Chapter Text
day forty. his room.
" cody? " gwen rasped her knuckles against the door, her own voice shrill and quiet. he stayed in the same place, staring up at the spinning ceiling fan above him.
the hum of its movements were loud rings now, having heard it for days straight. he felt physical pain all over his body, but that was nothing compared to all the emotional baggage he felt weighing down on his entire body. it was like a large, invisible boulder had been rolled onto him and he couldn’t push it away. his arms were stuck, his head, his everything.
" cody. " gwen tried again, but no avail. cody stayed put, looking over to his right away from the door. his eyes landed on a framed picture, his hand managing to break free and lightly bring the painting to his chest.
he stared at the beautiful man in the photograph, a wave of hurt washing over him. drowning him. the longer her stared the quicker the smile turned into a shaking, wet frown. he started to whimper, placing the photo back and curling into the cologne soaked sheets. he felt the weight by his feet, but not even she could help him.
" cody. you need to leave his room. "
day one. water.
auditioning for total drama was something noah did because he was bored, because he wanted to be apart of something for once in his life. needed to win something to prove to his asshole classmates — and really, himself — that he wasn’t useless. that he wasn’t just smart, anti-social and a little bit of a dick himself. his siblings mocked him for his audition, but when he got accepted was when they were happy.
however they soon went back to the mockery when noah denied them a dime of his winning money. he started packing immediately, half his suitcase being books and graphic white t-shirts. the drive to the docks were long, emotional — to noah’s dismay — and annoying. being in the front seat of his parents mini van, all his siblings were asking him too many questions for his brain to comprehend.
his two out of four elder siblings that had moved out were travelling in their own cars, telling his mum they were going to meet them at the dock. and they didn’t hold up to that promise, tara and jay both giving him bone crushing hugs. which jay then started to complain about a wrinkle in his suit soon after, selfish bitch.
his longest hug was with his sister, anika, however. she waited until last, scooping him up in a tight, insufferable hug. she was sadly taller than noah and easily stronger, which wasn’t a lot to beat. he saw other teens in the distant giving goodbyes to family members; but he didn’t care right now. he had to try pry anika off his body so he could win.
" an — anika, cant breathe! " he clawed at her arms around his waist, the girl reluctantly placing him down. she brushed her fingers through his hair, then started to fix every aspect of his body to her standards.
" just because you’re in beauty college doesn’t mean shit. i look fine. " noah tried swatting her hand away from the end of his navy button up, but she hit him in retaliation and kept straightening out his clothing.
he finally stopped her before she could use a saliva soaked finger to straighten out his eyebrows, calling her a freak and shoving her back. she just laughed, wiping her finger down her skirt.
" be careful, lamb. i don’t need you getting your bones brittled in the first day. have all your epi pens ? enough underwear ? " he groaned, leaning his head back.
" yes, anne, i have that! now let me go, i’m gonna be late to a reality show. " noah placed his suitcase on the ship; looking back at his family.
his father was leaning on his mothers shoulders, rubbing circles into her upper arm. she had one seven year old clinging to her arm as she watched noah being taken away, another eight year old clinging onto his dads legs. two of his sisters, fourteen and thirteen, were staring at their ipods; barley even looking up at him. he rolled his eyes, seeing his favourite brother looking up at him with a weirdly comforting smile.
jay was his only brother he tolerated, and when he moved out six years ago, he was left with nagging, annoying sisters and one brother who didn’t shut the fuck up. he loved alex, sure, but he was highly untolerable and screamed every minute at something or someone new.
he sent them all one final wave, he was so going to mock anika for crying when he got back. if he got back.
when they first arrived on the island, noah didn’t intend on befriending anyone in particular, he just wanted to win, assuming it was easy. his boat slowly approaching the isolated island, seeing few contestants. they were already totally not in his lane.
as soon as he stepped off the boat, dragging his case, he asked chris if he remembered his many allergies. which chris said yes, but noah could tell deep down he really didn’t ( or just didn’t care ).
seeing the male with the lime green mohawk, piercings and a skull on his black t-shirt was amusing to him. of course a classic punk stereotype would show up. spitting a little backhanded comment on his piercings resulted in his lip getting harassed by his probably dirty fingers.
he had always wanted a piercing, maybe turning down the offer was a bad thing. but when he placed his case down by some geeky looking boy, he was gifted a small smile and awkward wave. he felt something, waving calmly back. it was a piece of cake so far!
his team consisted of a loner, a musician, a queen bee, a geek, an airhead, a wannabe, a sweet girl, a foodie, a ‘sister with attitude’ , an eye candy and himself, a know it all. they were known as the screaming gophers, dumb name in his opinion. but despite that, his team seemed okay and everything seemed to be going smoothly.
but that false feeling of security crumbled the minute chris announced they had to walk up a 100 foot cliff. he felt fear bubble up inside him, threatening to spill out his cracked lips.
as they walked up the hill, his arms were wrapped around his torso for warmth. he kept looking down, seeing how further the ground got. he felt his skin crawl, trying to stop himself from looking at the crashing waves at the bottom.
" hey, are you okay? " noah turned around, seeing his teammate, cody, catch up to him.
noah nodded, keeping his eyes ahead and his mouth shut. answering the question ‘are you okay’ to some guy he met mere hours ago wasn’t something he liked the idea of. in-fact, answering the question are you okay felt more sickening than the water below.
" because, you kinda seem like you’re shaking. "
" im not shaking. " noah responded blankly, a cold tone in his voice as he tried to move faster to get away from him.
" if you’re scared of heights, it’s okay! we’re all scared if something, amiright? " cody laughed nervously, sensing the fact that noah didn’t take an interest in him.
" i’m not scared of heights. " noah kept the same monotone voice, his legs tiring from the amount of cardio.
so, his attempts to get away from cody weren’t helping as he felt his breathing start to stagger. the beating of his heart quickened, he almost wanted to drop his arms off from hugging himself from the weight.
" then why do you look like you’re about to piss yourself? " cody became amused with noah’s attitude, deciding it was easier to get noah to spit out what’s wrong if he matched it.
noah rolled his eyes, sighing, if he wanted to be left alone he just had to put with it and maybe cody would leave him.
" i don’t like water. " he answered simply, not wanting to give more description on why. cody could tell that, and he was happy with the result.
atleast he got him to tell him something, unlike all the other people on the team who seemed to dislike his approaches.
they didn’t talk for the rest of the way up, but when they made it, they were informed that there were fucking sharks down there only pursuing noah’s fear on more. but, it was national television. he would much rather die than wear that stupid chicken hat.
the other team went first, only courtney and DJ wearing the silly hat. and then it was up to them, and cody had managed to find his way back to his side.
" i’ll go first, huh? prove its not hard? " cody said, smiling slightly. noah arched an eyebrow, seeing heather start to argue it out with leshawna.
" sure, if you can survive it i’m sure i’ll be fine. " noah ended his remark with a snark smile, cody just patted his shoulder before running up to the girls who had previously jumped ( or one thrown ) off.
hearing cody’s wailing down to the water was infact amusing, but seeing he had made it onto the boat was relieving. he would be fine. he stayed till the latest moment he possibly could, trent patting him on the back and smiling. he rolled his eyes, moving his back to try get trent’s hands off him. he thought this was meant to be a competition, why was his teammates so nice and talkative to him?
trent gave him some convincing words, which were hard to give a snarky come back to. he just decided to run after him, past owen, and jump in. he did scream the way down, but luckily landed in the safe zone.
their team cheered, and as he started to move stray hairs out his vision he saw cody giving him a stupid thumbs up. he kept treading water next to trent, waiting for the boat. however, their need for one was cut short when owen bellyflopped into the safe zone.
he washed up, almost bending his legs over his head. he didn’t know being hypermobile was going to be so helpful. they all had to bring back rickety wagons of crates back to the cabins and he was partnered with lindsay.
based on what he had seen, she was dumb, but he didn’t care as long as she helped him drag it back. surprisingly, her strength with his wasn’t bad and despite the low budget, the wagons didn’t fall apart behind them.
he even started to sing along with them, and he never expected himself to sing in public. especially on national tv where the only viewers weren’t his bottles of shampoo and conditioner.
they finally arrived at the camp grounds, the cabins looking dingier than expected. spiderwebs clinging onto every nook, one of the doors almost falling off its hinges and some floor boards sticking out from the patios.
they didn’t want to dawn on that now, they just wanted to start building their hot tub. and when they did, it definitely wasn’t a good one. during this time ezekiel seemed to have gotten into abit of a feud with someone and stormed off to use the confessional.
he was gone for awhile, but he wasn’t exactly easy to spot either. and the fact they didn’t even know him didn’t alert them to go look for him. they didn’t even remember his name that easily. the pool, or so chris called it the hot tub, wasn’t even that good! the machines to make it hot weren’t even working, what a cheap!
the food chef prepared them was mulch, again noah tried not to converse with anyone. he just poked and prodded at his meal, his mind occupied by the book in his hands.
" well done. " noah tried not to look up from his book, " for jumping, i mean. i bet you’re not scared of water anymore, huh? " cody nudged him with his elbow, and noah rolled his eyes and turned the page.
" yes, cody, i just love water so much! do you wanna go for a late night swim? " noah’s comment dripped with sarcastic undertones, cody almost excitedly agreed until noah finally looked up and gave him a look telling him it was sarcasm.
" sooo, i take it you’re still scared ? " cody asked once again, noah just nodded and finally placed a forkful of whatever was infront of him in his mouth; whatever an excuse not to talk.
cody tried not to pester him anymore, seeing the blank face of annoyance. but then again, noah always looked like that unless it was a condescending smirk.
noah was an observer, he had already seen who had found a liking in each other; who disliked each other. he had already seen lindsay and tyler get all close and personal, and be swore he saw them kiss before they came to lunch.
geoff and bridgette had already seemed to be clinging to one and other, he didn’t find that surprising. he had assumed there’d be romance, it was reality television. courtney had been harassed by duncan since they arrived, but every once and a while she’d look at him as he walked away in defeat with a smile.
trent was admiring gwen from across the table, and she was happily staring back with a soft smile. DJ was sitting next to katie, who was alongside sadie ( of course ). he honestly found their friendship insufferable, the squeals and loud giggling was ringing his eardrums.
when they made it back to their cabin, cody almost immediately dibbed a top bunk, dropping his bags and climbing up to the top.
the rest had already selected their bunks, and the only one left for noah was the one beneath cody. whatever, he didn’t care. he placed his rucksack by the wall and went out to go shower. except when he opened the doors to the confessional, the stench made him slam the door immediately.
he shuddered, holding his nose and quickly making it back to the cabin. he has never felt more disgusted by a rotting smell, and he lived with ten people. eleven if you included his smelly golden labrador.
he didn’t get a chance to check out what it was, neither did he want to, he just gave the other boys a warning about the god awful smell and grabbed his pyjamas which was just a white shirt which he tried hiding with a book pressed to his chest as he pulled on some black checkered pants.
he read the book on his chest until his eyes got droopy and the snoring from owen was enough to keep anyone awake. he was surprised how justin and trent slept through it.
" hey! " cody whisper-yelled, slithering his hand through the wooded bunks and tapping on the mattress below him to try catch noah’s attention.
he looked up, stifling back a laugh, and placing down his book. " what are you doing ? " noah questioned, thinking the erratic hand movement was ridiculous.
" who do you thinks gonna win? " cody poked his head over, noah looking up at him.
" isn’t it obvious i want myself to win? isn’t that what we’re all here for ? " noah scrunched his eyebrows together, giving him an obvious face.
" well, duh! but other than ourselves, who do you think ? " cody repeated, and noah genuinly thought at his question.
his train of thought was interrupted when a scream was heard from the other cabin; waking the others and causing noah and cody to flinch.
the boys on the top bunk jumped down while the others got up and rushed out the door. cody didn’t even get to enjoy the fact noah’s ‘plain white’ t-shirt had an animated picture of luigi from super mario on when they pushed open the doors to the boys cabin.
once he entered, the rotting stench returned and his hand covered his mouth and nose as he looked around. geoff was hurled over a bin in the corner, bridgette holding his hat in her hands while she rubbed his back with a look of horror and pity on her face.
dj had pushed himself into the corner of his bed, his knees up to his chest as tears started to pool in his eyes; a few stray tears falling down his cheeks. katie was next to him, rubbing a hand up and down his shoulder, trying to comfort him. even though her face displayed the same amount of distress as him.
eva and duncan had been squatted around geoffs bed, the covers pinned up with one of geoffs bags, the two having one hand plugging their noses. courtney, tyler, sadie and harold were sat on the steps outside either in shock or crying their eyes out.
" what the fuck is going on ? " heather screeched from behind, shoving past noah to walk towards where duncan and eva squatted down.
eva and duncan finally moved from their spots, the gophers all screaming at the sight. there was blood sinking into the floor boards, the same liquid splattered up from the neck upwards. ezekiel’s head was placed neatly underneath geoffs bed. his hat was still on his head, just a little wonky and with specks of crimson all over it.
" i think i’m gonna be sick. " cody gagged, pushing past his team behind him and rushing to the grass outside.
distant coughing was heard, everyone else on his team started to wail and cling onto someone. he slowly stumbled out the cabin, past lindsay and tyler and all the way to cody who was sitting down by the end of the cabin.
noah didn’t try speak to him, he bent over and started breathing quickly; anxiety bubbling it’s way up to his throat. he had never seen a dead body before, he had never even expiernced that amount of fear. being chased by a bully was definitely far better than this. he would rather a stampede of insecure jocks running after him than this.
everyone started piling out the room one by one, izzy was holding the head in her hands, far away from her body as she went to go, in her words, dispose of it. no one wanted to question, nor did anyone rather do it themselves.
" are you okay, man ? " noah looked up at cody with the utmost offended look you could imagine.
" yes, cody! i’m jumping on fucking rainbows and singing lullabies — of course i’m not ! someone was murdered! " noah snapped, holding his hand against his chest as the agony of his beating heart quickened.
" just trying to check up on you, jesus christ. " cody had his own arms wrapped around his body, everyone else copying the same.
raggedy breaths, stifling sobs and mumbling was heard all around him; but it was drowned out with a loud ringing in his ear. but all that died down when another deep scream was heard across by the dock.
they all looked up, seeing chris holding one of ezekiel’s forearms in his hands. chef was on the boat, along with a few of the camera crew.
chris saw the teens all looking at him, which he responded with dropping the body part and letting it roll off into the water. he jumped into the boat, yelling curses and orders at chef as he tried to stop his breathing.
" hey, asshole! what do you think you’re doing ? " courtney stood up from her seat, running towards the dock; chris’s urges to chef only growing louder.
" wait for us, pig ! " the group started running after them, but by the time courtney had grabbed ahold of the boats edge; chris had shoved her away and landing her in duncan’s hold.
chef had finally gotten the engine to start, wasting no time in driving off the dock. they group started yelling insults, curses and begging for them to come back but no one on that red, wooden boat looked back.
they had been stranded on a small, isolated island on the brinks of canada with nothing but their luggage.
" are you fucking kidding me ? " heather spoke up, her eyes glued to the boat shrinking further and faster out of view.
the dock started to crack under the weight, it already being worn and cheaped out. everyone rushed off, not knowing what to do.
" well, standing outside is just going to get us killed faster. " gwen stated, looking around at her past contestants ; now fellow victims, probably.
" exactly, let’s all go back to our cabins. if this sicko does try get us, atleast it’ll be five against one. " courtney instructed, already making her way back to her cabin.
everyone slowly piled off towards their beds, everyone going in twos or threes. noah sighed, following trent and rushing towards the creaky patio.
as soon as he stepped foot inside, cody was quick behind and slammed the door shut quicker than intended. he didn’t say a word to anyone as he made his way to the ladder, even though his whole body was clearly shaking with fear.
noah didn’t think anyone got sleep that night. it took a lot of tossing and turning, paranoid looks towards the door and leaving on his on flashlight by his bedside table to eventually get some hours.
but even in his dreams, he still heard the dripping of water, the rustling of leaves and the sharp clink of a knife.