You Are (Not) Alone

[KamiKaze]

((Chronologically takes place after Have It Your Way))


The door swung open.

And for the first time in a while, Chase stepped foot into a familiar place she had seen all her life.

"Welcome home, Anna", her mother said, standing next to her.

When she had first been reunited with her parents, the three of them said nothing, and just quietly hugged as if they never wanted to let go. Chase couldn't imagine how painful it was for them. In hindsight, she felt bad for not worrying too much about her parents. Her dad could have been hospitalized due to her condition for all she knew. But it was alright now. She was home. She was with her parents again.

Things wouldn't be the same after this, that was certain.

Her bespectacled grey eyes, once brimming with life and now resembling a soldier's, scanned the room. She knew this place by memory. She had spent her entire life living in this house. And yet, despite this, it seemed unfamiliar, like she had only once before seen it in a dream or another life. It didn't feel like home. But it was definitely the place she grew up in.

Her cheerful mood from earlier had almost disappeared. In fact, she felt rather shy.

As she stepped deeper in, her eyes examined every detail. A few photographs on the wall, depicting her childhood or even her parents'. The couch, still waiting for someone to sit on it.

Home.

She and her parents had chatted a bit on their way home. During it, they managed to slip that if Chase hadn't been rescued and if her mom hadn't been there to stop him, her dad would have tried to track down the people responsible and kill them. Or at least, claimed-no, apparently raged- he wanted to when she first got abducted, and her mom had to calm him down while still in hysterics herself. Despite everything, she couldn't help but giggle a little bit at the mental image of her dad going on a rampage on the terrorists like that movie which was released in France in February. It was highly improbable, certainly, based on the fact that pretty much everyone and everything had trouble tracking them down, and the fact that her dad was in hysterics probably meant that she shouldn't laugh, but she had to admit, it would have been cool if he somehow managed.

During their conversation, she had discussed what she needed in terms of medical care so far. Nothing much, just a bit of medicine to combat potential illness and to lessen her psychological symptoms for the time being, and the fact that she needed to gain weight. They knew already, but she had to remind them to make sure.

Also during their conversation, she had found out that when they had found out she was returning home, they... "remodeled" her room a bit. Specifically, they took away anything they were concerned were going to trigger her. Going through the list in her mind, that would mean some of the posters she had, some of her figurines, many of her DVDs, and perhaps even the doodles she had drawn in a notebook casually before she left. They apparently didn't get rid of everything, though; they mentioned it was currently in a box in a garage and if she wanted any of it she could just get it out from there. They never really had a problem with her interest in horror, really. The only time they were concerned was when her clothes first steadily started getting darker, and they were quickly convinced that it wasn't anything "bad" when she proved it.

But to be honest, she was mildly irked when they first mentioned it. It was as if they were expecting her to be triggered. But at least they had the thought of doing that, right?

The carpet felt oddly soft beneath her feet as she examined every detail.

"Anna?"

Chase turned around to the man behind her. If one looked closely, one could tell that they were related. Their eyes were pretty much similar, and there was something about the face that seemed very familiar if you compared them.

"Do you need anything?"

The girl could only shake her head.

"Nah, I'm good. I... I think I'll need to lay down."

A small smile came from her father.

"Okay. Tell us if you need anything, got it?"

She nodded, and soon made her way upstairs.

As she slowly opened her door, what her parents had said had officially been confirmed; the room looked surprisingly bare. Only about three of her posters remained. She didn't need a close examination to see that just how many DVDs they had removed off the shelf. Combined with her state of mind, it almost looked like a completely different room.

God, it looked weird this bare. She hoped she could redecorate it again sometime soon.

Chase made her way to her desk, noticing her laptop. Her parents had also mentioned they had to log on as her to most social networking sites she was on and block comments and PMs, due to trolls and SOTF fans spamming them and posting inappropriate pictures. Typical. Chase had expected this.

But despite her queasy stomach, she decided to start the computer up, just for old times' sake. She didn't really know why, but she just felt like it.

After it had completely loaded, Chase couldn't help but flinch a bit as the wallpaper came up. Well. Looked like her parents had missed a spot. Her heart raced for a few seconds before she realized what it was. She had a Silent Hill wallpaper involving Robbie the Rabbit up this entire time, and... well, now was not the time for it. Sure, it wasn't as bad as other triggers she had encountered, but she really wasn't in the mood to see a rabbit with blood stained around its mouth.

"Sorry Robbie, nothing personal", she whispered, and within seconds the image had been replaced with a complete innocent picture of Miku Hatsune.

Seriously, how did her parents miss that again? She'd have to ask them.

As she opened Firefox, she couldn't help but open her bookmarks. They hadn't gotten rid of them. They probably didn't think to change the wallpaper or her bookmarks, then. Most of the bookmarks that were there were the usual suspects; horror movie fansites, a few blogs relating to horror fiction and creepypastas, Vampirefreaks.com, and other such material. Over the course of a few minutes, Chase had managed to clear every site she currently felt she couldn't visit for the time being. In addition to the horror sites, she had also cleared out a few of the cosplay/anime fansites as well. She had a feeling that if she had started looking through them, she'd be reminded of her and then feel sad.

Okay. Pretty much everything was cleared, then. Gah, would she ever be interested in anything she used to like ever again?

Maybe she should better lay down like she had originally planned.

Chase peeled the blanket away from the bed, and slid under the covers. It felt so good to be in an actual warm bed and not sleeping on the ground in the cold or in a hospital bed. It almost felt like a pair of warm arms were encasing her and keeping her warm, really.

Within seconds, she had slipped into a deep sleep.


When Chase woke up, she found herself bursting into tears.

Oh god. The nightmares. She already had enough sleep problems before the island. She used to barely mind them, now they were starting to get annoying and painful. It seemed that still, not even her dreams were an escape anymore. If there was some kind of miracle way to get rid of them, she'd jump on it at the very opportunity, no matter the consequences.

At this rate, she'd want Jojo to interrupt it again.

Quietly shaking and sobbing as she sat up in her bed, Chase noticed that she hadn't taken off her glasses before falling asleep. Like she cared, though. She didn't care about that.

She looked at the clock on her wall. About two hours had passed since she had arrived home.

And so, she just sat in her bed, the tears pouring down her face.

God, she hoped her parents didn't see that she was having a nightmare. Lord only knew how they'd react.

It took a couple of minutes before she lifted herself out of bed.

Okay, calming down. It was just a dream. It couldn't hurt her. It wasn't like Freddy was trying to kill her or something. She once had a dream about Freddy, sure, but she was absolutely certain that it wasn't actually him. Just a dream. That was all that it was.

Just another stupid nightmare.

Chase could smell something cooking downstairs. They were making something, weren't they? God, it smelled good. Probably some kind of casserole, judging by the smell. She hoped it was tuna noodle. That was always delicious.

But she'd have to deal with that later.

Chase walked over to the desk again, rubbing her head with the palm of her hand. The computer was still running, the picture still of a happy Miku Hatsune. No Silent Hill crap or anything like that. Everything was as she left it, it seemed. Good. She didn't know if she was worried that someone was going to change it to something currently upsetting again or what. Just that she was relieved to still see Miku on that computer.

But then she noticed something. And that something she picked up. She hadn't noticed it on her desk when she got home, but it was here. The family photo album! Dad was always big on pictures. So many parts of her life were documented in this doorstopper. She wasn't sure if it got here by her parents placing it there or if she had been looking through it before she had left. But it was worth looking into.

Holding it to her chest, she walked over to sit down on her bed and open it.

As she flickered through the pages, a bunch of familiar photographs came up. Her parents' wedding. A baby Chase, smiling for the camera. A somewhat older Chase, playing with some kind of toy squid. Several pictures of an elementary school Chase, around first grade, at Como Park Zoo. A few Halloween pictures. One of her at Thanksgiving one year, with pumpkin pie all over her face. Pretty much her entire childhood was documented in this thing.

A few pictures made her sadly smile, however. There were a few of her and Dawne at an anime convention in cosplay that she managed to get while they were there. And, despite the fact they had hated him when he was alive, there was still the prom pic of her and Jon.

It was nostalgic. But at the same time it hurt, seeing everyone, including her, so happy and... well, alive.

It was strange, though. She was sure that there were more pictures in there. And yet, it now seemed like the collection was just starting.

At that moment, Chase had a feeling she should do something. And so she went back to her computer and opened Firefox again. After typing in Livejournal's address, she logged in. It felt so weird, seeing it again. But she knew what she had to do.

A few seconds later, she found herself at the posting box. Chase knew she had to write something here, but she didn't know what. But after a few minutes, her fingers quickly soared over the keyboard. She knew not everyone would see it. But she knew that some people had come across it. She couldn't get a message across to everyone, but she knew that she could at least get it off her chest.

Dear whoever it concerns,

so I made it. I'm home now. quite something, isn't it? Yeah. I guess some of you would say that this means i have to celebrate. Not quite true. I just had a bad dream a few minutes ago. My walls are empty and no longer have scary pictures on them. I even once was feaking out over Scooby Doo of all things in the hospital. Its not like things are going to magically get better now I'm home.

Sure I survived. But i still have to deal with the memories. it feels weird being alive and at home now. Never thought I'd be here. Even though i'm feeling better now I still occasionally feel I don'tdeserve to live over all the much braver, stronger, and overall better people who could have. There were so many people I met both on the island and off who deserved a better chance than me. heck, to be honest, I only initially got on thee boat because Bren was hurt and I wanted to make sure he was alright. I was scared to get on. I didnt want to deal with the real world. I didnt want to be seen as the SOTF girl when i got home, or have to live when everyone else died.

there are many reasons that I don't feel I deserve to live, really. you probably remember how much of a coward I was if you saw the tv airings. And if you thought of me as weak, I dont blame you. I was a coward even before that. Jon and I had relationship problems before the abduction. I dealt with them by breaking up with him almost right before we got abducted. I should have dealt with my problems in the first place. I know i wasnt a good girlfriend, or even a friend to him, or to anyone. Heck, i'll have to admit something I've been holding back for a while. i cheated on him before we broke up. a while back a friend and i were experimenting with alcohol? And things didnt turn out so good. we did something foolish that we both regretted. I feel like shit after it happened, and i feel even more like shit about it now. not to mention i had another similiar scare sometime after wih another friend. nothing happened with said friend, it turned out well in the end pretty quickly, but I was still scared tp pieces. i was also a coward when i didn't stand up for him when my friends and such were bashing him. i used to be quite stubborn, damn it. I could have stood up to them. i could have had them really get to know him. But i decided to run away from him that day. That was his last memory of me. he didn't know about the cheating part or the friends bashing him behind his back or anything. i just told him goodbye. i wouldn't be surprised if he hated me in his last moments.

and i still feel like i'm just as much as a murderer as, say, Lombardi. I feel like I'm responsible for Dawne's suicide. I'm just as responsible for RJ's murder of Rekka as he was. I let Ben leave. i didn't stop Michelle. I ouldn't save Joshua. I let Marty die. I didnt save Bren in time and now he's injured. My cowardice cost a lot of lives. I just kept reacting and not doing anything. It was sickening. I just kept running away from my problems.

In a way, I still feel horrible.

But you know what?

i guess for the first time in a while i'm kind of happy to be alive. I was talking with some of the survivors earlier today at a Mickey Ds, and to be honest, I had a fun time. i still feel worried for some of them, like brendan and sarah tan and god knew who else. But i'm happy to be alive for once. Something tells me I shouldn't be happy. But I am. I just wish I could have changed the past. I wish i could have met Jon again, or saved Dawne from killing herself, or just saved everyone so they could have escaped with me. There were so many people braver than me, and I wish that things could have been okay in the end. I wish I could have been braver, stronger.

I have nothing much else to say.

oh wait, I do.

I want to thank everyone supportive of the survivors so far. The friends, family members, even random strangers. I havent seen much of it since I just got out of the hospital, but I know there are people out there who genuinely care.

As for the SOTF fans... i need to talk to you.

I understand completely. I was just like you before all this happened. Jon and I, we loved ourselves some scary movies. While I was never a big SOTF fan, Jon loved it. He always told me about it, and to be honest, my reaction to the things he described were mostly "that's weird". Like the one about the vase, or the story of the guy in the smiley face mask. Having lived through it myself, I now understand that it was the wrong reaction. real people died that month. I am not a fictional character in a tv show. I'm as flesh and blood as you. Same goes to the people who died there. They had lives.

I bet you didn't realize who these people were outside the island, or how people felt deep down when they had all these things happen to them. I've seen how SOTF fans react. There are probably many things you could think of the people on the island, but in the end you have to admit how terrible it is.

In short. I completely understand the thrill of watching something so violent and gruesome. It's just that real people went through this, you know?

It's a bit like what happened to me on the first day. Nancy Wainright had me by the hair. Kitty Gittschall and that other guy did nothing as I was mugged. They just stood and watched as my life was in danger. I guess that if it isn't happening to you then it is okay to not do anything.

I guess i want to apologize and offer my condolences to the friends, family members, and loved ones of the following people, and to the survivors.. I do know that its unlikely that even a few will see this. but i just need to get it off my chest.

My apologies:

Jonathan Jarocki- I apologize for not being the ideal girlfriend to him. I imagine it must be hard. It's been hard for me. I want to rewind everything so everything turned out okay. Despite what people said about him, Jon deep down was a good man. He just didn't know how to show it to most people. He tried his best to make things work. I didn't. I miss you Jon, so much.

Dawne Jiang- Dawne and I had didn't have the best relationship together before the abduction. I feel like I could have ruined her relationship with her boyfriend, and she probably killed herself with me in mind. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if she hated me in her last moments. Dawne was genuinely a fun, wonderful person, I remember going to cons with her and just hanging out. I too miss you, Dawne. I just wish I could have patched things up

Rekka Saionji- I remember thinking on the island that I needed to find him. He was the only person I knew who knew anything about surviving out in the wilderness. Despite what happened between Dawne and I, she genuinely loved that man, and I was saddened to hear about his death, knowing that she would have wanted him to live. Oh god, Rekka. I'm so sorry.

Brendan Wallace- If you're reading this, just know. You were a good friend to me the entire time we've met. I'm sorry I doubted you when I heard your name on the announcement, and i'm sorry i couldn't have saved you from kitty in time. You are my best friend. Always remember that. I wish I could just hug you right now.

Ben Powell- I should have gone after him. I told him I would protect him. I didn't. I'm such a fool.

Marty Lovett- I had figured out that he wanted to kill himself after Joshua's death. But, I admire that even after that he tried to save me from Nick Reid. he genuinely thought I was in danger, and he tried to save me. I couldn't save him, but he tried to. He was just scared, like the rest of us. I hope that if there is an afterlife, I could thank him.

Joshua Krakowski- you were a good friend to Marty. Even after all that happened, even though I didn't know you two that well, I could see that you two were good friends to the end. You were much stronger than many of us.

Aston Bennett- I was scared of her most of the time. But I felt she was worth saving. I tried to patch her up as best as i could, I went to find her, and so on. I wish I could have found her and stopped her from going on some kind of revenge quest.

Michelle O'Cain- I could have resolved that conflict without her death. I could have stopped her from attacking us. In the end, I did the wrong thing.

Richard Han- I didn't even know his name until recently. All I remember was his body falling from the sky. I wish that I could have known him, understood who he was.

Robert Lerger- like Richard, I only saw his remains. I feel horrible for thining the entire time that I didn't want to be a Lerger. But I am sorry for not doing anything to stop it. I was right there, just blind and hiding. Like Richard, I wanted to know who he was.

Sarah Tan- I've seen her in group therapy and such. I've seen how fragile she is. She often makes me feel concerned when i'm around her. I wish I could have whisked her away from all that. She's a good girl, she didn't need to go through that.

Peter Siu- I never got to know him that well. I just want to say... thanks Peter. That is all.

Erik Laurin- He and Brendan were perfect together. I was there when Bren asked him out for the first time, and I was happy to find out things were going well between them. He was a good boyfriend to Bren. I just wish he could have made it onto the boats.

Andrea Raymer- She was the only one who stood up to Alex White. I've heard stories of her condition in the hospital. Spinal injuries. Yikes. I hope she recovers. She rescued us all and Im glad.

Liz Polanski- While I have heard stories of how people were upset at her for her actions when I heard about her antics it actually gave me hope. it was good to know that people were standing up against what was happening. did it result in people dying? Yes. but she was rebelling, something that I couldn't have done. When I first heard that annoucnement, admittedly I wanted to exploit her and find her so that she could remove that awful thin off my neck. but I realize now that was wrong. Even if I didn't know much about her, she was certainly a lot braver.

Eiko Haraguchi- I shouldn't have abandoned you to look for Aston. I'm sorry.

Lexie Logan-Price- While you weren't there, i feel like i have to apologize to you as well. I'm sorry about everything that happened before the trip. You were just concerned, is all. I wish that we couldn't have gotten angry at each other as much before it happened.

I guess that's it for now.

One more thing I have to say.

The thing that really sucks about SOTF? It takes everything away from you. I can no longer watch scary movies for right now, and I don't think I can cosplay for a while after what happened to Dawne. It took away my health and my state of mind. It took away my classmates. What sucks even more about SOTF, though, is the fact that I was forced to grow up. I don't feel like a child anymore. That Anna had disappeared a long time ago.

Where do I go from here? I honestly don't know. I do know what to do, though. I was just looking through my family's photo album. There are still empty pages. I've decided that I want to fill it up a bit more before I die. I think I'll try to live an interesting life from now on. Do a bunch of things before I actually die, you know? Find interesting pictures. See the world.

It's still a beautiful world despite what happened, after all.

So I guess I want to say, thanks for reading about me rambling and angsting and stuff.

Take care,

Anna


Chase leaned back and closed her eyes. A few tears had ran down her face. She was about to admit to the entire Internet a lot of things she didn't even admit in the group therapy sessions.

But she wasn't sad.

She was relieved.

It felt nice to get it all out. Chase didn't like angsting, and she didn't like letting people know how she felt. But here, a small smile came across her face. It was as if the impact had lessened slightly.

Chase knew how many typos and grammar mistakes she made. But she didn't care.

She pressed submit.


Soon she was faced with what she had written as a blog entry. Just another in the life of Anna Chase. For the heck of it, Chase went back to her settings and turned comments back on. Curiosity killed the cat, and since people had come across it...

Chase had a feeling it was a bad idea. But she couldn't resist.

Chase sighed. God, that felt good.

A few more items were scattered around her desk. She had forgotten to bring her iPod on the trip, along with some of her makeup supplies. Making sure to recharge it, Chase decided afterwards to use the computer again and placed a music CD inside it. She was going to let her iPod recharge for now and not make it do anything.

After looking through the music a bit, she picked a song, and picked up a case of foundation powder after wiping her face. Staring into its small mirror, she brushed the brush across her face. The face looked somewhat odd, like she hadn't seen it before. Shorter hair. Slightly thinner face. More mature, war-torn look.

"Dark in the city night is a wire, steam in the subway the earth is a fire, do do do do do do do do do do do do do, do do..." the laptop cooed as she continued to apply her makeup.

She just had to live the rest of her life out.

"...woman you want me give me a sign and catch me breathing even closer behind, do do do do do do do do do do do do do, do do..."

It was her life. Danya or anyone couldn't take it from her. She knew this for a fact.

"...In touch with the ground, I'm on the hunt I'm after you. I smell like I sound, I'm lost and I'm found, and I'm hungry like the wolf..."

See? Not only was she alive, she was listening to Duran Duran, putting on makeup casually, and everything now. Sucks, terrorists.




A few minutes later, Chase slid downstairs for dinner. She really couldn't resist the smell anymore.

Her parents were clattering around and chatting about something in the kitchen, and her suspicions were confirmed. Tuna noodle casserole. Heck yes. God it smelled good. She had missed her parents' cooking. There was just something so nostalgic and wonderful about it.

"Hey Anna! Feelin' better?" her mother whirled around, a small smile on her face.

"Er... yeah", Chase said as she rubbed the back of her head. "Didn't get that good a sleep because I had a nightmare. I'm fine though."

She reached to hug her mother, then her father. God, it felt good to be hugged by her parents again. And now that she was here, she was glad to be home.

Soon the entire family had sat down at the table, each with a plate of food. Chase began to stare at the delicious pasta fishy meal, swirling it around with her fork. Man, her mouth was watering. She couldn't wait to eat it. And she began shoveling it into her mouth as much as possible. Oh god, it was delicious. The taste of the tuna melted beautifully with the pasta and cream of mushroom soup. It was perfection. Chase had only just now realized it.

Her parents asked her more questions, like how her plane ride went, and how her stay at the hospital was. Chase answered all these questions as best as she could in-between bites. No, she didn't know much about how they were abducted, everyone had been drugged. The entire time she had been eating anything that seemed edible, up to and including grass. She had talked to many of the other survivors during her stay in the hospital, and she had mentioned Brendan, Sarah, Andrea, Liz, Marty, Joshua, Aston, Jay, and many other of her classmates. They were still kind of upset at Brendan being injured apparently. Despite the fact that they were suspicious of Jon, they seemed to like Brendan.

Soon the plates were empty.

"And... yeah. So there's that..." Chase finished.

What else was there to say?

She had already talked her heart out multiple times. It wasn't like she had that much to say, anyways, and everything she could say she already mentioned online.

Chase stood up. "Erm... m-mind if I collect the plates? I don't want you guys waiting on me or anything..."

"Anna, there's cake and ice cream if you want it."

Her eyes widened. "Cake? You got cake?"

A sad smile passed over her mother's lips.

"Anna, didn't you remember? We said we'd celebrate it when you arrived home from your trip."

It took Chase a few beats before she realized what she meant. Her birthday. She hadn't thought about it much while on the island or in the hospital. The only time she really did was when she looked at the necklace Jon gave her, which was currently lying on her desk. But she had a birthday that day.

When the cake was placed on the table, she couldn't help but stare. Oh god, that also looked delicious. It looked like devil's food, actually, and had chocolate frosting. They must have gotten it from a baker's earlier, just before she arrived. They even managed to get "Happy Birthday Anna" on it. It literally had her name on it and everything!

The candles flickered on the cake as the two parents sung Happy Birthday.

Chase couldn't think of just one wish, though. The candles' flames gently moved and twitched, waiting for her to figure it out. But she had so many wishes.

She wished that she could see everyone who died again.

She wished that they wouldn't be too mad at her if there was an afterlife.

She wished that Brendan's injuries would heal nicely.

She wished that Sarah Tan would have a nice life from this point forward.

She wished that all of the survivors' injuries healed up and they had a nice life, really.

She wished that the rest of her days, however long they may be, would be at least decent.

She wished that the terrorists would one day be caught and punished.


Chase wished for so much. She decided to wish for them all, and blew out the candles.

They dined on the cake and ice cream in silence.



Afterwards, Chase went back upstairs.

"...Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand, just like that river twisting through a dusty land..."

It took her a few seconds for her to realize that she left her CD in her laptop and forgot to pause it, so this entire time it had been looping while she had dinner. It was kind of surprising she didn't notice from downstairs really.

But she decided not to bother with it.

Chase picked the photo album back up again, and sat down on her bed.

An object fell out from its pages and gently landed on the bed.

She reached to pick it up. An envelope? She hadn't noticed it before. Should she open it? Well, it had her name on it, so... why not?

Chase opened the envelope, and was surprised by a birthday card. It had a picture of Batman and Robin with the text "Holy presents, Batman! It's a birthday!". On the back it simply said "Happy Birthday Anna!- Love, Mom and Dad".

She shook her head, smiling. It was corny, sure, but well, it showed they cared.

Wait, there was another slip of paper inside the envelope.

Chase pulled it out and unfolded it, reading the handwriting.


Anna,

Words cannot express how much we care about you. We are both happy to be your parents. When we found out what had happened, we were devastated. We wanted to know, who would do something like this to our daughter? We're sure you would have heard this by now, but your father was rather cross when the news came out. We were worried sick. Although you wouldn't have wanted us to be worried, we couldn't help but feel concerned for you each and every single day.

We're proud of you, Anna. You've grown into a strong young woman. You didn't give in to the temptation of killing your classmates just to survive. We saw you, watched you every day, and although you were scared you tried your best to save that injured girl, look out for that unconscious boy, or to rescue Brendan from that drunk. You did what you could. We didn't expect a superhero or anything. But we were glad that you kept going, and didn't let them grind you down in the end.

Listen, Anna. We're proud of you. There's nothing that can happen that can make us hate you. Although your father can be somewhat protective of you, he's been protective of you for a reason. We're both here for you. Even when you're an adult with a good job, a family, and such, we'll be there when you need us.

Love,

Mom and Dad


The letter shook in her hands.

Chase sat in silence, the only sounds being the music coming from the laptop and the occasional sob. She wanted to go downstairs and hug both of them. But her legs firmly remained dangling from the bed.

But she wasn't completely sad.



An hour later she checked to see if there were any replies to her blog post.

Twenty replies ever since she posted it. It was confirmed; yes, people had found her networking sites while she was on the island in some way or another. Chase's guess was that someone had come across them, figured out it was her, and posted them on an SOTF fan site or something like that.

To her surprise?

She had expected trolls, and SOTF fans saying inappropriate things. She had expected people telling her to "GET OVER IT". She had expected people who didn't understand what had happened.

Instead...

Most comments were actually pretty supportive. No, seriously. A few even agreed with her on what she had to say about SOTF fans. Some of them asked questions, of course, while others apologized for people spamming her networking accounts. A few were from her friendslist, while others were people she had never seen in her life.

She tried her best to reply back.



Once she was done, she headed downstairs and hugged her parents for the third time that night.

Perhaps maybe she wasn't alone after all.