Lifting his face from the sand, spitting the sand that had taken residence in his mouth, and looking up at this palm tree that only seconds ago he had jumped up in to Craig had one thought… ‘This can’t be good.’
Taking distance seemed like a good idea so Craig took himself a good hundred yards or so down the beach, resolutely faced the light blue ocean and sat rather heavily. The waves kept up their incessant beating of the sands, the lizards continued to scamper through the palms’ shade, and the sun was still shinning in the cloudless sky yet, to Craig this seemed rather rude of the world to continue when something impossible had just happened. Giant radioactive lizards were running around in his head causing worldwide destruction and panic while some nation’s military fired missile after missile at the beast with no affect… Was he going to be a human version?
‘Take a hold of yourself, Craig.’ He said aloud. His voice was a bit scratchy from disuse but it still made him feel better to hear a human voice even if it was his own. ‘You’ve been alone for a very long time and you’re making things up. Yes, that’s it, creating it in your head to make this paradise more interesting.’
He laughed a bit at that, paradise more interesting, like he needed that. What he needed was a bath, a long book, and TV. Or at least at this moment those were the top three on his list.
Ok, back to the tree incident.
Craig felt calmed enough so he lifted himself up off the sand and slowly made his way back to palm tree above his small sleeping nook. Studying it hard showed no evidence that he had jumped up to the top of the tree and miraculously held himself there but with so much time spent alone Craig didn’t really need evidence, just time. Time to convince his mind that what had happened hadn’t and what should have happened did. Easy as that and Craig was right as rain. Or as right as rain is when it’s stranded on a radioactive island eating radioactive food, drinking radioactive water and suffering delusions… Well, Craig can ignore that part.
Back to the present.
Craig stood watching the sunrise suffering the worst kind of affliction he had known since washing up on this beach over a year ago, thought. As the tide pulled away and birds ate their fill he worried about the incident of a few days ago and though he thought he had been able to convince himself it hadn’t happened, it kept creeping back up on him.
Am I a monster now? He wondered, absently rubbing his back with one hand checking for spikes or a tail or anything else monsterish. Suddenly very worried he spent the next hour or so checking his entire body for anything abnormal. Extra toes or fingers? No. good. Horns? No. Good. Skin color? For a white guy, really dark but the sun will do that to you. Wonder if I’ll die of skin cancer before I’m rescued? That question passed through his mind rather fast before a rumble in his stomach reminded him of more pressing concerns.
Turning back to his sleeping area, Craig picked up what remained of the lizard he had eaten the night before and began to pick the bones clean with his teeth, occasionally taking a swig of water out of a hollow coconut. All the while ignoring the thoughts of something being seriously wrong.
After breakfast Craig made his was down the white sand to the water’s edge and then past it into the gentle surf. The clear blue water easily showed the sandy bottom and few fish swimming around in the shallows, one of which was getting pretty close to Craig’s feet not knowing that by doing so he was making himself an option for addition to the lunch menu.
Craig slowly began to squat down into the water to get his hands closer to the surface, careful to make no sudden movements. He had gotten pretty good at catching fish with his hands. His main problem was holding on to them long enough to get them on the beach.
Patiently Craig watched the fish get ever closer and when it seemed the fish would turn and move away Craig lunged with all his strength. While not being smart enough to stay away from Craig in the first place, this fish was smart enough to attempt escape when a large strange creature lunged at it. The fish dodged left then right as a hand came around his left side, trying to make it to deeper water. Another hand came from just below the fishes tail fin causing him to twist on to his side and turn straight down to the bottom now ten feet below but then the hand closed on his tail and held firm no matter how hard the poor fish struggled.
Triumphant Craig held his prize. The fish was a good size and would probably be lunch and dinner, and such an easy catch too. For a moment there Craig thought the fish would get away but then time seemed to slow down and though the fish tried to dodge, he caught it pretty quickly. No all he needed to do was get back to the surface to breath.
