A sea gull glided and skimmed across the surface of the ocean before alighting on the beach with the catch in its beak. Upon landing, it attracted more of its kind gathering round it for a share of its prey. Avian shrieks and cries sounded and echoed up through the cove as the flock gathered and filled the beach even as other gulls caught sight of the herring in the tide pool and preyed upon them catching and filling up their gullets. The random crab stole a piece of lost meat from the fish pulled ashore and the blue filled with the volume and sounds of the birds crowding the sky. The tide pounded the beach hard and the sun on the horizon dipped a bit more. The sky was a shade of perfect blue as if the gods above had painted it from the hues of the rainbow. Closer to the horizon, the color turned more to faded gray as if those gods had run out of their colors. A slight breeze wafted and sailed up the beach, over the dunes and up to Juliet Burke on the cliffs above. She watched the birds stirring up from the breeze and whispered and prayed under her breath to alight with them into the sky and sail off into the heavens. Her breath gasped with sad depression, her face was placid and her emotions were lost on thoughts of her sister far on the other side of the world. She wanted to see her, but she was not allowed. She had been brought here for a job, and now she was a hostage. Regret and depression were her bedmates as she tried to forgive herself for taking this job. It had been a good opportunity, but now it was her biggest regret.
"Juliet?" A voice came from behind her, but she didn't look to see whom it was. She knew who it was. Her mind was on the wings of the birds that came and left the island without a thought.
"I didn't see you at dinner." Ben's voice continued. "I brought you a plate to eat up here. I assume you like Brussels sprouts."
"Thank you, Ben." Juliet's voice was faint but courteous. Ben waited for her to take the plate, but she still hadn't turned to face him. He waited a few seconds more for her to take the plate, but when she didn't, he impatiently looked round for a place to put it, refraining from showing his frustration, and then stopped to rest it by her side in a small patch lacking grass by her side. It was his daughter's fried chicken recipe. Some of their vegetables were grown on the island or brought from the mainland in the supplies on the sub. The gravy on the mashed potatoes now dripped off the paper plate molding to the wicker plate supporting it and the cornbread rested on its edge. Ben licked the gravy from his thumb after placing the plate of food by Juliet.
"You're starting to come up here a bit more often." Ben furrowed his brow against the breeze flapping his Khakis against his thin legs and slapping the back of his shirt against his back. "It's your sister's birthday, isn't it? You always get this malaise on her birthday."
"I'm not even asking anymore, Ben." Juliet responded speaking to the sun. "You know what I want."
"You can't leave the island." Ben's voice responded with kindness, but there was an unspoken irreverent ulterior motive behind his voice. "Your work here is not done."
"It will never be done, Ben." Juliet rose to her feet. "To give you results, I'd have to leave the island, but you won't let me leave the island so there never will be any answers. You've become the problem, Ben. I can't do the work you wanted if you're going to stand in the way."
"I promised Alex that you'd tell her how you liked her chicken. At least try it."
"Ben!" Juliet turned and stared intensely at Ben. His eyes were round like that of a young boy, but they could also be piercing like that of a man with secrets, something she was sure of. They were always sharp and nervous with the tension of a rodent and his face slight to the point he was nearly unassuming. Maybe that's how he liked it. Being this small, slight figure that had to hold secrets in order to control others. His hairline was a bit smaller than his head, his shoulders hanging low from sulking deeply in his big chairs, but despite his size he carried himself high and proud, trying to be bigger than he was.
"We have nothing more to talk about." Juliet started to turn back to the compound.
"You're going to break Alex's heart." Ben reached and delicately picked up the plate of food with his fingers reaching under the wicker plate. "She saved the last breast for you. The biggest one, too."
"How did you get such a decent daughter?" Juliet suspected the girl had been kidnapped from her true parents, but she knew better than to make enemies. She had turned to take the dinner plate from Ben, but she hesitated instead and turned to look behind Ben. He took a moment to realize something else had her attention, and turned to stare down off the cliffs as well. His nervous rodent-eyes darted from the sea gulls perched on the rocks and then out to the anomalous shape in the water. At first, he wasn't sure what the pale orange shade on the rolling blue and green tide was at first, and then he noticed movement; it was a life raft - a pale orange raft with a figure on it. There were no other boats on the horizon and yet this lone figure was aiming straight for the cove if but the tide washing him further down the beach to the other end of the island. He wasn't sure who it was, but whoever was, Ben realized that he was not keen of invaders to his island.
"Yep, I saw him too." Richard came running up to the cliff top with binoculars. "He appeared about an hour ago from the west. I think he might be someone who lost a ship in that storm from last week." He handed the binoculars to Ben who took them and immediately focused on the stranger rowing ashore. "One person, alone, in a single life raft." He reported.
"Any idea who he is?" Juliet asked, but Ben didn't answer. Through the binoculars, he saw a large figure of a man rowing into the island, a large muscular man with beard growth and long hair grinding his teeth together as he fought the surf to get ashore. He was larger than anyone else in the community, and if his size and brawn was any indication, he could be an unwelcome problem to the status quo on the island. Ben slightly frowned upset at their guest and his eyes shone with deceit and displeased spite.
"Don't confront him just yet." He told Richard. "Let's sit and observe him first. Maybe he'll just stock up on food and freshwater and then go."
"What if he discovers the commune?" Richard wondered out loud exchanging a glance with Juliet.
"That would be very misfortunate of him." Ben lowered the binoculars and turned to Juliet. "Wouldn't it?"