Re: :.:Gone:.:

[Princess]

I rest my hand on Ingrid's shoulder. "You look exhausted, are you sure you're up for this right now?"

I stare down in the direction the church is at, but its too dark to tell if the Coates have arrived yet. "What if things go bad?"

[Taylor]

I N G R I D }


I squeeze my eyes shut and rub at them with my fists, determined to stay awake. "We have to do this now. If the Coates are serious, they might be able to really help us."

"I don't know what happens," I don't know anything. "I guess we fight our way out. Things shouldn't have to go bad, just follow my lead."

[Princess]

I open my mouth to argue, but think better of it. "If you really think we should, then I'll trust you."

I rub her back at an attempt to wake her up. "But if we're meeting the Coates, you'll need to be awake for it."

[Taylor]

>ARABELLA>


I pace the pews of the church corridor and I can't help but to hear an exchanging of words. "Did I tell you about the girl who's running the daycare? Paige, I think. Got a reading of three bars on her."

I shove my hands into the pockets of my blazer and play as though I haven't heard the words spoken by my left-hand woman, Aria, and her boyfriend, Carter.

"Three bars?" Carter responds with a low whistle. "Shit, man. These people are crazy. Did you get to read Ingrid?"

At the sound of Ingrid's name, I inch closer towards the couple. As the Coates' leader, Ingrid has proven to be one of my biggest threats. As Aria predicted, there was a natural-born leader, Ingrid. The kids here trust her. But for how long? Every leader has their weakness.

"Not yet," Aria sighs. "I shook her hand but she pulled away. I think I'll try once they get here."

"You better. Arabella wants everyone to be read."

I turn my attention away from their conversation and station myself at the front of the church, behind a podium. Paige is a three bar, hm?

"Aria," I speak calmly without looking at the blonde. "Keep an eye on Paige and Ingrid during the meeting, will you? I think I might have an idea to get rid of Ingrid."

[Princess]

As we head towards the church, I remember the girl who had shaken my hand when they arrived. I rub my hands together, trying to shrug off how tightly she squeezed them.

"Did they seem off to you?" I ask Ingrid, not taking my eyes off the ground. "I mean,besides the fact that they're Coates."

[Taylor]

I N G R I D }


I play with the hem of my oversized green plaid shirt, which once belonged to my older brother. "What do you mean?" I ask Paige, chewing lightly on my bottom lip. "Like, a little coo-coo?" I twirl my pointer finger next to my head and fight back a smile.

Just a few yards ahead, I can see the old church I used to attend when I was young. One of the Coates kids is standing outside, guarding it.

[Princess]

I grin and bring my hand up to cover my mouth. "That's exactly what I meant." I suppress a giggle as we approach the church, putting on a straight face.

The guard in front of the door moves out of the way when he recognizes us. I step past, holding open the door for Ingrid.

[Taylor]

I N G R I D }


I nod my head as a thank you to Paige and slide into the church, where the others have already arrived. As soon as I step foot into the church, a girl who looks a few years younger than me with long, sleek red hair tied into a high ponytail rushes up to me.

"Hi!" She grins at me, a teal-braces smile. "I'm Aria." Aria sticks her hand out for me to shake.

I glance over at Paige and remember what she said about the Coates kids being off and decide to place my hands in my pockets. "Hi, Aria. I'm Ingrid. It's nice to meet you."

With that said, I grab Paige's hand and gesture towards one of the pews towards the back of the church, as far away from Arabella at the front of the church.

"Ingrid!" I hear Arabella herself call to me. There's no way to mistake that voice from everyone else. Confident enough that she doesn't come off as self-centered. Humble enough you think she's sweet. Seductive enough that even I look up at her immediately. "Come sit up here, silly!"

I point a thumb at Paige and Arabella shakes her head, gesturing towards the pew in the front. Throwing a sympathetic look back at Paige, I walk towards the front of the church where Arabella grins widely at me as I sit down.

"Thank you all for coming," Arabella projects her voice through the room. "Let's begin."

[Princess]

I grumble to myself as Ingrid leaves to sit with Arabella, motioning for the other volunteers to follow me to the back of the church. I take my seat at the end of the pew next to the isle.

I fidget in my seat as they take their place next to me, turning their attention to where Arabella is standing. I chew into my nails and glare at her, waiting for her to start the meeting.

[Taylor]

>ARABELLA>


"I, we, believe that we need to work together," I announce, making eye contact with each townie in the stands. "With the adults gone, we should organize so that this town doesn't go into chaos, so problems can be handled. Our goal should be to maintain normalcy. So that once the barrier, I'm assuming you've all seen the barrier, comes down, and all of the missing come back, they will fine we've done a good job at keeping things together."

A boy with shaggy brown hair who introduced himself as Danny speaks up. "Ingrid is already maintaining."

"She is obviously doing an excellent job," I allow, trying not to let the spark of anger I feel go into my eyes. I walk down the steps and towards Ingrid. "But it's a burden. Why should Ingrid have to do all the work? I think we need a system, and I think we need a plan. Ingrid," I address the leader directly. "I'm sure you don't want to allocate food and care for the sick and keep the day care functioning, and read all the things you'd have to read, and write all the things you'd have to write, in order to establish a system here in Perdido Beach."

Ingrid chews on her lip, why must she keep doing that, and looks around uncomfortably. "I mean, I care about all of the people here. If all of that is what it takes to keep everyone healthy, and keep things in order, I'll do it."

She's good. I think.

I return to center stage, not allowing my steps to falter. I continue to address the entire group. "Thank you, Ingrid. For the time being, we seem to have a reliable source of electricity. But communication is down. My friend over there, Nellie Nelsen, thinks she can get the Internet and telephone lines up and running. I don't mean we'll be able to call those outside of, what did I overhear you calling it, the FAYZ? but we would be able to communicate among ourselves."

Eyes swivel towards Nellie, a mousy little thing who immediately flushed red and looks away.

"It will take time, but together we can do it," I emphasize my certainty by sacking y closed right fist into my left palm. "I would like to appoint myself leader of the FAYZ and assign jobs. Ingrid," I turn to her once more. "You seem exhausted just from the week you've been in charge. I would like to take the burden off your shoulders, if only for a few days, and take charge."

I address the group for the last time. "If that all sounds alright with you, I would also like to begin appointing jobs."

To finish my speech, I flash them a smile and flip my hair over my shoulder slightly.

[Princess]

As soon as Arabella finishes her speech, I get out of my seat and speed-walk to Ingrid. I lean into her ear and rest my hand on her shoulder. "It couldn't hurt to try," I glance at the Coates kids around the room.

"If she really plans on helping us that much, you won't have to feel so stressed out all the time." I sit down next to her, nudging her lightly by the shoulder.

"I wasn't really sure about all of this before, but if this actually works things could be so much more easier than they are now." I look back towards the other volunteers in the back of the church, who look convinced themselves.

"What do you think about it?"

[Taylor]

I N G R I D }


My mind is spinning, thoughts whirling around in it. My head pounds with the beginnings of a headache. "You really trust them?" I ask Paige softly, holding my head between my hands.

"It all sounds too good. Internet? Phone calls? A system? It's like they prepared for this."

[Princess]

I stop and think it over for a moment with a slight shake of my head. "Maybe not internet or phones, but it'll at least be easier if they at least try to help with everything else."

I drake an arm over her shoulders. "Why don't we come back to this tomorrow? You don't look like you're feeling too well right now."

I rub her arm lightly, "Come on, you don't have to make a decision right here and now."

[Taylor]

I N G R I D }


I jump to my feet and throw my hands up in surrender. "Okay, Arabella," I look at the leader. "You take over. You seem to know what you're doing. They," I gesture towards the Perdido Beach volunteers. "seem to trust you. So. Yeah. Whatever."

Arabella's eyes light up with even more confidence and she struts over to me, throwing her arms around my body. "You're very brave, Ingrid," she whispers. "Don't worry, this is just temporary." As quickly as her arms went around me, she removes them and sashays to the front.

"In addition to your new leader, we'll also be needing a sheriff and a fire chief. I nominate Ingrid as fire chief. Based on what you've all said earlier about her brave action in that fire, I believe she's an obvious choice, don't you?"

There are nodded heads and murmurs of agreement.

Lana, who took over as nurse as her mom was a well-known pediatrician in Perdido, speaks up and says, "Ingrid saved that house and the hardware store next to it and the daycare. And she almost saved the little girl. Speaking of, someone needs to bury her."

I flinch as Arabella says, "Exactly. God willing, we won't have to face that need again, but someone must bury the dead. Just as someone needs to help people who get sick or hurt. And someone needs to take care of the little children."

I decide to speak up now. "Paige has been taking care of the prees-- I mean, preschoolers," I explain. "And Lana has been our nurse. But they've both been doing it alone. They need help."

Lana nods. "We're not getting any sleep. People keep coming to me for minor things like headaches and stuff; if they keep this up, we won't have any medicine for real emergencies. I know the kids now, and I can keep being the nurse, and I think Paige likes working with the kids, but we both need help. We need a lot of help."

Arabella seems to mist up, almost as if she might shed a tear. She walks quickly to Lana and Paige at the back of the church, draws them both to their feet, and puts an arm around each of them. "What noble people you are. You will both be given the power to draft.. Lana, how many people will it take to run the hospital? What supply do you need?

Lana hesitates. "Maybe just three. We can alternate our sleep schedules." Then, gaining confidence, she adds, "No, we need three during the day and three at night. We need search teams to look at all the houses and collect medicine."

Arabella places a gentle hand on Lana's shoulder and smiles. "You'll get just that, Lana," then she turns to Paige. "How about you?"

[Princess]

I push Arabella's arm off of my shoulder, giving her an apologetic smile. "We need a lot of help..." My voice trails off as I figure out how many people we need. "At least 3 people with the preschoolers, and 3 more with babies."

I look at Lana with pleading eyes, "Do you think your search teams could find more baby formula while they're out there? We need as much as we can get our hands on."

[Taylor]

>ARABELLA>


I will my eyes to tear up and I wipe a tear from my cheek. "Of course, Paige," I smile at her and nod. "You can choose volunteer sof your choice and be able to draft whenever."

After one last sympathetic look at Paige, I walk back to the front of the church. "Tomorrow, we'll send our search teams to search the houses. We'll make sure all electricity is turned off, water is off, and food and medicine is collected. It's been a long day; I believe we should all get some rest."

I knock on the podium using my fist as a make-shift gavel. "City council dismissed."

[Princess]

I make my way to the front of the church and stop in front of Ingrid. "Come on, you need to sleep" I grab onto her hand, pulling her out the front doors with me. The rest of the people inside the church leave after us, walking in different directions to their homes. 

I tighten my grip on her hand as soon as I realize how dark it is, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. "My house is closer than yours," I mumble out. "You should just sleep there tonight." I speed up our pace towards my house, praying to god that my discomfort isn't obvious. 

Once we finally reach my house, I push open the front door and gesture for Ingrid to go inside. "Come on," I pull her flannel closer to my chest. "It's freezing out here."

[Taylor]

I N G R I D }


I stagger trough the sreets with eyes at half-mast. I feel Paige's hand tense around mine as we turn down a street with no street-lights, and try to shake off the feeling of pulling Paige close to me and telling her it's alright.

When we arrive at her house, I walk through the doorway and am hit with the smell of vanilla and lavender, just like Paige. "Should I sleep on the couch or something?" I murmur, wiping my eyes.

[Princess]

Paige/


I lock the door behind us as soon as we are both inside,  feeling myself begin to relax now that we're not outside. It's still dark, but it's better than being outside in the dark. 

I blurt out the first excuse I can think of. "The lights don't work downstairs," I start feeling my way along the wall for the staircase railing. I rush upstairs and turn on the light, peering down at Ingrid from the top. "Just come upstairs with me, it's too dark down there." 

I pull a blanket out of the cabinet in the hallway while waiting for her to come upstairs, tossing it on my bed. "Are you coming?"

[Taylor]

I N G R I D }


"Coming," I mumble out and begin climbing up the stairs. Despite my intention to be as polite as possible, I find myself stumbling into Paige's room and collapsing onto her bed, burying my face into the blankets.

For the first time in 72 hours, I allow myself to close my eyes and bring my knees up to my chest, curling up into a ball. Although my hair must look similar to a rat's nest, and my clothe must smell and look like crap, I relax completely in Paige's bed. "Goodnight."

[Princess]

I sit next to Ingrid on my bed, tucking in the blanket around her. Moving her hair away from her face, I lean over and plant a soft kiss to her cheek.

I crawl into bed beside her, pressing up against her at an attempt to warm up. "'Night," I pull the blankets over my head and wait for sleep.

[Taylor]

I N G R I D }


I feel my face heat up, and the spot on my cheek Paige's lips touched tingles. I pull the blanket over my head and blush underneath them, trying to fight off the smile that makes its way to my lips.

I lay there for a few minutes, simply feeling Paige's hair tickle my face, and her small, fragile body pressed against mine. I eventually drift to sleep, almost dreading when the morning comes and our bodies part.

[Princess]

(Assuming its morning lmo)

I wake with a start and panic for a split second before recognizing Ingrid beside me. I stare up at the clock on my nightstand, taking a moment to process the time. It's already almost 3 PM and I slept through the entire day.

I push the blanket off and gently get out of bed, trying not to wake her up. I shimmy out of my pants, pulling on my last clean pair. I pull her flannel off of my shoulders, tying it around my waist. I pull my hair up into a bun to try and hide how messy it is.

"Ingrid," I shake her shoulder gently. "Are you ready to get up? We slept in too late"

[Taylor]

I N G R I D }


At the word 'late', I shoot out of bed, panicked. "I'm supposed to check on everyone; we need to send out search time like Lana and you wanted. Who's taking care of the littles?"

I spit out a million questions at once. Suddenly, a sinking feeling fills me. I'm not the Mayor anymore. Arabella is in charge.

"Oh," I look away sheepishly and chew on my lip. "Nevermind."

I clear my throat and stare at the carpet on the floor. "We should, um, head out into the square. See if Arabella has jobs for us or something."

[Princess]

"It's okay, Arabella probably set up someone to take care of that already." I
guessed, pushing my dirty clothes to a corner of my room.

"We should go check just in case,though," I agree, rummaging through one of my drawers. "But you should at least change your shirt. How long have you been wearing the same one?" I toss her my T-shirt with a big cat on the front, heading downstairs to wait for her to change.

[Taylor]

I N G R I D }


Hesitantly, I slip my shirt over my head and toss it into a corner of the room with the rest of Paige's dirty clothes. Glancing down at my stomach, I notice it's concave, and I count my ribs. I haven't eaten in three days, I realize.

I slip the baggy shirt over my head and roll up the sleeves a bit, then flatten out my skinny jeans and tie my sneakers. I put my hair in a quick side braid before joining Paige downstairs.

"Do you have a bike or something? A skateboard?" These days in the FAYZ, most kids get around using bikes, scooters, or skateboards. Sometimes not their own.

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