Stranded 8

So what else could I do?
Dylan was my ticket for an introduction to everyone.  I didn’t know anyone else.  I didn’t know what to say. 
I only wanted him to come back and save me.
So, I sat against a tree and heard that man’s angry voice ringing those horrible words at Dylan.
It made me angry.
It showed me Dylan lied to me and didn’t tell me he had a family there. 
Well I never asked.  I kept forgetting to.  So I guess it’s not really his fault. 
Because you saw them, who would want to mention a father that hits you and calls you a pathetic retard?
Well was that even his father?
I didn’t know.  All I did know was I didn’t feel comfortable continuing the journey back without Dylan.
So I wasn’t going anywhere.

My name is Luke Gray and I waited to be rescued.

760 days before being rescued.

Tyler – Hey dude.
I watched Tyler walk all the way up to me from way down the beach. 
Luke – Hi.
Tyler – How’s your head?
Luke – It’s fine.
Tyler – No headache or anything?
He grabbed my head without asking and moved my hair so he could look at it.
Luke – No, it’s gone down.
I let him examine me.
Tyler – I’m glad.
He sat down next to me facing the ocean.
Tyler – I heard about Ian’s freak out.
Luke – Oh.  Yeah.
I didn’t know what else to say. 

So it’s time for another introduction.

Ian.
That bastard.
I hate him and blame him for way too much.  But he is without a doubt one of the most crucial people who affected my story of the island.
But as much as I hate him, I sort of have gratitude for him.
And it sounds horrible, it really does.  I contemplated actually writing this down.  But it has to be said.  Everything here has to be the truth.
If he weren’t there, I would never have had Tyler to myself for all that time.
It would have been all of us being rescued.
Well I can’t say that for sure.  I don’t know what happened.  Only Tyler does.
But I can be sure that we would have all been together when it did.  And we could have helped each other.  We could have stopped it.
And I would know what did happen.
But that’s beside the point.
I’m talking about Ian here.
Who exactly is he?
That I never really found out.
He was nice.
But he was also a jerk.
He was, as I know it now, bipolar.
One minute he was friendly, he cared for Dylan and Zooey, and he did his task in helping our group.
But then his mood swings came in and all hell broke loose.
He fought and argued and caused turmoil that I can only guess caused everything to happen as it did.

What else can I say about him?
I dunno.  I don’t want to give away too much up front.
Just as River Song once told the doctor:
Spoilers.

Tyler – Poor Dylan.
That got my attention, as I was worried about what that man, Ian, was going to do to him.
I looked at Tyler.
Tyler - The kid came back literally shaking.  I don’t know what their relationship is, but I wish I could separate them for a bit.
Luke – Is he okay?
Tyler – Who, Dylan?  Yeah, he’s a tough little guy.  Pretty sweet actually.  The way he offered to look after you.
Luke – Yeah.  Wait, he offered?
Tyler – Yeah, without thinking twice.
Luke – Oh, he said you asked him to.
Tyler – Well when he said he would, I was fine with it.  But I wasn’t about to ask a kid his age to sit around and play nurse.
I always wondered about that.  Dylan was just a good, caring person.  But how could he just give up exploring this brand new world to help a complete stranger?
Tyler – So where did you two go, anyway?
Luke – Uh, we were looking for my brother.
Tyler – Aw, really?  Your brother was on the plane?
Luke – Yeah.
Tyler – Oh man, wow.
Luke – So I take it you didn’t find him?
I knew the answer before I even asked it.
Tyler only looked back at me with a look of sorrow and concern.
A rim of tears pooled in each eye until they cusped and ran down my cheeks and dripped from my chin.
I didn’t wipe either off.
It would be like wiping away my brother.

The thing is, I don’t think I want to spend the time explaining how I was feeling about my brother.  I think I just need to leave a lot of it out, because you can guess what I was feeling.
My brother was missing.
At the time, I was in denial about it.  I was only away from him as I was away from my mom and dad.  I hadn’t seen any of them in two days, so it was like a short vacation.
It would take time, but it slowly became more of a reality that I wasn’t going to see my family for a very long time.
And my brother being dead.
I could never admit to it, because I might as well admit to my parents being dead.  It was the same story for all of them.

We sat in silence for probably fifteen minutes.
There wasn’t anything to say.
And I knew Tyler wasn’t going to say anything.  I could tell he was the type who would sit with me, giving me all the time I needed.
But it was too upsetting.
I had to break the silence.
Luke – So who else is there?
His voice was very calm and soothing.
Tyler – Well, there is seven of us that I know of.  There’s Dylan, Ian, and Zooey, who you’ve met.

Okay, more introductions.

Zooey.

Zooey was an interesting person.  She was Ian’s girlfriend.
She was sweet and cared about everyone.  But Dylan always told me I couldn’t trust her.
It was Dylan who made me feel weird about her.
So her importance to the story: it’s definitely not as high as Ian.
And I’m not trying to rank people in terms of anything.
I’m just telling you who affected my story the most.
Zooey was mainly a good person who I only had mixed feelings about because of Dylan.
And of course the fact that she could be in a relationship with someone like Ian.

Tyler – And two others you haven’t met: Hayden and Paul.

Hayden.

Hayden is on the same level as Zooey.
To me, she was just another friendly face on the island.
But what she was could be considered a catalyst to my future relationship with Tyler.
What I saw happen to her, it really made me want Tyler even more.  Way before he was mine.  Before he even knew he wanted me.
Ugh.  I need to call him.

And Paul.

I wish I could say more about Paul.
He was one of the most important on the island because he proved to me what type of person Tyler was.
He brought out that leader, that concerned and caring person that Tyler really was.  That person that could never forgive himself for what happened.

Tyler – So that is five, which leaves you and me as six and seven.

And let’s just make it official.
Tyler deserves an introduction.

Tyler Carson.

The man that I fell in love with.
The man that I dreamt about.
The man that loved me back.
The man who I shared everything with.
The man who gave it all up.
That is Tyler Carson.

Tyler – So you ready to go meet everyone?
Luke – I guess so.

So now you know everyone from the island.
All seven of us.