Right Place, Wrong Time

"Hey! Wake up, kid!" called a voice.

Julius shot up and looked around confusedly. There was nobody there. He took in his surroundings, realizing he had no idea where he was. The ocean lapped at his feet, brushing upon the edge of the sand on which he sat. A thick line of palm trees created a barrier between the beach and what was assumedly the rest of this island. Driftwood and shells littered the shoreline. The sun beamed down onto Julius's tan skin.

He heard the call of a seagull in the distance, and then the voice called out to him again. "Oh my, that's one bad bruise you've got there! You might want to see a doctor about that..." Julius flinched, and whipped his head around to see a tall, burly man standing next to him. He clutched his chest.

"You scared the life out of me!" Julius exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "Where am I? What's going on? Who are you? ...Who am I?" he asked frantically, starting to pace in a circle.

"Woah there, kid! Relax. Don't you remember your ship crashing on the beach?" questioned the mystery man, acting as though nothing was out of sorts. Julius noticed a looming shadow in front of him, and he turned around to see a gigantic shipwreck directly behind him.

"What the..." Julius trailed off, running his hand through his hair. "When did that get there?" The man laughed.

"What do you mean? It's been there the whole time!" the man responded, chuckling. "Crazy guy over here doesn't remember two minutes ago..." he mumbled to himself, beginning to walk away.

"Where are you going? Wait up!" Julius called after him, trying to follow closely behind. The man steadily quickened his pace, and Julius had to speed walk to keep up with him. After a few minutes, the man was walking so fast Julius had to run. "Slow down!" Julius yelled, panting as he ran after him. When he looked up, the man had already disappeared into the trees. Julius looked around, leaning over and resting his hands on his knees, desperately trying to catch his breath. "Oh god..." he panted, attempting to control his breathing. Hyperventilating wasn't going to help him right now. He had to find that mystery man. It seemed like he knew more than Julius did...

A few minutes of wandering later, Julius heard faint music playing. He saw an opening in the thick wall of foliage ahead of him and walked through it. On the other side of the gigantic wall of trees was what looked like... a tiki bar? Julius saw the burly man standing behind the bar, shaking up a drink, then pouring the bright blue liquid into a glass.

"Hey, memory loss! You made it! I was starting to think you'd gotten lost out there..." the man called out. His tone seemed as though part of him wanted Julius to have gotten lost. Julius shook the thought from his head and walked over to the bar. The man took a sip of the drink he just poured and smiled. "So," The man set down his drink and clapped his hands together. "How do you take it, kid?"

"Take... what?" Julius asked, tilting his head. He looked at the man's sleeve, and noticed a small rainbow flag patch stitched to it.

The man followed his eyes to his sleeve and swiftly replied, "Your drinks, silly! Did you hit your head when your ship crashed?" The man laughed and turned to the counter behind him. He picked up a shaker and a glass. He then turned back to Julius and looked him in the eyes. "Well?"

Julius pointed to a bottle on the back counter. "Is that the strongest you have?" The man glanced at it and chuckled. He bent down and pulled a small flask from underneath the counter.

"Are you sure you want this?" he asked Julius as he handed it to him slowly. Julius took it from him and screwed off the cap. He held it up to his nose and inhaled its pungent scent.