We were truly alone; this wasn’t some sick dream.
If I hadn’t already had a million shocks today, I would have sat down hard, let the despair and desperation wash over me. But at this point, I was past all that; instead, I took stock. At the far edge of what I was realizing was pastureland, there were sheep, their wool overgrown and dirty, but sheep nonetheless. Which meant we wouldn’t starve.
The red thing turned out to be a trough full of slightly moving water with a hose attached. It seemed that the water was being pumped up from a well. That was good and bad. Good, because we knew this place had fresh water we could drink, ensuring we didn’t die of dehydration. Bad, because the trough seemed worn and old, meaning that this place and these sheepmay be forgotten, leading to no one visiting often enough to find us.
Next to a tree near the trough were a couple of half-moldy plastic buckets that I rinsed out and then filled with water. I wasn’t exactly a city girl, I was not completely unfamiliar with farm work, but I had forgotten how freaking heavy water buckets are! By the time I was at the door to the cabin, I was breathing hard, my arms were like jelly, and a light sheen of sweat had appeared on my nose and cheeks. Hauling the water had been laborious and exhausting, but it had cleared my mind.
Whatever carbon monoxide poisoning-esque pheromones the men in that cabin were giving off, I needed to ignore them. I was going to survive, and I was going to leave this place, start a true new life. That was my goal, and I was going to stick with it. Oskar was a dick, definitely not the fun kind, and I wasn’t going to fall for his gaslighting. We would cohabitate until we could leave, and then I would never see him again. It was obvious that the boy I had known was gone, and in his place was an asshole I very much didn’t care for.
Mind made up and feeling better (and colder), I burst into the cabin where the men abruptly stopped speaking the moment I walked in.
“Oh, don’t mind me, “ I snarked, stomping through the cabin and dropping the water buckets near the fireplace, “continue with whatever mysterious thing you all were talking about, I promise I won’t eavesdrop.”
Jin Woo looked appropriately chastened, Ettore had a sly smirk on his face, and Oskar just stared at the wall as though, if he just stared hard enough, he would find the answer to some all-important secret.
“So!” I punctuated my words with a hard slap-brush of my hands, ridding them of some of the grime from the bucket, “Itlooks like we are going to be here for two weeks. We need to make a plan to buckle down and survive until at least then.”
“Why two weeks?” came the low, melted caramel of Oskar’s voice. I wasn’t going to let myself fall into it. No! I was fricken mad at him!
“Well,Oskar,”I enunciated every syllable, practically abusing his name in my mouth. Ooh-ssss-kcar, curling my tongue around the R, leaning into whatever proper Norwegian accent I had left, “there is no air travel for two weeks per this one’s,” I pointed at the lump near the fire who still had a blanket drawn around him, “assistant. They are probably not going to risk another boat, not when it is storm season. Because of all that, it makes sense only to start lighting signal fires in two weeks, when people could be out looking for us. We should save our strength and fuel.”
I gave him my most disdainful look, the look I gave people when they were being complete and utter idiots or treating me like I was an idiot.
“You used to be clever, I guess being an awful twat degraded your brain.”
“Ooooo!” Ettore stage whispered.
“Oh, don’t be a child,” Oskar retorted, crossing his muscle-y arms across his broad chest.
“I wouldn’t say that if I were you,” chimed in Jin Woo.
“Oh, I’m sorry that I’m acting a bit peeved, I guess being fucking gaslit into thinking that I was hallucinating my former best friend affected me. I’m sorry that my reaction to betrayal is overly juvenile for you!” I spat.
Oskar ground his teeth, the muscles in his jaw shifting around in a lightning-quick dance.
“It was for the best,” he finally said.
“Again, not good, not good,fra’,” said Ettore.
I was sure my cheeks would be hot to the touch; my anger was so strong that it seeped into my skull, the tension causing a thrumming headache. And then, all at once, it dissolved. I was much too tired and frankly too sad for this right now. I would yell at him tomorrow. Maybe.
“I hope so because it sure didn’t feel that way to me.”
The guys let my words hang in the air, and as I leaned back against the wall, I didn’t look at Oskar. It hurt too much.
“Anyways,” I plowed ahead, “I’ve brought water, though we should probably boil it because it was from a sheep’s trough.”
I spotted a small cast-iron pan in the corner, mercifully not rusted, but it looked like it would only hold a cup of water.
“We can use that pan, “ I pointed to it, “ and just take turns boiling and drinking.”
Oskar walked over to one of the buckets and raised it to his lips, as if it were a mug rather than an extremely heavy bucket most likely used to bring feed to the sheep.
“Or don’t,” I snarked, “and get fucking diphtheria or typhoid or something. When you are shitting and puking yourself to death, I amnottaking care of you!”
Jin Woo stood up to get some water too, but he paused as he passed me.
“Mina, you should drink only the boiled water; we’ll be fine without.”
