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Chapter 1:
These little hikes were the only thing that kept me from losing it. It wasn't some mental problem, or anything. More like a lack of one. Nothing ever happened on this island. Things never changed. I know that was tempting fate, saying that nothing happened, but I didn't care. I'd tempt fate for hours to it's face if it meant things would get interesting. Hell, I'd been living alone so long I'd get into a fist fight with fate and ask it to do something!
I stopped in my tracks, looked to the sky, and shouted, "Come on! Throw a tiger at me if you have to! Just do something!" I stared at the empty space above me for a good few minutes, not sure what I was expecting. Maybe I'd get lucky and some unnamed deity from another world would happen to notice my shout and do something. Maybe an alien race would pick up my voice and abduct me. After another few minutes spent lost in thought I sighed and looked back down at my path. "And maybe I'm just finally going crazy."
Something caught my attention then. I couldn't tell what it was right away, but I noticed something in the sky. Falling. I couldn't make out what it was for the life of me and was getting ready to just take it as the first sign of losing it, when a shape I'd seen a couple times before shot from the falling thing.
A parachute.
I was simultaneously overjoyed and terrified at what that meant. Was it a male or female? Were there others? Was it hurt? I realized at my last thought that even if it wasn't, it would be landing here without any help. I immediately took off to where I thought I saw it land. I had only gone about ten feet before I thought better of sprinting. I didn't want it's first impression of me to be a gigantic being barreling through the trees at it. It had been so long since I'd seen one though, I couldn't help but be excited. And worried. This was not the place for humans, that much I knew. After about a minute of walking, I heard... something. It might have been a voice, but I couldn't tell. I decided to move towards it. If it was a voice, then it was what I was looking for. I kept moving, hearing the voice just a couple more times, before I finally found it.
Dangling before me from an eye level branch, already cowering in fear, was a human. 'Not the first reaction I was hoping for.' I thought to myself. I took a moment to look at the human before making a rather important observation.
It was a she.
I saw her open her eyes, which completely bugged out upon seeing me. I didn't want to scare her any more than I already had just by being, but I couldn't just let her hang here for some critter to come snatch her up. I took a moment to calm myself, nervous of doing anything to hurt her, and reached out to pluck her from the branch. I quickly retracted my hand upon seeing her go limp. "Hello?" I said quietly. No response. "Excuse me, are you alright?... Hello?" Still nothing. "Oh god! She fainted, or worse! What if she had a heart attack? Arg, I probably caused it too!" I was all but literally kicking myself for not being more careful. I couldn't point out what I had done wrong, but I had done something. I looked back at her, noticing her already beginning to come to. She looked around, stopping once I came into sight. She muttered something I could barely make out, clearly terrified. I was afraid she might faint again, so I decided to go for a different approach this time.
"My name's Grey. Do you... um," I tried to think ahead and placed my hand beneath her. In case she fell I wanted to make sure she didn't get hurt. "Do you need some help maybe?" She flinched away from my hand as best she could, dangling from a branch and all. It hurt but I couldn't show it. I didn't want to do anything to make her uncomfortable. She responded after a moment in an obviously shaken voice. "Uh... no... I think I'll be alright."
I tried to interject a little humor into the situation, "So you can talk." The small joke didn't get through, so I tried to move the conversation forward. "What's your name?" Oh god I was nervous! I could feel my whole body shaking, hoping she wouldn't notice.
I heard her say something which I assumed was her name, but she was simply being too quiet. I moved in a bit closer to hear, "I'm sorry? I didn't hear you." She flinched away before responding.
"Eden." I couldn't help thinking it sounded pretty. It was unique. Different. I looked over her features and realized she was rather pretty too. Her striking purple hair was done up in a sloppy pony tail. I couldn't tell if it was that way from laziness or the fall though. Fairly simple outfit too. Gray t-shirt, denim jeans that flared out at the ends and red sneakers. She looked to be a bit older than me too, but I honestly couldn't tell because of the size difference. Finally, she seemed to have black irises. It was one of the strangest yet most amazing things I'd seen. She had a few nicks and scrapes in places, but they didn't take away from her overall looks. I pulled myself from my thoughts remembering the situation.
I nervously scratched the back of my neck, contemplating what to do next. "Well Eden, I think we have a problem. You don't want my help," I saw her shake her head. Ouch, "But I know you can't get down on your own.  I also have a bit of a problem with just leaving people in trouble." I made up my mind and positioned my left hand beneath her in case she fell. "Sorry." I moved my other hand to grab her shirt from the branch. She seemed stuck between a scream and a squeal as I reached for her. It hurt a bit, but I understood. I also understood that I had to help her down, so I continued despite the objection.
I plucked her from the branch by her shirt, "You're sorry?" I heard her ask. I placed her on my open palm, immediately lowering her to the ground. She scrambled off the moment my hand made contact with the ground.
"Well, you said that you didn't want my help," I said, "So yea, sorry about that." I stood back up and waited for a response. This was so nerve racking! What did I do now? There weren't any other humans here. I don't think there's any way to contact anyone from off the island. I certainly couldn't just leave her here. I heard her begin to say something before stopping, letting out a nervous squeak. Ugh, just by being I was scaring the hell out of her. I knew the height was the issue, so I got down on my knees to help that as much as I could. "I'm sorry. I know I'm making you uncomfortable and you'd like nothing more than to be rid of me..." It stung my lips as I said it. Sometimes the truth does though, "But I think you should know, you don't have very many places to go. This is an island."
I noticed she began scanning her environment again before I continued, "As far as I know there aren't any human settlements here," I cleared my throat, "After all, pretty girls don't always fall out of the sky." I realized the slip I had made and turned my head away, embarrassed.
That was probably the dumbest thing you could have said. She already doesn't like you, and now she probably thinks you're some kind of creeper to boot! There were so many occasions where I wished I wasn't like this. Where I wished I could just be normal like the rest of the people on this planet. I was nothing but a monster. The world thought so, I knew it, and now so did she. I heard her wince in pain, tearing me from my own self pity.
"Well, I suppose... I suppose that I can go with you… if you don't mind of course!" She seemed so bothered by asking. Like she was afraid I'd be offended. It was almost cute, before I realized it was just another off branch of fear. I masked my inner reaction by trying to joke.
"Well, my place is kind of a mess... But I think I can find room for you!" I chuckled a bit and without thinking reached to pick her up. She fell back from my hand, landing on her rear and letting out a rather pained, "Ouch!"
I realized what I had done and quickly retracted my hand, waving it and the other in front me in a defensive gesture, "Oh god! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you again, I just haven't even seen a human in I don't know how long," I began remembering the few humans I had known in my life, "I guess I forgot how to act around them."
What followed next was not what I was expecting. I expected to hear her scream, run, panic, or faint. Instead she stood up and... "You, you were going to grab me!" She yelled at me with full force and gusto. After acting so scared and timid, I didn't see this coming in the slightest. I was so shocked by it I found myself falling back onto my own rear, the thud causing her to lose balance for a moment. I tried to respond, but my mind was drawing blank after blank in terms of intelligence.
"Well, um, yeah. I was. I didn't think you'd be able to keep up on foot, so I was going to carry you. Would you rather… I don't know," I voiced the first idea that came to mind. It wasn't a good one, "Ride on my shoe or something?" Ugh, what?! Ride my shoe?! What was wrong with me all of a sudden? Why was I so nervous? I admired her courage for staying after that.
"I don't mind you carrying me…but could you…not pick me up like that?  Maybe I could just try riding in your hand?" I did all but smack my palm to my face as the words left her mouth. Just let her ride on your hand. What was so mind wracking about that?
"Right, right. I'm sorry." I should probably stop apologizing so often too. Even well meant, that had to be getting annoying. This was going ok now though. She asked to come back with me. I didn't have to worry about forcing her to come with me and protecting her. As much as I wanted her consent, and as much as it would kill me to make her do anything against her will, I knew she couldn't survive an hour out here. I knew I had to do something. I was just so scared I'd be the one she'd need protecting from! I felt a light touch on my finger and saw a slight look of concern on her face.
"Are you going to be ok?" I was shocked she could just ask me a question so simply. I thought she was practically terror stricken at this point. I looked down and noticed the hand I was holding out to her was shaking pretty badly.
"Oh. Yeah.  I'd just forgotten what it's like to be around a human.  I'm just nervous.  I mean, what if I slip or something?" the thought sickened me, that in trying to protect her out here I could wind up the cause of something terrible. I took her words into consideration though and took a moment to calm myself, and my hand stopped shaking... for the most part. I was still so scared I'd hurt her! "Okay, I think I'm good. Let's go."
She hesitated for a moment before crawling up into my hand. She was obviously just as scared  about this whole thing as I was, looking up at me with worry in her eyes. I understood why, she was willingly placing her life in my hands. Literally. Once I felt her situated safely, I stood up. "Okay, we'll just take this slow and we'll be home in no time." As I made my way home, I made sure to be as careful as possible so as not to jostle my new guest. I felt the situation would just get even more uncomfortable if I didn't do something, so I decided to try to ease the tension with a bit of conversation. I started with the more obvious question. "So, people don't usually fall from the sky.  Might I ask how you wound up…how I found you?" I found the topic to be rather interesting... I was alone in that aspect.
She seemed surprised by my bringing up the topic, or any topic for that matter. "I was on a plane and I guess something happened and we all had to evacuate.  I didn't see anyone after I jumped out and I just kind of landed here…wherever here is." I was obviously not doing a very good job of cheering her up. Maybe a nonverbal method would be better suited. It was obvious by this point that I was fumbling every which way with my words. I realized I probably wasn't doing a very good job of keeping calm either, and an idea formed. Simple, kind, perfect. I bent my index finger back to her. "Here, you can use this for support." I looked away from her and back on the path. I thought I might try one more time at a verbal approach. "Uh, lucky I came along then huh?" I tried offering her a smile.
She seemed to jump between two thoughts in one go. First apprehension, then realization. I guess the situation hadn't quite hit her. After a few moments thought I felt her hold onto my finger. "Yeah, I really was lucky." She smiled back up to me, and I felt a blush cross my face. I was so relieved that she was finally beginning to trust me. I could even feel a touch of pride in that I could be the one to protect her.
We walked on in a more comfortable silence for a while before finally arriving home. I tried to figure out a creative way to break it to her that my humble little home was where she would be staying for a while. Clever me could only come up with, "Well, home sweet home!" Brilliant.

Chapter 1: End

Description
Chapter 1:
These little hikes were the only thing that kept me from losing it. It wasn't some mental problem, or anything. More like a lack of one. Nothing ever happened on this island. Things never changed. I know that was tempting fate, saying that nothing happened, but I didn't care. I'd tempt fate for hours to it's face if it meant things would get interesting. Hell, I'd been living alone so long I'd get into a fist fight with fate and ask it to do something!
I stopped in my tracks, looked to the sky, and shouted, "Come on! Throw a tiger at me if you have to! Just do something!" I stared at the empty space above me for a good few minutes, not sure what I was expecting. Maybe I'd get lucky and some unnamed deity from another world would happen to notice my shout and do something. Maybe an alien race would pick up my voice and abduct me. After another few minutes spent lost in thought I sighed and looked back down at my path. "And maybe I'm just finally going crazy."
Something caught my attention then. I couldn't tell what it was right away, but I noticed something in the sky. Falling. I couldn't make out what it was for the life of me and was getting ready to just take it as the first sign of losing it, when a shape I'd seen a couple times before shot from the falling thing.
A parachute.
I was simultaneously overjoyed and terrified at what that meant. Was it a male or female? Were there others? Was it hurt? I realized at my last thought that even if it wasn't, it would be landing here without any help. I immediately took off to where I thought I saw it land. I had only gone about ten feet before I thought better of sprinting. I didn't want it's first impression of me to be a gigantic being barreling through the trees at it. It had been so long since I'd seen one though, I couldn't help but be excited. And worried. This was not the place for humans, that much I knew. After about a minute of walking, I heard... something. It might have been a voice, but I couldn't tell. I decided to move towards it. If it was a voice, then it was what I was looking for. I kept moving, hearing the voice just a couple more times, before I finally found it.
Dangling before me from an eye level branch, already cowering in fear, was a human. 'Not the first reaction I was hoping for.' I thought to myself. I took a moment to look at the human before making a rather important observation.
It was a she.
I saw her open her eyes, which completely bugged out upon seeing me. I didn't want to scare her any more than I already had just by being, but I couldn't just let her hang here for some critter to come snatch her up. I took a moment to calm myself, nervous of doing anything to hurt her, and reached out to pluck her from the branch. I quickly retracted my hand upon seeing her go limp. "Hello?" I said quietly. No response. "Excuse me, are you alright?... Hello?" Still nothing. "Oh god! She fainted, or worse! What if she had a heart attack? Arg, I probably caused it too!" I was all but literally kicking myself for not being more careful. I couldn't point out what I had done wrong, but I had done something. I looked back at her, noticing her already beginning to come to. She looked around, stopping once I came into sight. She muttered something I could barely make out, clearly terrified. I was afraid she might faint again, so I decided to go for a different approach this time.
"My name's Grey. Do you... um," I tried to think ahead and placed my hand beneath her. In case she fell I wanted to make sure she didn't get hurt. "Do you need some help maybe?" She flinched away from my hand as best she could, dangling from a branch and all. It hurt but I couldn't show it. I didn't want to do anything to make her uncomfortable. She responded after a moment in an obviously shaken voice. "Uh... no... I think I'll be alright."
I tried to interject a little humor into the situation, "So you can talk." The small joke didn't get through, so I tried to move the conversation forward. "What's your name?" Oh god I was nervous! I could feel my whole body shaking, hoping she wouldn't notice.
I heard her say something which I assumed was her name, but she was simply being too quiet. I moved in a bit closer to hear, "I'm sorry? I didn't hear you." She flinched away before responding.
"Eden." I couldn't help thinking it sounded pretty. It was unique. Different. I looked over her features and realized she was rather pretty too. Her striking purple hair was done up in a sloppy pony tail. I couldn't tell if it was that way from laziness or the fall though. Fairly simple outfit too. Gray t-shirt, denim jeans that flared out at the ends and red sneakers. She looked to be a bit older than me too, but I honestly couldn't tell because of the size difference. Finally, she seemed to have black irises. It was one of the strangest yet most amazing things I'd seen. She had a few nicks and scrapes in places, but they didn't take away from her overall looks. I pulled myself from my thoughts remembering the situation.
I nervously scratched the back of my neck, contemplating what to do next. "Well Eden, I think we have a problem. You don't want my help," I saw her shake her head. Ouch, "But I know you can't get down on your own.  I also have a bit of a problem with just leaving people in trouble." I made up my mind and positioned my left hand beneath her in case she fell. "Sorry." I moved my other hand to grab her shirt from the branch. She seemed stuck between a scream and a squeal as I reached for her. It hurt a bit, but I understood. I also understood that I had to help her down, so I continued despite the objection.
I plucked her from the branch by her shirt, "You're sorry?" I heard her ask. I placed her on my open palm, immediately lowering her to the ground. She scrambled off the moment my hand made contact with the ground.
"Well, you said that you didn't want my help," I said, "So yea, sorry about that." I stood back up and waited for a response. This was so nerve racking! What did I do now? There weren't any other humans here. I don't think there's any way to contact anyone from off the island. I certainly couldn't just leave her here. I heard her begin to say something before stopping, letting out a nervous squeak. Ugh, just by being I was scaring the hell out of her. I knew the height was the issue, so I got down on my knees to help that as much as I could. "I'm sorry. I know I'm making you uncomfortable and you'd like nothing more than to be rid of me..." It stung my lips as I said it. Sometimes the truth does though, "But I think you should know, you don't have very many places to go. This is an island."
I noticed she began scanning her environment again before I continued, "As far as I know there aren't any human settlements here," I cleared my throat, "After all, pretty girls don't always fall out of the sky." I realized the slip I had made and turned my head away, embarrassed.
That was probably the dumbest thing you could have said. She already doesn't like you, and now she probably thinks you're some kind of creeper to boot! There were so many occasions where I wished I wasn't like this. Where I wished I could just be normal like the rest of the people on this planet. I was nothing but a monster. The world thought so, I knew it, and now so did she. I heard her wince in pain, tearing me from my own self pity.
"Well, I suppose... I suppose that I can go with you… if you don't mind of course!" She seemed so bothered by asking. Like she was afraid I'd be offended. It was almost cute, before I realized it was just another off branch of fear. I masked my inner reaction by trying to joke.
"Well, my place is kind of a mess... But I think I can find room for you!" I chuckled a bit and without thinking reached to pick her up. She fell back from my hand, landing on her rear and letting out a rather pained, "Ouch!"
I realized what I had done and quickly retracted my hand, waving it and the other in front me in a defensive gesture, "Oh god! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you again, I just haven't even seen a human in I don't know how long," I began remembering the few humans I had known in my life, "I guess I forgot how to act around them."
What followed next was not what I was expecting. I expected to hear her scream, run, panic, or faint. Instead she stood up and... "You, you were going to grab me!" She yelled at me with full force and gusto. After acting so scared and timid, I didn't see this coming in the slightest. I was so shocked by it I found myself falling back onto my own rear, the thud causing her to lose balance for a moment. I tried to respond, but my mind was drawing blank after blank in terms of intelligence.
"Well, um, yeah. I was. I didn't think you'd be able to keep up on foot, so I was going to carry you. Would you rather… I don't know," I voiced the first idea that came to mind. It wasn't a good one, "Ride on my shoe or something?" Ugh, what?! Ride my shoe?! What was wrong with me all of a sudden? Why was I so nervous? I admired her courage for staying after that.
"I don't mind you carrying me…but could you…not pick me up like that?  Maybe I could just try riding in your hand?" I did all but smack my palm to my face as the words left her mouth. Just let her ride on your hand. What was so mind wracking about that?
"Right, right. I'm sorry." I should probably stop apologizing so often too. Even well meant, that had to be getting annoying. This was going ok now though. She asked to come back with me. I didn't have to worry about forcing her to come with me and protecting her. As much as I wanted her consent, and as much as it would kill me to make her do anything against her will, I knew she couldn't survive an hour out here. I knew I had to do something. I was just so scared I'd be the one she'd need protecting from! I felt a light touch on my finger and saw a slight look of concern on her face.
"Are you going to be ok?" I was shocked she could just ask me a question so simply. I thought she was practically terror stricken at this point. I looked down and noticed the hand I was holding out to her was shaking pretty badly.
"Oh. Yeah.  I'd just forgotten what it's like to be around a human.  I'm just nervous.  I mean, what if I slip or something?" the thought sickened me, that in trying to protect her out here I could wind up the cause of something terrible. I took her words into consideration though and took a moment to calm myself, and my hand stopped shaking... for the most part. I was still so scared I'd hurt her! "Okay, I think I'm good. Let's go."
She hesitated for a moment before crawling up into my hand. She was obviously just as scared  about this whole thing as I was, looking up at me with worry in her eyes. I understood why, she was willingly placing her life in my hands. Literally. Once I felt her situated safely, I stood up. "Okay, we'll just take this slow and we'll be home in no time." As I made my way home, I made sure to be as careful as possible so as not to jostle my new guest. I felt the situation would just get even more uncomfortable if I didn't do something, so I decided to try to ease the tension with a bit of conversation. I started with the more obvious question. "So, people don't usually fall from the sky.  Might I ask how you wound up…how I found you?" I found the topic to be rather interesting... I was alone in that aspect.
She seemed surprised by my bringing up the topic, or any topic for that matter. "I was on a plane and I guess something happened and we all had to evacuate.  I didn't see anyone after I jumped out and I just kind of landed here…wherever here is." I was obviously not doing a very good job of cheering her up. Maybe a nonverbal method would be better suited. It was obvious by this point that I was fumbling every which way with my words. I realized I probably wasn't doing a very good job of keeping calm either, and an idea formed. Simple, kind, perfect. I bent my index finger back to her. "Here, you can use this for support." I looked away from her and back on the path. I thought I might try one more time at a verbal approach. "Uh, lucky I came along then huh?" I tried offering her a smile.
She seemed to jump between two thoughts in one go. First apprehension, then realization. I guess the situation hadn't quite hit her. After a few moments thought I felt her hold onto my finger. "Yeah, I really was lucky." She smiled back up to me, and I felt a blush cross my face. I was so relieved that she was finally beginning to trust me. I could even feel a touch of pride in that I could be the one to protect her.
We walked on in a more comfortable silence for a while before finally arriving home. I tried to figure out a creative way to break it to her that my humble little home was where she would be staying for a while. Clever me could only come up with, "Well, home sweet home!" Brilliant.

Chapter 1: End