Christie's Life on Zack Island
Chapter Six
Howling Winds and Horror
a/n: Sorry for the delay!! I was reading The Lord of the Rings!!!
Christie headed down to the restaurant for breakfast with Hitomi. She had put on Panther gratefully, and wore a light amount of black make up. She didn't even think of putting on make up before because her mood was in the way. Today though, she thought as she put on the dreadful panther ears on 10 minutes ago, I'm going to forget everything and have a nice time.
Hitomi was sitting in the heart of the place, stuffing her face with tons of orange stuff and yellow...rice? Christie sat down across her and muttered 'good morning' quite louder than usual.
''morrrnninphhgg!!!!!' cried Hitomi, ten times louder than Christie. Christie looked around the restaurant to avoid the sight of Hitomi's food in her mouth. 'Phanks for duh swimshphooot!!' At this she accidentally spit some sauce at Christie. Hitomi was wearing Heliodor, a gift from Christie last night. It was a white one piece thong without straps and with bands on the side, and it was covered with orange hibiscuses.
'So, er...what's that you're eating?' Christie asked, amazed that even Helena, who sat by herself in a corner, was piling orange stuff into pancakes, and actually enjoying it.
'Curry! Gosh, Christie. You haven't heard of curry before?' Hitomi stared at her with her eyes the size of pennies.
Christie shook the comment off and continued to stare at Helena.
'Oh. That's Indian Bread. Anyway, loads of people haven't tried it before.' Hitomi said, seeing the direction of Christie's watch.
'Oh...' Christie filled her plate with mounts of curry(as it turned out to be yellow, not orange), rice, and Indian Bread. Being an assassin – a wealthy assassin – she seldom tried out exotic food. Bread and butter were enough for her. And tons of workout.
She got back to her seat and poked the potatoes sizzling in the fragrant curry suspiciously. Remember what you said this morning? Stop being a jerk and act normal!
'I am not a jerk!' muttered Christie under her breath.
'Huh?' Hitomi raised her eyes from her food.
'Nothing.' Christie jammed her fork into a piece of yellow potato and stuffed it into her mouth. Potato with curry...yum......she let out a sigh of bliss and ate as much as she could.
Christie worried a bit about her swimsuit. She ate so much just now her stomach was bloated, and worse, it could be seen under the swimsuit. She and Hitomi ran around the island, eagerly searching for weak opponents to beat. No such luck they had. Helena and Lei Fang were on the shore shell-hunting and weren't in the mood for playing, and Tina and Lisa were out of the question. Christie half-wished they hadn't beat Ayane and Kasumi yesterday, so that they wouldn't have broken up, and Christie and Hitomi would have at least somebody to play with. The day was getting cold and Christie suspected a typhoon coming soon. It was November. These disastrous tropical islands. Now they're paradise, then they're junk. Just because of a typhoon. Soon the wind started blowing quite heavily. Christie put on her jacket and Hitomi, being tough(she claimed so) changed into Bear, a furry brown suit with bear-ears, another gift from Zack. Together they stayed in Christie's room, with the heater full up, looking at the beaches down below and wondering what the others are doing.
'Nice brew, Christie.' Hitomi said as the sipped her hot cocoa. She didn't know if hot chocolate had different brews, but this was certainly a good one.
'Thanks,' Christie smiled lightly and drank her coffee. 'I picked it out from the mini-bar.'
Hitomi giggled. 'Sometimes you're just so funny!'
Christie gave another rare smile. She had never been called funny before. They looked out of the balcony window from the inside. The wind was getting steadily stronger. The palm trees that lined the beaches swayed to and fro, their strong barks holding up against the wind. Every now and then a branch with leaves would fall down with a 'whack!' and be blown away, making trails on the sand. They sat there for a while, enjoying the beauty of it all. Christie then turned on the TV.
'Ah..we're just in time for the news.' She said. The news reporter, with enormous pearl earrings and wavy hair, talked in her rich lipstick.
'Typhoon Zachary is heading North-East of Africa, towards the general direction of Madagascar. Wind speed is at 55 miles per hour, and the typhoon 10 signal is up. James? How is it in Madagascar?' The screen switched to a tropical island, where a man in a stupid raincoat was holding his hood against the wind. His brown hair was flying everywhere, and his glasses were so splattered with rain he looked like a nerd with thick glasses in the rain. He held the mic to his mouth. They were barely able to catch his words.
'Lisa? Wind...strong...hardly...see...trees...down!!' The camera turned to fallen trees and people running around holding banana leaves upon their heads, screaming for help. Suddenly a gigantic tidal wave came. It looked as if the cameraman meant to shoot the wave, but the wave was already covering the camera. There were two cries, one from the pathetic and useless cameraman and one from poor James. The camera switched back to Lisa's place, cozy and cool. Reporter Lisa paled as she saw James and the wave. Her lipstick cringed. She continued her reporting like a good reporter.
'Um...er...yeah, so, like Zachary would be very dangerous, and...yeah, so, don't go out and you'll be fine.' She didn't even say goodbye and the news herald played. Christie switched off the TV and changed her gaze back to the window.
'Oh my! Fifty-five miles per hour!' Hitomi cried. 'I hope the others are okay...'
'They'll be alright.' Christie assured her. 'They're tough. They've been in the tournament...' Her voice trailed off while thousands of vivid memories exploded in her mind. She amused herself as she remembered the time when she practically flattened Brad Wong. Suddenly, she saw a bending figure struggling forward in Niki Beach, then stopping abruptly, facing the sea, as if enjoying the view.
'Who's that?' cried Hitomi, trembling all over. For the figure was blurred by the rain-splattered window of the balcony and all that they could see was a blurred dot in green. Christie strode quickly to the balcony door and flung it open. Wind, leaves and sand immediately rushed in, and Hitomi had to curl up in a corner, though she was eager and afraid to see who the blurred figure was. Or...what it was. Christie held on firmly onto the balcony rail, standing against the howling wind, squinting her eyes to make out the figure. It had black hair, and the only one with black hair was...
'Lei Fang!' Christie shouted to Hitomi and slammed the balcony door shut after she went back into the room. She went over to Hitomi and shook her.
'She's all out there...alone?' Hitomi asked like a little girl scared of thunder.
'Yes! And we'd better go wake her up from whatever dream she might be having!' Christie said.
'Dream...dream?' Hitomi stuttered.
'Yeah!! She's gone mental!' Christie paused then, as the sky flashed. She thought she had imagined it, for it was so short. She took Hitomi by the arm and gave her a wind jacket. She herself put on a jacket she brought for safety causes when she still thought Zack was holding a tournament. It was a genuine Adidas, with mesh inside and a collar for turning up. It cost her quite a lot. And, of course, it was black.
Just as they were about to step out to the door, thunder roared and the room shook, as well as Hitomi, who shrieked.
'Where the hell is everybody?' Wondered Christie out loud, noticing the absence of screams of the other girls. They hurried down the stairs and passed the windswept outdoor restaurant, its deck tables and chairs all turned over. They dashed to Niki Beach(which was not easy, because the wind was blowing them sideways), a few hundred metres away. Slowly Lei Fang came to sight. She was standing bravely in Kiwi, her green swimsuit, facing the sea, and practically doing – nothing.
'Fang!!!!!!' Hitomi yelled. Lei Fang didn't seem to hear her. Hitomi yelled again, almost breaking Christie's right ear drum. The wind was howling at a horrible rate, the sky a sickly white, the sea slapping foamy waves at the shore mercilessly. The sand blew at their faces and once a giant branch came flying at them. Next time please, no flying rubbish bins, Christie thought bitterly.
'YOU COLLECTING SHELLS AT THIS WEATHER? NO SHELLS!! NO SHELLS NOW!!!! GET IT???' Christie yelled. Hitomi turned to her. 'I-DON'T-GET-IT!!' Christie shrugged.
At last they reached Lei Fang. She still did not take notice but when Christie gave her an awakening slap, she jumped a metre high and screamed when she saw them. Staggering figures they were, wind beat and squinting. But they didn't hear her scream because of the wind rushing at their ears.
'WHAT ARE YOU DOING???' Christie shouted, exaggerating the words so that Lei Fang could read her lips. Lei Fang turned away, facing once again towards the fierce sea. 'WELL WE CAN'T JUST STAY HERE!!' Lei Fang didn't budge. Sighing loudly, wishing Lei Fang could hear her sigh, Christie looked out to the sea to see if there was anything interesting that made Lei Fang risk her life out there to look at. Nope. Nothing except the flooded Bass Island, and...and......a black dot in the distance. Christie finally made out what it was.
A ship. No, a plane. The ones that glide on the water.
'The sshhip!!!' cried Hitomi. 'The shhip!! It's sinking!!'
Christie squinted hard. Oh yes, indeed it was sinking. It went down, down, down, until it completely disappeared. Turning around she saw Lei Fang crying.
'Let's go...let's go......' Lei Fang sobbed. She spoke quietly but Christie knew what she said. Heaving a sigh, she let Lei Fang have her jacket and started to walk back to the hotel with them. A clap of lightning shone in the sky for a full second. It brightened the whole place and the sky in the distance with a terrifying purple, illuminating Fang and Hitomis' faces in a ghostly way. Christie stopped in her steps. Hitomi turned to her, as if asking if she was scared or something. Silently in her head Christie began to count the seconds...one...two...the thoughts changed into a deep murmur...three...four...five...scared to death, she started to shout...six...the fear was incredible...she feared it but she wanted it the same...
'SEVENNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!' She yelled with all her might. At the exact moment, a deafening thunder erupted in their surroundings. It was so loud, there was nothing but the thunder. Nothing but the thunder. The younger girls screamed and clasped their hands over their ears, almost cracking their own skulls. Christie shouted into the sky, as if she was scolding the sky for some unreasonable purpose. Together they stopped, panting, and stood silently for a while. The wind changed its direction and was blowing at their backs, prodding them to go back. Hitomi shook herself and woke up from her stupor. Christie continued walking back to the hotel with them, as if nothing had happened. All was silent.
Christie was sitting on the chair of her black vanity desk, gazing at blank space. Hitomi was curled up in a corner in a blanket, looking around, still bot believing what just happened. Lei Fang was sitting on Christie's bed, as dreamy as she was when she was out there. After a strange ten minutes, Hitomi broke the silence in her trembling voice.
'What were you doing all on your own out there, Fang?' She spoke quietly. Lei Fang sat still, but did not ignore the disturbing question.
'I was...seeing him farewell.' She whispered to the ground.
'The ground isn't a good listener, especially for secrets.' Christie spoke aloud as she reached for a towel to dry out her hair. The towel was black. Lei Fang nodded, and turned instead to the floor-to-ceiling window. The window isn't a very good listener too, Christie thought miserably.
'The plane sank...with him.' Christie was about to ask who, when Hitomi, dazed at the real-life romance drama, opened her mouth and came out words of a little girl who wants to be a princess and kissed by the prince, and live happily ever after in a castle of white chocolate.
'The plane sank..with him...and your heart! Oh...' Hitomi gasped. Christie shook her head in disgust at the dramatic voice of Hitomi.
'Who do you mean?' Christie pressed on, romantic or not.
'K...ke...' Lei Fang muttered, and burst into sobs.
'There, there, Lei Fang.' Hitomi patted her back, and the action seemed all too familiar with the horrible soothing act she did during the truth or dare game yesterday.
'K...ke...Kenneth?' Christie wondered. Surprisingly, Lei Fang nodded, her eyes pouring tears all over her swimsuit.
'Oh, poor poor Lei Fang! I didn't know you had a crush on him!! But wasn't he supposed to be already left last night?' Hitomi asked in her small girlish voice. Lei Fang shook her head vigorously.
'His plane was delayed. He had to leave this morning.' Said Lei Fang, crying her heart out on Hitomi's shoulder.
'Don't worry. He'll be okay.' Chrisiie said, completely lost in the conversation. She never really understood it when other girls talked about these things. Their talk simply didn't click. Lei Fang suddenly has this crush, which is the entertainer last night, his plane was delayed, and his plane sank. Ah! Christie remembered something from the party last night. When Kenneth came, Lei Fang had excused herself to go to the bathroom.
'C'mon. Let's just...call help, ok? Everything would be fine.' Christie said and picked up the phone. It was dead. Hitomi and Lei Fang glared at her. 'Really! Not everyone who's plane sinks can't swim!'
'Swim back to shore?' Lei Fang said incredibly.
'At least, when the plane crashed, they were sending an SOS message, otherwise they were fools.'
'What if...what if......' Said Lei Fang, full of concern.
'Look, the storm's a bit better now, we could go out and see, and maybe rent a boat to go see if anybody's ok.' Christie said, hoping to comfort her. She didn't really think of doing it.
'Really?' Lei Fang gasped.
'Um...yeah. If you like.' Christie said.
'Great! Let's go then! There might be a lot of survivors!'
With a great pressure pressing on her, Christie led them to Niki Beach. The rain had stopped, but the sky looked as if it was threatening to rain anytime it wished to.
'No time turning back now.' Christie fumbled with the ropes of the little boat. 'Silly idea of mine. Might as well go out and have a short look and comfort them.'
Finally she loosened the boat and pushed it to sea with Hitomi and Lei Fang. There were five boats for use, but she chose this one because it was quite new, unlike the others, old and battered. When they were all on the boat, Christie started the engine. Off they went toward the general direction Christie thought where the plane crash was. Ten minutes have passed and there was still no sign of a plane crash. Then, they saw a plane, half in the water. A rescue ship was already there and survivors were climbing tiredly onto it. Lei Fang heaved a sigh.
'Thankfully...'
'I told you they'd be fine.' Christie said and slapped her back. 'Ok. Let's go back.' She started the engine. Off they went, without waiting for Lei Fang to speak again. After five minutes or so, the dreaded question came.
'Did you see Kenneth back there? Where was he?' Lei Fang asked. None of them had seen him, but the plane and the rescue boat were gone already.
'He'll be fine.' Was all Christie managed to say over the roaring engine.
'What? So you didn't see him? What if he's drowned?' Lei Fang cried, clenching her fists.
'He'll eventually be found.' Christie said.
'Yeah. Found dead?' Lei Fang asked with her mouth curled into a sly grin. Her eyes were red after all that crying.
'You said it. Not me.' Said Christie and focussed on controlling the engine.
'Stop.' Lei Fang said.
'What? We're seven minutes out of sight! They're probably gone on the rescue ship by now!' Said Christie angrily. Hitomi quivered in her place at the tip of the small boat.
'I want to see if he's there!' Lei Fang almost shouted. Christie didn't say a word. Instead, she kept driving back to the island, thinking of nothing but the controls. Lei Fang flung her hands on the rim of the boat angrily. Her gleaming eyes scorched the violent waves bobbing up and down around the boat. Suddenly Hitomi let out a belch.
'Cut it!' Said Christie, her anger still nto dissolved. Hitomi belched again. Christie turned her head to Hitomi, eyes filling with anger and disgust. Hitomi was bent over the rim of the boat, her face sickly green, throwing up all the curry and rice she had for breakfast. And the hot cocoa.
'Gosh, Hitomi! What's wrong with you?' Christie groaned.
'She's seasick.' Said Lei Fang matter-of-factly. Hitomi made a trail of vomit into the sea while the boat sped along.
'I'm sure not gonna go swimming tomorrow.' Lei Fang muttered. Hitomi squelched.
'Where do you think they put the waste from the toilets in boats?' Christie mumbled. She stopped the engine to let Hitomi finish her job. Hitomi spat out a great blob of unknown material and choked on it.
'I...I thought I just saw a dark figure in the water!!' She choked, vomit slopping down her mouth.
'Do people hallucinate while vomiting?' Christie asked Lei Fang as a joke. Lei Fang shook her head. 'Never heard such thing.'
Hitomi pointed at the water. 'I taw it! I twear I taw it!' In spite of vomiting, she was starting to have a heavy nose-bleed.
'When did you start being Tweety, Hitomi?' Lei Fang chimed. 'I tawt I taw a pussy cat!'
Christie joined in. 'I did! I tawt I taw one!' But now Hitomi, pinching her nose, head bent low, had stopped vomitting at all, and was pointing a shaking finger at the water. Surely, a dark shadow was swimming in the sea.
'Kenneth?!' Lei Fang shrieked.
'Shut up! It can't be him.' Christie hushed her. Her hands were now grasping the handle of the engine, ready to start it anytime. She was sweating all over. Could it be...what she thought it would be?
The dark shadow charged out of the water and opened its jaws to the boat's side.
'SHARRRRKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!' Hitomi and Lei Fang yelled in terror. It wasn't big, but the way it came out of the water – horrifying. Christie, all ready to go, started the engine. And they sped off for another safe 5 minutes, chatting about the close shot just now.
'And you, Hitomi. Your head was so close to the water just now!' Lei Fang said.
'Yeah...' Hitomi trembled harder as ever.
The engine stopped. Christie restarted it. Nothing happened.
'Oh no...' She moaned. 'We're not out of fuel, aren't we?' She didn't dare to look at the faces of Lei Fang and Hitomi. The boat was still...so was the water......but not the sky. The sky rumbled, and rain fell down.
'Just what we need now! Out of fuel, rain, and a shtty shark shtting all over!!' Christie swore. They sat silently while the rain pattered on the boat and made tiny ripples on the water. A dark grey fin glided over the uneven surface of the sea, circling the boat.
'Please no...no......' Hitomi murmured. Christie signalled her to stop. 'Sharks are attracted by low noises.' She mouthed. Hitomi looked astonished, and kept her mouth shut. Soon the shark lost interest in circling a clunk of wood and letting the rain drip on its fin. It swam away.
'Whoo...so that's one disaster gone.' Lei Fang stretched her arms and they made a loud clicks. They were all stiff and had held their breaths while the shark was there.
'That was no normal shark.' Murmured Christie. 'I'll explain later.'
'Hey, I never said you should explain!' Lei Fang said. Christie shrugged. The rain fell heavier. The island was only a few hundred metres away. How deep the water was, they had no idea. The rain pattered endlessly. They were drenched from head to toe and shivering in the cold gusts of wind. Christie regretted not taking a spare jacket with her. Both Hitomi and Lei Fang had them. She was only dressed in Panther, looking silly in the panther ears on top of her head and bearing a soaked and drooping tail.
'Why don't we just swim?' Christie suggested, finally having enough of the rain.
'SWIM?! After that SHARK?' Hitomi cried. 'We're desperate, but we're not THAT desperate!'
'Oh, aren't we?' asked Christie. 'We still have one option. To wait till dark, sleep through the storm which might blow us away from the island, and paddle back to the island in the morning.'
'But that shark!'
'I told you, that was no normal shark. It doesn't eat people...' Christie's voice trailed off her lie. But it has a more deadly weapon than it's jaws.
'I don't understand. What shark doesn't eat people?' Lei Fang questioned.
'Lots of species of sharks don't eat people, thoguh they might attack boats sometimes.' Christie lied to reassure her again. 'If you two can't decide, I'm going back on my own to find another boat and come back to save you. How's it sound?'
'No, that's too risky. You can't do that!' Hitomi said.
'I – don't – care!' Said Christie. And she dived into the sea, leaving the others bewildered and afraid. Christie always enjoyed diving, especially into the sea, where it's cold. (a/n: see the trailer before DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball. She dived into the sea. Naked.) But now, being splashed in the cold rain for over half an hour, she didn't like it. She popped her head out of the water and looked back at them. They still haven't got off the damn boat! Christie thought. She waved at them. Lei Fang looked at Hitomi and didn't know what to do. Christie waved goodbye to them and shouted, 'I'll wait for you at the shore!'
Hitomi cried back, 'You're attracting sharks!'
Christie smiled and waved, 'So stop it!'
'No! Look!' Hitomi pointed at the trail of blood her nose-bleed left in the sea. Christie's heart sank. Why didn't Hitomi alert her before? She dived back into the sea and swam as fast as she could back to the shore. As long as the blood was far away from her, she would be safe. After two minutes of breathless swimming, Christie reached the area where the water was shallow and waded her way to the sand. Panting hard, she fell onto the sand, breathing fresh oxygen into her poor lungs. She realised the rain had stopped. She looked in the distance. They were still there, but Lei Fang seemed to be talking Hitomi into swimming back. Then, Christie heard a distant cry from Lei Fang.
'WHAT??? YOU CAN'T SWIM??' Oh no, Christie thought. She untied a rope from another boat and signalled to Lei Fang that she would get a boat and save them. But Lei Fang shook her head, no. She knew she was tired as hell already. Finally, Christie saw Hitomi slip into the water, followed closely by Lei Fang. Then they breast-stroked slowly back to the shore, Hitomi holding on to Lei Fang, almost suffocating her.
It was a whole five minutes then Lei Fang was dragging an unconscious Hitomi back on the sand. Christie rushed to help her. She slapped Hitomi's face.
'Wake up, slow poke!'
'H..huh?' Hitomi opened her eyes. She did look a mess. Traces of dried up vomit was still seen at the corner of her mouth, dry blood was around her nose, and her eyes were a bit swollen.
'C'mon. We'll get you back to the hotel.' Christie put Hitomi's arm around her shoulder, and together with an exhausted Lei Fang they went back to the hotel.
a/n: That's it!!!! Bit of a horror I came up with, since my homework is piling up a nightmare!