The Island
Chapter One: Whisked Away
Disclaimer of love: I like totally don't own anything. CP is Disney's. (Even though this fanfic is very loosely CP based anyways.)
Author's Note: I've been in a writey-mood, and I really wanted to do something unique. Most people tend to write about the PSA/EPF, so I wanted to challenge myself. Also, ahead of time: I want to have one guy penguin/person/whatever really help out the main character, Peyo, but I can't decide who it should be. Should it be one of the characters that are already established in CP (Like Rookie, Gary, Sensei, etc.) or just a new character entirely? I fail, so I can't decide. So anyways, enjoy this, I suppose.
"Peyo, your father is calling you!"
I lie in bed, blinking slowly, remembering where I was. I was unfamiliar with the surrounding area, then I remembered; I was on vacation. I still felt groggy, and wanted sleep, but my mother's shrill cried discouraged that, so I pulled myself up.
"What, what is it?" I called from the hotel room. I changed out of my PJ's underclothing and put on some shorts and a shirt that was too long for me. I knotted it at my side and slipped on sickly green sandals. I looked in the mirror, making sure I looked presentable; long, black hair, dark, almond shaped eyes, and freckles. I coughed as I put my hair in a half-hearted ponytail, but a few wisps of hair escaped the ponytail and fell to the sides of my face. I opened the door to find my father, a strong man in his 40's, smiling at me.
"I just set up something for us to do! You know the beach, the one that's a couple of miles that way?" He pointed north, visibly excited. "We're going on a boat ride. We're gonna spend the day at West Falkland, just you and I."
I raised my eyebrow, impressed. I was glad that he was so thrilled over the trip. This was our family's first vacation in years. My dad was a hard worker, but our family is large. There's my mother, my father, my older brother Jaime, my older sister Kitori, my younger sister, Angel, my father of course, and I. It was difficult to raise enough money to actually go anywhere and even buying a few common things like iPods and cell phones had proven difficult. Luckily Kitori had won one of those cereal sweepstakes. "See if you've won a cruise around the world! See details inside." Bam. All of our expenses were paid for by Star Pops Brand Cereal. The cereal wasn't particularly great, but hey, a vacation is a vacation, right? We had already been to a nice resort hotel in Mexico, and now we were at East Falkland Island in Argentina. Next were a few other places, but hey, we had time. It was summer, after all.
"But Pablo, you said you'd spend the day with Angel today," my mother contested. My dad frowned and I sighed. I was looking forward to going.
"I completely forgot…" he said. He slumped over and whispered in my ear. "I'll tell you what, Peyo. You can go on that trip by yourself. After all, there's a tour guide there and everything. You're a growing girl, I'm sure you'll be fine. You've always said you wanted to be more mature, so you can go without me. I feel I've been neglecting you, though, so tomorrow we'll do anything, just name what you wanna do."
I nodded, giggling a little. My mother didn't notice. "Okay, Peyo, just go north a couple of miles until you reach the beach. There's a jetty that leads to a ship. It's pretty rustic looking, so take note of that. It'll take about an hour to reach the island, so just relax and wait for a while. Then, go nuts." I laughed at that last part. "Go on, go before your mother notices. Take your bag, too."
I ran out of the hotel room and downstairs. I smiled like an idiot the whole way, zooming past men on bicycles, children with little Argentine treats, taking note of the foliage. I reached the beach, where there were a few people relaxing and getting sunburned. I walked around on the beach, and shrugged. I realized that I didn't really know what the ship was like. I walked east for a while, away from the tacky tourist regions, vendors, and so on. I let my mind wander, not taking heed of where I was going. Eventually, I stopped at a jetty, painted a pure, clean white. I turned my head a bit, noticing that this was farther away from the other areas. There were a few trees in the area, which was strange, considering that most of the island was flat grazing lands. The bark of the trees was untouched, and litter was nonexistent. I lived in a ghetto part of the US, so an untainted area like this was rare, if not impossible to find.
There was a small ticket booth that sat on the jetty, with a sign above it saying "Tours." A man slept inside the booth, but I didn't mind. My dad (courtesy of the cereal company) had already bought a ticket for me in advance, so I thought looking at the booth would be pointless. I walked onto the old ship, but sensed something was wrong. I looked around and noticed a few people on the ship, gazing at the different parts of the ship. A hardened captain stood proudly in front of the wheel, alongside a mischievous-looking cat with red-tinted fur. I rolled my eyes over how typical he looked and approached him.
"Excuse me, what time is it?" I said. He raised a thick, black eyebrow. His suit seemed like a stereotypical pirate outfit; a red coat with a white shirt underneath. It seemed like something the red-coats would wear, only without the big X on the front.
"It be around a quarter to 9. I'm about to set sail in about 15 minutes."
"Great! Well, can I go down there?" I pointed to a set of double-doors on the floor, opened and beckoning.
He seemed unsure, but finally gave way to my pleading eyes. "Of course, me lass. Just don't take too long. We be about to set sail in a few."
I thanked him and went downstairs. I saw a few trinkets and the distinctive pirate gear. Hmm. Pirates in Argentina. I walked past a door labeled "Captain's Quarters" and down a hallway. I meandered through the bowels of the ship, studying each new item and such on the way. It seemed to take about ten minutes, but I didn't pay attention to the blaring voice upstairs, clearing the deck. About five minutes later, the ship rocked a bit and swayed, and I realized we had left. I blinked, noting that it seemed like there weren't many people there to begin with. I shrugged off the notion, but coughed nervously.
It'd be comforting to see at least one person here… something doesn't seem right. The captain didn't even check my ticket… I thought. I faced a room with a light sign above it, simply naming the room "Bambadee's Quarters." I rolled my eyes, assuming that "Bambadee" meant something like Commoners in Spanish, or worse, ill person. I chuckled as I opened the door, seeing a hammock and a few knick-knacks in the room. I eyed the hammock, remembering that I hadn't slept much over the course of the night. I looked around to make sure no one was watching, and lie on it. I smiled, relaxing as the hammock swayed lightly due to the boat's gentle rocking. I didn't realize it, but I fell asleep before no time.
"… Huh…"
I felt a soft, warm sensation on my skin during my sleep, but tried to ignore it. I wheezed as the fur became more determined, and heard a gentle mewing.
"… Mrow, mew." I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stared back at a set of inquisitive brown eyes staring back at me brightly.
"Oh! Oh man!" I pulled myself up, recalling the day's events. "How long have I been out?" I looked around, and my eyes fell upon an old grandfather clock in the corner of the room. It read 5:00. Considering this, I patted the cat, who curled down in my lap, whose expression seemed worried. I began to tremble and faced the dull horror of what had happened. I pulled the cat off my lap and opened the door, running down the corridors and upstairs. I ran out of the set of double doors and up onto the deck, the cat following me the entire way. The sun was already low in the sky, a faint orange tint. The deck was empty of people, save for the elderly captain steering the ship. He hadn't noticed me. I ducked down instinctually. I thought it would be best if he didn't see me just yet.
After crawling back downstairs, I tried to fight tears. The wrong boat. I got on the wrong freaking boat. It was so obvious it was the wrong boat, it was so freaking obvious, but I'm an idiot. Oh my god. I tried to blink away my tears and looked up at an old-fashioned lamp that hung from the ceiling. The cat sensed my frustration, and tried to comfort me, rubbing up against my side, but I shooed him away. I sniffled and slumped up into a ball.
It's only a dream. Please, please wake up. It's only a dream… I repeated to myself in my mind. Then I heard a gruff, simple voice.
"Lassie, what are you doing in my ship?"
A/N: Okay, well that's the end of the first chapter.
