Driftwood

[pembie]

Well Jett royally screwed up with Maddy Now she thinks his gay that made me laugh. As did Roo pinching Matt's berries Very good flashback scene of how they got together. 

Sorry I hadn't realised you had updated this story.

[Ludub]

6 hours ago, pembie said:

Well Jett royally screwed up with Maddy Now she thinks his gay that made me laugh. As did Roo pinching Matt's berries Very good flashback scene of how they got together. 

Sorry I hadn't realised you had updated this story.

Thanks Pembie  Jett screwed that up good and proper! Haha! Just when things were going well for him too... Pretty hard to claw your way out of the friend zone once you're in it. And Matt really wanted those berries, the poor guy! He apparently finds berry thieving quite the turn on though  so all's well that ends well... Hope to have a new chapter up tonight! x

[Suzza101]

Great chapter

liked Aden meeting Kyle. (Although I love everything about Kyle in your fic ?) 

Love how Maddy thinks Jett is gay very funny. 

Love the scene with Roo and Matt

please update soon ??

[Ludub]

1 hour ago, Suzza101 said:

Liked Aden meeting Kyle. (Although I love everything about Kyle in your fic ?) 

Thanks Suzza! Glad you liked that bit. I just couldn't resist putting my two favourite characters together in that scene I think it's pretty true to character that Kyle would be a bit reluctant to hand out information about Maddy to some stranger who's just rocked up. The Braxtons were never the chattiest bunch, and instinct would tell him to be wary. Aden's got the Irene seal of approval now though so we'll see how they get on from here. Should have a new chapter tonight (tomorrow morning in Australia) x

[Ludub]

Thanks again everyone! Really appreciate all the encouragement!  Hope you all like this chapter...

 

WARNING: ADULT THEMES!!!

 

Chapter 17

 

 

Roo slowly pulled her aching and exhausted body upright, wincing with the pain, and cradling her naked little baby against her chest. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been sleeping for, or if it could even be classed as sleep if she’d simply passed out from weakness. Her head was spinning and thumping at the same time. ‘Water’ she thought to herself, ‘I need water’. She didn’t know when the last time was that she’d drunk anything. She eyed the pile of plastic bottles that Matt had salvaged over the last few months and saw that she didn’t have much water left. There were only two more bottles! What was she going to do when they were gone?! She didn’t think that she could make it to the lake in her weakened state, and if it didn’t rain tonight then she’d be left with nothing. She pulled herself across to lean her back against the wall of their little hut. She felt like she could barely support the weight of her head, let alone stand up. She lifted her free hand and rubbed her fingers together. They were caked and sticky with blood. Where had all of that come from?! Then she saw that her legs were coated in it. She lifted her head and slowly brought her eyes into focus. There was a trail of blood in the sand from where she’d given birth to where she was sitting now. It looked like a murder scene. ‘Of course!’ she thought to herself sadly, ‘I’m bleeding to death’. She was still bleeding very heavily.  She knew that some bleeding after the birth was normal, but this seemed like an awful lot, and she wondered when it was going to stop. Would it stop?! She didn’t remember this from the last time that she’d given birth. She knew that she’d bled for a little while but she didn’t remember there being quite this much blood. Maybe this was it?! Maybe she was just going to bleed to death slowly? What would little Alfie do then?! She looked at the tiny wrinkled form, lying on her own naked chest, and began to quietly cry. What was she going to do now?! “Your daddy’s gone and left us” she sobbed quietly, feeling all the muscles in her throat tense up so much that it actually hurt to breathe, “It’s just you and me now Alfie… You and me.” She looked around their pathetic little camp site and began to cry inconsolably. This was it. This was all that she had. “We’re all alone now Alfie…” she sobbed, barely getting the words out between breaths, “We might as well be the only two people on the face of the planet… Just you and me… You and me…” The reality of that fact just seemed to crash down on top of her like a ton of bricks. She felt a weight pressing down on her chest like she couldn’t breathe. She was all alone! She was completely alone on an island in the middle of nowhere, with no-one to look after her and no-one to turn to. She didn’t even know where she was! No-one was coming to rescue her or her baby. No-one was ever coming! Maybe she was going to die here… maybe they both would…

She just sat there and cried for a while with her baby cradled in her arms. She’d never felt more lost and abandoned in her life. She’d never felt so insignificant and small. When she thought about the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, and the number of islands that there must be, she thought it no wonder that they’d never been found. She wasn’t going to be found. This was it for her! She would live out whatever days she had left on this godforsaken bit of rock… and now she would have to do it all alone. She wondered where Matt was right now. An image of him lying on the rocks with a broken neck floated through her mind. He was dead. She was pretty sure of it. For the first day or two she’d pictured him stuck somewhere, or maybe just mildly injured, and she’d hoped that he’d somehow find his way back, but it had been four days now, and she was sure that he was dead. She would never see him again and that was that. He’d left her to fend for herself and to fend for the life that they’d selfishly brought into this world. Her little baby boy. His life would be one of hardship and deprivation. A life of isolation. A life of celibacy. That’s if he lived at all! This tiny little life that lay in her arms now was totally reliant on her. He needed her in a way that no-one had ever needed her. His life was literally in her hands, and If he had any chance of living, then it was up to her! But what good was she to him?! She looked down at the sand between her legs and saw that it was now a deep red colour. She was going to bleed out. She was going to die, and then he would die too! She looked down at little Alfie and blinked slowly as she struggled to see him through her tears. She just felt so tired. So frail… She slumped down a little, feeling her body heavy and weak, and allowed herself to close her eyes. She just needed to rest for a while… Just for a little while…

She opened her eyes again. It was getting dark now. It had started to rain and she was cold and wet. Little Alfie was crying, and the sound of his desperate wailing was ringing in her head and setting her teeth on edge. He was cold too. She knew that she needed to move and to try to get them both warmed up. She needed to try to find some food. She needed some water. She needed so many things! “Okay, little man” she whispered to him, carefully cradling him in her arms as she dragged herself over onto her hands and knees. She made her way to the door of their hut, slowly crawling inside, and then she laid Alfie in the basket that they’d made for him. She’d spent days weaving it out of wood bark and they’d lined it with some of the material from her old tattered dress and some seagull feathers. It was the best that they’d been able to do in the circumstances but she hoped that it would keep him warm. She draped the last remnants of Matt’s t-shirt over the top of his little chest and tucked him in as gently as she could. He screamed his little head off, turning a dark red colour, and clenching his little fists. “I need to go find some food, baby” she said to him, with tears streaming down her cheeks, “I’m sorry baby, but I can’t carry you… I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She pressed a weak little kiss to the top of his head and slowly made her way back outside, ignoring his cries. “Seaweed” she whispered to herself, feeling a little sick at the thought of it, “Find some seaweed… You need to eat!”. She began to crawl towards the shore, determined to find what she could and get back to her baby as soon as possible, but she couldn’t help grimacing a little at the sight of her own blood splattered across the sand. It was quite shocking! How could one person lose so much blood and not die?!

That was when she saw it… Her vision was decidedly bleary, but this… this she could see! ...A cat! A dead cat lying curled up in the sand. Perfect white silky fur, with a gorgeous pink nose, and delicate little paw pads. It was beautiful, but it was unmistakably dead. Where had it come from, she wondered? What was it doing there?! She sat there and looked at the cat, shaking her head in confusion, and trying to make sense of it. She didn’t remember ever having seen a cat on the island before, but here it was, so it must have been there. It must have. It wasn’t like it could have materialised out of the sea. She just didn’t know how they hadn’t crossed paths before. Surely she would have noticed a cat, especially one so beautiful? She couldn’t take her eyes off it. The white of its fur such a sharp contrast from the dark red of the sand. There was something heartbreakingly beautiful about its still little body just lying there. She wanted to hold it. She reached out with trembling hands as she tentatively ran her fingertips through the soft and smooth fur. A wave of sadness crashed over her as she gazed at the poor animal. It felt as though she’d lost something. It would have been nice to have a cat, she thought. She would have liked that. If nothing else, it would have been company for her and Alfie, and gone some way to relieving her loneliness. She picked up the limp little body and held it gently in her arms. How had it died, she wondered? It didn’t look like it was hurt? There weren’t any obvious injuries. She sat looking at it for what was probably a very long time, before slowly crawling with it back towards the hut. Alfie had quietened down now and seemed to be sleeping. She could see his little chest rising and falling in the dim moonlight. She laid the little cat down on the mat that she and Matt used as their bed. She would bury it tomorrow when it got light. She owed it a decent burial, she thought to herself. It was too beautiful for anything else. She picked Alfie up out of his basket, and lay down on the mat with him, giving a heavy sigh and resting him on her chest. She was too tired tonight. She’d get some seaweed tomorrow. She’d dig a grave for the cat tomorrow. She’d think about how to survive all of this tomorrow… “Tomorrow” she whispered quietly, before everything went black, “Tomorrow”.

 

Matt groaned as he rolled over and opened his eyes. He’d heard it again. It was too clear this time… He couldn’t have imagined it!

Scratch… scratch… scratch...

‘Not again, Roo!’ he moaned to himself, ‘Please, not again!’ His arm was hanging over the edge of the bed just like the last time. The cuff around his wrist was straining, as Roo’s arm pulled at it over and over, and he could hear her quietly whispering to herself. He looked over the side of the bed and saw Roo on the floor. It was like an action replay of the previous evening. He gave a heavy sigh as he lay there and watched her. He just didn’t think that he could deal with this again. Not tonight! He was tired. He was so tired! Why was this happening?! Why was she doing this again?! Why?! She’d seemed so happy last night when they’d gone to bed. They’d played with Alfie. They’d laughed! They’d giggled! They’d even had sex… They’d gone to sleep, safe and happy in each other’s arms. Why was this happening again?! What had he done wrong?! He looked at her and gave another sigh as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and climbed down slowly to crouch on the floor beside her. He watched as she huddled there in the same way as she had before, and clawed at the floor with just as much desperation. Scratch, scratch, scratch! He could see that her fingers were bleeding terribly and that the bandages were now in tatters. “I have to do this… I have to” she muttered to herself, over and over, “I have to do this!” He reached his hand out to give her shoulder a little shake but stopped himself just before he made contact. He was scared! He was ashamed to admit it to himself but he realised that he was a little too scared to touch her. What if she lashed out and hit him again? What if she did something worse?! He glanced over at Alfie’s cot and gave a sigh of relief when he saw that he hadn’t woken. He could just about make out the shape of his little body, his chest rising and falling softly, as he snoozed peacefully over there. “What am I supposed to do” he asked himself, “I can’t just let her hurt herself like this”. Taking a deep breath and holding his face a safe distance from her, he put his hand out and touched her shoulder. “Roo!” he said loudly, giving her a very firm shake, “Roo! Stop it! Wake up!”

“I have to” she said, turning to look at him with completely vacant eyes, “I have to… I can’t just leave it lying there… I have to bury it…”

“You have to bury what?” he asked, shaking her again, but getting ready to fight her off if she took a swing at him, “Roo! What are you talking about?! …Roo?!”

“The cat” she said, nodding at him with a strange smile on her face, “I have to bury the cat… It’s just so beautiful… Don’t you see, Alfie? It’s a beautiful little cat!”

“Roo!” he shouted, shaking her again a little more violently this time, “WAKE UP!”

Suddenly she looked at him. “Oh God!” she gasped, pulling away from him and looking down at her hands in horror. They were cut to ribbons. “I’m sorry!” she said, looking up at him again with big frightened eyes. She was visibly shaking as she sat there in front of him. “Did I hurt you?!” she asked, reaching out hesitantly to touch his face, “I didn’t hurt you again, did I?!”

“No, it’s okay” he assured her, holding her hand against his own cheek for a moment and then pulling her up to sit beside him on the bed. He put his arm around her shoulder and frowned down at her in a worried sort of way. “But you were saying the weirdest stuff...”

“What was I saying?!” she asked, staring down at the floor and looking a bit dazed.

“Something about a cat?” he said, thinking this was all getting a little creepy, “Something about burying a cat?”

“Burying a cat?!” she exclaimed, laughing and shaking her head incredulously, “I was talking about burying a cat?!”

“Yeah… that’s what you said” he nodded, picking up her hand and grimacing a little at the mess that she’d made of her fingers. She had no nails left and they were cut and bruised and swollen. What was left of the bandages was tattered and soaked in blood. “You were trying to dig a hole in the floorboards again…” he said, giving her a worried look, “To bury a cat, apparently... Which… you’re saying you know nothing about?”

She shook her head and stared down at the floor again in a distant sort of way. A vague memory began to float back into her mind. Or maybe it was a memory of a dream? She couldn’t be sure. It was something that she hadn’t thought about for a very long time so she was surprised that Matt was asking her about it. She’d never been entirely sure if it had actually happened or not... Her more rational side was inclined to believe that it had simply been part of some feverish dream. A hallucination brought on by severe blood loss, and post-traumatic stress… or something? She knew that she’d hallucinated some very strange things in the days that had followed Alfie’s birth, including a full-blown argument with her dead mother, and a thoroughly terrifying alien invasion, complete with hovering spacecraft. Things from around that time were more than a little hazy in her memory, and she’d blanked out a lot of what had happened. Probably for very good reason! A lot of what she did remember didn’t make sense at all! That white cat seemed to feature in a lot of her dreams though, and she wasn’t entirely sure why. Surely there couldn’t really have been a cat on the island?! Where would it have come from?! Why would they never have noticed it before?

She looked up at Matt again and gave a little shrug. “I don’t know” she said, throwing him a very anxious smile, “I don’t know what I was talking about… A cat?! …I really don’t know, Matt… Kinda weird, huh?”

He pulled her in a little closer and she put her head against his shoulder. “I think we definitely need to see about that medication” he said quietly, glancing down at her in concern because he knew that she wasn’t too keen on the idea, “I mean… we can’t go on like this.” He picked her hand up again and gently examined her fingers. “Look what you’ve done to yourself!” he sighed, “You can’t keep doing this…”

“I know…” she said, starting to cry and shaking as he held her in his arms, “I know… I know that…” She glanced across at little Alfie in his cot and couldn’t help thinking about that dream. So much blood! So much pain and suffering! Having Alfie had been the most frightening and traumatic experience of her entire life, and she really didn’t know how she’d managed to get through it. It was a wonder that she’d survived at all. She looked up at Matt with tear-filled eyes and began to really sob.

“Hey” he said, brushing her hair away from her face and giving her a gentle little smile, “Hey, Roo… It’s okay…”

She shook her head and wiped at her tears with the heel of her hand. “No, it’s not” she said, sounding a little breathless as she cried, “I don’t think I can do this… I don’t think I can, Matt… I thought I could… I want this so much… and I was so happy… but… but I don’t think I’m strong enough… I forgot what it was like!”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, softly stroking the side of her face, “I don’t understand… You’re not making any sense.”

She grimaced and took a few deep breaths as she tried to calm herself down. “I don’t know if I can do this again… It was so hard the last time and… it was so hard, Matt… You have no idea what I went through… I’m just… I’m so… I’m just so scared, Matt!” She’d walked into that hospital room yesterday convinced that she was going into menopause, and she’d walked out an hour later with the prospect of a very different future ahead of her. She was still reeling. The initial euphoria had certainly worn off at this stage and now all she was left with was fear. She was absolutely terrified! How was she going to do this again?! At her age?! She interlaced her fingers with his and gave his hand a little squeeze. She’d wanted to keep this to herself for a little while longer, just until she could get her head around it herself, but looking at him now with his big worried eyes, she felt that he deserved to know. She’d scared him so much tonight, he needed a bit of good news! “I don’t know if I can take any medication for a little while” she said, trying her best to smile at him and blinking back her tears. She took his hand and gently placed it on her tummy, “Not for the next five months anyway…”

His eyes widened as he registered what she was telling him. “You’re… You’re?” he stammered, looking down at her little tummy in a startled way, “You’re… Oh my God! Roo… Are you Serious?!”

She nodded, wiping at her tears again, and gave him a weak little smile, “I’m pregnant, Matt… You’re gonna be a daddy again.”

 

*****

 

“A blind restaurant?!” exclaimed Josh, narrowing his eyes a little in disapproval, “What is Brody on?!”

“I don’t know” said Andy, shaking his head a little incredulously as he took a gulp of his tea, “He seems to think it’s this great idea… a sort of gimmick to… I don’t know, like, put Salt on the map or something… At least, that’s what Kyle says.”

“Nice” frowned Josh, looking less than impressed, “So… blindness is some sort of gimmick now, is it?” He lifted the orange juice and screwed the top off to pour some in his glass. Sticking the forefinger of his left hand just slightly inside the glass, he began to pour using his right hand, and stopped when he felt the orange touch his fingertip. “And you think people will want to do that?” he asked, shaking his head a little, “I mean… eat their meal and pretend to be blind?”

“I dunno” said Andy, getting up and going to the toaster when he heard the bread pop up. He walked back over with a stack of toast and set two slices down in front of Josh. “He says they have these restaurants in London and Paris… where all the waiters are blind, and people eat in the dark… He says people go to experience their food in a different way.”

Josh gave a little snort of derision and began to carefully butter his toast. “I don’t think anyone would choose to eat their food blind…” he said, frowning to himself, “…not if they knew what it was really like.” He took a bite of toast and gave a sad little laugh. “It’s not something I’d pay to experience if I didn’t have to.”

“Oh, I don’t know” said Tamara as she made her way towards them across the room, “I think it’s kind of interesting!”

“Of course you do!” laughed Josh, as he felt her put her arms around his neck and give him a kiss on the cheek. “Why am I not surprised?!”

“What?!” she giggled, sitting down in his lap, “I just think it could be really interesting… I mean… food is kind of visual in a way… Eating it blind is different… We both know that! …So, I’m kind of thinking… Brody is this amazing chef, right?!”

“Yeah, I guess” he said, shrugging his shoulders a little and hugging his arms around her waist, “That’s what they say anyway”

“Exactly” she said, “People rant and rave about his food… They pay a small fortune to eat there… It’s all pretty little things painted on the plate, tiny portions, dry ice and all that sort of stuff… So, I’m thinking… If Brody wants to make a menu where the emphasis isn’t what it looks like… If he can make it taste good when you can’t see it … Like, ‘those kind of prices’ good?! …And he’s going to make it specifically with people like me and you in mind… stimulating all the other senses… Well… I don’t know about you but I really want to try it!”

“She makes a good case, doesn’t she?!” laughed Josh, turning towards Andy with a sarcastic smile, “I guess it’s worth a try…”

“Yeah, mate… She does…” agreed Andy, smiling into his mug of tea, “Maybe we should all try it?”

“Maybe we should?” said Josh, shrugging a little, “Might be interesting… I actually kinda like the idea of being able to eat without feeling like everyone is watching me.”

Andy glanced across at his little brother and felt a sudden pang of sadness for him. He’d gotten used to Josh being blind at this stage, but he’d sometimes forget that it must still be difficult for him. “Mate… I didn’t…” he sighed, tilting his head at him in sympathy, “I didn’t realise that you felt that way.”

“Not all the time” he said, giving Tamara a little kiss on the cheek and then making a move to get up. Tamara got to her feet and took the seat beside him instead. “I just…” he said, making his way to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee for Tamara, “It’s just… sometimes when we eat out… It’s like I can feel people watching us… to see how we manage things… Like how do we find our glasses on the table? …How do we cut up our food? …Are we gonna make a mess?”

“I didn’t know you felt that way either” said Tamara, looking a little surprised, “Is that why you always want to eat at home?!”

“I guess so” sighed Josh, pouring the coffee out for her and waiting for the beep of his little liquid level indicator. “I just don’t like people looking” he said, carrying the cup of coffee and making his way back to the table with slow measured steps. He set the coffee cup down in front of Tamara and sat down again. “So… everyone’s gonna wear these glasses, then?” he asked Andy, “And the waiters… the waiters are gonna have to help people …and explain how to do stuff… and… and stuff like that?” He wondered how Matt was going to deal with all of this and figured that he’d track him down later today to have a chat. He didn’t think that this new scheme of Brody’s was going to do much for Matt’s anxiety levels, that was for sure!

“Yeah, exactly” said Andy, “Brody’s gonna have a test run of the new menu tomorrow night… and he… well… he wanted me to ask if you and Tam want to be the first to try it.”

“Uh… yeah!” exclaimed Tamara, raising her eyebrows in interest, “What would we have to do?!”

“I think he just wants your opinion…” said Andy, feeling quite pleased with himself. He’d managed to wangle Josh and Tamara a free dinner that would have cost them over $300! Why anyone would pay that much money for their dinner was beyond him! “He wants to know if the menu’s any good.” he smiled, “If it works as a blind menu? You’re probably the best people to ask.”

 

 

*****

 

Aden sat at the little table in his caravan with his files spread out in front him. Roo and Matt had postponed the second half of their interview again so he wouldn’t be meeting them today like they’d originally planned. He figured that he’d work on his other case instead while he had the time. He was adding little notes here and there as he went along. He’d gleaned a wealth of information from Irene at dinner last night, even if she hadn’t realised it. That woman could certainly talk! The number of people impacted by cancer in this small town was truly astonishing. Of course, Belle had started to compile a list when she was still alive, but the list had just grown and grown over the years. It was terribly sad. Each name another hapless victim. He ran his eye down the list that he’d made and gave a sad little sigh. Some of these people he had known personally, and some he hadn’t. It was a very long list, with a huge number of names, but a few of them jumped out at him…

Alfred Stewart, Colleen Smart, Kane & Oliver Phillips, Flynn Saunders, Marilyn Chambers, Martha MacKenzie, Todd ‘Romeo’ Smith, Irene Roberts, Roman Harris… and of course, Belle Taylor…

Some of these had been luckier than others. These names were only the tip of the iceberg though. The number of those affected was exceptionally high and it only got higher by the day. Irene had been right when she’d said that there was cancer all around them and that everyone seemed to be affected. Summer Bay had an abnormally high incidence of cancer versus the national average and a surprisingly low survival rate. The statistics didn’t lie. The more he’d looked into it, the angrier he had become, and the more determined to seek some form of justice. The soil samples from the development site had come back positive all those years ago, showing that carcinogenic toxins had knowingly been buried there for a great many years, but very little action had ever been taken. The authorities had simply fenced off the site, discontinuing the building work, and the developers had gone on the run without ever serving any time. The damage had already been done though. This peaceful and idyllic looking little town was to be forever tainted. The toxins were already in the soil. They were leaching into the water supply. They were in the water that they drank, in the water that they bathed in, and even in the fruit and vegetables that were grown in the local soil. It wasn’t really a case of ‘if’ you got cancer, it was more a case of ‘when’. How had no-one done anything about this, he wondered to himself?! Didn’t anybody care?! It made his blood boil just to think of all the innocent lives that had been destroyed over the years. Lives destroyed by greed.

“I know” he said, glancing up at her and giving her a sad little smile and a wink. He could feel her rolling her eyes at him in that way that she’d always done. He was getting far too obsessive and serious about this stuff, and he half expected her to take out her camera and start making silly faces at him from behind it to make him laugh. He knew that she wanted him to put this stuff away and go to the beach. He’d go soon, he told himself. She’d always known how to make him do whatever it was that she wanted. “I know…” he laughed, “I just want to get some of this done first.”

He looked back down at the astonishingly large collection of death records laid out on the table, and the slightly less impressive stack of medical files that some of the family members had permitted him to have. As Belle’s next of kin, he’d been allowed to have full access to her medical records, with all of her x-rays and scans, and he’d spoken to all of her doctors about the specific, and very rare, form of cancer that she’d died from. Roman had also granted him access to his records before he’d died, so he had those too. They certainly didn’t make for pleasant reading. He’d managed to track down a few ex-Summer Bay cancer sufferers as well, but he’d been finding it more difficult to tie down a lot of the current residents. People just didn’t seem that keen to answer questions on the phone. Certainly, not about private medical problems anyway. He’d been saddened to hear about Irene’s battle with cancer too, although not at all shocked given how long she’d been living there. It was a wonder that she hadn’t been affected sooner! She’d certainly had more than her fair share of friends affected by it. Kane and Kirsty Phillips had actually approached him a few years ago when their son Ollie had been diagnosed with leukaemia. It had been them that had spurred him on to take this lawsuit against the Developers and helped him to put the case together. Ollie was now in remission, thank goodness, but Kane had been digging around online and discovered a number of Belle’s old articles about the development site and the possibility of a ‘cancer cluster’. He’d been furious to discover that the authorities had known of the dangers but had not informed the local population, or indeed done anything to fix it. Aden and he had ended up on the same online forum, quite by chance, and things had taken off from there. Kane had provided him with his own medical records, and those of his son, and he’d been helping him with contacts and names ever since. The more they dug into this, the more it seemed to snowball. There were literally hundreds of people affected over the last twenty or so years since the developers had begun their operations in the Summer Bay area. There were multiples sites, and probably a good number that he didn’t even know about. He glanced at the list again, and hovered for a moment over the name Sarah Jefferies. Even his own mother had been a victim…

He picked up Belle’s file and ran his fingers softly over the white label on the front, tracing the shape of her name in that plain typeface used on hospital documents. It was the only medical file that he couldn’t bring himself to open again. He already knew all of the details, and taunted himself with it on a daily basis, but for some reason he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t look at those scans and read those details all over again. He didn’t want to.

He looked up when he felt her put her arms around his neck from behind and rest her chin on his shoulder. She was looking down at her own name on the brown card folder in his hands. She reached down, and guided his hand to set the folder back on the table top, and then gave him a mischievous little smile. “Okay” he said, laughing a little at how insistent she could be sometimes, “Okay… I get the hint… We’ll go to the beach then, if that’s what you really want!”

He got up and tidied the folders into a neat little pile on the table before going to get changed into his board shorts. He got undressed and pulled them on, picking up his shades, and a pair of flipflops. He stopped for a moment before he walked out the door when he realised that she wasn’t coming with him. She was sitting on the bed with a sad little smile on her face and she gave him a nod of the head to tell him to go. He knew that she couldn’t come with him even if she wanted to. They both knew it. “Okay” he said again, nodding back at her, “Okay”. He would never get used to this! This old familiar wrench in the middle of his chest like someone giving his heart a bit of a squeeze. It just hurt sometimes. He didn’t have this feeling as much anymore, but it would hit him occasionally, out of nowhere, and sometimes for no particular reason… He just missed her.

He stepped outside and closed the door. As he spun around, a young woman walked straight into him, almost knocking him off his feet.

“Hey!” he exclaimed, staggering a little but flashing her a cheeky smile, “Watch where you’re going!” He recognised her from the restaurant the other night but he still hadn’t caught her name.

“Watch it, yourself!” she said, scowling at him angrily. She’d been looking down at her phone as she walked along, and hadn’t been paying too much attention to where she was going at all! There were photos all over her friends’ Facebook pages and Instagram accounts today. Photos of Dave and Carly together, all smiley and happy, like the perfect couple! They’d gotten engaged, and their Facebook accounts were full of congratulatory messages, and people admiring the engagement ring. She was not a happy camper! She was certainly not in the mood for some slime-ball city type to come sleazing onto her. She looked up at his cheesy grin and took an instant disliking to him, despite him being pretty good looking. Probably because of that!

“Okay… Okay, Princess!” he said, holding his hands up, “…I wasn’t the one staring at my phone!”

“You weren’t looking where you were going either!” she said accusingly, as she rubbed her bruised shoulder, “You just walked right into me”

“I wasn’t even walking…” he said, laughing a little at how serious she looked. “We both know whose fault this is… But I tell you what… I’ll forgive you…” he said, raising his eyebrows at her in a teasing sort of way, “If you give me a smile?”

She stared at him for a moment with narrowed eyes and a hardened expression on her face. With that she just turned on her heel. “Jerk!” she called over her shoulder as she walked away.

He watched her as she headed towards the beach and shook his head with a sad little laugh. She wasn’t the first girl to call him a ‘jerk’ and she probably wouldn’t be the last. A certain brown eyed beauty had called him that on more than one occasion when they’d first met. He seemed to have that effect on women for some reason. He stood outside his caravan, slowly twisting the gold band on his finger round and round, and waited for the young blonde to disappear down the dirt path to the beach. He didn’t want her to think that he was stalking her. He glanced back at the caravan for a moment, wondering what ‘she’ had made of that silly little exchange with the young blonde girl, and whether she would be upset with him.  “Let’s see if this beach is as nice as I remember then, eh?” he said, picking up his towel and throwing it over his shoulder, “I’ll see you later, babe.”

[Guest]

Great chapter 

Liked the flashback 

A bit shocked Roo is pregnant again.

Liked you added other characters from over the years to this story.

Aden seeing Belle's ghost all the time was touching.

Poor Maddy!

Update again soon

[Ludub]

14 minutes ago, Kristen said:

Liked you added other characters from over the years to this story.

Thanks Kristen! I've said it before and I'll say it again... You are an incredibly fast reader! lol! Thanks for the prompt reply!  

I'm not sure my memory of the whole 'cancer cluster' storyline is all that good so I've used a bit of creative license here... You'll all have to excuse me on that, I'm afraid.  Decided to give a glimpse of Kane and Kirsty and what's happened to them... just because... It was a bit of a whim really, but hey... I like to think that they got back together and managed to build a decent life for themselves. I don't think they'll actually be appearing in the story though because i have enough characters to deal with already, haha! Glad you enjoyed it! x

[KittCatt]

Great chapter!

So Roo is pregnant! That must've been a shock, thinking you're experiencing menopause then actually finding out you're having another baby  And Matt must be quite shocked too..As well as Alf, Maddy and everyone else when they tell them! 

Roo's hallucinations in the dream/flashback was really interesting. Not quite sure how a cat could've gotten there, and an alien invasion?! Roo certainly went through a lot! Hallucinating, bleeding and trying to look after a newborn, all by herself with no help.

Really liked Aden and the cancer cluster part of this chapter. And Maddy didn't seem too keen on him did he?

Liked Josh being a bit hesitant about Brody's idea but coming around to it. It is a free meal after all!!

I look forward to more!  

[Red Ranger 1]

The opening flashback was interesting and really captured what Roo went through back then.Was the cat real or not?We can probably rule out the aliens.And a real shocker that she's pregnant again! Definitely fertile and they aren't even stranded without contraception this time...I can see Alf being really pleased.

I think your use of the cancer cluster is broad strokes consistent with what we saw on screen, the ending just kind of fizzled out anyway.I was wondering about Oliver being on the list and dismissed it as "your story" so nice to get a bit more information.(Not sure Kane and Kirsty would get back together, it seemed she grew into a very different person to the one that married him, but again, "your story", and we've all got couples we'd like to think were back together.)Not sure if I should be worried about Aden "seeing" Belle but he seems to keep bumping into Maddy.(He's even given her Nicole's old nickname!)

[pembie]

Quite gross but I was thinking Roo was going to eat that white cat when she first found it because she was on the hunt for something to eat. Seaweed quite nice from the chinese takeaway I'm not so sure how it would taste if you had some straight  from the sea Anyway that white cat is quite creepy...Oh yes before I forget please write a scene for  Roo's experenice of  the alien invasion

The blind restaurant yes I would go and try that out...I would do anything for a night out though lol So do you fancy going to the one in London with me?

Really liking Aden's VS the cancer cluster story too this. Its really cool