Chapter one: You're New Home
I woke up, coughing like crazy! After I can finally breathe, I explore my body, checking it for injuries: anything that's broken, sore, bruised and anything else that may stop me from what I want to do next. I only find my breathing heavy, and a POUNDING headache, but that’s the least of my problems. "Where...am I?" I say to myself. I slowly bring myself to my feet and scan my surroundings. I saw a deep blue sea, tall trees, as green as the grass on the ground when I was home.
I sniff the air, and the smell of salty water, and all kinds of fruit fills my lungs. Then I start thinking: food. Food equals something to eat, and suddenly I focus on my feelings: I'm restless and hungry. "How long was I out...? No matter, I need to eat." Swiftly I take a HUGE rock into my hands, and throw it into a pineapple tree, nothing falls. Then I pick up the same rock and throw it into a coconut tree: a coconut falls into my hands. "IT'S YOU, YOU'RE AWAKE!" Someone yells.
Panic washes over my body. The voice calls out again. "YOU! COME HERE!" "Who are you, and why do you need me!?" I responded. "Idiot! It's me! Your husband!" He responds. A wave of relief rushes over me, but then, we hear a growl, a loud growl. It shakes the entire island. “Down girl,” my husband calls out to the thing that growls, “sorry love, that's just Juniper!” A huge Maine Coon walks out of the trees. Juniper? MY CAT JUNIPER???
"Juni,” I say, “It's me, Lila.” Then she jumps and licks my face. That's my Juni alright, I subconsciously start petting her, “AWEEE HEY GIRLLL, YOU'RE SO BIG NOWW HEHE! HOW'D YOU GET SO BIG GIRL???” The sheer size of her was staggering. When I’d last seen Juniper, she was a house cat with a spicy attitude who enjoyed knocking pens off my desk. Now, she was a muscular engine of fur and teeth, her paws the size of dinner plates. She purred, a sound so deep it felt like a small earthquake vibrating through my chest.
"Easy, girl, you’re going to knock her back into the sand," my husband laughed. I looked up at him, squinting against the bright tropical sun. He looked different—rugged, his skin tanned several shades darker than I remembered, and wearing clothes that looked like they had been stitched together from sailcloth and palm fibers. Liam," I breathed, the name finally catching up to my brain. "How... how are you here? How am I here? The last thing I remember was the storm, the boat tilting, and then just... cold."
He stepped forward, his expression softening as he reached out to help me up. His grip was firm and warm, a grounding contrast to the surreal island around us. "We’ve been here for three weeks, Lila. I found you washed up on the north shore this morning. I thought... well, it doesn't matter what I thought. You're awake now."
A Strange Paradise I looked at the coconut in my hand, then at the massive bobcat leaning affectionately against my hip. "Three weeks? And in that time, our cat turned into a prehistoric predator?" Liam rubbed the back of his neck, glancing toward the dense treeline. "This isn't a normal island. The fruit, the water... everything here is active. It’s like a greenhouse on steroids. Juniper found a particular type of red berry on day two and, well, she just kept growing. She’s been our protector. There are things in the interior of the forest that even I don't like to face without her."
A sharp screech echoed from deep within the emerald canopy, followed by the sound of heavy wings beating against the air. Juniper’s ears swiveled, and a low, warning rumble started in her throat again. We need to move," Liam said, his voice dropping an octave. "The scent of that broken coconut will draw scavengers, and not the kind you can shoo away with a rock."
The Shelter He led me through a hidden path where the ferns grew so high they formed a natural tunnel. Juniper prowled behind us, her eyes darting toward every rustle in the undergrowth. My head was still pounding, but the adrenaline was doing a decent job of masking the pain. "I built a camp in the cliffs," Liam explained as we climbed a steep, rocky incline. "It’s high enough to stay dry and narrow enough that Juniper can block the entrance if something tries to get in."When we reached the top, I gasped. Tucked into a limestone cave was a surprisingly cozy setup. There was a bed of soft moss, a small fire pit lined with stones, and several wooden crates that must have washed up from the wreck.
"Sit," Liam commanded gently, pushing a carved wooden bowl of fresh, glowing purple berries toward me. "Eat these. They’ll help with the headache and the breathing. They taste like honey and lightning, but they work." I took a bite, and he wasn't lying—the flavor exploded on my tongue, and almost instantly, the heavy pressure in my chest began to lift. I looked at my husband, then at my giant cat, then out at the endless blue horizon. "Liam," I said, my voice steadier now. "If we've been here three weeks... have you seen any signs of a rescue?" He paused, looking out at the sea with a strange, unreadable expression. "I’ve seen ships, Lila. But they aren't looking for us. They’re staying far away. It’s like they know this place is on the map... and they’re terrified of it."
ns216.73.216.175da2
and then Add to home screen.