The Lovers Survivors

2. Deserted

Julian opens his eyes slowly and groans as the first thing he feels is the pain coming from the wounds. He sees a man kneeling next to him, watching him with a worried face. He raises an eyebrow and tries to speak, but the salt water dried his throat and made it hard for his vocal cords to create a sound.

"You must be wondering who I am," Leighton says. "My name is Leighton. I was a passenger too."

Julian frowns when the memories of the plane surge in his mind. He moves slowly and sees the blood all over his legs, "What happened?" he mumbles quietly.

Leighton sighs, "It exploded, the engines caught fire."

Julian puts his hand over his eyes and takes a deep breath. He looks around and realizes he's surrounded by the golden sand and an endless forest. He tries to get up but fails because of his weak legs.

"Let me help you," Leighton puts his arm around his shoulders and helps him stand up. Julian groans because of the pain.

Leighton takes a look at his wounds and presses his lips, "We need to treat this."

"Where are we?" asks Julian, ignoring his words.

Leighton shrugs, "I don't know, probably an island as you can see."

Julian closes his eyes and clenches his fists, "You mean we're in the middle of nowhere." Leighton hums.

"That's impossible," Julian whispers and keeps looking around. They're only surrounded by trees and the sea, and it doesn't help the actor to feel better. "We're in the middle of nowhere!" he panics. His breathings get deeper and louder, his heart beats faster and his face gets paler. He suddenly feels dizzy, and Leighton helps him stand still.

"No, this can't be happening." Julian shakes his head violently. "Not me, no!"

Leighton makes him sit down on the sand and faces him, "I know it's not the best situation, but you should be thankful that you're still alive after the explosion. Other people surely didn't survive."

Julian gulps and looks at the sea, "You mean we're the only survivors?"

Leighton shrugs, "Probably."

The actor rolls his eyes and lies on the sand. He runs his fingers in his wet hair and lets out a deep sigh, "How lucky I am!" he scoffs. "I could have at least survived with a hot girl or something. That way it won't be that disappointing. Like the Blue Lagoon movie, they had fun together."

Leighton frowns, "Life isn't a movie." he mutters. "And I'm sorry I'm not a girl." he stands up and walks near the sea. He watches the waves as he always admired them. He wonders if his mind will change now that he'll see them every day and night.

Perhaps he'll even hate the sea.

"What are we going to do now?!" he hears the actor scream. "We'll just perish here in this deserted

island, right? That's sad. I was heading to the most successful part of my career. I was going to be the leading actor in a big movie."

Leighton rolls his eyes for the thousandth time since he saved him. He keeps asking himself why he did so if he knows he's one of those spoiled actors who think the whole world belongs to them.

"Who said we're going to die here?" he turns around to look at him. "If people survived before in islands, why can't we do it?"

Julian scoffs, "You think you're Tom Hanks in Cast Away? Maybe I should find you a volleyball so that you make friends with it."

Leighton clenches his fists and walks toward him, "I don't like the way you talk. If you want to die, die! I'm going to survive even if I have to drink my pee!"

"Now you're James Franco in 127 Hours." Julian rolls his eyes.

"Stop comparing me to your damn movies!" Leighton screams so loud that the birds fly away from the trees.

He looks at the actor with angry eyes and takes deep breaths. He closes his eyes for a moment and opens them to find Julian looking at him with amusement. "Look, we're in the middle of the seas, I have no idea where we are, so I don't need your damn jokes to annoy me!"

"That's it!" Julian claps his hands. "Thankfully, you're normal. Your calmness didn't seem real to me, you know? Now, you're a normal human being who's scared to spend the rest of his days on an island."

Leighton frowns and looks away. They stay silent for a long moment until the nurse sits next to Julian and speaks again, "I'm sure they're going to do everything to find you."

"Me? Why?"

"You're a celebrity," Leighton replies, "You're the heir of one of the richest companies in the country. Of course, they're going to look for you."

Julian presses his lips and looks away, "They're going to look for the celebrity, the actor, the heir, the image of the company. They're going to look for him, not me."

Leighton stares at him. He looks sad and calm, but it doesn't last long. Julian quickly looks back at him and smirks, "But screw them all. At least I don't have to see their faces now."

"If you say so," Leighton says.

The two young men spend hours sitting on the sand, watching the waves arrive and leave. They don't share a word for long. They are both scared, but no one dares to say it to the other. They both feel like crying, but no one wants to look weak in front of the other.

Leighton thinks about the passengers and gulps. He remembers the little boy and how strong he was. The way he held both his mother's and Leighton's hand before the accident only broke his heart. He doesn't even want to imagine what might have happened to the poor boy. He wishes he could have survived just like him and Julian. But was it even possible for a little boy to survive such a tragic explosion?

Later in the evening, the blue sky got replaced by a darker one, the wind took over the gentle breeze spot, and the sun rays reflecting on the water disappeared to let the moonlight illuminates it.

Julian starts shivering. He puts his arms around himself and rests his chin between his knees.

Leighton looks around and gets up. The actor asks him where he's going and he answers that he's going to look for some wood to make fire.

Leighton comes back a few moments later with some tree branches. He looks at Julian who's staring at him curiously. "Do you know how to make a fire?" he asks.

Julian shakes his head, "How would I know?"

Leighton chuckles, "You never went camping?"

"I did, but the club takes care of the fire and stuff."

Leighton rolls his eyes, "I almost forgot that you rich people live differently. It's not called camping if you don't make any effort."

Julian watches him choose the hardest woods and create friction between them. It takes him a little while to make a fire because of the wind, but he succeeds in the end. He hurries to throw more wood to make the flame grow bigger.

Julian watches it with wide eyes and hurries to approach it to feel the warmth in his body.

"How are we going to eat here?" Julian asks, making Leighton chuckle.

"We'll see about that tomorrow when there is more light."

"Do you think we'll find something?"

Leighton shrugs, "If we're lucky, we might find a way to survive. I hope you like insects."

Julian looks at him with a disgusted face, "Are you serious? I'm not living on that! I rather die than eat insects."

Leighton laughs, "You're going to have to get used to it. It's said that in a few years, insects will be our only meal because of global warming. The animals will disappear and the level of the seas will increase, so it'll cover many agricultural lands, and we're going to find ourselves without food."

"Bullshit," Julian mumbled. "Why would the insects survive if everyone dies."

Julian groans when he feels the pain again. He clenches his fists and presses his lips tight.

Leighton notices him and looks at him sadly, "We need to treat this."

"How? It's not like there's a hospital here."

Leighton looks down and sighs. He may have been a nurse for years, but it doesn't serve for anything if he can't help a patient outside the hospital. The wound was thankfully not bleeding, but it needed to get treated either way.

He stays silent for a moment, looking at the flame dancing on the woods. He doesn't have any disinfectant, but he should at least cover it in order not to get infected.

He's wearing a shirt, so he decides to tear the sleeve and warms it a little bit. He hopes it's clean enough not to cause any problem.

Julian raises an eyebrow and wonders what he's doing. "You're already going crazy and it's just the first day."

"Shut up." Leighton rolls his eyes.

"Then how do you explain suddenly tearing up your sleeve?" Julian rubs his chin.

"I'm just trying to help your arse," Leighton mumbles before placing the fabric around the wound. Julian groans and the nurse asks him to be patient until he finishes. "It shouldn't get infected."

"What do you know about infections?" Julian frowns.

"I'm a nurse."

The grin on Julian's face fades, "Are you? How could a nurse afford a ticket to the Maldives?"

Leighton frowns, "Yes, I'm not filthy rich like you, but I have friends who can offer me stuff, okay? I have friends, real ones. Not like you."

Julian gulps. Touché.

They don't share a word since then. They stay around the fire, only listening to the sound of the waves and tree leaves moving along with the wind.

Leighton lies down and feels something strange against his butt. He raises an eyebrow and puts his hand inside his jeans back pocket. He widens his eyes when he realizes it's a picture. He wonders when he put it there.

He looks at it, it's a little bit ruined because of the water but he can still see his fiancee's smiles.

It's a picture they took the night before with Evelyn's Polaroid. She must have hidden it there.

He gets it closer to the fire to see it clearer. Evelyn looks beautiful with her pink dress and her engagement ring.

"Your girlfriend?" Julian asks.

"My fiancée," Leighton sighs. "She must be worried."

"You must love her a lot."

Leighton nods, "She's amazing."

"Where have you met her?"

"We met at the faculty, and now we work in the same hospital. She's one of the best surgeons."

Julian scoffs, "She's a surgeon and you're a nurse?"

"Yes, why?" Leighton raises an eyebrow.

Julian shrugs, "It's just strange. Girls tend to be attracted to men who are more successful than them."

"Don't generalize," Leighton mumbles with a cold tone. "Not all people are the same."

Julian chuckles, "I'm just stating facts, man. Even if they keep denying it, they'll always be more attracted to someone richer than them. That's reality."

"My Evelyn isn't like this."

"Sure, sure." Julian scoffs.

Leighton hides the picture in his pocket because it hurts him to see her smile. It only makes him wish to see her soon and take her in his arms.

"I heard you have a fiance too," he tells the actor.

Julian hums, "But our story isn't a Disney movie like yours. I was forced to get engaged to her because of our parents."

"I guessed so." Leighton nods.

"Why?" Julian chuckles, "Because I'm that playboy who sleeps with every girl I meet? Well, that's not completely wrong. I don't do relationships."

"So, you'll get married to her even though you don't love her?"

"I don't care about love, I don't believe in it." Julian mumbles. "And it's not like I'm going to survive to marry her."

Leighton lowers his head and whispers, "We're going to survive."