Isle of Destiny

Chapter 3

 This chapter is dedicated to nikayaya. She is a great writer and knows how to write a good story. I wish I was as good as her at describing things. And if you don't believe me go and see for yourself!!! 

Chapter 3

Rowan Island was very beautiful, at least from where Roanna was standing. The pictures she had seen were definitely lacking in comparison with the real thing. The color of the sea was jade green and the waters were so clear that she could almost see the bottom. Raising her head she looked at the sky, it was so blue and cloudless; she never remembered seeing it so clear and vivid before. Back at home the atmosphere had always been a little suffocating.

A strange noise made her look on her left and she saw some seagulls, along with some other colorful birds, that she couldn’t identify, flying in every direction.  As for the island itself, it was simply enticing. Palm trees, exotic flowers and some other strange ferns covered it, but what really surprised her, though, was the way civilization and nature blended so well together. It seemed that they both knew their boundaries and came to accept and respect them. The buildings and the houses had been designed in an exotic style that blended well with the scenery.

 A man cleared his throat snapping Roanna out of her trance.

“Miss, could you move, please? You’re blogging the way.”

Roanna blushed, muttered a “sorry” and taking her suitcase, she started walking quickly down the pier, toward the other side. There, two women were sitting behind a wooden booth greeting the arrivers and putting around their neck a necklace made of fresh flowers.

Roanna waited patiently in the line until it was her turn to stand in front of the women. While waiting, she searched her purse for the paper where she had written down the name of her hotel, she intended to ask for directions. When her turn came, the two women were arguing and where so engrossed in their fight that they didn’t seem to notice her.

Roanna groaned inwardly. Great, the bad luck continues.

“Um, excuse me, can you tell me where Hibiscus Hotel is?”

The two women stopped talking abruptly.

“Look miss, can’t you see…“the blond-haired woman on the left started to say as she turned around with a very annoyed look on her face, but whatever she had intended to say seemed to had stuck in her throat, as she stood, there, frozen staring at Roanna with her mouth open.

And she wasn’t the only one, Roanna noticed, as the black-hair woman next to her was staring at her, too, with a similar expression on her face, except that hers also had a hint of disbelief.

Roanna was utterly confused. Had she accidently done something to insult them and their culture? Maybe, she was supposed to greet them with a phrase or something.  Aloha, maybe? She didn’t even know their native language. When she had planned her trip she hadn’t thought to do a research about their ways.

Then something else came into her mind. Was something wrong with her clothes? Oh, dear lord, was something walking on her, a bug, a venomous snake? No, she would feel it if something was moving, right? A stain, then, she decided. A stain wasn’t the end of the world, unless, it was something alive crawling on her, after all.

Roanna fought the urge to check herself; she didn’t want to take the chance and come face to face with a little monster. Instead she asked with a faintly voice, “Is something wrong?”

That seemed to snap the women out of their shock. They both answered at the same time.

“No-o, everything is fine.”