Whap: The Arrival
Okay, sorry for the mix ups in the last chapter. I'll try to be more careful this time. In this chapter, we learn about the locals, and meet one uninvited guest... Also, I decided to use Shane Pierce here. I've added his biography to the first chapter. He isn't a suspect, so don't think he's the killer. So, this chapter pretty much combines the unaired pilot with the first episode. So... enjoy (hopefully).
The island loomed ahead as the yacht approached it. Gwen saw the many landmarks she once considered her home; the lighthouse, the marina, the Candlewick hotel. Soon the yacht moored at the harbour. Gwen caught sight of a face she had hoped she wouldn't have to deal with on the trip. As the deckhand helped her get off, she tried avoiding eye contact with her ex-boyfriend.
"Gwen Mills," Trent trilled happily. "You never called..."
"Hey, Trent," Gwen greeted, still avoiding his eyes. "Been very busy at the office. Those newspaper articles won't write themselves!"
"I knew you'd come back for me!"
"I knew you'd be here."
"So, how's LA? Meet any cute actors?"
"Uh, no, I've-"
"I've changed, too!" Trent interrupted her. "I'm married!"
Gwen looked shocked for a moment, then smiled. "You are such a liar!"
"I had you there, for a moment, didn't I?"
"I was just feeling pity for the poor girl!"
Gwen soon stepped out of the dock and into the street. "Hey!" Trent called out, putting his hands on his heart. "Welcome home!"
"Just a visit!" she yelled back.
~ * ~
"Hey, Gwen, there's room!" Bridgette told her from the wedding trolley.
"Uh, no thanks. I can walk," she replied.
She strolled through the woods, and soon found herself at a large tree. Ropes still drooped from the branches, where her mother and five others were hung for all to see. The memories were painful, yet she needed to come here again. She turned around and bumped into someone.
"It's okay," Geoff told her. "The killer is dead. Hatchet's dead. Come on, let's go." He led her to the hotel.
Unbeknownst to them, a figure had been watching. A figure with a dog leash.
~ * ~
At the Candlewick Hotel
"Look," Gwen explained. "Sooner or later I was going to walk past that tree, so I thought... Sooner would be best to get it out of the way."'
"Yeah, yeah. So, you think you would drop by and say hi to your dad?" Geoff asked, resulting in Gwen kicking him in the shin. "Alright, alright, bad idea!"
"Geoff! Geoff Dunn!" Leshawna approached them. She gasped when she saw Gwen. She embraced her. "You grew up so beautiful!"
Leshawna took Geoff by the hands, then dragged him up the stairs and took Bridgette. "You two have a lot of work to do!" she says, explaining the rest of the wedding week.
~ * ~
Sadie looked at her daughter, kneeling down in a flower patch. "Izzy! It's time to get ready!" she called out.
Izzy remained where she was. With the sunlight quickly fading, she was finding it very difficult to burn a particular snail with her magnifying glass. "Izzy!" she hears her mom's voice again. Frustrated, she hid the magnifying glass in her pocket and plucked a small, red rose, carefully avoiding its thorns. She started to walk back to her suite, then stopped, turned around and stepped on the snail.
"Here you go, mommy!" Izzy handed her the rose.
"For me? Why, thank you, sweetheart!" Sadie said, putting the red flower in her wedding gift bag.
~ * ~
Bridgette was happily talking to her dad when she got the text message. She checked Caller ID; Justin Jennings.
"If that's your cousin," Noah told her. "tell him I chartered another yacht to pick him up at 9 o'clock tomorrow."
"It isn't him."
"Then who is it?"
"Uh, nobody! So, we were talking about tableware, right?" she said, desperately trying to change back the subject.
~ * ~
"Hey, Gwen, have you seen my brother?" Geoff asked as he approached her.
"Oh, yeah. He said he was going to the Cannery," Gwen replied.
"This is bad!" Geoff rubbed his head. "We need to get him! I don't want him being loose, causing trouble!"
"Don't worry, I'll go," she said before leaving.
~ * ~
At the Cannery
Courtney sighed as she took a sip of her drink. "Eva, another one, please."
"Sure," the bartender replied in her usual gruff voice. Courtney's life, in short, sucked. She hated it.
She hated the fact that her mom was killed. She hated how every time she would walk down the street, people would stare at her and say to each other "There goes that girl whose mom was killed by Hatchet". She cringed at the thought of his name. She hated him, too.
The Sheriff had said he killed him, but she didn't believe him. She saw him. More than once, she saw him hundreds of times. Not in her dreams, in real life. But no one believed her. No one believed that he was following her. Watching. Waiting until it was the perfect time to-
"Here ya go!" Eva handed her her glass, interrupting her thoughts.
"Thank you," she said, taking another sip. Worst of all, she hated the island. The island where she grew up. The island she spent her whole life in. She wanted to be anywhere but there. She turned her head, sitting on a table to her right was a man, around her age, with a green Mohawk. He was gawking at her breast.
"Do you mind?" when he continued to stare, she added, "Stop being a creep!"
"I like your tats!" he said pointing to the tattoo on her breast. "Broken hearts!" he pulled his sleeve to show the same one on his wrist. Courtney couldn't help but smile.
"Is he bothering you, Courtney?" a familiar voice asked.
"No, Shane," she told her ex-boyfriend. "I haven't even met the guy."
"Oh, then allow me! Courtney, this is Duncan. Duncan, this is Courtney! Now that you have met, I'm sure you have loads to talk about, with the depression, and the suicide, and the cutting-"
Shane was abruptly interrupted by Duncan, who slams his face into a plate. He then turned to Courtney and smiled, she tried to smile back. Shane recovered, then hit Duncan's head with a bottle.
"Shane!" Courtney yelled in disgust.
"Oh, sure. You smile when he does it, but scream at me when I do it!"
"That's not the point!" Courtney said, rushing over to Duncan, who remained still, blood dripping from his forehead. As Shane stormed off with Courtney following him, Gwen arrived to Duncan's aid.
"You okay?" she asked.
Duncan nodded in response.
Suddenly, sirens could be heard as the doors burst open.
"The sheriff here! I got complaints about a fight!" Sheriff Ezekiel Mills said. He found his daughter's eyes. "Gwen?"
"Hi, dad," she greeted bitterly.
~ * ~
As Uncle Chris returns the hotel from, well, wherever he went to, he heard his future cousin-in-law talking with a stranger in the woods.
"I won't leave the island without her," the stranger said.
"That's the idea, Justin! And remember, if anybody gives you a problem, just tell me." Noah said.
The stranger nods, and they separate.
~ * ~
Izzy tip-toed over to where a table where the gift bags had been placed. There was only one left; Cousin Ben's. She picked up the label and ripped it apart. She then sneaked back to her suite and into her mother's room, where she was sleeping.
"Mommy!"
"Honey, go to sleep!" Sadie told her groggily.
"Mommy, did you know people died here?"
For a moment, neither spoke. "What did you say?" Sadie asked, stunned.
"People died here. They were murdered. Would you like to know how?"
~ * ~
Gwen and the Sheriff had gotten into the van after the fight. Duncan was in the passenger seat, unconscious. For most of the trip, none of them spoke.
"It's been a long time," Sheriff broke the silence.
"Yeah," Gwen replied.
"You know, when you left-"
"You mean, when you sent me away?" Gwen said bitterly.
"Uh, yeah. You left behind some of your things. If you want, we could pick it up in the morning, or something."
"Uh, sure."
And after that, no one spoke until they reached the hotel.
~ * ~
After the conversation he heard earlier, Uncle Chris tried to find Geoff. Of course, he wasn't making much progress, as he was still looking in the woods. As he crossed a bridge, his waist fell through. He tried to call for help, he tried to get himself out. He then hears a sound from under the bridge. It sounded like a hedgetrimmer.
"Hello?" he called out. No response.
"Anybody there?" he tried again. Still nothing. The sound got louder. Suddenly, his waist starts to hurt, and he hears another sound; the sound of flesh being cut. He tries to get his gun, but it's under the bridge. He yells out one more time as his lower torso falls down to the ravine below.
~ * ~
When Gwen, reached her room, she saw an article on the mirror. Her mother's smiling face. SHERIFF'S WIFE MURDERED BY HATCHET printed in bold letters. She reached for the article and ripped it up, scrunching it in her hand.
Deaths – Cousin Ben, Uncle Chris. So can anybody guess the killer, yet? The winner gets a cookie! Review, please!
