On This Island, I Make the Rules

Chapter 008

“Ethan?”

She sounded as if she didn't quite trust her own eyes.

She took a few more steps, then stopped beneath the moonlight.

“It is you.”

“Hannah?”

Before he could say anything else, Hannah Bennett threw her arms around him.

He stood motionless for a second, then hugged her back, awkwardly but tightly.

Of all the people he might have found here, she was the one he most wanted to see.

At college, they had recognized something in each other. Brooke's public attacks had made Ethan an easy target. People laughed along, and after a while he had learned to expect it.

Hannah knew what that felt like.

She was about five foot seven and had once weighed more than 175 pounds. Other students had turned her weight into a running joke, calling her a pig and finding new ways to make her feel unwelcome.

Ethan hadn't joined in.

When she decided she wanted to lose weight, he encouraged her. It took nearly a year of steady effort, but she followed through.

She wasn't one of the campus celebrities. She didn't draw a crowd the way Brooke or Claire did. But she was pretty, and to Ethan, the way she treated people mattered far more.

They had become each other's refuge.

Hannah had even hinted a few times that she wanted to be more than friends. Ethan had never known how to respond, and he hadn't had the courage to find out.

“I found you,” she whispered.

Then she began to cry.

She held him harder, lifted her face, and kissed him.

For a moment, he was too surprised to do anything. Then he kissed her back.

By the time they drew apart, both of them were breathless.

“I thought you were dead,” she said. “I didn't know what I was going to do.”

“Hannah—”

“I should have told you before. At college. I kept waiting for the right moment, and then I thought I'd never get one.”

She looked straight at him.

“I love you, Ethan. I've wanted to tell you for so long.”

Something in his chest loosened.

For days, the world had been hunger, fear, and Brooke's anger. Now Hannah was standing in front of him, alive, telling him he mattered.

“Come help me find some firewood,” he said softly. “Then I'll make you dinner.”

He took her hand and led her toward the edge of the trees.

There were plenty of dry branches on the ground. They gathered an armful each, talking as they worked, and for a few minutes they almost felt like an ordinary couple.

“When I first washed up, I was alone,” Hannah told him. “Then I found Logan.”

Her voice changed at the name.

“He wasn't who I thought he was. Not out here. He wanted... He wouldn't leave me alone.”

Ethan's hand tightened on a branch.

“How did you get away?”

Logan had been stronger than her. If he had decided to force the issue, she wouldn't have had much chance of fighting him off.

“I kept putting him off. Trying to talk him down. I told him I'd rather die than let him hurt me.”

She looked away.

“I kept thinking I had to find you. I gave myself a week. If I still hadn't...”

She couldn't finish.

“Don't say that.” Ethan's voice was rough. “Even if you hadn't found me, you still had to keep going.”

His throat tightened. Apart from his father and David, no one had ever cared about him the way Hannah did.

“Even my parents used to make me feel like there was something wrong with me,” she said. “You didn't. You helped me. You believed I could do it when I didn't believe it myself.”

She met his eyes again.

“I knew then that I wanted to be with you.”

“Hannah...”

He didn't know what to say. She gave a small, unsteady smile, then glanced toward the trees.

“Logan was bitten by a snake the day before yesterday. He asked me to help him, but I couldn't.”

The smile vanished.

“He died right in front of me.”

Ethan said nothing.

“After that, I was alone again. I tried going farther into the forest, but I got scared I'd lose my way and never find you. So I came back.”

That explained what had happened to Logan.

But something else troubled Ethan.

“Did you see any animals in there? Big ones? Things that might eat a person?”

“No.”

Hannah shook her head.

For an instant, fear flashed in her eyes.

Ethan noticed.

Was she lying?

Was there something she didn't want to tell him?

Or had the question alone frightened her? It wasn't as though he had asked whether she had seen a squirrel.

He let it go. This was Hannah. She wouldn't hurt him.

“I found Logan,” he told her. “He had supplies. This axe, some crackers. I think he must have found part of the plane.”

If they could get to the wreckage, they might finally have a real chance.

“You were with him. Do you know where it is?”

“No.” She shook her head again. “I found him on my second day here. He already had that stuff. I asked where he got it, but he wouldn't tell me.”

“All right.”

Ethan adjusted the firewood in his arms.

“Let's get back.”

“Are you by yourself?” Hannah asked as she followed him.

“No. Brooke's with me.”

His voice lost some of its warmth.

“Oh. Your sister?”

Hannah had started to put a hand in her pocket. She withdrew it again.

Disappointment crossed her face.

“Don't call her that,” Ethan said. “She's never treated me like a brother.”

“Okay. I'm sorry.”

They walked back to the rocks.

Brooke was already standing on top of them, watching for him.

Her expression tightened when she saw Hannah.

“Why did you bring her?”

“Why wouldn't I?”

“We can barely feed ourselves. Now you've brought that pig back with you? Do you know how much she eats?”

Hannah's head dropped.

Brooke had never considered her worth knowing. On campus, Brooke belonged at the center of everything. Hannah had been one of the people everyone looked past, unless they wanted someone to laugh at.

“Shut up,” Ethan said.

Brooke blinked.

He put his arm around Hannah and drew her close.

“Don't call her that. Ever again.”

“You're taking her side?”

Tears sprang to Brooke's eyes. This wasn't her usual performance of offended superiority. She looked hurt, furious that he had chosen to defend someone else.

Ethan turned away.

“Come on, Hannah. Let's get the fire going.”

He didn't have the energy to explain what should have been obvious.

When Brooke took his spending money and left him unable to buy a decent meal, Hannah had shared what little she had. When Brooke made him feel worthless, Hannah had stayed beside him.

Thinking about it made him angry all over again.

He reached for Hannah's hand and held it where Brooke could see.