Day 25

A/N: Meg, the main character and not the author herself, is out for this chapter. It's all Omnipresent with the four leaving people!

Day 24 Evening

Eric trudged on through the jungle behind Melissa, who was behind Jackson, who was then behind Abby. Eric lagged behind, fatigued, exhausted and depressed.

The cuatro Questers continued on, searching through the dense undergrowth for food. Eric's mind was gone, elsewhere, back at the camp.

The two halves of him were at constant war, ever since the second half had been born on Day 5. Half one was his old personality, Old Eric (as he liked to call it.) He was spontaneous, lazy, a natural flirt, angry and wild (in more ways than one.) Old Eric still fought valiantly for the occupation of Eric, but New Eric had been recently born, of course. New Eric was thoughtful, caring, intelligent, and adored the ground that she walked on. New Eric was born the moment Eric found that he had feelings for her.

And the two Erics had been warring ever since. From New Eric's first win at the dance, to Old Eric's retaliation on Day 10, to New Eric's comeback on Day 14, to Old Eric's fury on Day 21, to the recent victory of New Eric on Day 22 (which was the shortest lived.) Eric felt that the wars would never end. And the biggest battle had just taken place on Day 23. As you can probably guess, Old Eric had won… but did he really?

New Eric was completely, utterly opposed to leaving her. Never, in a million, billion years would New Eric ever do that to her.

Old Eric leapt at the chance to go out there and do something, whatever the const may be. Even if it's her. No, especially if it's her.

So New Eric submitted, but reluctantly. Like a rebellious, conquered people, New Eric grumbled and screamed and groped at the restraint and decision put on by Old Eric.

So it was a bitter victory, because New Eric stopped Old Eric from being happy. And Old Eric loved to be happy.

The overall score was in New Eric's favor though. Day 9,14,19,16 and 22 were all New Eric's. Only Day 10, 21, and 23 belonged to Old Eric. Eric himself just wanted Old Eric to accept defeat so he could go back to camp.

"We're making camp!" Abby barked, and both Erics were brought back to reality.

F29DWN

Jackson looked around at camp. He saw Melissa breaking open a coconut, Abby setting up the tent, and Eric was staring at the ground.

Poor Eric! He didn't know if he really wanted to go or not, Jackson thought sadly, I be he still has no clue.

"Hey, man," Jackson held out a banana to him. Eric nodded and took it.

"Thanks," Eric replied, eating the banana.

Jackson looked over at Melissa, and watched at how she smiled warmly at him.

Imagine, for a moment, leaving her back at camp.

He shivered with the thought.

Poor Eric!

F29DWN

They woke up the next morning, Day 25, and set out again. It was all work, no play with Abby.

Jackson saw Melissa suggest something to Abby. She shrugged and turned to the group.

"Guys, I'm going to go fish, Melissa's going to start a fire. Jackson, you and Eric look for fruit. We're having lunch," Abby finished.

"Shouldn't Jackson fish?" Eric asked. His voice was so soft and sad that it surprised the other three travelers.

"No, I will," Abby confirmed. Eric shrugged and put his pack into the sand.

"See you soon," Jackson smiled at Melissa. She grinned back as Eric and Jackson left into the jungle.

Jackson watched as Eric stared straight in front, not observing anything, simply walking.

Jackson let out a small sigh and continued onward with him.

They reached a tree filled to the brim with mangoes. Jackson grinned in excitement over at Eric, who simply shrugged.

"Let's do this," Jackson laughed. Eric just smiled blandly and picked, his eyes glazed over with a very far-away look in them.

"Dude. I'm not one for talking about feelings, but you're… not here," Jackson sighed after a while.

Eric's head snapped up from his work.

" Jackson, have you imagined coming without Melissa?" he asked softly.

Jackson nodded, "And it's so painful I stop."

"Exactly," Eric nodded, "Half of me is excited to be doing something, of course. But the other half wants to die. Or go back."

"So that's why you stay," Jackson nodded in understanding.

"Exactly. Although, if something doesn't happen soon…' Eric sighed.

Jackson sighed and shook his head sadly. They finished picking and continued onward.

The stopped in front of a tall, ominous cliff.

"Wonder how high up it is," Jackson observed, looking down into its foreboding depths.

"Wonder what it'd be like to fling yourself into it," Eric muttered.

Jackson gaped at him. When he found his words at last, he gasped, "Dude. You need help. Or you need to go back. She's probably in more pain than you are. And that's saying something."

Eric nodded.

And then there was a scream. Both boys jumped out of their skin at the bone-rattling noise.

" JACKSON! ERIC! COME HELP! IT'S ABBY!" the voice of Melissa screamed from far away.

Both guys made a move to run to Mel and Abby's aid. But then disaster happened.

Eric slipped.

Jackson didn't even notice for a few moments, just kept running on. But he stopped when he realized that Eric wasn't next to him, he heard a , " JACKSON!" from him.

Jackson doubled back and looked over the cliff. Eric was hanging on the cliff side, dangerously dangling.

"Help!" Eric begged.

Jackson was torn. Abby's problem sounded urgent. But what could be more urgent than this?

His thoughts flickered, suddenly, back to camp. The look on Meg's face when Jackson, Melissa and Abby reported Eric's death. Her scream. Her probable suicide…

Jackson dug into his bag and pulled out a rope. He tossed it down, and it was just long enough. Eric grabbed on, holding on the rope for dear life.

Jackson heaved. He pulled upward with all his strength, not thinking of anything but the pull.

After a while it was over. Eric scrambled up to the ground, and both boys were out of breath.

"Well, come on," Eric sighed.

Jackson nodded. Both took off running into the jungle. Melissa hadn't screamed again. What if they were too late?

"Thanks, by the way," Eric continued.

"No problem," Jackson shrugged. They reached the beach. Melissa was sitting on the sand bar, and she was curled dup into a ball and crying.

"Mel!" Jackson and Eric both cried out. They ran to her, and looked around.

No Abby.

"What happened?" Jackson asked softly.

"Where were you guys?" Melissa bawled. Jackson vaguely noticed she was sopping wet.

"Eric fell over a cliff," Jackson sighed. Melissa's eyes widened and she looked over at Eric, then shook her head for a moment and turned to back to stare out to sea.

"Mel? What happened?" Jackson repeated.

"Abby was fishing. She went into the sea, far out, to get bigger fish. She lost her balance and got swept into a current. IA went out to try and save her, but the riptide became too much for both of us and she got swept away into the sea, and hit her head on a rock, and disappeared. I got pushed back to shore," Melissa cried.

Eric and Jackson both put their arms around her, but Eric pulled back quickly. Jackson kept hugging her.

"We're really sorry we didn't come sooner, Mel," Jackson sighed.

She shrugged, "There would have been more pain if Eric had died.

Jackson nodded, and the pair silently turned to walk along the beach together, leaving Eric with his thoughts.

F29DWN

Eric hated this feeling. The emptiness. This is what he felt when he was too far away from her. Ever since he had kissed her, he had had a sense of completeness whenever he was around her. And now that he was so far away, he was empty. He needed that sense of fulfillment. Of wholeness.

Eric sat staring at the waves. Melissa and Jackson had walked off together, Jackson to comfort Melissa of course. That left Eric to his increasingly desperate thoughts.

Why were they still out here, anyway? Abby was the only one desperate enough to look fro the others, who were probably dead.

The chances of finding civilization out here were zip.

And the group needed to be together in case they got rescued.

Not to mention every minuet without her killed Eric. Slowly, but surely his was dying.

And he promised her the second something happened he would return. Well, hadn't something happened just now?

Eric stood up, having now made up his mind. Hew walked back to Jackson and Melissa.

Melissa was bawling in Jackson's arms. Jackson was smoothening her hair and murmuring kind words into her ear.

"Guys?" Eric asked. Both looked up, their heads snapping into upright positions.

"Yeah?" Jackson asked.

"I think I know what I'm going to do," Eric murmured.

"What's that?" Jackson raised his eyebrows.

"I'm going to go back to camp," Eric sighed.

Jackson nodded his head in understanding, and Melissa just closed her eyes.

"You don't have to come with. I just… I can't take this anymore. This… This… this empty feeling. And I promised that I would go back when something happened. Well, something's happened. And guys, seriously, how are we going to do this without Abby? The others are probably dead. Finding civilization is like looking for a dragon- it's not here. And… if one group gets rescued, what about the other group? No, we have to stick together," Eric finished.

Jackson was still nodding in agreement. Melissa was smiling secretively.

"Eric, you're a smart guy," Jackson nodded.

"We'll leave in the morning, okay?" Melissa was still smiling like that.

"Wha-what? You're kidding," Eric sighed, "you guys don't have to…"

"But we do. You, walking back all by yourself? You'll fall over another cliff. Besides, we want to come home too," Jackson laughed.

And Eric smiled.

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