Vicious Memories

Chapter 48

The night before we caught the killer, we sat around the fire listening to a disturbing story.

All through dinner questions chased themselves around my head. Why, they asked, are we trapped on this island with two convicted murderers? If we were their jailers, how did they get free of their restraints before the crash? If we weren't jailers then why would we go to - or be sent to - an island with them aboard our ship?

And underneath all of the questions was another.

You weren't on the ship, Ollie. They all got here two years ago. So where exactly did you come from?

After dinner we sat around the bonfire in the middle of the clearing. Dusk dragged gentle fingers over our surroundings, that magical time before night takes over, when the light is tinted purple and the bruised sky fades slowly to black, all the hot colors sucked out of the air as if by some god's great inhale. The first stars began to wheel into their places overhead. The whirring sound of bug wings mixed with our muted chatter, trying to soothe my chaotic thoughts.

Alice sat next to me, succeeded by all the regular faces: Felix, Cooper, Bev, Neema, Mads, Gabriel, Finn, Mohammed, Tana, and half a dozen others. Thankfully I'd barely glimpsed Arun since the town hall.

"I want to hear it," I said. "Neema mentioned it on my first day and said it was a story for another time. At this rate..." I shook my head. "We might not have many opportunities left."

"I don't know." Felix looked down at his big hands. "Everyone else already knows it so well."

"Not everyone, mate," Cooper said.

"Ah. Right." Felix glanced at him. "I keep forgetting. Sorry."

"We'll make a deal. Apology accepted as long as you tell the story."

"Come on already," Finn said. "When was the last time you told it?"

"Il y a plusieurs mois," Mads said loudly.

"English, Mads," Cooper grumbled. "None of that nonsense."

The conversation paused abruptly at Cooper's words. I looked from face to face as the light of day continued to dwindle, surprised. Even Mads looked shocked.

Then we all burst out laughing, a happiness engulfing us that was so welcome it was like being wrapped in a warm blanket after emerging from an ice bath. It was such an unexpected-yet-expected thing to come out of Cooper's mouth that we couldn't stop laughing for an entire minute.

"What?" Cooper kept asking. "I don't get it."

Finn, wiping tears from his eyes, leaned over an put an arm around him. "You used to say that all the time. Like, every single day. Complaining about Mads' French was one of your favorite things to do. It's... well, it's just good to hear it again, I guess. After everything."

I subconsciously bobbed my head in agreement. It was just a good thing to hear again.

Felix took up the torch of conversation with an oddly wistful look on his face. He composed himself, brushing his hands on his khaki shorts before opening them in welcome to us all. He wide smile flashed across his face and he raised his eyebrows.

"The short and sad tale of our failed expedition," he said. He turned to Cooper. "The only other person on the raft was you, actually. But I suppose that just means I can embellish the tale a little more than I could before."

"Have a go," Cooper grinned.

"The first few months here were hard," Felix began. "I would say they were the hardest we've had... except for the last couple of weeks, maybe... Most of us remember those times well enough, when it slowly became clear that we weren't going to be rescued. That we were on our own. We stopped the signal fire after, what, a month and a half? Replaced it with that big S.O.S. sign on the beach. Three months is a long time to wait, and waiting was getting old, so I decided to do what I always do..."