The Island

I woke up to pale morning light shining down on me and Kyle. His arms were still around me. I maneuvered myself out of his embrace and walked over to where Tiffany laid sleeping, glancing back at Kyle and smiling as I went. I shook Tiffany’s shoulder gently and when her eyes fluttered open I whispered “Hey can you get up so I can check on your head?”

Tiffany groaned as she stood up. “I have a headache.” She complained.

I giggled out loud “Well I bet you do considering the condition of your forehead.” Tiffany gave a small giggle too and we walked over to the small area of sand they had deemed the “hospital”. It consisted of spare shirts laid out as pillows on piles of built up sand and the first aid kit tucked safely away in a hole by a tree. Her cut looked clean still and was not infected so I covered it back up and sent Tiffany on her way.

Everyone in the group had a job. I had been deemed the unofficial doctor of the group. Derek and Cole went hunting and Alec cleaned what they brought back and got it ready to cook. Carrie was in charge of cooking the food, and Brittany and Tiffany were in charge of cleaning the pots and pans.

Tim and Vanessa were assigned guard duty when Tim’s ankle got better but until then Brittany went with Vanessa and Kyle took her place with cleaning the dishes. Brian decided that I couldn’t take care of Tiffany all by myself and assigned Devin to help me. I was not happy about this, but strangely Devin was. Brian had become the leader of their group but seemed too preoccupied with his own thoughts to care much about what went on in the little society they had formed.

Vanessa was getting even more antisocial that she was before. She was even ignoring Tim. Poor Tim, I understood why he tried to help her. He felt bad for her, we all did. She clearly had a mental condition that had never been addressed. Nobody had ever dared to ask about her past after freshman year, not after what happened. One day in freshman year, in class, a teacher asked her why she was acting up. She kept asking “Is it something that’s happened in your past?” and finally Vanessa snapped and started screaming at her “Don’t you dare! You don’t know what I’ve been through, what I’ve seen!”And grabbed a pair of scissors from her desk, slashing at the teacher. Vanessa just barely missed her face. The poor teacher, her name was Mrs. Robinson by the way, she told everyone to stay seated as Vanessa stormed out of the room, fuming. She was shaking so badly she could barely dial the numbers to call the schools police officers and tell them what happened. I’ll never forget that look on Vanessa’s face, in her eyes. They were just… empty. Completely devoid of feeling or compassion or mercy. It was a chilling sight, and since then nobody has dared to ask about her past again. I was really worried though,

One day Derek got careless with a knife and while hunting “accidentally” cut Cole’s arm. But considering that Derek was fuming and Cole looked just as upset when they came back, I guessed there had been some sort of argument. It was a shallow cut but it was bleeding heavily so he was rushed to me. When dealing with an injured person I transformed. I was not squeamish and I got straight to business. “Devin!” I snapped “Go start a pot of water on the fire.” I could feel the sharpness of the words as they left my mouth but I didn’t care, Cole needed attending to. While Devin got the water started I tied a shirt around the cut on Cole’s arm and pressed on it, Cole winced. “I’m sorry; I have to put pressure on it to stop the bleeding.”

“It’s ok. I hear you and Kyle are pretty close now.”

I blushed my signature deep pink. “You know about that huh?” I tried my best not to smile but I couldn’t help it.

“It’s a small island Niki, everybody knows.” We laughed together and Devin looked over at us, scowling. “What’s his problem?” Cole whispered

“Ugh with him who knows?” I whispered back. Again we laughed but quieter this time. I stole a glance at Kyle; he was helping Alec bury the intestines of another fox Derek had killed. He stood up and I turned my head back to Cole’s arm. Devin brought over the cooled pot of water and a shirt. I took them both and told him that was all. He seemed unwilling to leave but walked away anyway. I heard footsteps approaching and said out loud “I don’t need any more help.”

“Not even from me?” it was Kyle. I looked up and met his hazel eyes with a smile. He put a hand on my shoulder and kneeled next to me by Cole. I took off the fabric from Cole’s arm and wet the new one. I gently wrung the cloth out over the cut and dabbed at it. Cole winced in pain but didn’t move his arm. I then got a bandage from the first aid kit and placed it gently over the cut.
“Am I going to live?” Cole said with a grin.

“It’s close but I think you’ll make it.” I grinned back. Same old Cole. I thought. It made me happy to help him feel better. Suddenly Kyle turned to me and hugged me quickly “good job.” He said. Then he gave me a quick peck on the cheek. I couldn’t help but open my mouth in shock. Kyle and Cole then walked away leaving me kneeling there in shock. I heard them laughing down the beach but was still too shocked to care.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I was impressed with myself for having the guts to do what I just did. I smiled to myself remembering the shocked look on Niki’s face. I totally got her on that one. The day wore on and I helped Tiffany clean the pan Carrie had used to cook the fox. Eventually day began to turn to night and the sky turned red with the sunset. I laid down, the sand warm on my bare back. My shirt had gotten dirty when I helped Alec clean the fox earlier today. I examined myself; I had grown muscular and lean during the time on the island. I didn’t look like myself, it was odd. I didn’t mind but it was difficult to get used to.

I was shaken out of my thoughts when Niki walked up to me, a spare shirt draped over her arm. “Come to join me?” I asked. I desperately hoped that was the case.

“Only if you cover yourself.” She grinned and threw the shirt at me. I slipped it on quickly. It must have been Brian’s, nobody else was that big. “Much better.” said Niki, again with a grin. It was dark now, the stars shined brightly without the lights of a city blurring them. Niki lay down next to me using my arm as a pillow. Within minutes she was asleep. Her nightmares were starting to be less frequent the more she stayed with me. She slept with her mouth slightly open, which was how I could tell she was asleep. I tilted my head towards hers and fell asleep too.
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