The Five Criminals

A young man, in his mid-twenties, laid unconcience on the sandy
beach of some remost island. His green eyes slowly opened and blinked a
few times as they adjusted to the brilliance of the sun. He sat up and
looked down at his torn and ragged clothes, and then out to the open
sea.
"Where am I? Where is everyone? No! My boat couldn't have sunk, we
were just out for one night! I should've listened to Johnny and went
back before the storm came. Why did I have to try and prove that I
wasn't afraid of a little storm? No, no, this is all my fault."
His boat, along with all of his friends, was gone. Now the young man
was the only one from his boat still alive. He then noticed his
suroundings, the white sand beach with waves calmly coming onto the
shore, the trees that covered all the island visible except the beach,
and the bright blue sky with the blazing sun. It was unmercifully hot
on the beach with no shade, and no clouds in the sky to screen the
sun's burning rays. The young man slowly stood up, unsure of his
strength. Cautiously, he walked towards the trees to find some shelter,
and maybe some food.
As he entered the forest, the young man noticed how much cooler it was
in the shade as compared to the beach. Water droplets from last night's
storm fell on him from the trees. They felt cool and refreshing on his
skin. At first he dared not to go too far into the forest, but nothing
of use was found near the beach. Soon, he realised he had to go farther
in to find anything he would need. After the young man was walking for
some time, he couldn't hear the ocean anymore. This distressed him,
though he didn't know why. However, he kept on his search for food and
suitable shelter.
He walked on for about an hour and came to a cave. It went in for
about five yards and was no shorter than six feet high throughout the
cave. Just high enough for the young man to stand up in it if he
wanted. He decided that the cave would make for a reasonable "home" for
awhile.
He went out again, looking for dry wood to start a fire. It might have
been hot then, but it could easily turn cold at night. A fire would
also be useful if he could find some food to cook. He collected an
armload of wood and walked back to his cave. Temporarily, he stacked
the wood in a corner. Again he left the cave, this time for food. While
out, he ran into a wild boar, which would be a good meal, but they can
be very fierce and hard to kill. To make things worse, this one seemed
very angry. The young man was about to turn and try to run when an
arrow flew by his head and into the boar's side. It immediately fell to
the ground dead, still staring up at the young man. He quickly turned
around to see a tall, dark man, seemingly around the same age as him.
The tall one walked toward the young man, and then past him to the
boar. The young man kept his eyes on him for the entire time. The tall
one picked up the boar and placed it on his shoulders and walked off,
motioning the young man to follow. Having no other choice it seemed,
the young man decided to follow.
The tall one led the young man to a small village near the middle of
the island. There were many women and children visible, but not very
many men. The tall one motioned to the young man to go into one hut and
then left him. In there, the young man found a short, sunburnt man with
out of date American clothes on. It looked as though he hadn't shaved
or cut his hair for awhile, it was long and unkempt, and seemed to be
turning gray a little too soon for how old he looked. This short man
looked up to see the young man and a huge smile spread over his
face.
"Shipwreck? Ah yes, yes of course. Please forgive the smile, but I
haven't seen a fellow American in quite some time. You are American,
aren't you? Nevermind, doesn't really matter I guess, you at least
speak English I assume." When the young man nodded his head at that,
the short man continued, "Well, my name is Arthur, Arthur McIntyre. I
myself was shipwrecked here, and I doubt I would've survived if these
kind people hadn't found me and made me one of their own. It really is
nice here, here, ummm, what did you say your name was?"
"Samuel King."
"Ah, Samuel, nice name. Can I call you Sam?"
"Um, no..."
"Well Sam, it really is nice here, and you'll learn to love it."
Just then, the short man was interrupted by another tall, dark man who
came in with 5 other people. They seemed to be some sort of criminals
because they each had vines wrapped around their necks like a collar
and leash. Vines also tied each other's hands together. The tall, dark
man spoke in some foreign language, and the short man responded in the
same fashion.
"Oh, Sam, I forgot to mention the best part about being new here.
Tonight, in your honor, they are going to have a huge feast. At that
banquet, you will choose one of these five men to die."
"What!?!"
"Oh don't worry, they are all sentenced to death anyway, so it's not
really any big thing. You just pick which one dies and the other four
will go off free. You don't have to make any decisions right away, you
have until the feast to think about it. If you don't pick one, all five
will die as sentenced."
The young man stared at the short man in disbelief. His head then
turned slowly toward the five criminals. They all seemed harmless
enough, not like they'd have done something deserving death, but then
again, looks can be decieving. While staring at the criminals, the
young man quietly asked what each one had done.
"Oh sorry, I forgot to mention that part. You're not allowed to know
that. You can't know a single thing about them. You just pick one.
Simple enough, don't you think? But not yet, you still have a ways to
wait till tonight. For now, go rest."
With that, the young man was ushered out with the five criminals. He
was shown to another small hut with only a bed and fire pit inside. He
looked back at the five criminals one last time as they were taken to a
different hut. He then turned back towards the hut and went inside to
the bed. He laid down and stared up at the thatched ceiling. He never
slept, only stared up, obviously thinking about his decision. He kept
staring up at the ceiling, watching it as it slowly turned from a light
tan color to a dark, almost black brown as the light slowly faded.
Then, hours later, the dark instanly vanished and was replaced by a
bright light. The young man made no sign of noticing the change, and
only kept staring up at the now illuminated ceiling. Not long after
that, the young man's concentration was interupted by the same tall,
dark man who had met him in the woods. He was motioned to follow the
tall man. Outside, many fires glowed with a brilliance almost equal to
daylight. He was motioned to sit on a small, low seat facing the five
criminals. The short man was seated right next to the young man. Behind
them, the entire village was seated, looking anxiously at the young
man, awaiting his decision. The tall, dark man was standing in front of
them all and started speaking in the foreign language. The short man
whispered to the young man that he was introducing the young man and
reminding the villagers of the rules of his decision. When it came time
for the young man to tell them of his choice, he slowly stood up and
turned to face the crowd. The short man smiled up at the young man and
motioned that he was ready to translate whatever the young man
said.
"After much deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that I do not
wish to make any choice. I do not wish to be here either. I mean, who
am I, a complete stranger, to decide who should live and who shoudl
die? I don't know what any of these people have done to decerve their
sentancing, but then, I also don't know what they have done to decerve
their sentance lifted. They were given their sentancing before I got
here, and they shall not recieve a new one now that I am here. You
people have decided that they are not worthy of life, and I am not one
to say that your decision is wrong. Too many people have died on my
behalf, and I will not add another to that list. Five, instead of one,
may now die, but this will not be my fault. They were dead when I got
here, and they will remain dead. I am in no position to play games with
peoples' lives, and that is just what this is, a game! A cruel and
terrible game!" the young man yelled, and then continued quieter,
almost to himself, "There have been too many, way too many deaths
because of my decisions. Therefore, I will make none."
With that, the young man walked away from an astonished crowd that
couldn't believe what the short man translated. The young man walked
through the dark forest, following the small path he had followed
earlier that day on his journey to the village. He walked till he
reached the spot on the beach where he had first washed up on this
island. He looked out to the sea where his friends had died. He looked
down at himself, at the torn and ragged clothes, and then slowly closed
his green eyes. Bravely, the young man walked out into the dark water,
away from the island and all of the choices he's made.