Tahiti (Boy x Boy)

Part One

Under a warm, cloudless sky was a man on a beach. Alone, he laid on a beach towel that was as soft as a kitten's fur. Looking up towards the sky, a few palm trees loomed over him and obscured his view of the blue void. A soft wind blew, messing with the man's blond hair as the bright sun shone down on the exposed skin of his limbs. The sound of clear, vibrant waves throwing themselves upon the sand could be heard.

It was paradise for the lone visitor. There was no one around to bother him or break the fragile balance of his tranquility. The man breathed ever so gently as stress completely fizzled out. There was no fear or worry that came about him, but rather the feelings of security were what occupied his mind. This was what a true getaway was.

While he could've stayed there for hours doing nothing but bathing in the warmth of the atmosphere, one sound was all it took to break him out of his trance. It was the distant sound of another person, specifically another person trying to get his attention. The man propped himself up on his elbows, turning his head towards the direction of the sound. What he spotted was a fellow male several yards away. Clad in only a pair of swimming trunks, his naked torso was tan in color. He waved his arm above his head, trying to call over the boy laying on the towel. A smile was spread over his face.

The man on the towel smiled back, but not just as a friendly gesture. His mind wasn't aware of it, but he could feel it in his heart: he knew this person. One glance at his tall figure and he knew that it was a sight he had seen before. This was the only person he wouldn't mind interrupting his peaceful solitude.

As if the man from afar was a magnet, he got up from his towel and started walking towards the other side of the beach. Both of them grew happier as their hearts couldn't wait any longer to dive into the moment. The both of them getting to enjoy each other's company privately was about to make the beach a little more closer to an Utopia. Unlike such a perfect place, though, the world was about to crumble.

With each step forward, the man was able to see clearer details of his destination. However, such details started to melt and slip away from him all of the sudden. Confused, he stopped in place as the sky started to shatter. The broken pieces fell, leaving nothing but a dark, empty space. The ground below started to turn into a thick, murky pool of sludge that remained colorless.

He gasped as fear started to awake inside of his body. That previous balance of tranquility had shattered and now calamity took charge of his insides. His breathing spiraled out of control upon counting what was unexpectedly his final moments as a living, breathing creature. The man looked at his fellow companion and noticed his expression was unwavered. He stood there smiling as existence faded into a tenebrous abyss, unaffected that he was about to be consumed by the darkness surrounding him. He was a puppet, immobile and unaware of his own doom.

The man wanted to scream and say something to the smiling corpse, but he soon found that he couldn't speak. The sounds around him became muted. Everything started to disintegrate into nothing, and soon all there was was blackness.

The man opened his eyes to see that he was not on an island any longer, and instead was propped up in a bed. With his vision hazy, he only saw splotches of color at a time as if the world in front of him was a marble painting. Light bedding covered the man up to his waist. He grabbed the blanket and felt the surface. It wasn't soft and fluffy like the towel he was laying on a moment ago, no. The blanket was scratchy and rough like rope. The salty smell of the ocean was replaced with the sterile, sweet aroma of what reminded him of a hospital. Was that where he was? He shook his head, trying to make sense of the situation. His head was foggy and a wave of exhaustion came over him. If only his vision worked correctly, maybe things would make a little more sense.

A moment later, the blurred images became clear and he got a sense of where he was. Indeed, it was a hospital room, but not a hospital room that he would've seen years ago. The area was decimated. Only a dim light illuminated everything. Aside from the bed, the only furniture accompanying the man was a table and chair along with a door straight across the mattress. The floor was dirty, and not the sparkly white that he would expect from a hospital. The left wall had a giant, gaping hole in place of windows which allowed a frigid air to roll inside the room. Outside, the man saw the sky was the color of ash and most of the natural world was buried under crumbled buildings and trash. His eyes glazed over the sights with confusion. The male wasn't scared or anxious, but lost as to how he was swept away from paradise and placed inside of a hospital room. The last memory he had was looking to his side and seeing someone else on the island with him, nothing afterwards registered in his thoughts. How much time would have had to have passed for him to get from a grand island to a bleak reality? He wondered. Where was the man who was with him?