Sleep, My Dear

Named for all the captains who safely found their way to the island thanks to the lighthouse’s beacon, these cliffs are the highest on the island, the only nod towards safety from the jagged rocks below coming in the form of a naval-high chain link fence.
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Laurels
Posts: 1867
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:16 pm

#16

Post by Laurels »

((GMing approved))

Sophie held tight to Virgil's waist and began to back up. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes as she took step after step backwards. Part of her began to fear that if she stumbled, it might cause Virgil and Michelle to go over the cliff. She knew she had to do everything she could to make sure no one else fell.

She then heard another guy rush up and try to help Michelle. Sophie was glad that someone else was trying to help, but when the boy reached down and grabbed Michelle's arm, she heard a popping sound and cry from Michelle. Sophie gasped loudly.

Oh crap, what just happened? Did he pull her in the wrong way? Oh God.

Michelle was back on the cliff, but apparently her shoulder was dislocated. She sounded pretty furious, but had Virgil pop it back in place. Sophie turned away as he did the deed, not willing to see the procedure.

Turning away, she saw herself face to face with Stacey Mordetsky. Sophie knew Stacey was a fairly mean girl back in school, but she managed to stay out of Stacey's way. Stacey looked pretty shocked at everything, causing Sophie to wonder if she saw Dave go off the cliff.

"Um, hi," she said to Stacey. "Um..."

Sophie trailed off as she began to look around. Virgil was starting to see if he could make a sling. She found herself staring at the cliff. She was far from the edge and knew it was dangerous to go to the edge. Still, Dave did just walk off the edge. She couldn't imagine if he was still on the rocks or if his body was swept away. It was too horrible.

Sophie covered her mouth and began to cry. She couldn't remember the last time she cried like this.
chitoryu12*
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Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2018 5:07 am

#17

Post by chitoryu12* »

It took a fraction of a second for it to all go completely wrong. One tug, and there was some horrendous pop and scream, and Clayton felt something give inside the girl's arm. He fell back from shock, his feet scraping a little dirt over the edge of the cliff as they splayed out in front of him.

He couldn't do anything beyond stare at the girl that he didn't know, held by he didn't know and supported by another girl he didn't know, was hauled up to safety. He nearly lost his non-existent lunch when the boy popped her arm back into its socket.

He wanted to apologize for everything, offer penance. But no words could come out. He was ashamed beyond belief. He just wanted to help, and he already fucked things up within seconds. On this death island? She might die because of his negligence. It would be all his fault.

He was so numb, he barely felt himself rising to his feet and stumbling back toward his bag.

"I'm.......I'm sorry....I didn't mean....I just wanted to--"

Nothing else could be choked out as he looked from person to person. He just scooped his duffle bag up and ran before they could see any tears forming in his eyes.

((Clayton Leven continued in Allow Me To Begin))
Aura
Posts: 564
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:01 pm

#18

Post by Aura »

Stacey breathed a sigh of relief as the others pulled Michelle up.  That was one less person that would die on the rocks below, at least.  She shuddered at the thought of what must have happened to the guy that walked off the cliff once he hit the ground.  As the others were no longer leaning over the edge of the cliff, she was able to identify a couple of them more easily.  Most noticeable was Virgil Jefferson-Davis, the big muscle-bound guy.  With him helping, it was no wonder that they saved Michelle.  There was also some choir girl and a skinny kid that she didn't know at all.

She winced as Virgil popped Michelle's arm back into place with an unpleasant cracking sound.  She instinctively put her hand on her arm when she heard it, thanking the heavens that it wasn't her with the dislocated arm.  The choir girl came over to say hi, but started crying immediately afterward for some reason.  Stacey assumed that the stress was getting to her.  The skinny kid just mumbled something and walked away.  Stacey felt that she had to say something, but she wasn't too good at the whole sympathy thing.  Still, she had to at least give it a shot, trying to sound concerned, but her tone causing it to come off as rather forced.

"So... are you OK?"
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Ruggahissy
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Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm

#19

Post by Ruggahissy »

"Today we're talking about how to treat a shoulder dislocation. "


Michelle sat in the dark air-conditioned bungalow of her EMT ride-along class with her pad of paper in her lap, staring up at the screen. She chewed on the end of her pencil, staring intently at the physical therapist and scribbled something down.

"Obviously, this is a traumatic event; it's not a gradual thing that happens. On the X-ray here," he said pointing to the prop, "you can see the humeral head is not in the socket. The humeral head is supposed to be here, but it's in this location. Many times after a dislocation occurs the muscles go into sort of a titanic traction and it goes into muscle splinting and it's hard to put the shoulder back in."

Michelle nodded and doodled a stick man on her paper with the arm unattached and spiky pain lines coming out of the stick-arm.

"What it does is tears these capsular ligament structures here...and they don't heal back. Once they're torn, they're torn." The man walked to a bench where a grumpy, shirtless young man looked like he did not want to be apart of this instructional video. The man pointed to the boy's shoulder and then lifted his arm up. "However, the difference between the shoulder and the knee is that you can survive without some of your ligaments attached-"

------------



"Three"

Virgil started pulling on Michelle's arm. Her left hand gripped the earth next to her so hard she pulled up the grass, roots and all, but it wasn't enough and her hand curled into itself and her nails dug into her palms. She struggled to keep her eyes open, she had to watch Virgil and make sure it was okay. The pain made it impossible to draw in a breath deep enough to scream and Michelle let out a high pitched sound like a kettle. The whole process took maybe 40 seconds, but felt like ten minutes. After her arm mercifully popped back into place she rolled onto her side with her knees drawn up in a fetal position, cradling her right arm and coughing.

It was done. Her arm was back in the correct position, but Michelle now had to contend with something she wasn't exactly sure how to feel about. Her body was now permanently damaged. The ligaments in her shoulder were torn and they would never heal. She'd dwell on it later because Virgil was speaking and Stacy was asking something,

Michelle pushed herself back up into a seated position. "I'm fine," she said, trying to sound upbeat as if she really were fine. "There's probably a triangle bandage in my kit I can make into a sling. I've made them before."

She was incredibly angry. She was angry with everyone. She was angry with Chris for being stupid and angry with Stacy for gawking, she was angry with Dave for walking off the cliff and even angry with Sophie for crying. Clayton suddenly started mumbling some apology and ran off.

"Hey! Wait!"

Michelle looked after the boy, wide-eyed. She wasn't really in a position to run after him and likewise, the others sort of just let him run off. She chewed her bottom lip. She stood up shakily and walked up to Virgil and weakly punched him in the arm with her left hand.


"You! Hanging off an unstable cliff to save some girl who accidentally fell, frak!" She punched him again, but it was clear after recent events she wasn't able to hit very hard.  The word "accidentally" had a bit of emphasis on it. It was a half lie. They both knew she was on the edge purposefully.  She looked at him a moment, pleadingly. Michelle didn't really want to explain herself to the remaining girls and she hoped he understood. She'd talk to him alone later.

"Don't you ever do something that dangerous again or I'll give you an ass kicking you won't ever never forget!"

She tried to cross her arms over her chest angrily to make her point, but trying to move her right arm was still very painful. She squeaked with pain at her folly and settled for just crossing her one arm over her chest, which didn't look very intimidating.
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BROseidon*
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#20

Post by BROseidon* »

Virgil didn't know how to respond to Sophie's crying. Things were going on right there. Yes, this situation was obviously horrible, but he first needed to make sure everything was okay. Then he could have his breakdown. The other guy, the guy who'd dislocated Michelle's shoulders ran off before Virgil could yell at him for being a fucking moron, and Stacey was being useless. Stacey's concern seemed a little forced. Girls like her were used to being pampered while they bitched about other people. Virgil wasn't expecting much out of her at this point.

"Hey, hey, that's no way to thank a guy. And you shouldn't be moving your arm like that."

Michelle's punches didn't hurt. Their weakness indicated that Michelle was, in fact, right-handed. For the rest of her life her arm would be incapacitated and, well, this wasn't the time to think about that. There were more immediate concerns, like making a sling for Michelle or – HOLY SHIT THE GUN.

Virgil just realized he hadn't been keeping an eye on his gun. He looked over to where he had woken up, and saw that his shotgun still laid underneath the tree. They were all a decent distance away from it – 10 meters, maybe. If anybody made a funny move, he would be able to tackle them, get up, and grab it first.

Virgil's immediate concern was still Michelle's shoulder. He needed to make sure it was okay. Michelle was a friend, and Virgil wasn't going to leave her on her own. Virgil looked down at her, and saw that she was giving him a look. A "get me the fuck out of here" look.

"Anyways, let's get away from this cliff. It's clearly not stable. Grab your bags, and let's bounce." Virgil grabbed his two bags and began walking towards his gun. "Cheers, mates," he called to the other two. Hopefully they would get the message that he wanted to be alone with Michelle for now and they would talk about whatever the fuck the two had in common.

On his way out, Virgil grabbed the gun. It was only then that he understood the gravity of everything that had just happened. David was dead, Michelle would be dead were it not for him, and he was supposed to kill his class mates, his friends, with this thing.

Virgil Jefferson-Davis let out a deep wail from the bottom of his chest. His face began to redden and glisten with tears.

((Virgil Jefferson-Davis continued elsewhere))
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Ruggahissy
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#21

Post by Ruggahissy »

Michelle got lucky, well, lucky considering the situation and Virgil seemed to get that she wasn't really going to talk about what had happened with the two girls who had arrived after. However, she didn't expect the time to talk with him alone about what had happened to be right NOW.

He told her to pick up her stuff and get a move on with him. He didn't seem very upset with her berating him. Michelle awkwardly, carefully picked up her assigned duffle and scurried after him.

She turned back and looked at the girls once more and waved a short little wave. "We'll see you guys in a little, probably. Just stay safe and stay together in the meanwhile."

((Michelle Wexler continued in Ave Imperator, Morituri Te Salutant))
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Laurels
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Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:16 pm

#22

Post by Laurels »

Sophie continued to cry, covering her face with her hands. Michelle was fine now. She was on solid ground and Virgil snapped her arm back into place, but she still couldn't relax. Dave was dead, and their class still wasn't safe. Unless some helicopters immediately soared over the island and dropped ladders down for them to all escape, there was still a chance that they were all going to die.

Sophie wiped her eyes with her hands. The boy who came and pulled Michelle's arm out of its socket was gone. Virgil and Michelle were also leaving the scene. Sophie found herself beginning to panic. Everyone was already fleeing the area, and it didn't look like anyone was willing to talk about possible alliances or finding shelter.

I can't be here anymore. I have to go.

Sophie ran over to where she dropped her bag and picked it up. She began to move at a quick pace away from the cliffs, as fast as she could while wearing sandals. Before she got out of sight, she took one last look at the cliffs.

I'm sorry, Dave. I should have gotten here sooner, then I might have been able to stop you.

She turned away and hurried off into the forest, continuing to cry as she disappeared.

((Sophie McDowell continued in Pick Apart the Pieces of Your Heart))
Aura
Posts: 564
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:01 pm

#23

Post by Aura »

Somehow, everything just fell apart once Michelle was safe.  Michelle started bitching out Virgil for saving her life, which didn't really seem like the best way to thank someone.  Virgil scolded her before waving goodbye and walking away, while Michelle followed him, and Choir Girl ran away crying.  Stacey was left on the cliff wondering what the hell just went down.

Nevertheless, she shook it off and remembered the task at hand:  getting her phone.  She took off her backpack and placed it on the ground.  She knelt down beside it and unzipped it, ready to grab her phone and make the call that would get her out of there.  The more she thought about it, the greater it seemed.  If she managed to call the cops, and they came to the island, then not only would they save her, but they could catch the terrorists, too!  She would be a hero!  That would show that stupid talent scout that rejected her!  She would be bigger than she ever would have been with him!

As she rifled through her bag, however, it became very apparent that something was very wrong.  She saw her clothes, her chapstick, and her makeup case, but her phone was nowhere to be seen.  Panicking, she started unzipping the rest of the pockets on her backpack and searching through them as well, on the chance that she had remembered incorrectly and stashed the phone in one of them.  All of the pockets yielded the same result, no phone.  There was only one possibility left:  they had taken her phone.

Stacey screamed in frustration.  The thing she had planned on using for her escape had been taken from her.  In a huff, she zipped up all the pockets of her backpack and slipped it over her shoulder.  Angrily, she grabbed her duffel bag off the ground and walked back down the cliff.  She had just wasted the past few minutes of her increasingly short life.

As she walked, despite her angry demeanor, there was a voice in the back of her mind that made her increasingly frightened.  A single thought that she didn't want to accept, but knew was true.

There is no escape.

(((Stacey Mordetsky continued in I Always Hated Chemistry))
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