Before The Seas

Somewhere on a stranded island...

Those damn trees again. Just great.

3 days on this stupid island, and it’s the only thing we’ve seen, other than the scorching sunlight that made us blind.

And not a trace of what we really came here for.

The locals said it’d be an easy pick… is this what they call easy?

I didn’t even want to come here. But my partner dragged me along on that old boat and look at how that ended.

And now she’s here, whining about how we got here.

That’s when I spotted an opening. One that led to a hefty jump down below.

It was the only place with none of those palm trees.

I’d take the jump over the trees anyday.

Glanced at my partner. The look on her face told me she was thinking the same.

My head turned again, facing straight.

We knew our next stop.

-XXX-

It was a rough landing but I was able to hook my foot into the sand.

Once I regained my balance, I caught sight of my partner, face-first in the sand.

“Really? Is my cooking that bad?”

She coughed it out. Getting back on her feet.

“I fell down!”

“No excuse to eat sand.”

“I wasn’t!”

She crossed her arms, puffing up her cheeks.

“At least ask if I'm ok.”

She spun her head towards me, staring, with those irritating eyes.

I sighed. She's expecting me to ask, isn't she?

“Fine. Are you ok—”

“TREASURE!”

And just like that, she ran off. That’s just like her.

I blinked, slowly shifting my sight to see where she was heading.

Mouth dropped.

A chest decorated in gold sat buried in the sand before us.

I gazed upwards, spotting a cloud shaped like an X. The exact same as the one on the map that the locals gave us.

Don’t ask where it is now.

Click.

The sound snapped my vision towards it.

I scampered, getting closer to the chest.

My partner stared starstruck upon seeing the insides. Gold burst into view—necklaces, coins, artifacts I never knew existed till now.

It was all there, right in our grasps.

After weeks of being stranded, starving and nearly dying for.

It was here.

The reason we’d been through these hellish 3 days.

We'd finally done it.

Wait.

We?

No.

This was my hard work.

All she did was complain—about the storm, about losing the ship, about my cooking. How can someone even be this picky when they're literally stranded?!

Even when that stupid sea serpent chased me, she just stood there.

I was the one who shed blood, sweat and tears… well not the tears.

But that doesn't excuse the fact that she was there, taken away by my treasure, already talking again—like she always was.

My hand slipped to my waist.

Clink.

The knife came out.

One strike. That’s all it would take.

My hand drew closer and closer.

Till it was right next to her neck.

Why the hell had she still not noticed?

Whatever, better for me. I thought.

But my knife wouldn’t move further.

It just wouldn’t.

I groaned.

Killing the only companion you have on a stranded island, as annoying as she may be, is a bad idea. No matter how you cut it.

And other than that…

Things would get boring without her.

I slapped my face. How could I think of doing something so dumb?

The knife began to lower. Then—

“How much do you think this is worth?” Her head turned. Wearing earrings from the chest.

I jerked my hand away.

But my foot sank in the sand.

Wrong angle.

My balance went.

Cold pierced my chest.

…

The last thing I saw was the blood staining the sand red.

A faint voice reached me.

My name.

Again.

And again.

For once, she didn’t have that stupid smile on her face.

…

That pink hair.

Makes her look sweet. Like candy.

Shame it doesn’t match.

…

My eyes closed.

Dying, again.

For the second time in this damned world I was forced into.

~Before The Seas~