Post by Lovely on Apr 15, 2010 1:55:56 GMT -5
June 13, 2009
Two days of inexplicable hell... In every way it was a paradise, or should have seemed it, but the tarnishing confusion shrouded the sun's warmth and kept the beauty dulled. The confusion was simple. How had he arrived here? The worry was worse. How long had he been away? The fear sealed the cloud that began to consume him. Where was this place in relation to the home he might not ever see again? Harvey pulled the now-dry shirt back over his shoulders to keep the sun from cooking him even more as he strode back onto to the beach to walk another length of it in search of something useful.. like food.., or maybe a payphone. He laughed a little at that fantasy and reminded himself immediately of the cut on his cheek that was still trying to hold itself closed. The shriek of pain from the salty air made him yell, hoping that someone would hear him, then realizing that truly, no one would. The yell was loud and lasted the length of a full breath, all he could muster and prolong to shout out to the heavens and the rolling surf that carried on without acknowledgement to his plea. He stopped and kicked at the pale and seemingly endless sand, hopping immediately back to that foot and shaking off a small crab that had latched onto the other one as he stepped over its tiny sheltering hole. He shrieked again as he tried to pry the thing off. A moment later, he was scrambling after it, or any others nearby - food! Small, but at least it was edible. In his scramblings he caught a shimmer beyond a thicket of fronds and crooked palms and bent down again and tried to focus on it and where it lay, set away from the beach. It reflected like glass and he started toward it, finding as he crawled around the growth, ever-watchful for snakes and hornets, that the shimmer was indeed water, in a rather large lagoon that was very nearly clear on the edge where he was, colored only by the polished and tumbled rocks at the bottom. He looked across the water and discerned at the very least it had to be safer to drink than the tumbling surf, likely purified by the heated and reheated rocks and filtered by the very cutting sand he walked on. A watering hole for a variety of living things, he reasoned... of what sort, though, he wondered.
Vivienne had been on this, what she believed was an island since the afternoon before this, one full twenty four hour period or so she thought. She had guessed at the time since her watch had gone 'wonky' and she didn't trust it. The watch was burried in her purse which was hidden in the bushes at the edge of this lagoon where she swam to rinse the salt and sand from her body. She'd been beneath the surface of the water and missed the shrieks and approach of the man who crept to the edge of her wonderful discovery. She came quietly up out of the water and opened her eyes, she let out a startled cry and bobbed below the surface again. She came back up a moment later and wiped at her eyes, blinking and looking like she wasn't sure the man crouched at the edge of the water was really there.
"You speak english?!" The man yelled out at her from where he hunkered down beside the water that lapped at his toes. He went so far as to wave and beckon her over toward him, not entirely sure she was real, but she was a very pretty hallucination if she wasn't. He couldn't see any hint of a suit on her so it was understandable if she stayed out of reach. "Guess there aren't any crocodiles, huh?"
Her eyes were wide and it took her a moment to answer, maybe long enough to make him wonder about a good many things. Finally she swam closer to where he was so she wouldn't have to shout but also where he couldn't reach her.. she hoped. "No crocodiles." She was staring at him again, her expression showing much emotion, like she was grateful to find him but also wary and curious.. and frightened.
"What's the matter? I'm not going to bite. I'm not that hungry... well, not yet!" He found room for the smile despite the cut that still hurt but he couldn't help it. If she was here maybe he was just on the edge of some resort or something and he could find a phone and call home. That relief was short, seeing the expression on her face like she was looking through him or looking at some big creature behind him. He turned to look over his shoulder, just in case, but didn't see anything there. So, she was afraid of him? "Name's Harvey," he told her as if that would chase the fear away.
"Hi." She said after another moment, his smile was nice and it drew one from her in return, soft and sweet like. "I'm Vivienne." Her eyes moved over him and she felt the hope slipping from her a little, he looked more in need of a rescue than someone coming to rescue her. "This might seem like an odd question.. but do you know where we are?"
The few things he had, along with the shoe he'd been left with was wrapped up in a bundle of palm leaf tied with the shoelace. The bundle was tossed beside him on the shoreline. "No... it's not odd and I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me," he said, turning his feet under himself to sit down on the rock near him so he could rinse the caked sand off them and start over. "What are the chances there's a Club Med over that next ridge with a cheap bartender and a phone?"
"Did you come from that way?" She hadn't seen because of being under the water swimming as she had been, she pointed behind him and then motioned to where he might now notice her clothes hanging over a branch near the edge of the water behind her. "I came from that way and didn't see any sign of.. anything other than what you see." She kind of blushed then and looked up at him on the rock. "I should go get my clothes." With that she ducked under the water and surfaced a few feet away swimming back toward the items she'd pointed to.
"Up to you," he shrugged. Did she think he might attack her? He lost against a sand crab - chances were good she was tougher than that. She didn't know that, though. "I came from that way, so... now what? No phone, definitely no food. How long have you been here?"
She pulled herself out of the water and climbed up onto the land at the edge, he would get a full view of her form from behind as she stood there dripping off a little. "I really don't know what.. I guess we keep looking?.. and hoping.." She reached back to wring the excess water from her hair and sighed. "I been here since yesterday afternoon.. or that's when I woke up here, I'm not really sure how long I was here before waking up. What about you?"
"Same. Two days I think, though I don't know how long I was out or where I was that night. I can't remember much since leaving work on Wednesday. It's a fog and then there was this rock. I was under a crag, out of the sun at least." He shook his head, straining hard to recall what had gone on the night before. He let it go as much as he could or he'd scream again. "I don't get it."
She got dressed and then disappeared into the vegitation, though her voice and the sounds of her movements were coming closer to him. "Sounds familiar.. not much different from what happened to me." She came out from the thicket near where he was with a shy smile. "I don't get it either.. I searched for some clue as to how I got here but couldn't find a single thing where I woke up.. not even a footprint in the sand."
"There's a couple of those now," he said, turning as she came closer. "Really weird. I should be freaking out, but I think I did enough of that the first couple of hours. Weirder is what washed up with me," he said, pulling himself off the rock to reach for his palm-covered bundle and show her. Finding himself facing her, though, he stopped a moment, staring. "This is all real, isn't it?"
"I have my purse." She offered softly with a shrug as he mentioned things that had washed up with him, she wasn't sure she'd washed up at all. She didn't exactly answer his question about it being real because she would seriously freak out. She didn't want to believe that this was anything more than a very strange dream, though deep down she had the sinking feeling it was all too real. "If it's not real then I wouldn't be able to tell you it wasn't cause I'd be part of the hallucination."
Two days of inexplicable hell... In every way it was a paradise, or should have seemed it, but the tarnishing confusion shrouded the sun's warmth and kept the beauty dulled. The confusion was simple. How had he arrived here? The worry was worse. How long had he been away? The fear sealed the cloud that began to consume him. Where was this place in relation to the home he might not ever see again? Harvey pulled the now-dry shirt back over his shoulders to keep the sun from cooking him even more as he strode back onto to the beach to walk another length of it in search of something useful.. like food.., or maybe a payphone. He laughed a little at that fantasy and reminded himself immediately of the cut on his cheek that was still trying to hold itself closed. The shriek of pain from the salty air made him yell, hoping that someone would hear him, then realizing that truly, no one would. The yell was loud and lasted the length of a full breath, all he could muster and prolong to shout out to the heavens and the rolling surf that carried on without acknowledgement to his plea. He stopped and kicked at the pale and seemingly endless sand, hopping immediately back to that foot and shaking off a small crab that had latched onto the other one as he stepped over its tiny sheltering hole. He shrieked again as he tried to pry the thing off. A moment later, he was scrambling after it, or any others nearby - food! Small, but at least it was edible. In his scramblings he caught a shimmer beyond a thicket of fronds and crooked palms and bent down again and tried to focus on it and where it lay, set away from the beach. It reflected like glass and he started toward it, finding as he crawled around the growth, ever-watchful for snakes and hornets, that the shimmer was indeed water, in a rather large lagoon that was very nearly clear on the edge where he was, colored only by the polished and tumbled rocks at the bottom. He looked across the water and discerned at the very least it had to be safer to drink than the tumbling surf, likely purified by the heated and reheated rocks and filtered by the very cutting sand he walked on. A watering hole for a variety of living things, he reasoned... of what sort, though, he wondered.
Vivienne had been on this, what she believed was an island since the afternoon before this, one full twenty four hour period or so she thought. She had guessed at the time since her watch had gone 'wonky' and she didn't trust it. The watch was burried in her purse which was hidden in the bushes at the edge of this lagoon where she swam to rinse the salt and sand from her body. She'd been beneath the surface of the water and missed the shrieks and approach of the man who crept to the edge of her wonderful discovery. She came quietly up out of the water and opened her eyes, she let out a startled cry and bobbed below the surface again. She came back up a moment later and wiped at her eyes, blinking and looking like she wasn't sure the man crouched at the edge of the water was really there.
"You speak english?!" The man yelled out at her from where he hunkered down beside the water that lapped at his toes. He went so far as to wave and beckon her over toward him, not entirely sure she was real, but she was a very pretty hallucination if she wasn't. He couldn't see any hint of a suit on her so it was understandable if she stayed out of reach. "Guess there aren't any crocodiles, huh?"
Her eyes were wide and it took her a moment to answer, maybe long enough to make him wonder about a good many things. Finally she swam closer to where he was so she wouldn't have to shout but also where he couldn't reach her.. she hoped. "No crocodiles." She was staring at him again, her expression showing much emotion, like she was grateful to find him but also wary and curious.. and frightened.
"What's the matter? I'm not going to bite. I'm not that hungry... well, not yet!" He found room for the smile despite the cut that still hurt but he couldn't help it. If she was here maybe he was just on the edge of some resort or something and he could find a phone and call home. That relief was short, seeing the expression on her face like she was looking through him or looking at some big creature behind him. He turned to look over his shoulder, just in case, but didn't see anything there. So, she was afraid of him? "Name's Harvey," he told her as if that would chase the fear away.
"Hi." She said after another moment, his smile was nice and it drew one from her in return, soft and sweet like. "I'm Vivienne." Her eyes moved over him and she felt the hope slipping from her a little, he looked more in need of a rescue than someone coming to rescue her. "This might seem like an odd question.. but do you know where we are?"
The few things he had, along with the shoe he'd been left with was wrapped up in a bundle of palm leaf tied with the shoelace. The bundle was tossed beside him on the shoreline. "No... it's not odd and I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me," he said, turning his feet under himself to sit down on the rock near him so he could rinse the caked sand off them and start over. "What are the chances there's a Club Med over that next ridge with a cheap bartender and a phone?"
"Did you come from that way?" She hadn't seen because of being under the water swimming as she had been, she pointed behind him and then motioned to where he might now notice her clothes hanging over a branch near the edge of the water behind her. "I came from that way and didn't see any sign of.. anything other than what you see." She kind of blushed then and looked up at him on the rock. "I should go get my clothes." With that she ducked under the water and surfaced a few feet away swimming back toward the items she'd pointed to.
"Up to you," he shrugged. Did she think he might attack her? He lost against a sand crab - chances were good she was tougher than that. She didn't know that, though. "I came from that way, so... now what? No phone, definitely no food. How long have you been here?"
She pulled herself out of the water and climbed up onto the land at the edge, he would get a full view of her form from behind as she stood there dripping off a little. "I really don't know what.. I guess we keep looking?.. and hoping.." She reached back to wring the excess water from her hair and sighed. "I been here since yesterday afternoon.. or that's when I woke up here, I'm not really sure how long I was here before waking up. What about you?"
"Same. Two days I think, though I don't know how long I was out or where I was that night. I can't remember much since leaving work on Wednesday. It's a fog and then there was this rock. I was under a crag, out of the sun at least." He shook his head, straining hard to recall what had gone on the night before. He let it go as much as he could or he'd scream again. "I don't get it."
She got dressed and then disappeared into the vegitation, though her voice and the sounds of her movements were coming closer to him. "Sounds familiar.. not much different from what happened to me." She came out from the thicket near where he was with a shy smile. "I don't get it either.. I searched for some clue as to how I got here but couldn't find a single thing where I woke up.. not even a footprint in the sand."
"There's a couple of those now," he said, turning as she came closer. "Really weird. I should be freaking out, but I think I did enough of that the first couple of hours. Weirder is what washed up with me," he said, pulling himself off the rock to reach for his palm-covered bundle and show her. Finding himself facing her, though, he stopped a moment, staring. "This is all real, isn't it?"
"I have my purse." She offered softly with a shrug as he mentioned things that had washed up with him, she wasn't sure she'd washed up at all. She didn't exactly answer his question about it being real because she would seriously freak out. She didn't want to believe that this was anything more than a very strange dream, though deep down she had the sinking feeling it was all too real. "If it's not real then I wouldn't be able to tell you it wasn't cause I'd be part of the hallucination."