Chapter 8

 

            The beach was as calm as when I saw it from the rocks. Footprints were massed in the sand and a narrow set lead into the woods. I ran in that direction. Thoughts circled my mind as I followed the trail. 

            How could something like this happen? You read of death in books, but this kind of thing wasn’t in the world anymore. What did they do with Dad? Harvey? Dan? All these questions raced through my mind. I didn’t know which to ask, but I knew they’d all go unanswered.  

            Over the next two hours, I followed the trail from a distance, crossing rivers, climbing over boulders, and making our way through thick bunches of bushes. It kept going on and on and I started to doubt if it was a false trail they had created.

             At last, I began to hear voices, laughter, snickering, shouting. The tribe was close. The white men were close. The murderers were close. I proceeded carefully, very carefully, making sure to pry away any brittle branches and step over any roots. The sounds grew louder. Bodies flitted through the trees, and soon I was only inches from the path.

            I could hear the rows of men climbing up dusty, stone steps with their ratty sandals. Rose’s pleads echoed over the sandals. Gruff voices kept the crew in line.

            The crowd stopped. Had they heard me? I peeked through the branches.

            The stone steps lead up to yellow stone buildings. Their red roofs soaked up the sun like dried blood. The rows of buildings stretched out in a clearing in the forest. A huge slate of stone stood upright in the middle of the town, casting a shadow through the town. “How could they build anything without tools?” I thought.                

 

            I snuck along the line of bushes and then up a small cliff overlooking the town, holding onto anything I could find. A group of boulders on the cliff made a perfect hiding spot, so I hid there. Peeking out from one edge of a boulder, I spotted the native with white jewels. He was standing over a row of stone beds beneath the gigantic stone slate. The prisoners were being untied by the white men. One by one, they were forced to lay on the hard beds until there were none left.

            One of the white men stood beside each of the prisoners; Curley next to the Chine, the rat-eared one next to my brother, and the other ones next to Harvey and Dad.

            “Where is she?” the rat one snapped.

            A woman emerged from one of the huts. Her pale, moon-white skin shone beneath the folds of a maroon dress. Jewels studded shoulder straps of the dress, making it glitter in the sun.

            “Right here,” she said.

            She was the most beautiful woman I’d seen in my entire life. There were no blemishes on her skin. It was like I was staring at a perfect coral beach wrapped around a woman.

            The woman stood next to Rose. We all waited, in silence. Then, all of a sudden, Dad began to groan and arch his back against the stone. The air filled with screams. I watched wide-eyed, unable to move, as each of my friends cried out on their beds. White, translucent smoke massed in front of the stone slate, swirling around in circles. A picture appeared on the surface of the slate, like there was some unseen glass it was painted on. It was a spinning wheel of colored smoke. The white men and the woman in maroon stood firm, watching the wheel.

            It stopped. Lighting flashed from person to person. Jagged streaks ran over their bodies. No one moved. There was no breeze. And then, a flash made everything go white.

            There was the swift sound of cloth on cloth next to my ears. I struck out, but nothing was there. I waited.

The color returned slowly, everything coming back into view. Dad, Harvey, Rose, Dan, and Robert were all standing, facing the slate. The colored smoke picture had dissipated. All the white men had vanished except for one that stood looking around uneasily like he was lost.

            The natives and my crew turned to one of the beds in one unified mass.

 On it, laid the other crewman, flesh burned off to the bone and smoking.

            Rage etched along the muscles of the native with the jewels, drawing them tight. “Find him!” he yelled.    

            My friends were escorted into the different huts. Natives scattered across the village into the forest. “What the hell just happened?” I thought. I didn’t matter, now was my chance. I could get to Dad or maybe Harvey and we could get off this damn island.

            I made my way down the steep bank to the town. It was deserted. Torches burned at the entrance of each house. I decided to go to the one that they took Robert. It was closest.

            I darted into the hut, slamming the door behind me. Inside, torches glowed against the walls, giving all the objects in the room a dull, hazy look. Robert was laying in a mass of cushions on the floor.

            “Robert!” I hissed. “What are you doing? Come on we gotta find Harvey and get out of here.”

            Robert looked up at me wearily. “Why?”

            What did he mean why?

            “What are you talking about? Come on we gotta get out of here before they come back.”

            Robert rolled over onto his back.

            “I don’t feel like it.”

            “What the hell are you saying.”

            He sighed. “I’ve been doing hard work all this time. It’s time for everyone else to do it.”

            What did that lightening do to him? I had to get him to help. Outside, it was still silent. I went over and dragged him to his feet. He didn’t give any fight. He just swayed and then pressed against the hut wall.

            I ran out of the door. “Still deserted,” I thought. “Still silent.” There weren’t any sounds of footsteps behind me. He wasn’t following. I peered back into the room.

            His eyes stared at the floor, lifeless. The wall held his body upright, but that’s all that kept him there. Slowly, he slid down the wall until he hit the floor.

            “I’m so tired,” he said.

            “To hell with him,” I thought. “Robert, who’s hut is next to yours?” I asked.

            Without moving, he said, “That Chine.”

            After seeing Robert, I wasn’t sure I wanted to see the Chine. What if he was just like this? I pressed my fear deep down until I was walking on it and went into the Chine’s hut.  

            My eyes spread wider than I ever thought they could till I was sure my skull would split. Bundles and bundles of food were stacked all over the floor. Every corner, every bare spot, was filled with food. A pink wedding cake towered up to the ceiling in the back of the room, laced with white icing. Crackers, apples, cinnamon sticks, dried beef, tomatoes, red and green grapes, and breads of all kinds were laid on the floor. It seemed like everywhere I looked, I saw a new food. Zheng sat in the center, chomping away on a drum stick in one hand, and gulping wine from another. Chicken juice ran down his chin onto his belly. He set down the gold goblet he was drinking from and grabbed a handful of grapes. He shoved them in his mouth, and broke their skin with one big chomp, sending bits of grape dribbling down his front.  

            “Zheng?”

            He turned. His mouth was filled with the green insides of the grapes. He swallowed them down in one gulp.

            “Scott! Hi!”

            Zheng gripped the chicken in a greasy hand and took another hunk out of it.

            “Uh…what are you doing here?” I didn’t know what to say. It was like I walked in on something forbidden that I wasn’t supposed to see.
            “Eating can’t you see? What a feast it is! Come join me!”

            I blinked hard, trying to remember what I was doing there.

            “We-We have to rescue Dad. And the rest of the crew,” I said.

            It didn’t look like he was listening. He made a scoop with his hand and clawed at the cake. Parts of it fell off. He kept clawing until he had a good wad of icing and white cake in his hand. Then he shoved it all in his mouth and washed it down with a swig of wine.

            “Oh, them? Their fine. Their in huts like mine. Isn’t it great Scott! So much food. And I have all the time I want to enjoy it.”

            “Heh, yea but we need to get them out. I thought you didn’t like to eat a lot anyway.”

            He stopped chewing. Searching black eyes stared into mine. Then he laughed, mouth full of food, and clawed at another piece of cake. “You say the funnies things.”

            I needed to get him out. We needed to get off the island. I tugged him towards the door.

            “Come on lets go.”

            “No I am needed here.”

            “Come on!” I punched his arm.

            He glared at me and then pushed me backwards onto the hard tiles. Tears welled up in his eyes, dripping down onto his food splattered cheeks.

            “No!” he yelled. “I must stay!” With that, he crumbled some crackers in his fists and pushed them into his mouth.

            I sat there, watching him devour more and more for a minute. Then I left the hut.

 

            Had the entire crew gone mad? I needed someone sane and fast. There was no knowing when the natives would come back. My head was spinning. I couldn’t believe what was happening. It had to be a bad dream. I’d wake up and everyone would be standing over me and it’d be all right.

            I stumbled into the next hut. I didn’t know whose it was. I just needed to see something familiar.

            Dan was lying on a bed of pillows with Rose. They were both entwined in a hug.

            “Dan?”

            They looked up at once.

            “Scott! Get away from here you little boy,” Roes said. Then she turned Dan’s head and began kissing him.

            “Wait,” he said.

            I was standing, stunned at Rose’s words. Rose stared at me. She looked just like the woman I saw earlier, only more beautiful. Her pale face shined like the moon on her dark, shiny hair. Gold trinkets hung down from her hair, matching the color of her dress. It looked like someone had run a black paintbrush over her eyelids. I turned to Dan. He was glaring at me.

            “What’s wrong?” I asked.

            Rose put her small, porcelain hands on Dan’s shoulders.

            “Go easy on him hun. You want to have enough strength to punish me too,” she said with a wink.

            Dan stood up. He walked towards me, boots making a dull thud each time they came down.

            “Dan?”

            “You have diverted my Dad’s attention for too long. You have stood in the way of everything that was meant to be. But not any longer,” he said.

            “What are you talking about?” I asked, taking a few steps back to the door.

            “You even tried to take Rose away from the ship!” he yelled. “Steal my father, then my girl. You steal Harvey’s attention even! I made the idea for the bags, and do I get appreciation? No. And all you do is catch a rope to stop the sail from flapping and you get it. We’ll I’m through with this!”

            He stopped in front of me and drew a knife from his boot. “I care for you for all of your life, and that’s how you repay me? Then here’s my payment to you for all that.”

            Before he could say anything more, I leapt outside and slammed the door.

 

            I ran from the hut to the slate. There had to be some clue as to what happened. Right when I got close, I saw it, the wheel. It was painted on the slate in faded colors. I recognized it immediately.

            “The seven deadly sins,” I whispered. 

            The tablet said that one person must hold each of these sins for harmony to be in the world. Every generation, these sins should be passed on to others. It said the wheel brought out the small sin that lives in every man.

            It went on to describe the sins, but by that time, I wasn’t even reading. Dad and Harvey were probably just the same. I rolled it over in my head. “But, if that was true…” I thought. “Then there is one missing. The man who was fried.” I was the only one on the island left. The natives must have been looking for me!

            My eyes darted around, searching for an ambush, but there was none. I could feel the tears coming. The walls coming crashing down. Pieces formed together in my mind. Everything became clear. I ran into the forest, to the shore. I knew what I had to do. There was only one thing Dad could be, and one way to change it.