THE ISLE OF DISCUSSION

Chapter 2 : by Luciefée

"WHAT?????" Ben cried as Rey turned to him silently. "What is this joke? We're not going to stay here, it's insane!"

"Apparently so," Rey replied, too dumbfounded to raise her voice. "They wrote ... 'to spend the rest of the night AND the whole day tomorrow in the little cabin.'"

"Wait, let me see," asked the tall man, almost snatching the sheet from her hands.

He reread the text, and the further he read, the more anger rose in him. He ran his hand nervously through his hair. Beside him, Rey held her phone to light up the paper but she didn't move, as if frozen in place.

Ben looked around, waiting for the moment their friends came out of their hiding place, but he could only see that they were indeed gone and the fog was thickening. Flabbergasted, he pulled out his phone and tried to call Armitage but there was no network. Impossible for them to contact anyone! A veil of dark gray clouds gradually covered the moon that had lit them so far and he exploded.

"What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK!!! What's wrong with them, are they CRAZY? What the hell is this idea? Has the excess of whisky burned their neurons or what? Seriously?!"

"Listen Ben," Rey replied, coming out of her torpor, "you don't need to be pissed off..."

"DON'T NEED TO BE PISSED OFF??? Are you kidding me? I woke up in the middle of the night to be dragged to a ROTTEN island in the middle of nowhere. But no, I'm not going to get upset at all! Thank you very much Rey, that's really helpful!"

"HEY, do I need to remind you that I was sleeping too," Rey retorted sternly. "I am also stuck on this rotten island. And I'd prefer it if you didn't yell at me !"

Ben ran a hand over his face with a breath and moved away from the young woman a bit. It was true that she was trapped just like him. But he felt angry and tired and he wanted to express himself without having to hear the annoying thoughts of his struggling partner. Under Rey's questioning gaze he began to walk in circles aimlessly, muttering his anger.

"Whatever! This is such a shitty idea! At what point did they decide, Hey, I've got a great idea! Let's go wake up Ben and Rey and throw them on this island. This is going to make them happy. What a beneficial experience for them! BENEFICIAL MY ASS!!!" Ben shouted towards the increasingly dark sky before continuing his monologue. "And then we're going to use a really bad pretext, that way they'll be very worried before they realize that this is all just one big CRAP JOKE! Really, there is no better way to create the perfect atmosphere and have a GREAT HOLIDAY with friends! SHITTY friends! Do they want me to talk? Well, they'll see how I'm going to chat with them as soon as we get out of here! Eh? These pieces of ..."

As Ben was about to run down a list of all the insults he knew to call his friends, he heard a laugh. He turned suddenly and saw Rey who was trying to hide her mouth but whose shining eyes betrayed amusement. She laughed again.

"Wait, are you laughing?" Ben asked, stopping dead in his tracks. "Are you enjoying this situation?"

"Not really," answered the young woman, completely disheveled, "but you on the other hand, you are very funny!"

"Funny?" the tall man said, bewildered as Rey laughed again. "I don't see what's funny. We're stuck on a tiny, remote island in the wilds of Scotland, it's almost 3 a.m., we can't see anything within 2 meters, we can't swim to shore, we can't call anyone to ask for a pick-up either, and it's way too cold for the month of June! So no, it's not fun. And please stop laughing. Frankly, I don't see how it could get any worse."

At the same time, lightning tore through the sky, thunder rumbled, and rain began to fall heavily. Rey burst out laughing under Ben's desperate gaze. The drops, numerous and cool, were beginning to soak her hair and her face, and some slipped down her neck.