Reptile Island

Francisco had just gotten back from a more dense part of the island, cataloging some of the native animals and plants in his journal with notes, looking for a way to cool off when he had seen something peculiar.

No one but him lived on the island, but he had noticed something like a ship coming near the coast, and someone or something boarding from the vessel.

He had lived on the island his whole life, learning the ways of the animals and their behavior quickly; not just for survival but because he loved nature and everything that it had to offer him. Being shipwrecked as a young boy, he had found the island, swimming to it, exhausted and hungry.

Slowly, he gained enough of his own semblance of normalcy within the scope of being on an island without any people or technology to speak of, finding little ways to gain an advantage over the strange population that lived on the small island.

He only knew how to get past this hurdle because he himself had grown into the way of the animal's habits and survival instincts. He had found ways to find fresh water (collect rain water, search for clear, fresh moving streams, and even using fire to boil water for cooking, cleaning, etc.), and even in finding ways to make paper out of seaweed, and finding fruits and other plants to make natural dyes so he can journal again.

He loved the island and everything on it.

But, he knew people. His memory wasn't how it used it be---the memory of how society was in his hometown in Ecuador, it all seemed so simple. Yet, he knew people were very complicated and were more than what they seemed.

And he knew that there were some animals on it that...

Had the look of a prehistoric age.

Were beyond their regular sizes. Gigantic, actually. Some of them were anyway, hidden by the thick brush and huge forest.

He was there to protect them, to preserve them---to study them, not to collect them. He knew that people would use that and exploit them somehow. For fame, fortune---for everything that Francisco didn't want.

Not to destroy their homes to create a new environment for humans---not to tear down anything, and certainly, not to have any of the animals captured to be taken from their natural habitat.

Which is what it seemed these settlers were setting out to do. They seemed to have equipment to mine, logging tools----all the things Francisco never wanted here.

He scoped out the ship and the people, trying to find a way to communicate with them to find out as much information as possible---yet to also not appear suspicious.

As he lingered a bit too close, a man caught his eye.

He looked like the Captain of the ship.

He was rotund in the face, red-cheeked and a little overweight, but his eyes were sharp.

And as Francisco looked over at him, he looked over at Francisco.

Something was dangerous in his stare, and Francisco decided he ought to be even more careful approaching the situation---not knowing people for so long---and what they were capable of when they really wanted something.

As he started to walk away, he saw a flash of red hair with a perched marigold in between her ear and big beautiful green eyes---a lady whose laugh he heard, and she was beautiful and had the air of someone elegant and French---Francisco felt a bit in turmoil.

Who were these people?

What was their cause?

Why were they here, on an uncharted and uninhabited island?

Francisco was determined to find out.

------------------------------------------------------------

Author note: A collab done with my 11 year old son Ismael who is the sole reason for the plot and the characters. He had the idea for the Reptile island and Francisco several years ago through his own hand-written ideas and narrative. I own just the writing. Hope you liked it!

-Melissa