VINCE

There was no path in the forest going anywhere, just mud and leaves, and more scattered pieces of shipware. This forest baffled Vince. Forests in general baffled him, but he was pretty sure they weren’t known for their shipwrecks. That was kind of the ocean’s thing. He did his best to avoid the sharp-looking shards of metal, covered in rust and tetanus. He shivered thinking of the fools who didn’t clean out their rust wounds: blacked wounds bleeding yellow puss, coming from sweating bodies, drool leaking out of their mouths. Handi really shouldn’t have let that boy run off on his own.

She was following him closely, never more than a few feet away, walking along a tree root before jumping onto one of the threatening pieces of metal. She walked along it beside him. 

“Why are you following me?” he asked.

“Why are you on my island,'' she replied. At least she was consistent.

He watched as she climbed up into a low-hanging tree. While she distracted him he let one of his expensive leather boots slip into a deep puddle of mud. The mud slid into his boot soaking up his sock. Vince struggled to get it out, but the mud wasn’t being cooperative. He heard Handi laugh at him from up in the tree.

“Where are you going,” Handi yelled from above. She was a few feet above him walking along a tree’s branch like a circus acrobat. 

“I’m going to the beach to get off your island,” he yelled back.

After a few attempts, he finally got his boot free, but not before he slathered a good layer of mud on his trousers too. When he looked up again he was startled to find Handi’s head hanging in front of him. She stared at him more concerned than angry this time. 

“You can’t get off this island,” she said.

Vince dismissed her concern and walked past her. He knew she wouldn’t be of any help.

“You know the beach is that way,” Handi said. He turned back around. Handi hung from her branch still upside down and pointed in almost the opposite direction he was going. “We’re heading into the mountains right now.” 

“Thank you,” he said and walked in the direction Handi indicated, instantly forgetting about the mud puddle. His lips pressed together in a thin line of self-anger as his other boot sank into the mud. As if this island couldn’t get any worse.

Handi trailed him to the forest’s end. The view of the beach peeked through the trees like a painting showing another world. The sun reflected off the fluorescent blue shallows onto the bleach-white sand. Not a person in sight, only a few scattered pieces of debris. 

“It really is an island,” Vince said. In either direction, all he could see was the ocean. He had been in a hopeful denial that Handi was just some deluded forest person raised by wolves or something, but nope this was an island and there wouldn’t be any wolves here, probably. He wandered to the shore. Fish darted between tall reefs and seaweed not too far off the sand bank. Further out the water got darker and darker until it hit a sharp dark blue line that seemed to surround the island.

“Hey, what’s that?” Vince shouted to Handi. For some reason despite trailing him this entire time, she stayed glued to the forest. She watched him from a palm tree that had grown parallel to the ground. Vince had read of that happening on some islands with strong trade winds in the evenings. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be staying there long enough to confirm it.

Vince’s gaze traced along the dark blue line. It stretched as long as he could see. Maybe it was a discolored reef or a trench. A trench would be perfect for anchoring large steamships.

“Why is it a different color?” He yelled. No reply like usual. 

Something flickered barely beyond the deep ring around the island. He squinted to make out a shiny triangular object floating in the distance.

“Maybe a lifeboat,” he wondered to himself. Vince rubbed his eyes, sore from squinting at reflecting sunlight. He looked back at the object; it was closer. He watched as it crossed over the deep blue line. If it was a lifeboat maybe he could use it to get off the island. Maybe it would even have a sane person on it, and if he was smart about it he might be able to arrive just barely on time for the school term to start.

Warm water filtered into his boots, creating a brown cloud discoloring the seawater below him. Vince didn’t realize he went that close to shore. The waves by his feet were getting bigger by the second growing from a small wisp of water barely touching his shoes to ankle-deep waves to knee-high. A loud growl came from the sea. The line was no longer dark blue but instead a foamy white as the water bubbled up. Higher and higher. Louder and louder.

Handi grabbed his arm, ripping it back. “Are you crazy?” She yelled.

“What do yo-” she didn’t give him a chance to finish. She dragged him back to the forest. Vince couldn’t resist; he was mesmerized by the strange phenomenon at sea. The waves crashed into each other trapped inside the line, creating squares across the shore, as the line rose taller until it fell. 

“What’s happening with the waves,” he asked Handi, surprised not to find her by his side. Vince had no idea how she went so far so fast. She frantically searched the forest floor behind a few trees.

“I think it's over,” Vince said. The ocean was silent. Not a single wave. Whatever had floated across its line had been shattered and sank to the bottom of the trench. The ocean reflected the sky perfectly like a clean canvas. So flat, so peaceful. Handi picked up a rusty, barnacle-covered sheet of rectangular metal in the distance. It looked like it was once a piece of a ship's hull. She made eye contact with Vince. Her brown eyes were wide with panic. She looked down at the sheet, then back at Vince. She did that same uncertain roll of her head, before deciding and sprinting back to him.

The water on the line shot up into the sky, leagues above the trees, and even the mountain in the distance. Vince froze in shock. That shouldn’t be possible. The first drop of salty sea water landed on his hand. One by one they fell. Handi ran to his side and held the metal sheet above their heads. She held onto the bolts sticking out of the inside, careful to keep her small hands beneath it.

They were uncomfortably close, nose to nose. Vince hunched down to fit beneath her makeshift umbrella, he didn’t like being so close to her. Handi’s breath was heavy and warm. Pellets of seawater pounded against the metal above their heads. And then clanks of metal on metal sounded off. Tiny bolts and screws rained down from the sky like bullets. Those wide golden brown eyes full of fear finally made sense as everything from the bottom of the surrounding ocean rained down on them.

Vince followed Handi’s lead and helped hold the metal up while keeping his hands safely inside. They both barely fit beneath. Once the rain and bolts pattered to a stop Handi tossed the metal sheet to the ground. Vince fell back against a tree using it for support. His hands shook. The waves were slowly settling down.

“What was that?” He asked.

Handi walked to the edge of the forest and stared at the waves. “Should be safe now.” She turned back to him and began looking up in the trees. “I’m going to look from above.”

She grabbed onto a tree and found good footing to climb. “Wait!” Vince pulled her back. “What was that?”

He was sick and tired of her ignoring his questions. How did he get to her island?

She sighed and ripped her shoulder from his grip. “You wanted to know what the spouts are. That. That’s the spouts.”

“The spouts?” He said. Handi went back to climbing the tree and ignoring him. 

The ocean went back to being as peaceful as when he first saw it, not a single piece of debris in the sea. That little boy said Vince came from the spouts. So in theory according to Handi, who was obviously half insane, and a toddler he survived: falling overboard, floating for who knows how long at sea, being thrown hundreds of feet up in the air, and landing safely in the middle of a forest covered in pieces of debris all of which could easily kill him.

“There’s no way I could survive that,” he said to himself. It was impossible. There had to be another way. Any other way.