Christie's Life on Zack Island

Chapter Seven

Suspiscions

a/n: Hey Sarah thanks for the tips!!!! Sorry for the late update, I had school.

They were all exhausted. They had brought Hitomi all the way back to the Niki Beach and the restaurant was finally seen in the distance. It looked dreadful; chairs and tables were upside down, the huge umbrellas were stuck with palm tree leaves, lying in a corner, and the food on the buffet tables were, of course, all over the place. The sun peeped over the clouds, and the temperature was rising back to its normal state. Christie's arm was already sore of carrying Hitomi. She had swam a long way and at high speed. Her face was smeared with leaves, sand and blood from Hitomi's continuing nose-bleed. Lei Fang looked even more wind swept: the sea water had replaced her neat braids with strings of seaweed knotted in her now rough and tangled hair. Hitomi, well, her face was a ghastly green, her muscled arms with bruises and violent burns. She staggered along between the two, unable to support herself at all.

'PHEW!!!' Lei Fang sighed as the three collapsed on the wooden deck of the dreary restaurant. Hitomi's head nodded to her side in exhaustion; she looked as if she couldn't even support her head. Christie lied down on the wet leaves and dirt, flinging her arms aside.

'Next...time......learn...how...to...swim!' She panted. Hitomi was all but too tired enough to nod in response. They lied there for a few minutes or so, looking blankly at the silver-lined clouds. Christie sat up with regained strength and, with great difficulty, got up.

'Anyone want to get back to the hotel?' She asked, squinting at the others. Her eyes stung from the salty sea water. Lei Fang heaved a great sigh and pushed herself up.

'All right......Hitomi?' The broken down teenager grabbed a wooden pole and hauled herself up. Her eyebrows furrowed as her strained muscles tightened to bring her up.

'Ok...' She wheezed. 'Let's go...'

They went up the stairs (Hitomi with great difficulty) slowly to the corridor. It was just the same as they last saw it. That was funny to think, because they've got into so much trouble just now, and when they come back, the whole place looks calm and peaceful, as if nothing had happened. Christie opened the unlocked door to her room and invited the others inside.

It was strangely messy. She even wondered if someone had broken in.

Her bed covers were ripped out and her pillows were on the floor. The vanity desk drawers were open and all the contents have been thrown out. Her wardrobe was flung open. The balcony door was on its hinge, squeaking. But none of this, none of this, could be compared to what Christie saw then.

The television was turned on.

It was not a program.

It was not the news.

The VCR was on.

The TV suddenly turned itself off.

But Christie already remembered what she saw in that split second.

'Heck this place looks a mess!' Hitomi cried.

'Yeah.' Christie said numbly. Hitomi and Lei Fang obviously haven't seen the image the TV showed. It turned itself off so quickly.

She understood everything. She picked up her clothes and put them back to the wardrobe. She put all the contents from her drawer back. Yes, yes, I'll show you. You don't have to make my room like this for doing all that. Although tired, her two companions helped her tidy up her room. When everything was done, they flopped onto her soft and cozy bed.

'What's with the mess, Christie? I know I shouldn't ask this because maybe you...you understand everything and I may sound stupid, but I'm really curious.' Hitomi said with her eyes closed, head on her pillow.

'Ayane...she did all this......she made us get into all this trouble............' Christie snorted.

'Chris....I know...I know Ayane is....evil.....' Hitomi mumbled absent-mindedly, still not having a clue what her mouth is brawling about. She yawned. 'She's a ninja, right? Y'know...I'm sleepy...........' Her voice trailed off into a snore. Lei Fang was also asleep on her bed. Christie as grateful they both didn't see what the television showed. It would freak them out. But later on when they're fully awake, the questions will come......

It was six o'clock in the evening. The sun set in a most hesitant way, and unlike it's usual gloating, it seemed to have found the worst painters to paint the sky, and hid itself behind the grey clouds almost immediately(a/n: Means the sun set quickly and without any beauty at all. Copyright!! ). Christie had had a shower and was almost as good as new and put on Alexandrite reluctantly. She swore that she'd buy a swimsuit later. Lei Fang and Hitomi had woke up at five. All three hadn't spoke much since then. Hitomi had no idea what she was doing in Christie's room and why her arms were bruised. She figured she'd been harassed. Christie, despite being humiliated of Hitomi saying that she'd been attacked in her room, let Hitomi stay with her conclusion for a while. Lei Fang, though, only remembered dragging Hitomi back to shore and lying on the wooden deck. Christie had no intention to say what they've been through. The story was not to be mentioned.

'Ah......' Hitomi (or her stomach) groaned as they went down to the now mysteriously cleaned-up restaurant. 'Whatever I've done just now has totally worn me out...grrrr I'm so hungry!!' She stamped her foot on the wooden floorboards. Everything in the restaurant was neat and tidy. The buffet tables were laden with heaps of roti, tandoori and Indian prawn chips, which gave out wafts of fragrance along with the sticks of Jasmine incense. Beaded curtains were drawn over the door and windows, and cushions and small tables replaced the tables and chairs.

'Whoa...' Lei Fang whispered. 'Zack sure did a good job in hiding the wreckage.' Christie nodded. They found themselves a cozy spot of silk cushions and slumped into the rich and luxurious pile of bliss.

'Oh...' Hitomi sighed in joy. 'I don't want to get up now!'

'Just like Monica and beanbags.' Lei Fang said with her eyes shut.

'I guess you two aren't getting up anyway.' Christie said, disgusted at their behavior. 'Lazybones.'

'I'll have a gazillion stacks of roti, two plates of tandoori, a glass of milk, a plate of curry n' rice and any kind of dessert please.' Lei Fang ordered before Christie could get up.

'And I'll have a mountain of prawn chips!' Piped out Hitomi.

'Very well then!' Christie growled and set off to the buffet tables.

She got three plates and piled one with two pieces of roti and slapped a gallon of curry. After bringing that back to the table, she snatched the spatula and began to stack tons of roti onto it, until even the ones on the buffet table had gone. Then she mounded oodles of tandoori and a gigantic mountain of prawn chips onto the other plate.

'I'm STARVING!!!!!!!' Hitomi cried, shoving dozens of prawn chips into her mouth at once.

'Hey take it easy. Enjoy the food slowly.' Christie said, charging at a sizzling potato with her fork. 'Appreciate it that someone would help you get your food.' She returned to her beloved curry potatoes.

The night was dim. Most of the light came from the lanterns and candles. There was hardly any moon. Tina and Lisa were eating out on the deck, chatting loudly as usual and Ayane was having her plain white rice and soup all by herself. The place was remarkably quiet at the moment.

The thoughts about the TV in the room floated back into Christie's mind, disturbing her more than ever. The image only showed for a second or more, but it was vivid, till now. The videocamera which taped it seemed to be on the wall of a hotel room, and a figure wearing some kind of traditional costume was back-facing the camera, chanting some kind of spell in a low voice. She wore a black hood, so Christie couldn't see her hair colour. Her voice was too low to identify. But somehow Christie thought it might be Ayane. Who else could chant spells? It also looked as if the girl was being secretly videotaped. Somebody had put a small videocamera in the girl's room to tape her actions – and play it on Christie's TV. And set her TV to switch off at the exact same moment Christie went into her room so that only she could see it, and Leifang and Hitomi wouldn't know anything about it. And set the tape to self-destruct on time. This person must've had a lot of nerve and understood her a lot to do that. But coming to the most important question – why – why – did that someone have to put a videocamera in a girl's room to tape her actions? Was that someone trying to tell Christie something about the girl? To tell her that the girl is some kind of 'witch'? What the use is that....?

'Oi, Chris!' Leifang shook Christie, who had been submerged in thought for a while, her potatoes in curry all cold. Followed by this was a humongous belch from Hitomi, who was lying satisfyingly on a pile of cushions with a toothpick in her mouth. 'Not hungry?'

'Er...no, nothing.' Christie wolfed down the rest of her food hungrily. The sudden suspiscions of the TV had made her hungrier somehow.

'Hey, wanna buy some swimsuits?' She asked them, debating whether she should tell them about the TV.

'Oh, sure, I'm stuffed. I need a walk.' Hitomi hiccuped.

They walked slowly to the Sports Shop. Leifang and Hitomi who were usually talkative, were so full that they hardly spoke a word on the way. Soon they were choosing swimsuits excitedly, no longer sleepy anymore.

'Guys, what do you think of this?' Leifang flourished Albatross in front of them. Hitomi's jaw dropped, as well as the hanger in her hand.

'OH-MY-GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' She screamed, hugging the blue bikini. It had three thick blue, white and turquoise horizontal stripes and shadows of palm trees. 'It's amazing!!! Please please please can I have it??' Christie sniggered at her.

'Why, of course! Wow, and it's so cheap too...' Leifang added Albatross to her basket.

Staring blankly at the ceiling, Christie was lying on her queen-sized bed back in her room after the exhausting day. She longed to shut her eyes and sleep, but the tension of the happenings that day were just too much for her.

She had checked the videotape put into her VCR which showed the image. Of course, the image has been erased, but surprisngly, labelled on the side of the tape were the words 'she did it'. Christie had thought the person who taped the image wouldn't give her clue of what was happening, but then, maybe this person was trying to help her. To help her do what? To help her solve the mystery of the day. Why were all the people saved in 5 minutes time by the rescue ship? Why did the rescue ship come so quickly? Shouldn't have they heard at least some voices of people when their speedboat steered close to the sinking plane? But the place was lifeless. It was like there were no people on the sinking plane afterall.

And why...why did Hitomi have a nosebleed just before the shark came? It's hard to make a mess if you have a nosebleed, and some of the blood did drop into the sea, which resulted as the shark's coming. Was it possible that Hitomi had a nosebleed on purpose to drive the shark near them? Suddenly it hit her.

Hitomi was the source of all the happenings. Why didn't Hitomi, who must've been very scared at that time, stop Leifang and Christie from going out to sea to see if there were any survivors on the plane? Did Hitomi really not know how to swim? Did she just faked it so that she could drown Leifang in the water? Like what she almost did?

She fell asleep into a dream of blood and murder, and sharks with laser beams on their head......

a/n: I know, I know, lame ending, but I really can't think of anything else to write.