The Island

20. Accusations

Jordyn

I move out of the doorway to let the two of them in. Neil stands by the frame while Sam hurries over to Kaia's body.

"What did you do, Jordyn?" he repeats, venom dripping from his words.

I hadn't answered him yet because I didn't know what to say. I open my mouth a few times, completely stunned by his words.

"Answer me!" he all but shouts, twisting around on his knees to face me.

"I didn't do anything," I manage to spit out around my lead tongue.

"Then what happened?" Neil asks calmly.

What surprises me the most about the scene unfolding before me is how their personalities have switched places. I would imagine Sam taking this in a lot calmer fashion, and yet, here he stands with a look of sheer panic and anger that I've never seen before.

The glint in his eyes wakes up a rational part of my brain that I've been ignoring.

I had trusted him wholeheartedly based on the familiarity that I felt when I looked at him. Yet, I don't know Samson at all. I rushed into being his partner in the hopes that my memory would come back.

Now, though, I see that Sam is an ember. When coddled and encouraged, he holds the potential to tear down cities and burn foundations to ash. When left alone for too long, he spirals out of control, fueled by any and everything around him. I had been giving him reason to be nice, but the tables have turned overnight.

I should have seen this, should have been scared of him before now.

"I don't know what happened," I finally say as the words come together in my head. "We found this building and locked ourselves in for the night--"

"You were supposed to yell for us," Sam interrupts, his hand on Kaia's cheek.

"She didn't want to," I say quietly. "She said it wasn't safe to ask you to travel through the jungle at night. All we did was go to sleep. I've been asleep all night."

Neil paces around the room like a vulture looking down on its prey.

"Nothing came in?" he asks.

I shake my head.

"And neither of you went out?"

I shake my head again. "Not that I know of, anyway. I was asleep."

Neil squats down by an upset Sam and peers through the jumpsuit zipper to inspect the stab wounds.

"She was killed by a person, Jordyn," he says in a low voice. "Stabbed."

I nod viciously.

"I know, but it wasn't--"

"You, yeah. You've said that," he interrupts, "but how are we supposed to believe you? No one came in, and no one went out. Now, we've got a dead body and you were the only one around! There's no signs of a fight. It looks like something snuck up on her in the middle of the night. Do you realize how suspicious that is?"

I definitely realize that, but it can't have been me. I'm not a murderer. I'm an arsonist. Maybe an arsonist that killed people, but I know I had to have a good reason. I didn't do it just because.

"You're covered in blood," Neil continues as I back myself into the corner of the room, clinging to the wall with shaking hands. "It had to have been you."

I look over at Sam with pleading eyes. Come to my rescue. Stand up for me. Just one more time, please. Sam purses his lips together and opens his mouth slowly to take a deep breath.