Conviction

It was a beautiful day to go out on the locally crafted boat with someone you cherish to celebrate the closing of THEE biggest deal of your careers. After several rounds of margaritas the boat made of a strong wood and heart pine, manned by a bronze man with strong arms seemed like a great idea. It was a great idea until about 15 minutes in. In retrospect he stopped making jokes around then and looked down at his hands, not just the awkward silence filler but he was checking his watch as he seemingly looked at his fingernails.A large tour boat barreled in our direction and suddenly turned sharply as it neared the us. The water which was moments ago just gently rocking the boat now turned violently overturning our little handcrafted island delicacy. Shell shocked we squealed like school girls, frantically splashing as we searched for our bags before the great sea took possession of them. We had not noticed the speed boat lowered into the water as soon as it saw that we were overturned. It barreled quickly towards us as our guide swam towards it.Our attention had not returned to our guide until we heard the engine of the speedboat, now at a distance we couldn’t ignore ,which was damn near on top of us. Now our Island Adventure guide, whose name never mattered was onboard ,his face was expressionless as he threw a life preserver out to us.

Written on it in Sharpie marker was:

Survival will be your retribution,leave the island and you will die. We are watching

Larissa knew there was no telling what cloaked itself in the darkness of the night. The thick canopy of trees concealed the moon, and with it the only bit of light to be found. It felt like she was in an episode of naked and afraid, except for the fact that she was not naked. Not to mention if there was a production team somewhere nearby to yell cut she would have signaled them, probably before she climbed up a tree to escape being mauled to death by something she could not even see. He had walked off to use the bathroom before it all happened.25 steps away from the campfire you end up in front of a tree, where there is a hole. Rissa sighed,glad she chose to throw more than a few snacks in her Super-light and extra-tough ripstop nylon L.L Bean backpack, she tried not to think about it. When the sun comes up she planned to look for him, that’s what she told herself but Rissa could only hope that it would not be in vain. She heard it pushing through the wild brush of brushes that surrounded the clearing that lead to their makeshift shelter. It had to be bigger than the two of them put together, you could even hear the wind make contact with its body and run in the other direction, with a all but gentle “whoosh”. FUCK, thats what she thought,but she was already half way up the tree by the time she heard a snarl. She didn't call out to Aaron, it would have been dangerous for them both.This was his fault!She wondered if Aaron was okay. If he was hiding too in a tree or somewhere thinking of her, or was he thinking about his wife, the woman that probably put them there. Her and Aaron had been friends for 20 years and business partners for 10, they had made many enemies, but this has “scorned lover” all over it! Retribution is for those who lack conviction, not Larissa Mae Parker