It rained heavily for the next week. It was almost as if the sky was crying because of Calum's death.
Work was abandoned because the huts kept on collapsing. No one really spoke much, just huddled together against the rain. Clouds swirled above us and water dripped down my back and drenched me. I shivered uncontrollably, standing beneath a palm tree.
Brian found another boar, but we couldn't cook it because it was raining too hard to light a fire. We had to eat it raw. It was disgusting. My mouth was filled with the taste of blood and the skin looked too pink and fleshy to be enjoyed. It was chewy and stringy.
But I still ate it.
The rain ruined three out of our eight huts we had built. More people were needed to repair the damage; I was instructed to help. It was hard work, and I wasn't much use. The ground was wet and slippery beneath our feet, and every so often, someone would fall and drop whatever it was they had been carrying.
I hated this life. I wanted to go home.
A day later, I skipped work and ran off into the forest. After drinking from the spring, I wandered around for a while.
I came to the cliff. I stood there for a moment, wondering if I should look over the edge or turn back. People didn't generally come here anymore. Curiosity got the better of me. Tentatively, I peered over the edge.
There was no body.
I stared hard down at the rocks. Nothing. Maybe it had been washed away. Yes, that would be it. But the men who found him insisted that he had been smashed onto the rocks. Would he have simply floated off? Then again, we had had a lot of rain recently. But still...wouldn't there be a mark or a smear of blood left?
"Looking for something?" I jumped, and lost my footing; for a moment I teethered on the edge of the cliff, my arms flailing wildly, but then someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back. It was Brian, a cold look in his eyes.
"Um...no...I mean...um, no, nothing, sorry." I gabbled. Brian narrowed his eyes, and his grip on my arm tightened so that I gasped in pain.
"Dangerous up here, don't you think? You could easily just..slip." he pushed slightly on my arm. I swallowed.
"Well, luckily I didn't!" I half-laughed, nervously. He didn't smile.
"You should go now. People might get the wrong idea if you hang around here too much. They might think you were up to something."
"Yeah. Right, OK. See you, then." I wrenched myself from his grip and quickly walked away. There was something sinister about Brian. Something creepy.
I kept away from Brian for the rest of the day, avoiding his eye when he looked at me. No one else noticed anything different; they were too busy attempting to re-build the huts. But I was scared. I'd felt that Brian was going to push me off the cliff, down to the swirling waves below, onto the pointed rocks, shaped like the devil's teeth. I shivered. I wanted to tell someone about Brian but there was nothing to tell. Maybe I had just imagined him being unfriendly. Maybe he had been just trying to stop me from falling.
No. He was definitely angry that I had gone up to the cliff. Why?
I approached Jack.
"Hey," I said. He ignored me, just like he had done all week. I pushed forward.
"Um, I need to talk to you about..about Brian." I muttered. At the mention of Brian's name, Jack's eyes snapped to my direction. He suddenly seemed alert. He grabbed hold of my shoulder tightly.
"Why? What do you know?" he hissed in my ear.
"I don't know anything, its just that-"
"No! You do! You must know something! You can sense it too! Something is happening on this island! Conspiracy!" His eyes were wide and staring. I looked at him for a few moments, wondering if I should trust him. Maybe he could help. Or maybe he was just a mad old man.
"Well...yes, I do." I gave in. "I went up to the cliff." Jack's grip tightened. I was beginning to lose feeling in my arm again.
"And?"
"And I looked over. And there was no body. But I don't know, maybe it was washed away. Was it?" Jack didn't answer.
"And then," I continued. "Brian appeared. And it was like he was going to push me over the edge of the cliff. And he said that I shouldn't be hanging around the cliff and he seemed really angry that I was there. Why would he be angry?" Jack thought for a moment before replying.
"When people find others were they don't want to find them, it means that they could be worried about you. They could be scared for your safety." I started to speak but he interrupted. "Or...they might be up to something themselves. They could be hiding something and don't want anyone to come across it." That seemed more like Brian.
But what was he doing that was so secret?
