Cerulean Found

Chapter 80 - La Isla Nina

The drive to the hotel is short, even though, upon my request, we take the long way down the hill. I am trying my hardest to kill time. Avoid the inevitable.

Josh on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He can't wait to show me his home. His excitement is abundant. He keeps smiling and chatting about the most random things. The way the grass smells after a downpour, his mom's dog Lucy, and how he saw a male ladybug land on the nose of a young child on the beach earlier in the day. His cheeriness is the exact opposite as to what I am feeling.

What am I feeling? Not happy. Not excited. I am definitely anything but.

I always am extra chatty whenever I'm particularly nervous about something. For some reason, however, in this moment I am at a total loss for words.

I am speechless. I cannot speak, I cannot do anything. Josh doesn't seem to notice my extra quiet behavior. Or if does, he doesn't say anything about it. Instead he keeps blabbering on. He's talking so much, I begin to wonder if he's nervous. About what though? I have no idea.

We pull up to the hotel. The perfectly manicured lawns are illuminated by a million tiki torches that guide guests through various paths and walkways around the resort grounds. The hotel is beautiful in the daylight and at night it is simply magical.

We make a sharp turn and the dock instantly becomes visible. My heart begins to race at an alarming rate. It feels as though it is going to explode out of my chest. I try to calm down by focusing on my breathing, but I can't seem to get enough air. I'm struggling to get a deep breath. All I want is to get out of the car and run far away from the bay and my problems.

I contemplate unlocking the doors and jumping out onto the grass, but decide against it when I realize that grass stains from my inevitable and obviously ungraceful crash-landing, would be next to impossible to remove from my summer dress. So I put my quick escape on the back burner and grip the handle of the Jeep feverishly.

A few short seconds later, Josh pulls into a parking spot that is illuminated by a street light sitting directly in front of the Jeep. Beyond the light post, I can see the wooden platform of the dock that extends out into the darkness. The dock looks sinister and eerie and beyond spooky. It looks like something out of a slasher movie.

"Mila? You coming?" a gentle voice asks, interrupting my thoughts of deranged serial killers. "You okay? You can let go of the door, you know," Josh chuckles.

I quickly release the door handle from my tight grip and in doing so, I instantly feel vulnerable, almost naked. "I'm fine, sorry, I just spaced out for a minute," I lie.

"What were you thinking?" Josh asks.

How this is the beginning of every single horror movie, I think to myself. Instead of sharing my paranoia about killers and all of the horrible things that can happen to us, I tell Josh yet another lie.

"I was just wondering how far out the dock goes. It's completely black out there."

"It goes about 100 feet out. But don't worry, we don't have to walk out there, the dinghy is pulled up on the beach. Why are you asking? You're not scared of the dark are you?" Josh asks sincerely. I detect a bit of concern in his voice.

"Not exactly," I state. "I'm more scared of what lurks in the dark and unknown."

"Like what? Monsters?" Josh jokes, as he helps me out of the Jeep and then closes the door.

"No, more like serial killers and escaped convicts," I blurt out truthfully.

"Well I have good news for you, Jalukka has no prison and the small jail in Kingsmet is usually only filled by the occasional drunk tourist. As for serial killers, there are none. The closest thing we have would be the Melleiro," he states.