Survival Of The Fittest

((Samantha Ridley continued from Done With This))

Summer in Atlanta, Georgia. Sam sat on a bench overlooking the lake. It was a beautiful day, for sure, and Sam didn't have anywhere to be. The only thing that she had to do was probably eat, since she hadn't had lunch yet.

She pulled her long hair back behind behind her ears. Maybe she should get another scrunchy, or a hair clip or something. She was getting used to leaving her hair down, but it kept getting in her face every time the wind would blow. The last time her hair was in a pony tail was...

She didn't know it was her last scrunchie until long after she came home. She had lost it at the hospital and... damn. It almost had looked like she was gonna go a day without something reminding her of that fucking island. It had been such a nice day, too.

It had been a little over a year now, hadn't it? She stretched her arms before staring dawn at her daffodil yellow t-shirt and faded blue jeans, wondering if it was about time to get a haircut.

Lazy Sundays ...

Simon walked along the path by the lake, bored out of his mind. In a way, he was sort of happy about that - being bored meant that there weren't any problems. Being in college, though, it had people looking at him funny. After all, what kind of college student liked boredom?

Either way, Simon was enjoying the weekend. Same old stuff was going on - work, physical therapy, hanging out a little with some of the others. Usual stuff.

Eengh..

Simon stopped as he rubbed his left tricep, where he'd been stabbed with that sword. If it hadn't been for that, and all the therapy, he could almost forget about what had happened the previous summer. Even now, he still thought about it - not all the time, but it still came up.

As he started walking again, he looked to the left, at the blond girl on the bench ahead. Something about her looked familiar, but he couldn't place what exactly ...

"Excuse me. Do I know you from somewhere?" Maybe not the best way to start a conversation, but at least he started one ...

Sam sighed. Without looking at the boy she replied.

"You might. I went to Bayview last year. You might have seen me on.... Sorry, I'm just not over it...."

"You might. I went to Bayview last year. You might have seen me on.... Sorry, I'm just not over it...."

That stopped him. Of course, there were only a few people he remembered on the boats going back - Acacia Salinger, who was with him, Alex Jackson, whom he'd talked to on the island, and Ray Dawson from wrestling. Everything else had been a blur, really. He'd spent a lot of time sleeping in his hospital bed. This girl, for a second it was Acacia, but upon looking at her more closely, it was clearly some other girl that had been in the game with him.

"No, I get it. I just don't remember everyone that made it out. I left on the boat on the Eastern Beach. Not many people there."

"I'm sorry," Sam replied, "I didn't realize you were another survivor. I thought you were one of our so-called 'fans.'"

She turned to look at the boy, "I'm Sam Ridley; I left from the north beach, but I played soccer, so you may have recognized me from that. Anyway, what have you been up to in the past year?"

The girl introduced herself. Sam Ridley. Left from the north beach. Soccer team.

"Nothing much. I'm in college here. Georgia Tech. You?" He paused for a second. "Oh. Sorry. Simon Telamon. Left from the eastern beach. I was known as the guy with the fake leg. Or some guy on the wrestling team."

Sam shifted uncomfortably in her seat for a few moments before answering, "I'm not in college right now, just working to pay my share of the rent and trying mostly unsuccessfully to put past unpleasantness behind me."

She rose to her feet, "Sorry again, I don't think I'm really in the mood to continue the small talk."

"It was nice to see you, but I should be going," she added as she walked away.


((Samantha Ridley concluded))