Page 73 of Forever is the Sweetest Con
He spins around. “What? The plan was to keep it up for the cameras, right? So we could win. But the cameras are off now. Nothing left to win or lose anymore. No more of this—” He pauses, waving his hand between us.
“No more us,” I say quietly.
He sighs. “No more us.”
“But—”
He starts walking again. “But nothing, Cleo. It’s what you wanted, right? No catching feelings?”
It is what I wanted. It’s what I have fought for. I should be happy. I should be relieved we don’t have to keep up this exhausting façade any longer.
Except it’s not exhausting, it’s exhilarating.This is what I want. It’s clearer than anything I’ve ever felt before. But I’ve ruined it all. I had so many chances, and I blew every single one. And now there’s nothing—nothing to win, everything already lost. No prize money to save my mom’s house, no chance at a new life, a new future—all lost. Tyler and Gabby are gone, and now, so is Kei, and we’re all trapped here on this island in the middle of nowhere with no way out.
As Kei walks away from me, a heaviness sinks into my limbs. I have a fleeting thought of finding Harmony to help her with whatever she’s doing, but I know I can’t do that. In fact, the thought of doing anything, seeing anyone, being a functioning human—it all feels laughably impossible, like trying to tame a tornado.
I want to disappear. I want the world to disappear. I want to pull a blanket over my head and wait until someone tells me it’s all over. So that’s exactly what I do.
“Cleo, Cleo,” my mother says, gently rocking my body. “Wake up, babe, it’s time for dinner, come on.”
“Not hungry,” I mumble, pulling the sheet up over my face.
“Come on, get up. Cleo, come on,” she says, with an urgency that wasn’t there before. “Damian and Giovanni aren’t back yet and I’m starting to freak out.”
What? I pull the sheet down. Oh. It’s Harmony, not my mother. I’m not home, I’m at this nightmare camp, and I’ve still lost everything.
I want to go back to sleep, but the look on Harmony’s face stops me. She’s wide-eyed with worry, and it looks like she could crumple at any second.
“Hey,” I say, pushing myself up to sit beside her. “It’s going to be okay. It’s not even dark yet. They’ll be back soon.”
She nods and takes a deep breath. “Kei said the same thing.”
“See? It’s going to be alright.” I put my arm around her, hoping she doesn’t hear the hollowness in my words. “Let’s go get something to eat. You’ll feel better once you’ve eaten.” I am speaking both to her and to myself.
I have trouble getting my shoes on. My feet feel numb, and I can’t properly aim them in between the straps. I kick at my sandals dumbly, sending them skittering across the floor. I have to use my hands to put them on my feet.
Outside, the cool air helps to clear the fog in my head. I wrap my arms around myself and put one foot in front of the other. The sun is setting, and the sky is streaked with brilliant pinks and reds and oranges, and for a moment, I can believe that everything is going to be okay. I breathe in, then out.
Everyone is on the beach, and they’ve been busy. There are two fires, one roaring, and one smouldering under a grate with a cast-iron pan on top of it. A shadowy figure is tending to the set-up. Kei.
My impulse is to go right back to the Bunkhouse, but I let Harmony lead me to the fire pit. The other campers are huddled in small groups, chatting quietly. Sue-Ellen is talking to Valeria, but I feel her eyes followme as I sink down onto a log, hugging my knees into my chest to create a barrier against the searing heat of the fire.
Kei serves up bowls of penne pasta mixed with peas and corn—a mixed vegetable medley I remember seeing in the freezer. It tastes of nothing. Aside from the occasional expression of gratitude for the meal, no one speaks. When we finish, we wash our dishes in a stock pot and reclaim our seats by the fire.
“Okay,” Kei says, clapping his hands. Everyone turns to him with expectant looks. “I was hoping Damian and Giovanni would be back by now but, uh…” He trails off and looks at Harmony. “I’m sure they’ll be back soon, but we need to talk about our options. I’ll fill them in later once they’re here. Alright? So, first, thank you all for your efforts today. This fire is awesome, and we’re going to keep it burning day and night, which I hope will help us be seen from the air. Also, great job with the S.O.S. on the beach. The search planes will definitely be able to see that.”
“Do you think they’re searching for us?” asks Sue-Ellen. “Does anyone even know we’re missing?”
“Someone has got to realize,” says Harmony. “They can’t just stop the show mid-season without anyone asking any questions.”
Kei nods. “I think Harmony is right. They’ll be looking for us, and we shouldn’t be too hard to find. That said, though, we shouldn’t just sit around and wait to be rescued. We need to be proactive.”
“Is it too far to swim?” Valeria asks, looking at the water.
We all look across the lake to the beach on the other side. It’s hard to see in the darkness, and it’s never looked so far away.
“It looks pretty far,” Kei says. “It’s probably, what, at least five kilometres? Like, three miles?”
“Didn’t Gabby say it was three and a half miles?” Harmony says.
