Dying Embers

Chapter Fourteen

         Jessie, Carlene and I spent the whole day together. We had fun going to the river. It was a clear day. Despite being hungry and being in danger from the other hungry people yeah we were having fun. 

         "Can we stay here by the water?" Jessie asked. She was wading in the shallow water of the river. I smiled and sat down on the rocks watching her have her fun catching fishes with her hands. Callene was balancing herself on a rock in the river. I looked at the cave across the river. That could be used for something. Maybe some wild animal already lives there. Never mind. Just leave it alone. We shouldn't mess with anything. 

            "River, we seriously need to find food and fast," Carlene said. I nodded. Even I was hungry. My ribs were showing, our clothes were ripped. Well Jessie's were not as bad. She was wearing a dress that went down to her knees. I was wearing pants when I first came here now both legs were ripped to the knees. Ash from the smoke had darkened my clothes as did Carlene's. She was wearing pants as well but they were ripped. She had holes and her her shirt sleeves were ripped and shredded. My shirt..I don't think it's a shirt any longer. There was much left of it. I might as well take it off. I grabbed the sleeve and ripped it off. The sound of cloth ripping filled my ear drums. I ripped the shredded shirt off. I looked up and saw Jessie and Carlene were staring at me.

          "What?" I asked. Carlene pressed her lips together and Jessie giggled when she saw Carlene's reaction. I stood up and walked to the water. My shoes were still in good shape..somewhat. At least there were no holes. I waded in the water looking for a fish. 

        "You're not seriously gonna try and catch a fish with your hands are you?" Carlene asked. I smiled and nodded. 

        "Be really quiet and very still," I whispered. They stood still and I focused my sight in the muddy water. I waited until the mud settled to the bottom so I could see clearly. The fishes were coming back and started swimming around my shoes. I narrowed my eyes and bent down lower trying not to move my feet or scare the fish away. It was so quiet. I had my hands in front of me hovering over the water. When I saw a big enough fish my left hand shot into the water I felt the fishes tail but missed. I sighed. I had to wait all over again. I waited and tried to catch another fish and failed. Again and again I tried. Finally I had enough. These fishes were pissing me off. I'm hungry and they are food. I'm gonna get my damn food one way or another. I shot my hand in the water when my eyes spotted a big fish. I wrapped my fingers tightly around it's tail and lifted it. Not bothering to aim and threw it blindly towards the bank. I heard Carlene and Jessie cheer happily. I walked over to the bank and looked at the flopping fish. I stepped on it stopping it from flopping. Somehow we are gonna have to cook it. I have to show Larry how to do this. I know he would like doing something like this. I grinned and looked at Carlene.

            "We are going fishing," I said. Carlene helped me fished and together we caught four fishes not including the fish I caught so that's five. There were..Bridget, Larry, Robert, Lucifer,...Bill.., and three kids, Jessie, Carlene and I. So that's...11 people in all on this island. I sighed and looked at the five fish we caught. Is that enough? Surely but we were hungry. We are going to eat more than usual. So two more fishes..? Why not? We waded in the water and caught two fishes eventually. It took a long time and a lot of patience. 

          "Should we eat first? They are probably gonna fight each other for the fish," Carlene said. I nodded. Possibly someone choking the life out of someone else if they try and take that person's fish. I honestly wouldn't blame the person if they did that. Someone tried taking my fish I'll fucking choke you. I shook my head. What the hell was wrong with me? I can't believe I even thought about killing someone. I can't do it. I would never. I looked at Carlene and Jessie.

        "Let's eat," I said. We started a fire and put the fishes on a stick and cooked all of them. All seven of them. Us three only ate part of one fish and we were somewhat full. Better than starving at least we weren't hungry anymore. I never liked fish but when you're really starving you'll eat anything you can find. 

       "Alright let's go to shore and show them the fish," I said. We stood up and carried the cooked fish to shore. The people looked miserable and hungry. 

      "I need y'all to line up," I ordered them. They looked at me confused except Lucifer he just looked at me with hatred. 

        "Why?" Bridget asked. 

     "Food," I answered. One word and seven people lined up. I gave them each a part of a fish and they ate. Jessie hugged me tightly. 

     "Thank you for getting the food," she said. I smiled. 

  "River while you were gone we worked on the huts," Larry said. I looked up and saw several huts that could hold about three people in each. I grinned. Some good was happening today at least. When the sun started to set everybody got ready for the huts. Carlene, Jessie and I chose the fartherest one from everybody else. I stepped inside and lied down. Jessie lied down beside me and Carlene just sat down at the entrance watching the sunset over the water. I looked at her face and watched her expressions. She looked almost sad. In no time Jessie was asleep and Carlene was still staring at the sunset. I wondered what she saw. I found myself looking at her raven black hair against her pale white skin. Her violet eyes and how they teared up from her own sadness. Something hurt her much deeper than her family hating her. When she turned her head towards me I closed my eyes as if I was asleep the whole time. I might as well go to sleep. I sighed and shifted into a more comfortable spot and fell asleep.

      Oh please no. Not the fire. The house wasn't on fire though. No I was in the burning forest again. Smoke filled my lungs and poisoned them. I coughed my throat turning sore, my voice getting scratchy and raspy. I saw my father standing in the middel of the burning forest looking up. I coughed again and stumbled towards him. 

       "Dad?" I asked. He looked at me but his eyes were empty. He was murdered. I couldn't get the thought of someone murdering him. He took a step towards me. His hand reached out towards me. When I looked at his hand it suddenly set on fire. I jumped and backed away. The fire that started at his hand spread all over his body, burning him. I was too stunned to move. I gasped in horror when his skin started to melt. I looked into his brown eyes as they popped out of his head and melted slowly. His skull began to show and then it too started to melt very slowly. His melted body fell to the ground. I couldn't...

             "River," I heard my dad's voice in my head. I looked around but he wasn't there. He was still in melted form. 

           "River please just open your self up to me. Listen to the name of the person that killed me," he said. I shook my head. He wasn't real. No. He wasn't here. I covered my ears with my hands trying to block out his voice. 

           "No. I don't want to know!" I screamed. 

    "Yes you do. Listen to me! The person that killed me is-" 

      "NO! I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!" 

       "RIVER!" Carlene screamed. I sat up. I was surrounded by blackness. I could feel Carlene hands on my face. I breathed heavily. I couldn't breathe. Everything felt heavy. 

        "River are you okay? You were screaming," she said breathlessly. 

   "No. No I'm not okay," I croaked. I shook my head. I wasn't okay at all.