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table, and I see all those who are leaving us tomorrow. By my count, there are twenty-two of them. I know all of them, of course, but I see one of them is Cabel. We used to be much closer friends because we always seemed to get the same shifts for labor and training. He was the one who whipped me into shape during physical training challenging me to push myself to the next level. I don’t think he liked it too much when I started to pass him up, but I owe him for helping me. They decided to start separating the shifts by camp zones and who your shack mates were. I have not worked with him since, but I need to remember to tell him thank you, say good-bye and wish him luck wherever he is heading.
     After a night full of loading our bellies more than they have ever been before, the Feast is nearing an end. I could not eat another bite even if they threatened to jolt me over and over again.
    I am reminded I have not seen Hadley in a while so I walk towards her shack. As I am approaching, I spot her sitting down with her head tucked between her legs. I vaguely hear her say something as if she is talking to someone, but I must be imagining things. When I get closer, she looks up at me. I know she has been crying uncontrollably. I have seen her this way a few times before when she begins to think about what happened to her family back home, and it used to tear me up inside. Still does. I am about to try to console her, but she stands up quickly, gets on her tiptoes, and gives me a long and passionate kiss on the lips.
    She then leans over to my ear and whispers, “I will always love you. Never forget that.”
    “Of course I won’t. I love you too. Always and forever.”
    I am about to lean in for another kiss, but she tenderly plants one on my forehead and says, “I need to go to sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow at the porch after our shifts.”
    She turns away and walks into her shack. I am standing in the street dumbfounded. Something is wrong, but I don’t know what. She will tell me tomorrow if it was important so I head back to my shack. I jump into my bamboo-framed bed, which is filled with plenty of the cotton we have picked from the local fields. My head hits the fluff, and I am out like a light.
    It feels like no time has passed at all when I hear the morning siren informing us it’s time to get up and go on shift. I head out again with Nayze, Yency, and Benja to the pineapple fields. The day’s work seems to last an eternity. I want to go see Hadley about last night. Something was off. I work extremely hard to make sure we reach our quota quickly today. I didn’t even say bye to the guys before I took off sprinting with my pack attached to my back. I took my usual plunge into the blue water once I got there, and I surfaced on the other side expecting to see her there waiting for me with wet waves of blonde hair and a gorgeous dimply smile, like always.
    But she wasn’t there. I start to worry, but I quickly remember I did finish early today so maybe I finally beat her here for once. I didn’t. I waited around for another couple of hours before I began to head back. Once I got to the familiar path, I see Yency running towards me as fast he can. He has always been one of the calmest people here on the Island. Nothing ever seems to affect him or get him worked up. This is unusual. He comes to a quick halt in front of me and hunches over with his hands against his knees to catch his breath. He must have been running a while for him to be this winded.
    He starts, “Kincaid, where the hell have you been? We have all been searching for hours.”
    I ask him, “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
    He takes his hands off his knees and stands up and puts his hand firmly on my shoulder as if I am going to need support. He looks at me with a torn expression and says, “It’s Hadley. She was sold last night after the Feast.”
    I can’t find any words to force out of my mouth. He is trying to read me to see if I