My eyes fluttered open in the morning sunlight. Regaining consciousness was a slow, arduous process. I recognized my body to be in a lying position on something… something hard, I think. As my eyes gradually opened the blueness of the sky and the brightness of the sun hit me first. Groaning softly my arms attempted to move themselves- unsuccessfully. "Nugh…." My lips parted a sliver. I heard some seagull crow first, followed by this new, male voice- one I'd never heard before. "Oh, good! You're up."
Like being zapped by a lightning bolt, hearing his voice was the mechanism that brought reality crashing down onto me. My eyes shot wide open as I sat up in the blink of an eye. My head turned to see this unfamiliar boy climbing up onto…. whatever it is we were currently on. I then looked all around me with horror.
"Where am I?! Where is this?! What happened?!" My shouts could be heard from miles away. The boy, now stunned by my explosive reaction, walked towards me with his hands lifted up in front of him in a show of surrender. "Hey! Hey! Whoa! Easy! You're fine. It's alright. Trust me; you're alright." "I-I'm… alright?" I blinked back to him dumbfounded. He nodded, wearing this big goofy grin on his face. "Yep! Sure are." "But I…..? I… No, wait! I can't be alright! I drowned! Didn't I drown last night?!"
The boy rubbed the back of his neck while gazing off to the side for a moment. "Yeah, about that. I kinda…. saved your life." "You… saved me?" "Yeah! I mean, you were drowning and I was right there, so…." My head gave a little shake in utter confusion. "You…. were right there? But no…. No, you weren't! I didn't see you! All I saw was this big purple fish and…." "Oh, I was uh…" He paused here to clear his throat. "I was out for a swim! And that's when I saw you fall out of your boat." "You were really out swimming last night?" I asked a tad suspiciously. "Yep! Just going for a late-night dip, you know. Didn't see any fish, though." "Oh….." I considered his words for a second, grasping the meaning of them in my mind. Eventually my mouth opened again. "So you rescued me from drowning, and you brought me…. here?" "That's right!" He grinned at me. I glanced all over again, this time taking in the scenery a bit more. "I see. And where…. Is "here"?" That's when the horrific realization that we were on an island set in.
"Oh no! No, no, no! You brought me to an island?!" "Well, yeah? Where else was I supposed to take you?" He asked me this like it was a genuine question. I wanted to scream "back to Portorosso"" but refrained. Instead I tried to stand up on the wooden roof thing we were up on. I also noticed then that we were currently on top of a grey stone tower of sorts. "This is bad…. This is bad!" I said this more to myself than him. My feet instantly stumbled when I put pressure onto them. The boy took a few steps towards me with his hand lifted in my direction as if ready to catch me when I fell. "Easy! Easy," he coaxed at me. I glanced at him, then back out at the water, seeing just how high up we were.
"You really swam with me all the way here?" "Yep!" "And then….? H-How did I get up here?" My gaze slowly wandered back to him. He walked up to stand alongside me at the edge of the tower-thingy. "Carried you up," he answered like that made any sense at all. "You carried me up here?" "Uh huh. Was able to hold onto the staircase with one hand while holding onto you with another." "Staircase…?" Curious, I peered over the other side to see this rickety make-shift staircase laying up against the side of the tower. My stomach dropped to my feet as I peered back his way.
"So then…. do you live up here?" "Yeah! I used to live here with my dad, but now it's just me," he walked back beside me. I gawked at him incredulously. "Are you from the town?" "Uh, no…." He hesitated to reply. "You really live on this island? Alone?" "Yep! It's great. The tower is super sturdy- perfect for stormy weather- and there's lots of room for me to keep my human things." "Your what…?" My eyebrow raised. "Uh, collection! My collection. I'm a collector of sorts," he replied, not looking me in the eye as he said it. I nodded, scanning around yet again. I had no idea where we were.
"Where's Portorosso?" "You mean the town? It's over there," the boy pointed toward the mainland. It was far off in the distance. The colour drained from my face. "How am I going to get back there?" "I'll take you back," the boy said without reluctance. "You?" I blinked over to him surprised. He was already heading over to the precarious staircase. "Yeah! I got you here, didn't I? I can get you back." "Ok. But I um….."
I don't think my heart could have stopped faster when he suddenly leapt off the side of the building. "Hey!" I rushed over to the edge, only to see him land roughly on the grass. Very much like a boy, he jumped to his face and waved up to me. "It's ok! The tree broke my fall! Come on down!" "Uhhhhhhhh….." My stare fixed on the very scary ladder, which had a suitcase woven into it somehow. I felt like I was going to vomit, I was so afraid.
"Um, sir? I don't think I can do this!" I yelled down. He waved his hand in rebuttal, still grinning ear-to-ear. "Sure you can! Look, just don't look down. You'll be fine." "Yes, but um… I'm wearing a dress and am liable to slip." "Then I'll catch you! You're gonna have to come down some way or another." "Uhhhhhhhh, ok," I very, very reluctantly agreed. So long as he was there to catch me, I guess I could chance it. What other choice did I have?
Climbing down that ladder was almost as terrifying as waking up on a foreign island with a boy you don't know. My shoes constantly slipped on my dress and the wood. I found myself pausing every few steps and clinging to the rope for what felt like dear life. I'm a city girl, for crying out loud! I was literally not made for this! The boy, to his credit, cheered me on the whole way down. "That's good! You're doing fine! Keep going!"
I'd just reached the part with this suitcase, which I was fearing the worst, and froze. My right foot gently lowered down to touch it, only to immediately slip on the moist leather. With both feet free-falling through the air, I wasn't strong enough to keep hold of the ladder's rope with my hands. With a loud shriek I went tumbling down toward the ground. "Whoa! I gotcha! I gotcha!" The boy dashed under where I was falling with his arms wide open.
I crash-landed into him, sending both of us toppling onto the grass. I landed on top of the boy, causing a moan to omit from his lips. Then his usual grin return. "See? I told you I'd catch you." "Indeed," somewhat frazzled I stood up and brushed off my skirt. He also hopped to his feet and looked at me. I scanned around to find no rowboat- or any boat for that matter- in sight. "How are we going to get back to the mainland? There's no boat."
The boy flinched and also glanced around like he forgot that little detail. "Ummmmm," he bit his bottom lip before turning back to face me. "Ok, I'll go get us a boat. Just… go wait behind there until I say, ok?" He pointed to the tower. My reaction was a mixture of alarm and confusion. "Uh….?" "Just go. And don't peak," he ordered as he began to run toward the water. Still confused, I did as I was told and walked to stand behind the tower. Now all I could see was the wide-open ocean out in front of me.
There was a splash, and sometime later there was another splash. I was sitting in the grass with my arms hugging my knees by this point, still unsure what was going on. At the second splash I perked up a bit. "Uh, sir?" I called out. "Ok! You can come out now!" He hollered back. I rounded the bend to see the same chipped white boat from last night resting in the sand. He smiled right at me and showed it off with his hands. "Ta da! I found your boat!"
"You did! Well done! But…. How did you?" Running over to it, I blinked to the boy puzzled. His tan shoulder shrugged again. "Oh, you know… It was around. Hop in! I'll row you back to town." "Uh, ok?" Oh great! Now I was unsure of the condition the boat was in after last night's ordeal. It seemed sturdy enough. I cautiously stepped in, and he pushed it to the edge of the water. I noticed him hop in before his bare feet got wet; I noticed but didn't really think anything of it. With both of us sitting in the boat, the boy lifted up the paddles and began to row for shore.
It soon became painfully obvious that he- whoever he was- was not used to rowing. I wondered if he'd ever done so in his life before. Not like I'm one to talk. He struggled to keep the paddles in order and was getting us nowhere fast. For the first little while I sat there in traditional elegant posture with my hands folded on my lap. I said nothing, not wanting to distract him from his task. But eventually my heart swelled too much for my savour. "Do you want some help?" I finally offered in the most non-threating way possible. I didn't want to bruise his ego, after all. He gritted his teeth together and pulled on the paddles. "No, I'm good. You just keep sitting there," he said in between huffs. Impressed by this, I didn't say another word and simply let him row us back to Portorosso. Poor boy; he was covered in sweat by the time we got there. The journey gave me a good opportunity to get a decent look at him.
He was a skinny man with tanned skin; it was obvious he'd been living under the sun for a while. Curly brown hair and freckles on his face. He had the most gorgeous emerald eyes; like jewels really. His arms and legs were long and thin. He may look a bit lanky but he was clearly very strong. You'd have to be to carry an unconscious me up to the top of a tower. He was rather handsome; better looking than any other boy I'd seen in Portorosso. Ercole certainly couldn't hold a candle to him. And he had this youthful, pleasant demeaner about him. He was always smiling and had such an expressive face. I kept referring to him as a "boy" in my mind but he looked to be two or three years older than me. Perhaps Ercole's age? I'm not good as guessing boys' ages.
The boat arrived on the beach. It was mid-morning by now; the sun was getting pretty high up in the sky. I glanced at Uncle's estate then back at the boy, who was heaving with his elbows resting on his kneecaps. I flashed him a smile.
"Thank you. This is perfect; I live just right there," I pointed to our house. He panted a few more times then tilted his head up my way. "N-No…. No problem." This only made my grin grow. "Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Ilaria Marcovaldo," my hand extended out for him. "Alberto Scorfano," instead of grabbing my hand, as gentlemen usually do, he proceeded to shake my hand like a man. My eyes widened in surprise; I'd never shaken hands like that before. Still, I took it as a cultural difference and decided not to address it. I simple looked at him and smiled again.
"Thank you again for getting me back safely. I'd invite you in for tea to thank you properly but my uncle….." My heart skipped a beat; my words tiddered off as my eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Oh my god! Uncle! He's going to be back any minute now! Like it was the world's worst timing, I checked up to see Uncle riding his bike down the hill and toward our front gate. My blood ran cold.
Alberto blinked in surprise when I unexpectedly hopped out of the boat and into the sand. He stood up, glancing at me with confusion. "Hey! Where ya' going?" "I'm sorry! I have to go!" "Right this second?" "Yes! My uncle's going to be inside any minute! Thanks again for everything! Safe journey home, Alberto!" I cried all this while scrambling through the sand, up the bank. Without looking back, I ran straight through the back gate. I shut it and made a mad dash inside. There I went right up to my room. The first thing to go was my dress; I got changed faster than I ever had in my life. When my new dress was on, I tied my hair up in an admittedly messy bun. Uncle had just come through the front door when I ran back downstairs to greet him, looking dishevelled as ever.
"Ilaria, I'm home," Uncle announced while closing the door behind him. "Zio! Welcome home!" My voice was gaspy and out of breath. He spun around to see me standing there, forcing a wide grin as if nothing was wrong. He response was to pause and stare at me a minute. "Is… everything alright, niece? You look…." "Oh! Oh, yes! Yes, I'm fine. I just… slept in this morning is all," it wasn't a complete lie, I did sleep in later than usual. I suppose half-drowning will have that effect on the body.
After watching me another minute, he sighed and set his bag down onto the table. "I'm going to go freshen up. Then I'll come down and we can have breakfast together. I brought some cherries for us." "Cherries! Wonderful! Yes, let's go freshen up. I'll uh… I'll be right down in a minute!" Then, like a flash, I scurried back up the stairs. I ran to my room and threw open the window blinds. Looking down to the beach, I saw the boat still sitting there in the sand. The boat was there, but Alberto was nowhere to be seen. I scanned for any sight of him but couldn't find anything. It made me wonder….. How did he get back to his island, if that's indeed where he went, without a boat of his own to take him there?