Where is Here?
Edited: July 6th, 2012
i
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(ii. HERE HE DOES)
Evening. Late evening.
Sho huffed and climbed his way up the steep forest. The sleeves of his dress-shirt were rolled up and his tie went unfashionably around his forehead to hold back the wet bangs from his eyes.
This, Sho thought, couldn’t possibly get any worse. He paused to blink up at the sky as night began to fall in. The stars sparkled brightly and lively, as if mocking him of his problem.
Dammit, he was frustrated. His current situation was not even slightly funny. Why the hell was this happening to him?
Possibly a few hours later, Sho found his way back to the base of the mountain where he had started. Concluding that there was just no way there would be help up there, he lay back on the sand and drifted off into an uneasy sleep amidst the wildlife night sounds.
*
Early morning.
Sho was tired, exhausted even. His face dripped with sweat as he plopped down on the sand in a frustrated heap.
Refusing to believe that the island was deserted as initially thought, he had walked around for what seemed like hours. (Possibly it had only been twenty minutes.) He had cursed over and over as he stumbled and tumbled on some low hills (as was evident by his dirty and slightly ripped clothing) and then he had cursed again when he noticed that he ended up in the same spot that he started.
What was fucking wrong with this place?
He couldn’t believe what he was currently living. Sitting there, he thought about how the hell he had ended up out here and came up with nothing reasonable. He didn’t have his phone or his wallet either and that was even more shitty (not like his wallet would be of much help here though).
In the shady spot where he now sat, Sho stared at the sky through the spaces of the palm leaves. The more he thought about it the more he grew confused and slightly aggravated. Fuck. How the hell had he landed here!?
At that moment, his stomach decided to growl. Furrowing his brows, Sho suddenly remembered that there had been a small bag next to him on the boat he arrived in.
“FOOD!” he exclaimed as he scrambled over the sand and made his way towards the small boat.
Thinking more clearly, he decided that it was best to pull the boat out of the water lest the waves decided to take it away from him too. But as he tried to move the damn thing, his arms felt jittery from the lack of food.
“Dammit!” he snapped and his stomach decided to mewl once more. Sho glanced at the bag he had set next to a rock and then at the boat again. Though he longed for food, he decided to focus on the boat first. He was not taking any chances.
After ten long excruciating minutes, he grumbled his way towards the sack before picking it up and plopping himself in the same spot under the shade, his duty done. The boat sat on the sand, far from the beckoning waves.
*
Night.
Unlike the other night, he felt the cold. Daytime was unbearably hot and night was unbearably cold. Sho didn't even know how to start a fire from scratch. (He blamed his parents for denying him the experience of camping in favor of academic classes.)
He sneezed and then a chill ran down his spine as a small breeze ruffled through the plants around him. Annoyed at his stupid situation, Sho stood in the darkness and ran back and forth, from one palm tree to another. His only light came from the moon.
Not until he was utterly exhausted did he stop, and then Sho fell asleep, curled in a tight ball among stray leaves and sticks.
His last thought before the welcoming sleep was of his puny secretary; he was sure that man would make fun of him if he knew. But then it didn't matter so much to him as he fell into a deep slumber. He was here now and here survival was the most important.
*
Four days. Four days! It had been four long, hot, and lonesome days!
Sho groaned as his legs numbed. He had been sitting cross-legged for the past hour, staring longingly at the now empty sack that used to have food, but (as he had just decided) he would now use to hold water.
Biting his lip, he wriggled about his seat as ants attacked his legs. He hadn't noticed their presence until his hands had accidentally brushed over them and felt the prick of the damn, horrible things. Glaring at the intruding, beastly parasites (had ants always been that monstrous?), he smacked them away without caring that he was killing the majority.
Determined not to lose his sanity, Sho removed the tie from his forehead. He couldn’t believe he still had that miserable thing and tossed it carelessly into the nearby shrubbery before standing with clenched fists and marching into the forest. He wanted food and, dammit, he was going to get some.
*
Unfortunately, when Sho came to the next morning, his stomach grumbled at the lack of food. The day before he had failed, somewhat.
First, he had searched for a river that would provide fresh water, and he had tripped and slipped on rocks and grass. Then he searched for something to eat only to run away from what looked like a wild boar.
But then with bad fortune had come good luck. He found a bunch of bananas (he admit, he had at that moment let out a creepy little, deranged laugh) and hugged the precious batch of fruits closely. Yet, Sho had been so hungry he didn’t think about saving some for the next day. Today, to be more exact.
Now, waking up weary from his adventures the day before, his stomach grumbled once more and he glared at it, as if it would stop his organ from whining. Then his eyes moved up and he froze, disbelieving what he saw.
Could it be...? Was it true?
Sho's eyes sparkled. His body moved of its own accord to close that gap between him and the dazzling pile of fruit by that awesome boat. No time for reasoning. No time to be wondering how the fruits had gotten there. Sho's stomach did all the thinking.
Before he even got there, of its own volition, Sho's hands reached out to touch the things. They were cold, solid under his fingers. REAL! REALLL!!! And the fruits made its way to his mouth.
“Wow. You sure are hungry,” a voice said and Sho turned to come face to face with a boy, no a small man, the man holding a fishing rod and touching a small pouch at his waist.
Said man giggled when he noticed that Sho had some mango on his cheek while his chin was adorned with sand.
“Huh?” Sho sounded quite dumbly for someone like himself. (Much later, he would reprimand himself for that stupid first meeting.)
“What’s your name?” the man asked as he made his way towards Sho who furrowed his brows in confusion and wariness. “Hm?” The man squatted down in front of him and tilted his head ‘cutely’ to the side.
“S-Sho,” he answered and could only stare at the tanned other human.
“Ohno Satoshi,” was the reply, the little man extending his hands towards Sho.
(iii. HERE HE FALLS) : iv : v : vi : vii/end
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