Hell in Our Paradise

Chapter 4

15th August 1990

The days were flying by, there was a slight routine to our new way of life but each day was unexpected and completely different. It was a lot of fun I had to admit. Me and Si made it our duty to keep count of the days we'd been here, it had been 10 now, we didn't want to forget. We all had to do jobs to keep the island in order, fire watch was probably my least favourite one, it was just so boring. I had to admit though, fire was beautiful, the enthusiastic licks of flame chomped at the fire wood with murderous intents. I was mesmerised every time I looked in its direction, the pernicious heat seeped into my skin making my body develop little sweat droplets if I stayed too close for too long. I still hated it though, despite its beauty that left me in awe. Even when I was on it with my best friend Annie, it got rather boring after a while. Today was my day for fire watch, great. But that wasn't till later on, so when I woke up and had eaten breakfast I headed straight to the littluns.
"Whatcha guys doing?" I watched as SamnEric kicked the heads of Percival, Peter and Mikey; not too aggressive, the twins were being mindful that the buried boys were only young.
"I did it I did it" Peter cried before Sam or Eric, I couldn't actually tell which was which yet, kicked him in the head. I would've immediately intervened but I guess this was just how boys 'played'.
"No you didn't, I didn't see any bubbles" One of the twins said, circling the 3.
"Yeah it wasn't white enough!" His brother added, jumping around. I rolled my eyes at the whole scene and decided the game had gone far enough and that I should probably put a stop to it. I walked up to the 5 boys , they all turned to stare at me as I did so. I gathered all the saliva I could muster from my mouth, and spat on the ground, right before the twins, at their feet.
"This good enough to let them all free?" At first, the pair stared at me in disbelief, they then turned to each other, satisfied grins spread across their faces. Without a word, they both nodded at me and skipped away, probably going to conspire their next prank and aim it against me. The younger lads all erupted into laughter, probably surprised a 'lady' actually spat, and also because young kids found anything funny.
"That was amazing Layla!" Percival mumbled through his giggles.
"Yeah you're really good at spitting." Mikey stated, a look of shock still plastered his face.
"You could totally win an award for it." Peter remarked, a cheesy, toothy grin pressed on his lips.
"Wow thanks boys, maybe one day I could teach you all how to spit as good as me, then SamnEric can't bother you, eh?" I joked, but their faces seemed to light up at the idea and I chuckled, I had to stick to it now I'd said it.

After helping the 3 boys out of their sandy cages I built sand castles with them for a while, feeling bad about the game they'd been forced to play before. It took us at least 5 tries before we actually made a somewhat decent castle; the ones before either being kicked by a passing boy (usually Roger) or being consumed by a wave that had the nerve to come right up the shore. Percy had just stuck some shells we'd found into the sandy clump, to decorate it, when someone approached us from behind.
I turned my head to see a long mop of chocolate hair, falling down the the persons hips. A sweet smile formed on plump, pink lips, and beautiful brown eyes stared into mine, thick, dark lashes batting at me. It was none other than my gorgeous best friend Annie.
"Hey girl" she waved. "Hello boys" Each one muttered a small hi before their attention was focused back on the sand castle.
"What's up" I stood up and gave her a small hug.
"I'm getting jealous all this time you're spending with my boys, came to take your place." She looked over at the younger boys and they giggled innocently at her statement.
"Oh no please don't." I acted shocked and hurt, smiling as I made eye contact with the girl. She leaned in close to my ear.
"You're welcome" she whispered, I could feel her breath on my neck. She leaned back to face me and winked, I placed a small kiss and her cheek and said my goodbyes to the boys before wandering off. Mouthing a thank you to Annie for saving me. Playing with the littluns was fun for a while, but they did get quite annoying so I'm glad Annie had my back, she was much more patient with children then I was. Most people were out doing jobs, so I went to camp to see if anyone could keep me company.