The Island From Hell

Chapter 21

The first thing Charlie noticed when she awoke was that something smelled wonderfully sweet. Something that reminded her of her mother's perfumes but at the same time there was a big difference to it as well. The difference being that the scent was far better than anything a perfume company could come up with. When she opened her eyes, she was amazed to discover that her form had been surrounded by the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen.

They were arranged in a pattern of two flower species but each one had been mixed. Half were of flowers that were a cross between Hibiscuses and African Violets. The other half were of flowers that were a cross between Bourbon Roses and Calla Lilies.

"How beautiful." She thought picking up one and smelling its sweet perfume. "But where did they come from?"

She looked around to see if there were any flower fields or tress bearing blossoms nearby. But there were none. All she could see were flowerless plants, and Alastor and the children still asleep. Although she did notice some pollen on Alastor's hands and a petal or two on his back.

"Did he bring all these flowers here for me?" She wondered with a touched smile. "How sweet."

Charlie loved the flowers and she would very much hate to leave them behind since they were obviously a gift. But she couldn't possibly carry a bouquet throughout the entire walk back to the camp. For all she knew, it could last for days. Weeks even. If only there was someway she could bring them along.

Then, at that moment, Charlie's picked up the sound of running water. She followed the sound down a slightly steep hill and it led her to a river bank. Taking a closer look, she could tell that the water was fresh and clean which was just what she needed right now. Walking around in the wild like this had made her dirty and sweaty, she was in desperate need of a bath. To wash all the mud and body fluid off her body and from her hair.

Without any further hesitation, she took off her robe but kept her night gown on, and slowly entered the river. This morning in particular was sweltering so naturally the cool waters of that river felt heavenly to Charlie. She dipped her hair in the river, swam underwater, splashed her face and body, taking a moment from all the fear and chaos to just relax.

"Nice to see that not everything on this island is a nightmare." She thought.

It wasn't long before Alastor and the children woke up, and when they saw that Charlie was gone, they started to get worried.

"Where did she go?" Maisie asked.

"Maybe she got eaten." Max said.

For some reason the idea of that made Alastor's heart almost stop. But he felt great relief when he sniffed the air and couldn't smell any blood. He quickly found her tracks and taking the kids with him, he followed them right to the river where they saw Charlie alive and well, immersing herself in the water for as long as she could. A mischievous idea appeared in his mind.

"You two do me a favor and be quiet for a moment. Don't let Charlie know you're here just yet."

"Why?" Max asked.

"Oh you'll see." He grinned.

As slowly and quietly as possible, Alastor crept into the river, took a deep breath, and dove underwater, swimming directly toward Charlie. She had just began to ring out her wet hair when the wild man came splashing up from behind and crying out:

"Boo!"

Charlie screamed and fell into the water. When she came back up, Alastor and the kids were laughing at her.

"That is not funny!" She said angrily. "You scared me half to death! I thought a crocodile or a snake was about to make me their breakfast!"

"Oh lighten up my dear." Alastor chuckled. "I was only trying to make some smiles."