Lies, Lies, Lies

by David A Max

  “We should travel to a few countries,” Tony suggested.

  “That would be nice,” Faith agreed, “is this the way we are going to keep living?” she asked.

  “I want us to enjoy ourselves every day,” Tony answered.

  “I like that,” Faith said smiling, “we should go to Paris,” she suggested, smiling.

  “No way,” Tony said angrily.

  Faith was taken aback at Tony’s reaction just because she mentioned Paris, “It was a suggestion, we don’t have to go there,” Faith said and walked away.

  “I’m sorry darling,” Tony said as he walked behind Faith, “I just don’t want to go to Europe for now, it brings back memories I would rather forget,” Tony lied.

  “It’s okay,” Faith nodded and said, “no Europe.”

  Tony kissed her and carried her up, “You make me happy,” Tony told Faith, she smiled and gave him a peck.

  A couple of the days later they landed in Bali; a taxi drove them to the island resort they had booked, it was a beautiful place, the hotel rooms were built on the shoreline of the ocean, they were built like huts. The water was blue and serene, their hotel room was an individual hut on the water, it also had a swimming pool at the back and a jacuzzi overlooking the ocean. “This is lovely!” Faith exclaimed. “Yes it is beautiful,” Tony agreed as he tipped their room service attendant. “Thank you, if you need anything I am the man for you,” the attendant said as he left.

  They both hurriedly removed their clothes, changed into swimsuits and jumped into the pool. There was a welcome bottle of wine and glasses by the pool; Tony filled their glasses up and they both raised their glasses for a toast, “To living our lives to the fullest,” Tony said.

  “Yes!” Faith shouted, and they both drank, then swam and admired the ocean. “The views are breath-taking,” Faith nodded.

  The next morning they had breakfast, and walked around the island. It was peaceful, and stress-free, they went scuba diving, the ocean was clear. Tony and Faith dove in the water and saw all sorts of fishes, a turtle swam close to Faith and she touched it, they both were having a lot of fun.

  That night they decided to go to the island bar, where there was a local band playing some music and there were also a lot of tourists at the bar. Tony and Faith got up and started dancing with the other tourists; as they danced the rest of the tourists were watching them dance. Tony looked into the crowd and saw a face he thought he had seen before, he quickly turned around and held Faith as she was still trying to dance.

  Faith looked over Tony’s shoulder and saw a man walking towards them, “There’s man walking towards us,” Faith told Tony, “you might have a friend on the island,” Faith said dancing.

  Tony hurriedly pulled her out of the bar before the man got to them. “What’s going on, Tony?” Faith asked.

  “I’m just exhausted,” Tony replied, as they walked back to their room. ‘I think that man was one of Kevin’s staff, I know I have seen his face before,’ Tony thought to himself. Faith was confused, ‘What is Tony hiding?’ she thought to herself.

  The next day Tony cut their holiday in Bali short and booked them a flight to the British Virgin Islands. “Why are we leaving so abruptly?” Faith asked Tony.

  “I booked us a yacht in the British islands, it will be more fun,” Tony answered.

  “We could have finished our one-week holiday in Bali before travelling to the British Islands.”

  “It’s okay,” Tony tried to convince Faith.

  “What are you hiding from me Tony?” Faith asked.

  “I’m not hiding anything,” Tony replied.

  A day later Tony and Faith landed in the British Virgin Islands, a designated driver picked them up from the airport. Tony had booked a luxurious hotel for them and they rested for a day. The next day they were driven to the yacht which Tony had hired for a week, it was a big yacht called The Dream which was boldly written on its side.

  Faith shook her head, “I wasn’t expecting it to be this big,” she said.

  “It’s part of our adventure,” Tony said. Tony had also hired a private captain to take them round, and a chef, but before Tony and Faith boarded the yacht a man and two ladies walked up to him, “I’m sorry to come to you like this,” the man said, “we have been trying to hire a boat for some time but everything is fully booked. I just wondered if we could pay you the money we were going to use to hire a boat and come with you, this is a really big and luxurious yacht you’ve hired.”

  Tony looked at Faith, Faith nodded yes. Tony looked at the man and the two ladies and said, “Okay we don’t mind.”

  “Thank you,” the man and the two women said. “I’m Tom Hardy, this is my wife Lisa and her best friend Lewis Smith.”

  “I’m Tony Buck, and this is Faith Botha,” and they all shook hands. Tom, Lisa and Lewis got their small bags, and all five of the them, the captain and the chef, got on the yacht.

  The yacht was huge, it had three decks; the lower deck contained the four luxurious en-suite bedrooms, the fittings were the best in the industry; the middle deck had a large luxurious lounge with gold fittings, a large TV on a wall, a dining room with a huge and splendid chandelier, a small bar, and large windows throughout for the best views; the upper deck had relaxing chairs, a jacuzzi and the captain’s cockpit and areas where people could suntan. The five of them walked round the yacht and the captain set sail. They were all delighted. Tony got a bottle of wine with glasses and they all drank, “This is going to be fun,” Faith whispered into Tony’s ear.

  Tom, Lisa and Lewis relaxed on the upper deck, sun tanning; Tony and Faith were in the lounge playing music, dancing and drinking a glass of wine. The captain stopped the yacht, and they all went to the lower deck, which had some sun loungers at the back of the yacht, they lay down on the sun loungers for a few minutes then decided the ocean was too tempting and the five of them jumped into the ocean. The feeling was lovely, as they swam round the yacht.

  That night they all sat in the lounge and relaxed, the chef served a lovely dinner. “Maybe we should live on a yacht permanently,” Tony joked with Faith who smiled.

  They all drank and went to bed. Faith got up from bed an hour later, around 2 a.m. Tony was fast asleep next to her, she wanted to sit on the deck and enjoy some ocean breeze alone. As she opened her door, she saw Tom sneaking into Lewis’s room, Faith covered her mouth and went back into her room, ‘Is Lewis not meant to be Lisa’s best friend? Lewis is having an affair with her best friend’s husband,’ Faith thought to herself, ‘this is bad.’

  The next morning, Tony woke up and noticed Faith was awake, “You woke up early today,” Tony said staring at Faith.

  “I couldn’t sleep properly,” Faith said and turned to Tony, “I think Tom is having an affair with Lewis, I saw him going into Lewis’s room late last night,” Faith said looking troubled.

  Tony sat up and looked at Faith, “Tom going into Lewis’s room doesn’t mean they are having an affair,” Tony said, “we were all tipsy yesterday night so it might not be what you think,” he said and got up to use the bathroom.

  “I know what I saw,” Faith insisted.

  They had been on the yacht for three nights now, they all sat on the sun loungers at the lower deck of the boat. “The view is lovely,” Tom said, looking at Lisa. “Yes it is,” Lisa replied. Faith saw their interaction and thought, ‘Tom was pretending, because I am sure of what I saw, even if Tony does not believe me,’ she thought to herself.

  That afternoon, Faith was climbing up the stairs to the top deck, when she heard whispers, she could hear Tom and Lewis talking. She leaned against the side so she wouldn’t be seen by them and she also wanted to listen to what they were saying, so she could convince Tony of the affair she thought they were having. She quickly rushed to get her phone in the lounge area, where Tony and Lisa were watching a movie. Faith snuck back to where she was before on the staircase; she listened to their conversation and recorded it, and after she recorded enough of wh
at she needed, she covered her mouth in shock and snuck back downstairs. She entered the lounge and immediately told Tony she wanted to talk to him in the bedroom.

  As soon as Tony and Faith entered the bedroom, Faith locked the door and played her recording to Tony. “ We’ve been on the yacht for three days, we have to kill her now. I’ll push her off the yacht while the yacht is moving fast, and I’ll make sure her heads hits something hard, so she would have passed out by the time she hits the water and drown shortly afterwards. About twenty minutes later we will rush to Tony and Faith and tell them an accident just happened ,” Tom planned with Lewis. “ What if Lisa doesn’t pass out before she falls into the ocean?” Lewis asked. “I’ll make sure she passes out first,” Tom said.

  Tony covered his mouth in horror after he heard all they said, he was shocked beyond words. “We have to tell Lisa before it’s too late.”

  Faith went to the lounge and told Lisa she wanted to talk to her, she pulled her to their room. “Is everything okay?” Lisa asked.

  “Please just come with me,” Faith answered, and locked the door in their bedroom.

  Tony was sitting on the bed holding his head. Faith brought out her phone and played Lisa the recording. Lisa almost screamed but Faith quickly covered her mouth and sat her down, “Calm down, they must not know we know, just don’t go to the deck alone.”

  “I don’t know if I will be able to sleep in the room with Tom,” Lisa wept.

  “You have no choice, they must not find out that we know.”

  Tony left the room and went to see the captain and whispered to him, the captain nodded in agreement. That night they all sat in the lounge, they drank some wine and watched a movie, Lisa cuddled up with Tom, while Lewis drank a bit too much, Faith had to help her walk to her room. That night Tom, Lisa, Tony and Faith watched movies until late, around 3:30 p.m., they were all tired and went to their bedrooms.

  Around 9 a.m. the next morning, Tom was woken up, and saw two strange men standing in front of him. “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “You are under arrest, Mr Tom Hardy,” he turned and saw a lady holding Lewis, Lewis had been handcuffed. Tom shook his head as he was escorted out from the yacht and Lewis followed; Tom saw that they were back at the shore, he was shocked.

  Tony saw the shock on Tom’s face, “I told the captain to turn the yacht around when we heard of your plot to kill your wife, we sailed all night, and got here this morning.”

  Tony and Faith had to cut their trip short in the British Virgin Islands and flew back to Port Elizabeth in South Africa.

  Chapter 11

  “We have been here for almost two months, we are running low on food, and we are feeding two new people Olivia and Mark. They said they were climbing the mountains and they got lost and had been lost for days, their radio was in their camp, and they wandered here and saw the cabin by chance. We aren’t even sure of their identities, we don’t know if what they are telling us is the truth,” Déborah said, looking frustrated. Emilio tried to calm her down, “Hopefully Richard will be able to fix the radio and we can call for help.”

  That evening all the people in the house gathered in the lounge; Richard, Jimmy, Emilio, Elsa, Déborah, Andreiá, Carlito, Olivia and Mark. “We have to find food soon, the first polar bear Richard killed, its meat is almost finished; we still see the other polar bears roaming around, because they actually see us as food and they’re looking for their next opportunity,” Elsa said. “We have to actually look for a way to kill another one. There are nine of us in the house so we have to act strategically with the little resources we have left,” Elsa suggested and sat down.

  “I’ve noticed some strange happenings in this house recently; any time I fix the radio and I’m about to receive a signal, by the next morning the radio would have another problem, I’m not sure what is going on,” Richard said looking confused.

  The next day Richard, Emilio, Carlito, Jimmy and Mark, opened the front door quietly. They looked around to see if there were any polar bears around, then they all walked quietly to a wooded area not too far from the cabin. They carried the three knives that were in the house and one of the guns that still had a bullet in it. They cut down a lot of tree branches and also carried as much wood as they could carry to the front of the cabin, took some wood in to burn at the fireplace and took a few branches in to sharpen and use as spears to defend themselves.

  They went out again in the afternoon. They stood outside the cabin and made a lot of noise; they stood around in a circle holding knives and the spears they had made, and made more noises. As they made noise, they saw a polar bear come out from the wood and run towards them, “It’s running towards me!” Carlito said, and before they could all turn to Carlito’s direction, the polar bear with its massive size hit Carlito, Jimmy and Mark. The three of them fell to the ground, the polar bear grabbed Carlito by the side, Emilio rushed to Carlito and stabbed the polar bear’s shoulder with a knife, it dropped Carlito and hit Emilio with its shoulder, Emilio fell to the ground.

  Richard attacked the bear with a spear but the spear did not penetrate the bear’s thick skin, and the bear hit Richard. Richard fell to the ground, and the bear attacked him; he was about to be mauled when Elsa came out and ran towards the bear with her spear and thrust the spear into its mouth. She pushed it hard until it went into the bear’s throat and the bear fell to the ground with the spear sticking out of its mouth.

  They all breathed a sigh of relief, “Elsa to the rescue,” Richard said.

  They turned back and saw another polar bear charging at them. Déborah ran out with the gun and shot in the air, the loud noise startled the bear and it ran away. Carlito, Richard, Emilio, Mark and Jimmy clapped for the women, “You girls saved us,” Richard said. They all dragged the bear into the house, “Meals for another two months, but hopefully we will be out of here by then,” Richard said.

  “I’m happy none of you sustained any major injuries,” Elsa said.

  Everybody was downstairs; Déborah looked around but could not find Olivia, the new girl. ‘Where can she be?’ Déborah thought to herself and looked around and went upstairs to the room she slept in with Emilio. She opened the door and saw Olivia going through their stuff like she was looking for something, “What are you doing here?” Déborah asked. “I was just looking round,” Olivia replied and quickly walked out of the room. Déborah just watched her leave and shook her head.

  “I think we should try and retrace how Mark and Olivia got here, maybe it can help us get out of this place,” Jimmy suggested.

  “That’s a good idea,” Carlito and Richard agreed.

  “I don’t know if that is a good idea,” Mark said, “I can’t remember how we got here.”

  “I’m good at navigating,” Jimmy told Mark, “that was part of my training, I’ve been doing it for years.”

  That afternoon Mark and Jimmy left the house, looking around making sure they were not being hunted by a polar bear. They struggled to walk because of the deep snow, and both walked towards one of the mountains. It took them over an hour to climb the mountain, but when they got to the top of the mountain it was hard to see much. Jimmy looked down along a ridge and noticed a reflection, “There’s something down there,” Jimmy said as he tapped Mark to take a look.

  Mark tripped and fell, and as Jimmy stretched his hand out to help him up, Mark brought out a knife and stabbed Jimmy twice. Jimmy staggered backwards and held his bleeding stomach, Jimmy looked at Mark and grabbed Mark’s throat, he squeezed it with all his strength. Mark struggled and started losing breath, then Mark brought out a knife and stabbed Jimmy several more times. Jimmy let go of Mark’s throat and fell to the ground, the snow around him turned red with his blood.

  Mark staggered back to the cabin, when he got in he fell to the ground. “Where is Jimmy?” Richard asked him.

  “The polar bear got him, so I had to run,” Mark lied.

  Andreiá screamed, “Not again, that is horrible!” Andreiá wept, th
ey were all shocked.

  “This can’t be happening,” Elsa said.

  That night they were all upset and sad, as they mourned Jimmy.

  A couple of days later Richard couldn’t sleep, so he decided to go downstairs to work on the radio. As he walked down the stairs he saw Mark tampering with the radio, ‘So it is Mark that has been damaging the radio, I must find out who sent them,’ he thought. Richard snuck behind Mark and held him in a choke hold, “Who sent you?” Richard asked.

  Mark struggled to breathe, Richard heard a sound behind him, and as he turned around Olivia put a knife through his throat. Richard held his throat, gasping for air, and Olivia leaned forward and stabbed him in the heart twice. His heart stopped beating and he fell down and died.

  Mark and Olivia carried his body outside and threw it body in front of the house. They cleaned the blood off the floor and went to bed. By the next morning they heard screams from downstairs, Andreiá looked out the window and saw a polar bear eating Richard’s body, that made her scream, it was horrible to watch. Everybody ran downstairs and screamed, ‘What was Richard doing outside alone that late? Something is not right here,’ Elsa thought to herself.

  That night Elsa got up, she thought she heard some noises downstairs. ‘I need to double check and make sure I didn’t hear anything,’ Elsa thought to herself, and as she walked quietly downstairs, she saw the front door wide open. Elsa snuck quietly to the window and peeped outside and saw Mark and Olivia dragging Déborah; they had tied her hand and gagged her mouth. Elsa carried the gun that might still have a bullet and checked if the gun still did; there was only one bullet left, she snuck outside, and aimed at Olivia and Mark. Olivia heard a gunshot and Mark fell flat on the ground, a bullet had gone through his skull. Olivia turned back and saw Elsa with the gun, “Bring Déborah back in now or you are next,” Elsa shouted, knowing fully well she had no bullets left, but Olivia didn’t know that. Olivia raised up her hands and took Déborah back to the house.