Caine stared at the helicopter until he couldn't see it anymore. Until it had faded to a tiny speck on the horizon, where Perdido Beach lay. The helicopter was gone. The boat crashed. And he was left here, with no way to get back, on this island. He was stuck here, with Diana. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, he loved Diana. And, and she loved him too. But at the moment he was kind of pissed with her.
Caine turned around and walked over to where he threw Diana down. She had, luckily, fallen into a softer patch of grass. He knelt down to her, and brushed her hair out of her eyes. Not that it mattered. Diana was out cold. Unconscious. It was his fault. Caine really should have been more careful, but he couldn't help it. He looked down at her. She was still Diana, even now, seven months after the Fayz. She used to be so beautiful. Now she had scars over her skin, dirt and blood smeared all over her, dirty matted short brown hair, and lots of bruises.
Caine hadn't exactly thrown her down onto the island purposely, but after she had walked right off of the cliff, he wasn't too happy with her. That being said, he wasn't too gentle when putting her back down on the ground. He stood up, putting his palm out towards her. Well, he thought, using his powers to lift up Diana, Might as well bring her inside so she doesn't go all suicidal on me again.
He walked into the house and set Diana down on the large dining room table. He took one last look at her, and then headed out of the dining room to go explore the rest of the house. He had a feeling that he and Diana would be here for awhile.
As Caine soon found out, there were twenty-two rooms in all. Nothing compared as to how many there were at Coates, but there were a lot of rooms nonetheless. Most of them were extravagantly decorated, crystal chandeliers hanging overhead. The amazing thing was that there was still power here, and even better, still hot water, and still food. He was soon done looking through the second story floor, and went up to the third story, where he found an extravagant view of the ocean, in a room filled with entertainment things. There was a ping pong table, a movie theater set up for the TV, an air hockey and foozball table, as well as a bouncer, a ball pit, and various arcade games. It was like a Chuck-E-Cheese for rich people, Caine thought happily as he fell back into the ball pit.
Diana groggily opened her eyes and sat up. Too fast, she thought as she felt her head pound. Too fast. She pressed her fingertips against her temples and sighed. It was the worst headache she could ever remember having. Come to think of it, she didn't know how she got such a killer headache in the first place. She slid off of the giant table, looking around. She was all alone in this fancy dining room. Looking down at her clothes, she found them in worse condition than the last time she had seen them. Her off-white American Apparel V-neck was smeared with dirt and blood, and so ripped, she was surprised it could still be considered a shirt. Her denim shorts weren't as bad. They were stained too, but not as ripped. Diana let go of the table, and started to stand on her own. Then she remembered. After she had fallen off of the cliff, Caine had caught her, and then thrown her into the ground. That would explain the killer headache. She touched the ripped excuse for a shirt, and went to look for something else to wear in this huge mansion.
There were twenty two rooms in the mansion, total. She was running out of rooms to look through when she walked into what must have been Jennifer's room. So far, she hadn't found any clothes that would fit her, and she hadn't found Caine. She guessed not finding Caine would be a good thing. Diana shut the door behind her, and walked into the huge room, with a wall of windows, overlooking the ocean. She turned away from the windows and walked into the closet.
It was a huge closet, and she desperately hoped some of the clothes would fit her. Diana grabbed some clothes in the back of the closet that were in her size, and walked into the bathroom. Everything in it was white, right down to the huge bathtub in the center. It was the size of a small swimming pool, with at least 15 different faucets. She turned on the water and put the clean clothes down on the counter, and peeled off her her salty, dirty, ripped bloody clothes, threw them in the trash, and got into the bathtub. It was filled with bubbles now, and was steaming. Diana scrubbed the dried blood and dirt off of her skin with the fragrant vanilla soap, and started to untangle and shampoo the mess of her hair.
By now, Caine has gone through all of the house. He wasn't looking for anything specific, just wanted to see what was around. He walked down the marble steps that led into the main entryway, and back into the elegant dining room where he left Diana. When he got back there, she wasn't lying on the table anymore. Slightly panicked, Caine sped up his pace and went outside onto the island. He searched the island, and the waters surrounding it, and thankfully, did not find Diana. He didn't know what he would do if Diana really had jumped off of the island, leaving him here by himself.
Caine walked back into the house and quickly searched the first floor. When he didn't find Diana, he ran up the stairs, desperate to find her. When he reached the second floor, he heard water running. He followed the sound of the water to one of the larger bedrooms, most probably Jennifer's. He walked into the room, and looked around, until he saw the huge bathroom. It didn't have a door, just an arched doorway with white curtains. He saw Diana washing her hair in the bathtub, and felt his heart leap. She hadn't left him. She hadn't tried to kill herself again. She'd stayed here. With him. Caine hoped that she had meant it when she had said she loved him. He knew that he'd meant it every single time that he had told Diana he loved her. Careful to not make any noise, he quietly slipped into the bathroom, unnoticed by Diana.
Having finally untangled her hair, Diana went under the water and felt the hot water on her face. It felt good, especially compared to the old freezing cold showers back at Coates. That was, if they were ever lucky enough to get a shower. When she finally came back up, she wiped the water out of her eyes, and gasped. She pulled the bubbles closer to her and stared. Caine was sitting across from her in the giant bathtub. She absentmindedly wondered how she didn't hear him.
Caine looked Diana straight in the eyes. "You jumped off of the cliff." He simply stated.
"Correction, I fell. I didn't mean to fall, I took one step too far back." Diana said sardonically.
Caine reached over to Diana and took her hands in his. "I need to know one thing from you Diana. One thing, right now. Do you know what I need to know from you?"
Diana left him remove one of his hands from hers and watched him run his hand through his dirty hair. "What, Caine?" she almost whispered, almost afraid to hear what he was about to ask her.
"Did you really mean it?" He asked, voice quavering. He could feel the fear of rejection making butterflies in his stomach. He took a deep breath, trying to retain his composure. " What you said, earlier today. Do you.. Do you really love me?"
Diana was so worried that he was going to ask her something else, she half thought this was a joke. Wasn't the answer obvious? In plain sight in front of him. Diana, for the first time in a while, began to laugh. Caine looked at her frowned, sticking his palms out at her. "What's so damn funny?"
She stopped laughing, she knew he was serious now. "You asked me if I really meant it when I said I loved you." Diana snapped. "That's what was so damn funny."
"Oh," Caine said. "I see how it is."
Diana pushed his hands back down. "Isn't it obvious? That's like asking me if I love breathing. It's an essential part of me, half the time I don't even realize I'm doing it. Of course I love you, Caine! Why the hell would I have stayed with you, especially these past seven months, if I didn't?"
Caine started to say something, but Diana put her finger to his lips. "But," she started, "I also meant the other things I said. Your a sick and twisted disgusting creep, Caine. You don't care about anything else other than you and what you want. You don't care who you have to step on to get to it, you don't care who it hurts. Not even an hour ago, you were willing to murder little kids who were just trying to save themselves, who haven't done anything to you. And I can't love you for that. Hell, I don't know if I can love you around that. I may love you Caine, but I'll never be able to be with you. Never."
Diana grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her, and stepped out of the bathtub, grabbing the clothes and trying not to run out of the room. She bit back tears as she went into the hall, and far off in the mansion, into another room, where she hoped Caine wouldn't find her. She locked the door behind her, threw the clothes on the floor, and tossed herself onto the bed. Then, Diana began to cry.
Bug had heard Caine and Diana's argument. It wasn't really an argument, really, but Bug thought it would be a good idea to avoid wither of them for awhile. He didn't think Caine or Diana knew he was still on the island, but he didn't want to take his chances and see if they knew or not. So when Bug heard Diana, he made sure he was still camouflaged, and ran off in the other direction, then downstairs.
Once he had slid down the marble banister of the huge steps in the foyer, Bug looked around, clutching his side, feeling a familiar pain. He was hungry, he hadn't eaten since the small amount of the Cheerios he had consumed when they first met the two boys who had poisoned them. The four of them, Caine, Diana, Bug, and Penny, had been drugged, and tied up, unable to escape. Once Caine, Diana and Penny had been untied and had their own issues, Bug had slipped away from them, unnoticed as he normally was. From then on, he had successfully avoid all three of them. But from what he'd heard from Diana yelling at Caine, things weren't going too swell for Caine or Diana.
Shaking his head of Caine's drama, Bug wandered around downstairs, stomach grumbling. It seemed to echo in the huge empty rooms, sounding even louder than they would have normally. He trudged through the bottom floor of the mansion, looking for the kitchen, humming to himself. Finally, Bug found the kitchen, and the food. Despite the fact that the Fayz had begun seven months earlier, and that there had been at least two people living on this island, there was still food. Not a huge abundance of it, but not as little as there was at Perdido Beach, let alone at Coates.
Looking up at the pantry that had seemed to go on for miles to Bug, he felt happy for the first time since the Darkness had taken over Caine's head. Those had been scary times, living in fear that Caine would blast you into a wall if you got too close, or that Drake might whip you for saying something too loudly. Bug looked around the pantry, starving, wanting anything, but looking for the tastiest thing he could find. Then, he spotted it.
It was sitting atop a box of Lucky Charms on an eye-level shelf towards the back of the pantry. There it was, an untouched, unopened, and surprisingly, and unexpired box of brown sugar Pop-Tarts. Now this, Bug thought as he grabbed the box, was heaven. Without bothering to move from where he was standing, he hastily ripped open the box. He pulled out one of the three shiny metallic silver bags and yanked it open. Almost in a panic, Bug took out one of the Pop-Tarts and shoved half of it in his mouth at once.
Bug smiled to himself and swallowed the food, almost without chewing, but definitely not without tasting the gooey deliciousness of the brown sugar filling that hung in broken strand on the opened side of the pastry. Bug had started to eat the second Pop-Tart when he thought he heard something behind him. Turning around slowly, Bug realized no one was behind him.
He stuffed the rest of the Pop-Tart into his mouth when he felt a hand being laid on his shoulder. Bug looked up at the hand, and gaped. The Pop-Tart fell out of his mouth and onto the floor, where it broke into small crumbs.
"Bug," Caine said, grinning at the him. "I had good reason to think you had gone off onto that helicopter. But now your sitting in the kitchen, stuffing your face, without bothering to tell me you haven't left?" Caine said each word very clearly, stepping closer to Bug. Caine held up his hands, holding up Bug in midair, and turned around, about to throw Bug across the room. "How long have you been spying on me today?" Caine said fiercely, approximately two seconds away from squashing Bug into the marble floor.
Diana looked in the mirror. The clothes she was wearing were far too big on her, and her thin, shoulder-length chocolate brown hair hung in damp strands around her dark, red-rimmed eyes. Looking into the mirror, she barely recognized herself, she was so different than she was seven months ago. It was hard for her to believe that the girl in the mirror was her. It was hard to believe that she used to be beautiful, with her thick long brown hair, perfectly sculpted eyebrows, not too thin, and straight teeth (not that you could tell now). It was even harder for Diana to believe that even now, Caine still found her beautiful.
She looked in the mirror and felt angry with herself. She wiped the tears away from her eyes and turned away from the mirror. "Your Diana Ladris." She told herself firmly. "You don't cry in front of other people. You don't let people know your emotions. What the hell is the Fayz doing to you?"
Diana walked into the connecting bathroom and wiped at her eyes, trying to minimize the redness, wishing her eyes didn't get puffy when she cried. Wishing Caine hadn't made her cry in the first place. And wishing she never loved Caine in the first place.
No, she thought, taking it back soon after she thought it. She didn't wish she had never loved Caine. She loved him, she knew that, but a part of her despised herself for letting her fall in love with him. It made everything so much more complicated. Like now. How could she show her face to him again, now that he knew exactly how she felt? Had seen exactly how much it had hurt her.
They were no doubt going to have to leave the island eventually, but that wouldn't be for a while, because they didn't have any way to get off of the island. So Diana supposed that eventually she would be able to go her separate way from Caine. But where would she go? No one in Perdido Beach would take her in, she had done to much damage to them. Was she supposed to go live by herself in the wilderness like Emily and her idiot brother, Brother?
Diana looked in the mirror one last time and took a deep breath. She would have to face Caine sooner or later, and besides, she was starting to get hungry. She hadn't eaten since the drugged Cheerios she had that morning. She pulled on a v-neck that she had found over top of the light purple tank top she already had on. Suppressing the urge to stay away from where Caine might be, Diana held her composure and walked out of the bedroom.
She walked around the second story until she found what must have been the servant's staircase. Diana shrugged and held the railing with one hand, and walked down the steps and found herself in the servant's dining room where her, Bug, Caine, and Penny had been tied up hours previous. Not having paid attention when she had been downstairs earlier, she soon got lost. But luckily, Diana soon found her way into the kitchen.
Unfortunately, Caine had already beaten her there. He was standing in the kitchen, arms outstretched, holding Bug in midair. From the look of the kitchen, Caine had been throwing Bug around quite a bit. But that's not what caught her attention. Caine's hair was tangled and damp, hanging a little bit past his bare shoulders. The lack of food had definitely gotten rid of his gym rat body, there were no traces of his abs anymore.
"It appears we have a visitor." Caine said calmly to Diana, without taking his eyes off of Bug, who was trying, and failing, to get out of his grip.
Diana nodded, taking her attention off of Caine's body. "I thought he left on the helicopter." She said looking at the floor, not wanting to make eye contact with him.
"That's what I thought." Caine said, having run out of things to say to Diana.
"Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to grab some food and walk right out of this awkward situation." Diana said, walking past Caine.
But Caine stuck his arm out and grabbed her around the waist as she walked past. Before she could duck under or walk around his arm, he pulled her close to him. With one hand, he held Bug suspended in midair, and in the other, he held Diana. He kissed her, awkward as it was, having only one hand, and for the first time, she didn't draw back with some sarcastic remark.
He kissed her, and Diana resisted at first, but her resistance proved to be futile. Her arms locked behind his neck, and she felt water rolling off of his hair and onto her blouse. She drew away from him, not really wanting to, but knowing she had too. She squeezed his arm and turned to walk away from him.
"How's that for an awkward situation from a sick creep you can't love?" Caine said under his breath. Diana heard him and forced a weak smile on her face before pushing through the doors of the kitchen. Things weren't really resolved with Caine just yet, but at least the weirdness would be gone.
Leaving the kitchen and finding the main staircase was a lot easier than locating the kitchen from the unused staircases. Diana started up the stairs when she saw something. A huge florescent green monster broke through the middle of the stairs, reaching for her, gnawing it's teeth at her, looking for something to eat. She screamed and started to walk backwards down the steps, when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder.
Diana gravely turned around and looked at the girl who the hand belonged to.
"Well well well," Penny said, glaring at Diana. "Look who is all alone with no big bad Caine to save her." Penny shoved her hands out towards Diana, and the huge monster reached for her. The next thing Diana knew, Penny had a huge flower pot in her hands, and then, Diana was unconscious on the foot of the steps.
Author's Note; This is chapters one and two, for some reason this thing is being lame. (: