I didn’t bother putting on my ripped clothes again. They were dirty and damp and sweaty. I would have to make do in my underwear. Stepping gingerly over the rough jungle ground, trying to not cut myself, I looked around for Caleb. I couldn’t see him anywhere in the clearing.
“Caleb?”
There was a snapping of a branch overhead. I looked up to see Caleb halfway up a tall tree.
“Up here,” he grunted.
Gripping hold of one of the branches, I started to climb up myself. I tried not to look at all the gross insects I passed as I climbed gingerly higher and higher into the tree until I reached the spot where Caleb was standing. He was ripping branches and snapping them all to the same length with his bare hands, laying them out over thick branches to form a flat platform. I looked upward to see he’d already laid out two platforms higher up. He worked fast.
“There are three beds here,” he said. “You will sleep on top. I will sleep in the middle. Annora will sleep down here, on the lowest level.” He looked at me darkly. “Clearly, there needs to be separation between the two of you.”
I kept climbing upward, past Caleb’s platform until I reached my own. It was surprisingly stable. Now I just had to figure out how to avoid getting eaten alive by mosquitoes while sleeping here in my bikini. Oh, and I’d have to hope I didn’t roll too much in my sleep… Still, it was comforting to know that Caleb was directly beneath me.
I began tearing off leaves and laying them down over the wood to hopefully make it more comfortable. I didn’t stop until the whole platform was covered in leaves.
I looked down at Caleb laying down the last slab of Annora’s layer. I climbed down to his layer and began laying down leaves as I’d just done with mine. Then I lowered myself back down to Annora’s level. She can make her own stupid bed.
Caleb leaned against a trunk as he finished, wiping the bark on his hands onto his pants.
Our eyes met for a moment before he looked away again, clearing his throat. The gentle chirping of birds surrounded us, the sigh of the wind in the trees. For once, I didn’t have Annora’s voice in my ears.
I didn’t know if it would make him feel uncomfortable, but I didn’t know how to stop myself. I reached out and held his hand, drawing myself closer to him.
I touched his chin, guiding him to look at me. The way he was still acting distant was killing me.
I just wanted to understand what was going through his mind, whether anything had changed between us, so I at least wouldn’t continue thinking and acting under false pretenses. If something had changed, I would rather face the pain now than have the uncertainty drag out longer.
As my lips parted to speak, he reached up to my face, caressing my cheek with the backs of his fingers. His touch sent tingles down my spine. The way my body responded to him made me realize just how much I ached for his affection.
“Caleb,” I said, my voice hoarse as I stared into his eyes. “I… I need to know—”
“Caleb.”
I exhaled in frustration to hear branches creaking beneath us. A few seconds later, Annora hoisted herself up onto the platform. Caleb broke away from me, stepping back and eyeing her. To my horror, she was topless. She relied on her long thick hair for modesty. Around her waist was a narrow wreath of leaves.
She might as well have chalked the word slut onto her forehead while she was at it.
“You will sleep here, Annora,” Caleb said.
“Where will you sleep?”
Caleb nodded to the platform above us.
“And… Rose?”
“Still higher.”
She looked like she was about to object, but, apparently having second thoughts, closed her mouth.
I wanted to scream. Unable to remain in her presence a moment longer, I grabbed a branch next to me and swung myself up onto it. I climbed higher and higher, hoping to block out her voice and distract myself from the frustration of being unable to get even two minutes alone with Caleb before she interrupted. I climbed until I reached the very top of the tree, and poked my head out from the canopy.
The view was both breathtaking and disconcerting. We were surrounded by crystal-blue ocean for as far as the eye could see. And the island was larger than I’d imagined. I could make out the coast to our east, nearest to us, but when I looked in other directions all I could see was more dense treetops. I lowered myself, looking downward.
Caleb and Annora were still standing together on her platform. It looked like they were having an argument, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. At least she didn’t have her arms around him… or perhaps she’d just tried to fling herself at him and he’d rejected her, hence the argument.
Since I’d reached the top of the tree, I was about to begin making my way back down when I caught sight of a large bird’s nest. I leaned closer to it and peered inside. It was empty except for a heap of dark olive-green muck.
I looked back down at my own platform, gauging the distance. Grabbing two thick leaves, I tipped the sloppy substance onto them and wrapped them up tightly. Once I reached my own platform again, I fixed the package to a branch nearby.
Something told me that it might come in handy tonight.
* * *
We spent the rest of the day looking for food. For Annora and me, we’d harvested several dozen mangoes, oranges and coconuts. The coconuts were particularly nourishing with their meaty flesh. As for water, if the water from the coconuts wasn’t enough, we had to go down to the stream near our tree or the lake.