All I could do was return my focus back to the now destroyed palace of mine.
“I am Clarine” she squeaked “What’s your name?”
“Joshua” I said, my eyes still on the sandy ruins.”You can call me Josh”
“Josh” she mouthed. “What were you building Josh?
“CLARINE?!” The voice of woman called out in the distance. Our heads shot towards the sound.
A woman appeared out of the dense grove of trees that lined the beautiful coast. She had Jet black hair and shared similar features with the girl in front of me. I presumed that she was the little girl’s mother .She seemed to be running for a while now. She was wearing a swimming suit .Panic stretched across her face , she frantically looked left and right until she spotted us and anger replaced her expression. God did she look pissed!
She took no time in breaking into a sprint and rushing towards us; leaving clouds of sand behind her and the coastal wind in her hair she advanced towards us with mind boggling speed. Maternal instincts probably .I wish I had a mother like that
I looked up to the little violet eyed girl in front of me . She had this surprised look on her face as though she couldn’t recognise the woman in front of her. She looked at me wide eyed and then back at the woman.
The woman skid to a halt and was groaning and huffing , she kneeled down on the floor and bent down, still trying to catch her breath.How long had she been running?
When she seemed to have returned to a more stable state she shot her eyes towards me with Eyes of fury that could scare bears away! Whoa I fell back on my butt ,scared shitless! Then she looked up at Clarine with twice the fierceness but Clarine didn’t seem to react in the way I had expected. The woman got up with hands on her hips, demanding answers. She did NOT look happy
“Hey Sis!” She beamed ”Look who I met, this is......”
Before she could finish, the girl who seemed more younger now that I could observe her from a shorter distance , grabbed her shoulders and shook her like a coconut and screamed right in her face “Where the fu..!fudge! were you?You little....Do you know how worried we were for you ?” Clarine just stared at her questioningly as her body was being shaken back and forth .
“What..what ...happ...ennnedd!!..ahhhhh!! stop..shaking...meeeee.Naattaalliiiee!!”
The girl lifted her hand up to her ear that had a strange device attached to it ”MOM,DAD! I FOUND HER! I’M TRANSMITTING THE LOCATION.OVER.”
”Sorry” Clarine muttered. Both were out of breath now. They just plopped down next to each other and stared into the sea in silence. I was very entertained by now and I began to gather more sand for another castle. “Where’s mum and dad?” asked Clarine “They are on their way now .We all panicked when we found out you wandered away somewhere. Where were you anyway?” “Oh Me? I made a new friend. Look! “ She pointed at me and said ”This is Josh. He is a bit shy though”
She giggled. As I dug my hands in the sand hurriedly I felt something pierce my right hand. I feared that a grumpy crab who had nothing better to do, might have pinched my little hand. I cautiously lifted my hand out only to find it dripping with blood. A deep cut across my palm and a shattered beer bottle that had surfaced along with my hand. The sand underneath was glowing red from the blood and it’s metallic smell hit my nose with the saline touch of the sea. To say I screamed would be an exaggeration . I kept my eyes on the gushing wound. Clarine happened to be looking at me, smiling, and as soon as her gaze fell on my bleeding hand, she began to scream. I could not ask for their help of course. I was so shy that I would rather bleed to death.
“Jooooshhh!!” She screamed , God please! tune it down a bit.”Josh?!” I could not think properly and had begun to feel a little light headed and God knows what would happen to me. Where was Uncle Solomon anyway? I shouldn’t have wandered off without telling him earlier.
“Natalie He’s bleeding. Do something!”
“Pass me your Hand kerchief! Quick!”
Clarine had started to cry and Natalie was almost finished with tying up my bleeding wound
The blood started to soak up the hand kerchief and I thought I’m good as dead!
“It’s not working!” Natalie panicked .There was no way she was going to let a five year old bleed to death I guess.
I felt myself being carried and I looked up at Natalie who was holding me bridal style and was running like a monkey with fire crackers bound to it’s tail. I looked at the direction where she was headed and I saw a line of five Bugatti Veyrons standing proud in front of the Beach’s Med bay. Another wave of dizziness hit me, I blinked again and again but to no avail. I felt myself being handed over to a nurse. The voices around me began to tune out and the room was being eaten away slowly by shadows from all fours.I was unaware of anything after that .
I woke up to the sound of a lot of chattering going on ,giving me the crazy idea that I had been abducted by monkeys. My throat felt dry, my eyes burned and I felt like my head had been hammered like a tin sheet. An IV stand stood next to the bed I was laying on.
“Josh’s Awake!” A girl yelled at my ear. I looked to my right and Clarine was sitting next to my bed side, looking like she had been waiting by my side for hours on end. The room instantly filled with people. The only people I could recognise was the nurse from before, Natalie, Clarine and Uncle Solomon?
Uff! A bear hug squeezed out any air left inside my lungs. It took me a moment to process my thoughts. My heart felt relieved yet I felt myself shaking. It was Uncle who was crying like a baby.”I am sorry Josh! I shouldn’t have left you by yourself!” Tears kept pouring and I could not stand to look at the remorse filled face of my guardian .I hugged him back and chuckled to hide the pain I felt in my body.
He turned to face the people behind him and smiled with a nod, which was their cue to move out and leave the two of us alone. After we were left to our selves , or so we thought Uncle told me that next Monday would mark the first day of my schooling at Paradise valley International school. If you ask me, it was a school where these big shots went, and I had no clue on Earth how my uncle had managed to buy me a seat there .I didn’t complain. The door opened, making us jump. A tiny voice said ”See you at school Josh!” Then she giggled and ran away. It was Clarine. Talk about eavesdropping.
End Of Flash Back
I found myself back in the car, all strapped up and safe, courtesy of Clarine. he he I felt an uneasy feeling in my stomach, slowly creeping up to my throat. Oh God please! NO! Before I could even react,barf! “Oh My God! Josh! F***ing Unbelievable!”
“he he..sowwyy! Hick!” followed by more of the Niagara falls. Oh boy, was it gonna be a looonngg night!
photo credit: pexels.com