Shane and Mort observed from the other side of the boat as to what was going on between the two sisters, the entire time the four acted chill and collective towards each other but this didn't seem like the case up until now. Whatever the two discussed about a second ago escalated into Chilli randomly panicking for some reason. Shane worryingly couldn't predict where this would go beyond this point. "Why am I just reeling in the fish I caught, am I doing something wrong?" Brandy asked in confusion as to why Chilli had suddenly panicked. Shane is just as confused as she was, until he looks down at the fishing rods and suddenly finds.
Mort's lucky rod had disappeared from the pile of other fishing rods. "Where did it go?" Shane thought in his head as he looked up at Brandy who held a fishing rod in her hands. He saw a familiar red bandanna wrapped around the handle, it's the very one Mort had on his, she was mistakenly using his lucky fishing rod and was unaware about it.
That explains why Chilli was freaking out, hopefully Brandy will notice. "No it's not that. You have dad's..." Chilli tried to warn her about what fishing rod she was holding but the fish Brandy's hook caught seemed to try and swim away as she was lightly jolting forward making her hold onto the fishing rod more tightly.
"Hold that thought sis, gotta reel it in one last time and that fish is ours." Brandy told her while she reeled as hard as possible to get the fish out of the water. However, doing so the pressure on said rod began to lose strength, it could snap at any moment and someone needed to stop her. "Brandy, wait!" Shane attempts to inform her but he was too late, a final pull from her led to the rod to completely snap in half. Brandy instantly jolted forward again, losing grip of the fishing rod and almost falling off the boat. Luckily, Chilli grabbed her by the arm in the nick of time, saving her from ending up in the deep waters.
Unfortunately, her dad's prize possession wasn't so lucky as she was. The now snapped fishing rod floated in the lake along with Mort's red bandanna which Chilli was able to grab before it could sink down. However she wasn't successful in getting the fishing rod itself, both pieces quickly sunk down to the bottom before she had a chance to grab them, Chilli's heart shattered into pieces as she held onto the red bandanna tightly.
Shane and Mort didn't say anything, only being shocked as told by their faces. Mort's lucky fishing rod was at the bottom of the lake and gone forever with no way of recovering it. Brandy meanwhile stood without saying a word, realizing what she had just done. "Oh no." Shane only responded while Chilli looked at the water in silence before her facial expression went from saddened to anger. "What, What have you Done?" Chilli quietly asked her sister. Shane could tell her voice was slightly frustrated while Brandy was worried.
"Sis.. I.. I didn't know, it was a mistake. I swear I grabbed..." Brandy tried to replied, in an attempt to defend herself. But Chilli cut her off, refusing to hear her side of the story. "Mistake? Mistake?! That was Dad's lucky rod. One he's had it since he was a kid, passed down from generation to generation and now it's Gone! At the bottom of the lake!" Chilli turned around and yelled, furious at what her sister had replied with as Mort then chimed in on the matter.
"It's not a big deal sweetie. The rod can always be replaced, I still have my bandanna and that's all that matters." Mort stated, trying to calm the situation down. Shane agreed with him at least his bandanna didn't go down with it as he then backed him up. "Your father's right, Chilli. This isn't a huge deal, let's just calm down." Shane said, standing aside her sister. But this made matters worse when Chilli stared at him, she recalled their interaction on the way to the dock and that Brandy was only talking to him about fishing lessons. Her eyes squinted as she started to suspect that wasn't true and they really were hiding something.
"What were you two talking about earlier?" Chilli then asked, now looking at her sister along with Shane. "Eh?" He uttered in confusion as to what Chilli was referring to. "Back on the tail. I knew you two weren't talking about fishing lessons. In fact... you've been hiding something from me and dad this entire time. What's really going on?!" Chilli dropped the question. Shane was speechless, she's caught on to what him and Brandy were discussing the entire day. He can tell this was starting to get blown out of proportion and they needed to come clean about it now.
"We weren't hiding anything in bad faith. Brandy wanted to reveal a surprise to you and your dad, she was waiting for us to be on the boat to tell you." Shane explained, telling her the truth only for Chilli to cross her arms. "Why, so she can reveal she wants to leave her family again?" Chilli said to Shane, pacifically dropping the question onto her sister. Brandy grew furious when she said that, her own sister thinking she would announce something that cruel and the fact that's how she saw her, Brandy had reached her breaking point.
"Huh! No, she would never do that. Brandy wanted to tell you and Mort she's got a..." Shane tried to say only for Brandy to place her hand on his shoulder and tell him. "Let me handle this kid." He went silent and nodded in response, taking a step back to let her deal with it as Brandy stared at her younger sibling with anger in her eyes. "You know, you have some nerve talking to me like this again." Brandy said in a serious yet frustrated tone. Chilli was caught off guard by her sister's change in mood, she was now getting defensive.
"Ever since lunch you have been nothing but your old self, never giving me a chance to explain or tell you how I felt, frankly I have had it!" Brandy said. Chilli started to feel a hint of guilt about what she said prior, she definitely crossed the line. "Brandy I didn't mean it like that..." Chilli tried to say while she reached her hand out for Brandy. Now realizing her mistake and wanting to change her ways, however it was too little too late.
"No! I came back to Brisbane to help fix our shattered bridges, to spend time with the sister I had lost all those years ago. But I see now that you're still stuck in the past." Brandy said, slapping her hand away. Her emotions became filled with rage, tears flowed down her face as the three stood in silence. Shane couldn't believe what he was witnessing, what started as a normal fishing trip turned into a full blown disaster. Brandy briefly sighs before speaking up again.
"When I left home... after our fight, I was ashamed and alone. I felt my own tears stream down my face, I wondered what I would do, where would I go? Now that I don't have you or dad, I had to make a tough decision. My stomach ached when I boarded that flight to France, if I hadn't left I would've never met... him." Brandy said while wiping her tears. "What?" Chilli wondered, surprised and curious as to who she was speaking of. Brandy then looked back at her still upset.
"I might not have what you have, but I have somebody. Somebody who loves me for me, a man who would do anything to protect me, a man that slept me off my feet when I was in a gray area, giving me a place to live and somewhere to be happy... a man who couldn't care if I can't possess children of my own." Brandy continued to say, Shane was shocked when he heard the last part. She had never mentioned this before, at least not to him.
He couldn't help but not feel sorry for her as something about it felt too close to home. "I wanted to surprise you and dad by revealing my secret to you here, but you ruined it." She said sternly while pointing at Chilli. Brandy then got closer to her.
"Except him or not, I could care less. I love him with every ounce of my heart and I wouldn't change that no matter what. His name is Luka Dane, he's my damn boyfriend and he loves me and respects me... unlike you." Brandy confessed straight to her sister's face as the two made eye contact. The four fell silent, this was the final nail in the coffin, her secret was finally out with no longer fear of hiding it. Chilli and Mort had their eyes widened, she's met someone in France who loves her which she was waiting to tell them the whole time. Chilli felt even worse about what she said before.
She ruined what's supposed to be a harmless reveal and instead it turned into arguing over old drama. What made matters worse is Shane observed the whole scene, only to suddenly ask. "You can't have children?" Brandy saw he was looking directly at her when he asked that. She realized Shane heard what she mentioned and was now in an awkward position. Brandy didn't want to lie or deny it, her personal secret was out and she had to tell him.
"Shane I... I should've told you. But I didn't think you would understand." Brandy said. Shane was just shocked. "This is my fault, isn't it?" He asked, blaming himself for her revealing her secret as he moved his foot forward. "Huh?" Chilli then wondered in confusion as to what he was talking about. "I caused this, I caused you two to..." Shane took one step forward, when suddenly.
"Crap!"
The outcome led to the boat to sway around due to all the weight being on the other side as Shane went backwards and fell off the boat into the water. Chilli, Brandy, and Mort looked in horror. "Shane!" Brandy cried out as the three rushed over to see if he's still there. "Shane, are you ok!" Chilli called out for him as well. However he disappeared under the water, unconscious and sinking down into its depths. "No... No! No! No! Shane!!" Brandy cried, hoping that this isn't real and he will emerge while Chilli and Mort looked among themselves in panic.
"Someone needs to go get him!" Brandy stated, tears streaming down his face. They needed to do something fast. Chilli thought of what she can do and came to a last resort. She immediately took a deep breath before diving into the water much to Brandy's surprise. "What are you doing?" Brandy asked her sister who was now in the water. "I'm gonna fix this." Chilli replied back quickly, going down into the water planning to save him.
Shane was still unconscious, his vision was black for a moment until he became slightly conscious. He opened his eyes a little to see he was under water and a glimpse of light from the moon reflected on the water. Despite being blurry he saw a hand reach out for him, he felt like it was being grabbed by the person as his vision suddenly became blackened again.
Flashback to Canada
"Tell me son?"
Shane sat on a bench upset and alone, the sun shining through the windows of a gym he and his father were at. Eastin asked him a question while rapidly hitting the punching bag in front of him. "Tell me what happened?" He asked his son to which Shane grunted. "It's nothing, he punched me in the face. probably deserved it for making things worse." Shane stated, turning around to face him showing he had a black eye on his left. His dad was not pleased with his response and replied.
"You can't let your nephew do that to you son. I've taught you better." Eastin said, giving his son the idea that a situation like this should not be ignored. "What can I do differently? Dodge, Punch back, run away? I'm not as strong and fearless as you are dad, seems like no matter what I do it ends up the same." Shane replied.
"Who says that I'm fearless? Who says that I'm strong? Everytime I stepped into the ring, kick after kick, punch after punch, It's like taking a piece out of me little by little. Coming home once a week with blood and bruises isn't as fun as some think, but that's how champions are made. it's just one step closer to realizing what you will risk to get what you deserve most." Eastin explained while putting some strong hits onto the punching bag. Shane chose to be silent and put his head down. His father took notice of this and sighed, walking over to sit next to his son. "I'm not asking for you to be violent. I want you to be tougher." His dad said which he then continued.
"You and Adrian had an argument. I don't know what happened between you two but I know it ended with you being punched. Fighting back is an option, yes. However it's not always right. We are a family and as one we'll always have our differences, some good, some bad. But what matters is we shouldn't let things escalate to a level where it's unacceptable as having a bad relationship with a family member no matter who it is can be the worst, a disagreement that goes too far, ending in nothing other than someone getting hurt and regret on the other side." Eastin explained to him reasonably. Shane still wasn't sure where he was getting at. "So you want me to do nothing?" Shane replied with a question, turning to his side to look at him.
"I need you and your nephew to talk it out. Settle the situation like us adults would, it's ok to have a disagreement sometimes only if it doesn't lead to bad blood between both parties. Do you understand Shane?" His dad asked, hoping this would finally be an answer to solving his problem. "Yeah. I guess I'll give it a chance, love you dad." Shane said, giving a smile to his father before hugging to which he returned with one back. "Love you too sport." He responded. Shane felt a light punch by his dad on shoulder before he got up and walked back to the punching bag as the area around them faded to white.
"Shane, please be ok."
"I really messed up with Brandy."
"I need to make things right."
To be Continued...
A/N: And there you have it! Another chapter is complete. I hope you enjoy this new chapter of Human of the Wild because if you think we're done… Well we're not. Anyways I want to mention that I did see the new Bluey episode "The Sign" Overall it was beautiful especially the ending. Funny enough some of the stuff that happened in the episode is things I have planned from the start to add into this story of mine. However I'm getting ahead of myself, that will be a story for another day. Thank you all for reading and see you in the next chapter.
