Disclaimer: All Total Drama characters belong to Fresh Tv. I'm only writing this for a project and no copyright violation is intended. Rated T for now, but might get gory and full of coarse language as it goes on.
~A/N~ Two chapters in one day is a new record. Sadly, this is really short, but oh well. Thanks to those who fav'd and reviewed. I promise we'll get to some action and suspense, but for now, enjoy the Shazmine. And just a reminder, the story will switch from two points of view from chapter to chapter. Just letting you know ahead of time. And don't forget to review!
Life Goes On: Chapter 2 - Dreams
POV: Jasmine
(Day 4)
Shawn remains silent as he heats up the beans. He wants to say something and I can see it in his eyes. I want to say something too, but it wouldn't go over well with my boyfriend.
For three days, I've been locked away by Shawn and his fear of zombies. I scoff to myself. The funniest thing is that Shawn never actually saw the 'zombies' in person. We were just sitting in bed and watching the news when an alert flashed up on the screen. I've forgotten exactly what it had said, something about an outbreak of the flu? It doesn't matter to Shawn. As soon as he saw the alert, he dragged me out of the house, against my will I might add, and pushed me into his stupid bunker.
For over three hours, he locked us away inside the storage room and sat in the corner with a handgun at the ready. I thought he was actually going insane... oh wait. He is insane! But I won't tell that to his face. I'd break his heart.
Shawn makes two bowls of food and sets one in front of me. I pick up my spoon and swirl it around the bowl. He looks at me in silence.
I almost start a conversation, but I back out. Nothing I say will get by his stubborn skull. But to be fair, none of my complaints can really make a difference anyway. Can he make the ceiling higher? No. Can he drop his irrational fear and open the hatch to get some fresh air? No. Can he get some food that isn't canned beans or spam? No.
I know I mean a lot to him, but I question whether or not he has his head on straight. When he led us down here, he made sure that I was comfortable, but he totally ignored my plan of actually checking outside. He said it was too dangerous. He doesn't know the first thing about danger. When he's bitten by a snake and rushed to the hospital in a chopper, he'll know what danger is. When he gets malaria and almost dies, he'll know what danger is.
When he finishes his beans, he begins staring into space and continues to scoop at his empty bowl. I should tell him to snap out of it, but it's actually entertaining. Instead, I watch him out of the corner of my eye.
Sometimes I feel as if I made a bad choice with my selection of guys. Shawn is smart, cute, and funny, but the guy is off the charts with his paranoia. I don't even think he's worried about his family. And even if he was, I doubt he'd actually care enough to go outside and find a phone to make sure that they're fine and dandy.
I've become flustered by his arrogance. At the first sight of trouble, he locks us underground. Then he wants me to change so it's easier to live with me.
The worst part is that there are no zombies. All he saw was that someone got really sick. That's it! One person is sick, and Shawn does what Shawn always does.
I love him, but it's only been three days and I've considered opening the bunker while he's sleeping, if only to check and prove that there's nothing outside. But he'd school me on safety if I did that, and I despise his infamous lectures on anti-zombie tactics. I'm fine with schoolwork, but when your boyfriend assigns you an essay on zombie weaknesses for homework, you know he has a problem.
He opens his mouth to say something. Please be something that makes sense.
"So uh, what time do ya' think it is?"
My heart drops a bit. "About 1100 hours," I say. I'm not sure at all. I lost track of time when I tried to sleep on the first day.
"Oh," he says to me. "That's about right, I think."
It's now or never. I must have a meaningful talk with the guy.
"So," I say. "When can we look outside? I haven't heard anything unnatural and the news never said-"
"Never. We never look outside."
I narrow my eyes and clench my fists. "Shawn, listen to me. The news alert said that there was some kind of new virus, not an apocalypse. You need to think rationally and stop trying to prepare for the worst." He actually listened.
"Jasmine, I would if I could, but this is a life and death situation. I know a zombie virus when I see one, and this was definitely a zombie virus. You can't expect me to lower my guard when my brains are in danger."
"So you'd rather be locked away for years than to know for sure?" I ask him. He puts his hands on the table and leans over.
"We. Have to. Survive. If you want to die then go ahead and open the door. Let us both be eaten, why don't ya."
There's got to be a way to get it into his thick skull that this is insane. I think, and think, and think, but nothing comes to mind.
"I gave you half of the money," he says. "I was fair and listened to you, so it's only fair if you listened to me. Is that okay with you?"
I look him in the eye and try to plead. "Shawn, I know you and I haven't seen eye to eye on this zombie ordeal, but it's been three whole days. It won't hurt to check just once. Please, listen to me."
He shakes his head in defiance. "I'm sorry, but I can't expose the bunker to anyone or anything that might eat me alive. I have to save both of us, and letting the horde in won't help."
Maybe I'm going insane. There's no use in trying to reason with him. Splitting the money was one thing, but when you mess with his beliefs, you better be prepared to argue. It's not worth it, even if I want out of the shelter for good. Shawn's a lost cause, and I've come to accept that.
Shawn sighs and grabs my hand. "I'd do a lot for you, Jasmine. I'd split a million bucks with you. I'd fight an army of robots for you. But this is about survival. I want to help, but some things aren't in my control. Like the state of the world, for instance. I'll do what I can, but I have a lot on my plate."
I feel somewhat remorseful for demanding something so outrageous from him, but I have to change his mind eventually, right? I tell him, "I know," and we kiss.
He opens his mouth again. "Plus, being down here means that we always get to be around each other. It's way easier than driving seven hours, right?"
I try to see the bright side. "Right. I guess that's one good thing that came outta' this, er, problem." I don't want to call it an apocalypse. That will only assure him that this is a serious matter, zombies or no zombies.
"So," he says to me. "I guess we should clean these bowls, huh."
"Sure," I say with false delight. "There's not much else to do around here besides cleanin' an' sleeping, is there?"
Shawn smiles. "Not unless we get overrun by biters. Wait, why am I smiling at that? That's a horrible thought!" He starts to panic.
Of course. Shawn will always be Shawn. There's no changing that.
As we clean the dishes together, I look at the potted plants that Shawn placed above the sink. He said that they'd give us an oxygen supply, but they symbolize more than just oxygen. They symbolize dreams. My dreams, as a matter of fact.
I scrub away at the pot in my hands and remember how stupid I was. After I left Total Drama, I immediately pushed my share of Shawn's cash into my flower shop and cage fighting school. I had no idea that it would fail so fast. No one showed up to buy anything on the first day except for one old woman who wanted a bouquet of roses for her husband, and one fat man who thought it was a steakhouse. We only made three-thousands dollars in sales by the end of the first month and my mom and I were forced to shut down. But what came after was worse. The building that we built and sold was turned into an adult video store. I still imagine that old woman walking into that shop looking for roses and having a heart attack. It's sad that the thought of a dying woman gives me a laugh, but it's true.
Shawn never cared about my shop. He was probably glad that it shut down so he could rub it in my face, something he never did. I feel horrible about throwing away half of Shawn's money like that, but I guess some dreams weren't meant to be fulfilled after all.
I put the cleaned pot on the drying rack and look down at my boyfriend. "Shawn?"
He looks up at me. "Yeah?"
I look him in the eye and exhale slowly. "Will we ever leave this bunker? I need an honest answer, because we can't stay here forever. You know that, right?"
He stays silent and looks at his potted plants for a moment. "When we have to."
There it is. My glimmer of hope. Shawn might finally understand. He might be coming to his senses.
"So?" I ask him. "When might that be?"
He sighs. "Whenever we have to. If we run out of food or water, then hypothetically, we'll have to open the hatch."
I finally have him where I need him. This is my chance to pop the big question.
"But if we do leave, if only for a minute," he says. I await his final words. "Then we might not like what we see."
"So, maybe we should look outside now," I say. "We need to know what we're dealing with, right?" I've decided to play along. It's the only way to get things into his head without him ignoring them.
"Since when are you a believer?" Shawn asks me suspiciously. "Yesterday, and even today, you said that there were no zombies. You said I was overreacting."
Crap. So much for that tactic. "Well, I might have jumped to conclusions."
"Really?" Shawn says in disbelief. "You said that I jumped to conclusions on day one. Look if you want to go outside, then you have to know that you might get your brains eaten in under a minute." He drops his gaze to the floor. "I just don't want you to get hurt. You're a huge part of my life, Jazz."
My heart warms at the mention of my nickname. I grab his hands and smile. "Look, I'll be fine. I might not have zombie training, but I have enough common sense to know what to do in a sticky situation."
Shawn smiles back at me. We lock eyes.
"Alright," he says to me. "I trust you. Just don't try anything stupid, and I'll lay back on the zombie stuff. Deal?"
"Deal."
I feel a weight lifting off of my chest. It's far from totally gone, but I'm finally feeling a little more free in this other land down under.
~A/N~ Da feels, guys. Da feels. *Sniffle*
Hopefully I didn't botch Shawn and Jasmine yet, but if I did, let me know in a review. It's my biggest worry right now, and any help is well appreciated.
