Misplaced 5, part 1

Here is a case unprecedented



The others were staring. “They’re all mad,” Kath said scathingly.

Ruth shook her head. She recognised her dream in Mick’s description. “it’s the truth,” she said. “Come and see.”

“You expect us to believe in some kind of Narnia?” Emma said, incredulous.

“What kind of mushrooms have you been eating?” Ernest asked.

“Come and see for yourselves,” Tom repeated. “But if we hadn’t found a way to somewhere else, how do you explain Mick?” Everyone looked at Mick in silence.

There was a roaring sound far off in the trees.

“What’s disturbed them?” Rachel said. “They don’t normally make much noise this time of day.” Ruth looked at Mick, who was quivering in fright.

“What is it?” she said.

“The noises,” he says. “It attacked.”

“What, the monkeys?” Sophie said.

“No, no, the noises!” Mick said.

Ruth looked at him and was worried that perhaps there was something wrong with him. Perhaps the strain of the crash and whatever had happened afterwards had been too much. As much as she didn’t want to, she knew they had to go back through and search the other island.

It wasn’t long before everyone was climbing up to the cave. Mick hadn’t wanted to come back with them, but had finally been persuaded.

“I still want to know what you’ve been eating, or drinking,” Ernest said as he squeezed into the passage at the back of the cave. Tom had made sure everybody checked to see that there was no second cave next door. Then, one by one, they went through.

“Oh my,” Emma exclaimed as she emerged on the other side.

“So you were right,” Jack said. “Well, I’d never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it.”

Mick was looking round cautiously, as if he expected someone to jump out on him already. “Shouldn’t stay here,” he said. “Monster will see us.”

“Monster?” Kath said. “Ok, maybe we are in a parallel universe or something stupid, but there’s no way you’re going to make me believe in some scary long-toothed and sharp-clawed prehistoric monster wandering around.”

Ruth ignored her and turned to Mick. “Can you show us where you were when the monster attacked?” she asked gently. He nodded, and led them off down the hill.

The others all followed, some quiet in wonder, some loudly discussing what on earth had happened. Mick led them towards where their camp would have been if they had been on their island. Ruth looked around, trying to remember her dream. Then Patrick, behind her, tripped over something and almost fell. He moved away some strands of creeper to see what it was.

“Oh,” he said. Ruth turned and looked down.

“Oh,” she said, feeling sick. She looked round. David and Becky were nearby, heading towards them.

“Don’t look,” she said to them. “It’s not- nice.” But David wouldn’t listen. He came over to where she was standing and looked down. Then he turned away and was sick. Becky went over to him and glanced down before quickly turning away too.

“What is it?” Rachel asked, coming over to Ruth. She shook her head and bent down to pull the creepers back over the horrible sight.

“How long ago did the monster attack you?” she asked Mick, who was cowering next to a tree.

“Days ago,” he said. “Lost count.”

“We’d better search the area, see if there’s any- anything else,” Ruth said. She looked across at David and Becky, who were being comforted by Emma and Ernest. What was hidden below the creepers had obviously been there some days. She was beginning to understand why Mick had gone almost mad.

It had been exactly like her dream. The monster in that had attacked Becky, and David had refused to leave her and had attacked him too. They must have been killed quickly.

Another realisation hit her. In that dream, she had been injured by the monster. She had run until she had fallen unconscious- and then she had woken up. At least, she had. What about her alternative self? Was she somewhere on the island, injured and alone? Or had she died too? Mick had said he that everyone had gone. Had she- her other self- never woken up after falling unconscious? Had the monster caught up with her, or had she died from her injuries? Ruth knew that however horrible what she had just seen was, she couldn’t just tamely go back to their own island now. She had to find out what had happened to her alternative self.

But others were not so determined. When she turned back to the main group after searching the camp site area, an argument had already begun.

“I’m not staying here,” David was saying. “We’re going back. “

“But what about the other people who were here- what if they’re still alive and need help?” Rachel said. “We’ve got to look for them, at least.”

“Have you seen yourself dead?” David demanded. “I have. This place is a nightmare. We shouldn’t even be here, it’s just an accident of physics or something.”

“David’s kind of right,” Emma said. “This isn’t our world, we’re not responsible for what happens here. We could even be doing damage by interfering.”

“But these people are us,” Ruth said. “If it was the other way round, wouldn’t you hope they’d help you?”

“But what can we do anyway? Mick’s already looked and can’t find them,” Emma replied.

“And even if we did, how could we help? We can’t even help ourselves get off the island,” continued David. “Most likely we’d just all get killed too, and I’m not hanging around for that to happen.” He and Becky turned round and set off for the cave.

“We can’t just abandon them,” Tom said.

“What about Mick?” Rachel asked. “We can’t just leave him on his own.”

“He can come back through to our world,” Emma said. “But there’s nothing else we can do.”

“We don’t know that until we’ve looked,” Ruth said.

“Well then, you stay if you must,” Emma said. “But we’re going back. Come on guys.” She turned to head back to the cave. Ernest gave the others a somewhat apologetic glance but followed her along with most of the others.

 
The story continues...

Misplaced 4, part 5.

Ruth, Rachel, Patrick and Tom looked at each other, wondering what to say. Mick was the exact image of Nick, their friend who was on their island. But Mick was in a pathetic state, his clothes torn, his hair and beard wild. He looked utterly terrified of everything that moved or made a noise.


“Something must have happened to scare him,” Rachel said.

“Where’s everyone else?” Tom wondered. Mick looked up at him.

“Mick?” Ruth asked gently. “What happened to the others? You came here with others?”

Mick looked around the forest, as if expecting his friends to step out of the trees. “Gone,” he said in a hushed voice. “All gone.” Then he looked at Ruth and the others again, and cringed away. “Are you ghosts?”

“Ghosts? No,” Tom said. “We’re real.” Mick looked puzzled. But then, Ruth thought, that was not exactly surprising when beings from another universe, or dimension, or whatever, suddenly turned up in front of you on a desert island. Especially when they (presumably, anyway) looked and sounded exactly like your friends.

“What do you mean, the others have gone? Were they were rescued?” Rachel demanded eagerly.

“Where have they gone?” Ruth asked, more calmly. Mick looked round again, as if fearful that something would hear him, and whispered.

“The monster!”

Ruth shivered. She was reminded once more of her dream. It seemed all too likely now that it had been real.

“What monster?” Tom asked, but Mick ‘shushed’ him and wouldn’t answer.

Ruth was afraid to ask, but she knew she had to.

“Were they killed?” she asked. At first it seemed that Mick would refuse to answer, but eventually he said, “Gone. Mick can’t find them.”

“But they were here with you for a while- they survived the crash?” Tom asked.

Mick nodded. He didn’t seem capable of giving any more details at the present. He crouched on the ground, covering his head with his arms. Ruth thought she could see tears. The other four were silent, looking down at him in pity but also in shock. What had happened to their alternate selves, Ruth wondered. And how close were they to suffering the same fate?

She turned to look up towards the cave mouth. “We should go back,” she said. “We should tell the others about this.” They nodded. Everyone was rather scared, and glad of an excuse to go back. Ruth crouched down next to Mick.

“Come with us,” she said. “Don’t worry, we’ll look after you.”

“Where to?” Mick said.

“Back to our friends,” said Ruth. “Then we can help you find your friends.” Mick stood up, and followed them as they carefully made their way back up the hill to the cave. Ruth half expected that they wouldn’t be able to get through the passageway to their own cave, their own island, but they could, and she breathed a sign of relief. Mick followed them, but didn’t seen to understand where they were going. At the cave mouth he stopped, as if he was going to refuse to go any further, but they persuaded him eventually.

They approached the camp. It was still quite early morning, and their friends were emerging from shelters, washing in the stream and sitting round the fire chatting. They didn’t seem to notice anything odd about the small group heading down the hill towards them. Ruth peered down. She couldn’t see Nick. Perhaps that was as well to start with, she thought. She wasn’t sure how poor Mick was going to react when he saw himself.

As they drew closer, Mick suddenly gave a shout and tried to hide behind a rock.

“What is it?” Rachel asked, startled.

“Ghosts!” he said, turning to run.

“No, they’re not ghosts,” Ruth said soothingly. “They’re real, like you and me.”

“You’re ghosts too, must be!” Mick cried, and plunged through the rocks towards the forest. He tripped over a boulder and fell, rolling and landing in the stream with a splash. The others hurried down to him as he looked up and saw Nick, emerging from the trees in front of him. He screamed and tried to scramble back up towards the cave, but Rachel and Patrick barred his way. He turned, shivering and cringing, to look at Nick, who stood on the far bank of the stream, utterly confused.

“It’s all right,” Ruth said, trying to calm Mick. “That’s a friend of ours, Nick. He won’t hurt you.” How did you explain to someone who was obviously not in their right mind that they had entered a parallel universe? “It’s all a bit strange, I know, but you’re safe. There’s no monster here.”

“Am I dead?” Mick said in a small voice. “Am I a ghost too?”

“No one’s a ghost,” Patrick said.

“But they must be,” Mick whimpered. “I saw them dead!”

He pointed at Alex and Jack, who, along with everyone else in the camp, had come to see what was going on.

“Who...what’s going on?” Nick asked, confused.

“It’s a bit...strange,” Tom said. “Patrick found a cave, and when you go in you go through the tunnel and come out on another island. He showed us, and we went through and found Mick here.”

“Another island?” Sophie said eagerly. “An inhabited one?”

“Well, not really,” Tom said, looking at Ruth and Rachel for help.

“We found Mick, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else there. But there should have been because- well, because everything is exactly like it is here. Like Mick looks and sounds like Nick...but we couldn’t find the rest of us.”

“I don’t get it,” Sophie said. “How can there be another island in a cave? And why should we be there?”

Nick was standing over Mick, looking at him, puzzled. Mick was looking up, scared. Jack came over, and Mick shied away again.

“I saw you,” he whimpered, “I saw you dead, in the crash, all crushed. You can’t be alive!”

“He’s mad,” Kath said.

Ruth shook her head. “Maybe, but there was a strange feeling on that island- like there was fear running through it. I think he’s telling the truth, that he did see you killed in the crash. But not you, but the version of you that exists in his world. Like he’s their version of Nick. There should be versions of all of us, but we couldn’t find them. Mick says they’re gone.”

“Gone? Gone where?”

Mick looked up and it all seemed to come out in a rush. “It was dark- fire low and everyone sleeping. Then suddenly, monster came! All ran, but some couldn’t, some caught- next morning, everyone gone. Just Mick left.”
 
 
The story continues...

Misplaced 4, part 4.

“Where is this place?” Rachel demanded as they set off down the hill.

“It must be some sort of- well, some sort of parallel universe,” Tom said. “You know, where everything’s like it is on our world, only just a bit different.”

“Like this is a mirror image of our island,” Patrick said.

“There may be other differences too,” Ruth said. “We don’t know yet.”

“But you can’t really believe all that,” Rachel protested. “I mean, it sounds like a Doctor Who story!”

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Rachel, than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” Ruth misquoted. “Maybe even parallel heavens and earths. I didn't think there was life on other planets, but I was wrong. So how can we know that this isn't true?”

“But how did we get here?”

“Who knows?” Ruth answered. “The point is, we’re here.

“Does that mean there will be alternate versions of us around here somewhere?” Rachel asked.

“Maybe,” Tom replied.

“That would be weird!”

“But maybe in this reality the plane didn’t crash, and we never got trapped here,” Patrick said.

“Or maybe it did crash, but worse...and we didn’t survive,” said Tom less hopefully.

Ruth had gone quiet. She was thinking about her dreams. Like our world, but with little differences. That was a good description of what her dreams had been like. They were like what had happened to them- but with a few differences that made everything so much worse. What if they were real? What if that was what had happened here?

She shook her head. That was a silly idea. Why would she have been having dreams about what had happened in an alternate reality? She took a few steps forward to catch up Patrick. Rachel and Tom were a few steps behind, continuing their conversation.

“How did you find this place?” she asked Patrick.

“Just by accident, last night when I was looking for somewhere quiet,” he said. “I didn’t think anyone would believe me.”

“I’m not sure I would, if I hadn’t seen it. It seems so odd that you can just walk through- I suppose we can get back?” she said, suddenly worried.

“I did before,” he said. Ruth tried to suppress the urge to run back to the cave. If it had been possible to get through since the previous- and for all they knew for a long time before- why should it suddenly not be? There had been no sign that the passage would close. She tried to relax.

But she could still feel that there was a sort of tension in the air. Something wasn’t right.

They reached the bottom of the hill close to where, on their island, they had made their camp. But here there was no sign of a camp. There was the remains of a fire, and an untidy pile of wood, and beside the rocks a heap of long bits of wood and crumpled sheets of metal that might once have been a shelter.

“It must have blown down in the storm,” Rachel said.

“But why haven’t they repaired it- that was days ago!” Tom said.

“Maybe they couldn’t for some reason? Anyway, at least we know- there are people here,” Rachel said.

“Or there were,” Ruth muttered.

“Maybe they just moved somewhere else,” Patrick said. He led off down towards the beach.

They followed him through the undergrowth. Suddenly Tom stopped.

“I thought I saw something,” he said, looking off into the trees to his left. The others followed his gaze, but saw nothing. After a moment they went on. Then Ruth thought she saw something too, again away to the left, almost as if it was keeping pace with them. They stopped. Patrick took a step towards it, and the thing seemed to flinch, scurrying away towards the dense forest, then stopping again to look back. It seemed to be human-sized, but crouched over, poised, ready to run.

“If everything’s different- what if the people aren’t humans?” Rachel asked slowly. “What if we don’t understand their language, and they attack us?” The four of them looked at each other, worried. None had thought of that before.

“He doesn’t look like he’d going to attack,” Patrick said. “Just because people are different doesn’t mean they won’t be friendly.”

“You’re always an optimist,” Ruth said. “But no, that one doesn’t look like it’s going to attack us. If it is a person, and not just some kind of monkey.”

Again Patrick took a step towards the figure in the trees. It tensed, but this time it didn’t run. Slowly he crept forward, and the others followed. The figure stood, poised to run, but it let them get within a few metres before it made a whimpering noise and took a step back. They stopped. Ruth peered at the figure in the gloom under the trees. It seemed somehow...familiar.

“Oh no,” she said, as realisation dawned.

“What?” whispered Tom.

“Don’t you recognise him?” she replied in a low voice.

“My eyes aren’t as good as yours.”

“Look closer,” she said. “He’s human all right. Just very scared.” She took a step forward, and the figure flinched.

“It’s all right,” she said. “It’s ok, we won’t hurt you, you’ll be fine.” He allowed her to get close, and to see his face. It was true. She heard the others, who had crept up behind her, exclaim in surprise.

“It’s all right, Nick,” Ruth said. The hunched figure looked up.

“That’s not my name,” he said. “I’m Mick.”
 
 
The story continues...

Misplaced 4, part 3

Now Patrick, though an avid reader of sci-fi and fantasy, was not the sort of person to get fiction and real life muddled up. For a few minutes he sat in the entrance to the first cave, trying to work out if what he had seen was real or just a bizzare dream, or another hallucination caused by eating something unfamiliar. People had been known to go mad on desert islands. Maybe that was what had happened to him.

There was one way to find out, he decided. He stood up and headed back into the cave and through the passage. He stood at the entrance to the cave on the other side and looked around once more to get his bearings. Then he set off, warily, down the hill.

Everything seemed very similar to their island; the same kind of plants, the same noises and the same rocks. But there was something different. Patrick couldn’t say what exactly, just a feeling, a tension. But perhaps that wasn’t really so different from their own island.

He wandered in the forest for a while, and down to the beach. He didn’t see or hear anyone, or any signs that the island was inhabited by more than animals and birds. Once he thought he heard something, but when he stopped and listened there was nothing. At last, as darkness was finally falling, he headed back up the hill and through the cave.

When he emerged on the other side it was completely dark. He sat for a while, looking down at the brightly-burning camp fire below him, watching the shadowy figures moving around it. He was tired and hungry but his amazement and surprise at what he had discovered had outweighed that. A parallel universe! And you could just walk through- it was incredible.

Patrick was something of an explorer by nature, and had gone through to the other island to satisfy his curiosity rather than for any specific purpose. But now he realised that it might be a help to them all- more room for foraging, more resources. He knew that he should tell the others. But that meant facing them again. Suddenly everything that had happened earlier that evening and over the previous days came back to him. He had been treated terribly. Although he understood some of their frustrations, no one had the right to try to trick him as Kath had done. And now he had to go back, when he would rather stay well out of their way, and to tell them that he had discovered something unbelievable. How would they react? They would think he’d gone mad.

A bat fluttered past and distracted him. When he looked down again the shadows round the fire seemed to have stopped moving. People were going to sleep. Well, it was too late to tell anyone now. It was a warm night. He lay down in the shelter of the rockface and tried to sleep.

He had missed the rest of the argument following his departure. Ruth had been very angry at the way he had been treated, and other people’s anger had also been seeking an outlet. All the fears and frustrations building up since the crash found an airing.

“Listen, guys, this isn’t going to get us anywhere,” Nick said at last. “We’re all going to annoy each other, we’ve just got to put up with it till we get home.”

“What if we never get home?” Rachel said despairingly. "What if they never find us? Are we going to die here?"

Everyone was silent. The unmentionable, the thing everyone had thought but no one had dared mention was finally out. They looked around, relieved to realise that everyone else had thought it too, that they were not the only one who was scared.

“We will get home,” Ruth said. The blind optimism reminded her of Patrick and she choked, trying not to cry. She stood up and left the fire, and went down to the beach where they had sat before- but he was not there. She wondered what he might do, and shuddered. She stayed there for a while, alone, and when she went back to the camp no one mentioned the quarrel. He did not return, and as she lay down to sleep she was worried. But there was nothing she could do till morning light.

Morning came, a dull, grey, humid morning. Ruth woke early, after not much sleep, to the full remembrance of what had passed the night before. She heard whispering outside the shelter. Tom was there, on fire-tending duty. She looked out and saw, with relief, that he was talking to Patrick. No one else seemed to be up yet. She joined them. As she left the shelter she accidentally tripped over Rachel.

“Morning,” she said to Patrick. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” he said. “Um- would you come with me? I’ve found something and want to tell people, but I don’t think you’ll believe me unless I show you.”

“Of course,” Ruth said. She glanced at Tom. He looked uncomfortable. Why was he was worried? Did he think Patrick’s odd request suggested something was wrong with his mental state? Ruth wasn’t sure that she didn’t agree, but for now- she would go with him, to see whatever it was he wanted to show her.

“What is it?” Rachel said, emerging from the shelter behind her.

“Shh,” Ruth said. “Let’s just go now, before the others wake up.”

Patrick nodded, and they went back up the hill. Ruth, Tom and Rachel followed. They reached the cave and Patrick led the way inside, through the passage- and out the other side.

“What’s so strange?” Rachel demanded. “It’s just the island.”

“No, wait,” Ruth said, looking more closely. “It is the island, but...”

“But not quite the same,” Patrick finished. “It’s a little bit different.”

“It’s all the other way round,” Tom said in wonder.

“So it’s not just my imagination,” Patrick said.

“No,” Ruth said. “Is there anyone else here?”

“Not that I’ve found,” Patrick said. “Let’s have a look around.”


The story continues...

Misplaced 4, part 2.

Feeling sick and demoralised, Patrick climbed up the hill behind the camp. He had to stop a couple of times and rest, and try to stop himself retching since there was nothing left in his stomach. He hadn’t even drunk the tea he had made in his haste to get out of there, unable to stand the arguing.



He had been tricked. Kath had deliberately tried to make him eat meat, to do something he had chosen not to do. It took a lot to make him angry, but he was angry about that. And upset that he had fallen into her trap, that even if he hadn’t eaten the meat itself, he had eaten food that had been cooked with and contaminated by meat. He had been a vegetarian for many years and never had anything like this happen before. It distressed him.


It was a peaceful evening. The sun was close to setting, but there was still plenty of light. Tired, angry, ill, betrayed, upset, unhappy, he continued to climb, searching for solitude and to settle his whirlwind of emotion.


Near the top of the hill he found a cave. Looking carefully and quietly into its depths he sidled into the entrance and allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness before going on. It didn't look as though the cave went too far back, but there might be some animal lurking in the dark. He edged forward carefully, but tripped on the uneven floor and almost fell. The noise of his stumble seemed loud in the night-quiet of the cave. He froze and listened. A couple of bats flew towards the cave mouth, passing close by his face, but nothing worse seemed to be roused by the noise. He relaxed and moved deeper into the cave.


It didn't go very far back, only a few metres from the rock face. He felt his way along one wall to the back of the cave, then across to the other side. Here the rock was less smooth. There seemed to be a passageway or cave within a cave leading out of the side of the main cave. Cautiously he felt his way into it. It was dark, and seemed quite narrow for a few steps, then suddenly he was on the threshold of another cave. Looking to his right he could see the cave entrance. The evening light streamed in. Funny, he though. I don't remember seeing another cave next to the one I went in. But it can't be far away. He went to the cave entrance and looked out over the island.


He could see almost the whole island from up here. He looked down at the way he had climbed, at the forest, the beach, the rocks. And then he looked more closely, suddenly worried. He should be able to see the camp from here. But it looked deserted. There were no shelters, and none of his friends were visible. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Everything had gone. There was no one there. What could have happened in the short time he had been away?


He hurried out of the cave and began to run down the hill back towards the camp. But before he had gone very far he stopped. Something was odd. There was no real path up the hill, but he was sure he remembered those rocks on his left being on his left when he climbed up...which meant they should be on his right now. He looked around again. And those trees...surely they should be over there?


He retraced his steps and climbed all the way to the top of the hill. This was very odd. The island appeared to have changed shape since he last looked out. The rocks that used to be on the west side of the island were now on the east, clumps of trees had uprooted themselves and moved across the island, the whole shape of the forest had changed. Was it the effect of the storm? No, surely he had been up here since then. And yet it didn't look new; there was something familiar about it...


Suddenly he worked it out. The island was a mirror image of how it had looked when he last stood here. The shape of the coast, the trees, the landmarks, had all moved into positions opposite to where they had been.


He looked down to where the camp would be if the island he had crashed on were seen in a mirror. He could see a dark spot that might have been the ashes of the fire, and a few piles of debris, but the shelters had gone, and no one was visible. But there was just enough to suggest that it might have been a camp, once.


Slowly he went down to the cave entrance. There should have been two caves next to each other, with the connecting passageway at the back. But there was only one. He searched in the rocks nearby. There was no other cave.


He went back into the cave, and found the passageway at the back. He felt his way through it and back into the first cave- the one he had originally entered. From the entrance to that cave he stood and looked out at the island once more.


Everything was back to normal. Nothing had moved, the rocks and trees were all in the right places. Best of all, the camp was clearly visible and he could see several of the others around the fire. He looked for a second cave, but he could still see none.


He went back through the passage once more. Now everything was round the wrong way. The truth, unbelievable at first, was beginning to dawn on him. He returned to the first cave, and everything was back to being the right way round. Yes, there could only be one explanation, unless he was going mad.


The cave was a doorway into some kind of alternate universe.
 
 
The story continues...

Misplaced 4, part 1.

Strange Adventure!


Ruth was worried. A couple more days had passed, and very little had changed. Several people had been ill after their feast, and the conclusion had been that it had been the mushrooms in Alex’s stew. Since they didn’t know exactly which they were, they had been avoiding mushrooms and fungi since then.

Except for Patrick. Determined not to give up his vegetarianism, he had continued to eat them. Or at least Ruth assumed he had. Very often he didn’t eat with them, or turned up just as they were finishing, his pockets full of fruit and fungi. But he didn’t look well. Ruth suspected that he had accidentally poisoned himself more than once in his search for non-meat food. She had seen him looking very ill and in pain when he had thought no one was watching. He appeared to be always tired as well.


Ruth was tired too. After her last set of dreams she was afraid of more, and found it hard to get to sleep. Seeing your friends killed, if only in a dream, was not pleasant and somehow it had scared her more than a mere dream should have done. She wondered why that was.


She would have given a lot just to be able to go off alone for a bit, but she felt that, for the time being, it was more important to stay with the others. Several people were suffering the ill-effects of the mushroom poisoning and Ruth spent a lot of time looking after and staying with them. The techies had begun constructing a raft to fish from, so more of a burden for collecting food and wood fell on the others, and some of them were quick to loose interest and to disappear about their own business, so altogether Ruth had her fair share and more of the work to do. And she was too shy and under-confident to protest that certain others contributed very little.


Emma, on the other hand, had no such qualms. But her ire fell in a different direction. For some reason, probably due to his apparently frivolous, devil-may-care attitude- which he still kept up- her disapproval was directed at Patrick. She wasn’t the only one. Other people also began to complain about him, about what they saw as his stubbornness and refusal to co-operate. Kath, a second year who had been chair of the society, was one of the worst. Several times she snapped at him or was rather rude, so that Ruth didn’t blame him for wandering off. She herself found it hard to keep her temper sometimes, but she struggled to make allowances for them. After all, the very situation, marooned on a desert island, was enough to make people act not quite themselves.


She was thinking this as she sat by the fire that evening attempting to make something tasty out of tough meat and roots. She was hot, tired and felt utterly depressed. Almost everyone had spent the day at the beach, either helping with the raft or ‘helping’ with the raft (which generally involved lying around in the sun), leaving her feeling obliged to do most of the work.


Patrick appeared from the forest and added some wood to the pile. Ruth took a look at him and was shocked.


“Are you ok?” she said. “You don’t look well.”


“Ah, I’m fine,” he said, sitting down. He pulled some leaves out of his pocket and began to make tea. But this time Ruth wasn’t going to give up so easily.


“You really don’t look well,” she said. “And I know we’ve always joked that you’re skinny, but really- have you eaten anything at all today?


“Not really,” he said. “I wasn’t feeling too well so I didn’t want to upset things.”


“Yesterday?”


“I had some fruit, and- stuff. I’m fine, don’t worry.”


Ruth looked at him, disbelieving, but she didn’t get a chance to argue as the others arrived back.


“The raft’s nearly ready,” Nick said. “We should be able to launch tomorrow.” They all sat down around the fire. Kath came over to help serve the stew, and Ruth went down to the stream to get some more water.


When she came back she saw that Kath had served out the stew to everyone- including Patrick. Ruth hurried over to him.


“You know that’s got meat in it?” He stopped, aghast.


“No.”


“I’m really sorry, I was going to say but I didn’t get a chance.”


“It’s not your fault,” he replied. “I asked Kath if there was meat in it and she said no. Obviously she didn’t know.”


Ruth tried to remember who had been there when Alex brought in the animal who was in the stew. She was sure Kath had been there. She must have known there was meat in the stew.


Should she say anything? It could perhaps have been a genuine mistake. But out of the corner of her eye she could see Kath watching them. She didn’t think it was accidental.


Rachel, sitting nearby, suddenly exclaimed, “I thought there wasn’t any meat in this stew?” She looked at Kath. “You haven’t eaten any of of it?” she asked Patrick.


“I don’t think I ate any meat, but the roots and stuff were all cooked with it,” he replied. Rachel looked over at Kath.


“I thought you said there wasn’t any meat in this?” she said.


“Oh, is there?” Kath said. “Sorry.”


“But you knew there was,” Tom said, suddenly. “I remember you saying so earlier.”


“You knew?” Rachel said. “But you told Patrick there wasn’t!”


“Yeah, I did,” Kath said. “Look at him, he’s not eating properly so he’s weak and no use to the rest of us. He needs to be snapped out of this fussiness, it’s just selfish, and making life more difficult for the rest of us.”


Patrick didn’t say anything. Ruth could feel the anger of the last few days boiling up inside her.


“You can’t just trick him into not being vegetarian,” Rachel exclaimed.


“It’s not fair,” Ruth said heatedly. “How would you react if someone tried to trick you out of your beliefs? And anyway, he’s been more help than some people in collecting food and wood.” She turned to speak to Patrick but was not there. He had disappeared.


“Off again,” Emma said, annoyed.


“Do you blame him?” Ruth said. “I don’t.”


 
The story continues...