Going down from the hill…
The walk back was quicker but also more dangerous than the way up because of the gradient of the ground and the earth that was crumbling under their feet. They were almost half way from their camp when Sybil saw something on the sea. She stopped abruptly.
"Tom! Tom!"
"What?" he asked, stopping and turning around to her.
He saw her rush down the few meters between them and throw herself, without a word, on the rucksack he was holding.
"What? What's going on? What do you want? Hey, don't search in there!" protested Tom.
Sybil didn't listen to him and searched with feverishness in the sack. She finally pulled out binoculars.
"Look!" she said, putting the binoculars on her nose. "Oh yes, it's a boat!"
Tom took the binoculars from her and looked too. A smile started to form on his lips.
"They'll probably cast anchor in the creek."
"Yes, well. How will we signal our presence?"
"A flare would have been great," joked Tom.
Sybil gave him a knock on his chest but she was too relieved to be angry with him.
"Oh, don't start with that! What are we doing? How will we get there?"
"Well, we go down the hill…"
"Eh?" interrupted Sybil.
"We go down the hill, we go up the hill, we go down the hill and we will take the life boat and hope they will still be there tomorrow morning."
Without losing a minute, they rushed down the hill, suddenly excited by a renewal of energy and hope.
It was already night when they reached their camp and after quickly eating some biscuits that were in Tom's freight, they put the life boat in the water. The current wasn't very strong but they needed to put all their force in the rowing that was inexorably bringing them closer to their saviors. They took turns in silence. The day was already breaking and they still hadn't reached the boat in sight.
On the life boat
Somewhere in the ocean…The sun was now high in the sky and the heat was becoming stifling. Sybil gritted her teeth with each turn of the oar, refusing to wake up Tom despite her state of exhaustion. He had taken most of the big turns at night so she owed him. To distract herself from the numbness of her arms, she let her gaze travel on the body lying in front of her. His open shirt revealed a chest as tanned as it was brawny. Tom seemed to sleep soundly and Sybil enjoyed watching him freely, without being accused of anything by anyone.
After about ten turns of the oar, she couldn't stand it anymore. She stopped and reached for the canteen of water. She drank several big mouthfuls under Tom's eyes which were slowly emerging from sleep, the change of rhythm of the boat having woke him up. He looked at his watch and then to Sybil, seeing she was exhausted. They needed to go almost all the way around the island and they still had a lot further to go. He needed to preserve her a little bit longer.
"Come on, I'll take over."
"Oh yes, thank you."
They traded places while being careful not to make the boat capsize and continued the trip. Fortunately, the sea is quiet! thought Sybil.
They went a few more hundred meters in silence, only exchanging brief glances that neither him nor her wanted to analyze. Then, deciding to pass time, Sybil took the plunge with a question that was burning her lips since they first climbed in his plane at Papeete's airport.
"What's really going on between you and…"
Sybil made as if she was thinking about the name of the voluptuous blond before placing her hands in front of her own breasts to make him understand about who she was talking about. Tom sighed and rolled his eyes with exasperation.
"Edna," he retorted.
"Yes, that's it…Edna."
"Nothing, we're friends. She works at the hotel four months a year. We have fun together. Everything is simple."
"For you, it always has been simple…or…did you already know some complicated things?" she tried, remembering the conversation they had in a certain garage.
Tom missed a turn of the oar with her question and glared at her. Sybil tried a smile.
"So it's a yes! How complicated? From 1 to 10."
She didn't know why she needed to know so much and to make him talk about this infamous "us", because, if she was honest with herself, that was where she wanted to lead him. Tom sighed, exasperated. Couldn't she understand that, by his silence, he was referring to their "relationship" or whatever was the name you could put on what had taken place between them?
"Twelve," he finally said.
"Twelve?! Oh, what happened?"
Tom stared at her with wide eyes. Did she have a sunburn on her head that was making her dumb or else was she, on purpose, reminding him of one of the worst and most hurtful moments of his life ?
"Well…unfortunately, she chose her family over me. And apparently she fell in love with some rich and stupid guy. So…I left without a word. With my silence, I gave her my blessing in a way," he finished, looking straight in her eyes. "End of story."
Sybil knew then with certainty that he was talking about them.
"And…are they still together?" she heard herself ask.
But what sort of question is that? they thought at the same time.
"Yeah…they're still together," breathed Tom, looking down to Sybil's ring finger. "The rumor even says they're about to get married."
Sybil bit her lips and looked down at her hand. She started to play nervously with the ring.
"Leaving was the best choice?" she asked in a breath without looking at him.
"Everything is telling me today it was the right thing to do, isn't it? So I left my work, and used my savings to come here and start fresh. I liked it here so I got my pilot license and bought the plane for nothing and moved on. It's the best thing that ever happened to me," he finished.
But Sybil wasn't listening anymore. Not because she didn't find his story interesting because, since their reunion, she was dying to know why he had gone without a word, but rather because the awaited boat just entered her realm of vision. Tom, because of her silence, looked up and saw her being restless and looking over his shoulder.
"What is it?" he asked.
Sybil reached for the binoculars.
"There are two boats!" she exclaimed with a big smile.
"What? Two boats?" he asked again, looking around behind him.
"Yes! Two boats!" she said again, giving the binoculars to him. "Look! This is great!"
Tom took them and turned around to see what was getting her so excited.
"Hey oh!" yelled Sybil toward the boats with big gestures.
Tom, for his part, was watching the scene silently playing on the boat and immediately felt that something was wrong. A man, about in his fifties, seemed to be in the middle of a fight with some sinister looking guys as a few of them drank champagne directly from the bottle. He gulped and was about to tell Sybil to shut up when one of the men reached for a gun and, without warning, shot the older man who crumbled down.
"Houhou!" Sybil went on.
Tom quickly turned around to her.
"Sit down! We need to get away!" he said, taking back the oars.
"Why?" asked Sybil but doing what he said because of the scared expression on his face. "But Why?"
"We need to get out of here," he said again, oaring frantically in the opposite direction.
"But why? What are you saying?" she asked, looking in the binoculars.
"Shit, shit and shit," swore Tom through gritted teeth.
"Oh My God!" moaned Sybil.
Just in front of her eyes, she just watched the sinister men throw the body of a man over the edge.
"Who are these people?" she asked Tom, panicking.
"Pirates."
"Pirates? Like Captain Hook?"
"Thiefs, smugglers. They loot boats."
"They loot boats? But they just killed that man!"
"They're gonna kill us too," retorted Tom, oaring with all his strength. "Because we're here, because we saw them…"
"What?!"
Their fears didn't wait too long to be confirmed when Sybil met in the binoculars one of the presumed leader who seemed to have noted their small boat.
"They saw us!" she told Tom.
Scared, she still watched the movements of their potential enemies.
"Oh no, they put down a boat in the sea."
"What kind of boat?"
"The kind with a motor," breathed Sybil.
"Shit!" exclaimed Tom, accelerating his oaring to bring them back closer to the coast.
More or less, the beach came into view but not as fast as the pirates' boat and they were still about an hundred meters away when the first salvo of bullets could be heard and rebounded not far from their boat. Instinctively, they bent down to avoid the bullets.
"Jump!" cried Tom.
They barely had time to touch the water when their boat began exploding under the bullets of their attackers. In unison, they started to swim toward the beach, praying that the bullets would not reach them. At last, they reached the shore and Tom helped Sybil out of the water before pulling her behind him to the direction of the island center. They were just a few meters ahead and didn't have a second to lose if they had any hope in saving their lives.
A crazy run started then. First, on the sand and then in the rocks, before finding themselves back the clayey ground of the side of the hill and they had no choice but to start hiking again. Three armed men were behind them and they couldn't allow themselves any mistake.
"I can't go anymore," moaned Sybil, out of breath she stopped against a rock.
"Yes, you can," cheered Tom, pulling her back on her feet.
They finally reached what looked like a clearing at the top of the island and Tom ordered her to go and hide in the thickets.
"Over there," he showed, pushing her in the right direction while he was heading in the other one.
Sybil was about to protest but she was too exhausted and she just spotted the figure of one of the pirates coming to them, therefore, she crawled under a bush and watched Tom do the same in the opposite direction. She then saw two men approaching and Tom raised a dead tree trunk as they were passing and they fell. Then a fight broke out between Tom and the less injured man. Blows were thrown from each side and Tom succeeded in emptying the magazine of one of the machine guns that he managed to apprehend from the remaining pirate.
Seeing he would need some help as the second man was coming back to his senses, Sybil emerged from her hiding place and ran to them. As Tom was finishing his opponent, she hit the second pirate on the head with the tree branch, knocking him out.
Hearing the little cries she was making while hitting the man, Tom turned to her and flashed her an admiring smile. Sybil smiled back before feeling something gripping her leg. She fell back and, before the man could throw himself at her, Tom tackled him and threw him away. Sybil was about to get up when she felt an arm squeeze her throat and her body plastered against a foreign one.
"Aah," she moaned.
Tom turned quickly to her.
"Let go of your stick!" ordered the leader, pointing a gun at him. "Don't make things harder," he added, emphasizing the pressure around Sybil's neck.
Three against two, they didn't stand a chance and they both knew it. Tom obeyed but his attacker hit him on his back anyway and he fell to the ground.
"Tom!" cried Sybil.
"It was really stupid of to do that," roared the man to Tom. "Now, I have to kill you. Say goodbye to him," he added to Sybil.
"We've got gold," whispered Sybil as an answer.
Tom looked at her with wide eyes, wondering if she had lost her mind. She looked back, hoping he would understand before throwing a seductive smile to the man who was keeping her prisoner against him.
"Get up," the man said to Tom.
He didn't need to obey as the two other pirates pulled him up without care.
"Gold?" asked the leader.
"Gold," confirmed Tom in a voice he hoped sounded sure while throwing glances to Sybil.
"Yes, gold. I'm creating jewels. I'm creating jewels with gold. And gems."
"Gems, I forgot the gems," confirmed Tom through gritted teeth.
After all, the situation couldn't be worse and one more lie couldn't do any harm…
"I sell to some of the most famous shops and we have a few display suitcases on the boat because we're about to prospect the Asian market but that…this is…this is my husband territory," added Sybil under the disapproving look of Tom who was trying to tell her she was overdoing herself.
"Yes…well, I'm in marketing…" stammered Tom.
"A genius…you're a genius!" exclaimed Sybil.
"Yes, well…thank you," answered Tom, uncomfortable.
The leader and one of the men started to have a private conversation in a foreign language and Tom and Sybil used this time to share what was supposed to be reassuring looks. At last, the discussion ended.
"Take us to the boat," the leader said to Tom.
They started then down the hill again, in silence and through the forest. Tom and Sybil were walking ahead, hand in hand, as the pirates were following close, their guns pointed on them, ready to fire if necessary. From time to time, Tom and Sybil looked at each other until Tom finally made a discreet sign with his head. Sybil frowned. He wanted them to run away? Has he lost his mind?
She didn't have the time to think more about it because she felt herself being pulled aside before crashing on the ground against Tom. They rolled a few seconds among the vegetation and on the slope before bullets started to dance madly around them. Sybil promised herself right away that, if they did make it out of this by some miracle, Tom would hear from her.
It lasted only a few seconds but it seemed like an eternity. At last, the slope became softer and their bodies stopped rolling. Tom didn't waste a minute getting up, pulling Sybil after him. Already, the pirates were on their heels.
And the crazy run started again. Going down this time.
They left the forest and came to the edge of the cliff. They followed it for a while, looking desperately for a way to hide or to shake off their pursuers. But, concentrated on their quest, they didn't pay attention to their surroundings and they soon found themselves on the edge of a chasm with no possible way out. They abruptly stopped. Under them, there was only the boiling of the water and the sound of the waves crashing against the rock. It was too late to turn around, Tom already catching a glimpse of the pirates.
"Oh, what are we going to do?" asked Sybil, looking into the void in front of her.
"At three we're jumping. One…two…" started Tom.
He took Sybil's hand in his to jump in the void but Sybil took a step back.
"I can't."
Tom took both her arms and turned her to him.
"Syb…I know you're afraid but…"
"You, go. Save you. I…"
She couldn't end her sentence, Tom's hands taking her face and crashing his lips on hers. Her eyes went wide.
"Forgive me," he said when they pulled away.
"For kissing me?"
"No…for this!" he said before pushing her in front of him in the void and jumping after her.
"Ahhhhhhh," screamed Sybil when she toppled over.
After a few seconds fall, their bodies hit the water and they disappeared into the depth.
Amazed, the three pirates stopped before running to the edge of the cliff. They looked to the ocean but they only saw blue and the turmoil of the waves.
"Shit…Shit !" yelled the leader before walking away from the edge with a raging step.
At the same timeMakatéa
The sun was about to set on the little paradisiacal island and Larry Grey was drinking a cocktail with Edna, half leaning on the bar from despair, his eyes lost in space.
"You know what they say about realizing the happiness you have only once you lost it?" he asked with a voice full of cotton.
"Yes?"
"It's bullshit…because I…I knew my happiness. I…"
He stopped long enough for the barmaid to take away his empty glass and put a full one in his hand.
"Oh, God! How much I loved her," he moaned, holding his head in his hands. "How I love her! I love her," he repeated as to convince himself. "She's alive!" he added before taking a sip.
"Don't get it wrong but I think that men don't know what love is. It's true," said his companion.
"I know."
"Yeah?"
"I know what love is."
"Anyway, guys are always saying they love me!"
"I'm sure that some of them really think it," said Larry, unsure as someone who drank too much.
"Oh, no. None of them. Believe me."
To be continued