Stranded 17

There’s no way to avoid it.
I have to give you two stories in a row you won’t like.
I wish I could come up with something to fill in.
But I got nothing.
As it is I’m on a roll with giving you bits of how Derek affected me on the island.
You are beginning to see it.
You are beginning to understand why Dylan and I couldn’t be.
I wasn’t strong enough.
I couldn’t handle it.
And about today, right here. I have no idea what to tell you.
I could tell you more about seeing Derek with Sterling.
So you can learn what happened.
But I don’t want to relive that one again.
It’s a killer for me.
It’ll come though.
Give it time.
Right now we need to go back to the island.
With Dylan.

My name is Luke Gray and I solemnly swear to never break Derek’s vow.

587 Days Before Being Rescued

Dylan – So your relationship was always a secret?
Luke – Yeah, pretty much.
Dylan – Did you have to hide it or did anyone guess?
Luke – A little of both. Way before we knew what we were we used to get teased.
Dylan – About what?
Luke – We were called fairies and boyfriends. But it was before we knew. So we tried to cover it with lies to ourselves.
Dylan – And even with the teasing you remained friends and continued playing around?
Luke – Yeah, well one time it got really bad and Derek told me we should stop hanging out. I was devastated, not that I knew why it hurt so much.
Dylan – That’s horrible, I would never do that.
Luke – But we made up and agreed to remain friends. Actually we made a vow to each other to be best friends and be together no matter what for the rest of ours lives.
Dylan – But that was before you were dating?
Luke – Yeah, but once we started, it just continued. We would say it to each other all the time. But it changed to things like we’re soul mates and gonna live together until we die.
Dylan – Well I think that is really sweet.
Luke – I guess.
Dylan – Honestly, I do. It’s adorable how you still value him even after all of this.
Luke – What do you mean? Of course I value him. He’s my boyfriend.
Dylan – Oh, I don’t mean anything against you. I am just saying, how long have we been here now? Like 6 months?
Luke – You’re point?
Dylan – No point really. I’m just commenting about how long it’s been since you saw him and...
Luke – What are you trying to say?
Dylan – I dunno. Don’t take this the wrong way, really, please don’t. But look around. How long do you think we are gonna be here?
He paused. I didn’t say anything, but could tell where he was headed and I didn’t want to instigate him any further.
Dylan – I’m just trying to say, I don’t think we are going to leave this island anytime soon.
Luke – Well, Derek will be waiting for me when I get back.
Dylan – But what if we are stuck here for 10 years or forever? How much longer can you wait? Do you think he has moved on? I mean he probably thinks you are dead.
Luke – He knows I’m not dead. I know he knows. He would believe in me. And I will see him again. Don’t tell me something like that.
Dylan – Luke, just listen to yourself. All you ever talk about is the past. You only ever talk about what did happen.
Luke – That’s because you ask!
Dylan – Well, yeah. But how much longer can your stories be about the past? Look around you. There are so many new stories about here and now. This is what you should be talking about.
Luke – Then let’s talk about here.
Dylan – Well it’s more of you are living in the past it seems. We could be stuck here forever. And you want to consider yourself with someone you might never see again?
Luke – I will see him. And yes. He will always be my boyfriend!
Dylan – Luke, do you not understand what I’m trying to say?
Luke – I know what you are saying and I’m telling you to drop it.
Dylan – Just think about it. There is this new world around you with people that care about you. I see you walking around. I’m sorry I’m mentioning him, but I know you are searching for your brother.
He knew not to mention my brother. So I really started to get angry with him.
Dylan – Now I will always help you find him. I promised that to you, but there are new people here that care about you. And you don’t see it. You don’t see that we are your new family. We aren’t a replacement, but something new. And you should understand that.
He was telling me to forget anything and everything that I valued. He was trying to get me to forget what I cared about. He was trying to shape me into a new person. And I was not okay with it.
Dylan – I’m not trying to be mean, but I just want you to realize something. You can trust us here. We may be different than what you grew up with and I know change is hard, but at some point you need to accept this.
I was so irritated at him. I didn’t want to be near him anymore.
I turned and walked away from him without saying anything.
Dylan – And more than that. You have someone that cares more about you than anything you can imagine.
I felt him grab my hand and swing me around.
Luke – What the hell is wrong with you?!? I will not cheat on my boyfriend. Don’t you ever touch me again!
I pushed him into the ground and ran away.

I wasn’t sure where to run. But it couldn’t be anywhere near Dylan. I had to avoid any place he would go.
And there was one place I could think of on such short notice.
You’d think I was crazy for going there.
I went to where Ian usually was.
But thankfully, Tyler and Zooey were around.
Tyler and Ian were working on building something. I wasn’t sure what it was. It got to the point where I trusted whatever Tyler was building and I stopped asking.
Because whatever he came up with, it was always beneficial.
Zooey – Hi Luke, how’ve you been holding up? I haven’t really talked to you in ages.
Luke – Yeah, it’s been awhile. I’m good, can’t complain.
I wasn’t going to tell her about our argument.
Zooey – Are you sure? You look a little PO’ed.
Luke – Uh, nah, I’m fine. So what are they working on now?
I signaled to the other two.
Zooey – Showers.
My mouth dropped open.
Luke – Are you kidding me?
Zooey – Nope. That Tyler, he sure is clever.
Luke – Yeah...
Zooey – I don’t know what we’d do without him. He basically built our whole town here.
Luke – I guess he did.
Zooey – He sure would make a good mate though.
Luke – Mmhm.
Yeah, sorry, this isn’t when it happened. This is all coincidence.
Zooey – So what do you think on the latest?
Luke – Latest what?
Zooey – Hayden and Tyler.
Luke – What about them?
Zooey – Oh, c’mon...
I looked at Tyler. I couldn’t see it.
Luke – I dunno.
Zooey – He’s been finishing up earlier each day and the two of them go off somewhere.
Luke – I see.
I really didn’t care at all then. Tyler was his own person and he could do whatever he pleased.
I was more curious about this shower set up of his.
So I walked over to him.
Tyler – What’s up, dude?
Luke – Hey.
Tyler – You wanna give us a hand? Grab that rope over there and rap it around these two branches.
He made rope out of braided palm tree leaves.
Luke – So how’s this work?
Tyler – It’s quite simple actually. You know how gravity works?
Luke – Uh, yeah. Everything goes down...
Tyler – Exactly. Here, let me do it.
He took over for me, as apparently I wasn’t tying to his standards.
Tyler – See, the fall is right over there, so we’ll catch the water and these hollow tree branches will transfer the water over there, where we punctured holes for the water to drip out of. The trick is just to give everything a little bit of an angle.
Luke – Wow, this is genius.
Tyler – We’ll just get some rocks to put underneath so the water doesn’t completely erode the ground.
Luke – This is awesome, Tyler.
Tyler – Yeah, I’m hoping to get it up and running in a few days.
This is the kind of stuff that made me love the guy. Well not then, but it was the start of it. Everything was so simple and it just worked.
It made me jealous.
Tyler – There’s your buddy over there.
I looked over to Zooey and Dylan stood watching me.
Luke – I gotta go.
I started walking in the opposite direction.
But I knew Dylan would chase after me.
I only wanted to get far enough so no one would see whatever confrontation we were about to have.

Dylan – Hey.
Luke – What?
Dylan – I’m really sorry. That all came out wrong. I didn’t mean it.
Luke – How could you not mean something like that? You are obviously thinking it the way you put that argument together.
Dylan – No...
Luke – And now you are lying to me again.
Dylan – I’m so sorry.
Luke – Go away. I don’t ever want to see you again.