Cody decided to go ahead and move onto Greece's Pieces, where Gwen and Duncan secretly went behind everyone's backs and were a couple. 'no regrets' they both had. And of course it hurt, it always did, but it didn't really matter, as he was doing what he always did alot of the time when he was watching old episodes of Total Drama; reliving his past.
He sighed as the theme ended, and the episode began; with of course, Gwen and Courtney sitting together chatting it up like lifelong friends. It was insane, baffling to him; how could Gwen do that to Courtney? How could Duncan and Gwen both do that to her? They were friends. Gwen herself got cheated on in Total Drama Island, why'd she do this to Courtney?
These age old questions still drilled into his head, begging for answers, answers which he would not receive because of course; Gwen was gone. The last person he had in the world pretty much.
You could say Sierra was someone he had, but truth be told, he hadn't seen Sierra surprisingly in years ever since that faithful day. The day which still feels like it happened only yesterday... But he was getting ahead of himself. He started to remember things a little more before that.
It was a week after Gwen and Cody had talked and Gwen managed to convince Cody to leave his room again. All of the cast members, even the ones who actually kind of hated Cody, were glad to see him out and about once more. Although the ones who didn't like him much didn't seem to care all that much, they still seemed to be kind of glad atleast he was okay. Which was surprising. Cody didn't think that people like Alejandro or Duncan would even care about another person going through what he was going through.
It was true, he was still pretty sad from the death of his father, but he had Gwen to talk to about that, and if she was tied up, he could try talking to one of the other contestants. Sometimes, someone even came to him. Just yesterday he opened the door to find Courtney asking how he was doing. And it seemed like she hated him all the time through World Tour.
Such things surprised him. They had gone from hating his guts, to showing empathy and compassion in the flick of a switch. But part of him nagged at the back of his mind, were they just doing it out of pity?
He decided to ignore that question as a knock was heard on his door.
Wasting no time, he quickly walked over to the door, unlocked it and opened it. There standing before him, was not all that surprising, Sierra.
Truth be told, Sierra actually wasn't jumping all over him ever since he came out of his room again. It was like last time he imagined, Sierra restraining herself so he wouldn't run off.
"Hey, Sierra. What's up?" Cody said, and Sierra smiled when she heard the happiness in his voice.
"Codykins! Something amazing has happened!" She said, visually excited. "I couldn't wait to tell you before anyone else! Guess what!?"
Cody gulped.
He wasn't really one for surprises, especially ones from Sierra.
"What?"
Without a single hint or trace of sympathy, sadness, or guilt in her voice she said the words to once more ruin Cody's world:
"Gwen got hit by a car crossing the street back to the hotel! Isn't it great!? That homewrecking gothic bimbo is gone! We can be together now! I can comfort you and no one else can! Come give mama a hug!"
She rushed over and pulled Cody into a hug.
Cody was still processing what she just told him.
"Gwen g- got hit by a car?" He stuttered out, a shocked expression on his face and a dead tone of voice.
"Yep!" She chirped, which caused Cody to quickly push her to the floor and run out of the room, leaving her behind.
"Codykins, wait!"
He had to get out of there. He had to go find Gwen, make sure she was okay.
Running at top speed, he burst the lobby to find Bridgette and Geoff looking down at the floor, sad looks on their faces. They looked up at him and exchanged worried glances when he rushed up to them.
"Where is she? Where's Gwen?"
They both exchanged another nervous glance.
Cody yawned and stretched as Greece's pieces ended, and the Ex Files began.
He was already feeling disgust and an even greater sadness as he remembered visiting Gwen in the hospital. So many things he wanted to tell her. So many things he couldn't.
Or well, he could, but he wasn't sure if she actually heard him all the times he visited her grave.
But, he liked to think somehow, she was hearing him. Made him feel happier.
But now, it was getting late and he decided to watch one more episode before going to sleep, waking up, and watching more, then going to bed and waking up to go to his job and then go home and watch more and repeat the cycle. Such is his life.
So, as the episode ran, he began remembering more.
Gwen had a number of tubes going into her body.
Many of her limbs covered in casts, and the room smelled faintly of blood which was at a stark contrast with how the rest of the hospital smelled.
She was admitted about an hour ago, and the xrays the doctors got back showed she had... Broken alot of things. Apparently, she was crossing the street with Duncan and she walked in the path of a drunk driver. The car hit her side, hard. The resulting impact causing her to fly across the street and slam down into the road.
Cody asked the doctors a hundred times by now if she was going to make it, but he received the same answer: it's not likely.
And that answer scared him greatly. He couldn't imagine going on without his best friend. Not at all. She was the person who made him leave his room and try to fight the overwhelming depression brought on by his father's death. She was the one who continued to inspire him day in and day out back on the Island, the one girl he would do anything to be with. She couldn't die...
Right now, her eyes were squeezed shut. She had apparently lost alot of blood, and was passed out when they found her.
He had been alone in the room for the most part, except of the occasional nurse or doctor coming in and out to check on them.
To say he was feeling anxious would be an understatement. If he could chew his nails any faster he would probably achieve lightspeed, but it calms him down.
The heartbeat monitor hooked into Gwen was still beeping, and the brainwave monitor above on the wall was still showing activity. So he remained hopeful, hopeful that she would come out of the darkness she was currently in.
So he waited, and waited, until something happened.
The heartbeat monitor started to beep slower. and slower.
And Cody suddenly felt worry, worry so overwhelming he started to feel weak. He got up from his chair and ran out into the hall, calling for a doctor to come help. He could tell, something was definitely going wrong.
In seconds, doctors swarmed around her working. The monitor starting to beep slower and slower.
"Doctor, we're losing her!" One of the nurses said as they started injecting her with a number of different medicines and medications.
This moment, this moment right here he would remember for possibly the rest of his life. The doctors surrounding his best friend and love interest, the bright lights, the slow beeping on the terminal, while he sat helplessly on the side.
Beep.
...
Beep.
...
Beep.
...
...
Beep.
...
...
...
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
And then, the monitor displayed a flat line.
Her heart had stopped beating.
Rats scurried along the carpet, carrying more food back to their nests.
He was half-way through the episode now. And half way through his memories conveniently. After this, he was going to crawl into his dirty sheets in his dirty room and fall asleep.
But after all this remembering... He was feeling strange. And he wasn't sure what it was. Disappointment? Eh. It didn't matter at that point to Cody. All that mattered was continuing to remember.
Which he did.
If the contestants thought Cody was depressed before, he may as well have been dead now. Cody went back to his room, quietly. Avoiding everyone, and then just slipped into his covers and stared up at the ceiling.
He had lost her.
The last person who he could actually open up to, the one person he felt an undying romantic love for. How could this happen to him? No, he knew the answer. He always did.
As usual, no matter how far up he got in life, no matter how hard he tried to stay happy, it would always, ALWAYS, come crashing down around him.
There was a knock at his door.
Sighing with frustration, Cody crawled out of his bed, wanting to get whoever it was away from him. He wanted to just be alone. He wanted to stay alone for the rest of his stay at the damned place.
Unlocking the door he pulled it open to see the smiling face of Sierra.
He scowled.
"What!?"
"Codykins-"
"No! Don't tell me! You're here to try to annoy the HELL out of me, try to get me to LOVE you and be with you because GWEN is DEAD!? Do you even CARE THAT SHE'S DEAD? No! Of course you don't! You're too damn SELFISH. All you care about is being with me for the sake of HAVING ME. YOU DON'T HAVE MY PERSONAL INTEREST in mind AT ALL! DO ME A FAVOR, NEVER. SPEAK. TO. ME. AGAIN. LEAVE. ME. ALONE!"
He finished his rant with a slam to the door in her face and he crawled back in bed. Staring up at the ceiling once more. He was done. Screw it all. He just didn't care anymore.
He had nothing really to look forward to in the future... So, Cody decided it best. To simply live in his past. Live back in the days of his happiness. Entertain the idea Gwen was still around.
And this worked... No one saw him for the rest of the stay at the hotel. No one bothered to try to knock on his door anymore to see if he was alright. They all had figured it out.
He was mourning. And so much more.
That same feeling of disappointment was there, stronger than ever. Along with regret.
But why? Why now? He had remembered this all before hundreds of times, but suddenly he was feeling inner conflict about it? Was it the way he treated Sierra? The way he disconnected himself from reality? Why was he feeling this now?
It didn't make any sense.
The credits to the show rolled, and Cody turned the TV off and stood on his legs, stretching and yawning more. He was tired.
He had time to think about this tomorrow. For now, he would rest.
Taking care not to step on the roaches, he climbed into his crusty sheets and turned the light off, ready to begin entering his dreams, where everything was okay and fine.
But nothing would prepare him for what was going to happen next.