Wrath and Ruin

by C W Briar

  Miss Fairmont took a swift liking to Vince. She kept patting down that short hair a hers and straightening her dress. She called him a “gorilla” when she was talking to me, but whenever that man looked her way, she winked her eyes and begged him to find food and water for her.

  Vince obliged her. He’d let her stand close if she was scared, and he spun tales ’bout surviving in the wilderness and killing bears with his knife. She’d giggle at him, then glance back at me and roll her big eyes.

  I never understood why she played with the man’s mind. She’d plead for water, but we had enough of it. It rained on the first day, and the bell-shaped leaves collected it for us. Food … mais, that was a different problem. No critters anywhere, and none a us knew if the fruits was poison. I left them well alone. I figured until I was desperate, hungry was better than sick.

  What did you do for shelter?

  No shelter other than the sky on the first night. It didn’t matter that we hadn’t seen bird or bug all day; I still felt watched by something, and the others sensed it, too. They kept stirring and looking around, not that looking helped any. When clouds was out at night, that island got darker than the first day a creation, ’cept, that is, at the center of the island. There was some golden light coming from there, ’tween the two hills.

  I wondered if that glow came from a bonfire, and if it did, who made it. Cannibals or peaceful folk? Was it a volcano? Those was the questions rolling in my mind as I listened to the shushing of the spouts.

  Spouts? I don’t have anything in my records about those.

  I forgot to mention them to the last doctor. I suppose they make more sense now than when we found them.

  We heard the spouts long before we found them. Regular as cuckoo clocks, them. The cave along one shore would suck in lots a air for a long while, at least for thirty minutes, then spew it all out for just as long. Whenever it breathed out, that air shot long plumes of water over the ocean.

  I beg your pardon. Breathing?

  Yes, sir. That was one of the strangest features. When the cave breathed in air, the island’s two hills swelled, stretching out the ground ’tween the trees. Whenever the spouts started spraying, the hills shrunk. That land was breathing like a sleeping boar.

  You’re saying the island swelled when it pulled in air?

  Yes, sir. It was breathing.

  Breathing is something done by animals, Miss Flora. It is incredible, however, to think you found an island that expands with air. That would be the first discovery of its kind.

  …

  Miss Flora?

  You won’t learn the truth long as you’re making up your own. I know what breathing is. That’s why I keep saying it wasn’t really an island.

  Carry on. Can you tell me more about the golden light you mentioned?

  I was getting to that. On the second day, we travelled to the island’s center, in the small valley ’tween the two hills. Vince had been staring toward the glow all night and headed that way come dawn. A wise man would a snuck toward it carefully, in case there was hostile people there. But no, he chopped and stomped his way toward it. We all followed Vince anyway, mostly ’cause if we was attacked—well, if he scared me, I hoped he’d scare them too.

  But weren’t no natives. Instead, the light come from the strangest thing I’d ever seen, and I’d seen a lot of strange things by then. We found a pillar of rock, least twenty feet high, and a sphere of golden, swirling light stuck in the base of it. Weren’t no glass around that dreadful glow, nor anything else keeping it in the shape of a ball. The fire just spun and kept itself together on its own.

  “Dreadful?” The reports indicate that you previously described the light as “beautiful.”

  Mais, it was more beautiful than the grandest fireworks. Like liquid gold reflecting sunlight, that sphere was. But from the first glimpse, it frightened me even more than Vince. That sensation a being watched flared up until it felt like invisible eyes was surrounding us. One half a my mind told me to go grab that light, and the other half told me to run, so I dropped to my knees and didn’t go anywhere.

  I yelled at Vince not to go near it, but he didn’t listen. The man was strong and brave but coo-yon as a cat in the nip.

  The closest I ever got to that light was after Vince grabbed ahold of it. He started convulsing and cursing and shouting for help. All a him shook, but he couldn’t pull away from that thing. I wanted to jump back in the ocean and swim away from that place, but I hauled up some courage and ran to Vince. The others followed me, ’cept for Miss Fairmont. Her only contribution was a whole chorus a screaming.

  We pulled Vince by his shoulders until we all fell back together in a pile. He held up his hands and they was a ghastly sight, all burned and want for flesh. The yellow smoke coming off a his hands stunk of death. We panicked and searched for anything we could use as medicine. Then Vince called us back. His flesh had healed.

  How long do you estimate it took for him to heal?

  I say a minute. Two at most. ’Twas a miracle, but one that didn’t feel right, like it didn’t come from above. We puzzled over it, and Mr. Codding poked Vince’s palms and examined them. Vince swore the skin got cured on its own. Then he realized what he done and got real quiet.

  What did he do?

  He wished for healing.

  Wished? As in, wishing on a star?

  Yes, sir. He had been pleading to us for help, but something else had heard him. Something in the light. It granted his wish. Vince eyed that golden orb. He suspected its powers, and to test his idea, he walked back up to it a second time. He held his hands near it but made sure not to touch it.

  I bit my breath while waitin’ to see what would happen to him. Would the fire snap out and burn him? He closed his eyes like he was whispering prayers. Weren’t but a few seconds later, a chest full of gold coins appeared behind him. The others rushed over and picked up the coins, feeling them with their fingers and dropping them back on the pile. They clinked the gold for a while till Vince dragged the chest away, insisting it was his.

  Miss Fairmont tried next. She copied what he’d done and got her own treasure. A bigger one. The chest was too heavy for her to move it, so she wished it to a different part of the valley.

  At any time, did you approach the light or make a wish?

  No. Never. I didn’t trust it or anything coming from it. My papa taught me never to trust a gift from a man who hates you, and I felt hate in that light. I always got the same feeling when I used to fetch food from the market for Mrs. Pelletier, and the white men outside the bars would glare at me or yell at me to get off their street.

  That light had harmed Vince plenty, and I trusted it about as much as I trusted a serpent. It wasn’t done hurting us.

  Miss Flora, how do you explain the appearance of the gold?

  I said they wished for it. They told me so.

  Are you familiar with the First Law of Thermodynamics?

  No, sir. I’ve never heard of it.

  The law states energy cannot be created or destroyed. The same goes for matter. It cannot vanish, and it cannot appear. Therefore, if there were gold, it must have been brought from somewhere. It cannot simply materialize. I’m wondering if perhaps the gold had been there all along, hidden among the brush, and they happened to discover it.

  It wasn’t covered by nothing, and they made a lot more wishes than that. I don’t know how the gold appeared. I don’t know how Earth got put together neither, but here we are sitting on it.

  I don’t doubt how strange this story sounds, but I can promise you I saw the truth. I’m not lying, sir.

  You do recognize the difficulty of accepting that gold magically appeared, don’t you?

  I do, sir.

  Hmm … Did the gold coins have any words or images engraved on them?

  None at all. The sides was smooth.

  Do you know who created the gold?

  No, sir, but my guess is a demon of some sort.

  A demon? Why w
ould a demon give away free gold? It seems like a kindhearted thing to do.

  Not if it’s to anybody who wishes for gold before anything else. Such people can’t be trusted with wealth. It’s like giving a gift of fire to straw.

  So you think this light had the power to grant wishes? Was it some sort of genie?

  More like voodoo, giving people what they want without them really controlling it. It’s the devil giving presents while stealing from your pocket.

  How did the others react to this power they supposedly found?

  Supposedly? So you don’t believe my story?

  … I apologize for my choice of words. Go on.

  How do you think people would react with that kind of power? Mr. Codding tested it as well, getting his gold. He announced a book he was thinking of, Tom Sawyer, and it appeared in his hands. Miss Fairmont said she wanted fresh bread, grapes, and iced water, and she got all three. Vince wished for a gun for protection, and he got a brand-new rifle.

  It wasn’t long before the three of them was wearing fresh clothes and gorging themselves on every kind of food.

  Mr. Durousseau waited a while before approaching the light. I don’t know if he was being cautious, or if it’s ’cause he was already pondering the wish he’d later regret. He ate the others’ food and offered me some. I said, “No, thank you.” I didn’t trust it, plus Vince looked all sorts a disgusted that the old man would do such a thing.

  You must have been hungry.

  Fiercely so. I later tested the stuff growing on the island. The seaweed grass was bitter but edible, and the orange fruit tasted like currants. It was enough to keep me from starving.

  Weren’t you tempted to make a wish?

  ’Course I was. Every waking hour. But temptation’s a whisper, not a shout. Don’t need to listen to it.

  What kept you from making any wishes?

  Fear, mostly. After a couple days a watching the others, I seen everything I needed to keep me away.

  I thought they’d wish us home after collecting a few treasures, but I didn’t know the might a their greed. They made houses on that island. Big ones, large enough for families a thirty, but each had their own mansion. Not Mr. Durousseau. His home was simpler, but he made one nonetheless.

  They ignored me when I asked them to wish for a ship to find us. Instead, they kept filling their homes with more wealth. Their wishes got darker and darker. Soon Vince had three ladies living in his home, and Miss Fairmont—mais, she had an eye for Vince and vied for his affections. She did not care for those girls one bit, so she tried to stir up some jealousy by wishing for a gentleman named Tom. She flaunted him and announced he was a doctor from her ward.

  Don’t ask me to explain it. I thought it was crazy, too.

  How did these people respond after being brought to the island by wishes?

  As if they’d lived there all along, and that the people who’d wished for them was their true loves. I don’t know if they was imaginary or real people changed by the light, but none of them tried to escape. Nor’d they make any wishes. I don’t know if they could.

  Mr. Codding had his own prizes. Wasn’t three days before he had a lady at his calling. But the island was more than a resort to him. He wished for lots of equipment for studying that place. He spent several days digging the soil with a shovel and wondering why it always grew back.

  At night, those three drank all a the liquor and wine they could handle, and sometimes more. Everything they wanted, including books, lovers, and chocolate, they had it. They thought they was gods in their own kingdom. The unfortunate thing is they had the power to do all sorts a good, but it didn’t take long ’fore evil started sprouting up.

  Couldn’t you have asked Mr. Durousseau for help escaping? He could have made the wish.

  He got scared a the light after his mistake. It happened almost a week after we arrived. Every day, he walked to the shore to search for his Luna Belle. He studied the others and the people they added to the island.

  The terrible thing happened after we all went to sleep. Miss Fairmont had been arguing with Vince about his girls wearing her dresses. Mr. Codding had started out all peaceful and happy while drinking, but as always, he turned mean by the time he reached the bottom a his bottle.

  All a them was in bed, and I was lying under my shelter of leaves. Suddenly, Mr. Durousseau let out a bloodcurdling noise, something between shrieking and wailing. I come running and discovered a most horrible …

  Whatever demon was granting wishes played a cruel trick on that man. He was sobbing, “Luna Belle, Luna Belle.” She appeared, all right, plucked right out of the shipwreck. But she was being gnawed like a dog bone. A hundred ocean worms was swarming over her and devouring …

  Miss Flora? Miss Flora, are you all right?

  … Just awful.

  Is it too difficult to speak about?

  I’ve had so many nightmares. Terrible as the sight was, far worse was the look in Mr. Durousseau’s eyes and the screaming noises he uttered.

  I have enough information about that. I understand if you’d like to move on.

  …

  Do you need a moment?

  No, no. Thank you. I’m all right.

  The days got more and more dreadful. Mr. Durousseau wouldn’t talk to me or anybody. Meanwhile, Vince stopped ignoring me and started using me for work. He ordered me to bring water from the well they’d wished for, then had me preparing the food. It smelled so good, and it took all a my strength to not taste the spoon.

  I listened to him at first just to avoid trouble, but when I refused, he’d hit me or go to the golden light and put a cunja on me. A spell. I couldn’t disobey. Of the two, I preferred the hitting. Bruises go away faster than the feeling of invisible hands moving your body against your will.

  Vince ordered me to do work in his house, like scrubbing floors till my fingers bled. He turned me into the very thing my mawmaw and pawpaw got freed from. I think he delighted in ordering me around, and it sickened me. I wept and wept after the first spell.

  How did the others respond to this?

  Mostly a lot of drinking, revelry, and ignoring. Mr. Durousseau looked grieved by it, but he would just go sit on the shore. He did tell Vince once to leave me alone, but that monster beat him bloody with the butt of his rifle and threatened to kill him. I got no more help after that.

  They was changing. All a them. Tempers shortened, and accusations got thrown around every day. They’d be celebrating together one minute, then despising each other the next, like when Miss Fairmont brought Mr. Codding a new kind of leaf. He thanked her up and down, then slapped it out of her hand and yelled ’cause a the way she was holding it. Then he just lied under the sun for hours, staring at the leaf with an eyeglass.

  Those people that got wished onto the island started hiding when not called, like they was slaves, too. Miss Fairmont beat Tom with a switch when she got angry, and twice she burned him with a hot iron.

  It sounds like all of them experienced madness while you avoided it. Do you think it was due to something in the food they ate?

  No, not at all. It was that golden light. Even when we couldn’t see it, it watched us. I don’t know how to describe it, other than a warm, dry fog crawling all over you, trying to find a way inside. I think it did get inside of them.

  It made them violent and temperamental?

  It made them do whatever they wanted to without any holding back.

  Hmm. Did you ever try to escape?

  Once, but I waited too long. I tried after Vince started putting spells on me. Mr. Durousseau went to the light for the first time since the terrible incident. He wished for a boat. I tried to help him carry it to the ocean, but Vince, he called me back. Told me to stay there and sweep in front a his house, and I couldn’t deny him. So Mr. Durousseau tried escaping on his own.

  He returned an hour later, all soaked through. He said his boat vanished like steam from a kettle soon as he got away from the shore. The wishes only worked on
the island. That made Mr. Codding curious and he ran off to test it on his own wishes. The other two got right scared about anyone escaping and causing all their treasures to disappear.

  Vince started treating Mr. Durousseau like a criminal after that. He banished him from the light and told him no more spells. Said if Mr. Durousseau needed anything, he had to make the request through him. Vince would do all his wishing for him.

  And yet here you sit, alone. You escaped at some point.

  I didn’t so much escape as survive. Those wishes made them more and more coo-yon. Mr. Codding would scream about people sabotaging his studies, even though he wrecked it all himself while drunk. Miss Fairmont made new houses, each bigger than the last and farther away from us. Vince threw out the first girls he wished for, then replaced them with three new girls. The old ones didn’t vanish. They just hid out of his sight. I brought them as much grass and berries as I could.

  When they wasn’t angry at each other, Miss Fairmont and Vince started getting more friendly, by and by. They’d shout and slap each other one hour, then embrace and talk sweet the next. As I said, they’d become crazy. Only Mr. Durousseau stayed sane, and he helped me build shelter for the girls that been thrown out. We didn’t use any wishes for that—cho! I forgot to tell about the skeletons.

  What skeletons? They’re not in my report.

  It fled my mind. Mr. Codding found human and fish skeletons buried in the grass and soil. He said they’d been there for a long time. Cleaned all the way to bare white, they was. He told us that because the soil fixed itself when dug, he couldn’t get the bones out.

  How many skeletons did he find?

  The human ones? Least twenty-one, and not all in the same place. He said the largest fish skeleton was likely a shark.

  How did they die?

  I don’t know, and I don’t care to. I witnessed enough death. A couple of them was missing their heads, but the rest was whole.