The Island

Just a warning, maybe one of the most intense chapters in the story! I tried to be as delicate as I could!
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As the time passed, our relationship with Devin grew more casual and light. We no longer had to watch him all the time, and we trusted him to be on his own every once in awhile. Now that doesn't mean we were stupid about it though. We didn’t trust him to be alone with me for more than a few minutes. But he was very much a part of our group now. Maybe even more than he was before.

Not only was he a part of our group, but he was friendly too! Now that was strange. Especially towards me. He would help me carry heavy things, take over doing laundry so I could have a break, etc. It was surprising to say the least, but I tried not to question it in front of Devin. Instead I would talk to Kyle about it a little. He usually didn’t have much to say on the matter though. “Well, he’s helping peacefully. Thats all we can ask for I guess.” And then he would go to sleep.

One day Kyle was going out hunting. We lived off of the forest now. With three people to feed the leftover rice and canned goods hadn’t lasted long. Devin had been helping me wash clothes but there were still a lot left. I groaned at the idea of having to do the rest of them myself. “Kyle.” I said, walking over to him. Then I lowered my voice “Let Devin stay here for a bit and help me. I can handle it for an hour or two.” He looked at me, obviously concerned. I returned his gaze with a look of stone. I could handle it, and he wouldn’t convince me otherwise. His shoulders slackened as he gave in.

“Fine.” He said with a sigh. Then he reached into his pocket and produced a knife. “Take this though, just to be safe.” He pressed the knife onto my hand and kissed the top of my forehead. That had become a ritual before he went anywhere. I almost laughed when he threw a look at Devin. It was a warning glance, plain and simple. As if to say ‘If you touch her, I’ll kill you.’ I shook my head slightly and went back to the laundry.

“What was that all about?” Devin asked, standing up.

“Oh no, you sit back down. You’re staying here to help me with the laundry.” I kept stone faced as he gave me a look of surprise and what else? It almost looked like satisfaction. But before I could be sure he shrugged and sat back down to work on a particularly tough grass stain. Funny that he would worry so much about a grass stain, but it seemed to bother him a lot.
Surprisingly nothing went wrong. We finished the laundry early and I stood on the shoreline until Kyle got back. Unfortunately his hunt had been unsuccessful. But he had set more traps, which was good. I talked with Kyle in our hut before he fell asleep. “So how did it go while I was gone?” He asked. Concern colored his voice.

“Actually everything went fine. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just did the laundry and relaxed.” I heard him sigh in relief and soon afterwards he fell asleep. I, however, was not that lucky. I couldn’t fall asleep, no matter how hard I tried. The look on Devins face had bothered me. Why did he look so… pleased to stay behind with me? It had a sickening quality to it. What did he think was going to happen? I shuddered slightly and tried to push the thoughts away but they refused to leave. So I lay awake, forced by my own mind to consider the implications of that look.

The next day I was exhausted. Kyle was going out to look for some berries and things like that. So because I was so tired, Devin stayed behind with me to do the laundry while I relaxed. Before he left, Kyle kissed my forehead like he always did. But before we broke apart he slipped me a knife and whispered “Just in case.” I nodded slightly and he left. The first thing I did was slip the knife in my pocket and lay down to sleep. I drifted in and out of sleep. Sometimes I would startle myself awake and sit upright, gripping the knife handle. But eventually I drifted into a deeper sleep. It was nice and peaceful. I didn’t dream, I just rested.

I don’t know how long I slept until I was startled awake by a hand covering my mouth. It was Devin. He was practically laying on top of me, his eyes boring into me. “Now I’m going to take my hand off of your mouth, but don’t even think about screaming. Kyle is too far away to hear you anyway.” I nodded quickly and he let go of my mouth. I gasped, getting as much air as I could. Then I noticed that he was still on me. His hand had moved to my wrists, pinning them both above my head. I tried to pull away but it was no use, he was too strong. His other hand moved down to my pants, trying to pull them down. I began to cry, begging and pleading.

“Devin, please. You don’t want to do this. Please! You can’t do this! Stop!” I was sobbing now, gasping for air. I knew my pleas wouldn’t stop him, but I wanted him to know how much this hurt me. No matter what. He couldn’t look at me anymore. Instead he focused on the sand above my head as he removed his own pants, as he had mine. My body revolted and I almost threw up. In the seconds before he went down on me I saw my chance to escape and I took it. I kneed him as hard as I could in his groin.

He yelped in pain and I felt his grip loosen on my wrists for half a second. And that was all it took. I pushed his left arm as hard as I could, making it give way underneath him. Before he collapsed I rolled out from under him and pulled the knife out my pants on the ground next to me, slicing my leg as I did so. I ran as fast as I could, knife in my right hand, but he caught up to me and grabbed my left arm. I swung around and before I knew it the knife was buried in his chest. He let out a tiny gasp, looked into my eyes, and said “You deserved it.” before he fell to the sand, dead.

Adrenaline pumped through me as I ran into the woods, screaming at the top of my lungs for Kyle. “Kyle! Kyle please! Kyle help!” after a few seconds the screams became incoherent and I was stumbling through the woods blindly. Maybe a few minutes later I ran straight into Kyle.

“Niki what happened? I heard you screaming and came as fast as I could. What happened? Are you alright?” Concern filled his eyes as he saw the blood running down my bare legs. Still sobbing and gasping I managed to get spit out “Beach, hurry.” We ran back to the beach as fast as we could. I threw up as I saw Devin’s body again and the horrible memories started to flood back. Kyle seemed shocked but covered the lower half of Devin’s body with a spare shirt before handing my pants back to me. I slipped them on quickly and started to calm down.

After an hour Kyle finally spoke “Niki, you need to tell me what happened.” So I did. I told him everything. Anger and rage filled his eyes as the tears slowly rolled out of my eyes. I almost laughed. It’s not there was anything he could do. Devin was already dead. Because of me, he was gone. It was then I gave up all hope of rescue. Even if we were by some miracle found and left the island, the island would never leave us. We would never be the same. And I don’t know if I liked what I’d become.