If I thought the trip to the island was bad, the trip from was far worse. I was pretty sure I was going to hate movies for fast-forwarding time too much for a very long time. I had another six weeks on the ship to get through before we got back to New York.

And they were terrible. I stayed holed up in my cabin almost all the time with the door locked, allowing entrance to people very few times. The ship was harder to manage now, considering we had lost over half of the members on the ship and everyone's load was doubled. Englehorn kept Kong locked up in the bottom of the ship and drugged him in order to keep him subdued.

One night, when mostly everyone on the ship was asleep, I snuck down below to go see him. I knew he wouldn't see me, and if he did, he wouldn't remember it, but I did it anyway.

I felt tears come to my eyes against my will at the sight of him. He wasn't meant to be locked up and drugged like this. He was wild and free. He was in a position where he was close enough for me to touch. I softly went up to him and rubbed his soft fur.

"I'm so sorry you have to be like this right now. It's not right."

His eyes drowsily opened, but I could tell they weren't seeing straight and his brain wasn't in the right place.

"Hey, there," I whispered to him. "How are you feeling? I wish you were better so you could remember who I was."

It didn't take long for his eyes to close again, but I kept stroking his fur.

"Brie!"

I jumped at the sound of my name and turned to see Jimmy not far from where I was.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I didn't want him to be alone. He's not meant to be caged like this."

"If he wasn't like this, we'd all be dead by now."

"You don't know him."

"He killed Mr. Hayes!" Jimmy shouted just a little too loud.

I stared him down. "Jimmy, this is not the time or place. Please go back up and leave us alone."

Jimmy frowned at me and left in a huff. I didn't really know who I was specifically mad at at the time. Just everyone.

Kong moved his hand and it stuck out a little from the bars. I went up to his arm and laid down on it. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep.

"Brieanna!"

I jumped awake at the harsh voice calling my name. I looked up and saw Englehorn staring at me.

"What are you doing down here?"

"He needs me, so I came to be with him."

"He doesn't need you. He's knocked out."

"Exactly. He needs someone here with him, even if he doesn't know there is someone there."

"I think it's best if you go back up."

I begrudgingly stood up to walk back up the stairs. Englehorn put his hand on me, but I refused to let him touch me and backed away from his hand. I silently traveled back to my cabin and once again holed myself away.

"Brie?" Ann's voice said outside the door. "May I come in?"

I went to the door and slowly opened it.

"Brie, talk to me. What's wrong? You always stay in here and you're barely eating anything. I'm worried about you. What happened on that island?"

I looked up at her and motioned for her to sit down. I told her everything that had happened to me from the second I was taken by the natives. She listened patiently, never interrupting and waited for me to finish. I realized halfway through that I was ranting more than explaining and tried to calm down, but I didn't.

When I finished my story, Ann gave me a huge hug, seemingly understanding why I was acting so weird.

"I haven't gone through all that, but even I know that what Mr. Denham is doing is wrong and can't end well."

"He has no idea what he's getting himself into."

"He never did."

"I just want this whole trip to be over. It was bad enough on the way here. Now I have to travel knowing what's underneath me. It's like sleeping on top of a huge mountain of guilt."

"I can't even imagine. I'm so sorry, Brie. You shouldn't have to go through this."

"It would have been better if we had just left him on the island in the first place."

Neither of us spoke for a while, and the silence was absolutely deafening.

I kept sneaking down to Kong nearly every single night. Englehorn tried several times to keep me from doing so, but I always managed to make it down there. Soon enough, he quit trying.

Jimmy tried his best to comfort me, but I couldn't cheer up, knowing what was down below.

I felt bad for Jimmy, not only because I barely talked to him now and he had gone through so much to get me back, but because I was leaving soon and he would be alone again.

I tried to get Jimmy to come to Kong and try to put Mr. Hayes's death behind him.

One late night, I brought him down to see him.

"It's okay, Jimmy. He can't hurt you."

"He already did hurt me."

"I know, but he was just angry. He didn't know."

We walked closer and even though, he was unconscious, I started talking to him.

"Hey, this is Jimmy. He needs to see you and come to terms with something you did to him."

Jimmy walked up and stood beside me. "You killed Mr. Hayes," he spat.

"Jimmy…"

"The one man who actually cared for me is gone because of you."

I looked at him sadly, understanding his anger. "But I'm here now."

"Yes, you are." He turned back to Kong. "And that's why I know I need to forgive you."

I smiled. "You hear that?" I said to Kong. "He forgives you."