kh_drabble | Challenge [078]

Challenge: [078] Tidying Up
Title: That Storm
Word Count: 312
(anything else): Selphie-centric. Takes place early KH1. Also, I apologize if something similar has been entered; I haven't yet read any of the challenges.

The islands were a complete wreck after the storm - that storm, as it came to be called by the residents.

She never really knew what happened, exactly. But the morning after that storm, she woke up to find three of her friends gone. They simply vanished. Disappeared.

But no, she won't accept it.

She quickly gets dressed and makes her way to the play island, Tidus and Wakka by her side, thinking - no, hoping - that maybe, maybe they're there, in the cave or the treehouse or the beach or somewhere. Maybe she'll get there and maybe, maybe they'll be on the beach, like normal. Riku and Sora will be dueling, Sora with that silly grin on his face, Riku with that look of utter concentration, and Kairi cheering them on, like normal.

But she knows as soon as she reaches the island that nothing is like normal.

She surveys the scene and her hopes disappear almost as fast as her friends did.

Tree branches everywhere, driftwood, rocks, random debris scattered about. The dock is missing nearly half of its planks of wood. The dock where she sat just a day before, lounging in the sun.

And she collapses on the beach, wailing and sobbing and wimpering and bawling, until Tidus and Wakka calm her down. It takes a while, but they do it.

She suddenly gets up, eyes still red and puffy. And slowly, ever so slowly, she picks up a piece of stray wood and places it in a pile. She picks up another piece, places it on top of the first one. And another. And another. She motions for Tidus and Wakka to do the same, and they follow.

Because her friends will come back, she knows they will. And when they do, the island is going to be the same as it was the day that they left. She'll make sure of it.