The Island

Part 7 - 2

Two:

Logan gathered herself as she made the last few strokes on her poster board. She had found it in the pantry; this was also the same place she worked. Out of creativity, Logan decided to make everyone's votes visible. She gathered all the votes and assembled her poster; Velcro strips were placed on the back of each vote while the other half of the Velcro went on the board. To keep it fair and the winner unknown, she put seven Velcro strips under each candidate's name, all artistically displayed at the top of the board. If one of the candidates got seven votes, they automatically won the election. Logan did not know the outcome of the vote herself; she hadn't bothered looking and counting each candidate. With each separate vote in an old jar, she took the poster board and the jar and headed out of the fishbowl pantry. Out she walked, seeing no one in the dining room. They were all in the foyer waiting; Logan remembered Wyatt set up an old artistic easel he found in the library. She headed down with a dismal stare; she knew this vote would rock this cabin to its foundation. From the foyer, the three candidates saw the nervous Logan and began clapping. Most of her friends did too. Walking in, she could tell everyone was very anxious to find out who the winner was. The easel was set up in the landing a few steps above the hardwood floor in the foyer. With her stuff, she lugged it up the few steps. Logan put her poster onto the easel and let the audience behold it. Written across the top were all of the candidates names - Sara, Jeanette, and Michael, respectively. Logan looked around the landing for something to set her glass jar on. In the audience, Carmen saw her. "Logan, I'll get you a stool." She called. "Thank you!" Logan called after her. Carmen whisked away into the kitchen area. There was a momentary silence. "Alright." Michael boomed across the foyer. The talking from his friends silenced. "We have a few requests of you, Logan." He turned his attention to the vote keeper on the stairs. "Requests?" Sara questioned. "The first..." Michael looked at Sara and smiled. "is that you take out your own vote." Logan nodded. She reached into her jar, shuffling the papers around looking for hers. "Logan," called Sara. Logan looked up. "Are you okay with this? You don't have to-" "Yes, she does." Michael again interrupted Sara. "I agree." Jeanette chimed in. Logan still looked at the three, feeling miserable inside. "Sara, I have to. It's two against one." Logan said to her. Sara nodded in defeat. Logan found her vote and looked at it. Written across the front was Sara's name, looking perfect for presentation. She hesitantly crumbled it up and slipped it into her pocket. Michael watched her evilly. "The second-" Carmen ran in with a wooden stool from a counter by the kitchen. She rushed up the stairs with it and found a nice place to set it right by the easel. "Thank you, Carmen." Logan whispered to her. "Yeah. No problem!" Carmen seemed cheerful. She went back down into he general audience, looking up at Logan. Carmen made sure she stood in view of JT; he was in the back of the crowd. He seemed focused and anxious, just like the rest of them. Carmen nudged him. JT turned around and looked at Carmen. She winked and looked up at the poster. He nodded and then turned away. He now was nervous; he knew his vote would surprise her. Back up at the landing, Logan looked out on her friends, taking in the noon sun that had focused in a skylight above them. The deer antler chandelier still hung there in the foyer; the sunlight casted an odd shadow on the stairs below Logan. "About that second request...." Michael continued. "The majority of the candidates would ask you to read the names of each voter and say who they voted for-" "What!?" Sara cried. She turned to him. "How is that at all fair? You don't run this place-" "Neither do you." He cut her off. Sara felt that burn in her heart. Jeanette seemed to be in full support of the idea. "Alright, candidates. I will say each voter's name and their vote." Logan replied. She hated this; she knew whoever won would now be a riot for the others who didn't vote for the winner. Logan fretted the result of the election. She swallowed her fear and opened her eyes wide to the people in front of her. "Um, hi guys." She rang out. They all were silent. "Okay, just a quick explanation on how I'm presenting the votes and the winner - I will pick a name out of this jar..." She pointed to the glass jar with the votes. "and say the voter's name. Then I will stick their vote under which candidate they chose. Is that clear?" Her friends nodded in agreement. Logan remembered something she forgot to mention. "And just one more thing- I will ask the winner of the election to come up here and give a quick speech. Alright, here we go." Logan swallowed again and walked over to the votes jar. She looked over it, feeling a bit queasy. She reached inside, feeling like Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games. She pulled the first vote out and walked to the easel. "Taylor..." Logan posted the vote. "Michael." No surprise there. The crowd wasn't so surprised either. Logan drew another vote. She examined it. "Brock..." Logan put it under the appropriate candidate. "Michael." Again, no surprise. Logan drew the third vote. "Andie..." To no one's surprise, Logan put his vote under the leftmost category. "Sara." Logan found another vote in the glass jar. "JT..." Carmen perked up. She had taken a few steps forward, a bit in front of JT's right. She held her breath at the vote. To Carmen's shock, JT's vote fell under Michael. "Michael." She gasped. Carmen shot a very angry look to JT. Despite his size and height, JT slumped down at Carmen's nasty glare. She turned back to the stairs, shaking her head. JT felt ashamed. Logan on the landing had now drawn another vote. "Carmen..." Logan found the middle category of Velcro and stuck it on. "Jeanette." That was no surprise either. Now all the predictable votes had been posted. The last three - Emma, Randy, and even her own boyfriend Wyatt worried her. She felt this sense of a major landslide coming. Had they banded together to blindside the vote? It was time to find out. Logan reached in and found her boyfriend's vote in her hands. The two had a heated discussion the night before about the vote; Logan tried to convince Wyatt to vote for Sara, but he was hesitant. Logan hoped he had voted for Sara and not anyone else; the other candidates, in Logan's mind, could not be trusted. "Wyatt..." She opened the vote and gazed at the name written on the page. Logan put the vote on the next available spot in Jeanette's category. "Jeanette." The crowd seemed surprised; curious looks went to Wyatt. He didn't pay attention to any of them, except for Jeanette. She silently clapped and smiled his way. Wyatt waved at Jeanette. Logan watched the whole thing; she was sickened by it. Logan went over to the vote jar and collected yet another vote. "Randy..." He stood by Michael unintentionally at the time. Michael had saw him and stepped closer to him. As Logan read Randy's vote to herself, Michael patted Randy's back. He didn't say a word. Randy looked at Michael with a puzzled face. Randy turned back and waited for Logan to post his vote. She placed the vote on the board. Michael's jaw dropped; Randy smiled to himself. He knew Michael was surprised at his vote. "Sara." Whispers immediately began again; especially Brock and Taylor looked across the room at Michael and Randy, who had now stepped away from each other. "Alright, here's the last vote." Logan took the final vote out of the jar. "Who hasn't gone yet?" Taylor whispered to Brock. "Emma I think." Brock looked in Emma's direction. She stood right in front of the crowd. Taylor looked at Emma too. "Quiet down." Jeanette said to the crowd. She looked up at Logan on the stairs. Logan stood on the landing, standing and staring at Emma's vote. An overwhelming feeling of guilt and despair washed over her body. Her knees became weak and her thoughts raced. Logan tried swallowed all of it. "Emma..." Logan was almost shaking. She knew this vote either tied Sara and Michael or gave Michael the win; Logan knew Emma wouldn't vote for Jeanette. Maybe she would. Could have Emma voted for Jeanette? If she did, Michael and Jeanette would be tied. Logan decided to see. She opened the vote and took note of the name. Logan's stomach dropped. Logan by then was almost crying on the landing. What she held in her hands was about to upset a lot of people. Logan turned away from the poster board and went to the foot of the landing. Standing before her friends, Logan read the vote. "Michael." The crowd gasped. "What-" "Are you kidding me-" "Who let this happen-" Logan silenced the outcry. "Michael is now the leader of this island." She looked directly to Michael. "Would you like to say a few words?" Logan said with tears falling out of her eyes. "Gladly." Michael said. He had the biggest smile possible on his face. He walked past the other former candidates and up to the landing. Logan went down the steps, leaving her poster and jar behind. She dashed past the crowd and went straight to the kitchen crying. Wyatt saw her and pushed his way to her. "Hi everyone!" Michael said. "I would like to thank my supporters for helping me become the next great leader after Adin." Michael waved. "Thank you, Brock and Taylor." They clapped. "Thank you, my man, JT!" He clapped once and pointed to the back. "What man is he?" Carmen called aloud. "Yeah!" Jeanette seconded. Michael ignored them both. "And finally, my unexpected supporter, Emma! Give a round for her!" Brock, Taylor, JT, and Michael all clapped for her. She seemed embarrassed. "I think I'm done." Michael said, stepping off the landing and coming back down the stairs. "In no way am I listening to your cocky ass." Andie stated directly to Michael. "Oh?" Michael stopped and eyed Andie. "And why's that?" "Because you're a bully. You only scared Emma into voting for you." Andie said. "Well, she still voted for me, so I guess I'm still leader. So, as my first order, get out of my face, Andie." Michael replied seeming serious, yet somewhat like a smart-alack. "You get out first." Andie took himself and his girlfriend out of the foyer and to their room.