Academy Island

Lonely

Now that I had the boxers in my possession, I felt terrible. I had stolen and was running from the scene of my crime, my victims a bunch of guys that were gun happy. I clenched the boxers to my chest tightly, feeling sorry and not sorry at the same time was confusing. I needed them, but I probably could have figured something else out now that I thought about it. I shook my head at myself, telling myself as soon as I found something else, I would find some way of returning them. A quick glance behind told me there was no one behind me like I had feared. A fallen log in the way provided a needed resting spot, a place to collect myself and examine my feet. They were covered in bruises, a cut or two, and a broken blister. Not good. I let my foot fall down from my lap, falling with a thud against the sandy dirt and tried to calm my heart. I could hear the men shouting to each other in the distance, far enough away to be sure I wouldn't be discovered immediately, but near enough to make me nervous. I brushed at my feet, getting the sand off and put one foot after the other through the legs and then standing so I could pull them on.

Underpants were the best invention ever. I'd never felt so happy for a piece of clothing in my life. The relief at covering my butt and everything else had tears pricking at my eyes as I tied one side of the waistband into a knot so it would fit me. I let my shirt fall over the top, noticing that they were different shades of white and looked down at how far they covered me, almost to my knees. It was so much better than the nothing I'd been crouch-walking around in. I was free to walk. Spread my legs if I wanted too to sit in the sand. Stand upright with my hands on my hips with no worries at all.

Now to find something to drink or eat, maybe even find a road that would lead me to civilization if I kept going. It didn't matter which was first.

I glanced around myself at the trees reaching up to the canopy of palms above me, looking for more coconuts. Climbing another tree didn't sound appealing since I was still winded from running, but if I could find one that had dropped it's fruit to the ground I was sure I could take it from there. I listened carefully for the guys I'd left back there at their laundry area and headed in the opposite direction of their voices, heading west from the shoreline in to the mainland and trying my best not to limp.

The terrain was rough, large, pockmarked volcanic aftermath scattered in every direction that I averted stepping on until they became too common to avoid. I bent to pick one of the gray stones up, rasping the abrasive edge on one side of my thumb to test it's usefulness. It would do, not as a knife, but it would serve to grind away at anything woody well enough, like a coconut if I was lucky. I put it in my bra and continued on. The ground began sloping upward steeply, forcing me to pick my way over the rocks much slower than I wanted. The plants grew sparser and my feet were abused so much that I couldn't help stumbling a few times. The palms too weren't as common here as they had been in the jungle, making me nervous that I would be easier to spot. I stopped my ascent, looking above the treeline I had risen above towards the sky. A hazy pink tinge had begun spreading across the horizon to the west, cut through by flat blades of clouds, each bordered in burning gold against the swatch of colors that went from pink to periwinkle blue the further east I looked. A wisp of hair floated across my face as I looked over the land and ocean, carried there by the rapidly cooling breeze. The day would be ending soon. I brushed back the hair tickling my cheek and looked up at what was obviously a mountain of some sort, wondering if I should continue on or stop here. I shifted on my feet, feeling out the cuts and bruises that had been torturing me to see if they were really that bad.

They were.

I sucked in air sharply at the sudden jab of intense pain on the one side and lifted my weight off of it. I shouldn't have thought about it, should have ignored it like I had done when I was worried about food. I sat facing east from where I'd come, looking over the darkening panorama and the appearance of the first dim stars, wishing I wasn't too tired to cry. A light sniffle was all I was able to manage and I wiped my arm across the bottom of my nose, probably just smearing more filth onto myself. I wanted a bath, a sandwich, some water and a bed; with my family safe at home. My stomach sank, heavy with grief and forcing tears I was too lazy to brush away. It felt good anyway to let them spill over and run down my cheeks, letting me know I was still alive, validating that I was sad, scared, and didn't know what to do.

At least not everything about today had been bad though. My butt was covered for one.

A laugh burst out of my lips that was half crying and half amusement. The guys I had stolen from were probably down there, mad as hornets that someone's underwear was missing during their camping trip. I hoped it wasn't their only pair. My eyes searched the jungle below me, wondering where they were right now. The green glow of a spot in the palms told me the whereabouts of their camp's fire at least. That was helpful, and closer than I had thought. It felt like I had been running and walking much further than I'd actually gotten. I sighed, looking up at the mountain rising above me, then back down at the inviting, scary presence of other human beings.

What did I want to do? If they hadn't shot at me, twice, I would probably already have contacted them somehow. As it was, I wasn't sure if they were friend or enemy, or what they would do to me if they knew I was about. A tremor shivered through my shoulders at the drop in temperature that had taken over the exposed area I rested on. Better get a move on, even if my feet didn't agree with me. My knees shook as I got to my feet, my joints aching like an old lady's from sitting still too long. I arched my back and stretched, then closed my eyes for the next painful step up the side of the mountain. I cringed at the first sharp pain, then just moved forward through it, ignoring what my feet were telling me. The light was going to be gone soon, I had to hurry. I put my all into hustling myself up, my stomach and arm muscles beginning to burn a bit when the slope became so steep that I had to climb. The lip of a particularly difficult overhanging proved to be the top, the very last of the sun's rays shining in my eyes the moment I dragged myself up and over. I shakily stood and shielded my vision from the blinding light, having been in the mountain's shadow so long that it was impossible to see right away. When I finally blinked away the shock of it and was able to lower my hand as the last sliver of sun sank, I slumped.

There was no mainland. No chance of continuing walking until I found civilization. There was only water, ages of it as far as I could see round about, no city lights, no roads cutting through the limited greenery that rose above the waves. I fell to my knees in the warm dirt, numb and shaking as visibility was swallowed up in the absence of light. I might as well have been slapped, so hard had my circumstances hit me. All that surrounded me was plants, sand, waves, stars...

And them.

I looked back now, finding their camp with ease as night fell around me. The underside of the palms, outlined in vivid detail at the light flickering beneath them pulled me in, mesmerizing in it's own way since it was the brightest thing in my sight. I fell back from my knees onto my butt, the sunburn against the cloth pulling an unwilling groan from me as I tried to settle myself to lay somewhat comfortably in probably the worst place I could have found to sleep. At least the ground was warm. I put an arm under my head as a pillow, facing a campfire I was fearful to approach, but still needing it's presence in this lonely world I found myself in. They seemed like they knew what they were doing, probably had water and food, and best of all each other. I swallowed painfully and shifted again in the grit below me, finding no comfortable position other than the warmth still left in the dirt from the day. The light from the camp below and hunger pangs the last things I remembered before I succumbed to the painlessness of sleep.