, fully aware of how stupid she was being about this. Of course she understood that it wasn’t as simple as that when it came to anxiety issues, but right now she was angry, and she really wanted this fight. The tension had been building for weeks now and somehow she just needed to shout at him. “All this ‘I can’t talk to people’ nonsense is really getting on my nerves, Matt!” she growled, wanting to hurt his feelings, “It’s just so… so… so self-indulgent!”

“Well I can’t!” he whisper-shouted back at her, with a hurt expression on his face, “I’m doing my best here, Roo! I don’t know what it is that you want me to say!”

“Anything!” she shouted back, forgetting to keep her voice low and startling Alfie, “Anything at all! Just be a grown up for once, will you?!”

That was a low blow. He was angry too now and he could feel a rush of adrenalin pushing him to say more hurtful things. “You’re the needy one!” he yelled, ignoring the fact that Alfie was now on his feet and staring over the bars of his cot in a frightened and tearful way.  “I mean… I’m not the one who wants constant attention! ‘Me, me, me!’ …I’m tired, Roo! I’m tired and I’m stressed out… and I’m trying to hold down a job with a total perfectionist for a boss… picking on everything I do… everything I say… watching me all the time!  And now… and now, as if that wasn’t enough, I have some guy poking around our business and making me talk into a tape recorder… and…and I don’t want to remember what happened… I don’t want to remember! So maybe you can cut me some slack if I need to get away… from this… from you …just for a little while… I mean… Have you even realised that we have people babysitting you around the clock?!”

“And why would I need babysitting?!” sneered Roo, stomping over to her side of the bed and pulling her arms around her chest in a sulking sort of way. She looked up at him with the first sign of tears. “Why do you think I need babysitting, Matt?! Why am I sleepwalking?! Whose fault is that?!”

He gave a heavy sigh. It always came back to this.

She stared at him as tears began to roll down her cheeks. “You left me on my own, Matt” she said quietly, “You left me… You keep leaving me…”

He gave a little sigh and walked to where she was sitting. “Roo” he said softly, as he knelt down in front of her, “I didn’t mean to upset you.” He looked up into her tear-filled eyes and tilted his head at her apologetically, “I know it was selfish of me… I’m sorry”

She nodded in a slow but accepting way. “You stink” she said, sniffling and wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand, “What have you been doing? Running a marathon?!”

“Something like that” he said, nodding his head slowly and turning to give Alfie a reassuring little smile. “It’s okay, mate” he said to him in a soothing voice, “Mummy and daddy are okay, it’s okay”

“You need a shower” she said, motioning with her head for him to go. She got up and picked Alfie up out of the cot again and began softly singing to him to soothe him back to sleep. Matt was only gone for a few minutes and she smiled a little half-heartedly when she saw him walk back in freshly showered. “Time for bed, little man” she said, gently placing Alfie back in his cot now that he’d calmed down again.

She climbed back into the bed and clicked one side of the handcuffs to her wrist, and then sat holding the other side expectantly, while Matt climbed in the other side. He held his arm out in her direction, automatically at this stage, and she clicked the other cuff closed around his wrist. He marvelled at how normal a part of their bedtime routine this had become, locking themselves together on a nightly basis.

“Night” she said, rolling over with her back to him and hugging her arms around herself.

He looked at her as she lay there, realising that the fight wasn’t over, and saw that her shoulders were shuddering slightly. He knew that she was crying. “Roo” he said softly, as he put his hand gently on her shoulder, “I’m sorry”

“Just go to sleep” she said, pulling her shoulder away from him. She wondered why she was doing this. More than anything she wanted to feel his arms around her and melt into the safety of his embrace, but there was an anger inside of her that just kept boiling up. ‘This is self-destructive’ she told herself as she lay there crying. ‘You’re frightened of losing him so you’re pushing him away… How does that make any sense, you stupid stupid woman?!’

He gave a heavy sigh and lay on his back on his side of the bed with his arm in an incredibly awkward position. He hoped that she’d have calmed down by morning. This wasn’t the first time that she’d behaved like this and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, he thought to himself. He smirked a little when he looked at the handcuff on his wrist and thought how strange it was to be handcuffed to someone who was giving you the silent treatment. She wanted him to keep his distance and yet there was a pink fluffy cuff around his wrist that meant he couldn’t do that. He was tethered to her whether she wanted him to be or not.

“I love you” he said, lying there beside her and listening to her as she quietly cried, “I know I do stupid things sometimes… but I love you.”

She smiled despite herself. She’d wanted to lie there and feel sorry for herself but he’d managed to do it again. He’d managed to know exactly the right thing to say at exactly the right moment to make her feel better. “I love you too” she said, pulling the cover up around her shoulders and giving a little sigh, “Now go to sleep.”

He smiled. Things would be okay in the morning…

[KittCatt]

Great chapter!

Good to know more about how they ended up on the Island. Matt's injuries were certainly terrible...I don't blame him for not coping. It was good that Roo was able to open up more though, and i liked Aden remembering Belle when Roo said she was essentially waiting for Matt's breathing to stop. 

Things are still a bit tense between Roo and Matt. They do have very different ways of coping, and i get that Roo wants Matt to be able to talk to her, but she should've been a bit more sensitive. They were both trading blows, but it was probably for the best- better to get everything out in the open, because then they can at least talk. And good to see their bedtime routine still going.

I look forward to more!  

[Guest]

Great chapter

Liked the insight into how Matt and Roo ended up on the island.

Aden remembering Belle was a nice touch.

Update again soon

[Inactive User]

Great chapter

Liked the scene when Aden remembered Belle which was a nice touch

Looking forwards to the next chapter Xxx

[Red Ranger 1]

7 hours ago, Ludub said:

Thanks for that analysis Red. (I knew you'd try to convince me that he's a bad'un!  I obviously don't agree but I can see how you've come to those conclusions) but for the purposes of this story you're gonna have to see him through my 'rose-tinted' glasses, lol! 

Don't worry, I wasn't expecting you to be a convert! I think you've struck the balance right, with the emphasis obviously towards your own feelings on the issue but with an acknowledgement that Aden and Belle were far from perfect. Elsewhere, I think Roo was very hard on Matt and she needs to wake up to herself rather than blaming all her problems on him.It seems from what we know so far that while he did let her down it certainly wasn't through choice.

[pembie]

That was very good the flashback with the ship sinking and laying on its side and Matt having that metal pole stuck in his stomach was very harrowing and the water gushing into the boat. I wish I found Matt as intesting in the show as I do in your story Roo was quite out of order with him I thought....

Aden's scene in the caravan was very sweet remembering Belle very romantic and sad at the same time...Gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside

[Ludub]

Aw, thanks everyone!  Really glad you all liked this chapter!

Thought it was about time that you got to know what happened on the ship that night and how Matt got his injury in the first place. It was a pretty traumatic experience for him and the sad thing is, it was only the beginning really.  There were four more years ahead of him! And even more injuries! 

17 hours ago, KittCatt said:

Good to know more about how they ended up on the Island. Matt's injuries were certainly terrible.

13 hours ago, Kristen said:

Liked the insight into how Matt and Roo ended up on the island.

10 minutes ago, pembie said:

That was very good the flashback with the ship sinking and laying on its side and Matt having that metal pole stuck in his stomach was very harrowing and the water gushing into the boat. I wish I found Matt as intesting in the show as I do in your story

Thanks Pembie! I'm glad if I've been able to make Matt more appealing to you! haha! That's a pretty big compliment  (I love Matt but I think he's terribly underused in the show and I just wish that they would give him some meatier storylines) Having never been in a shipwreck myself, it took all my powers of imagination to write that flashback. I even spent some time googling cruise ship disasters. My search history is decidedly weird at this stage  So glad you enjoyed it though!

17 hours ago, KittCatt said:

i liked Aden remembering Belle when Roo said she was essentially waiting for Matt's breathing to stop

13 hours ago, ~JarlieFanEver~ said:

Liked the scene when Aden remembered Belle which was a nice touch

28 minutes ago, pembie said:

Aden's scene was very sweet remembering Belle very romantic and sad at the same time...Gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside

Glad you all liked this too!  I think being back in the Bay would stir everything up for him again, and I liked the idea that he might actually talk to her every now and then. He's not doing it in a crazy, she's haunting him, kind of way. He knows that she's not there. It's just that he likes to imagine her there with him in some way. Kinda sad really, especially after so many years.

10 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Don't worry, I wasn't expecting you to be a convert! I think you've struck the balance right, with the emphasis obviously towards your own feelings on the issue but with an acknowledgement that Aden and Belle were far from perfect.

Thanks Red! I don't think you'll ever make a convert of me! The Aden love is just too deeply ingrained!  I'm glad you liked the chapter anyway. I loved Aden and Belle together but part of what I loved about them was how incredibly flawed their relationship was. In many ways they weren't great for each other but there was just this connection and overwhelming attraction that kept pulling them back together. They had the most chemistry of any characters on the show (in my opinion - I know you thought he was better with Nicole but I just never bought into that. She was kind of always his friend with benefits). I think Aden really did love Belle, and a large part of that was the fact that she was the first person that he allowed to get close to him. It bonded her to him. He and Nicole never had that. Anyway,it's  just my view of things and I am trying to keep a little bit of balance, but since this is my story you're just gonna have to come along for the ride lol! 

 

22 hours ago, Suzza101 said:

Awesome Chapter!!!!!

Yay a chapter with Brody and Kyle just hanging out!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love how they were just spending time with each other away from the restaurant and the sense of humour they have with each other, I love it!!!

Oh... and thanks for the feedback on the previous chapter Suzza  Sorry I didn't have any Kyle and Brodes in this episode! lol! Don't worry though, they'll be back...

[Red Ranger 1]

4 hours ago, Ludub said:

Thanks Red! I don't think you'll ever make a convert of me! The Aden love is just too deeply ingrained!  I'm glad you liked the chapter anyway. I loved Aden and Belle together but part of what I loved about them was how incredibly flawed their relationship was. In many ways they weren't great for each other but there was just this connection and overwhelming attraction that kept pulling them back together. They had the most chemistry of any characters on the show (in my opinion - I know you thought he was better with Nicole but I just never bought into that. She was kind of always his friend with benefits). I think Aden really did love Belle, and a large part of that was the fact that she was the first person that he allowed to get close to him. It bonded her to him. He and Nicole never had that. Anyway,it's  just my view of things and I am trying to keep a little bit of balance, but since this is my story you're just gonna have to come along for the ride lol! 

Ooh, the flashbacks continue.I occasionally court controversy by saying I think Aden and Nicole were soul mates (even though things ended badly between them, I still like to think that they ran into each other again somewhere along the way) but I do believe that, and I think if he hadn't latched on to Belle for...some reason (because all her friends had left and the show didn't know what to do with her probably) then they'd have got together right at the start and been good for each other.There was a strong bond between them, essentially they were each other's first real friends and that never went away.Belle I ended up intensely disliking after loving her for her first two years on the show because she just seemed to have no realism where Aden was concerned, she witnessed his brutal side time and time again but went from turning a blind eye to it to excusing it to actually seeming to like it, convincing herself he was a better person that he was just because she fancied him.I accept Nicole was the same at first but she had a lot of growing up to do and once she did I think she was a better influence on Aden than Belle.I always thought that what marked them apart was Aden decides to impress Belle by smashing the camera of a guy that's hassling her and it works and she's soon simpering over him, even though it nearly landed Aden in jail.A few months later, he tries to impress Nicole by stealing the car of the girl that slept with her boyfriend and Nicole is furious with him.That seemed like a turning point for Aden that made him finally do some much needed growing up and actually become a decent person for a bit (the most likable he'd been since he first moved in with Roman, before the show seemed to stop trying to redeem him and instead rely on people falling for his "I woz abused, that means it's okay for me to try and kill someone" act), at least until the show decided to write him out by turning him back into a complete t*sser.

[Ludub]

8 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Ooh, the flashbacks continue

I hesitate to write this because I don't want to turn this into an Aden Jefferies discussion thread but ...

This is something that always amazes me. That people's perceptions can differ so wildly. We watched the same characters and the same actors and yet ended up at complete opposites of the spectrum of opinion. My interpretation of Aden is so different from yours that it almost makes me wonder if we we actually were watching the same show. But that's the way human brains work. I once read Johnny Cash's autobiography and he talked about being held hostage with his wife June Carter in their house in Jamaica. He said that, for years after, he listened with fascination to her tell people what happened because in his view it wasn't what had happened at all. But he said that he came to realise that neither of them were right. Neither of them were in full possession of the facts because they had both seen things through the lens of their own human condition and slanted view of the world. We all colour things with whatever personal beliefs and preconceived notions we already hold. I think I have a tendency to fall for a good sob story. Actually,I don't think, I know. If they get me onboard with an 'I'm just a damaged little flower' storyline then I'm theirs, lol! I know I do it but I can't help it, haha! If they manage it well, then from that point on I see that character through overly sympathetic glasses and I make them into real people with real human emotions and motivations. And I grow to love them. Whereas I think you may have a little bit of tendency to hold onto grudges for the duration of a character's stay on the show. If they do something that you don't like at the start it would take them to have a total personality transplant, or a lobotomy, or a recast, in order for you to forgive them, and even then you'd be waiting for them to revert to form, and viewing even the smallest infraction as proof that they're just hiding their true character. I think, for you the introduction matters more than anything. If a character enters the show as a 'good' person you're much more willing to forgive them their crimes because you haven't decided that they're bad people from the outset. Angelo and Hugo being good examples. They came into the show as ostensibly good people and then, after enough time for you to have formed positive opinions of them, both did very bad things (and in Hugo's case, probably one of the most appalling acts of any character in the show's history) but you seem a lot more willing to forgive them their actions than those that entered under a cloud. I understand your point of view. You think a bad'un is a bad'un, case closed. You seem to have an almost knee-jerk reaction to any hint of a sob story as explanation, and you resent the soap standard practice of redeeming 'bad' characters. You rail against it. I'm a total sucker for it, haha! 

I obviously watched a very different Aden from you, lol!

[Red Ranger 1]

4 hours ago, Ludub said:

You rail against it. I'm a total sucker for it, haha! 

I think that is true to an extent and I think I may have got worse over the years and that being on this forum and expressing an opinion about a character means I feel obliged to stick to that opinion.I like to think I'm a bit flexible and I think it is partly a result of the show, in recent years, firstly increasing the seriousness of the bad things we're required to forgive and then completely failing to demonstrate that a character has reformed.I did actually like Aden for a bit after the abuse reveal because he did seem to be trying to deal with his issues and be a better person and seemed to be trying to rebuild his relationship with his father.I don't think the relationship with Belle helped because the set-up was so abrupt and ridiculous that Aden came across as a creepy stalker, breaking into the house of a girl he barely knows and sneaking into her bed for a cuddle when she's asked him not to, and Belle came across as a bit desperate, so lonely that she'd convince herself that a boy she had several reasons for hating was wonderful.But it reached a point where it changed from "Aden was abused and that was why he did bad things in the past but now he's going to get better" to "Aden was abused and that's why he does bad things so you should like him whatever he does." I think the presentation didn't help.On paper, Aden beating up Axel sounded like a redemptive moment, Aden breaking his ties with his old friends and throwing in his lot with the people he'd been bullying beforehand.But on screen...firstly it didn't actually change anything with people's perception of Aden, those that hated him carried on hating him, those that liked him carried on liking him, and most of the town never knew it was him.The result was at best "Aden is a seriously messed up and dangerous individual and pandering to him and letting him think what he did was okay is just going to make him do something worse" (which he did) and at worst "Aden is a deeply unpleasant thug who can hurt someone and not care."I think Andy went down a similar route in that he came in bad, seemed to get better and then did something absolutely appalling that the audience were encouraged to think was somehow justified.(And he didn't even have a sob story beyond "I grew up without a father", which even Andy pointed out is the exact same sob story they gave Hunter, so I'm not sure why one's worked with you and the other hasn't.)I don't think I rail against it every time, I just think there's a limit to what can be brushed aside and cold-blooded murder or keeping an innocent woman tied up in a shed for days is it.I accepted the redemption of Ric, someone else who started off as a bully but turned into a decent if occasionally volatile person once he'd dealt with his issues.I've more or less accepted Matt, who can still be a jerk at times but is a decent person deep down.Xavier started off as a drug dealer and a bit of a tw*t and I spent much of his first year on the show violently disliking him but quietly, without any over the top attempts to force us to like him, he turned around, became a decent young man and became one of my favourites.Conversely, I did turn against Hugo during his return stint when he seemed to have devolved into nothing more than a selfish criminal and I was frustrated at the amount of sympathy he received.The only reason I didn't mind his escape that much was that I trusted Angelo and recognised that he had two bad choices (let Hugo escape or send him to his death) and chose the least worst.