Water (27 page)
I let him slide me the rest of the way up to a sitting position. "So, what is all this about?" I asked, referring to the circles around us. Despite the openness of the room, it now felt private. The sound of the fans cut off any noise from the outside world, and the light of the candles made it difficult to see out much further.
He leaned back against the headboard and answered, "You are surrounded by each of the four elements; earth, fire, water, and air. The same has been done on the roof and we have placed alternating rows of water bowls and dirt under the bed. These specific elements, however, contain ingredients that are foreign to the island. The dirt and water were shipped in from the Chakra, which was no easy feat being halfway around the world. The candles are infused with pieces of plants from the Chakra, and the wind is obviously not natural. These elements, to a certain extent, mask your presence from the island. Although you will still feel drained of energy, you’ll be able to move around a bit. It will allow you to survive longer. As you adapt, we will take away one element at a time until you learn to exist here. It will never be in perfect harmony with nature, but at least you will be able to just…exist."
Shawn repositioned himself, sitting directly in front of me with his legs crossed. "Ok, I want you to do as I do, keeping the same speed." He lifted his arms straight out from his sides slowly until they were straight above his head. I did the same, though my arms shook with exhaustion by the time they made it all the way up. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead.
Shawn noticed. "Maybe we should start with something smaller."
"No, keep going. I can handle it." I needed to learn as much as I could if I was going to help myself out of this situation.
He considered me for a moment, then went on. He brought his arms back down and hugged them close to his chest.
"Now moving only your waist up, lean from side to side and front to back." He demonstrated as he talked.
I followed. Lowering my weight was easy to do; it was the coming back up that was difficult. Gravity seemed to be magnified tenfold, and I was the only one affected.
Shawn got up and stood beside the bed. "Let’s go for a little walk."
I hesitated.
"We’re not going to leave the circle, we’ll just go around the bed." He extended his hand to help me up.
I sighed heavily and gave in. None of my movements so far had caused problems. I just needed to keep it slow. I took his hand and swung my feet around to hang over the bed. I pushed up with one hand while he pulled. I let him do most of the work. Once I was steadied on my feet, he released his grip from my hand.
"What are you doing?" I asked, panicked to be standing on my own.
He smiled, reveling in this new reliance I had on him. "I’m right here, I won’t let you fall. Just take it step by step."
I took a deep breath and turned, taking my first step. Then another."
"Good, good," Shawn muttered false encouragement.
"Shut up, I feel like that damn penguin." I waddled my way around the rest of the bed, back to where I started. My legs shook, but I felt good, the kind of good you feel after a long run. "There, I can walk. Happy?"
"Not quite." He reared back his fist. My cheek exploded in pain before I could react and I was flung back onto the bed. The landing was intensified by a sudden movement of the island. The whole room seemed to lurch, once, then stopped. The majority of the standing fans tipped over, water spilled over from the bowls, dirt was scattered, and only a few candles remained lit. Shawn stumbled backwards, outside the circle of fans and was instantly concealed by darkness. I heard his voice, which seemed to come from all directions. "Hmmm, that was fun."
I rubbed my cheek, and willed my head to stop spinning.
His laughter was eerie as he emerged into the dim candlelight. "I had to see what I could get away with."
So the island would react whether I was moving myself, or being tossed around by someone else.
At least I have that going for me.
Men began to filter in the room and started picking up fans and candles. Shawn waved them away in brusque Spanish.
I didn’t have any clever retort. I looked away, defeated and tired. Dragging my head toward the pillows, I slowly pulled the blanket over me. Tears welled up in my eyes and despite my best efforts to keep them in, a few spilled over and ran down the length of my face, stinging my burning cheek.
Shawn bent over and grabbed a small handful of dirt. He mixed it with a few drops of water leftover from a bowl, and crawled into the bed behind me. He spread the healing mixture across my cheek. The pain eased away but the fear did not. I couldn’t handle the unpredictable character of the man; helping me up one minute and pushing me down the next, gently nursing injuries he inflicted moments ago.
I turned on my side, away from him. He inched closer, his large frame surrounding my broken body. He put one arm around me and made himself comfortable. His arm felt heavy, constricting, but I dared not move, fearing a reaction from the island now that the circle of elements were broken. Or worse, a reaction from the monster beside me.
I turned my thoughts to Micah. I tried to imagine that I was in Micah’s arms instead; that it was his warm breath caressing the back of my neck. Just as I was beginning to believe my own illusion, Shawn’s arm tightened around my waist, almost painfully.
He whispered, "I am the owl to Micah's butterfly. Don't ever forget that."
I reluctantly forced the image of Micah out of my mind and Shawn loosened his grip. Left with no strength and the frightening images from my saining, and I willed myself to sleep. It was the only reprieve from my new prison.
Alive and Kicking
By the time I woke the next morning, the three outer circles of fans, water, and candles had been removed; the dirt piles remained. I sat up, took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. The side of my face was tender, but all my teeth were there and my jaw was intact. I rubbed off the dried mud smudges and it suddenly came to me – I knew how I would escape.
Thank you, Shawn!
One of the natives walked into the room, holding a piece of paper and a pencil, and nervously approached the bed. I gave him my best ‘I mean you no harm’ look and after an awkward minute of him trying to avoid my gaze I finally asked, "Can I help you?"
"
Si, senorita, uh…. Si
," he started stammering away in Spanish.
I understood none of it. I held up my hand. "Stop."
He took a frightened step backwards.
"No, I mean, um, do you speak English?"
He looked confused.
"
Hablo Engles
?" I asked in the cheesiest Spanish accent I could muster.
"Ah, no." He replied, happy he understood me. But his smile quickly faded and he became uneasy again, shifting from one foot to another.
"Ok. Well, what is that?" I pointed to the paper in his hands.
He looked down, then jerked as if he were surprised to see the paper. I rolled my eyes. He pulled back the netting on the bed and held the paper so I could see. It was, of course, all in Spanish, but it looked like a long list of one or two word items.
His faced brightened with an idea. He stepped back and began to pantomime putting things in a basket.
"Oh, you’re going to shopping? For supplies?"
He looked at me.
I acted out paying for something. "Buy?"
He nodded his head, the smile coming back.
"Charades, it is then." I began demonstrating everything I needed. Toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, pants and shirts, shoes, books, food. After he guessed each thing he nodded excitedly and wrote it down on his paper. I decided to press my luck and asked for a cell phone and computer. He frowned, but wrote each down after a little encouragement.
Now for the most important thing, "Also, I need
agua
."
He nodded and wrote it down.
I caught his attention and said, "I must have
mucho, mucho agua
."
Now he looked at me confused again.
"Um, I need
mucho agua
to drink." I made a drinking motion.
"And
mucho, mucho, mucho agua
to bathe."
I pointed to the rusted trough that was just this morning being used as a tub by some of the men and acted like I was washing myself. "But, no
isla agua
. It must be other
agua
.
Mucho agua, no isla. Comprendo
?"
He nodded and wrote it down. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows, asking if there was anything else.
I thought about asking for some feminine products, just to be on the safe side, but quickly trashed the idea after considering how I would have to demonstrate those.
"That’s it," I said, waving him off.
I watched him walk away and said a little prayer, hoping he would run along and fetch everything, no questions asked. As if on cue, Shawn intercepted the man. The list was handed over for review. Shawn took the pencil and began crossing things out, giving me little smirks as he did so. As he read the last item on the list, he furrowed his eyebrows. He walked over to me.
"You want imported water, why?"
"Think about it, Shawn. You said yourself the island doesn’t want me here. How do you think I will react to its local plants, food, and water? For all we know I could break out in rashes, choke, even die. I am not going to take the chance. I won’t even use it to wash my hands. So you need to get me water from another source, enough to bathe in every day, or you can just learn to live with the smell of an unwashed, bed-ridden woman."
He studied me carefully, eyebrows still furrowed. I kept my thoughts empty. I didn’t want to reveal any part of my plan with the way he had been reading my mind lately.
"Speaking of, you should probably make sure none of my food is local, either – and that none of the clothing is made with local material."
"We’ll see what we can do, Princess, but I can assure you, there won’t be any shoes, computers, or phones. And I will be personally selecting the clothes and books." He turned on his heels and walked out.
I waited long enough to be sure he was a good distance away, and then I got to work forming a plan in my head. If he returned with everything that I had asked for, I would be in good shape. I would start ingesting anything foreign to this island that I could, and surround myself with them as well. It should have the same effect the circle of fours elements did; masking my presence from the island. I looked around, thinking of how else I could help myself without dependence on Shawn’s supplies. I saw some wax drippings on the floor and smiled. He said the candles were infused with leaves from the Chakra. I could start by picking out the leaf bits and eating those. My eyes moved to the dirt piles and I pondered how difficult it would be to eat dirt. I’d save that for more desperate times. I’d have to work physically and mentally to become stronger, but appear weaker by the day, as Shawn expected I would. I just had to be strong enough to make it to the shore, and maybe I’d catch the attention of boaters or an airplane. Even if we were on the desolate end of the island, this was a popular enough tourist destination to see someone out there.
Shawn came back several hours later as dusk approached with boxes full of supplies. He set one box down on the bed beside me and I started rooting through it; playing cards, a game of chess, clothes, a toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, shampoo, and books.
Rushing water caught my attention and I leaned around Shawn to see. Buckets of water were being poured into the trough.
"Where did that water come from?" I asked.
Shawn turned to look. "A nearby river."
"Then that bath better be for you."
"It’s for you."
"Do you have short-term memory problems? I’m not going in there."
"Wrong again. You need a bath more than I do. I doubt you are going to melt away from the island’s water, even being the witch you are."
I rolled my eyes and tried to think quickly. This could ruin everything. But Shawn didn’t give me time to think. He scooped me up, carried me to the trough and dropped me in, shirt and all. The cold took the breath out of me. Shawn went to fetch the shampoo and soap and I folded my arms across my chest aware of what water did to a white t-shirt. I looked around; at least the rest of the men were avoiding me like the plague. My new viewpoint of the room showed it was just that; a room. Built with brick on the outside, it had a tiled roof, and looked odd without an attached house. Other than the room, not much else was around except for the large generator. A dozen more tents were erected deeper into the tree line.
"Well?" Shawn asked, making his way back to the trough. "Still alive?"
"Alive and kicking, despite your best efforts." My jaw chattered as I wondered if I’d come out with frostbite. Blackened toes would have been welcome; I was going to have to do something to prove I didn’t mesh well with this water.