No Remembrance - Chapter 7

I make my way from the cabins and out onto the deck. Looking over the side I see the yellow sand as it disappears into the trees. This island is my home with it is hot sun and wild beasts. I'd been here so long it felt strange to imagine that I could go anywhere else.

I couldn't even think of how to say goodbye. What would I say to it anyway? The pack would not wait for me. I had left them when I'd followed Sara, I knew that. The other animals I had rarely seen, my predatory nature instantly scaring them away. I had no belongings to collect, no home to run my hands along in some form of remembrance. All that greeted me when I left the ship was the sand and the salty air.

I step off the boat, the heat overtaking my skin the second feet hit sand. I feel like I'm on fire, sitting in what Sara calls central air really messes with a body's temperature. I shake it off, curling my toes into the sand with a small sigh. It was my home, calm in the bright morning. I walked the beach a little ways, hoping to catch a glimpse of anything to keep with me as I wish this place farewell.

I glance back to the boat, its regal exterior bobbing lightly against the shore. I see Sara and Stacy watching me. Stacy's sunhat is flipping in the wind, her eyes distracted as she tries to keep it atop her head but Sara's eyes remain on me. She looks scared.

I turn away from her gaze and start to run. Each step drags me further and I don't hear Sara if she calls. I'm closed off as the sand flits away beneath my feet but the emotions hit when I get off the beach and into the shade of the trees. I stop, long, gasping breaths overtaking my body as tears make their way down my cheeks.

I make a slow journey to the cave, holding my arms around me, memories playing in my head. It was all so long ago and I'd let myself leave it all behind so easily but now, as I choose to return to what I was before, those first moments on the beach came back to me.

I open my eyes and immediately close them due as a bright light blinds me. Turning my head to the side so the sun doesn't burn my vision again, I blink them open once more. Dark, wet sand expands beneath me, slightly cold and sticking to the parts of skin left exposed. I sit up and my head spins. As my eyes finally settle from the dizziness I look to see as the sand goes further than the eye can reach on either side of me. I'm on a beach. How did I get here? Where is my family? Did they leave me to die? These questions race through my mind, adding to the already aching pain that resides there.

After a moment I try to stand and an intense pain fills my ankle, shooting up my leg, causing me to crash back down to earth with a harsh hit to my tailbone. Tears well in my eyes. I try to blink them away, try to remain strong. Looking down at my leg I lean over and rub where the pain is. There's no mark but the skin looks reddened and sore from the heat exposure. I must've twisted it or something when I arrived here.

"Suck it up, Tegan!" I tell myself and begin to stand again. The pain hits again and I grit my teeth as I feel it throughout my whole body but I continue to push myself up. Finally successful, I turn around to see a forest of shady trees leaving the ground below soft and dark. I limp towards them, my bad foot going numb from the constant pressure and the distraction of some cool air on my sore limbs.

Once covered I let myself rest, falling against a tree, I reach up to touch my face and immediately pull my hand away, "Ow." I whine. Sunburn? Really? How long was I just laying there out cold? I sigh and try not to touch the rest of my body, afraid it'll hurt.

Once recuperated I push myself from the bark of the tree I'm leaning against until I'm once again standing. The forest continues, going deeper and deeper until I can't see anything but dense fawna. I walk past the bushes and begin to explore the forest.

It's beautiful here. So many flowers I've never seen before: small blue ones with simple rounded petals, red ones with large pointy leaves, and yellow ones bunched full and thick against the dirt floor. I stop and smell some, their delicate earthy scent more beautiful than I could ever describe.

Above me birds chirp and I can hear monkeys screeching off in the distance. I stop at a pond and look at my reflection. My face heavily blistered from the sunburn, my lips are so dry they're peeling and bloody and my hair is a mess of dirt and leaves. I barely recognize myself, a half destroyed creature roaming around in this paradise.

Disturbed, I sit down at the edge and hug my knees to my chest, it hurts but it's not that bad. My hand dips into the water, the cold touch pulling a sigh from my dry mouth. I don't remember anything. Everything after the boat is blank, an invisible barrier between where I was then and where I am now. The thought chills me and I find myself missing comfort. The soft warm embrace of my grandmother as she rocked me and murmured that everything would be okay. No one can hold me now but my own arms tighten around my pained legs and I close my eyes and try to not freak out.

After more deep breaths in and out than I can count I feel myself slowly calming down. I reopen my eyes and look around. The air is cooler than before, night beginning to fall and leaving the lake to darken and mystify beneath the moon. The longer I sit and watch the more I begin to feel like something else is watching me. After the itching idea becomes too much I push myself back to my feet, "Hello?" I say out loud.

My eyes search the small clearing around the lake but I find myself just as alone as before. "It's just an animal, don't be an idiot Tegan." I mumble to myself, kicking the ground and forgetting my injured ankle, "Ow! Goddam-" my pained complaint is interrupted by a low growl filling my ears. I gulp, cautiously turning towards the sound.

As my eyes adjust to the shadowed patch I see something move. A big black panther steps from the shade standing high and mighty. Normal instinct would be to scream or run probably. My own exhaustion dulls that sense and I end up doing neither. Instead I bend my knees slowly until I'm down, eye level, with the cat. He watches me with an intense, unwavering stare, but I'm not afraid, I've seen worse and if this big black cat decides to eat me so be it.

The most incredible thing happens as I remain still. He begins to move, laying down in front of me and closing his eyes. I watch him as he crawls a little closer. Reaching out, I touch the top of his head, my fingers smoothing through his fur. Slowly moving, my hand falls to his ear and scratches a little bit as though he were just a simple house cat at home. Suddenly a vibrating sound emanates from the beast and I realize he's purring, loudly! I find myself laughing, a smile pulling at my lips, the first feelings of joy since I awoke finally reaching me. The sweet rubbing of his face against my palm warms my heart and I begin to feel that perhaps things could end up alright after all.

I'm pulled from my thoughts by a loud growl. Before I know it I'm on the ground, crushed beneath claws and fur.