Misplaced 7, part 7.

Epilogue.

Ruth had trouble distinctly remembering what had happened after that. They had buried Patrick near the others who had died in the crash and afterwards, and set up crosses to mark the place with their names roughly carved into the wood. Strange flowers, red and orange and purple, bloomed nearby and it reminded Ruth, for some reason, of the war graveyards in Belgium and Northern France.

She remembered standing there with the other Ruth and Patrick as the crosses were fixed in place. Patrick was rubbing his eyes again. She had an arm around Ruth to support her, for although she was much recovered she was still weak. The worst, though, was over. After much tinkering, Nick and David had got the radio working, and help was on its’ way in both worlds. In the meantime, a lookout was kept on both islands but most of both groups lived together in the well-built camp.

The remains of Kath’s gang had been somewhat apprehensive about what would happen to them now she had gone. They had been subdued, realising what they had done and what it had led too. Ruth wondered how they were going to explain what had happened once they got back to civilisation. They had not actually killed anyone, it was true, but there had certainly been attempted murder and they could be said to bear some responsibility for the deaths of others. But in the aftermath of the confrontation, with Patrick and Kath dead and others still recovering, there had been little taste for revenge. The prevailing sentiment had been sadness mixed with relief that help was finally on it’s way.

Both Ruths were sitting together in the camp one evening when the news came that a ship had finally been seen, heading towards them. Before they had time to digest this Tom had come hurrying through the cave with news that a ship had been sighted there too. Soon there was bustle and confusion as everyone prepared to go back to their own side of the cave. Goodbyes were said, knowing it was unlikely that they would ever meet again.

Ruth and Ruth said goodbye, but far more than could be contained in mere words passed between them. As Ruth disappeared into the cave Ruth realised that although she had longed for rescue more than anything else in the world, she would find it hard to leave the island. She looked at Patrick. Since the other Patrick had died he had been quiet and more elusive than ever, but this time no one had complained. At least he would still be able to leave. Ruth knew how much her other self would feel the loss of her friend who would not be going home.

She went up to Patrick now, as he watched the others disappearing into the cave, sadly fewer in number than those who remained behind. “Ok?” she asked him gently. He nodded.

“Fine,” he said. They wandered together up the hill until they could look out and see the ship heading towards them. Ruth sat down beside the signal fire that was blazing there, calling the ship towards them. Patrick hovered for a few minutes, building up the fire, then he sat down too.

“I wonder what other people will say when they hear our stories?” Ruth wondered aloud, staring into the heart of the fire.

“They’ll think we’re mad,” Patrick said. “Again.”

“Sometimes I wonder if they’re right,” Ruth said. “Sometimes I think that this is all a dream.”

“If it is, I wish I’d woken up earlier,” Patrick replied. “But I don’t think it is. Dreams don’t hurt like this has.” Ruth didn’t know how to reply to that. For a while they were both quiet, busy with their thoughts. Then Patrick broke the silence.

“Why did you go off like that, when you were captured?” he asked. “It wasn’t like you.”

“No, I’m not normally a risk taker,” Ruth replied thoughtfully. “But- I couldn’t bear seeing what had become of the others- Ruth so ill, Mick and poor Patrick so disturbed- that maybe that’s what did it. And hearing what had become of the others- I was afraid of what might happen even to my own friends if we were trapped there for too long. We were lucky compared to the others, but it wouldn’t have taken much for the same thing to happen to us- it was already starting.”

“How could they do those things?” Patrick said. “People we know- people I cared about.”

“We’re all capable of it,” Ruth said sadly. “We’re all human, all selfish, all put our own wants before other people’s needs sometimes. Some do it without remorse; some of us spend our lives living in fear of it.”

“I don’t think you need to worry,” he said, embarrassed.

“Nor you,” she replied, equally embarrassed by the compliment.

“I couldn’t have done what Patrick did,” he said. “I’ve thought about it- and I couldn’t. He was a better man than I am.”

“He was you,” Ruth replied. “If he could do that, so could you. It’s the same- just as our Kath or Emma could have done what their counterparts did, you could have done what Patrick did. We all have good in us, as well as the bad.”

“I was afraid, when I first saw him. Afraid because- well, I was already on the way to becoming what he had become, wasn’t I, when I kept going off alone? If that was me, I didn’t want to be like that. And then- what he did with the Creature- I don’t know.” There was silence, broken only by the crackle of flames, before he spoke again. “Ruth felt pain that night- when we heard a scream, and were sure it was you.”

“It was me.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t want to say,” she replied. He looked at her expression in the firelight, and took her hand.

“It’s been a rough time,” he said. She nodded. It was getting dark now, and they could not see the approaching ship, only cluster of points of light marking its’ presence.

“When he died, you felt pain, didn’t you?” Ruth asked. Patrick nodded. “I don’t know how the alternate universe thing works,” she continued, “but I think that was part of it, like my dreams.”

“I hope they’ll be all right,” he said, thinking of the others.

“I think we’ll know,” Ruth said slowly. “I think I shall dream it. And Ruth will dream about our fate. Somehow I’m sure of that, although I don’t understand how it works.”

“It doesn’t really makes sense,” Patrick said with a smile. “Almost like a Gilbert & Sullivan plot.” Ruth laughed, and began to sing:


“Try we lifelong we will never
Straighten out life’s tangled skein,
Why should we, with vain endeavour,
Guess, and guess, and guess again.”


After a moment Patrick joined in, and they continued to sing as they headed down the hill to join the others, as the lights of their rescuers drew nearer and the watchfire still flickered on the hilltop.
 
 
The End.