Nidawi Niabi's Story

She ran down the forest path, jumping and dodging various obstacles in her way, before stopping and looking behind her, hoping she had no followers. She sighed, and began walking nonchalantly. Her father was too protective of her and her people, always making rules, and expecting her to blindly follow them, like lemmings over a cliff. HE thought they would get hurt from venturing too far off into the island, but nothing had ever happened to her and she had been out here many times before. She came to the river, and watched it rush past her before she closed her eyes and concentrated, when she opened her eyes once again they were glowing along with her tattoos, and the river began to slow and part right in front of her. She walked across the dry sand bed and as she reached the other side the river began moving again.
All of her people had powers, and all of her people were born with the tattoos that glowed while using their powers. It was a gift from the Mother, one she never squandered, and used to her advantage. She crouched behind a bush as a lion prowled his way through the forest path, before continuing on her way.
Finally, she reached the beach. She hesitated, making sure she was alone, before walking onto the beach. She closed her eyes and breathed in the salty air, and looked off into the distance. It was said her people once originated from a far off land, and The Mother had granted them special powers that other could not have, so they were to stay on this island forever.
As she walked along the beach, a noise caught her ear. There was a... boy sleeping on the sand. She stumbled backwards, and began a slight job away from him before accidentally running into another boy, she gasped as she saw his face. He was unwelcome, he wasn't her people, she looked at him and for a second before retreating into the nearest tree.

The loud rustling of leaves and the growl of a distant lion shook James awake. He scrambled to his feet with a surprising burst of energy. Even with the rest on the sand, he thought he would be sore. That was not true, however. He felt like a million dollars.

James only managed to get a glimpse of a young woman in some unusual attire running for the trees beyond the beach. Besides her, there was another boy- a younger one- He looked wounded… badly wounded.

James reached for his pack and started looking through it for anything that could help. All he could find was a few rolls of workout tape (Thank goodness they were wrapped in plastic) and a couple of cloth bandage rolls- damp from the sea water. Also in the pack was a ziplock bag with a phone, toiletries, and a lighter inside. Oh crap! He forgot about the lighter, and couldn’t believe customs didn’t find/confiscate it. Also in the pack were a soggy change of clothes, James’ wallet with the typical stuff that was officially rendered useless, a thankfully intact jade bracelet, and a simple clasped neck chain.

He did have a utility knife, but that was in his stored luggage. Although his suitcase was airtight and could potentially float with the airpockets inside, James wasn’t sure if he’d ever see any of that again.

If he had something that could work as a sterile cloth, he could wrap said cloth around the wound to stop the bleeding, but the best option on this island would have to be a leaf.

He wished he took his mother’s advice to learn at least a bit of botany. James wasn’t sure if any of the leaves on the nearby trees would make a good wound cover. Regardless, he packed a saltwater-soaked bandage roll and ran to the wounded boy. “Dude, are you okay?!” James called as he jogged with trained speed. If James got within six or seven feet, the boy's pain would ease a little.

Nidawi watched from the tree above. Where did the other boy run off to? He was injured, yet he ran to his most certain doom. Some 'others' must have not been as smart as she would had hoped. She focused her attention to the other man who now was the sole occupant of the beach.

What was this strange man doing? He seemed to be going through the strange things that were washing up on the beach, but why? She watched as he pulled out fabrics and a long metal piece that looked like it was supposed to be sharp but had long since lost its edge. She leaned closer as he began slipping various items into little holes in his clothes, as she did so a part of the branch she stood on snapped,

"Crack!" Sounded the broken wood, followed by a thump of the small branch hitting the ground below. Nidawi subconsciously smacked herself for her foolishness, but she couldn't help being curious, she had never seen an 'other' before.

She wondered if she knew his language, most of her people spoke various languages, due to them having originated from all over the world at one point in time. She slid closer to the trunk of the tree into the shadows, hoping he wouldn't see her. She kinda hoped he would, maybe he was nice, and could tell her about the other world... She shook her head of the foolish thought. He could easily be evil, and want nothing more than to harm her and her people, she couldn't be too trusting. After all, not everyone had good intentions.

As James picked out a pack of playing cards still in the plastic, there was a sudden crack of wood. As he slipped the cards into his pocket, he gripped his right hand on the hilt of the machete and spun around. He did not brandish the weapon, but he didn’t want to be caught off-guard by something like that lion he heard. He saw the jagged points of where the snapped branch must’ve come from, but nothing that could have caused it. Wherever it was, it must’ve been hiding.

James glanced up and down the beach. The nearest piece of luggage he didn’t salvage was a good forty metres away. He glanced back at the trees and called, “Hello?”

Nidawi hesitated and made a split-second decision. She poked her head through the trees,
"Hello?" The man called. She understood, slightly, his language, at least. She swung down on a branch still holding onto the branch above her head before dropping down onto all fours and slowly standing.

"Are you friend, or foe?" She spoke, her voice was slightly accented with a mix of British and Jamaican, and her English was a bit broken. She hoped she had spoken everything right, or else he could of taken what she said completely wrong. But she was fairly confident she had said it right.
As a slight breeze picked up, she caught a stray strand of white hair and slipped it behind her ear, waiting expectantly for a reply.

The wind picked up, and James’ short hair waved with the wind. As he scanned the forest to try to find any sign of whatever made the sound, there was a sudden flash of someone’s face from behind some foliage. It was the white-haired woman from earlier with an accented voice, she asked James a question in an awkward English.

James had half a mind that the woman didn’t know his language, but that idea was shattered by the ultimate correctness of the question. He eased his grip on the hilt of the machete and replied. He couldn’t be a friend because he didn’t know this woman, but he couldn’t be a foe unless the woman showed herself to be a threat. There was only one honest answer: “I’m lost. And… I think there are others.”

“I’m lost. And… I think there are others.” The man spoke to her. Lost... others?
"You mean there are more... of you?" She asked, stepping back slightly and scanning the beach. Where were the others? If her father found out there were others here he would be very, very angry.

She circled him slightly, observing everything about him. She reached toward his arm, but pulled her hand back. "I've never seen an other before", she admitted. She noticed the luggage washing up on the beach and quickly lugged a soaked one up onto the beach and emptied the contents of it onto the sand. Most looked like clothing items but there were many things she didn't know what they were. There was a round object with bristles on it, she ran it over her hand and smiled, it tickled.

She stopped suddenly and looked up at the man again, as if she had forgotten he had been there.
"My father wouldn't like you and the others to be here. He would be angry.." She said gravely.
"My people were taught to fear outsiders, they wouldn't like me being here with you either.." She couldn't just leave him here, it seemed like he didn't know the first thing to living on an island, he would surely die without her help. She would keep him, and teach him, and he could live here on the beach, where no one else would ever find him.

"You mean there are more... of you?" She asked.

"There's got to be," James replied, "Our plane crashed in the ocean, but there had to have been other survivors. I hope someone finds the black box signal-" James paused as the strange woman seemed to circle him, almost as if she were observing some alien creature. For once in his life, James understood what a lion in a zoo felt like as children saw it for the first time. Inside, James kinda liked the attention. If not for the direness of his situation, he might've sneaked a quick flex through his now-dry, but sand-covered white tee shirt.

She resorted to searching through a newly washed-up piece of luggage. The athletic man was not entirely certain of what to say, but he was thankful that she wasn't a threat. In fact, she seemed amused by the trinkets of first-world civilization. James noted the tattoos- which would have been painful to apply if she didn't have the technology James came from.

Suddenly she rose her head with a deadly concerned expression. James flinched. "My father wouldn't like you and the others to be here. He would be angry... My people were taught to fear outsiders, they wouldn't like me being here with you either."

Cryptic, James thought. "To be honest, none of us meant to be here. Our plane crashed, and left us stranged..." he replied as he crossed his arms and turned to face the ocean. Suddenly something clicked in his mind, and he spun back to the strange woman. "Wait, there are other 'people'? Would they be able to help us leave this island?"

Finch was asleep when it happened. Her headphones were snuggled deep in her ears playing some ironic indie song, when suddenly, rushes of air and water --Water everywhere. The slap and sting of the salty water threw Finch awake. Her eyes adjusted to the stinging ocean around her. She looked around frantically, before focusing on the fact that her leg was wedged between the seat in front of her and a smashed piece of the plane. Not knowing what to do and needing air soon, she began to tug at the stuck limb. Sharp pains spasmed up her leg from her calf. She was beginning to really need some air. Pushing as hard as she could while using all her strength left in her leg, Finch pulled her wounded leg out from underneath and managed to swim towards the surface. She was tousled by the waves-- left and right, back under and surfaced again. Choking for breathes and fighting the pain, Finch started kicking her legs and was able to keep herself above the water. She was about two football fields away from the sand. She knew she could make it. It hurt. It hurt like nothing she had ever felt before, but she kept kicking till she made it to the sand. There she laid back on the sand and blacked out....

No way off… and ‘The Mother’? James glanced back out to the ocean. He then stepped away from the strange woman. Either I should never have come on this island, this woman is crazy, or both.

James’ stomach growled. He hadn’t eaten since the flight during the night. With the machete and the other supplies he salvaged, he felt he was well-equipped to gather some sort of food. “Mother… right… I’ll just go and... find some survivors.” With that, James turned tail and burst into a sprint down the beach. His legs fired like cannons with astonishing energy. It shocked James that he felt as healthy as he did as he ran… In fact, he kinda liked it…

However, it didn’t distract him from his growling stomach, though. He needed to find food- or definitely other survivors. Hopefully some of them would have better luck with hunting or gathering.

Sand was thrown onto Finche's face. She spit and rubbed at her eyes. She opened to the view of the sky and a man running away from her. She began to remember the crash with every stabbing pain in her calf. Her mouth was bone dry from the salt water heaving in and out of her lungs and left her lips chalky and white. She watched after him, trying to call out, "Hey! Over here!"

Nidawi watched as the man ran off in the other direction. She stood and watched for a moment before walking into the forest and finding the path back to her village. She walked slowly, mulling over everything that had just happened. If her father found out he would be furious, with her and the others. With her because she left the village perimeter, with them because they weren't supposed to be here. They weren't supposed to find the island.

"Where have you been Nidawi?"

Nidawi looked up to see Mitsu, one of her fathers apprentices, standing in the path.

"I just went for a walk, Mitsu. Is that not allowed?" Nidawi asked, annoyed at him. He was always trying to get her in trouble for one reason or another.

"There have been reports of Other's being here. You wouldn't know anything about it would you?"

Panic made her heart skip a beat, they knew? Not about her though.. hopefully.

"Others? You have to be crazy. No one has found our island for years, no would find it now, of all times."

She hoped she had spoken with confidence enough to show she didn't know anything.

"Your Father has arranged a search party, you are to lead us, to fan out and search for them. WE have to do something before The Mother gets angry with us."

She nodded, "Alright, have my group meet me in the center of the village in twenty minutes."

She would of course, have to warn them beforehand, or keep her people away from the others. She wasn't sure how she would pull this off.