Crash-landed On An Island With Nine Beauties

"Why have you gathered us?"

Allison was the first person to break the silence. That was the right question to ask when one of them suddenly called them together so early in the morning. They were gathered outside the castle, adjacent to the rice field.

"Probably, someone should remind her that we don't work in group anymore."

Jada snapped at Ayisha. Obviously it was Ayisha who had called for the gathering. And it was really strange that they all heed her call.

Perhaps the lot of them had high hopes but would feign disinterest. Living off Claire's specialty?!

"Maybe someone should learn not speak out of turn."

Claire came to the aid of Ayisha. Jada rolled her eyes at her, like she gave two fucks.

"We'll pick it up from where we stopped after the meeting, but for now, please let's drop all our differences."

Ayisha staked a claim, stepping forward. For few seconds, there was a wave of murmur which none of them could kill. When the lots had had enough of the nuance, there was peace and quiet. Not one of the girls was absent. They were all there, looking from one person to the other.

"Let's get to it then."

Allison urged. When Ayisha glanced at her, it was more of nudging. With a hint of supremacy.

"Damien is alive."

She let the bomb off.

"Huh?"

The murmur which had died down earlier was revived. This time it grew into a sort of commotion. A mini version of a racket.

"Is she drunk?"

"Is she nuts?"

"Does she have a death wish?"

"Did she call us out to tell us this crap?"

"Are we some sort of joke to her?"

"She must think that we are clowns like her."

Tendzel suddenly stepped forward and started to clap. The uproar died down prematurely. Every attention fell on her. Before anyone could ask what that was about, she had spoken up, "Why didn't somebody tell me that we were about to be featured in one of her upcoming novels. Cos this imagination is super wild."

She clapped twice again and nodded at Ayisha.

"Beautiful plot. How wonderful can writers be."

"The fuck is wrong with Tendzel."

"What was that about?"

"Is she making a joke right now?"

"Shouldn't we be thinking of making the lousy Ayisha pay for stopping us from doing our works to tell us this trash?"

Ayisha's ear would bleed from the complaints, but she didn't seem to be bothered. The girls had lived together over months and were acquainted with what either of them was made of. What stuff made up each of them.

Ayisha looked to her front and beckoned at Evelyn who was directly opposite her. Evelyn walked over to her.

"Evelyn is the first testifier to my argument."

Ayisha continued and the noise died down.

"I might not be able to tell Evelyn to tell us what her experience was with him. Because it is personal. Even at our quest for knowledge, we shouldn't invade the privacy of the ---"

"I had sex with him. About a week ago."

Evelyn cut Ayisha short. All eyes fell on Evelyn. But this wasn't the old Evelyn, she looked brazen with tough eyes.

Her gaze fell on Laurette who avoided the contact.

"What are you talking about?"

Allison queried.

"Did the two make a sort of deal to fool us or something?"

Jada had snapped again.

"Who is this bitch? Does it bother you so much to think that Damien is alive?"

Claire took it out on Jada. Jada's eyes turned red.

"Do you have a death wish or something? You want me to ruin that beautiful face of yours?"

Claire cackled.

"At least you admit that I'm beautiful. Naturally. Do you really think we don't know that you had work done in Korea? You cheap skateboard pretending to be original. Trying to compare your wack face to mine." Jada lost it at once and hurried towards Claire. But the rest of the girls were not having the stray.

Seeing that they couldn't have each other's throats, both girls yelled and screamed at each other. Making attempts to hurl things.

"The both of you can continue with the fight after this. Let's be mature."

"Shut the fuck up!"

Jada and Claire chorused at once, taking out their rage on Ayisha who was so keen on continuing with the details of the information. "Are we good now?"

Ayisha took another risk, but this time she seemed to be lucky. She only got glares from both parties. It was quite a sign.

"Hearing that from Evelyn is quite helpful."

"I also met him. At first I saw someone passing out waste. I thought it was a Cannibal, but then he spoke and stood. I'm sure there is none of us here who can't discern his back frame. I'm even sure that there are some who can tell him by his smell."

He heaved a sigh, the girls were looking at her like she had life in her palms and was going to give one to each.

"I thought it was a dream, perhaps I was sleepwalking like Evelyn thought. But then I touched him. I can still feel the warmth of his soft skin on my palm. The feeling was surreal and beautiful."

She didn't seem to care that there were others listening to her compliments.

"But then I turned, I was so confused. I didn't know why I turned. Even though I've been... we've all been wanting him to return. Though some of us pretend to hate him... yet, when I saw him I couldn't believe my eyes."

"When I turned back to him, he was gone. Not disappear if you think... he drove off with a yacht."

Jada chuckled all of a sudden,

"One minute he was standing behind you, and the next he was in the yacht, driving away? Wow, Ayisha. Really I have to give it to you. But I'm concerned, we only know you to write steamy books not fantasy... Ayisha allowed her to enjoy the moment before bringing out the bracelet. She put it up for every eye to see.

"This fell from him."

She reached the bracelet out to Mira who was by her left.

"Take, smell it. I'm sure you know his smell."

Mira sniffed and nodded.

"Pass it to the rest."

Ayisha watched as the girls collected and sniffed, some reluctantly, some willingly while Jada refused blantantly.

It got to the last person. Evelyn. She sniffed and nodded. Ayisha reached out to collect but Evelyn refused to give it back.

"Though it has the smell of Damien, but this is bracelet."

Evelyn spoke up finally. Jada was about to say something but Evelyn continued,

"My bracelet dropped from him?"

Her eyes widened, and she put up her head, looking from one girl to the other.

"If my bracelet dropped from him, then -- He took it with him? After the sex, I couldn't find the bracelet. I thought I was careless... he took it. Yes, Damien took it."

Her excitement powered down suddenly when another realization dawned,

"But why did he take it with him?"

Mira put up her hand and every attention went to her. Though some eyes lingered on Evelyn.

"I think I have an answer to that."

A sort of murmur broke out again but it didn't last. Mira stepped forward.

"This doesn't seem like a fable anymore. At first, I thought Ayisha and her group members were being desperate and making up things but it doesn't seem like that anymore."

"How can you be so sure? What if they cooked this up in one of their meetings? Huh? Tell me! What if this is just a way to keep us on the island until we find him! What would you say then?"

Jada staked her claim.

"What have you been able to do... your group! Haven't you been idling around, doing nothing? What progress did you make on leaving the island? Aren't you busy gossiping about the big cocks of the Cannibals and ---"

Mira tried to calm herself.

"Who knows, Damien might be out there working his ass off, doing all he could to make sure we leave. He might be out there making preparations for the vacation of this island. You dumb bitches." Mira's eyes were red from rage, a hidden part of him seemed to had surfaced. Finally?

"Let's not stretch this. It's reasonable to have conflicting thoughts and ideas. That's why we are humans."

Ayisha stepped in.

"But before we make decisions, let's all agree on one thing."

She gained all their attention again. She had her ways. She always does.

"I believe that he's on a small island which is over the ocean. An island that majority of you don't know about. I saw him myself across the ocean but couldn't believe until today's encounter."

She turned to Claire,

"That's what I have been hiding from you."

Claire clicked her tongue.

"Let's all go so you can see for yourself. Come with me."

She turned and left without waiting for any of them. She knew it was a matter of time before they follow.

She was right. They followed her.