Solitude Island

Chapter 2

As John and his friends walked back to the orphanage, he realized something. Where would they go? They'd all lived at the orphanage for as long as they could remember; and they'd never been 15 miles away from it. They knew nowhere to go, and nobody had any ideas.

"I'm freezing," stammered Erin, another of his closest girl friends. She was the daughter of an enormously rich father. John had no idea how she could be freezing under all that designer clothing.

"Me too," said Valerie. "We need to find somewhere to stay tonight, preferably indoors."

"Why don't we just stay at the orphanage again tonight?" asked Derek.

"Because if we do, we won't want to leave, and we'll get sucked right back into their little system. I've had it with these assholes. All of them!"

Gwen Bendon, who had never said more than ten words at once, suddenly released all her pent-up rage at once.

"Gwen, I didn't know you-"

"So what if you didn't know? I have feelings too! Drew and his little shit-head friends pester me non-stop. You know what they do to me? They find broken dolls and give them to me. 'We needed someone with experience to fix these.' They treat me like I'm some goddamn sweatshop worker." Tears began to stream down her face, and she quieted her tone. "Nobody cares about me but you guys. If we're going to leave, we need to do it now. I can't take another day in this God-forsaken city."

She slumped against a telephone pole and began to cry softly. As her little diamond tears slid down her reddened cheeks, Nicole spoke up.

"Gwen's right. We need to leave. Now. Our belongings aren't important. I know an island where we can stay. It's uninhabited. My dad and I used to visit there every summer before... before he..." Her voice trailed off into the slowly setting sun. She fought back her salty tears as she continued, her voice shaky.

"Nobody knew about it except for us two. We would hide our little two-seater in this little creek about two miles from it. If we went there, we could row ourselves out there, and nobody would ever know."

"That's a great idea," said John. His conscience was telling him no, but he bit his tongue. "Everyone on board?"

Numerous mutters of "Yes" scattered throughout the group.

"Good. Xavier, you have your wallet on you?"

Xavier Kent was a tall, thin boy, like John, but he had a special talent; thievery. Xavier could pickpocket four people in 10 seconds and not have anyone notice it. It was a gift that nobody else could fathom.

"It's not mine, but yeah, I got it." he opened it up to reveal dozens of $20 bills.

"Perfect. We'll get some supplies with that. Fire starters, blankets, ropes, axes. Everything we may need to survive in the wild. Nicole, are there any animals out there we should worry about?"

"No, just some deer and grizzly bears."

John stared at her.

"Kidding. Just deer."

"Ok, good. Xavier, split up the money. We'll all get enough stuff for the first week or so, and by then, we'll be adjusted. Sound ok?"

Everyone was in agreement. They wrote down a list, divided the items evenly, and got ready to head out.

"Not so fast. Why would you leave without saying goodbye first?"

The only sound was the flick of Drew's switchblade.