With Chen's ship now fairly off in the distance Taro and his family decided to head back back to their house, leaving Chelsea and I with Charlie out on the beach.
"So I guess you'll be spending the day with us huh?" I asked with a hint of nervousness in my voice as I looked down at him. I've never had to babysit anyone before in my life so it seemed like today was going to be a new experience to me. Well, at least I had Chelsea with me to help. It was her idea after all.
"Yeah, looks like it man." He plainly put with a shrug.
"Great…" I muttered.
"Oh lighten up Mark. It'll be fun." Chelsea said happily.
I sighed. "If you say so."
"So what do you guys want to do?" Charlie asked.
"I don't know, Wanna play Hide and seek or something?" I asked.
He glared at me and crossed his arms. "I'm not that young…"
Your size seems to tell me otherwise.
"Come on guys, let's head back to the farm, I'm sure we can find something to do there… or is it a ranch?" She asked with a laugh.
"I don't know." I answered.
"Hm, well I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually." She said with another cute laugh of hers. "Come on Charlie, follow us."
He nodded his head. "Alright."
The three of us made our leave from the beach and of coursed headed back to our little farm house. Once there I opened the door and we all stepped in.
"So this is where you guys live?" Charlie asked as he began to look around.
"Yeah, we've lived here ever since we got knocked overboard our boat and washed ashore here." Chelsea explained.
"Oh, so, uh, were you guys on your honeymoon or something?" He asked.
My eyes almost popped out of my head at that question. He thinks we're married?
I simply just blurted that out. "You think we're married?"
He shifted his eyes around. "Well yeah, I mean you two do live together and all."
"Oh Charlie, Mark and I aren't married. We just live and sleep in the same house together that's all." Chelsea replies, seemingly unaffected by his comment. Don't tell him that!
Charlie peeked at the large bed behind us before putting on a big smile. "Oh, I get it now." Oh Goddess is he really thinking THAT?
I looked at him stupefied.
Chelsea just laughed. "Oh it's not like that Charlie. We're just good friends right Mark?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! We're just friends, nothing else." I added. "Who knows though, maybe that can change someday…"
Wait, what did I just think?
"Alright, if that's what you say guys say." Charlie finally said. I doubt he believes us though.
"Why are you even thinking of stuff like that anyway?" I asked.
"I don't know. Just curious I guess." He answered innocently. "So what's there to do around here?"
I thought to myself for a moment to try and come up with an answer but I just came up blank. "There really isn't much to do around here now that I think about it."
"Well what other kind of buildings are there around here?" He asked.
"We have an empty barn, a field… yeah, that's pretty much it." I told him.
"Hm, let's go outside then. I'm sure we can find something to do out there." He said.
"Maybe we can." Chelsea said with her hands on her hips. "Let's go."
Shrugging, I followed the outside as we relocated to the area just to the side of the house.
"WOAH! That's a big boulder man." Charlie shouted, his excitement almost damaging my eardrums.
Chelsea and I just looked at him confused as ever.
"Boulder?" I asked.
"Yeah, over there!" He replied as he pointed up towards the river.
We followed the path of his finger to where he was pointing at to find that a large boulder was situated up by some trees at the end of the field, seemingly blocking whatever was ahead.
"Never saw that before…" Chelsea remarked as she scratched her head..
Charlie soon headed full sprint towards the boulder with Chelsea and I soon following closely behind. Once he stood before the massive rock he placed his ear against its probably cold surface and knocked on it.
"Um, what are you doing?" I asked. Hopefully Chelsea was thinking the same and I wasn't the only sane one here.
"Checking to see how hard it is." He answered.
It's like watching a mini Taro at work…
"Why?" Chelsea asked curiously.
"To see if it'd be possible break it." He replied with his head still against the rock.
"Interesting…" I muttered.
"Do you guys have a hammer?" He asked as he finally backed away from it.
"We do back at the house." I told him. "Why?"
He clasped his hands together and put that big smile of his back on. "Good, then all we'll need is a wonderful."
"A wonderful? I don't think we have any of those." Chelsea said.
"Yeah, what's a wonderful?" I asked.
Lemme guess, he's going to he say they're wonderful in three… two…
"Wonderfuls man, they're well… wonderful!" He shouted. "They're these little colorful magic rocks. My dad's been teaching me how to attach them to tools like hammers and axes so they can work much better."
"Really?" I asked. I got to admit, I was a little intrigued.
"Yeah, and I'm sure if we could get the right one for this hammer of yours you guys could easily break this rock." He explained.
"Well which wonderful would be the right one?" Chelsea asked.
"Well… I don't really know yet." Charlie awkwardly answered. "My dad hasn't… err… taught me that yet…"
"You forgot didn't you?" I asked basing my assumption off of the way he spoke.
"Yeah, you got me." He replied playfully. "Not that it really matters though since you guys don't have any wonderfuls here anyway."
"Good point." Chelsea laughed
I soon found myself laughing a little as well out of courtesy.
"So what else can we do around here?" Charlie asked.
I looked up at the sky to see that the sun had just barely reached the horizon. "I'm not sure."
"We could go and see what Taro and the others are doing." Chelsea suggested.
"Beats standing around here." Charlie mumbled.
"Alright, sounds like a plan then." I said.
The three of us headed down to Taro's house right down the road. Chelsea took the initiative to knock on the door and we were soon greeted by Felicia.
"Chelsea, Mark, Charlie, what brings you three over here?" She asked.
"We couldn't think of anything to do so we decided to see what was all going on here." Chelsea answered.
"Oh nothing much. Taro and Elliot are still out at the beaching fishing so it's just me and Natalie here right now." She answered as she stepped aside. "Oh ,but please come in."
As we stepped inside I noticed that Natalie was organizing a few things on one of the shelves.
"Natalie, we have company." Felicia told her as she shut the door.
"Yeah, like I couldn't hear all of you at the door right now." She muttered rather loudly before turning around.
Charlie leaned towards Chelsea and I and whisper, "What's her problem?"
"I heard that you little runt!" Natalie snapped.
"Natalie! That's no way to treat our company." Felicia snapped back, a rare display of anger if I might add.
Natalie crossed her arms and looked aside. "Whatever."
"Well, no hard feelings right?" Felicia asked with a nervous laugh.
"Sure, I'm not mad." Charlie replied as Natalie rolled her eyes. I really do wonder what her problem is.
"So when do you think Taro and Elliot are going to get back?" Chelsea asked.
"Right now." We heard Taro answer as the door opened once more as him and Elliot entered.
"Yeah, I think I'm starting to get better at this whole fishing thing. I'm starting to catch our dinners much faster now." Elliot said sounding rather triumphant.
"Oh quit bragging Elliot, it's not that amazing." Natalie scoffed.
Elliot shot an angry glare Natalie and looked like he was about to argue back but Felicia gave him a look right back that seemed to back him off..
"Whatever…" He simply muttered
"So I take it we're all having fish?" Charlie asked.
"Till we can start getting another source of food it's all we got." Taro answered. "Got to make do with what we can."
"Hm, well I'm sure my dad could probably help get us more food once he gets back from the city." Charlie said.
"Why you and your father are just a helpful pair aren't you?" Felicia asked somewhat rhetorically as she began to prepare the fish Elliot handed off to her over the stove.
The rest of the evening was spent listening to Charlie explain to just what exactly the work him and his father had previously done. Apparently the two, mainly Chen, ran a modestly successful business out in the city. Things went smoothly until Chen seemed to decide that the city-life simply wasn't what he wanted and decided to pack up his wares in search of a new location.
As Charlie went on with his stories I couldn't help but notice as Natalie continued to look at him with disgust and roll her eyes every so often. I just don't understand how someone can be so cold and unfriendly around everyone all the time. Well, I probably could try to understand but for now it's probably best that I just keep my distance.
Once things began to wind down Chelsea, Charlie and I decided to say our goodbyes for the night before we head outside. It was still a little early night, probably those so called 'twilight hours."
We began to walk back to the farmhouse but only managed a few steps before Chelsea's paused for a moment.
"Wait Mark, I just thought about something." She said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Well since we still have to watch Charlie till the morning what are we going to do about sleeping arrangements?" She answered.
I looked down at Charlie. "That's a good question."
"No way am I sleeping alone!" He pouted. "I don't know what comes out on this island at night." Typical kid being scared of monsters. Can't say I blame him though, I'd probably be scared too if I were his age on this island in the middle of nowhere.
"Awe, don't worry Charlie; it's not that scary here." Chelsea said as she crouched down.
"I-I'm not s-scared." Charlie stuttered as an owl from the forest nearby began hoot. It really sets the mood let me tell you.
I looked out at the across the river into the forest trees and froze up once I noticed that figure from a few days ago was back out there. This time I could completely make out it's human-like shape. It seemed to notice me took because it soon looked right back at me with eyes that glowed like fire.
"What the hell is that?" I exclaimed as I fell back pointing out towards it.
Chelsea and Charlie both simultaneously looked out into the trees and saw the same figure causing Charlie to suddenly scream and hop into Chelsea's arms.
"IT'S GOING TO GET ME!" He shouted at the top of lungs.
The figure, apparently frightened or disturbed by Charlies screams, receded deeper into the forest.
"What… what was that?" I asked in-between heavy breaths.
When I got no immediate response I looked up at Chelsea as she hugged Charlie while he began to almost cry. As much as I hate to say it I sort of wished I was him then. Lucky kid…
Wait? Did I just? Again…?
"It's going to get me!" He shouted again.
"Calm down Charlie. It's alright." Chelsea said in an effort to calm him down as she patted him on the back..
The door to Taro's house practically flung open as him and the rest of the family ran out.
"What on earth was with all that yelling?" He rather ironically shouted.
"There… there was something out there in the forest." I answered as I slowly got up to my feet.
"It's going to get us all! It's some sort of monster!" Charlie screamed.
"What did it look like?" Elliot nervously asked.
"It was big with scary red eyes and a bunch of arms with sharp claws!" Charlie answered. "It's going to eat us!"
Taro raised an eyebrow.
"Calm down Charlie." Chelsea said.
I shook my head. "No, that's not what it looked like. It just looked like a normal person was out there. Only it had these strange glowing red eyes and then it suddenly vanished."
"You got us all worked up over some person who probably wasn't even there?" Natalie asked angrily.
"No, it was out there." I responded. "All three of us saw it."
"It's true." Chelsea chimed.
"That's strange. I thought this island was abandoned." Felicia remarked.
"Hm, whatever it was I doubt it can do us any harm if it is indeed a person, seeing as the bridge appears to be out." Taro said..
"Yeah, I guess we should all just get to bed huh?" I asked.
Taro nodded. "Let's not worry about it. After all maybe it truly was your minds playing tricks on you."
"Yeah… but just to be safe do you think we can lock the door tonight?" Elliot asked nervously.
"Coward…" Natalie muttered quietly under her breath.
"I heard that!" Elliot shouted..
"Oh Elliot look, that thing is back out in the forest again." Natalie said as she tried her best to sound frightened.
"WHERE?" Both Elliot and Charlie screamed in unison.
Natalie practically burst out laughing.
"Cut that out Natalie, you're scaring Charlie." Felicia said, that angry look looming on her face again..
Natalie shook her head and headed back inside. "Fine…"
Elliot took a few deep breaths before returning inside with Felicia. Looked around and nodded his head at us before soon following.
"Come on Charlie." I began as I approached him now that Chelsea put him down. "I'll take him over to his house and stay there for the night."
"Really?" Chelsea asked
I nodded my head
"B-but what about that m-monster?" Charlie asked.
I rolled my eyes. "I'll protect you from it if we see it." I answered him before looking at Chelsea. "Will you be alright alone tonight?"
"Yeah I should be alright." She replied with a smile.
"Good, well come on Charlie we better get to bed." I said to him. "See you in the morning then Chelsea."
"See you then Mark." She said with a wave before heading off towards our house.
I took Charlie's hand and walked the short distance over to his new house and opened the door.
"So where are those beds you saw in here?" I asked.
"In the back." He answered.
He led me around the counter that was situated in the middle of the room and through the doorway into the next room. Upon entering he let go of my hand and jumped onto one of the small beds in the room.
"I call this one!" He shouted.
"All right, whatever." I replied.
I sat down on the bed next to his and took off my hat to place it on the ground nearby. I then looked over at the Charlie to find he was already lying face down on the bed asleep. What a strange kid, Chen must have his hands full with him. Without much else to do I looked up at the ceiling and began to wonder how Chelsea must feel right now being all alone back at our house. It feels weird to admit it for some reason but I already kind of miss her.
I mean it's only been a few minutes but I feel like I miss her in a way I haven't really felt towards anyone else before.
Goddess, what's wrong with me?
