The Island

I was sitting right next to Brittany. We were on guard duty and I kept drawing little stars and circles in the sand. “Why do you draw those thingies?” Brittany asked “it’s so weird, you're a freak.”
“They have powers that simple people like you can’t understand.” I retorted. God how I hate her, we’d be better off without her. A cruel thought crossed my mind, but I pushed it away.

“What does simple mean? I bet it’s a good thing, nobody hates me.” she sounded so perky and sure about that.

“I hate you, with my soul.” And boy did I mean it. Again the cruel thought crossed my mind, but this time I considered it. I could do it, I thought I really could. It would be so easy. Then a plan developed in my head. It would be so easy; I would say that I had to use the bathroom and Brittany, being stupid as she is, would believe me. Then I would pull the knife out and attack. It was perfect. I didn’t care about whatever punishment that the others would give me, it would be worth it. Just to see the light leave the stupid bimbo’s eyes would make me satisfied enough to face any punishment. I decided to put my plan into action “I have to go to the bathroom, stay here.”

“Okay, just don’t take too long freak.” Brittany laughed and flipped her dirty extensions over her shoulder. I walked around in a circle and came back to Brittany, hoping to convince her that I had gone. Quietly I pulled the knife that I had out of my belt loop. The others had been stupid enough to give me a knife after all I was a sociopath, they all knew it. I dreamt constantly about death and pain. They just convinced themselves that I would never snap or that I would never do anything. I crept up behind Brittany, still clueless. I tapped her shoulder, knife held high above my head. Brittany turned around and screamed.
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I jerked awake when I heard the scream. It was a scream of terror that suddenly cut off with no explanation. Niki had woken up too and looked up at me, frightened. “What was that?” she asked. I stood up and so did she. I pushed Niki behind me. We walked cautiously to where the guard area was, for that was most likely where it had come from. I knew that the others would take much longer to get there. As we got closer we saw the crime scene. Brittany lay on the ground, her neck slit and gushing ruby red blood. Vanessa stood above her, the bloodied knife still in her hand. She had a devilish smile on her face and she was talking to herself “I did it! I finally did it! Aren’t you guys happy?” she turned her wild eyes on us “I got rid of her for us, she won’t bother us anymore.” Niki tried to rush forward to Brittany’s aid, but I held her back.

“Kyle let me through she needs help!” Niki whispered. Vanessa was still laughing insanely and babbling to herself about what a good deed she’d done. It was terrifying.
“Are you insane?” I said back in a fierce whisper “She’s still holding the knife that she just used to murder Brittany! Do you have a death wish?” I examined Vanessa, she truly was insane. Her face was spattered with Brittany’s blood. She was laughing and raving happily about what she had done. She’s absolutely insane. I had a hunch but I never thought she would do something like this. What if it had been Niki on guard duty with her? The thought scared me and I instinctively put Niki further behind me.

I knew I had to do something “Vanessa?” I asked. She started at her name and looked at me, her wild eyes filled with curiosity “Please put down the knife.” She looked confused and then she grinned at me, an evil grin. Oh no, what have I done. My heart sped up and I took a step back. Niki moved from behind me and to my side instead. Vanessa the turned her grin on Niki, who recoiled from it like a disease.

“You want the knife?” Vanessa asked with a devilish grin “here it is!” she then readied herself to throw the knife. I knew what she was going to do before she did it. A split second after the knife left Vanessa’s hand I tackled Niki to the ground. The knife must have missed her by half an inch. I hopped up off of the ground, leaving Niki shocked and lying in the sand.

Suddenly Tiffany, Alec, Brian, Carrie, Cole, and Devin got there, seemingly out of nowhere. Cole was the first one to speak “What happened Kyle?”
“Vanessa murdered Brittany and then threw the knife at Niki!”

A scream split the night, a scream of agony and pain, not of fear. It was from Tiffany. She had seen her best friends’ body, battered bloodied and lifeless. Lunging at Vanessa she let out another scream.
This one was different though, it was a scream of an animal. Like a cat with its tail stuck in a door. Tiffany landed on Vanessa's back and the force knocked them both to the ground. She ripped a fistful of Vanessa’s hair out by the roots, eliciting a shriek from Vanessa. Tiffany stood up and kicked Vanessa full in the stomach. She gasped and clutched her abdomen. Carrie stepped forward and tried to pull tiffany but was slapped in the face by her instead. “Why do you try to stop me?” she screamed “She’s a murderer! She killed Brittany and tried to kill Niki! She deserves to die!” and with that she ran towards where the knife lay in the sand. Niki was the only thing in her way now. She held out her arms to try to stop her but Tiffany knocked her off of her feet instead. “Get outta my way!” She shrieked. I caught Niki before she hit the ground and helped her away from the violence.

As soon as the knife was in her hand Tiffany turned around to meet Vanessa who tried to surrender, but there was no stopping Tiffany. She was filled with agony and rage about losing her friend and wasn’t going to stop until the one who took her was gone. Tiffany knocked Vanessa to the ground and straddled over her stomach. “I hate you.” She spat and she let out another animalistic cry as she plunged the knife into Vanessa’s chest. She did this again and again over 10 times, each time putting the knife in up to the handle.

Brian, Alec, and Devin watched in shock. Tim arrived too late and dropped to his knees sobbing. Carrie stood with Cole and held his hand, waiting for it to be over. Niki had buried her head in my chest, not wanting to see the carnage. “Tell me when it’s over” she whispered.

Finally Tiffany stopped her rampage, stood up, and dropped the knife. Gasping for air she looked around at all of the shocked faces. “Oh my god what have I done.” She gasped. Her eyes then traveled to Brittany’s lifeless body. She stumbled over to her friend and fell to her knees crying. Cradling her head in her hands she mumbled incoherent words through her tears. She looked pleadingly at the faces around her. “Niki,” she pleaded. I pushed Niki out of view. “Niki please… please help.” Niki stepped forward cautiously until she was standing directly over Brittany. My thoughts raced She’s in danger; I need to help her. What if Tiffany lashes out again? She’s so brave.

A deep admiration started to surface inside of me as she bent down over Brittany’s bloody body and checked her neck for a pulse.

“She’s dead.” Niki announced to the crowd. Even though everyone already knew this, the finality of it being said out loud hit like a wrecking ball. Niki gently closed Brittany’s eyes and moved on to Vanessa. “Vanessa is dead too.” Everyone was shocked when Tim let out an agonized cry. Nobody had even thought about him. He must have loved her. He must have loved her so much.
I was amazed as Niki worked endlessly through the night to clean the bodies. She gently took spare shirts, wet them with warm water, and wiped clean the blood from the girls pale skin. On several occasions people offered to help. Me, Cole, Brian, and Carrie all offered to help her but she refused us all. She said the same thing to all of us “No, it’s my job to do this. I can do this. I don’t need help.” she said, never looking away from her work.

She worked for the rest of the night, and the entire next day until sunset. She then yelled “Brian! Tim! Start digging two graves for them.” Her voice was so sharp and forceful that I saw the guys flinch. They immediately grabbed two pans and started digging. After what had to have been hours they finished the two graves. Niki then had Brian move the two bodies into the holes and covered them. “Everybody get over here!” Niki screamed. She’s probably so tired. I thought I can’t even imagine how tired she must be. I knew that she wouldn’t yell at anyone like that otherwise. Bravely she stepped forward and placed a wildflower she had found on each of the graves. Everyone took turns saying something. Here’s what they said:

Alec: “Brittany was a beautiful girl, and I will always miss her.”
Brian: “I’m going to miss Brittany’s sense of humor”
Devin: “Brittany added so much to our group, and her death is a great loss. Rest in peace.”
Cole: “Brittany was amazing, and it’s a shame that Alec will never be able to be with her now.”
Me: “I know that she was annoying sometimes, but Brittany will be deeply missed by all of us.”
Derek: “She was an amazing girl, I could tell her anything. I’m going to miss you girl.”
Carrie: “Brittany was hilarious and I'm going to miss that about her the most I think.”
Then Tim went up to the graves, everyone was shocked at what he did. All he did was stand there and weep. Through his tears he said thickly “I am going to miss them so much.”
Tiffany: “Brittany was my best friend; I could tell her any secret and not worry about her telling someone else. Beneath the ditzy girl that I know all of you thought she was, she was so sensitive and caring. She wanted to be a nurse, and it makes me so sad to say that she won’t get to do that. I love you so much girl.”

And finally Niki spoke; she was the last one to speak in fact. And she had some very interesting things to say. “What hurts me the most about being here right now is the fact that none of you even thought about the fact that not only Brittany, but Vanessa is buried here. We all know that she’s here, but none of us bothered to say anything. Why? I don’t understand it. Won’t we miss her too? Wasn’t she human too? We bother to bury her and lay a flower on her mangled chest and then pretend that she’s not there? Well I have something to say for her if the rest of you don’t have the guts. I forgive her. I completely forgive her for killing Brittany and for trying to kill me. The fact that I have to say any of this to you proves that we are not as mature as we like to believe. And if any of you also forgive her, say something.”

Nobody stepped forward. Niki looked pleadingly at me and an internal war begun to rage inside of me. Say something! You coward say something. I urged my feet to move but they remained planted to the spot where I stood. Niki’s teary brown eyes looked at me with exhaustion and desperation. She sighed and spoke again “Well then, I'm a little surprised.” She looked directly into my eyes; it physically pained him to see her like this, so I stepped up.

“Wait, I have something to say. And I’ll make it quick; I also forgive Vanessa for everything she did. So I think we should all put this behind us as best we can and go about our normal business.” And that was the end of it. Niki let out a gasp of relief and exhaustion. She was such a sensitive person, but she had persisted through a living hell. Yet it had taken its toll on her. She began to look faint and she swayed slightly on the spot. I walked over to her and asked if she was alright. The look on her face, dazed and blank, clearly stated that she had not heard me. She then closed her eyes and went limp, her legs giving out beneath her. I caught her before she fell. She wasn’t very heavy, island living had toned all of the teens. I lifted her over to where they usually slept under a tree and laid her down. I then lay down close, but not right next to her and was asleep within minutes.
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