part0015

Lillian lay on the deck at a right angle to Josh, her head resting on his thigh, staring up at the sky. Much to Ana’s chagrin, they had made their way back to the boat for a drink of water. Lillian was, of course, still topless. Ana had surreptitiously left her bikini top lying on the deck in the hope that Lillian would see it and cover herself, but no such luck. She took small sips from a water bottle, trying to conserve the precious fluid but also battling dehydration from last night’s boozy misadventures. Also, listening to Josh and Lillian prattle on made her nauseous.

‘I know, babe. I feel like we’ve found our path , y’know?’ said Josh. Ana looked at Rachel and shook her head.

‘Just think of our friends back home,’ agreed Lillian, ‘Working their nine-to-five desk jobs.’

‘Like sheep. A bunch of mindless sheep .’

‘You know, where I come from, sheep don’t get desk jobs,’ said Ana. Josh fixed her with a withering stare. Ana was unperturbed. ‘They live in fields. Eat grass. Make wool. ’

‘Do you mind? We’re having a private conversation here?’ said Lillian, but Ana wasn’t done.

‘Hey, that’d be a good slogan for you guys. Make Wool, Not War. You know, like sheep.’

Lillian sat up, irritated.

‘Mindless sheep ,’ continued Ana. Rachel snickered behind her.

‘Why are you doing this? What gives you the right to kill people’s buzz?’ said Josh. Ana noticed he was clenching and unclenching his fists. She shrugged.

‘Just killing time.’

Ana fell silent for a few moments, then Rachel spoke up.

‘What’re their working conditions like?’

Josh swallowed hard, anger welling inside him. He took a long time to respond. ‘What?’

‘The sheep. I’m just wondering…are their working conditions baa-a-a-d?’

‘Are you fucking serious?’

Lillian touched his arm, urging him to ignore the comments. He brushed her hand away.

It was Ana’s turn again.

‘The thing with sheep is, it’s too easy for bosses to pull the wool over their eyes.’

‘Stop it,’ said Josh, his voice deepening.

‘I guess the computers in America need more RAM ?’

‘I said stop it.’

‘Hey Josh, if they’re in finance, do they work on Wool Street?’

Josh stood up, stomping his foot on the deck like a petulant child. ‘Shut up! Shut up, you fucking whining Scottish bitches! ’

Rachel and Ana shared a brief glance - any longer and they knew they wouldn’t be able to contain their laughter.

‘Come on Lill, let’s leave these sluts alone with their pimp.’ Josh pointed at Ricky. ‘If you can’t control your bitches, I might have to teach you a fucking lesson, do you understand me?’

Ricky looked around in surprise. ‘What’d I do?’ he asked, but Josh and Lillian were already disembarking. They splashed into the shallows and headed for the beach. The girls started laughing. ‘Do you have to get in a fight with everyone you meet?’ said an exasperated Ricky.

Ana got herself under control, giving Ricky an exaggerated wink. She lay back against the rail and closed her eyes.

‘Just killing time,’ she said.

Josh stormed ahead of Lillian, but soon realised it was difficult to walk angrily on a beach when your feet kept sinking in the sand. He waded up to his ankles in the water then stopped and let Lillian catch up to him. She pressed her breasts against him and ran her hands over his muscular yet hairless chest.

‘Don’t let them get to you,’ she said, playing with his shark’s tooth necklace. ‘They’re just jealous. Jealous of what we have, of our lives, our experiences, our journey.’

His chest puffed out in anger and he snorted. ‘They couldn’t possibly understand.’

‘That’s right babe. They’re lost. Lost souls, that’s all. Don’t be angry, it’s such a wasteful emotion. Show pity instead. Show them love.’

Josh’s breathing was calming, Lillian’s words having the desired soothing effect. The water sloshed around their ankles and he took her face in both hands.

‘You really get me, babe.’

‘They’ve stopped,’ said Ana, watching Josh and Lillian from the prow of the boat. ‘I think she’s trying to calm him down. She’s rubbing his chest like she’s waxing a car.’

‘You really pissed him off,’ said Ricky, a trace of annoyance in his voice. ‘And it wasn’t you he was going to hit.’

‘Relax Ricky, it wouldn’t have gone that far,’ said Rachel, playfully flicking Ricky’s ear as they sheltered from the sun in the small staircase that led down to the sleeping quarters. From their vantage point, Josh and Lillian were out of sight, but Ana was keeping them up to date. ‘What’s happening now?’

Ana squinted into the sun at the two figures in the surf.

‘They’re just talking. He’s— oh shit, he just pulled down her knickers! Guys, you gotta see this.’

Rachel frowned. ‘I’m not sure I do.’

‘No,’ he cooed, ‘Let them go. Let the sea wash away our ties to decadent Capitalist fantasies.’ He stroked her face and gave her his most profound stare as her swimsuit washed out to sea. Lillian nodded and slid her hands down to the V of Josh’s stomach, slipping her fingers into the waistband of his briefs. She could see he was ready.

‘No, not yet,’ replied Ana. ‘But I can see why she’s with him now. I can finally understand what she sees in that boring slab of ham.’

‘What’s that?’ asked Ricky.

Ana turned her head in their direction.

‘A massive dick.’

They faced each other, naked, as Josh took Lillian into his arms, his erection pressing into the tight flesh of her abdomen. He leaned in to kiss her, but she pulled back.

‘Not here, Josh. They’re watching.’

‘Then let them watch. Let them see love in its purest , most sensual form. Let them learn . Let them understand what happens between two souls that are so deeply entwined.’

‘No Josh. They’ll ruin it, with their laughter and their jokes. Take me, please, but not here. I want it to be special.’

She took Josh by the hand and led him towards the trees, Adam and Eve in their very own Garden of Eden.

‘Ah, they’re off into the bushes,’ said Ana. ‘Probably for the best.’ She turned and realised no one was there, Ricky and Rachel having gone below deck several minutes ago, leaving her alone. She watched as the naked pair disappeared into the trees, only their fluorescent paint still visible.

‘I guess this is my life now,’ she sighed to herself.

They proceeded into the jungle, just far enough for the boat to no longer be visible, out of sight of prying eyes. Lillian leaned back against a tree, spreading her legs apart slightly. Josh came to her, kissing her, his stubbled cheek scraping her mouth and neck, but he struggled to get Ana and Rachel out of his head; their laughter, their barbed comments. How could they understand what he and Lillian shared? They were the sheep.

Stupid, ignorant sheep.

It was the same all over the world, wherever they travelled on their voyage of self-discovery. People laughed at them, their tiny minds unable to comprehend the wonders of a spiritual journey.

Those people, with their mobile phones and their Twitter accounts and their obsession with technology. They made Josh sick. They knew not the pleasures of making love in the rain, of dancing in the moonlight with your soulmate, of spending a week toiling in the fields of a monastery. No, they were too concerned with money and reality TV and how many ‘likes’ their latest social media post had. They were weak-willed and ignorant. All of them. Especially Ana and Rachel. The Brits were always the worst, with their sarcasm, every sentence dripping in that ironic humour of theirs. He hated them with every fibre of his being, and made a mental note to upload a video about them to his YouTube channel when he got back.

Lillian put her hands on his throbbing cock, tracing her fingers up and down the shaft. Josh’s breathing intensified and he stepped back and spun her around to face the tree, kicking her right leg to the side and pushing down between her shoulder blades, arching her back .

Lillian felt like she was about to be frisked by a cop.

Without warning he positioned himself on bent knees and thrust at her, eliciting a gasp that was either pain or pleasure, he didn’t care.

‘Quiet,’ he grunted, his hips working now, his thighs slapping off her ass.

He pushed harder and Lillian smacked her brow off the soft bark of the tree.

‘Josh, you’re—’

‘Shut up,’ he snapped.

‘Those sluts…’ he said, not even realising he was speaking.

But he couldn’t. Not yet. Not until he had shown them that his way was the right way.

‘Josh, stop, please!’

‘I’m almost done,’ he growled in a voice she barely recognised.

‘Josh wait, I hear something, someone’s coming! ’

‘You’re damn right I am!’ he shouted, his body pumping away in an animalistic frenzy as he neared release.

He never noticed the movement behind him. Not until it was too late, and even then he never fully understood what was happening. A hand, filthy and calloused, grabbed him by his dreadlocks, pulling his head back and exposing the glistening skin of his neck, veins pulsing from the exertion. He felt the cold steel against his throat and heard the ghastly ripping sound as the serrated blade cut deep into the skin, tearing arteries to shreds, not stopping, sawing through muscle and sinew until the blade scraped across the bone of his cervical vertebrae. He tried to scream but all that came out was a vile gargling sound. His body stiffened for a second then went limp, but not before disgorging a spray of blood onto Lillian’s bare back.

Lillian felt Josh make one final thrust into her before sliding out completely. Hot liquid splashed onto her skin - a quite extraordinary amount. She held onto the tree, panting.

‘For fuck’s sake Josh, what was that? That wasn’t lovemaking, that was—’

She turned round and came face to face with Josh, his face caught in a silent scream, blood oozing thickly over his chest. His lifeblood jetted from the savage wound, an arterial spray that hit her clean in the face. His body collapsed at her feet and as hands reached out to grab her, Lillian managed one final, throat-shredding scream.

Ana stood up, walking back to the prow and scanning the beach. There was no trace of Josh and Lillian.

Rachel’s head poked through the wooden hatch.

‘Was that Lillian?’

Ana nodded, barely hearing her. The scream carried out to sea on the wind, where it died out, leaving nothing but brooding silence in its wake.

‘I told you,’ she said quietly, her eyes scanning the edge of the jungle. ‘That dick was huge .’

Rachel raised her eyebrows and whistled, before ducking back down into the cool below deck. Ana stayed where she was, looking out over the solitude of the island as the sun dipped behind the welcome shade of a passing cloud, the boat bobbing silently in the water.