Chapter 22 - Primitive Smoky Way

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• Zack
• Bottles of rum, large gulps, drink and the devil had done for the rest. All I remembered when I woke up were these. I didn’t remember climbing up the cabin and sleeping on the sandy surface above. It’s no wonder I didn’t get mosquito bites or any other little creature’s own. My clothes, tattered were barely hanging off my body.
• I was on a sandy surface. Cold breeze evaded my senses as I stood up. My legs begun walking, involuntarily.
• Where was Zara?
• Why wasn’t she anywhere around?
• I take slow steps. Later, it’s faster ones as I grew impatient. My clothes swayed as the wind blew faster with each of my step.
• Then it hit my nostrils.
• Smoke.
• That was all I smelt as I drew nearer to the shore.
• Ashes. There were ashes in the air; falling gently. I held a piece and examined it gently until it withered away. Pacing nearer, I sight Zara ahead. She’s throwing sticks into a fire. It’s obvious she had set it out.
• “What are you doing?!” I yelled as I approach her.
• My mind was inseparable from the fact that she might as well burnt my bottles. I immediately dismissed those thoughts.
• “I did the necessary!” She exclaimed back. “Burnt those bottles of rum because you were going insane!” She acknowledged to me.
• She did it. She fucking did it. How dare she?
• I needed something. Anything. To make her feel what I felt at that moment. To feel the exact pain that arched and surged though me.
• “You idiot!” I called out which left a bewildered expression on her face. “What have you done?” I asked her with fury. “For a start, what can you see? Have you no shame?” She asked with no sign of remorse. I think I’ve had just enough.
• In the spin of the moment, just when she thought I’d walk away from her as usual, I sprung forward lifted my hands in the air and gave her a sound slap. So quick and sullen, she doesn’t expect it and fell on the floor from the impact. Her face covered by her raven hair. Body, frozen in shock then started muttering words I couldn’t quite catch. . .
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• In life, everyone has a breaking point. A way of escape. Escape from harsh realities set in by some inevitable forces. That one thing you do to make it sound foreign. To make it all go away. Even if it’s for a moment-- it’s worthwhile.
• For me, it was drinking. One shot of alcohol. That caramel, fruity glass could mend my heartache. It always had.
• It was somewhat my life.
• Now that we were lost on an island, with no means of escape. We could only hope.
• Zara had just burnt my escape. My only damn means of escape.
• “Zara.” I called out after the uncalled slap I gave her on her beautiful face.
• “Don’t.” She simply said. she stood up and began walking away. This wasn’t the first time she was walking away from me.
• “Zara, wait.” I let out holding her hands genuinely. It felt so soft to touch. I had made a big mistake by slapping her and would even make a bigger mistake, if I let her go.
• “What, Zack? What do you want to say? Of how you radiated your anger by hitting me? Or how you got drunk in middle of god-knows-where forgotten island?” She screamed painfully.
• “You crossed the limits, Zara.” I said incoherently. This made her narrow her eyes, till her chest started rising and falling in fury.
• “Limits? I didn’t! you did! You did by hitting my face. By finding solace in a goddamn forsaken bottle of rum abandoned by god-knows-who!” There was so much hate in her almond shaped brown eyes. It held an ounce of regret. . .Like she had hope in our friendship until now.
• God, I had to fix that.
• Problem was, I didn’t even know how to do that. I didn’t know Zara. At least not anymore. I had assumed I knew her. But, I was damn wrong.
• “Mi esposa.”
• “Esposa?! You didn’t know I was your so-called wife when you hit me, so why would you consider me as that now?”
• “Why did you burn those bottles of rum, Zara?” I asked point blank. She placed a hand on her hip and moved forward in a defensive pose.
• “What do you think, Zack? That I’m a sadist who derives joy from hurting people? I’m not that. I burnt those bottles to find help. I reasoned out the primitive smoky way, you know. There’s no way your parents wouldn’t have set out search party to come find us.” She reasoned cognitively.
• To some extent, I now understood her intentions. She burnt the bottles of rum to bring the attention of any possible search party sent by my parents.
• “I’ve never thought of you to be some sadist. That’s the last thing you could be. I understand now, Zara. I overreacted. I-- crossed the limits with my palm on your face.” I said, hoping it came off in the right way. She had a habit of reading even the most pleasant things I said, wrongly.
• “And, for that, I’m totally sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I never hit a lady until today. You’re the first and it scares me, Zara.” I added massively. It was so strange that I hit her--very.
• “While I’m still considering your apology, why does your hitting me for the first time scare you?” She asked. I silently thanked my stars that she didn’t react. The former Zara could have done that. Instead, she responded.
• I gave the fire behind her a quick ogle. It had begun to wear out already.
• “Cause you drive out so many emotions out of me. Sometimes, I’m clueless how that’s even possible.” I admitted curiously. If a person who was not with me months back could do that, I’d better head to call on my senses. Especially my sixth sense.
• “For a first, that’s surprising. I mean, how’s that even possible? You’re always this noble guy whose emotions and self-restraint are overly intact. It’s like you know what exactly you want. Why would any of that change because of me?” She replied and asked adamantly. Her soft curls blew slowly so as the sea shores. They, ever blue as ever, made way whispering serene sounds as they cascaded forward.
• “I don’t know.” Those three words, though simply means a lot of things. I don’t know meant you were confused. It could sometimes hint that every part of yourself that you grew with, that you thought you were, is a damned lie.
• Letting out a soft groan, I scanned my raven hair with my hand. “Zack, really?”. She snapped suddenly. I couldn’t blame her. At least not on that part. I had started to scare her with myself. It was like I didn’t know if I could ever love.
• “Really, what?” I asked immediately.
• “I try to understand you, Zack but it’s like you shut me out completely. Put down your walls sometimes. I can’t understand your exact feelings if you can’t put them to words.” She voiced out desperately.
• How exactly was I supposed to tell her that I wasn’t usually like this? That I was being stuck up because of being on an island for several days? Guess I had to explain it someday. Or now…
• “One of my greatest fears right now is- what if no one finds us? What if we rot here till we die? It’s over, Zara. If someone was going to find us, they could have done that by now.” I final admitted. “No, Zack. A wise man once said, ‘It ain’t over until it’s over” so if I were you, I’d not lose hope.” Her lips are swift. It’s like there’s an imaginary fire within her. A fire I never notices.
• “They’ll come, Zack, they’ll find us.” She added softly. “You’ll see, you’ll see.” She concluded. The first thing I notice is the maroon and yellow flag being waived by a passenger. The figure does this continually.
• It takes a moment at first to figure out what was happening cause being stuck somewhere for a long period, can put you in a hallucination.
• It’s until they said sail onshore, I realized.
• The search party found us.
• A/n Rescue came at lassssst!!! Hi, everyone. How did you like this chapter? Please leave a five star review and leave your thoughts and suggestions 😊 😊