When 17 young adults find themselves on a deserted island, they must build a life from the ground up. Being stranded means hard days, cold nights, dangerous waters and mysterious events where the castaways must learn to survive. Despite the inevita...
Piper put me on preservation and packing duty for the morning. She dropped off the fruits and vegetables that she found and I worked in the impromptu kitchen peeling, cutting and packing the fruit in banana leaf so that it would preserve for the next couple of days.
The cabin had a scullery at the back that had an exit to the stream that it was located alongside of. The kitchen itself was located a ten minute away from the main campsite and in the morning light, I saw that there were utensils and apparatus spread about the wooden counter-tops. Everything seemed odd and out of place on the island, but I wasn't about to start complaining about the things that helped.
I worked in the peaceful silence that the forest granted. I expected the smell of fruit and food to attract predators but the kitchen was smartly placed. The locals that seemingly lived here managed to build a settlement with thoughtful agency. I hummed to myself as I placed the last of the coconut pulp inside a wooden bowl.
I walked back to the scullery and exited the kitchen, I knelt down beside the river and washed my hands. The forest smelled like fresh petrichor even though it didn't rain last night. Still, there was not a bird in sight but the leaves ruffled alongside the tree groves like there was something alive here other than us. There had to be. Throughout my morning, I kept trying to listen for any animals but none had sung or spoke. Smart creatures, humans can be scary.
I resumed my humming and turned to enter back into the kitchen. I saw a dark figure waiting beside the front door cradling something and my bones jumped.
"Cockfuck!" I yelped and shut my eyes. I put my hands around my eyes and braced for my kidnapping.
Except...
"What the fuck are you doing?!" he said, "You know every single person on this island!"
I peeped through my fingers and saw Christopher standing beside the door with a baffled frown denting his forehead and blood dripping down his chin. I moved my hands down and straightened out. Why was there so much blood on this island?
He was holding an entire banana leaf full of dead fish but I wasn't concerned about that. I walked towards him, circling around the middle table and stood in front of him, looking directly at his cut lip. His bottom lip was entirely swollen and dried blood marred his knuckles as well as his throat.
"Who the hell did you piss off now?" I grumbled, taking the fish off him. I needed to stop looking at his lips. The fish was heavy but I managed to put it on the table and it fell down with an awkward splat. The banana leaf was on its last limbs and beginning to tear so I put it on the ground.
When I turned to look around at him, he was biting his bottom lip. The blood coated his teeth and he smiled at me, a painting of red against white. He looked like something out of a horror movie. He closed his mouth and swallowed before speaking, "Scared, Princess?"
I breathed out and didn't realize that my breaths had become heavy. I coughed, "Christopher, What happened to staying away from me?"
He raised his brows.
"What are you still doing here?" I pushed. Last night had been a moment of vulnerability, I wasn't going to cry. He wasn't going to get anymore tears from me. I turned around to the side counter and took some herbs from a bowl, I placed them on my tongue and let the flavor coat itself around me. I took the knife that was there and moved to where the fish was.
When I looked up, Christopher was looking at my mouth, at my chewing. When I swallowed, he tracked the movement down my throat and his eyelids faltered in their cold gaze. What was wrong with this guy?
He shook his head slightly and then answered, "There's a lot of fish, you need to de-scale and then de-bone them. People don't think you can handle that before lunch."
I narrowed my eyes at him "No one thinks that."
"Believe what you must, Princess but I want to eat before the sun sets." He moved to where I got my knife and took another one. He walked to the other side of the table, and stood across from me before taking a fish from the pile. He scraped the knife across the edge of the wooden counter before he started to de-scale the fish.
I grated my teeth and frowned. I placed the knife down on the table and winced at the dull sound of metal hitting wood. Didn't he say he wanted nothing to do with me?Were you just hallucinating how much of a dickcheese piece he was, Harvs?
He took his time and I was starting to feel more and more embarrassed at my outburst. Until finally, he looked up at me with a bored expression. "What?"
I pursed my lips and looked at him. His cheeks were blotched red from the sun and his eyelashes were fanned down. I hated the reaction I had towards him. He was nothing more than a piece of shit that hated me for what I was, like I had a choice in the matter. Only, he wasn't being one today and I decided I needed to choose my battles.
I took the dishcloth that was tied to my belt loop and flung it at his face. "You're getting blood on my worktop. Deal with it."
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