Chapter 10: Truth Revealed

'I'm crazy. Duncan's crazy. Chris is crazy. This whole situation is crazy!' These thoughts and more were going through my head as I literally ran blindly through the forest. No idea where I was going or where I even was with Duncan right on my tail. 'Crazy crazy crazy crazy CRAAAAAZY!' Every fiber in my being told me to stop and take a breath, and to talk to Duncan. But the pounding in my ears was too loud to hear them. Actually it was amazing I didn't run into any trees or trip over a bush or something. I must have been in the thinner part of the forest. We were right on the edge of it. I can barely hear Duncan's voice anymore. I must have gotten ahead of him. I didn't even stop to take a breath, I just kept running.

"Courtney wait!" Duncan cried as he ran after the terrified brunette. She was getting further and further away even though she couldn't see a thing. "Courtney come on! This is insane!" 'She probably can't even hear me.' He thought bitterly but pressed on. Thankfully they were in the thinner part of the forest at the time, but one turn changed that. He saw Courtney turn on a dime and rush into the thicker parts of the forest. "Courtney! You'll get lost!" but again she didn't hear and Duncan lost her in the darkness of the forest. He stood there panting and looking around with angry and terrified eyes. Courtney was all alone in that huge forest without sight, and he couldn't find her on his own. "Damn…" he snarled under his breath. He then turned heal and ran back the way he had come.

Chris had finished his story not to long after Courtney left the mess hall with Geoff. The campers were oddly silent once he was done which puzzled him slightly. He shrugged and went outside for no apparent reason. He stood outside of the mess hall staring up at the bright sun. He wished that soon Courtney would be able to see the sun again… He shook his head and rubbed his eyes irritably. No one had ever made Chris guilty in his whole life, and guilt was an extremely annoying feeling. 'But what should I be guilty about?' He asked himself as he took a stroll around the campsite. 'I'm not the one that made Court blind. Wasn't my fault.' But the feeling was still there. He didn't understand it. He rubbed his eyes again and walked towards his trailer. Maybe something in there could distract him from the annoying feeling that was following him around. He decided to spy on the campers in the mess hall to see what they really thought about his story. Chris walked up to the door of his trailer and was about to push it open when he heard someone else inside.

"Not good not good not good not good…" he heard someone mumble over and over again. He cocked an eyebrow and went inside. There he saw Geoff frantically staring at all the monitors showing different places on the island.

"Geoff? What are you doing here?" Chris asked crossing his arms with a scowl. He saw the blonde party boy flinch and slowly turn to face him.

"H-Hey Chris dude! What's up?" Geoff asked nervously.

"That's what I'd like to know. You're not even supposed to be in here."

"Yeah well uh…. You see uh…" suddenly something dawned on Chris.

"Where's Courtney? Didn't she walk out with you like ten minutes ago?"

"Uh… yeah! S-She wanted some alone time on the beach so I left her there." Chris' eyes widened.

"You left Courtney the beach? Alone? Blind Courtney! Who can't find her way back to camp!"

"We didn't go too far!" the host simply huffed and turned to leave his trailer.

"Fine. But I want you to get her so-ACK!" Chris was cut off when he went outside and something rammed into him knocking him to the ground. "What the hell?" he snared sitting up and rubbing his head. When he looked across from him he saw none other than the one who was most likely the cause of Chris' sickening guilt, Duncan. He had fallen to the ground and was rubbing his head as well. "What are you doing here?" he shouted. Duncan's eyes snapped open and looked a bit fearful for a second, but were quickly replaced with anger.

"No time man!" he jumped to his feet and ran into the trailer. Chris blinked once then ran in after him. "Geoff man I need-"

"I know dude I saw everything." Geoff cut him off stepping aside so Duncan could get a good view of the monitors.

"What did you see? How did you get out of your cell? What's going on? Where's Courtney?" Chris asked throwing his hands up for dramatic effect. Geoff glanced at him but looked back at the monitors a second later. All three of them were silent for a few minutes when suddenly Duncan screamed and banged his fists on the table.

"Damn it all! I don't see her!" he snarled.

"See who?" Geoff finally decided to fill Chris in on Duncan's plan while the punk kept frantically searching the monitors. Once he finished telling Chris how Courtney had run off into the forest he sighed and banged his head on the wall beside him.

"Wow you're an idiot." He said rubbing his head. Unfortunately that seriously tipped Duncan over the edge he was already leaning to. He grabbed the host's collar and lifted him off the ground anger burning like a wild fire in his eyes.

"What did you say?" Duncan shouted at the host dangling in his grasp.

"I said you're an idiot." Chris answered calmly.

"At least I'm trying to help her!" and that's what tipped Chris over the edge.

"Are you suggesting I haven't been helping? Where do you think Courtney's been for the past three days! Why do you think she has bandages over her eyes!" Duncan couldn't counter that. He just stared at the host angrily.

"Guy come on chillax! Let's just go back to the monitors and look for Court." Geoff intervened waving his arms around like mad.

"Don't think you're the only one around here who cares about Courtney." Duncan snarled. Chris only scoffed in response.

"Please. Who would think that? Every one's been worried sick about Courtney. And we all know you've been head over heels for her since the camping episode." Now the fire in Duncan's eyes were replaced with curiosity.

"What about you?"

"What ABOUT me?" Duncan raised an eyebrow to Geoff who shrugged and continued to search the monitors.

"Don't… don't you like Courtney more than a friend?" he asked in an odd whisper. Chris opened his mouth to answer when Geoff suddenly shouted.

"Found her!" Duncan instantly dropped Chris almost causing him to fall over again. Both of them rushed over to the big screen Geoff had pulled up. "She's on the north side of the island and by the looks of it she's heading for Mt. Wawanakwa, that huge mountain we jumped off of on the first episode." Without another word both of them ran out of the trailer headed for Mt. Wawanakwa. They ran right past the campers who were just coming out of the mess hall.

"What the!" Gwen shouted as they ran by carrying a strong breeze that whipped her hair to the side.

"Where's the fire?" Owen shouted after them.

"Uh… was that Duncan?" Harold pointed out. The campers were silent for a moment before running off the Chris' trailer. As they did Duncan and Chris ran side by side, step for step through the forest.

"Why are you coming?" Duncan asked angrily.

"Don't think you're the only one around here who cares about Courtney." Chris repeated Duncan's words from earlier with a smirk. Duncan continued to glare at him but pressed on. This was no time to be fighting with the host. Courtney could be in danger.

I had finally slowed down after a few more minutes of running. I leaned against what I was pretty sure was a tree with a lot of moss on the bark to catch my breath. Now I was sure I was in the deeper part of the forest. I bumped into more trees but thankfully didn't run head into them by some amazing stroke of luck. Thorn bushes and sharp branches kept scraping my legs so now I could feel the stinging of cuts and small trails of blood on them as well as my arms.

'Great Courtney. Just great.' I said to myself finally letting my train of thought catch up to me. 'Now I'm lost in the forest with no one around. I hope Duncan catches up.' I mentally slapped myself. 'Why'd I just think that? Duncan is the whole reason I'm running. But all he wanted to do was apologize… maybe I should let him talk.'

'Listen to the voice of reason…'

'Go away already!'

'Voice of reason says run.'

'Why should I run? Haven't you been trying to convince me to talk to Duncan since we got back? Now I finally cave in and your telling me to run again.'

'Voice of reason says check out that tree your leaning on more closely.'

'Since when do you refer to yourself as the voice of reason in third person?' but the 'all mighty voice of reason' had left my mind. I decided to listen for once and ran my hands over the mossy tree. The only thing I noticed that I didn't before was that it was really wide and pretty short tree. I kept running my hands along the bark when I felt something odd. It was small, round, and a little bit wet. I felt or more carefully when suddenly I heard something, a low moaning sound. I snapped my hand back to my side when I heard the moan again. The second time I heard it, it wasn't really a moan. More like… a low growling sound.

'… This just isn't my day.' I thought bitterly as the growl was replaced with a loud roar of a bear no doubt. 'Damn! How can I mistake a bear, a BEAR, for a tree?' I screamed and ran off again with the bear right behind me. 'First I run from Duncan and now a bear! I think I prefer Duncan. He didn't have razor sharp teeth and claws!' I felt the ground underfoot rise slightly but didn't notice much. You don't notice much of anything when you're blind and running from a bear. I did notice a minute later however when it became a steady uphill climb. I wondered where the hell I was but pressed on. The bear let out another roar causing me to scream and lose focus for a moment. I stumbled forward slightly and cut my face on something, a branch maybe. There was a small ripping noise and suddenly I couldn't feel that small bit of pressure over my eyes anymore. The bandages must have gotten ripped off but I was too scared to open my eyes yet. Instead I kept them tightly shut and continued to run.

Duncan and Chris came to a screeching halt when they heard something. A scream. Courtney's scream.

"It came from over there!" Chris shouted pointing to the right. Duncan nodded and ran off with Chris right behind him. They heard her scream again and ran even faster. A few moments later they came onto the dirt path that led to the top of the mountain. They noticed with horror that footsteps most likely made by Courtney were imprinted on the ground close to the edge of the path, along with something else's.

"Geoff was right, she's headed to the top of the mountain. We have to cut her off!" Duncan stated then began to run down the path. Chris ran after him but stopped a moment later.

"Dude look at this!" he called over his shoulder.

"What? Come on we have to-" he stopped when he turned around and saw Chris holding something white in his hands. "Where did you get that?"

"It was on the branch… they're Courtney's bandages." Their locked eyes once then ran off faster than ever before. Eventually they saw two figures ahead of them. One was definitely Courtney, and the other was definitely a bear.

"Damn! Chris you deal with the bear, I got Courtney!"

"What? How the hell am I supposed to deal with the bear!"

"I don't know! Distract it or something!" Chris groaned and veered off the path into the forest.

"Chris where are you going? Chris!" Duncan shouted. Just when he felt his anger rising he saw Chris burst from the forest ahead of him and jump on the bears back. The bear roared and reared up on his back legs trying to get Chris off his back, but the host had his arms firmly locked around its neck. Duncan stood there mouth agape and watched Chris hold on for dear life.

"Don't just stand there idiot! Go find Courtney! She had gotten a lead before I jumped on the bear!" Chris grunted as the bear jumped and rolled trying to get him off. Duncan nodded and ran ahead careful to steer clear of the bear's flailing claws and ran ahead giving silent thanks to the host as he went. Once Chris saw him disappear up the path he used the same trick he used on Duncan when he went berserk almost a week ago. He had no idea if it would work on a bear, but he had to try. He pinched a certain part of the bear's neck and smirked in satisfaction when the bear reared up again roaring in pain. Chris let go of the bear's neck and dropped behind it dusting off his hands triumphantly. Although his smirk with quickly replaced with a frown when he noticed the bear was swaying back on forth on its back legs.

"… Great." He growled before the bear fell back like a huge tree and landed on Chris. "Great!" he hissed again into its fur. He managed to get his upper body out from under the giant bear and roll it off of him. He staggered to his feet and winched when he tried to move his left arm. He must of hurt it somehow when the bear landed on him. Regardless Chris ignored the pain and slowly walked up the path leading to the top of the mountain.

She was right ahead of him. She was right there, but still out of reach. Once Duncan broke through the small bit of forest on the edge of the peak of the mountain Duncan saw Courtney headed straight for edge. 'She going to run right off the edge!' He said to himself in horror. She didn't even know where they were… When she walked off the edge if the fall didn't kill her from not landing right, then the sharks would…

"Courtney! Stop!" he screamed as loudly as possible, praying that she would hear him. Praying that she would stop in time. And thank his lucky star, she did.

"Duncan?" he heard her ask still running. She came to a skidding halt right on the edge of the mountain just one step away from falling. She still had no idea where they were. Courtney turned around slowly and Duncan noticed that Chris had been right. There was a small still bleeding cut on face that started at the edge of her forehead and went across the very edge of her eye and the corner of her ear on the left side of her face. In that space was where the bandages would have been. They were off, but he also noticed Courtney had her eyes tightly shut. He wondered why she hadn't opened them yet to see if she could… well see. Or had she opened her eyes and she was still blind? He was snapped from his thoughts when Courtney called his name again.

"Duncan? Is that you?" she repeated with some fear in her voice. Duncan smiled and stepped forward. Only a few feet separated them now.

"Yep Princess, it's me." He said calmly. Courtney frowned keeping her eyes tightly shut, her brow furrowed deep in thought. Duncan waited patiently to see what she would do next, and felt his heart soar when she cracked a small smile.

"Duncan." She repeated one more time. He beamed and walked toward her. Courtney stepped forward once, but suddenly froze. And that's when Duncan heard a small snapping sound. That's when the edge of the mountain gave way under Courtney and she fell, screaming his name.

"COURTNEY!"

I was falling. I could tell, even though I couldn't see. You can always tell when you're falling, and falling when you can't see is terrifying. Not knowing where you are, how high your up, or what's below you. Not knowing which way is up or which way is down. Definitely the most terrifying moment in my life. I didn't even know I was on the edge of the mountain I had just climbed. As I was running I thought I could hear Chris and Duncan behind me but I wasn't sure, so I kept running. Moments after that I distinctly heard Duncan shout my name. Apparently I had stopped in time right on the edge of the cliff and turned to face him. I was scared at first, but then pushed that away and smiled at him. I could almost see him smiling back at me, but I was too scared to open my eyes. Too scared to still be blind. But I was even more scared when I was falling.

As I was falling I could help but feel this was the end. I would never see Duncan again and tell him I forgave him. I would never see Chris and thank him for all he's done for me, he was a true friend. I would never see anything again. Period. Suddenly I felt my arm catch on something. Actually it was more like something grabbed my arm making me stop abruptly in mid fall. Now I was pretty sure I was right side up, but I still had no idea where I was. Then I realized, how could I have stopped? The answer was obvious.

"Duncan?" I shouted. Whatever was around my arms, Duncan's hands most likely, tightened.

"I got you Court!" I heard him grunt. It was then I decided it was now or never, and never seemed pretty close at the moment. I tilted my head upwards and slowly opened my eyes. I felt my heart stop when all I saw was the blackness I had gotten so used to, but after a moment or two the darkness began to fade. Slowly, very slowly, it was replaced with light. Things were really blurry at first. All I could see was Duncan's faint outline above me. But then just as slowly as the disappearing light things became clearer. And soon I was able to fully and clearly see Duncan's face as he stared down at me eyes wide and jaw dropped.

"… Duncan!" I sobbed happily tears starting to gather in my eyes. Eyes that could now see, and Duncan was the first thing I saw since going blind. He smiled back but suddenly scowled and tightened his grip on my arm even more. I looked down noticing with horror that I was dangling above the shark-infested waters below Mt. Wawanakwa. I looked back up at Duncan. He was strong but there was nothing for him to hold on to, no traction, and he was begging to slide over the edge. "Duncan hold on!"

"To what exactly?" He growled trying to pull me up, but that only made him slide off faster. His whole upper body was now hanging over the edge with his legs about to go over as well. 'No…' I said to myself the tears begging to flow over. 'No. Not now. Not after everything that's happened. After I can finally see again, after Duncan and I together again, not now. Not like this.'

"I can't find anything to grab Princess!" Duncan's voice snapped me out of my thoughts as he slid over the edge more and more. I figured if I was going to die, I was glad I was able to see Duncan's face one more time. The only thing left undone was to thank-

"Chris?" I gasped when I saw him appear seemingly out of nowhere behind Duncan on the cliff. Chris' eyes widened and without a second to spare he grabbed Duncan's legs and began to pull him up.

"Wow you're heavy!" Chris grunted as he pulled him up. Once Duncan was firmly on the ground again he ran to the edge of the mountain and grabbed my other arm helping Duncan pull me up. And just like that we were all standing away from edge smiling like a bunch of idiots. Duncan opened his mouth to say something, but before he could I tackled him to the ground giving him a bone-crushing hug.

"Duncan! I was so scared!" I sobbed gripping his shirt tightly and burying my face in his chest. Duncan only smiled and wrapped his arms around me pressing me closer to him.

"It's ok Princess. Your safe now." he whispered. I smiled and lifted my head wiping away my tears and gave him a mock angry glare.

"Don't call me Princess." I told him in the best serious tone I could but my smirk ruined it. He smirked right back.

"Not a chance."

"I hate you."

"I hate you to." on that note we leaned in and shared the longest, most passionate kiss I've ever had. Sadly it didn't last too long because we broke apart when we heard something behind us. I turned my head to see Chris smiling at us. I giggled a little and walked up to him.

"Thank you so much Chris. You saved me." I said to him smiling widely. Chris shrugged looking embarrassed.

"I only helped. Duncan is the one who really saved you."

"Not true man. You held off that bear before it could get to Courtney." Duncan said from behind me. I stared at Chris with wide eyes.

"You took on a bear?" Chris shrugged again.

"I guess but-" I cut him off when I gave him a strong hug like I had with Duncan, but loosened my arms when he gave a small gasp of pain. I looked up at him quizzically but he smiled reassuring me it was nothing. "I'm fine. I think I just hurt my ribs when that bear fell on me." I smiled back and gave her a gentler hug feeling his right arm wrap around by back returning the hug.

"Thank you again Chris. I wouldn't be able to see right now if it wasn't for you." I whispered pulling away. He smiled wider only seeming to get even more embarrassed.

"Yeah… well… I owed you for the hair gel." He winked smirking playfully then went past me. "So if you two are done with your little heartwarming reunion I'm going back to camp. I don't know about you dudes but I'm hungry!" Duncan and I laughed and followed him down the path side by side.

"So… you never thought of Chris as more of a friend… right?" Duncan asked out of nowhere.

"Well… at one point I began to think that. But then I realized you were always the one I loved." Duncan smirked triumphantly and put an arm over my shoulder pulling me closer.

"You just can't resist me, can you?" I laughed and rested my head on his arm.

"Guess not." And as the campgrounds came into view I couldn't help but think, this whole thing started with a single bottle of hair gel. This whole big misunderstanding.

Lo and behold! The final chapter and an epilouge on the way. It's tradition for me to post the final chapter right after the epilouge, and this is no exception. The epilouge shall be posted right after this.