Page 148 of The Island

But Heather would get her and Owen out, not him. She knew that. She had to look after her little brother.

In the cave she could hear Owen cooking the snake by the fire. There wasn’t going to be much meat, he’d said. It was all bony and gross. But that was OK.

Olivia stood and peered into the darkness and waited for Heather.

Either Heather would come back or her dad and Matt and the others would come. She missed her dad. She loved her dad. But she wanted it to be Heather. Her mom would have wanted it to be Heather too.

She went inside the cave mouth. If you looked very hard you could see faint drawings on the walls. Stick men and women dancing with spears. In the light of Owen’s fire, they danced still.

The men and women with spears were attacking or fleeing from a monster with six legs.

After a while, Heather appeared in the cave mouth.

Olivia hugged her.

Olivia asked her a question without saying anything.

Heather nodded.

Heather put her arms around her and explained what had happened.

Olivia cried and Heather cried and they held each other for a long time.

“Look what I found,” Olivia said, sniffing and showing her the cave drawings. “Some of these images are thousands of years old but some must have been done in the last hundred and fifty years. That’s a man on a horse, isn’t it?”

“I think so.”

“They made a record of the black line, of the massacre.”

“What are you guys doing up there?” Owen yelled. “I’ve cooked this, come down!”

They went down.

It tasted like chicken, or maybe wildfowl. It was good. It went well with the eggs.

Owen and Heather talked about TV shows and movies and music to distract themselves.

Heather didn’t say anything more about Tom. Owen already knew.

They talked and ate and drank. Owen told them everything about all the videos on the Primitive Technology channel on YouTube. Heather talked about how low the tide was at the shearwater nests, and Owen explained that it was probably because of the new moon. Olivia and Owen talked about his astronomy worksheet. Everything seemed so much clearer now. Owen recited the planets and got them right this time. They did all they could not to talk about Tom.

Later, Heather sang them all the songs on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

They were tired and they settled down to sleep next to one another by the fire.

Heather picked up the rifle and slid on the safety and slept with one hand on the stock.

“That was weird, looking in the mirror yesterday,” Olivia said. “I’d forgotten what I looked like.”

“You know,” Heather said, “when you look really closely, all mirrors look like eyeballs.”

Olivia thought about that one and smiled.

“Guys, I’m going to try to get some sleep, all right?” Heather said.

Olivia nodded and lay there and thought about the moon.

She closed her eyes.