Page 14 of The Beach Holiday

‘And do you visit her? Does anyone check on her?’ I could hear the concern in my voice, the desperation that I needed to know this faceless stranger was okay. Yet also, I felt a sense of unease, that someone lived segregated from the others. How could that ever be the case? Didn’t the women look after each other?

‘She prefers to be alone. She knows where we are if she needs us,’ Precious said with a matter-of-fact tone.

I looked at her, waiting for an expression of concern or empathy, but there was nothing. I felt sadness for Ula, who was in that solitary hut. The island was remote enough without segregating yourself even more. I already knew I would wantto visit Ula, but I could sense that the desire was tinted with danger. I hadn’t been told that visiting her was off-limits, but it was obvious that she wasn’t a real part of their community, and I wanted to know why.

Then another question that seemed so glaringly obvious needed to be asked. I hadn’t got the reply I needed last night.

‘Why is it an only-female camp?’ I asked.

‘Circumstance. That’s how it began, and men just didn’t fit. Avril has wanted it this way ever since. She will talk to you more about that, I’m sure.’

Precious was somewhere else again, her mind wandering. Her answer made sense, especially as I had escaped a man who had been physically and verbally abusive. I could understand that other women might not want or need to be around men. And already it felt right, as though it were all meant to be.

The hut came fully into view as I continued to look up, yet it was still hidden by some foliage. Despite the searing heat, I felt a cold shiver down my spine. I didn’t like the idea that someone living on Totini was not part of the group. My mind was full of questions. Why had she decided to segregate herself? Had they tried to get her back? Had she been forcibly removed? I had so many things to ask, but none of them felt appropriate at the time. They wouldn’t form into sentences that I felt comfortable asking right now. I had a sense that Precious did not wish to talk about Ula. But that would not deter me.

Precious and I had walked halfway around to the other side of the island, but Precious stopped abruptly. A sound rang out, a screeching like a bird.

A woman was standing at the edge of the forest on the small patch of sand, about four hundred yards away, one hand onher chest, one on her hip. She didn’t move. She didn’t wave. Precious stared at her. The woman looked back at us.

‘It’s far too hot to go any further. We tend to stick to this side of the island. There isn’t much else going on that end, except the cattle grazing.’ Precious turned and looked back the way we had come. I was tired so I didn’t protest but I knew I would have liked to have gone all the way, to see what the back end of the island held. Where the forest had grown together into a cone shape that stretched right to the edge of the sand.

‘What does she want?’ I looked at the woman. She had relaxed her stance and was standing with her hands by her sides. Another screech.

‘Sadie,’ Precious said with intent, and like an obedient child I caught up with her.

The walk back was quieter, and I felt questions about the woman were not welcome. The sun had fully come up, the flutter of cloud had disappeared, and the sky was a bright sheet of blue. Sweat was pooling in the small of my back. I wanted to get back to my room and fetch my costume and take a dip.

‘There’s a shortcut here.’ Precious pointed to a small path that fed away from both the beach and the mountain, which led up to the hut where I had just been told Ula lived.

‘Okay.’ I followed Precious, grateful for a little shade as we quickly found ourselves amongst a thin, wooded area. I dutifully followed.

I didn’t know Precious, yet I sensed an edge to her voice before we had turned around. The incident with the woman, the way she had been standing there alone, seemed odd. Precious hadn’t greeted her and the woman hadn’t greeted her back, yet they’d had some telepathic moment, and for whateverreason Precious had not been keen to continue the walk because of it. For now, she seemed to be rushing to get us through the clearing and back to camp. She could just be hungry, I thought. I had not eaten anything; I was ready for breakfast. Considering we were so far away from modern society, there should not be any restraints or hierarchy amongst us, yet I felt there was a sense of control. Which I supposed was different.

Precious was quite far in front of me. The leaves were brushing against me and I wasn’t used to it. Combined with the sweat on my skin, I could feel it becoming irritated.

I heard a twig breaking. I spun around to the edge of the clearing where the trees were thicker and dense. I saw a flash of something, someone? Camouflaged into the forest but not quite. My eyes quickly tried to focus, and my senses were heightened. My heart began racing. This was fight or flight in the rawest of conditions. But as soon as I had seen it, it was gone along with a quick rustle of leaves. I looked up ahead at Precious, ready to call out to her, to say I had just seen something, but it was probably just a bird and I would have made a fool out of myself trying to draw attention to it.

Precious navigated us back through the middle of the woods and back to camp, and by this point, I was tired. Precious abandoned me at camp, next to the fire and eating area. Someone was already stirring a big pot of something steamy. The young girl and boy from yesterday were playing in the ashes by the fire. The little girl looked at me and smiled. I waved.

I watched Precious as she walked hurriedly to the larger hut, which hung back to the right of the camp and just away under the trees slightly. She walked up the steps and onto the veranda.She tapped lightly on the door. The door opened after a few seconds. A sleepy-looking young woman stood there in vest and pants. She could only have been eighteen or nineteen. Her hair was long and hanging over her shoulders. Avril appeared behind her. She was wearing a long T-shirt, her hair scooped up on top of her head. Avril rested her hand on the girl’s shoulder and stroked it, a tender touch... The girl turned and went back into the cabin, leaving Avril on the threshold listening as Precious spoke to her. I had acknowledged the calmness that Avril emitted. Whenever she was approached or whenever she was speaking with someone, she never seemed to lose her cool, look alarmed or seem out of control. She was centred. I knew then that I wanted to hone that trait for myself.

Precious, on the other hand, had run her fingers through her hair a few times in a manner that suggested she was stressed, and immediately, I thought of the woman at the far end of the beach. The way we had stopped walking and turned back. The strange stance with her hand on her chest. I thought, if you wanted to alert someone to something without making it obvious, could that be a way? I felt my gut twist as I began to sense that something could be happening and I wasn’t to know if it was serious or not. I had no idea what the protocol was for any kind of emergency. I was miles from civilisation and my phone was about to die, taking all possible communication with the outside world with it.

11

THEN

Avril came out of her hut dressed a few minutes later. A few women were mooching around camp, and I had stayed close by because I wanted to know exactly what was going on.

‘Avril.’ I reached her before she headed for the back of the camp where the stores were, a kitchen prep area under a canopy. There was also a large gong that had been rung for dinner last night.

‘Is everything okay?’ I asked tentatively, not wanting to show any sign of unease myself.

‘Nothing for you to worry about,’ she said calmly and continued on her way. I caught up with her.

‘I just hoped we could have a chat today, you know.’

She stopped and looked at me. Then her face broke into a sympathetic smile. ‘Of course, Sadie, I’m sorry, I have neglectedyou. Of course, we will talk today. Ask me anything you need to know. I just have to deal with one thing.’

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