The Island

I’m going to kill Devin; I swear to God I’m going to kill him… Those were my first thoughts when I heard Nikki scream for help. She never asked for help, not unless she desperately needed it. It took a long time to find her, so long that her cries stopped before I got there. Then I ran. When I got there I was so disgusted that I would have thrown up if not for the anger that began to well up in me as well. There was Nikki on the ground, unconscious and defenseless, with Devin on top of her beating her into the ground. I let out a snarl of rage and jumped on top of Devin, pinning him to the ground while calling for the others to come help me.

Cole and Alec got there first followed by Brian, Derek, Tiffany and Carrie. Alec picked up Nikki and brought her back to the bonfire with Carrie and Tiffany while Brian, Cole, and I escorted Devin back. Nikki finally came to but I made her go back to sleep. It was decided that the next morning we would have our first trial.

The next morning when Nikki woke up she miraculously remembered everything that had happened until she had blacked out, so we asked her to testify at Devin’s trial that day. She said she would as long as we didn’t sentence him to death. Brian, who was going to be the judge, agreed.
The set up was simple. Brian sat in the front facing the jury that was made up of Derek, Alec, me and Tiffany. Nikki sat in front of Brian to his right, and Devin in front of him to his left.

Brian hit a rock to a piece of wood and called the court to order. “Devin, we are here because you have been charged with the beating of Nikki, how do you plead?” Devin said not guilty and claimed to not remember a thing because he had been so upset last night. It was almost as if he was pleading insanity, which was ridiculous. The whole time he never once looked at Nikki, which was how I knew he was lying. She was covered in bruises and had a split lip, nothing but he could have done that to her.

“Nikki,” Brian began “It’s time to tell your side of the story.” And she did. She told us everything from Devin’s yelling at her and hitting her to his brutal assault on her. It was incredibly detailed and as she spoke tears began to spill down her face. With every word she said I just wanted to attack Devin more and more, but somehow I managed to stay sitting. When Nikki sat back down we four jury members only took five minutes to reach a verdict. When it came time to read it, I volunteered.

“We the jury find you Devin guilty of the brutal assault and beating of Nikki.” It gave me so much pleasure to read that and see the look on his face. It was a look of incredulity mixed with anger and rage. Now all we had to do was sentence him. Unfortunately that was Brian’s job.

“Now for your punishment. Devin, you are hereby banished from our group. We will not help you get food, water, fire, or anything else you might want or need. Also you are never to touch Nikki again and if you do the punishment will be death. Now leave and God have mercy on your soul.” Nikki looked shocked and stared at Devin as he walked off with a look of fear and pity.
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When I woke up the next morning I hurt everywhere. Though my bruises were starting to fade my lip was still swollen and I was sore beyond belief. I would never forget the look in Devin’s eyes as he walked away from our trial. Maybe we were too hard on him. After all, I was still alive wasn’t I? His sentence, though indirect, was a death sentence. Everyone knew this. There was no way that any single person could survive on this island alone. When I told this to Kyle he was unresponsive and merely said “He got what he deserved.” But I still felt bad. If he touched me again he would die, but if he didn’t he’d most likely die anyway. What was to stop him from coming after me again, this time with more wicked intentions?

The next day I went to Brian and begged him to change Devin’s sentence but he flat out refused, no matter how much I pleaded with him. Frustrated and wanting to get away I walked into the woods alone. I knew I was being stupid but I didn’t care, I just couldn’t deal with such frustrating people at that moment.

I walked until my feet hurt and the chatter of our camp faded away. I was just so mad at everyone. Brian and Kyle, both trying to convince me that killing someone for a mistake they made is okay. So Devin was mad, what difference did it make? So he hurt me, I lived didn’t I? Maybe I was being too generous, too merciful. Maybe mercy was a thing of the past now. My thoughts were interrupted by a rustling in the branches nearby. Not five seconds later Devin was standing in front of me with one of our hunting knives in his hand.

“If you scream I swear I’ll kill you now.” He said calmly. I was smart enough to do what he wanted and I knew that opposing him directly would mean immediate death. My heart was pounding as I stared into his soulless eyes. He had changed, and if he wasn’t scary before, he sure as hell was now. “Strip down to your underwear.” My heart jumped into my throat and I had to swallow a bit of vomit. Oh God, why this? Anything but this… I couldn’t bear the thought of him doing that to me. I began to beg “No, please Devin. Don’t do this. You don’t want to do this…” He silenced me with a slap to the face. That was when the tears started.

Why hadn’t I told someone where I was going? I must have been at least two miles away. So I stood there in front of Devin in my underwear and bra, exposed and vulnerable. I shuddered as he looked me up and down. He had me lie down on my stomach and bite down on my shirt so I wouldn’t scream. I closed my eyes and waited. Then he started carving into my back with the knife. I shrieked into my shirt and tried to stop him but he held down my arms with his knees. The pain was the most intense thing I’d ever known. I felt the heel of my foot connect with his face as I thrashed but he just kept dragging the knife through my flesh. Spots of color stained my vision as I thrashed around in the dirt. He’s going to kill me I thought I’m going to die. My last thought was of Kyle before I blacked out.
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Where did Nikki go? She’s only been gone for a few hours, how far could she have gone? I was walking through the woods looking for Nikki with Alec and Brian. She had gone over to talk to Brian and 10 minutes later he said she walked off into the forest. As smart as she was that was a pretty stupid thing to do. Now three hours later she was missing and in God knows what condition. Devin was somewhere in those woods too and I could only hope that we found her before he did. Then I heard Alec call out “Guys, I found her! Kyle you might not want to look man!” I ran in the direction of his voice and nearly ran into Brian on the way. When I saw Nikki I became violently ill in the bushes.

After I wiped my mouth on my arm I turned and examined the scene. Nikki was face down on the ground in just her undergarments, her shirt stuffed in her mouth. Her pants were folded neatly at her feet. But the worst part was yet to come. The word “Filth” was carved into her back, blood still dripping from the jagged cuts. I stepped forward and shook her shoulder gently. To my surprise she stirred slightly and lifted her head. Her face was coated with dirt and dried tears.

“Kyle?” she asked slowly. I nodded and helped her try to stand up but she crumpled back to the ground. Brian helped me carry her back to the camp while Alec and Cole went searching for Devin.
“Carrie! Tiffany! I need your help!” I yelled.

“What’s going on? Oh my God, What happened to her?” I explained everything to the girls as I put water on the fire to boil. Brian went back into the woods to look for Devin. After the water cooled Carrie gently used a rag to wipe the blood off her back while I held her hand. Nikki never stirred, even when she was awake. She just lay on her stomach and waited. I had put an extra shirt over her lower half for modesty. It took over an hour to clean and bandage her wounds. I shook her shoulder slightly to wake her, they had found Devin.
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I must have been asleep for hours before Kyle woke me for the bad news. They had caught Devin. In a way I had almost been hoping that they wouldn’t find him, I don’t know why though. Apparently he had been wandering through the woods, crying and distraught about what he had done. He would die for sure now, and he knew it. He must have known it when he attacked me, maybe he just didn’t care. Did he really hate me that much? It was hard to believe but nothing is impossible. And it didn’t help that my head was spinning a mile a minute.

“Nikki?” It was Kyle “Will you tell me what happened?” I broke down in tears and whimpered into his arm as he held me. I told him everything Devin had said and done, beyond caring what happened to him now. As all the memories flooded back so did the pain and disgust. Then Kyle said something that struck me to my core. “Nikki, you know he’s going to be killed right? And that one of us has to do it?” I nodded, what was he getting at? “Well, I want to be the one to do it.” I stared at him dumbfounded, he couldn’t be serious.

“Absolutely not, no way, I won’t let you! Let Brian do it, or Alec. Alec has been around dead things for a long time. I don’t want you to do that.” Alec’s father was a butcher, he could handle doing it. Or Brian, he’s the boss of our group, shouldn’t it be his duty to punish people who have done wrong? What am I thinking? It’s none of our duties; it’s not natural to kill things before their time.
When he finally spoke he was less than helpful “Well, it will get figured out tomorrow.” And with that he went to go lay down. After a few seconds I followed him and lay down beside him, dreading the death that was sure to come with tomorrow.

The next morning I woke up to find Kyle was gone. In fact, everyone was gone except for Tiffany. “Hey, what’s going on? Where is everyone?” I asked. She seemed reluctant to talk. Hm, I bet they told her not to say anything about where they went… I decided to try again “coming on Tiffany, tell me where they went. I promise I won’t tell them you said anything.”

“Fine, they’re in a clearing in the woods, they’re going to take care of Devin soon. They didn’t want me to tell you so you wouldn’t go.” I could tell by the look on her face that she felt guilty but I didn’t care. I clapped her shoulder and sprinted for the woods, ignoring the throbbing in my back as best I could. The closer I got the more adrenaline pumped through me, threatening to spill over as a pool of vomit, but i held it back. How dare they go without me? I’m involved in this more than any of them.

After a minute I started to hear faint chatter and called out “Wait! Wait, I’m coming!” I burst through the trees and into the clearing. In the middle sat all of the boys, and every single one of their heads turned to face me. Then I saw Devin, his cheek was bruised and he had multiple cuts on him. I’d bet anything that he didn’t come quietly when they caught him. Adrenaline started pumping through my veins, giving me the strength to do what was necessary. I strode right up into the middle of the circle, sat down right next to Kyle and simply said to continue. To my surprise, they did. Brian had again taken the responsibility of being the judge.

“Devin, as I’m sure you know, this is your sentencing. We warned you that you were never to touch Nikki again. You were also made aware that should you violate this, the punishment would be death. Not only did you violate this, but you committed a crime worse than the one before. So the only appropriate punishment is death.” Silence, and then something I did not expect, a tear slid down Devin’s face. Brian spoke again in a shaky voice “As the leader of our small group, I will take care of the punishment and take full responsibility for it.” I was relieved beyond belief. For the first time I appreciated Brian’s efforts to keep us from falling apart.

Devin slowly stood up, his entire body was trembling. No longer trying to hide his tears he and Brian walked into the woods. That was the last I saw of Devin.

I held Nikki as she watched Devin walk into the woods. Tears flowed freely down her face. This is why I didn’t want her to come. I knew it would deeply upset her. But it couldn’t be helped now, and as much as I want to say that he deserved it, I knew that he didn’t. Nobody deserves to die at that age. But he was unpredictable and who knows what he might have done next. As we walked back to the beach I kept trying to justify it, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t natural. A flood of regret washed over me as I closed my eyes. Try as I might, I couldn’t sleep that night. In fact I don’t think any of us really did.