The fifth wheel

And then one day, he suddenly trusted her. He just told her that he'd have dinner ready after her run, but that she should be careful while running. Abby ran - she ran like never before, feeling free as a bird. She tried to get her bearings on where they were, but as she had suspected: Henry was still a smart guy, albeit a crazy one. They were on the far side of the island, and the house was the only one for miles. If she wanted to run from him, she'd have to run for hours to get to the town. Chances were he'd catch her long before.

Xxx

So she came back "home", like everything was normal and she was just a girl coming home to her boyfriend. Henry was satisfied - no, he was proud of himself for making her loving him, she could tell, but she also saw that he had prepared to hunt her. On the porch, she observed nothing less than a vicious looking boarding knife, two guns, a coil of rope and a GPS. She almost laughed at the last item - it seemed so modern, non-Harper's Island-ish as she could imagine anything to be.

She pretended to be surprised, asking Henry what he needed the weapons for. He shook his head, saying: "Come on, Abby, you're not that dim-witted. You know I would never let you escape me". So she looked at him, eyes wide, walked up close to him and said: "Escape? What do you mean? Don't you think I want to be with you?" Henry didn't seem all that convinced by her show this time, but she stood on her toes - her insides screaming for her to run - and kissed him. He clamped down on her mouth like she knew he would do.

Xxx

Later that week, he took her to see the prisoner. It was Jimmy, and her heart almost stopped. "Jimmy!" she gasped, conscious of Henry watching her closely. He seemed poised on the brink of violence, ready to pounce on Jimmy - not her - at any moment.

Jimmy looked up at her, but being gagged, the only thing expressing his love for her were his eyes.

He was indeed alive, but in an awful state - Henry had obviously not been feeding him enough, and besides he was bruised like hell. She tried to count the days since Wakefield's death, and was surprised - it was almost four months now. Why was Jimmy still bruised? Henry must have been beating him - a lot, as it seemed. So she didn't dare to show her relief that any one besides herself was alive - especially not that this someone was Jimmy. It was easy enough to understand what Henry's treatment of him stemmed from: The bruises were there because of her.

While her heart screamed, and while Henry jealously watched her every miniscule movement, she turned away from Jimmy, and pouted: "I thought you wanted no one but us on the island?" Then she kissed Henry, deeply and passionately. Jimmy was gagging, she heard it clearly, but she was more concerned about keeping him alive than making him keep his breakfast - if he had had any. She turned back to Jimmy, seeing the expected expression of shock, hurt and outrage. It almost killed her.

Henry beamed surprised and fondly at her, ruffling her hair, and said: "Do you really want me to kill him? I spared him for a purpose - he'll sign a confession to clear us both. But he wouldn't sign it without seeing you. When he has signed, well, this fifth wheel will go. "

Clear us both? No, she thought, I have no part in this! But - if he's starting to think so, then he must truly believe. It is definitively time.

So she kissed Henry again, and said: "I trust your plan." With a conviction felt even by the hidden, Henry-hating part of herself, she added: "You are one of the best planners in the world."

All she needed now was the boarding knife or the guns. And to divert Henry from killing Jimmy until tomorrow.