The Flaw

5

Kai's POV

It's early in the morning and I sit awake outside my little hut. The sky is burning with my favourite colours. Oranges and reds of every shade light up the dark sky; interspersed with golden pinks and purples. A cool blast of air hits my skin and I shiver; rubbing the goose bumps away from the smooth skin on my arms. My bare feet dig down into the trampled dirt outside my home in the centre of the island and my fingers tingle with cold as I watch the beautiful display in the skies. As the sunrise finishes, I stand up and walk over to my vegetable patch, pins and needles prickling down my legs after being seated for so long. As the sun slips completely over the horizon I amble back into my little house and close my eyes to catch a few more minutes of sleep.

"Kai...Kai? Sweetie time to get up," Carlotta's smooth accented voice floats into my bamboo hut, accompanied by the strong scent of freshly ground coffee beans. I love smelling Carly's scent in the morning and knowing that she was drinking something I had nurtured and grown from just a bean. I think Carlotta's a little addicted to her morning coffee; but if it gives her that much joy in this miserable place I'm not going to be the one to deny her that. I finally roll out of bed just before Carlotta would normally steal my blanket and I get changed into the clothing I wear almost every day, a dirt covered pair of jeans and a flannel shirt which is easy to move around in and I don't really mind if it gets dirty. As soon as I am up and changed Carly arrives back in my little bamboo hut and envelops me in a giant hug. I always smell the coffee on her clothes, even if it is one of the rare days that she doesn't drink it. Her eyes are the exact same brown as her beloved drink when it sparkles in the sun and they have tiny gold flecks in them that look like little fragments of sunlight. When I first came to this strange little island that was one of the things that made me so much more interested in her. Carlotta was always the most kind to me when I arrived so I just tried to stay with her for as long as possible. The others on the island are mostly nice(ish) to me but none of them really look after me like Carlotta does. As Carlotta sweeps gracefully out of the hut I grab the end of her long brown ponytail to slow her down then cartwheel out into the centre of our circle of crudely made buildings.

As I reach the centre I almost bump into Cora, supposedly one of the leaders in our little group. Personally I don't see her as a leader, since she doesn't really care about the people she's supposed to be leading.

"Watch it, Koi!" She uses the name for an exotic fish and imitates me, opening and closing her mouth. Her American accent cuts harshly through my daze of happiness in the morning. I see her muscular arms tense slightly and I dip out of the way as she shoves her shoulder towards where I was standing. Maybe Cora does have a function after all. Not as a leader, but as my very own personal reactions trainer. I grin at her, step right up close and measure my height against hers. I smirk as I step away and indicate the small gap closing between our heights; the only thing I know really gets under her skin. I quickly move away before Cora rages out and go to my garden to collect some veggies to add to our breakfast. I harvest a couple of long, bright purple vegetables and some cocoa beans close to the colour of my skin. I'm a little nervous to face Cora after pissing her off so much; normally I'm not that outgoing towards anyone. As I enter the eating area and deposit my new pickings I deliberately avoid Cora and sit alone inside the food hall on a wooden stump to chew on a large cocoa bean. The taste is bitter at first but soon it melts into a thick paste of sweet chocolatey goodness. After a while of chewing Carly comes and sits with me, bringing over some breakfast to fill my stomach. After we have finished eating, and haven't suffered any attacks from Cora, we decide to split up, since Carlotta is going hunting.

I don't understand how any of the kids on this island can stand killing innocent animals when we could just eat my grown goods. Either way, they do it, and there's nothing I can do about it, so I just refuse to kill anything. I could never deal with that kind of guilt. As I plan out my day, I try to work out which sector the Latens are in this week. I decide that I need water, for my plants and for the camp, too much to not risk going into any of the sectors and I decide on the North or East sector, since they have the safest supply of fresh water. My garden is closer to the East sector so I decide to go down, collect some water and play a little with the otters.

As soon as I walk down to the shore I notice a group of otters holding hands in the water, asleep. I collect fresh water from a nearby stream in two buckets then place them in a heavily wooded area near the shoreline. Finally I wake up the otters and sit in the sand playing games with them. At the end of the last game they give me a strip of kelp as a prize and I'm in a good mood as I go to collect my buckets from the copse of trees. I gather the buckets and set off for home, trudging through the thick undergrowth towards the camp. I finally arrive back when the sun is at its highest and once again tend to my garden, giving it the majority of water before sending the rest to the kitchen. As I seat myself in a warm patch of sunlight to soak up some rays before the hunting party gets home, Zac approaches me . His soft voice cuts through my reverie , but I know what it feels like to be on the outside so I always try to be nicer to him.

"Uh, hey Kai. Did you, uh... see the otters today?"

"Yeah, I think they're napping though now. Have you noticed that our fruit and veggie stores have been getting a little low lately?"

Zac immediately lowers his face and his long fringe almost hides his guilty expression

"Zac," I'm immediately on my guard, "Did you take the food?"

"I...uh...there was wind and uh...I saw some fall out of the store..."

"Why didn't you go get it back? You know how important these stores are! I can't just keep growing more! There's a limited supply!"

"I... I'm sorry... I just...um...there were eyes... I think they were Latens... I can go if-"

I immediately drop the topic. Everyone knows how dangerous Latens are. If Zac had gone after the food, he would have died. There's no way I would value a bit of food over someone's life, not even an animal's. Zac suddenly seems very interested in a small spot of dirt and I know that I shouldn't have put him on the spot like that.

"I'm sorry Zac, I... I get it."

"W-what?"

"Just... If you want to hang out or something, I can help you."

"Um, Thanks I..."

I feel a little awkward; (especially as I could see him blushing not-so-slightly); so I quickly switched to mature teen mode

"Also, you have a hole in your roof. I can help you fix it, although I have to warn you, I'm not very good with tools"

Zac smiles back at me and I go to find some tools to get on with the day.