'There was nothing in sight but memories left abandoned
There was nowhere to hide, the ashes fell like snow
And the ground caved in between where we were standing
And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve?'
New Divide - Linkin Park.
Chapter Four - Lost Connections.
Bailey stirred slightly and forced a peaceful yawn, sinking further down where she rested. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open as the light streaming in all around her brought a calm feeling of warmth and tranquility to her body. Then everything hit her.
Those first few delightful moments of waking up and failing to remember anything from the day previous shattered to pieces for Bailey as she gasped silently to herself and rolled over in the soft, single bed and touched the spot beside her, only to find that she was alone. She blinked at the blinding sunlight gleaming through the hotel window and hastily sat up, spinning around. Her heart sank as she cast her eyes upon the image of Cody sitting frozen in a chair at the other end of the room, gazing blankly out the window.
Stifling a quiet sigh, Bailey uncurled herself from the white sheets and stepped onto the carpeted floor beneath her, taking a glance at the second single bed in the room that was meant to have been Woody's.
Upon arriving at the L.A. Tipton, Mr. Moesby had assigned the devastated Seven Seas High students their rooms accordingly and took time to make perfectly clear that boys and girls were still not to share rooms together. But after everything that had happened in the hours beforehand, there was no possible way that Bailey was going to leave Cody on his own. Since London had her own suite on the top floor of the hotel, Bailey had originally been allocated a room with Addison, however, it didn't take much effort to convince Woody to switch with her.
The last thing Bailey remembered from the night before was falling asleep comfortably in Cody's warm, brave embrace after the news of Zack and the many other victims of the ship's capsize had made the rounds through all the remaining students and passengers, but as she watched him now, glass-eyed and solidified in his seat, she couldn't help but feel a wave of nerves take over the air between her and her boyfriend.
"Cody?" she spoke softly into the quiet. When there was no response, Bailey walked closer toward where Cody sat and knelt down in front of him, taking his hands, "Cody?" she repeated. Again, Cody's vision remained on a beeline out the window and he spoke nothing in reply to his girlfriend.
Bailey sighed again and pushed her fringe out of her face. "Cody," she stated, obviously defiant in getting a reaction from him, "Please say something. I know how much you must be hurting right now... well, I mean, I don't understand how you're feeling, but… I just want to… I…"
Holding in the sensation of tears welling up in her eyes, Bailey ultimately trailed off at a loss of what to say. She gazed up at Cody again, though, still, he hadn't moved a muscle. Bailey had never been so close to Cody but felt so far away from him at the same time, and after everything that was happening around them at that moment, more than anything the emotion scared her.
Feeling the urge to break the eerie silence that had once again overwhelmed the room, Bailey stood up and took her hands away from Cody, wrapping them around his neck and eventually climbing into his lap. After a single instant, Bailey choked out a sob of relief as she felt Cody's arms slink around her waist without any hesitation and hug her tightly. He heaved a heavy breath against her shoulder and simply held her silently.
All of a sudden, three soft knocks echoed from the front door of the hotel room. Bailey snapped her head up and gazed at the door before switching her vision to the clock that hung on the wall, finding that it read 8:40 a.m. She quickly wiped her eyes and gently stroked the back of Cody's neck before she reluctantly stood up, "Come in!"
A mere second or two after Bailey's voice resounded across the room, the front door swung open to reveal Mr. Moesby and London standing on the other side of it.
Bailey's jaw dropped, "Mr. Moesby," she began nervously, clearly having spent the night with Cody, "we can ex –"
"What happened to Zack?" Cody finally spoke, breaking his silence and leaping out of his seat, "Have you heard anything? What's going on? Is –"
Cutting off the long awaited sound of Cody's voice, Moesby held his hand up gesturing for the frantic teen to stop. He glanced at Bailey, restraining his anger at her for spending the night in Cody's room, and then pointed towards the door.
"Bailey, London, would you give me a moment alone with Cody, please?"
The two girls immediately obliged, as London shot Cody a sympathetic smile before they both left the room, closing the door behind them.
Bailey groaned in distress and pushed her hair back between her fingers as she leant into the wall of the hallway.
"Are you ok?" London asked.
Bailey smiled at the genuine tone in the heiress' voice, "As much as I can be. You?"
London shrugged her shoulders in reply. Zack was one of the only people she knew so personally who went down with the back end of the ship, and even through her usual self-centered ways, she knew that the situation was not solely based on her and how she was feeling.
"What about Cody?" she then asked tentatively.
Bailey sighed, picturing the broken image of Cody in her mind again, "He's a mess," she answered shakily, "I mean, I was so relieved to find him last night after the rescue team and emergency crew helped everyone on the front half of the ship back here, but when I saw how hysterical he was, I knew something was wrong. When he told me we both just cried."
An awkward silence fell over the corridor, leaving London not knowing what to say.
"Anyway," Bailey went on, slightly embarrassed by her emotional outburst, "Does Moesby know something? About Zack?"
London nodded, "He wouldn't tell me, though. He wants to tell Cody first."
"No!"
The girls both jumped as they heard Cody's voice boom from the other side of the door. Bailey dashed back in see her boyfriend angrily pacing the room and Moesby trying to console him.
"Cody, please –"
"It's not true!"
"What isn't?" London opted to ask as she followed Bailey in.
"He thinks Zack's dead!" Cody spat accusingly at Moesby.
"That's not what I said," Moesby argued in his defence, "Just let me explain."
Bailey stepped forward and took a tender hold of Cody's arm, putting a halt to his frenzied strides.
"The hospital where all of the found survivors were air lifted to got in contact with me this morning," Moesby began, "Their phone lines have been going off the hook – family members, friends, not to mention the media. Plus, the whole area around the facility is constantly filled to the brink with citizens and paparazzi wanting to know what's going on. They're not getting nearly as much work done as they should be, so they've officially closed all their doors and phone lines for people related to the S.S. Tipton capsize until they've made positive I.D.'s on exactly who anyone is. Now, you all already know that until your parents or any other guardians can take charge of you that you are all still my and Miss. Tutweiller's responsibility. All of the other passengers who were on the ship who were taking part in the West Coast Cruise have been refunded whatever expenses they haven't used by Mr. Tipton and have been told they are free to go as they please."
"We heard all this last night," Cody interjected, "Get to the part about the ship."
Bailey squeezed Cody's arm, "What exactly happened to the ship, Mr. Moesby?"
"It was an air pressure malfunction in one of the ship's main engines," he explained, "That's why there were different rumbling noises being emitting by it before the explosion set off the chain reaction. I was told it probably also explains why it was so humid in your cabins toward the bottom of the ship."
"It was overheating way down there," Bailey pointed out, "Heat rises."
"So if all those different things were going on, why didn't anybody notice that there was something wrong with the ship?" London asked.
Moesby shook his head somberly, "That matter is still being looked into. We should just be thankful that so many people on the ship made distress calls and that the ship's navigator was able to give our exact location to the emergency crews."
"Thankful?" Cody repeated in what sounded like disgust, "I have absolutely no idea where my brother is!"
"Cody," Moesby recommenced sternly, "I told you, when I spoke to the hospital this morning I asked them directly if they had a Zackary Martin in their custody. They said that none of their patients had that I.D. on them, and when I described him to them they confirmed that they hadn't retrieved anyone of that description either."
Cody sighed loudly and angrily as he fell back to a stubborn silence.
"Over five hundred people went down on the ship, Cody," Moesby continued, trying to make him see sense, "Not all of them were rescued."
"I don't care!" Cody explained with fury, "He's not dead!"
Bailey flinched as Cody them ripped himself away from her grip and tore out of the hotel room, slamming the door behind him.
It had been a couple of years now since Cody and his family had made their previous visit to Hollywood, but since then, if one thing hadn't changed, it was the uncanny matching décor and furniture arrangement of L.A.'s Tipton and the Tipton in Boston.
Cody sat in the identically arranged lobby and gazed around the space, picturing his and Zack's many different adventures that they had shared in their younger days back at their hotel home. It killed Cody inside to think how quickly all of that had changed.
The elevator behind where the younger twin was sitting then landed with a 'ding' as Bailey stepped out between the dividing doors.
Cody looked up at her as she made her approach and instantly felt vaguely embarrassed to be sitting in there still in his towel boy uniform while Bailey had changed into some clothes she'd borrowed from London that had been flown in for her.
"Hi, sweetie," he barely spoke.
Bailey smiled, glad to hear her boyfriend's voice in even the slightest. She took a seat next to him on the lobby lounge and placed her hand on his knee, "Are you ok?"
Cody sighed and gazed at Bailey obliviously through his red eyes. Bailey bit her lip, "Sorry."
Cody shrugged and draped an arm around her, pulling her closer towards him, "It's ok."
"Your parents rang Moesby just now. They're catching the next flight out here."
Cody furrowed his brow at this news, "What did they say?"
Bailey hesitated, "Concerning…?"
Cody's frown deepened, "Concerning the fact that Moesby thinks that Zack wasn't rescued?" He waited impatiently as Bailey seemed to still be feeling indecisive about her answer, "Bailey?"
Looking up nervously at Cody, Bailey sighed, "They said they were coming to get you and then you were going to go home."
Cody's jaw dropped as he yanked his arm away and stood up, "So they believe what the hospital said? They think he's dead, too?!"
"Cody, please," Bailey urged, "Maybe you should…" She stopped as she realised what she was saying.
"I should what?" Cody continued, "Think about? Accept it?!"
Bailey cupped her mouth with her hand as Cody tore her words apart and people began noticing their dispute, "Cody, I'm sorry," she said, her eyes once again warming with tears, "I didn't think, ok, I just… I'm sorry."
Cody pushed his bangs aside and slowly nodded his head. He then ventured his way through his un-tucked shirt, shoving his hands into his pockets, and then turned towards the front door of the hotel.
"I'm gonna' go for a walk."
"Well, let me –"
"I wanna' be by myself," he sharply cut in before Bailey could offer to tag along. She cringed in dejection as she watched Cody make his way to the door. He took a few heated steps, but soon came to an abrupt stop, sighed to himself in disappointment, and then held his hand out.
Still feeling somewhat apprehensive, Bailey advanced towards Cody and latched onto his hand, walking out onto the busy L.A. street by his side.
"I'm sorry," Cody instantly spoke, "I don't mean to be pushing you away, really, I don't. It's just –"
"You don't have to explain yourself, Cody," Bailey interrupted, "I can't even imagine what it would be like to be in your position. If you ever want time to be by yourself to think, all you have to do is ask."
Cody simply nodded again as the two prolonged to walk along in silence until they came to a busy café at the end of the block and decided to take a seat. At least everybody else around would be too concerned with their own lives to even give the teenaged couple a second glance.
"Were you up all night?" Bailey probed.
Cody looked up from where he was twiddling his thumbs on the table.
"Sorry, if you don't want to talk about it," Bailey spoke.
"No, seriously, it's ok. I'm glad that I have you to talk to."
Bailey nodded, waiting anxiously for what her boyfriend would say next. After what felt like an eternity, Cody took a deep breath, "I didn't sleep," he began half-heartedly, "I couldn't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I'm there again."
Bailey shuddered, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end at the words pouring from Cody's heart, "Let it all out, sweetie," she spoke soothingly, reaching out across the table to him.
Cody took her hand, chuckling a little in pure apathy, "How? I can't cry anymore, I can't. I'm all out of tears. All I can do is think about it. It was just like, one minute he was standing right in front of me, and then the next… he was gone." Cody paused for a brief moment and swallowed, "I keep asking myself if there was anything else I should've done."
"You can't think like that, Cody," Bailey urged, "What happened wasn't your fault – it wasn't anybody's fault. You did everything you could. Nobody expected anything more from you."
Cody locked eyes with Bailey and, what looked like for a splint second, smiled, "Thanks for being here for me Bailey." The grin faded, "I don't know how I'd manage without you. I barely can as it is."
Cody's voice was faint again as he glanced back down to his lap, "I keep trying to find a connection, or something, to Zack. To let me know he's ok. I know it sounds weird, but –"
"No, I get it," Bailey affirmed, "But?"
Cody heaved another huge sigh. He frowned, remaining still for a passing minute and tried to find a way to loop all his words and thoughts together.
"He's not dead," Cody reinforced, the tone in his voice firmer than ever, "I'd know if my own twin brother was alive or dead. But…"
In one final instant, Cody looked back up and fixed his vision to the concerned features of Bailey's face, "…I don't think he's ok, either."
I think it's amazing how music can have such a huge inspiration on the stories you write, and now would be the time to mention that the song quoted at the beginning of this chapter, 'New Divide' by Linkin Park, is the one song that pretty much set up this entire story for me. I got an evil thought while listening to it one day and asked myself, "What do you reckon would happen if I made the ground between the twins cave in?"
Hope you guys all enjoyed this chapter, or not, depending on how you feel about no sure answer concerning whether Zack is ok or not. Sorry :( LOL. And what do we think about Cody's reaction after everything that has gone on? Or Bailey's support for him? I tried to write that really well, so any feedback there would be awesome.
I also hope that the explanation of what actually happened to the ship makes some form of sense. Again, I have absolutely no idea how massive cruise liners work, so I more or less just made up everything 'factual' that I included in the story.
Anywho, feel free to leave me plenty of reviews *hint* haha :) Anything that you find confusing, just ask me what I was going on about, lol.
And a happy 2010 to everybody if I haven't wished you so already! Hope the entire holiday season has been one to remember :D Till next time, guys.
Reneyyyyyy x.