TYLER

Do not put your dick in crazy. Do not. Tyler chanted in his head as his eyes trailed across Corinne's tight shirt. The fact she leaned onto table and her chest stuck out, did not help. She was looking at the bonfire, her violet eyes turning completely purple as the fire reflected in them.

He was well aware he was an idiot, but there was something incredibly attractive about complete mayhem; something he wanted to try out. Just once. Just to see what it feels like.

"You're staring." Corinne murmured, not taking her eyes off the fire. The drums thudded through the night, accompanied by the light step of people. The blood in his veins picked up the beat, making him want to let go for just a second.

"I can't help myself." Tyler said, but his gaze shifted to the fire, nonetheless.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Corinne murmured.

"What are we going to do?" Tyler thought of the note they found, somehow compelled to make it his problem.

"We'll find a way to contact your families." Corinne said, her eyes finding his as the drummers stopped and flutes took over, producing a softer, slower sound.

"Yeah," Tyler chuckled, "but what are we going to do? Olivia, Greg and Andrew are going to contact their families, but you and I, we've no one to call. So, what are we going to do?"

Her eyes jumped back to the fire, the reflections of people looking like memories playing in her head. Tyler couldn't help but stare, at the mere tranquillity of her posture.

"Pretend." Corinne said finally. "Like that was exactly what we wanted."

Tyler wondered what it took to get her to cry, to get her to fight. What would it take to get her to laugh?

"I wanted to disappear." Tyler said. "Now, I'm not so sure."

"You're gone." Corinne cut him off before he could say anything else. "You don't have to disappear physically to be gone. Stop staring at me."

"I can't help it." Tyler chuckled, as he noticed Greg and Olivia finally deciding to join them. "You're just always so calm."

"Funny." Corinne turned to him. "Because there's a constant war going on in here." She pointed to her head and got up as soon as she noticed others approaching.

Greg and Olivia weren't alone; Marhos and some extremely tall, black guy joined them. Tyler sighed as Greg saluted to the guys while they stumbled to the table. How the fuck did they manage to get drunk so soon? The laugher around them soothed him, though, filling him with certain warmth he didn't think he would feel so soon.

"Where are you going?" Tyler asked Corinne as she took her backpack. She caught his gaze and smiled; it was one of the simplest, gentlest smiles he's seen on her.

"Ty, I need some space from all of you." She said and he simply nodded, letting her go as Greg and Olivia jumped in the seats in a wave of laughter. Tyler stared after Corinne as she walked through the crowd, the fire lighting her way.

His muscles tensed as if they urged him to follow her, but he willed himself to stay on the wooden chair.

"Ty!" Olivia called for him. "Meet our new friend, this is Jeremy, he's super chill!"

Tyler turned towards the black guy and shook his hand. Jeremy was dressed in a white t-shirt and simple, washed out jeans. He had a firm grip and a grin plastered on his face.

"Tyler, nice to meet you." Tyler introduced himself and as his eyes trailed back to where Corinne was moments ago, he realised she was gone.

"So, a plane crash or a shipwreck?" Jeremy asked and the question intrigued Tyler.

"Shipwreck." Greg answered.

"Fortunate." Jeremy mumbled. "Plane crashes rarely leave anyone alive. So, what do you guys do for a living?"

"Oh!" Olivia squealed. "I study International Relations and Diplomacy!"

"Oof." Jeremy's expression twisted. "Not much you can do around here with that."

"Around here?" Tyler asked and noticed the frown Marhos offered to Jeremy. Somehow, he wished Corinne stayed, she would find this strange enough to comment on it.

"Obviously," Jeremy chuckled, "we're not big on International Relations here."

The crowd let out a strained laugh, but Tyler couldn't force a smile on his face.

The queen was lying. There is a way to go home. The letters flashed in his mind, reminding him of the paper in his sweatpants.

"So, what do you do?" Tyler asked.

"Ah, we're both soldiers. But I'm off duty tonight." Jeremy chuckled, flashing a perfect set of white teeth. "Greg, you seem like a soldier, too!"

"A football player." Greg smiled and went through his hair with his hand.

"You'd make a great guard." Jeremy said.

"You think so? I kinda always wanted to do that." Greg shuffled in his seat.

The rest of their conversation became muffled as Tyler stared at the fire. The queen is lying. There is a way to go home. Where the fuck were they?

"Why are you asking about our professions?" Tyler asked suddenly, his eyes never leaving the fire.

"Wh-what?" Jeremy stuttered. "I'm just interested, I want to get to know you, guys."

"Perhaps it is time to go to bed." Marhos jumped in, finally joining the conversation after all the silence.

"No." Tyler shook his head. "There's something you're keeping from us. And you're gonna tell us what it is."

"Listen, kid..." Jeremy began, exchanging glances with Marhos. Perhaps this was not the moment to talk about any of this. "We usually do this in the morning."

"I want to know now." Tyler demanded. "We have the right to know whether we're safe here. Otherwise, we could have stayed on the beach."

"Look around." Jeremy sighed. "See those walls? What do you think why we have them? We are well prepared for any kind of trouble and you're perfectly safe here."

Tyler gulped down the sudden annoyance and turned to face the stranger.

"I don't like being contained." Tyler said. "I want to phone home, now."

Marhos already got up, the wrinkle between his eyes deepening and his lips tightening. His fists clenched and Tyler realised he would have to fight this monster if he wanted answer. Not the outcome he was expecting so soon.

"Tyler, come on." Olivia's laugher jumped. "Let's not fight tonight, we're all exhausted and we could use a good night's rest before talking about everything."

"Look," Jeremy cleared his throat, taking a more peaceful approach, "there's nothing we can do about it tonight. The crowd is having a party and the queen doesn't want to be disturbed. Tomorrow morning, we'll talk about everything."

Tyler got up and – ignoring Marhos' angry stare – came closer to Jeremy. He wasn't as ripped as the two guys, but he considered himself smarter than two soldiers.

"It's funny, because I can tell you don't want to lie." Tyler's jaw tensed. "You're avoiding answering to any of my questions. Obviously, you don't want me to cause havoc around here. So, I'll ask again and if you lie, I'm gonna cause havoc." Tyler took out the paper he snatched from the ground and opened it up in Jeremy's face.

"This is not allowed." Marhos grunted, his expression darkening. But Jeremy lifted his hand, stopping Marhos.

"I know you have no reason to trust me." He began. "But we take care of our own." Jeremy looked at Marhos, who immediately backed up. "And we genuinely wanted you to rest and enjoy the night before we tell you everything."

"I can't really enjoy my night if I don't know what's happening, can I?" Tyler countered, his heartbeat racing.

Deep in his bones, he felt like he already knew the answer, but didn't want to believe it. All the fucked up shit that's been happening since they've arrived to the island – it had to be explained. There had to be an answer.

"Alright then." Jeremy sighed and sat down. Marhos sat immediately after him, still squeezing his fingers like he did not agree with this tactic.

Tyler sat down, too, exchanging glances with Olivia and Greg. Olivia's eyes were already full of tears and Greg simply kept quiet, a solemn expression on his face. Jeremy sighed again, pursing his lips right before he began talking.

"I assume you've all experienced some... strange things, ever since you arrived." His jaw tensed.

"The stars." Olivia murmured, her eyes glossy in the firelight.

"That strange phone call." Tyler added. "And the fact we drifted so far from the cruise."

"Yes, well," Jeremy said, "Marhos and his sister were born on this island. But they are a minority. Most of us, like me, were brought by the ocean. One way or another."

"Brought by the ocean." Tyler repeated. "That's what Maris said while we were walking through the forest."

"That's how we call it around here, because there's no better way to explain it. That is, we don't know how to explain it." Jeremy's eyes turned glum as he glanced to the fire; a ghostly expression passing over his face.

"What does it mean?" Tyler asked, the lump beginning to form in his throat. He wondered how bad it could be and whether he would believe it at all.

"I, for example, crashed in a plane. My brother and I were sole survivors. Around twenty people came on a yacht a couple of months ago. Each of these people have their own story." His gaze was still on the fire, looking at the people dancing, drinking and laughing.

"Maris and I," Marhos cleared his throat, "we were born here, but the ocean brought our parents. This island has no natives."

"Everyone that lives here somehow stumbled upon the island." Jeremy concluded.

Nausea came over Tyler as the words finally hit him. A question formed in his mind but it took a couple of seconds to roll it off his tongue.

"Why didn't you leave?" He asked finally, the words sounding strained and broken.

"If you followed the beach, you would have seen our ship." Jeremy laughed hoarsely. "The new ship, the one we built to get off the island. Our men sailed for days through the ocean. Eventually, they stumbled upon a piece of land."

"Wh-what happened?" Olivia stuttered.

"The piece of land was this island. Again." Jeremy sighed.

"What does that mean?" Tyler asked, his tongue turning dry. He expected a wave of rage to wash over him. Any emotion would be acceptable, but all he heard was Jeremy's words and the steady beat of his heart. And all he felt was a strange calmness.

"We've tried everything." Jeremy said. "We can't get off the island."