Abbey watched as the tears splashed down Oli’s cheeks. ‘James…’ she began.
‘Stay out of it, Abbey! This little bastard is going to tell me exactly where he was half an hour ago.’ Then to Oli, ‘You hear that, kid? Speak up!’
The student shrank back as far as the rocks would allow. ‘James, please, I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’ve been back to the camp, I’ve…I’ve…gone through the clearing, I’ve been all the way to the north of the island, that’s it.’
‘I left the cave fifty minutes ago! Ten minutes later I was attacked, knocked unconscious, and Sebastian’s had his throat cut. You were unaccounted for. So, try again!’
Oli’s tears were free-flowing now, his afro matted and straggled, his skin still pallid from illness. He tried to force out some words but nothing came. In the end, James dropped him to the floor and backed away.
‘It wasn’t me,’ Oli sobbed. ‘I couldn’t…I couldn’t do something like this…’
As if understanding the student’s pain, the birds had finally broken into song. Atop the lagoon Danielle had appeared at the cave’s entrance, Anthony standing by her side, his hand resting on her shoulder. True to their quiet natures, neither the birth-marked man nor girl uttered a word.
‘Don’t bring Danielle down here,’ James called out.
Anthony floated gracefully down the boulders leaving Danielle at the cave’s entrance. Unlike Oli, he didn’t look like he’d been wandering around in a storm all night.
James eyed his marked face curiously. ‘When’d you get back?’
Anthony nodded at Sebastian. ‘What happened to him?’
James turned to see Abbey flinch. ‘Maybe you can tell us,’ James suggested. ‘Because I have to say, you don’t look the least bit sorry.’
‘Why would I be sorry?’ Anthony questioned steadily. ‘The man was a child molester. I don’t lose sleep over dead child molesters.’
Another glance to Abbey. ‘You knew he was a paedophile?’
Anthony massaged the bridge of his nose. ‘There’s always somebody watching,’ he muttered cryptically.
‘I don’t understand,’ Abbey said. ‘Why haven’t you said anything?’
Anthony shrugged.
Following a moment of apprehensive quiet, Oli croaked out a seemingly unanswerable question. He wanted to know what they were supposed to do next. James didn’t have the faintest idea, and his tenuous grip of leadership seemed to be sliding further. Expectant faces looked to him for a response. After all, he was the fall guy, wasn’t he, the one who people leaned on when it suited them? ‘Why are you all looking at me, huh? Does nobody else here have a fucking brain? You people only turn to me when things blow up in your faces. You’ve been content to shun my advice since the plane went down, and now, once again, you’re looking to me for answers.’
Lines of sadness formed around Abbey’s eyes. ‘James, we only –’
‘You only did what suited you! All of you, and look at us now…’
‘That’s an interesting thesis, James,’ Anthony said clearly. ‘At what stage did you appoint yourself saviour?’
‘You’re missing the point.’
‘I don’t think I am.’
‘So break it down, Anthony. You seem to know what’s going on around here.’
‘Death follows you around, boy. I don’t have any allegiance to you. You’re a jinx, a goddamn curse, but most of all, you are superfluous.’ Hoisting the bag back onto his shoulder, he added calmly, ‘You think I’d stay with you now?’ and began towards the trees.
Speechless, James reeled from the savage attack. Gibson Sommerfield’s assurances seeped into his head in slow rhythmic drips, every fallacy that had ever left the pilot’s mouth. He watched Anthony leave, stalking his black persona into the mist, as if it left a trail of tar in its wake.
He took a seat shakily on the nearest boulder and examined his hands. Anthony was right. He had failed, and his palms were stained with blood.
55
‘Don’t listen to him, James,’ Abbey said. ‘He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.’
Following Anthony’s desertion, Oli climbed the rocks and led the confused Danielle back into the cave to collect her belongings. Only Abbey and James remained by the lagoon, emotions raw. Crouching into James’s view, she watched his forlorn gaze lying fixatedly upon the palms of his hands. His absent expression left a broken frigidity in the pit of her stomach, though she dared not turn away.
‘James?’
No reply.
‘James, please,’ she urged. ‘I can’t do this alone. Don’t abandon me now.’
‘What’s the point?’ he said quietly, hands still in focus. ‘Anthony’s right. I don’t know what I’m doing. How naive was I to think we could wait this out?’
‘Anthony wasn’t right, James! There are still three people here who need you to get them through this.’
‘Get them through what? Don’t you get it, nobody’s coming for us. They would’ve been here by now. I kept telling myself help was on the horizon, that if we could just ride out the storms and find food, it would just be a matter of time. Now people are dead, others are missing. I’m out of my depth here, Abbey. How am I supposed to make this right?’
‘Wow,’ she uttered. ‘Since when did this become about you?’
‘What?’
‘Look at you. Pitiful and washed up, balancing on the words of a man who’s played no part in keeping us going…’ she paused to lift his chin. ‘Where’s my guardian angel, huh? Where’s the guy who’s kept me safe for weeks without me even knowing it? Where’s the guy who braved the currents to pull Teri from the sinking wreckage, the guy who’s…who’s out snorkelling for drugs for a dying survivor? He’s the man we need, not this…this apparition.’
James went back to his hands. ‘You thought of me as your guardian angel?’
Abbey pursed her lips. ‘The question is, are you going to continue in your post, or are you sticking with this
