Jungle Fever

Home Away From Home

Hey Fans and random readers. Sorry, it's taking me so long to upload now a days but recently I've been dealing with some issues and just so that you don't think I've neglected you guys I'll be sure to upload but I can't give you a specific date because I don't want to lie to you. COMMENT if you read. VOTE if you liked. FAN, LIKE, and TWEET if you love.

Home Away From Home

That night Mace slept under the stars while I slept in the plane. He hadn't responded when I brought up his engagement. So what if his relationship was over. If he wouldn't leave it, then he deserved everything she threw his way.

I dreamt of Marilyn at the Oscar's. She won yet another one, but what did I expect. I wasn't even sure why I even bothered coming. I wasn't nominated, probably because I'd never read a script let alone been in a movie, but Mace was. And even though in the dream I hated him for everything he was, I still jumped at his command. I hated myself for that, but I still did it. Talon sat alone at home probably waiting for me to call, and here I sat in an original one of a kind dress for what? A guy- an engaged guy? More heartbreak? I seriously didn't know. But he told me to come so I did. I sat in silence clapping whenever everyone else did, like a mindless robot.

But as Marilyn made her way back from the stage she made sure to drop a note on my lap. I held it in my hand wondering what she could possibly have to say to me. I opened it and sat in shock as I gazed upon her words. Written in black ink, her cursive was the neatest thing I'd ever seen.

"Desi," Mace shouted destroying my lucid dream. I opened my eyes to see that he'd finally entered the plane. He was covered in sand, and I was pretty sure if he shook millions of little grains of sand would have gone flying all over the place. There would probably be enough for a miniature castle. He ran his hands through his disheveled hair. "Last night was a mistake," he stopped pacing long enough to look at me while awaiting response. "And you're interrupting my sleep to tell me this why," I said still a little groggy.

"Because I want you to know it was a terrible mistake and it will never happen again," his words stung but not enough to make me cry or at least I didn't think so, "When we get off this island it'll be like we never even met, except for the occasion ad." He sat down across from me trying to look into my eyes while I gazed out the window. "I wish you never got the job," He mumbled on his way out.

I sat there for what felt like a good ten minutes after Mace disappeared into the jungle, and I probably would have stayed longer if not for the insistent rapping on the door. I opened the door to reveal the bright smile plastered on Lucien's face. Looking me up and down his face fell, "What's wrong, Dess?"

"Nothing," I said backing up so he could enter. I'd always been so good at hiding my emotions, how did he know?

"You're lying to me," he said pulling me to sit on his lap, "Does this have something to do with Mace wondering in the jungle?" Instead of speaking I leaned into him and nodded my head. "Get up. Get dressed. I have something to show you," he directed then exited the plane, giving me time to dress.

Assuming this thing, whatever it was, was in the jungle, I put on some long jeans and a loose fitted long sleeve shirt, and opened the door to see Lucien sitting in the sand staring out towards the jungle. "What are you looking at," I asked startling him.

"Just trying to remember which way Mace went," He said while shaking the sand off his pants then grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the dense lush greenery that held a secret. And held it so well I wasn't even sure where to look.

We'd been walking for what seemed like hours, and I hadn't seen any sign of the castle. Is it possible I imagined it, I thought while struggling to keep up with Lucien's pace. The way he was going about this he must have been here forever. The castle had been in one of my dreams. Is it possible that maybe I dreamed it up? "Lucien, we've been walking for hour. How much further," I asked not sure my legs could make the journey. When I get home I would surely have to have a talk with Tatiana, my personal trainer.

"Just a little while longer," He said not stopping to answer.

"You said that three hours ago."

He chuckled. "We're almost there can't you hear it?"

Hear it? Is he serious? I could barely hear his words over the sound of my pounding heart. Sensing my confusion, he stopped and came towards me. When we were almost touching, he said, "Listen."

Trying hard to hear what he was talking about I took a look around us. The trees stood unbearably close to us as if leaning in for a secret, the ground as far from a flat surface as possible, looked as if the roots of the trees countless trees fought for space. Lucien grabbed my hand once again and laid it on his shoulder. The silence that once over powered everything else shattered, leaving behind a light melody. Though unfamiliar, it ran through my body as if I had known it many lifetimes ago.

It spoke to me in a way that no one else could. It wanted to tell me something, but what? I had no idea. The chords thumped in my brain, screaming at me but it's under lying message, I could not reach. Before I knew it I was falling.

***

The woman I had once seen crying over the broken body of Mace Maxwell, now sat in the front of the a white grand piano . Behind her was a man dressed in black, to match the walls of her prison, his face concealed by the shadows in which he stood. In front of her, carefully laid on the piano was sheet music, entitled The Lost Soul, a Melody For Mace.

The music stopped, "I can save him," she turned revealing her blood shot eyes and guilt ridden expression, "If you would just let me out. He's not an animal," She shouted towards the figure.

"He will kill you if you give him the opportunity," he said bored, as if he'd said it millions of times before. "These four walls are here for your safety, and after he is dead you will be released."

"How do you know that," She exhaled in silent frustration.

He sighed, choosing his words carefully, "Why is it so hard for you to trust what I stand for," stepping out of the shadows he continued, "What we stand for?" The blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes was a major tip off, Lucien.

***

"Dess! Dess," Lucien shouted from above me. When I opened my eyes, I saw the worry that filled his. "What happen," I croaked while rubbing what would soon be a knot on my head.

"I don't know. One minute you're listening and then you're falling," He shifted so he could sit down beside me. "You heard it didn't you," He didn't need me to answer to know I had, "What happened up here," he said playing in my hair.

Should I tell him? I hadn't told anyone about the dreams, and this had been the first time I ever had one without sleep. For some reason my dreams had always seemed to push him further away and pull Mace closer. But I couldn't keep depending on my dreams when Mace was pushing me away and Lucien had never done anything that should put these doubts in my head. But on the other hand I hadn't known him very well- I hadn't known any of them very well.

Picking up on my unwillingness to share, Lucien changed the subject, "Are you ready to go?"

"No. Not more walking," I said not ready to struggle to keep up with Lucien's pace again.

Smiling he said, "You're funny," stopping to pick me up, he said, "Look, I'll even carry you."

In a matter of ten minutes, we stood silently staring at his home. A small cottage nestled deep into the woods. It reminded me of all the fairytales I read to Annalisa before I got a job. Before this moment right here, in the woods beside Lucien, I hadn't realized how much had changed. How much I had changed. I was seven when Annalisa was born and when her dad died. I went from spending every moment with her to spending every moment with Scott, working. If I ever get off this island, I'd bring her here, to my home away from home.