by Daya Daniels
Brooks
“SHOULD WE JUST LEAVE him here?” Tenley glances over at me.
With a twisted face, my head swings in her direction just as my palm is pulled away from the man’s hot forehead. “Of course.”
Imagine my horror at Tenley screaming my name a few hours ago.
I dashed through the trees in her direction and came to a complete stop and the sight of the surprise in her brown eyes. Then my gaze fell low to the sand where a man—maybe a smidgen under six feet tall, shaved head, possibly two hundred and twenty pounds—was lying facedown passed out in it and bleeding like a slaughtered animal. His boat had been pulled up on the shoreline and the oars weren’t far from it. It seemed to be all that he’d secured when he’d first arrived on the beach before he’d fallen and completely blacked out.
We’d dragged him to the shelter we’d once called home for a while, and now, here the man with no name lies, still asleep but patched up now since Tenley had made good work of the gash in his shin that looked as if it had been open for days. I’d say it’s a shark bite considering its mangled state before it had encountered Tenley’s handiwork.
Our new guest has a fever. He’s dehydrated. He’s malnourished. He’s had entirely too much sun. My eyes rove over him where he’s laid out on a sheet which covers the sand.
If we had access to a real doctor and proper hospital facilities, this man would of course be in better shape than he is now. It is why we avoid injuries around here as much as we can because I curse the day that one of us finds ourselves desperately in need of medical attention and there isn’t a chance is hell that we’ll get it. There is no pain medication on this island except for the shit that gets you high. There is no ambulance. There is no help. We have nothing here, really, except for our prayers…
All the questions I want to ask this new stranger will have to wait until tomorrow or at least until he wakes up.
It’s night now.
The sun has gone away, and the stars are out along with a bright moon in the sky.
Tenley bites her lip, gathers up the small bowl that’s filled with soapy hot water and wrings the cloth she’d used on the stranger out. “Okay then. I’ll just leave these for him for if he wakes up and finds himself hungry.” She takes the bananas she’d brought with her and rests them to the side of where he’s lying as if they’re a peace offering then backs out of the shelter.
I follow, and once I’m outside, I cover the entrance up with a palm frond.
“Who do you think he is?”
I cover Tenley’s mouth with a hand, take everything out of her hands then encourage her to walk along with me. She shoots me a questionable look but remains silent. Soon we’re on the path and getting closer to the house. She takes the stairs slowly, as I do, and once we’re inside and she rushes to light two candles, I let out a breath.
She whirls around to face me. “He could tell us where we are.” Her eyes are filled with a hope I haven’t seen in them in a while.
It’s akin to the sensation swirling around in my chest. “Yeah, I know.” I nod.
“And he has a finished boat.”
A small boat. One that could never accommodate three people and a monkey…
“Yeah, I know.”
Tenley’s excitement grows. “Maybe he has a compass too?”
What good is a compass if you don’t know where you are? But…
She shoves her hair away from her face with her hands and eyeballs me. “I can’t believe this, Brooks. This is our ticket.” She puts her hands together in prayer. “We’re going to get home.” She paces the house.
I smile. “How long do you think his leg will take to heal?”
She frowns. “I don’t know, maybe a while. I think he’s fighting an infection too which is the reason for his fever, but I’ve given him something for it. It should work overnight to at least help break his high temperature. Maybe tomorrow morning he’ll be awake and then he can talk to us.”
I scratch the back of my neck. “Yeah, I hope so.”
Tenley takes my hands in hers and spins around, pulling me into a dance. “Brooks, this is good. This is very good. We can come up with a new plan from here. And besides, even if he doesn’t want to share his boat, maybe he can help us finish our boat. We’ll have extra hands, Brooks.”
“Yeah, I know.” Laughing with her, I settle into the step she’s currently leading.
Her eyes go even wider. “And maybe he has tools?”
He doesn’t…I checked…
But I keep that to myself.
After rummaging through the little belongings our guest had brought along with him, I’d only found an empty container of water, some rope, and a blanket. The boat he had floated toward this island is in good condition, but it seems to be all he brought along with him.
How long had he been floating in the sea?
Where had he come from?
What is his name?
The questions crash together in my head but I’m tired right now.
The hour is beyond late. We’ve already missed dinner and I’m in urgent need of a shower. Honestly, I could skip the nightly buffet Tenley puts together and simply go straight to bed. But it doesn’t seem as though that will be happening. Tenley is too happy. And now, I’m smiling just as much as she is. We dance, slow…
In a burning room.
Our bare feet move across the cool floors and we breathe in the salty air which slips in through the windows. The night is calm, calmer than it’s ever felt before. And the distant whisper of the waves as they wash up on the beach is soothing.
Fate is a funny and fucked-up thing…Just when I had resigned myself into believing that the only way we’d make it off this island would be through our work alone, we’re sent help in the form of an injured man.
Tenley twists and twirls, the golden strands of her wild hair which bounce off the candlelight chase after every move her body makes to the sound of the chirping crickets outside. Her hands are at home in mine and a permanent smile is etched on her face.
I wish I could make it stay there…forever and ever and ever. It sure as fuck beats her tears.
Her body rocks forward, chest crashing into mine, she offers me a cheesy grin.
I pluck a frangipani from the vase next to where we linger and tuck it in her soft tendrils. “It’s perfect.”
“Thank you. I feel pretty, Brooks.”
Good.
“I’m happy even though everything isn’t ideal right now, Brooks.”
It’s called being content with what is…
Tenley whirls around and settles back in her dance, taking me along with her. “We’re going home, Brooks.” She inches closer to my face and giggles.
I laugh. “Yes, Tenley, we’re going home.”
~
“Who exactly was Peighton to Captain Alcott?” Tenley’s voice jerks me out of my almost sleep.
Sucking in a deep breath, I exhale and don’t remove my palm from my stomach.
Tenley moves closer to the edge of the bed and allows her arm to dangle over the side.
“They weren’t married when they arrived here from what you’ve told me.” She smiles.
“No, they weren’t.”
“She was the daughter of a doctor who was travelling with his wife on the Reveles back to England. The doctor and his wife fell ill on the voyage and had to be tossed off the ship and into the sea to prevent any disease from spreading.”
“Oh.” Her eyes are soft. “Poor girl.”
“Many of Captain Alcott’s men perished after they made it here, most only a few months following when they had made land.”
“Is that why you won’t let me read the diary?” She smiles. “Because it’s full of awful things?”
Yes, at least from what I’ve read so far.
“Something like that.”
She laughs. “You don’t have to protect me, Brooks. I’m not a child.”
“What makes you think I’m protecting you?” My brows arch.
> She doesn’t respond, only shifts, allowing the moonlight to shine down on her curves. She tosses her arm over the side of the bed and allows it to dangle just above me. “So, you’re protecting yourself?”
I’d like to think I’m protecting them…
“No.”
She sighs loudly. “I don’t know why I bother to ask you anything…”
I laugh. “So, don’t ask me anything then.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” She pokes her finger into my hand which rests palm facing up on the floor.
I attempt to capture hers once, twice, three times.
She slow-blinks then her fingers crawl over my stomach and the tips of them settle there, teasing the hair which covers the ripped abs I’ve unintentionally earned since being on this island. I’ve always been a man who takes care of himself, but I appear far different now—healthier, more fit, more muscular—than I’ve ever seen myself. I suppose Tenley and I are each other’s mirrors. And right now, I see my reflection in her eyes. I spot other things too. The shit she keeps locked away behind her eyes and dares never to speak about.
A breath is sucked into my lungs when her fingertips continue to caress my skin. They draw circles, move up then down, press hard and then soft. Her breathing grows deeper, pulse pounds at the base of her neck and her tongue slides over her lips in an unintentional move. My muscles twitch and bunch, breathing grows a little more frantic. Something inside me beckons to be touched as badly as her fingertips want to touch. Those slender digits of hers move lower and lower and lower, until she stops, and her eyes meet mine.
I do nothing, say nothing, don’t move an inch. Only observe her eyes and where they stay.
I wouldn’t be a liar if I admitted I can’t help it…
Tenley’s pouty lips part. Her eyes flicker around, nostrils flare.
Desire evident.
Fear palpable.
Disgust non-existent.
A dangerous craving.
I feel desired…makes my heart beat a little harder and some happy part of my insides smile.
Secrets. They’re funny little things. The worst ones are the ones we think we’re keeping just because we don’t speak on them—breathe life into them. By now, I know all of Tenley’s secrets and I’m quite assured she knows all of mine.
Slowly, she takes her hand back. “I should get to sleep.”
I give her a soft look thinking of how late it is. “Yeah, me too.”
She rolls away from me but her breathing never eases.
And neither does mine.
I decide I’ll be angry at myself tomorrow for this bullshit.
Tenley
BROOKS HAD TOLD ME not to, but I couldn’t help myself…
With shaky breaths, I make my way along the sandy path while keeping the plate in my hand steady, the cup of juice and all the medicinal supplies. It’s dawn. The sun is far from rising completely. The air is cool. The birds cry out and the waves lap gently against the shoreline.
Peni hops from tree to tree high above me attempting to be as slick as possible with her sneaky ways especially since I had told her to stay put when she insisted she come along with me.
I pause for a moment and gaze up at the trees above, pressing my lips together.
A branch sways and then leaves rustle. I spot Peni’s long tail and then slowly it curls up against her and out of sight. As much as I want to be annoyed, I can’t and then I find myself laughing. I set off again.
When I make it closer to the beach, the salty air surrounds me.
So much peace.
I place everything I’m carrying down carefully on top of a nearby rock. Cautiously, I creep toward the palm leaf and rest a hand on it. “Are you awake, mister?”
There’s no answer.
I ask the question again and get nothing back except for the wind.
Maybe he doesn’t speak English?
Oh God, what if he’s dead? What if his wounds were so infected that he’d succumbed to his injuries in his sleep? He did have a temperature, I surmise. He was unconscious. Please, please, please don’t be dead!
“I’m coming in.” I start to move the palm leaf. “I have breakfast—boiled eggs, tomatoes, fish, and fresh orange juice. And I have medicine.” If blood flower potion and marijuana tea qualify as medicine…I freeze when I spot the man who’s still lying in much the same way we’d left him in last night. “I’ve come to help you.”
He doesn’t move.
The breeze washes over me.
Peni swings from a tree just behind me and then in the same beat she’s on the ground and making her way toward me. She yanks on my dress.
“Stop it, Peni.” I focus back on the man.
I knew it was too good to be true…He’s dead.
My hand finds my hip and then my gaze falls to the particles of white sand at my feet. I stomp my foot just once. “Goddamn it.” I cover my face with my hands.
Groaning.
Complaining.
Shifting.
HALLELUJAH!
My hands drop to my sides and my mouth falls open, searching for air. “Oh.”
“God, help me, please.” I detect a slight accent when he moans out expletives.
I rush to the man’s side, place my hand over his, and peer into his sunburnt face. “I’m here. I can help you.” Even though I’m the one offering help, my voice is unmistakably pleading. Peni eases up next to me, her tiny fingers hold on to my arm.
The man’s big brown eyes flicker around as if he thinks he’s looking at a ghost! And then he peers at Peni strangely. When I reach for him again, he flinches as though I might possibly be packing the touch of a demon.
I know how this feels…to wake and not be able to discern your surroundings. To feel so, so alone.
A piece of my heart breaks for this man.
I want to know his story…
“You sailed here. Your boat…i-i-it’s outside.” I point just behind me. “You passed out.”
He eyes me warily, doesn’t say a word.
“I’m ah, my name is…” I press a hand to the middle of my chest. “I’m Tenley.” I smile.
His disoriented expression is still there.
I press my hand to his forehead and determine that he no longer has a fever. “I can help you.”
His lashes flutter. “W-w-where am I?”
“You’re safe on land?”
“Yes, b-b-but where?”
Hell if I know!
“You’re on an island.”
He breathes harshly. “My boat. My crew.” His eyes fill with tears. “What happened to them?”
“I-I-I don’t know…”
He attempts to sit up. “It sank.” He blinks a few times. “I remember now.” He rambles on in a language I don’t understand.
I urge him to lie back down. “You have a bad injury to your leg. I patched it up. I don’t think you can walk on it.”
His eyes land on the wound and then back on me. “You did that?”
“Yes.” I smile.
His chest heaves. “Thank you. Thank you very much. I can’t thank you enough.”
“It’s no problem.” I crawl away from him, knees in the soft sand and Peni moves along with me.
“Where are you going?”
I look at him. “Are you thirsty? Maybe hungry too?”
“Yes, yes, I think so.” Shifting, he groans.
“Okay then.”
“Tenley.”
I glance over my shoulder when he says my name perfectly. “Yes.”
He places a hand to the middle of his chest. “My name is Kulon.” He manages a smile.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Kulon.” I’m practically bouncing out of my old home.
Now, let’s get you back to operational capacity right away!
Brooks
TENLEY IS GONE…
Fuck.
I told her not to—
What’s the point? She does as she pleases, doesn’t matter what
I damn well think. It’s not like I’m her husband or anything.
Roughing a hand over my face, I squint at the sunlight peeking in through the window.
I overslept.
Something I don’t normally fucking do.
What gives?
I sit up from where I’ve been lying on the floor and unwrap myself from the blankets. With a groan, I shift and twist to my side finding Tenley now walking in through the door. My eyes dance over the empty tray in her hands, empty cup, and remnants of the fruit which had clearly been eaten.
“Good morning.” She rushes to clean everything up.
“Good morning.” I sit with my back to the wall just watching her.
“I know you said—”
“It doesn’t matter, Tenley, you didn’t listen anyways. What did you find out?”
Smiling, she spins around almost standing on her tippy-toes as if she’s about to deliver to me the newsflash of the century and super proud that she’s the messenger of it all. “His name is Kulon. I don’t think his age matters. He was born in the rainforest in Sumatra. He has a wife and four children that he hasn’t seen in three years. He was on a boat out there in the sea. A fishing vessel or something and it sank. He isn’t sure how long he’s been sailing but he said he thinks for weeks. And he came here because it was the first sign of land he’d seen during the entire time he was way out there.”
A grunt leaves me.
“But he’s nice and he said he has no problem helping us to get off this island. I asked him if he had a compass to which he said he didn’t.”
I nod.
“But he said he knows the sea around here well.” She smiles.
“If that’s the case, then how in the fuck did he get lost?”
She exhales and her posture moves dramatically with it. “I don’t know, Brooks. Please just listen. We have an extra pair of hands now. I’m happy about that. He’s still a bit rusty around the edges. He needs rest and water and soon he’ll be back on his feet. And he can help us.”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe you should go and introduce yourself? Show our new friend how friendly you are?” She winks.
My eyes narrow.
She sets to boiling water, peeling the shells off boiled eggs and cutting up watermelon. “Do you know what Kulon asked me?”
