The Island's Captives

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Love Thy Neighbor

Isabella Johnson II

It had been days since the guys left, leaving me alone with only that Rose for company. What's taking so long? I wondered. What if they've been captured? That was my biggest concern, but I knew it was no use worrying myself. If something bad did happen, there was nothing I could do about it. For the moment at least.

"What's taking them so long?" Rose complained in her whiny voice.

"Probably going through a little trouble," I said, "Which you have only yourself to thank for." Rose sighed in annoyance and I left her, wishing I had a friend to talk to, and went outside. It was midday, and still no sign of them.

For a moment, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu. Something about what I was doing, just standing outside in the hot sun waiting for my friends' return, seemed so familiar. But I couldn't remember exactly why it was.
I didn't have much time to think about, because I suddenly noticed several moving shapes down by the beach. They've back! I sighed in relief. They hadn't been captured or anything. But when I looked back down, I realized there were six people, not five as there should be. Oh wait, is that another person? I couldn't tell for sure, but it seemed there were some extra people down there. For a moment I was scared it was Fawkes' gang, but as they got closer I could see the individual characteristics of my friends.

"Hello?" I heard someone, it sounded like Pete, shout.

"Yeah?" I shouted back. I saw one of them, Pete, start running up the hill towards me, climbing swiftly over the rocks and shrubs. I hurried towards him.

"Izzy, I need you to fill up a large bowl of hot water," Pete said, panting.

"A bowl of hot water?" I asked, wondering what that would be needed for.

"Yes! Hurry!" Pete said, still trying to catch his breath. I hurried back toward the Brown House.

"Are they here?" Rose asked as I dashed into the kitchen. I nodded and opened the cabinet where the bowls were located. I quickly grabbed the largest one and rushed it to the sink, where I turned the water on hot and started to fill it up. From the corner of my eye I saw Rose rush outside, and I yelled for her to come back, but of course she didn't.

Once the bowl was full I carefully carried it back outside, to where I saw Pete and Rose together. Rose was hugging Pete, telling him how badly she "missed him." Yeah right. But I noticed something else. Pete was hugging her back, or at least not really. He seemed to be thinking about something.

"Here's the water," I said, purposely ignoring Rose. Pete seemed to also as he reached for the bowl of water in my hands. I saw Rose give him a confused and annoyed look as I handed it over. Just then I saw Menelik and Alex appear. Behind them was Enkidu.

"Izzy?" I looked at Pete. "Can you go get a towel or something?"

"Sure," and I went back into the house. The shower came with enough towels for each of us to have one; although since Mahal died there had been an extra. I took that and headed back outside. Ronny was standing near the bowl of water with some girl I didn't know on the other side. She had very pretty curly hair, which caught my attention for a moment. Then I looked at Ludwig, who was laying someone down near the bowl. The boy's foot was in the water, and suddenly I smiled.

"Wilson!" I exclaimed. My brother! How did he get here? Where did they find him? I didn't ask any of those questions at the moment though; instead I ran up to my brother and gave him a big hug.

"Izzy? What you doing here?" Wilson asked as he tried to keep his balance. I had almost knocked him over from his sitting position.

"I've been here for a while," I answered.

"You know him?" Pete asked me.

"Of course! He's my big, little brother!" I laughed. He was older than me (therefore my big brother) but shorter than me (therefore my little brother).

"Really?" I heard the girl said. She turned to Wilson, "She's your sister?"

"Yeah," Wilson sighed.

"Oh stop being such a sourpuss!" I laughed again and turned to the girl. "Yeah, I'm his sister." She smiled at me as though I was some old friend.

"He stepped on a sea urchin," Ronny informed me.

"What?!" I exclaimed, horrified. I looked at Wilson's foot, which was in the bowl, and saw several puncture wounds. "Wilson, why'd you do that?"

"I wanted to see what it felt like to be stung," Wilson said sarcastically.

"Oh Wilson, you're such a hothead," I said.

"I am not!" Wilson retorted. I just laughed because, seriously, he was a hothead! Very temperamental and prone to getting argumentative and violent whenever he got mad.

While Wilson kept his foot in the really hot water, I asked Pete about what had happened.
"Well, I was kept in a room as a prisoner over at Fawkes' place. It's kinda, like, a large storehouse attached to a mini hotel. And, no, The People weren't there. Still haven't found them yet. Anyway, so one day one of Fawkes' men, Daniel, was about to kill me. He hated me. But Amy, the girl right next to Wilson, saved me and, right after that, Alex and the others arrived, beat up Fawkes and his men, and we, well, we took most of their supplies. Amy helped show us where everything was. Wilson didn't really want to come with us, but Amy did so he came along —"

Wait, did he say Wilson only came because Amy came? I asked myself before asking aloud.
"Wow wait a moment, you mean Wilson only came because Amy did?"

"Yeah," Pete answered, "And after that we started to head back here. It was mostly easygoing, till Wilson stepped on a sea urchin that is. After that we were kinda in a hurry to get back." Well, that was interesting. Fawkes and them had their own place it seemed, but what really interested me was the fact that Wilson had been persuaded to come...by Amy. Not that it was Amy I was curious about; it was the fact that Wilson had been persuaded. He was my brother, so I knew him pretty well. And he was not someone who was easily persuaded by others. He liked to make his own decisions. He certainly did not like people telling him what to do, unless of course it was the school's most notorious bully. Then he might listen, since he practically idolized those types of people.

And Amy...I thought Wilson wasn't into girls. He certainly wasn't last time I had seen him. Sure he would brag to boys about how he "got to sit next to the hottest girl in school at lunch" or about how after school he got to see the girls on the cheerleading team practicing for the school's next game. But secretly (well, not to me) he didn't like girls. He thought they were "annoying" and "whiny". What was it about Amy that had won him over? I mean, she was pretty. And she seemed nice. Are those the only reasons why he likes her?