Chapter 7.

Haaaaaaaaaah. Never again, I thought to myself.

I definitely would not go through that again anytime soon. Stuck together with a sexually pent up psycho ex who had no form of restraint. I felt like I should have already learned this lesson with one of my other exes, isolated boats without another form of entertainment to pass the time with these sorts of women was a recipe for disaster.

I opened my eyes and a bright blast of sunlight blinded me. I inhaled deeply and took in the invigorating smell of the great outdoors. I looked down and found Adele with rays of sun reflecting off her pure white hair. Her skin, fully bare, not a shred of clothing covered her body. We were still on the boat, I didn’t hear the motor running though.

Were we at our destination? Just where was that destination she referred to as Shangri-La?

“Darling, you’re awake?”

Adele’s head lifted up and she rubbed her eye with the back of her wrist in a somewhat groggy manner.

“Yeah… I’m awake… but where are we right now? Are we already at our destination?”

Fully exposed in her birthday suit, Adele stood up without any sign of embarrassment. She raised her hand over her forehead to block out the sun's rays and nodded her head, “Yeah, this is it alright.”

“My father’s secret island. He was an eccentric who was fond of nature. I’d only read about it in his books before. I also only recently found the geographic coordinates and instructions on how to get here, it is a large undocumented island that imported countless exotic species from around the globe.”

“Wait. Wait. Wait! The more I hear about it, the more this sounds like a recipe for disaster. You’re not going to tell me there’s no means to contact the outside world here.”

“Relax, there is. I made sure to check it out beforehand. I’m not entirely sure how, but there’s working wifi across the entire island. Although we’re in the middle of nowhere, we can still stay up to date with events in the outside world. I’m certain that my father had a lab on the island somewhere for researching the various wildlife, but I haven’t pinned down the location yet.”

“And you’re sure this wifi is reliable and it won’t suddenly go out for unknown reasons? You’re sure some sort of psycho killer isn’t waiting on the island to kill us? Have you never seen this in the movies before? Don’t you know what happens to couples that go to these sorts of places alone? Don’t you know shit always hits the fan?”

“A psycho killer?” Adele put on a confused expression, tilted her head a bit and pointed at herself innocently.

Ah. Wait. Could it be the reverse? She’s the psycho killer who has come to the island and later if people come to the island searching for me she will kill them off?

Uh… I don’t really know how I feel about this.

Wasn’t this role reversal a bit on the extreme side?

“Adele, can you please hold off on killing people if they show up here?”

“How rude, I won’t kill unless they pose a threat or think of laying their eyes on my property.” She said that while staring at me like I belonged to her.

“Right…”

Getting caught up in her pace and coming to this island was definitely a huge lapse in judgement on my part.

“Hey, can we go back?”

“Go back? Probably not.”

“... what? What do you mean we probably can’t!”

“Well, we're kind of low on fuel. I’m sure there’s fuel on the island left behind by my father, but we’ll need to find it first. That can wait for when we want to return though. Just kick back and relax for once. Think of this as a vacation.”

“A vacation?” When was the last time I had the chance for something as leisurely as that? Probably never. I’ve been at work constantly for as long as I can remember. Taking a break and relaxing was something that felt a bit foreign to me. I loved to slack off and relax whenever I had the chance, but an extended period where I didn’t have to do anything was exceedingly rare for me.

I’d also been complaining recently about wanting a vacation as well. Maybe Adele was right. Just kick back and forget about all the complicated things back home.

I raised my upper body off the ground then stood up inside the boat.

When I looked out into the distance, I took in a sharp gasp of fresh air. My eyes opened up wide as I was greeted by a spectacle I’d never seen before. It was beautiful, breathtaking. Picturesque scenery acting as a backdrop to the woman looking back at me in the nude.

Her pure white hair blew to the side from the strong ocean wind, sparkling under the sun as the scent of saline water pervaded the air.

My jaw dropped as I took in the scenery behind her. An island stretched out wide from one end to the other. It was huge, by no means was it small. I doubted my eyes. Just how rich was Adele’s family that her father had a secret island like this?

I could hardly believe whatI’d seen, so I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn’t just hallucinating it. On the left side of the island there was a large cliff where water was falling off from. I couldn’t quite understand how a waterfall had formed there, but without any doubt, it was not my imagination playing tricks on me. The sound of the water falling in the distance could even be heard from where we were located.

When I examined the right side of the island, I discovered a great coral reef stretching far and wide below the surface of the water.

“The coral reef you’re seeing was created by my father over many years in case you were wondering.”

The water was completely tranquil, at rest along the right side of the island. The water on the left side was rippling from the waterfall.

“How is this even possible? Tranquil and undisturbed on one side while the other has violent ripples and turbulent currents? I can’t understand, just how is that possible? Physics wise, I can’t comprehend.”

My shock wasn’t over just yet. From this distance I could even tell the island itself was a complete mystery. It was covered in all sorts of different trees and plants that I couldn’t believe could naturally coexist on a single island. It was like a mix and match, bargain sale at the supermarket, of all sorts of different types of vegetation.

When Adele called it Shangri-La, I didn’t really take it seriously, but just these few sights alone had left me flabbergasted in shock. There was a very wide degree of common trees I could easily distinguish. There were various different palm trees, pine trees, oak trees, birch trees, maple trees, ash trees, spruce trees, cherry trees, willow trees, fir trees, and so many others that I couldn’t even name.

I also noticed there appeared to be many rare trees, some of which I actually knew the names of. Dragon’s blood trees, grandidier's baobab, quiver trees, monkey puzzle trees, candelabra trees, cucumber trees, along with countless other unique looking ones I couldn’t put a name to.

There was a cacophony of innumerable different colors all across the island. Rationally, it shouldn’t have been possible for all these trees to coexist naturally like this. But looking at it from here, it was obvious the island had several different distinct biomes littered across it.

Shockingly, I could also see several high peaks deeper into the island. One peak in particular had snow falling on top of it, while another peak appeared to be an active volcano with a bit of smoke coming out of it. How could an island as strange as this be left undocumented and hidden away? With satellite imagery it shouldn’t be hard to spot an oddball island like this, right?

Again, none of this felt real. It just made no sense to me. It was impossible as far as logic told me for such an outrageous island to ever exist unnoticed. If my eyes weren’t deceiving me, then this was surely just the tip of the iceberg. I couldn’t even begin to imagine just what sort of exotic wildlife her father had put together on this monstrosity of an island.

“Adele, I think we should really leave as soon as possible.”

Wildlife was nothing to joke about. As beautiful and marvellous as nature may be, appreciating it from a distance was one thing, actually experiencing it first hand was another. I was no Adele, and seeing it in person, the thought of nature scared me a little. Modern society had it easy, living in urbanized areas, and didn’t have to face the terrors of nature. With an island with so much uncertainty to it, my danger instincts were on full blast.

I was definitely captivated by its beauty, but I knew just how dangerous beauty was in this world. My exes could attest to that fact. This was no vacation like Adele claimed, I was already sure it was a trip to hell. If I stayed here, what sorts of hardships would I face? I didn’t know, but my gut instinct told me it wouldn’t be easy or relaxing in the slightest.

“Sheesh. You’re such a pain sometimes, Darling. Just take a dip in the water and relax.”

Out of nowhere, she lifted her leg up and poked me in the stomach with her toes, with just enough force to push me over the edge of the boat.

“What are you-“

Splash!