Flight 29 Down – When the World Falls Apart
Chapter 4 – Even When The World Falls Apart
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Meanwhile….
The tent was quiet. Eric and Taylor were keeping the fire going, Lex was working on something or other, and Nathan and Daley had disappeared.
"You're a pretty good guitar player." Melissa said.
"Oh, you liked it. Uh, yeah." Jackson said, embarrassed.
"Did you write the song?" She asked.
"Yeah. I can go get the guitar and sing it again if you want." He offered.
"Sure." Melissa said.
Jackson got up and went to get the guitar from the plane. When he got back, Melissa was wriggling around. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"Stomach hurts again…won't go away…" She said.
Jackson rushed back outside. The first person he saw was Lex. "Lex, go find Nathan and Daley. We have to find that medicine." He said.
"Why?" Lex replied.
"Just find them!" Jackson said. Lex ran off and Jackson went to get Taylor and Eric to help.
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"Why?" Daley and Nathan said in unison.
"I don't know, but Jackson seemed really frantic." Lex said.
All three took off down the beach.
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Jackson, Eric, and Taylor were turning the camp upside down looking for the little plastic bottle. When Daley, Lex, and Nathan arrived, Taylor was searching through the WWII box, Jackson was looking under chairs and around on the ground, and Eric was checking the first aid bag again.
A couple minutes later, Jackson held the bottle up triumphantly. "Found it!" He said.
He and Daley rushed into the tent.
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Nathan sat in a chair, tapping his fingers on his knee impatiently.
Daley and Jackson came out of the tent. "Is she okay?" Nathan jumped up.
They looked at each other. "She's…not in pain anymore." Daley said.
Nathan ran into the tent.
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"No!" He screamed. His eyes flew open. "Just a dream, just a dream…" He murmured.
"Are you okay?" He heard Daley's voice.
"Just a dream…" He said. Then it hit him. "How's Melissa?" He said.
"A lot better." Daley said.
Nathan closed his eyes and let out a breath of relief. He got up from his chair and started to walk into the tent.
Jackson was playing that guitar that had come out of nowhere. It was the Chilloween song.
Nathan smiled and left quietly.
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They decided to eat dinner on the beach. The sunset seemed especially pretty today.
Taylor held up the filtering can. A pink piece of cloth covered the top.
"I took one of my shirts and cut a couple squares." She removed the rubber band and held up the cloth. "Sewed the pieces together, and made an even better filter." She looked at Daley.
"I have to admit, that was pretty smart." Daley said.
Taylor smiled with satisfaction.
"Hey, where's Jackson?" Lex said.
"Probably with Melissa." Nathan said.
"Well, you're right about that." Everyone turned. Jackson and Melissa were standing behind the group.
"Melissa!" Everyone cried.
She plopped down next to Nathan. "Let's eat, I'm starving!" She smiled.
Jackson sat next to her. They smiled at each other. Nathan noticed.
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Nathan Video Diary –
"Today was a change. I have a feeling that nothing will be the same after today. Not in a bad way. A good way."
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Melissa grinned at Jackson. He had pulled the guitar out again.
"Do you know any real songs?" Taylor asked.
"What are you trying to say?" He said.
"Like, songs by singers." She said.
"Mm, a couple." He strummed a couple chords. "Nathan, give me a song."
"Uh…"
"Mandy." Daley said.
"Okay." Jackson said. "Mandy always laughs when I act stupid, I am unaware that I'm a nuisance. That one?"
"Yeah!" Daley said.
They somehow got to all singing Year 3000. Even Eric was smiling.
Melissa noticed Nathan and Daley sitting close. She saw their hands entwined.
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Melissa Video Diary –
"Looks like Daley made the right choice. I think Taylor picked the wrong day for Chilloween. This day was close to perfect. Except for, well, me almost dying."
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Daley Video Diary –
"It may seem silly, but disaster brings people closer together. If we hadn't crashed, we probably wouldn't have as many friends as we do now."
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Eric Video Diary –
"I know I'm not exactly the most durable person, but I kind of like being here. I guess you could say this is the life."
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Jackson Video Diary –
"We can count on each other here. Even when the world falls apart."
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THE END
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A/N: So there's the explanation for the title. I know it was a really short story, but I came up with the idea when I was zoning out of the boringest video on Lewis and Clark in Social Studies. The funny thing is, I came up with the whole Taylor rips the cloth and Melissa gets sick thing before I saw Regrets. Freakish.