1 Island Trespassers

"A World Long Forgotten"

Mike felt his brother push past him up the steps to the plane and knew that Rick was going to get the window seat again

Not this time!

"Rick!" he hissed as they edged by the smiling flight attendant at the top.

But Rick didn't even turn around.

Mike hated how his brother, who was only thirteen and a half, always seemed to make these simple situations feel like fights, like they had to go at each others throats for small things.

But Mike was in the right this time. It was his turn for the window seat!

At row fourteen, Rick swung himself in next to the window. Mike was too late.

"Move!" Mike hissed. "You had it last time."

"So what?" Rick told him, not budging. "You had it three times in a row!"

"That's a lie!"

A large duffel bag bumped Mike's leg as a man dressed in a business suit tried to get past.

"Excuse me," the man said.

"Mike, will you please sit next to your brother and stop whining?" said Dad, coming up from behind the man. "I don't care who sits beside who, just sit already!"

Grumbling, Mike sat next to Rick and gave him a quick sock on the arm. Their father gave them an exasperated look before moving down the aisle to his seat. Some of the other passengers getting to their own seats gave the two brothers disapproving looks, like the boys were unable to show proper behavior on a plane.

Mike just ignored them.

What did these people know? They didn't know how he felt about anything. How he felt about his brother or the fact he and him were forced to share a room for the past two months. And that room was his.

Mike kept his eyes off his brother during take-off and for most of the flight to Costa Rica. That was where they were heading for summer vacation with their father.

Mike and Rick were totally at odds with each other and he couldn't wait to get away from his brother in Costa Rica because he had made plans with his father to go island hopping. The one thing that could be ruined because of Rick now that he was here.

Mike glanced at his brother and saw that he looked a little nervous. He knew that Rick was afraid of heights above all things. Serves him right for taking his window seat. Mike smiled a little at that. He would taunt his brother about it later of course. Taunting him about it now would only result in them both getting in trouble with their father.

And that was the last thing Mike and Rick needed.

Most of the fighting they had done was back at home.

Back to when their parents use to be together.

Divorce. It was an ugly word that Mike hated next to his brother's stupid behavior at home. Dad had moved out only two years ago. It wasn't because their parents did not love each other. Dad simply had other priorities to deal with. Mom understood.

But the boys didn't.

Mike and Rick missed their dad. They missed having him in the house. Now it was only the three of them. And to make matters worse, Mom's sister had moved in with them. Their aunt had taken residents in Rick's room because the guest room in their house was being re-organized and re-painted. The only place for Rick to be now was in Mike's room!

That had been a bad idea.

Both brothers had their own rooms. They never had to share one if they could help it. But now they had to. Mike's room, which was the most spacious of the two, was converted so that Rick could sleep on the floor. Rick thought it was unfair and that he should get the bed. But Mom told him off and said that it was still Mike's room.

So for the next two months it had been an up and down sort of problem for the two brothers. Sharing a single room with Rick was not bearable because he often tried to convert Mike's room into his own room. Bringing his weights in from his room instead of storing them away in the basement, listening to those stupid rock CDs every other day, and bringing his friends over to hang out so that he was ushered out of his own room so that his brother could have some privacy talking to his pals. And sometimes his stuff would be messed with while he was gone. His bed would be sat on, his desk would be a mess, and their would be litters of candy wrappers on the floor scattered here and there.

Mike clenched his hands into a fist when he remembered when he confronted his brother on the matter. He had told Mom and she had told Rick that his friends were not allowed to hang around in Mike's room anymore. Rick's friends were not only mad at Mike but at Rick as well. They didn't want to hang-out with somebody who's twelve year-old brother was a snitch.

Mike could still feel the punch in the gut he had acquired when Rick confronted him in the hall of their school. Rick had sucker punched him and had ran out of there before any teachers could see him. Mike had crumbled to the ground, tears threatening to flow in front of many of his fellow students. He didn't dare cry, not in front of so many people who would only see him as a cry-baby.

The principle was called and Rick was suspended from school for a whole week. That made Mike glad. A whole week in school without his brother getting in his way or bothering him.

The plane would reach Costa Rica in a few more hours. Mike decided to sleep on it for a while but it was hard-going. The rattle of the plane and his brother nudging him often made him wake-up and then drift back to sleep.

The landing in Costa Rica was a smooth one. The sun was shining at the airport and there was a nice breeze in the air.

Dad had rented a jeep and they all packed their things in the back. Rick got the front seat and Mike was in the back with the stuff. It was not a comfortable ride for Mike. His feet were crammed in with duffelbags for a full forty-five minutes.

And when they got to their hotel, unpacked, got their room, and brought everything in, Rick dashed over and claimed the bed right next to the window. Mike scowled and clenched his fists as Rick gave him one of his "I won" grins. He hated those grins just as much as he hated his brother's attitude toward him. It made him feel small. Mike wished he could have things be fair between them.

But it was hardly fair at all. Rick would take things that Mike liked and claim them as his own. And if Mike so much as went rushing to Dad or Mom, Rick would call him a little snitch or a whiner and before you knew it, there would be a fight.

Mike, not wanting to make Dad frustrated with the pair of them, he took the bed next to his brother.

It was a good thing that Mr. Nelson had a lot of money because the hotel the family was staying in was not exactly cheap. Meals were included but the three of them always bought their groceries in the local supermarket. Eating the hotel food was always expensive.

The bathroom in their room was one other problem that the two brothers couldn't seem to get past. Rick would be in there for at least a half-hour. And when he came out, feeling relieved, there would always be a wave of stink that followed. Mike cringed at the smell in the bathroom and always tried to remind his brother to put on the fan. But Rick would always tell him to mind his own business.

Mike had no other choice but to use the bathroom anyway. And like at home Rick had seemed to mess things up. The sink was sometimes dirty from Rick splashing soap everywhere. The smell of his hair jell for his High-fade haircut would linger in the air. And to top it off was the smell of his brother's shit in the air to go with it.

Mike grumbled as he switched on the fan and closed the door behind him. This was going to be a long weekend. Hopefully, by tomorrow afternoon, Mike would be on a seaplane for his island hopping adventure.

And well away from his brother.