by Todd Russell
"So we started out as nineteen, eleven years ago. Oh, we were quite a bunch too. You would never have been able to believe that most weren't raving lunatics. To this day, I think I'm the only convict sent here who isn't insane—or hasn't been driven insane since arrival. My sanity test was extensive, and if I had acted like some of the others here I can't see how I would have ever made it. It's like I said before, they didn't want the people selected to come here being declared insane. Like part of the experiment was to send criminally insane away from psych wards and here instead."
"Maybe one of the convicts killed some politician's family member in some terrible way? Maybe that's how this got started," Jessica said.
"You might be on to something there," Dick replied. "Anyway, we were equipped at first with only what we had in our backpacks. Some of the men brought pictures of women in their lives. Some brought magazines to, um, jack off. Most brought personal mementos. But everybody brought knives. We were allowed to bring knives. I know, crazy, huh? We didn't get the knives until we were on the ground, of course, and by separate drop. I'm sure they were concerned that we'd use the weapons to try and escape."
"After the first week we were down from nineteen to twelve. I often wonder if the government knew that this would happen to us. Back there, we were all robbed of dying at a date and time we knew was coming. And here we formed our own penal colony. One convict chewed off his fingers before finally slitting his wrists. Several tried to swim for it. But swim for what? We were all told that the closest island—our closest link to civilization—is over four hundred miles away. But several swam anyway. And they've never returned since."
"We were all equipped with enough food to last for the first month. They explained to us that a plane would come every six months or so to drop us 'necessities.' Water namely, since we can't drink the ocean water and, as you've already learned, there is limited fresh water supply on the island. We would have to learn to find our own food. They wouldn't guarantee to keep feeding us."
"So far the drops have provided things like matches and sometimes around holidays, we've thought, they will drop a pig or a cow. We need to dress it. They dropped an empty crate one time. Messing with our heads doesn't stop."
"So that's the plane you saw yesterday. The government's infrequent drop to their lab rats. I didn't want you to see it because I didn't want you to lose hope. It wasn't there to help us, only to do its job then forget it ever flew over this miserable place. That's the truth I kept from you."
"Do you get along with the others?" Jessica asked. "How often do you see them?"
"I don't interact with them much. Shortly after we got here I laid claim to this side of the island. I put on a show that made the others think I was crazier than them. I searched around and preferred this side of the island. I made my home this cave and have done a little excavating over the years as it wasn't always this spacious. You've seen the traps I created for rain water and have stored in bottles and jugs which I can now share with you."
"Great, have been getting tired of coconut milk," Jessica replied.
"As for how much I see the other convicts? They rarely come over to this side of the island. We try to leave each other alone. That's the way both sides want it. I knew that I could survive on my own without their help and the drops and have tried to forget that we share this island."
"A few times over the years I've gone to their side of the island, more out of curiosity and loneliness than anything, to spy on what's new. It's always the same over there though."
"Every once in a while a newbie convict comes along and that's something new to talk about. How did this one get here? What did he do? And so on. But there hasn't been one, as far as I know, for quite some time."
"How long?"
"If you remember I didn't know what year it was when you first arrived so this is just a guess: maybe five years? I'm pretty sure Bobby was the last newbie. I'm kind of in the dark because like I said, I rarely go over there. I stay over here and they stay over there. Bobby parachuted off course and landed on the southwest beach so I was the first to meet him. I led him over to the east side of the island and left him there."
"If they really don't like you, and they're as insane as you think, why haven't they tried to kill you?"
"Ah," he said and stopped pacing. He came back and sat down. "Good question, Jessica. They haven't tried to kill me because I haven't gotten in their way. And I told you once before that I was no dummy. I didn't intend to come here and die, I saw this island as a second chance at a life I would never have outside prison.
"The other reason they haven't tried to kill me is because their leader hasn't ordered them to yet. Their leader has sent spies to this side of the island on occasion to keep tabs or maybe to see if I've finally gone and killed myself. Bobby might have been on one of those routine checks today, I don't know. But his spies don't usually engage me. They will come over, see what I'm doing and then head back over there."
"Like I said, they leave me alone. They don't understand, with the exception of their leader, why I want to live outside their camp. My fear of them, in part, is what has kept me going. And their leader has known that and doesn't see me as a threat."
"Is their leader an original convict too?" Jessica asked.
"Yes, I think we're the only two originals left. The rest came after. He makes sure they don't die, or do, if he dislikes them I guess. Many of those hopeless convicts would starve outside without his help. He is a skilled woodsman and is the only other person that knows this island at least as well as me, if not better."
They traded pensive gazes. Jessica was disturbed by what was happening here.
"That's it," he said. "That's the true story."
"Bobby," she said, "You were going to tell me about Bobby?"
"Oh yes. You see, I have never killed any of the spies sent over here. It may seem like I killed Bobby without any emotion but it was to protect you. Bobby was their leader's best friend. His favorite pet. When he realizes I killed Bobby. . ."
"But you did it to save me."
"That's why I'm concerned. In the eleven years I've been here there has never been a reason to come over and attack me, outside of their leader disliking me, maybe. But after today? Things are different now."
His eyes burned through her and she had to turn away.
"What does this all mean?" she asked.
"It's a matter of time before he finds out. Maybe he already knows about you. He might have been annoyed but still forgiven me for killing Bobby. But you? Just like when Bobby parachuted to the wrong place, I was under an obligation in their leader's mind to bring him to them. I did. Their leader feels like everything here is a possession. He is a god here. When he learns there's a woman on the island, he'll have every one of his psychos hunting us. They'll want you, he'll want you, Jessica. I can't let that happen."
"Do you think he knows about me?"
Dick stood up, grabbed Bobby's buck knife and tested the blade's sharpness.
"Hope not."
Dick said he wanted to go look at something outside and would be right back and left the cave. She sat near the fire and watched the burning branches. She tried to accept the story Dick had told her. She could be a deep thinking, feeling person. She had never weighed in on any deep political or religious issues. Capital punishment didn't directly impact her life, didn't alter her rich world. Heck, she wasn't registered to vote. She had no opinion on whether she was for or against capital punishment.
A strong gust of wind blew in as if to scold her for living so non-committal.
She looked away from the fire and saw Dick standing still, watching her from the cave entrance.
"I checked the ground by Edward's hand for footsteps. Only yours were there."
"And that means?"
"I hope it means that—I don't know. Maybe birds carried his hand there?" But there was something wrong in Dick's voice that suggested he didn't believe that's what happened.
Dick
walked across the cave and held out something. She took it, eyeing it by the firelight. Dick had cleaned away the nastiness before presented it to her.
Edward's wedding ring.
"Jessica, I hope you can understand now why I deceived you. I wanted to shelter the bad stuff on this island from you. I was hoping we could. . .get to know each other and I could break the truth about this place to you at some later date. Maybe in stages. You almost died on me and I didn't want you to run away and—"
"You should have been straight with me from the beginning."
"I'm sorry. I said it before, I can't take anything back. Please believe me. All I can do is apologize and hope that you'll forgive me. I didn't know anything about Edward — and I had nothing to do with his hand—I swear."
She never once looked up at him. She stared only at Edward's unique gold wedding ring. Once again, she saw Nile Waters, the shifty jeweler, greasing her: "I'll tell you what, Mrs. Stanton, you don't want to wear just any ring, you have to have something to match your charming figure. Now, don't be fooled by the small dollar imitations. Let me have a one-of-a-kind ring made especially for you. Expensive? Well. . ."
Edward's ring wasn't unique, it was a dusty relic. The last single, solitary proof here that Jessica Stanton ever existed.
Out of love, not the rage and depression that poisoned the island, she threw the ring into the fire.
CHAPTER 16
They both awoke the next morning like the devil had pursued them in their dreams. Neither spoke about their nightmares. Dick went out, caught some fish and retrieved some coconuts. Jessica followed him everywhere.
They ate in silence. Jessica played with her food for quite some time before Dick said something. Then she grudgingly ate, but only a small amount.
After breakfast, Dick and she sat on their facing rock seats.
"Jessica, can I ask you something?" Dick said.
"Sure."
"You've been here well over a month and there's something that I can't figure out about you."
She looked at him, perplexed.
"You don't act like some rich, stuck up woman. I mean, don't be offended or anything, but you don't act like every wealthy person I've ever known. Don't you miss everything about your life?"
"I miss the things I did by myself. I had a life of free time. Edward was away on business a lot and when he was home he spent a lot of time working in his office. Sure, I miss the money, the cars, the glamour, but at some point you can have too much of that stuff. I think Edward liked that I didn't flinch over signing a pre-nuptial agreement. I don't miss most the people in that world. Too many self-consumed braggarts. I do miss my closet, my shoes, dammit."
They both chuckled.
"I think I'm beginning to understand you."
She smiled. "Maybe."
He started to smile and she caught a glimpse of his rotting black mouth. It ruined a good moment. He sensed her disgust and closed his mouth.
"I'm sorry I'm. . .not. . .not good to look at."
"I'm sure that you were a very handsome man at one time."
"I was," he said excitedly, "I never had any cavities. I never had an acne problem, I never had. . ." He shook his head, saddened.
Jessica was silent for a moment.
"Would you rather I call you Richard?"
"No one has called me Richard for a long time," he said with cloudy eyes. "I'd like that very much."
"Okay, Richard," she said.
"You know, that kind of has a ring to it, doesn't it?"
"It does."
"Richard. . ..yeah, funny when you forget how your own name sounds."
Jessica giggled.
Richard started to chuckle too, until he heard something. They both heard it. They both looked at the cave entrance; their bright moment of happiness shattered.
A voice called for Richard by his last name.
* * *
"Templin. TEMPLIN. Get out here."
Richard stood up and took a deep breath. Jessica stared at him with wide, confused eyes.
"Don't move and don't make a sound," he whispered. "Maybe he doesn't know about you."
She would have felt better if either of them believed that.
He went to the cave entrance.
"What do you want?" he replied.
"Richie, Richie, Richie, I knew you were in there," a cold, low voice replied.
"I said what the fuck do you want?"
"Hey, I come over to say hi, and this is my reception? Sounding out obscenities? I'm shocked. Richie."
"Seems like you are on the wrong side of the island," Richard said. "There's nothing over here for you."
"Ah, yes. That has been our little agreement. But Richie, please remember we had several agreements, didn't we?"
"What are you here for, Roberts?"
"Me and you, we go back. Being the only originals left, we are almost family, yes? So that makes our original rules the only rules that matter, wouldn't you say?"
"Whatever."
"We agreed to me staying on the east side of the island and taking care of the boys."
"You like being their leader."
"You bet I do. Like a mother bear, you might say." The voice was cold. "But now you have broken some of our rules?"
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, you think I'm stupid or something? You think I don't fucking know that you killed Bobby? You think I don't know you ain't the only fucking one in that cave?"
Jessica stopped breathing. Her heart pounded like the long-range BOOM! of fourth of July fireworks.
"Bullshit." Richard lied. "You know damn well there's no one else on this island but you, me and the other convicts."
Brief silence. Wind blowing.
"Now if I believed that everything would be convenient, wouldn't it? But I'm afraid my sources have said otherwise. It seems some rather, how should I put it, disgusting debris floated in on one of our shores. I noticed you've seen fit to remove it. I think it's safe to say there has been a shipwreck nearby. Could it have been the night of that bad storm a short while back? A shipwreck with at least one non-survivor and one survivor, wasn't there? A woman survivor, perhaps? Have you been harboring a woman, Richie? In fact, why don't you be real nice and show me that sweet piece of ass?"
"Come on, Roberts. There's nobody fucking here but you and I."
"There go those obscenities again."
"I told you—"
"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU TOLD ME."
"Kyle, please. I really don't know what—"
"No, stop. I know what you're trying to pull. You're playing the same bullshit you played on the boys. Look, it's Richie the recluse. Don't go off and hang out with that guy. It might work for them, but it doesn't for me. I'm responsible for you staying alive and you damn well know it. I could have put the hunt on you at any time and this is how you repay me? You get some sweet prize and try to keep her all to yourself?"
"Go back to your side of the island, you don't know what you're talking about."
"You killed Bobby."
"No."
"Then she did."
"You're letting the sun get to you, there is no she."
"You're a lousy liar, Richie. Do you want me to come up and see for myself? You know I can, and you know I will."
"Leave me alone."
"No, no, I'm afraid the situation has changed now. All these years, I've let you live because there was nothing worth taking from you. But now there's something you have that belongs to me. Tell me, Richie, is she beautiful? Is she a good fuck?"
Richard lost it, "KISS MY ASS."
"Richie, Richie, Richie, I guess I'll just have come up and see for myself. . ."
"No! No, please, no."
"Begging for mercy, are we?"
"What do you want?"
"Bottom line: give me the woman and I'll let you live. Share or die."
"But it's not sharing, is it? I give her to you and she'll die."
"No. Now there you go being all
selfish again. That's not how it will be at all. We've got history, Richie. You were always welcome to stay on the other side of the island."
"I know exactly what will happen to her."
"Do you?"
"Yes. Even if I gave her to you now, you'd send your boys up to kill me anyway."
"Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Your intelligence, your bravery, it just never ceases to amaze, Richie."
An icicle formed on Jessica's spine.
"Please. You have enjoyed freedom here that you never had back there. Please don't take her from me."
"Wow, you have feelings for this lady, huh? Tell you what I'm going to do. I'm not going to come up there right now and take her from you."
Jessica noticed her first breath.
"I only wanted to live over here alone and in peace. I haven't caused you any trouble."
"Until she washed ashore and Bobby's unfortunate demise, no trouble, no. But now. . ."
"Can't we make some arrangement?"
Loud laughter. "What, you get her every other weekend? This isn't some fucking parenting plan, Richie. You have no rights here. I'm the only one on this island who matters."
"That's not true. We are human beings, we all matter. That's one of the main reasons why I didn't stay over there with you. I knew there would be a war."
"Does it matter why we're over there and you're here? The world abandoned us and doesn't give two shits what happens as long as we face our death sentences here."
Richard stood trembling.
"I didn't think you disagreed. So, enough bullshit. It's time to talk serious. I want the woman on my side by sunrise tomorrow. That gives you a more-than-generous full day to fuck her, kiss her goodbye, do whatever you've been doing to her. One more day. See, I'm not being as impatient as I could be."
Richard clenched his fist, turning each of them bright red.