The next hours passed by in a flutter of packing, cleaning, chores, boxes, smelly stuff of underwear, the nice gruff nurse and her life advice, a short but meaningful for her survival chat with the captain before she and Erika ended up with their asses on solid land after having been stuck on the waving back and forth vessel.
From all the ordeal with docking the ship at the local port, getting as much advice from as many (even if the many accounted to three people: the captain to ask about the island, the nurse again for tips on periods and what material to use, however much she felt and probably sounded like a 10-year-old instead of a grown woman who had to bathe in her blood each month for the past years, and a mechanic lady, who was off duty in the morning and let her know a bit about recruiting on ships. Sadly, she knew little to nothing about what happens on islands as each differ, branches differ and basically it reminded Ann of her own world in that aspect.).
Thankfully, she got used to having people go on their way without sparing a glance at them, so her own awkwardness about striking up a conversation or saying goodbye felt less constricting. Much to her own shame and a bit of self-relief, she also confided with Erika on what she would do, could do and should do, even if she fell short on doing what she set out on.
Unfair, as she knew Erika had already been through a lot and didn't need Ann's personal turmoil to add to her emotional state, but Ann needed to get herself to work and a good speaking partner (who listened and gave input by only nodding, tugging or shaking her head) was something invaluable to keeping Ann in working modus.
Apart from that, there was literally no time. The moment morning came, Ann and Erika had gone through their routine of cleaning faces, washing their teeth with fingers as there were no spare brushes left for them (They got a tube of minty toothpaste as a sort of goodbye), eating breakfast of the yesterday's good ol' fat fish (fresh this time) which name she didn't know nor care about and some rice, then ending their last chores plus little help with unloading some small stuff till they finally got to get away from the ship, the last firm words of the cap' in their head.
"Good luck and stay safe you two."
She felt the grip on her left hand squeeze tighter.
Since their arrival, hours went by and the evening settled the day with a nice orange hue on the sky. The 8 odd days may have been rather clear to her yet her mind became more and more fuzzy as she thought of the things to do, the thing needed to survive. It dawned on her as she and Erika settled near some pretty bushes, in their makeshift hideout, that she felt tired. Just fuckin' tired.
Little by little, as she sat there with a little fire enclosed by stones of Ann's making, the small stuff that kept getting into her head on the ship.
Like the uncomfy toilets that made her wish for the nice one in her home, the disgusting warmth of the toilet seat still lingering as dad came out and joked for having warmed up the seat for her. Or the always up seat, cause Luka couldn't get the memo to close it.
Then, the scratchy blanket as opposed to the soft pillows and duvet. Or the odd jobs she and Erika were doing. It still boggled her mind over the lack of technology, like were there even washing machines (she didn't get to that part of the ship)? Could a ship like that even have a washing machine or a special for ships one? Or was that a specific this world thing?
She couldn't remember whether they washed their stuff by hand, like the nurse helped with the underwear, which added another layer of embarrassment, or did they use some machines?
As her eyes closed, her chin in her knees, she took a breath.
No need to panic. You're stressed. When stressed you forget stuff. It happens.
This was getting ridiculous. She knew she had to be attentive, new environment, lots of necessary information, but she couldn't help it. Her mind was swiss cheese, it filtered out some stuff.
In the little silence, the familiar body hovered near her before settling next to her on the ground.
(As if afraid to touch)
Ann didn't even know what to say, so she let the silence linger a bit longer.
Just enough to calm her thoughts.
For as weird and terrifying stuff that happened, she didn't know whether to appreciate the slow moments, which popped up during the day, the evening, the night. Before the ship, she forced her mind to focus on the task, the ideas of mom, dad, Luka. Her friends. Emma. Niko. Sofia in the back of her mind, a concept of the goal to reach.
The memories (as if it was years instead of days) kept coming, though.
Her dad ruffling her hair. Or teaming up with Luka to make her go crazy from all the awful puns.
She remembered that Emma would be pissed off and then worrying for her disappearance. She was on giving-homework-to-copy duty. A quivering lip. A sigh.
Niko's musaka was a champion. (She didn't, absolutely didn't have any cravings when she ate dinner on the ship. How could she taste eggplant and meat from fish?). Was it cruel to remember her friend by the image of her dog? Maybe Sofia wouldn't mind, her husky is just cute and fluffy.
Ann kept on thinking and she knew that in these slower moments when she was allowed to think and remind herself of what her life was just a few days ago compared to what was going on right now as she sat by the fire with her companion ala forced friend of circumstances.
She had an idea of their reaction.
They would panic. Just like her.
They would cry and panic and wouldn't know what to do. Cause what do you do when someone you're in touch with every day disappears?
Or was it that only she panicked and the time froze over the other side or world or universe or space wall or something?
That she didn't know. But if it didn't stop, then these reactions weren't going to be any comfort to her.
She wanted to cry. With them, but without them.
That was why she didn't like these slow moments. It made her confront the situation, think of the potential reactions, which then in turn made her want to cry.
Somehow, breathing was getting harder.
A hot ache constricted her lungs, her nose getting clogged and eyes saltier than ever, making the vision blurry.
Just her luck to cry.
But she didn't. It took more silence and breaths to compose herself. Out of a lack of regard for personal space or her wrung out psyche, she reached out her arm to envelope the shoulders of the kid who probably had it worse than her.
In a way that didn't matter anymore.
Ann had emotions; Erika had emotions. Both of them would just need to learn what to do with that.
One thing for sure. To her family she wanted to say
Hey, I'm not alone.
The night was uncomfortable yet satisfying. As Ann woke up, she had an inkling that it was early and her bones, despite the awkward position of lying, hugging, sprawling, didn't protest much.
Another upside was that both didn't get harmed nor found, meaning the little hideout they made was inconspicuous enough not to attract anyone even with the small fire they put before draping the half-sized blanket over themselves for warmth.
For breakfast they ate the bits of dry food (some chewy berries and each half a loaf of crackers which they had exactly 10, plus the bag of dried fruits and nuts) Despite the small quantity, it wasn't that little. Ann had the food, the blanket and undies for both of them, two shirts, toothbrushes and one regular hairbrush they also got as a present. Erika had a small first aid with bandages, lotion for burns and rashes, and little bags of herbs for pain, for which they would need boiling water.
With these backpacks, that were more bags with a thick cord than an actual backpack, in their slightly dirty self from sleeping on the ground, they made their way to look for a job.