Page 77 of Wild Life

“Aleki, no. You’re not a freak.” She planted her delicate hands on my rough chest. I turned my face, suddenly self-conscious of how unrefined I was compared to her—how savage.

“You’re the one who called me Cryptid before you knew my name. What do you think your city friends will think of me? They’ll do what people from my old world always did, poke and prod at anything different.”

Her touch was gentle when she cupped my face. “You’re not weird. And they won’t do that to you. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Will you be able to stop them from bringing more people? You and I both know it’ll never happen that way. Initially, they’ll be concerned with the bats. Then the island. Before you know it, dozens of people will want to study it, take things from it, completely disrupting my home. This is my home, Maris. The only life I’ve ever known for a long time. And you going back not only takes away the one person that I love, but it puts my existence in danger. Life will never be the same once you leave.”

“I can’t just do nothing. An entire species is in danger. Your existence is already compromised if the bats die off. Your food supply, both plant and animal, would dwindle over time. This affects you, too.”

I took a deep breath, willing my irritation to settle. “I’m not asking you to do nothing.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, already withdrawing from me. “Then what are you asking me to do, Aleki?”

That was the question. What did I want her to do? I wouldn’t make her do anything. The situation was frustrating and beyond my control. “I don’t know. I wish that last night never happened.”

She softened a little. “Me too. I’m really sorry. I love you with all my heart, and I promise I’ll always be yours. I won’t abandon you. If I ever get rescued, it’ll be temporary. I’ll be back soon, and we’ll figure the rest out.”

She buried herself in my chest, and I inhaled her spicy-sweet scent.

“I won’t abandon you,” she promised. “You could have left me on the beach as shark food instead of taking me in. I’ll owe you forever for saving me.”

“You don’t owe me anything. I’d do it all over again if you showed up on my island. I’d keep you as mine in every life.” That was the only truth I was sure of now, despite all of the uncertainty that faced us.

Her tears dripped down my chest. “Babe, I promise, I’ll come back to you. Don’t give up on me.”

I kissed her head, wishing I could believe that our love was that simple and that the outside world wasn’t waiting to complicate it.

***

Needing to clear my head, I had left Maris back at the hut while she caught up on sleep, and somehow found my way to the beach. I didn’t remember making the trek, but here I was with my spear and basket in hand and my feet sinking into the sand.

I watched the sea. Its waves were active, matching the tempo of my mind.

Perhaps Maris was right. Would it be so crazy to believe that she could return home, seek treatment for the bats, and come back to me as if time apart had never happened? I wanted to think things would be that easy, except I had never been an optimist.

For a while after I had fallen for her, I could only see the good in my life, but that had vanished as quickly as it had come. The world wasn’t that simple, and Maris knew it, too. Her childhood had been similar to mine since she had been deprived of what the average child experienced. I suspected that all the promises she had made to me were really to convince herself that things could be that easy. If she said the words, she could believe them.

Deep down, neither of us believed them.

I noticed a speck on the horizon grow larger.

Dread filled me as it barreled through the water, heading for the shore.

Twenty-four years here and a boat had never shown up…until now. This was how the world worked. As Maris would say: “Sick irony and twisted timing.”

Multiple bodies moved inside, but only one jumped out, splashing into the water. A man.

His stride slowed as he took in the spear I held. He lifted his hands into the air as if to prove he was unarmed. He viewed me as I had anticipated anyone from the outside world would—as a threatening barbarian.

“I come in peace.” His voice was weak, lacking any rigidity, just like his backbone as he stood before me.

I lowered my spear, aiming it at the sand instead.

He had pale skin, contrasted by the dark hair atop his head and the forest in the shape of eyebrows above his eyes. His nose was weak—that of a man who was meant to sit behind a desk.

“My name is Eli, and I’m looking for a woman,” he shouted, as if unsure that I could understand English. It reminded me of Maris when she had first arrived, except not one bit as cute.

I knew exactly who he was. He was that asshole Maris had been seeing before washing ashore. I instantly hated him. He’d touched her, seen her naked, and I wanted nothing more than to skin him alive. I gripped my spear but aimed it downward to the sand.

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