Page 69 of Forever is the Sweetest Con
“Are you scared too?”
“No,” he says without looking at me. He sighs. “It’ll be okay. Just go to sleep.” He turns his head and looks at me. He sighs again, and lifts his arm, making space for me. Before he can change his mind, I wrigglein, resting my cheek against his chest. His solidness and his warmth are immediately comforting, and I feel the tension in my body soften against his. I match my breathing to his slow, even pace, and finally, sleep comes.
My first instinct, upon being suddenly and obnoxiously awoken the next morning, is to be annoyed, to complain, to push back. Until I realize what has woken me.
The bell.
I open my eyes to see Kei already half sitting up. He looks at me, his eyebrows raised. And then the whole Bunkhouse comes alive.
“Is that the bell?” Harmony asks, sitting straight up, totally awake.
Trina jumps out of bed. “Guys, it’s the bell!”
No one bothers to get dressed—we just grab our mics and head straight to the flagpole. I’m not sure how to feel. I cycle between excitement and frustration and curiosity and annoyance and then—
Bitter disappointment.
It’s not Tyler and Gabby at the flagpole; it’s Isa. He’s shaking his head, regarding us with pity. “You should see your faces,” he says, with a mirthless laugh.
“Not funny, bro,” I say, resisting the urge to throttle him. Even in this upside-down version of the show, I’m still committed to my character.
“Yeah, fuck you, Madrid,” Giovanni says, thrusting his middle finger into the air at Isa.
Isa drops the bell, and starts toward Giovanni, but Sue-Ellen pulls him back by the arm.
“When are you going to understand?” Isa spits. “They are not coming back. It’s done.”
“I agree with Isa,” Trina says, red creeping up her neck. “They’re not coming back, guys. It’s obvious. We’ve got to get out of here!”
This is met with a chorus of protests. “They’ll be back,” Damian says, a well-worn refrain at this point. “This is a test, for real.”
Damian’s confidence has always felt like a touchstone, something solid to hold on to, but it’s starting to feel tenuous.
“What if,” he says, holding up a finger, “what if the test is for us to figure out how to get off the island?”
Trina sighs, shaking her head. “Damian,” she starts, but Kei cuts her off.
“Maybe,” he says, slowly. “In any case, we should start working on getting out of here.”
Damian nods. “I’ll go exploring, see what I can see. It’s a big island— who knows what we’ll find. For all we know, there are other people here with us. I bet there’s a Tim Hortons on the other side of the island, full of friendly Canadians, ready to help us.”
“I’ll go with you,” Giovanni says.
“That’s great, thanks guys,” says Kei. “I’ll make breakfast. We’ll all feel better on a full stomach.”
“We will all feel better once we are off this fucking island,” Isa says.
“Enough,Isa,” Sue-Ellen says, under her breath.
The campers disperse, unusually quiet.
“This is so fucked up,” Harmony says in a low voice, surveying the scene.
“I know,” I say, with a sigh. “I don’t have a good feeling about any of it.”
“Me neither.” Harmony leans in closer. “And, like, I want to believe Damian, but I don’t know, I’m not sure this is part of the show anymore.” She leans back, crossing her arms across her chest, like she’s trying to warm up, despite the heat of the morning sun.
I nod. “It’ll be alright,” I say, parroting Kei.
