First off, I would like to pimp the Harper's Island RP that is being put together by Zac-MentosGoBoom in the Harper's Island Discussion forum. If you haven't gotten involved and created a character yet, please do.
Next, sorry again I did not update when I said I would, I had a very busy weekend.
This is the shortest chapter so far, and will likely be the shortest chapter in the story. I know some people are probably saying "It's about time there was a short chapter in this story," while others are saying "boo short chapters." So if you are getting tired of my normally overly long chapters, then this is the chapter for you.
After last chapter, the wedding party is down to 27… which is still a bunch of characters.
Spoilers below to previous chapters
Character's Still Alive:
The Bride and Groom
Christina Evans (Chrissy) - The Bride
Robert Philips (Bobby) - The Groom
The Friends of the Bride and Groom
Emily Stone - The Maid-of-Honor
Victor Ford (Vic) - The Best Man
Allison Little (Alli) - The Athlete
Bruce Kemp - The Partier
Mary Medina - The Sullen
Raymond Cunningham (Ray) - The Go-Getter
Sara O'Conner - The Snob
Julie Graves - The Outcast
Tom Lane - The Stranger
The Bride's Family
Hurbert Evans - The Father-of-the-Bride
Pamela Evans - The Mother-of-the-Bride
Amy Marshall - The Tyrant
Denise Arnold - The Peacekeeper
Amber Evans - The Tease
Nicole Evans (Nicky) - The Risk Taker
Daniel Marshall - The Mogul
Kyle Arnold - The Good Son-In-Law
Melissa Marshall (Lissa) - The Flower girl
Joseph Marshall (Joey) - The Ring bearer
The Groom's Family
Allen Philips - The Reverend
Lewis Philips - The Loner
Courtney Philips (Cort) - The Estranged
Others
Janice Owens - The Owner of the Inn
Troy Curtis - The Ferry Driver
Dorothy Rose - The Stripper
Chapter 5: Thunk
Nicky came down the stairs carrying her boogie board. She hoped that Amy wouldn't be angry that it had taken her so long to get ready. As she reached the first floor, she took in the scene. Her eyes were immediately drawn to Cort, whose clothes could not have been brighter. His shirt was a bright orange, and she wondered if it had ever fit him as it was being stretched to the limit around his large body. If it was surprising to see that Cort was joining them, it was even more surprising to see Lewis in the group preparing to go to the beach. With Lewis' pale skin, Nicky had not pegged him for much of the outdoors type, much less a beach goer. Lewis was wearing a black shirt and black swim shorts.
Amy was on-a-knee in the middle of the lobby putting a coating of sunscreen on Lissa, while Joey waited anxiously for his turn. As Nicky reached the bottom of the stairs, Amy began getting the other organized as she continued to apply sunscreen.
"Cort, will you please carry the umbrella and these couple of chairs with you? Lewis, why don't you carry the cooler? Nicky, would you carry… wait you've got your board, so I'll carry the picnic basket, and you can carry the beach towels and some of this other stuff. And you two carry a towel and as many of your toys as you can carry, OK?" Both children nodded as Amy had finished applying sunscreen on Lissa and had begun on Joey.
Cort quickly stepped forward and pick-up his assigned items. Lewis looked unhappy, but Nicky didn't think he seemed any unhappier to be assigned to carrying the cooler, just unhappy in general. Nicky quickly picked up the beach towels and as much other stuff as she could. They waited there for a bit while Amy finished up with Joey, then the rest of the stuff was gathered and they were off.
Amber had first started quickly up the path to catch up with the others, and to get away from Casey, but had then slowed her pace. She wasn't looking forward to having to explain where Casey was. It took her several minutes to catch up to the group, which had already reached the town.
When Amber reached the town, the only people she could see were Janice, Julie, and Bruce. Janice was standing at the edge of the town, and gave Amber a perturbed look as she approached. Julie and Bruce were farther into the town, sitting on a park bench and talking.
"Where have you been, and where is the boy that was with you," Janice said as Amber approached.
"Oh, well, we, um… Casey had a stomach ache, so we stopped. He didn't feel any better so he decided to go back to the hotel," Amber lied.
"Well you two had us worried. Especially your brother-in-law, who went looking for you. You didn't run into him on the path?"
"Um, no," Amber didn't really think that was as odd as Janice did. "You do know I'm eighteen, right? I mean you guys don't have to worry about me like I'm a little kid."
"Adults tell people when they're going to disappear in the middle of the woods," Janice said sternly. Amber stood there and stewed. They continued waiting there until Kyle came trotting up the trail. Kyle was sweating profusely.
"There you are. You're parents would have killed me if I lost you," Kyle said.
"How did you miss each other?" Janice asked Kyle.
"Oh, I checked in the woods in a few places, Amber must have gotten by me," Kyle replied. Kyle asked about Casey, and Amber reiterated her lie, which Kyle did not question. The three then continued on to the center of town.
Daniel had been happy to see that Amy had packed his jeans. He hadn't thought he would need them, but he needed it to at least look convincing that he was going on the hike. He looked in the mirror in his room. "Perfect, I look like some jerk that is going on a hike," he said to himself. He left the room and headed downstairs to meet the others.
Daniel had to make it seem convincing that he was going on the hike. He didn't want to catch a bunch of shit from Hurbert and Pamela for not coming.
Daniel would have enjoyed playing with his kids on the beach. It wasn't like he was trying to get out of that. But Daniel had learned of an excellent opportunity from Vic the night before. Daniel had other needs that needed to be filled. Something more motivating then spending time with his kids.
He reached the bottom of the stairs and saw that a group had gathered to go on the hike. Most importantly, Hurbert and Pamela were there.
"Hello Daniel," Hurbert said, obviously a little unhappy to see him, "I was surprised to hear you were coming along." Daniel knew Hurbert was unhappy that he wasn't helping Amy with the kids at the beach.
"Yea, I just wanted a chance to see this scenery. Don't know when I'll be back here." Daniel looked over the group. Aside from Hurbert and Pamela, the others were all Chrissy's friends. Daniel was definitely attracted to Chrissy's friends, but some of them seemed to be in a bad mood. Yet another reason not to go hiking as he certainly didn't want to be around a bunch of twenty-something girls in a bad mood. He felt he got enough of that at home.
"Well, I think this is everyone," Pamela said, "Let's go ahead." The group began walking out the door then up the trail a little ways.
"Oh, wait, I left something back at the hotel," Daniel said when they were about a quarter of a mile from the inn. "I'll go run back and catch up to you all. You all go on ahead."
Hurbert tried to argue with him for a bit, but Daniel was able to convince them that it was something important, and that they should not wait. When Daniel turned back to walk to the inn and heard them continue on, his face broke into a rare smile.
Janice, Kyle, and Amber reached the bench where Julie and Bruce were sitting together talking.
"Where did the other two get to?" Janice asked.
"Hey Bruce, check this out," Vic said walking out of a building close by.
"Please, sir… Vic, don't remove any of the items from the buildings. Please put that back," Janice said firmly. Vic was holding an old looking whiskey bottle. Vic got a nasty look on his face from being scolded, but returned the bottle to where he found it.
"Tom is right there," Julie said pointing behind where Janice and the others were standing. Tom was emerging from the woods.
"Oh, OK. Let's go into the town center and I'll explain the history of this town and the island," Janice said, motioning them onward.
When they reached the tattered gazebo at the center of town, they all took a seat except Janice, who began telling the history. She went on for a while about what was known of the ancient history of the island. Of the evidence of Native American's having been there at some point and early European explorers who were believed to have come to the island.
"The town itself, here on Sheppard's Island, was not established until the late 1940, as you can tell from much of the architecture. This village was created because it was believed that fishing would be made less expensive if the boats were kept here and some processing was done before taking the catch to the mainland. There were never more than 150 inhabitants of the island, even though in the early years they were successful. Over there is the small school house they built, and there is the old church. There is a more modern church that was build closer to the inn near the end of this village's existence.
"The legends on the mainland are that the village was abandoned after a large set of killings occurred here in the 1970s, but that is not really true. One villager did kill five other villagers, then themselves, in 1976, but that wasn't really why the village ceased to be.
"The real reason is because of several years where the fishing was poorer then expected. When the fishing was bad, they could no longer support the other services on the island, and everyone left the island for the mainland. The Lighthouse Inn was the only business left, and its owners, my parents, were the last residents.
"The village was to be destroyed, but a historical society stepped in and lobbied the parks service to declare it a historical site. The park service has an outpost a little ways past the village, but it is unmanned most of the year. The park service maintains the island and the buildings as best they can. The buildings still have many of the items that were left by the villagers. Not many people travel out here, except for those who are staying at the inn because the park service has made camping permits for this island so expensive. And my parents kept a good eye on those who they brought here," Janice said, giving Vic a noticeable look.
"That is the presentation. Please feel free to take a look around and ask me any questions you might have. Oh, and stay away from all the buildings with yellow tape around them. They are condemned, and we wouldn't want them to fall down with you inside."
The group broke apart and wondered the town, with Amber splitting off on her own. Overall, the town was not very interesting. There were some plaques on some of the buildings explaining what they were, and some park service billboards that restated what Janice had told them, except in more detail, but Amber did not find it as exciting a history as she had hoped.
The buildings were not even that old. The buildings that were homes reminded Amber of her grandmother's house, given it had had a chance to rot for thirty-some years. The schoolhouse was just one big room with old desks stacked against a wall. She was beginning to wish she had made-out with Casey instead of coming here.
When they reached the beach, Lissa and Joey made a break for the water with Amy and Nicky quickly following, leaving Lewis and Cort to decide where to put everything. Amy stayed close to her son in the shallower water, while Lissa and Nicky braved the surf slightly farther from shore.
"Nicky, can I ask a favor from you?" Amy asked when both of the younger children were playing in the shallower water.
"Sure, sis, what's up?"
"Well, I think when I was asking Lewis if he was going to the beach that he thought I was telling him he had to come. I'm not sure he had any intension of coming here."
"You have a habit of having that happen," Nicky said with a smile.
"Well, maybe, but I was wondering if you would make sure he has a good time out here. You know, invite him to play with you and the kids," Amy said.
"Sure, no problem," Nicky replied. Nicky wasn't the most socially gifted person, but she also had no fear when it came to social situations.
"Thanks Nicky, I knew I could count on you," Amy said as Lissa and Joey took her hands and tried to drag her out farther into the surf.
Mary had started to feel regret about yelling at Robin when she first got up this morning. She knew she had probably hurt Robin deeply. While at the time it had felt good, she now did feel bad. She was really hoping to see Robin at breakfast, but she wasn't there. Alli had acted a bit odd around her also.
When Mary saw Emily, she knew why. She could just tell when Emily was pissed, and wanted to vent. And Mary could guess as to why. Mary assumed that Emily had finally talked to Robin, and that she now knew what had happened at the pool the previous day.
Mary knew it was coming, but Emily was waiting for the right moment. She waited until after Daniel had made his lame excuses and left. She waited until there were a few miles between them and the Lighthouse. Emily, Alli, and Mary dropped back a little ways from the others.
"What happened at the pool between you and Robin?" Emily finally said, as straight forward as she always was when she was angry.
"I got angry and yelled at her," Mary replied, equally straight forward. "I know I went too far, and I'll apologize to her when we get back to the inn."
"That will be some trick, considering she is not there."
"What?" was the combined reaction of Mary and Alli.
"She's gone, along with her bags. Janice, the inn manager, thinks she went home on the ferry yesterday," Emily said, finally stating what she knew.
This was far worse then Mary had expected. She had been hard on Robin, but certainly did not want to ruin the wedding over an outburst that lasted just a few seconds.
"Is she sure?" Alli asked.
"No, not entirely. She said the ferry was around for a few hours after we got here yesterday, so maybe she made it back to the dock and left."
"A few hours? When I yelled at Robin, it was later in the day, that doesn't make sense. Why would the ferry captain stay around that late?" Mary said, creating even more concern amongst the others and in a way she was happy to turn the discussion more towards the question of what had happened to Robin verses the fight her and Robin had.
"I don't know, none of it makes sense to me. I just cannot see Robin leaving and telling nobody that she was going, but right now, it's the only thing that makes sense at all.
"Janice said that the ferry boat will be back sometime this afternoon, and will be staying for a while. I plan on heading back from the hike a bit earlier then the rest of you so I make sure and catch him."
"I could come with you," Mary offered.
"No, Robin may be on the ferry. She may decide to come back. If she does, I want to talk to her first and calm her down," Emily said. "So, tell me what exactly this incident was about and what you said."
Mary's heart sunk a bit at having to explain what happened, but she did. She left out that it had been caused by seeing her former friend, Julie, again. That part was just for Mary herself to know.
Tom was talking to Kyle near what had been one of the large houses in the village. He had a habit of getting drawn into conversations with people he didn't know that well. But that was something Julie liked about him.
Julie wondered up the small village street to where Vic and Bruce were. Previous to this weekend, it had been a long time since she had seen either of them.
"Enjoying the ancient village so far, Julie?" Vic said as she approached.
"Not so much. It's not really all that interesting," Julie replied.
"Yeah, it makes me wish I had just stuck around the pool today," Bruce added.
"Agreed," Vic said.
"So why didn't you two go on the hike or to the beach?" Julie asked.
"Well, we've got this little thing going on later tonight for Bobby. Some might call it a bachelor party, some might simply call it a night of debauchery. All of those people may be correct, we'll just have to find out," Vic said. "I would invite you, but I'm not 100% sure I'd be able to protect you, from the others or from myself," Vic added, trying to sound chivalrous.
"As long as you don't get Bobby damaged, that will probably be alright," Julie said in response.
"We'll have to see. So why did you choose the tour instead of something fun or exciting?" Vic asked.
Julie hesitated for a moment, then said, "Well, I sort of knew Mary would be there, and everybody else. I'm still… well you know."
At this, Bruce walked over to her and put his arm around her shoulder. She returned the gesture by putting her arm around his torso.
"You know we'll always love you, right," Bruce said to her.
"Yeah, that shit a year ago went way too far. And we've missed you ever since," Vic said.
"I've missed you two too," Julie said with an honest smile. There was a short pause in the conversation before Vic changed the topic.
"So, what's the deal between you and Tom? I mean, is it serious?"
"We've been seeing each other for a while," was all Julie would divulge.
"Do you trust him enough to let him come to our party tonight? I can't make any promises he'll return in one piece or anything," Vic said.
"Sure, he can go. I'm sure he can protect himself from the likes of you."
When they were ready to take a break from the surf, the kids found an area of the sand they liked, and with Amy's watchful eye, started playing. Nicky continued on to where Lewis was sitting reading. Lewis was sitting a ways away from Cort, who was just sitting in the sun smiling, but didn't seem to have brought any activities of his own.
"Hey Lewis… Lewis, I need your help," Nicky said when she was close enough.
"Oh, um, sure what is it?" Lewis asked, clearly nervous at being approached.
"Come on get up, I need your help over here," Nicky said, trying to stay intentionally ambiguous until Lewis got to his feet. Lewis set his book down and got to his feet slowly, still unsure what was to be asked of him. "I need you to come with me so we can bury those two in the sand," Nicky said, at last, with a large smile.
"Well, I was kind of in the middle of reading," Lewis said.
"You can read later," Nicky said, with a short eye roll. Then, trying to sell it as best she could, she said, "But how often do you get to bury the two cutest kids in the world up to their necks in sand. I'm assuming not that often." On this she grabbed him by the arm and started leading him down the beach.
Lewis could have likely counted the number of times that a girl around his age had touched him on the arm, but he certainly had no recollections of a girl grabbing his arm to take him somewhere.
They arrived where Amy and the kids were to find the children busy digging out small ditches for themselves. Joey was a bit shyer once Lewis was there, but the excitement of the beach overcame his typical shyness. Amy, Nicky, and Lewis then busied themselves with burying the children. Lewis was tentative at first, but soon dove into the task, becoming increasingly happy to be involved.
Lissa and Joey remained buried long enough for Amy to get her camera and take several pictures, but the two youngsters were too ready to do other stuff to be buried for long. Afterwards, the children wanted to build a sand castle, so Amy took them up closer to where Cort was sitting with the rest of the stuff they had brought with them.
Lewis thought about going back to his book at this point, but, seeming to recognize that he was preparing a retreat, Nicky insisted he help with the sand castle. Amy let them all play, as she sat close by under the beach umbrella.
Janice walked to a house around the corner from the main street of the village. She detached the yellow tape and walked inside.
This house was special to her, and probably the real reason she was still on the island. This was the house where she had spent the first few years of her life. Her parents had lived in this village. Her father had been a fisherman. She remembered how upset he had been when they had to move back to the mainland, but after the school and everything else closed down, it was no place to raise a child.
She carefully walked up the stairs. She knew the house was in better condition then the others, because her parents had taken care of it. The yellow tape was to keep the tourist out of their private memories.
Her parents had moved back to the island after her father retired from fishing. They had always missed it, and were happy to pay too much for the Lighthouse Inn to have an excuse to live out the remainder of their lives here. Unfortunately it had been just a few short years.
Janice thought she heard something downstairs, so she stopped. She hoped no one from the tour had followed her. She had thought she had snuck away fairly well. There was no more noise, so she continued into what had been her parent's room.
The bed frame was still there. They had thrown out the mattresses, but had left the frame. You could still make out on the walls, from the different amount of fading, where the furniture had been. This room brought her parents memory back to her most vividly.
"Hey Janice," a voice whispered. She turned quickly back to the door, startled, and just in time for the sledge hammer to smash her face with a loud "thunk". Janice's face had completely caved in from the blow, and she had died instantly. Her body just fell. The killer stood over her body for several moments, studying it, and waiting to strike another blow if needed. What was Janice's head was now just a bloody mess.
The killer then moved to the boarded-up window and looked through a crack to see if anyone was approaching. No one was. The killer tried to deicide how much time to take hiding this body. The killer also reflected on the kill and decided that it was gory in effect, but ultimately unsatisfying.
Deaths:
Janice Owens - The Owner of the Inn
AN: Like I said upfront, a really short chapter. Plus, with only one death, it almost makes up for the three deaths in the last chapter.
To make up for the short chapter and lack of death in this chapter, I will try to have the next chapter out sooner. The next chapter is more than twice as long as this chapter unedited, and my tendency has been to increase length when I edit. The next chapter will be chapter 6: Boom, Boom.