Chapter 1: Melanie Suwi's Precious Backpack
Whelp, that's approximately the events that led to me right now lying down naked on a beach on an abandoned island. How my clothes managed to not survive the incident I honestly do not know. And although I wanted to lay there for the rest of my life in blissful freedom, eventually my stomach complained and I got up from my spot to explore my surroundings.
It was about 85 degrees at the time. Further inward from the beach I was on I could see green vegetation and palm trees everywhere. I began heading into the greenery area to look around but also angled my movement slightly to go towards the direction Melanie had run off to. After walking a bit, I encountered a large patch of seaweed on the sand.
"Better than nothing I suppose," I thought picking up the seaweed. Quickly I inspected the patch for any bugs or sea creatures that might have been on it. To my surprise it had actually been quite clean. Gently, I wrapped the patch around my waste to cover up my private area.
"Now then… let's figure out where the hell I am."
As I continued to walk along the beach tracing the footsteps that Melanie had left in the sand, suddenly the smell of smoke came from within the trees. At the time, if I'm going to be honest, I carried a number of stereotypes about Melanie and rich people in general. I thought that most of them did not know how to really survive outside of optimal conditions. That Melanie was usually surrounded by wealthy butlers inside of a mansion that attended her every need. That I would have to be the one to rescue a spoiled princess like Melanie in this far away lost island. Well, or maybe that was just the fantasy I wanted to happen in this scenario.
"She probably managed to set herself on fire," I thought to myself walking closer to where the smoke was coming from. As I looked between some bushes however, my prediction could not have been further from the truth.
"How… how did you manage to do this?"
Before me lay not only a perfectly set up campfire on one of the only grassy flat grounds in the area, but also a wide selection of berries all laid out in a pile. Next to the fire sat Melanie still with her backpack and swimsuit on cooking a fish over the fire.
"Oh… it's just you Navier," she said looking disappointed at me when I approached.
"What?! What kind of greeting is that?" I asked, "I saved your life you know, shouldn't you at least be a bit thankful? And also it's Xavier'" "Yeah yeah good job bartender! When we get back I'll make sure my dad gives you a raise or whatever." She said sarcastically giving me a clap.
"What the… she really is one of those bratty spoiled types." I thought to myself.
"Alright… if you're going to act like that, I'll act bratty back."
I sat down next to the berries pile and threw one into my mouth.
"Uhh… those haven't been sorted based on poison yet you know?" Melanie said to me raising an eyebrow.
"WHAT?!?!?!" I yelled trying to cough up the berry I just ate.
"That's what you get for trying to steal another person's work." Melanie said. She had finished cooking the fish at this point and took a bite from it.
"Anyways, what is it Xavier, what do you want?"
"What?!?!? What do I want? What do you mean what do I want, where the hell even are we?"
"Beats me," Melanie said as she chewed her fish. I think this is a deserted island or something. I've been searching for hours and haven't found anyone here. It's not like I have my phone or any real technology to contact anyone either."
"Hours?!?!? What the hell, how long was I out for?"
"Hmm… not sure, when I found you, I'd been awake for probably 5 hours at that point and already set up this campsite."
"Yeah… how the hell did you manage to do that?"
"What, is it a surprise to you?" She said staring at me clearly annoyed, "You think just because I'm small and from a rich family I'm helpless on my own?"
"What no…I wasn't thinking that," I lied not wanting to stir the pot further.
"Well I'm not," She said as she finished eating the fish on her stick. "Don't ever underestimate Melanie Suwi! Survival extraordinaire!" She exclaimed getting up to pose holding one hand near her face and the other pointed out at me.
"…"
"…"
"What are you a chuunibyou…" I thought to myself staring back at her.
"That's right Xavier! Despite my looks I am actually an amazing survivalist who has gone on hundreds of survival based explorations ala Bear Grylls. An island like this is nothing compared to my skills in… skills in… skills… sk…"
Before she could complete her sentence however, she immediately fainted falling backwards onto the grass.
**thud**
"Melanie?!??!!?? Oiiii Melanie!?!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Where… where am I?"
It was already night time when Melanie awoke from her slumber. During the time she was away I… well to tell you the truth I wish I could say I was super cool and caught some wild game and found a blanket or something while Melanie was asleep, but in reality I had done pretty much nothing of value whatsoever.
While Melanie was asleep, I had attempted to catch some fish myself but failed in my every attempt only being able to get stun by jellyfish. I then attempted to look for some berries or other fruits around the island. Unfortunately being not able to distinguish what was and wasn't poisoned, I only ended up giving myself severe diarrhea. Finally, I tried looking around to see if I could build some sort of tent from the resources around me but once again, I could not find any necessary materials to do so. The only real thing I was able to do during the time Melanie was asleep was keep the campfire she had going.
"That's what I'd still like to know," I said to her trying my best to look competent, "You've been knocked out a few hours now so…"
"Did you look in my backpack!?" She interrupted getting up and grabbing the backpack she still had on. A backpack that somehow managed to survive the ocean waves to the island.
"No, No of course not," I replied. This time I was telling the truth thinking that it was probably logical that someone who was willing to jump into the ocean for a backpack likely had something extremely valuable to them inside it.
"Good," She said breathing a sigh of relief looking at the insides of the backpack. "Don't you dare look inside ever, got it Xavier?"
"Alright alright sure I won't look I promise," I said. Her constant protection of the backpack however only made me even more curious as to what was inside.
"A family relic?" I thought, "Or maybe a secret diary. Or maybe a gift from someone precious, either way best not to press the issue."
"Good good… we can be friends then." She said getting up to shake my hand.
"Uhhh… sure," I said awkwardly shaking her hand back. The moon and stars had come out at that point in the night casting a light down from the sky above. A piece of the light illuminated Melanie's face as she shook my hand with a bright smile.
"She sure is cute…" I thought to myself looking at her face.
"Now then…" She said as she let go of my hand. She stared at me as I waited for her to continue.
"…"
"…"
30 seconds of silence passed.
"Now then...?"
A minute of silence passed.
"Now then….?"
2 minutes of silence passed.
"Now then what!??!?!" I said finally.
"I don't know!" Melanie said as she continued to stare at me blankly. "I've never been friends with a guy before."
"What!?!?"
"Yeah I know… pretty crazy now that I think about it. But that's what happens when you get homeschooled and then sent to an all-girls college!"
She walked up to me and began poking my bicep.
"So… what are you even into? Sports? Fighting? Power tools?!?!?!"
"What… I don't know, none of those things I guess. Why are you asking that anyways?"
"I mean if we're going to be friends, shouldn't we get to know each other or something?"
"Sure but, yeah I mean we can do that but shouldn't we try and I don't know, see if we can get rescued from here first?"
"Ughhh…." She said sighing, "I mean yeah sure I guess… my dad will probably have a search party for us coming soon anyways. "
"You don't seem too enthusiastic about it."
"Yeah because honestly I'm not," she said sitting down and curling into a ball by the fireplace staring deeply into the flames.
"Huh… wonder what's up," I thought sitting next to her.
"Is something wrong Melanie?"
"No nothing, I guess it's just…" She lay down on her back, "I don't know… I guess I've just never been on a proper adventure before."
"What… but didn't you just say earlier you were an adventure extraordinaire?"
"Yeah…" She said looking up at the sky, "In video games."
"What?!?!?!?!" I thought to myself, "You're telling me you managed to catch fish, set up a campfire, and gather berries without any prior experience?"
"Yeah I mean… I watch survival TV shows and read books about it too. Is it really that tough?"
"Ah well…" I said looking away trying to hide my shame from the failures earlier.
"Anyway yeah, sorry about being rude earlier," she said still staring up at the sky, "you did save me after all after I jumped in for my backpack. I really should thank you for looking out for me."
"Yeah, no problem," I said laying down next to her.
"You think I'm a silly girl?"
"Huh?"
"You think I'm a silly girl for jumping out into the ocean for my backpack and not wanting to go back and be rescued by my family?"
"Uhhh well… I guess? You certainly are quirky but hey, not everyone likes the lifestyle they're born into even if they are rich."
"Yeah… that's true," She looked over at me, "I really am silly aren't I? It's like, I want to run away from everything you know. Despite the fact I have a life back home that almost anyone would trade for."
"Yeah I mean… money can't necessarily buy happiness you know. I feel like we need a certain amount of freedom to be happy too."
"Freedom…" She whispered back. She looked at me and gave me a small smile that made me blush, "Yeah true… freedom. Thanks Xavier, that was nice to hear."
"No… no problem," I said back. As I did Melanie grabbed the backpack that was next to her and hugged it tightly.
"I don't know what's in that backpack but I'm sure it's precious to you if you were willing to dive into the ocean for it." I said looking at her.
"Yeah it's very precious,"
"Then I can't really blame you for going after it either, we should always protect what's precious to us right?"
"Yeah…. Yeah true Xavier. Protect what's precious to me, I like that!"
We both lay there looking up at the night sky in silence thinking about our lives. In all likelihood we would be off the island anyways the next day and back to doing whatever we were doing before on The Starlight. Still, in that moment, it was nice to just be there, on an island, away from everyone and everything, in the middle of nowhere. Finally, after about 10 minutes as the campfire grew dimmer, Melanie rolled over onto her side.
"Whelp… let's just go to bed early then. Hopefully tomorrow the rescue team will be here and we can go back onto the cruise line."
My stomach at that point had been growling from lack of food but having exhausted most of my energy that day, I didn't really fight my sleepiness.
"Yeah, true, hopefully," I said giving out a yawn. Before I closed my eyes, I drew a single line with a rock onto a larger more malleable rock next to me.
"Good night Melanie."
"Good night Xavier!" She said, "And I'll always remember your words no matter what happens about protecting something precious."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next day I awoke once again to the bright sun's light hitting my face. I turned over to see Melanie was still asleep and hugging the backpack she had chased after into the ocean.
"Protect what's precious… protect what's precious…" She said to herself still half asleep. As she did however, she turned to the left towards me unknowingly causing the backpack drawstring to loosen a bit. As that happened some of the contents of her backpack fell onto the ground next to her.
"Protect what's precious, protect what's precious." She continued to whisper to herself. Lying next to her having fallen out of the backpack were several books, one of which she had probably been reading when I entered her room back on the cruise ship. As I squinted to see what was on the cover of the books, a look of disgust showed on my face.
...
...
...
...
"This… This is BL…"