CHAPTER THREE

Saul woke up in a sweat.

“Why is it so hot in hear?” he mumbled as he slowly sat up in bed.

“And so bright?”

Slowly opening his eyes, Saul discovered he was not in his New York apartment. He could not leave his eyes open long or his head up, for the pain in his head caused him to lay back down,

“Man, I must have really over done it last night,” he mumbled as he slowly sat up again.

“Where am I?”

He slowly made his way over to the open doorway of his hut. Shading his eyes, he looked out on the whites sand beach he had ever seen. In the distance was a beautiful blue ocean. He took a step out on the small porch just as a cool sea breeze swept across him.

“Wow, does that feel nice.” Saul said to himself as he began to investigate the items that was on the porch. Looking to his right he noticed a kayak and a paddle. Without hesitation, he grabbed both and headed towards the ocean. He paddle his way out a ways feeling like a kid. It had been a number of years sense he had been on the ocean. He grew up in Key West Florida. As a youth he spent his life in and on the ocean. That being said, he had totally forgot what he was taught about being in unfamiliar water, He dove in, and right into the path of a surprised great white shark.

Saul opened his eyes as if it was all a bad dream. When he did, he was back in that same hut. Confused he walked onto the same porch, with the same view, and the same kayak was in the same spot in which he had took it.

He did notice that there was one thing different, one of the paddles had something red on it. He looked closely. It was blood.

“Blood? My blood! It wasn’t a dream! But how did I…”

Saul grabbed his head and went back into the hut and sat down in one of the two hanging chairs that were there in his hut. He tried to remember how he might have gotten there, but nothing was coming to him. He looked around the inside of his hut for the first time. In one corner of the hut was a small table. It had a box siting on the top, and a box sitting on the shelf underneath.

“That’s odd.” Saul mumbled, then laughed,

“What so far has not been?” he again mumbled to himself as he made his way over to the table.

As he did, he noticed something even stranger. The pillow on his bed now had the word “START” printed on it and there was a red check mark next to it. Shaking his head, he continued to make his way over to the table. The Box on the top was about thirty inches wide, and twenty inches deep. It hand a hinged top, and some sort of hand crank protruding out one side.

“Interesting,” he mumbled as he unclasped the latches and raised the lid. It was an old fashion wind up phonograph.

“Wow! This is amazing! My Grandfather had one of these!”

Saul had seen it sitting on a high shelf in his parents home. His father kept it because it was one of the few things that he had from his parents. They died before Saul was born, and the only thing his Dad would say about it was that his Mom and Dad was use it to play records of sermons to people they visited. They were one of the first portable phonographs invented. They were all mechanical, not requiring any electricity or batteries. The one in his father’s house was well worn and not long worked, but this one looked brand new.

Saul now wondered as he grabbed the box on the second shelf. Sure enough, it was full of new looking records. Many of them were of his favorite groups, and all in protective sleeves. There was a note taped to the lid of the box.

“You may enjoy as many of these as you like, as often as you like, but you must play the last record first.”

Saul shrugged his shoulders, flipped through the records, and found the last one. Unlike all the others, this one had no label. He pulled out the record, wound the player, placed down the needle, and switched the knob to “play.” Much to his surprise, this is what he heard.

“Welcome Saul! Now that you have had your first lesson in ‘look before you leap’ into shark infested waters, and have been ‘reset to start,’ you are advised to be a lot more careful. Your resets are limited, I would advise you to not think of this as a vacation. You have been provided shelter, but food and water will be your responsibility to acquire, Take this responsibility seriously. You may enjoy this phonograph as much as you like but be sure to put this record back in the last spot, and to listen to it once a day for what little help it is allowed to give you.”

Although the record was not all the way to the end, the needle lifted and went back to its resting position, and the phonograph turned off. Saul just stared at it. His brain tried to sort out what he had just heard, He began to search all around for any kind of hidden cameras or recording devises. He was unable to locate anything that someone could use to spy on him. He sat in one of the cane chairs and put his hands on his head,

This all has to be some kind of weird dream, or one of the most elaborate pranks, I have ever seen! His stomach growled.

“Okay, for now I guess I need to play the game.”

He looked around and found a clean pail, and a long, large, sharp knife.

“Well let’s see what kind of food and water this place has to offer,” he mumbled as he headed out the door.

He had been away from his home state of Florida for a number of years, so his trek into the tropical jungle behind his hut started to sap his energy. The heat and humidity was high. There was a tropical breeze, which helped, but he was rapidly becoming dehydrated. He sat on a rock to recover. As he sat, he took in all the sounds that he heard around him. He could hear the ocean gently lapping on the beach, the sounds of different bird calls, the rustling of the breeze through the trees. It reminded his of how many different instruments had there own distinctive sounds, but played together, made beautiful music. He listened for quite some time before he began to hear another “instrument.” It was the sound of water. Not the ocean, but the sound of a stream, or spring. He grabbed his bucket and knife and made his way in the direction of this new sound. Ashe made his way through the thick undergrowth he came to a small clearing. There he found not only a small spring of fresh water, but also a few fruit trees.

“What a relief,” he mumbled as he bent down and began drinking, as well as using hand full to cool himself down.

“Wow, look at the size of this fruit!”

It took Saul a couple of tries before he figured out how to scale the coconut and banana trees, but when he headed back to his hut, he had a bucket full of fresh water and plenty of fruit.

“Okay, before it gets dark, I need to gather fire wood and I can make use of some of these woody reeds for various projects.”

 Saul took his machete and gathered what he figured he would need for a few days. He then, this time being incredibly careful, used the dug out to paddle out a way to spear some fish. After his meal, he fashioned out a torch out of materials he had gathered lit it and placed it in the sand in front of his porch. He sat looking out over the ocean. He gathered the phonograph, sat it on the porch, and listened to a few records as he enjoyed the view.

“I am so confused. I hated being in the city. I hated being forced to work for a big corporation. I mean I enjoyed being with my work mates, at least the celebrations with them, but man… look at his view! I just don’t understand how or why I am here.”

Saul continued to mumble to himself as he strolled out towards the ocean. He had done this several times as a kid, but as he looked at how the moon was reflecting off the water, something seemed strange. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but it was enough to get his attention.