The Snake Charmer

IX

Waking up, I felt movement shifting around me, along with feeling strong arms holding me, startling me awake as I opened my eyes to find myself being carried in Caspen's arms. It was dark, telling me night had fallen, but I could see trees passing around us, as well as seeing the strap to my bag over Caspen's shoulder. I also found my small box of memories sitting on my chest as he held me bridal style. It felt quite awkward, as I could hear the sounds of water around us, and yet he was carrying me in his arms through the waters. It was hard to see anything around us, as we traveled, not knowing what direction we were headed in, nor what I would face in the near future, but I simply sat in Caspen's arms, finding a little bit of comfort with how he held me.

"Wha...what's going on?" I mumbled, looking around.

"Shh, stay calm." Caspen whispered. "We're almost there."

I tried to look around us, but it was much too dark for me to be able to see anything going on, but I did hear the sound of water, lots of water being moved around us. I felt Caspen's arms gently tighten their grip on me, as though a sign of reassurance. I turned my head a little bit and looked up at him to see him casting a glance down at me, and giving me a small smile, before he looked back up and focused on what was up ahead.

"Where are we?" I whispered, unsure if it was okay for me to speak or not.

"Headed toward a small island where we will wait for our ride across the sea." Caspen replied, surprising me.

"What is going to happen, Caspen?" I asked. Feeling at a loss and unsure about what may happen. I was now so far from my home and now in what felt like the middle of nowhere. I was at a loss, confused about what was going to happen to me now. I wanted to feel safe in my own bed, but instead I was sitting in Caspen's grip, leaving my stuff and life far behind me with few things left to call my own. Traveling across part of the world to a place unknown to me, a place where I could be injured, hurt, maybe even killed. Even Caspen had seemed unsure about what may happen to me when he took me with him, for all I knew, he was only attached to me because...because...well, I didn't know why he liked me. Maybe it was because of how I met him at the zoo, because I happened to be really good with snakes, I had no idea. I just felt so lost, unsure and insecure. I was scared, lost and for all I knew, my life could just go downhill without me ever even looking.

"Well, you are gonna rest for a little bit with your friends, while I wait and keep an eye out for our ride to show up, which we will ride for a little while to my home island. That is about as much as I can tell you." Caspen explained, clear resentment in his voice as he spoke to me. "I understand if you are a little uncomfortable about this predicament, but I promise I am going to do my very best to keep you safe, Arila. If I believed you would be in full danger with me, I probably would have left and come back for you."

I wanted to respond to that, but what are you exactly supposed to say to a kidnapper, if this even is a kidnapping situation. He forced me to choose to go with him willingly, a majority of the way anyways, and now here he was carrying me with him to Snake Island. He clearly likes me for some reason? Why was I so important? He wanted me for some reason. I am not pretty though, I am not really that happy of a person either. I have been alone for years, and I haven't exactly had the reason to be social either, so what was special about me? Because I was kind? I was nothing special, there was no reason for a person to love me.

I felt something wet touch my cheek for a second, startling me as I looked up to see Caspen's tongue gently licking me. He was looking down at me with a small twinkle in his eye that I could see reflect from the moonlight. "That frown didn't belong on such a pretty face as yourself. You need to smile some more."

"I'm sorry." I mumbled, looking away from him and out at the water around us, seeing a small body of island up ahead, not really that large, just a little patch of land. I felt his tongue slide down my cheek, toward my neck where it very lightly ran along the back of it, slightly tickling me. I smiled very lightly at that, but I didn't look up at him. Knowing he was looking right down at me. We approached the very small body of land, where his coils gathered around us, before he set me down on the pile of them. The backpack being set on the ground nearby, along with my small box of items. He seemed to push my body forward against his coils, that seemed to gently support me, while he grabbed my chin, turning it to look up at him.