Misplaced 4, part 5.

Ruth, Rachel, Patrick and Tom looked at each other, wondering what to say. Mick was the exact image of Nick, their friend who was on their island. But Mick was in a pathetic state, his clothes torn, his hair and beard wild. He looked utterly terrified of everything that moved or made a noise.


“Something must have happened to scare him,” Rachel said.

“Where’s everyone else?” Tom wondered. Mick looked up at him.

“Mick?” Ruth asked gently. “What happened to the others? You came here with others?”

Mick looked around the forest, as if expecting his friends to step out of the trees. “Gone,” he said in a hushed voice. “All gone.” Then he looked at Ruth and the others again, and cringed away. “Are you ghosts?”

“Ghosts? No,” Tom said. “We’re real.” Mick looked puzzled. But then, Ruth thought, that was not exactly surprising when beings from another universe, or dimension, or whatever, suddenly turned up in front of you on a desert island. Especially when they (presumably, anyway) looked and sounded exactly like your friends.

“What do you mean, the others have gone? Were they were rescued?” Rachel demanded eagerly.

“Where have they gone?” Ruth asked, more calmly. Mick looked round again, as if fearful that something would hear him, and whispered.

“The monster!”

Ruth shivered. She was reminded once more of her dream. It seemed all too likely now that it had been real.

“What monster?” Tom asked, but Mick ‘shushed’ him and wouldn’t answer.

Ruth was afraid to ask, but she knew she had to.

“Were they killed?” she asked. At first it seemed that Mick would refuse to answer, but eventually he said, “Gone. Mick can’t find them.”

“But they were here with you for a while- they survived the crash?” Tom asked.

Mick nodded. He didn’t seem capable of giving any more details at the present. He crouched on the ground, covering his head with his arms. Ruth thought she could see tears. The other four were silent, looking down at him in pity but also in shock. What had happened to their alternate selves, Ruth wondered. And how close were they to suffering the same fate?

She turned to look up towards the cave mouth. “We should go back,” she said. “We should tell the others about this.” They nodded. Everyone was rather scared, and glad of an excuse to go back. Ruth crouched down next to Mick.

“Come with us,” she said. “Don’t worry, we’ll look after you.”

“Where to?” Mick said.

“Back to our friends,” said Ruth. “Then we can help you find your friends.” Mick stood up, and followed them as they carefully made their way back up the hill to the cave. Ruth half expected that they wouldn’t be able to get through the passageway to their own cave, their own island, but they could, and she breathed a sign of relief. Mick followed them, but didn’t seen to understand where they were going. At the cave mouth he stopped, as if he was going to refuse to go any further, but they persuaded him eventually.

They approached the camp. It was still quite early morning, and their friends were emerging from shelters, washing in the stream and sitting round the fire chatting. They didn’t seem to notice anything odd about the small group heading down the hill towards them. Ruth peered down. She couldn’t see Nick. Perhaps that was as well to start with, she thought. She wasn’t sure how poor Mick was going to react when he saw himself.

As they drew closer, Mick suddenly gave a shout and tried to hide behind a rock.

“What is it?” Rachel asked, startled.

“Ghosts!” he said, turning to run.

“No, they’re not ghosts,” Ruth said soothingly. “They’re real, like you and me.”

“You’re ghosts too, must be!” Mick cried, and plunged through the rocks towards the forest. He tripped over a boulder and fell, rolling and landing in the stream with a splash. The others hurried down to him as he looked up and saw Nick, emerging from the trees in front of him. He screamed and tried to scramble back up towards the cave, but Rachel and Patrick barred his way. He turned, shivering and cringing, to look at Nick, who stood on the far bank of the stream, utterly confused.

“It’s all right,” Ruth said, trying to calm Mick. “That’s a friend of ours, Nick. He won’t hurt you.” How did you explain to someone who was obviously not in their right mind that they had entered a parallel universe? “It’s all a bit strange, I know, but you’re safe. There’s no monster here.”

“Am I dead?” Mick said in a small voice. “Am I a ghost too?”

“No one’s a ghost,” Patrick said.

“But they must be,” Mick whimpered. “I saw them dead!”

He pointed at Alex and Jack, who, along with everyone else in the camp, had come to see what was going on.

“Who...what’s going on?” Nick asked, confused.

“It’s a bit...strange,” Tom said. “Patrick found a cave, and when you go in you go through the tunnel and come out on another island. He showed us, and we went through and found Mick here.”

“Another island?” Sophie said eagerly. “An inhabited one?”

“Well, not really,” Tom said, looking at Ruth and Rachel for help.

“We found Mick, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else there. But there should have been because- well, because everything is exactly like it is here. Like Mick looks and sounds like Nick...but we couldn’t find the rest of us.”

“I don’t get it,” Sophie said. “How can there be another island in a cave? And why should we be there?”

Nick was standing over Mick, looking at him, puzzled. Mick was looking up, scared. Jack came over, and Mick shied away again.

“I saw you,” he whimpered, “I saw you dead, in the crash, all crushed. You can’t be alive!”

“He’s mad,” Kath said.

Ruth shook her head. “Maybe, but there was a strange feeling on that island- like there was fear running through it. I think he’s telling the truth, that he did see you killed in the crash. But not you, but the version of you that exists in his world. Like he’s their version of Nick. There should be versions of all of us, but we couldn’t find them. Mick says they’re gone.”

“Gone? Gone where?”

Mick looked up and it all seemed to come out in a rush. “It was dark- fire low and everyone sleeping. Then suddenly, monster came! All ran, but some couldn’t, some caught- next morning, everyone gone. Just Mick left.”
 
 
The story continues...