As my mind slowly drifted from resting I found myself listening intently as the soft crash of waves outside signaled our landing.

Kelly and I sprung up, and had to wake Thomas from his deep slumber as per usual.

"He's still not up?" She complained, "What the hell's up with this guy? It's like he sleeps harder and harder the older he gets..."

Thomas awoke from his sleep and sat up, ignoring her as he lazily slouched over. The large hatch slowly opened and grabbed my attention when it let in a blast of sunlight and humidity.

We assembled our things with haste and crept closer to the opening. As we drew near I felt a warm breeze and small splashes of ocean water.

I put my face to the cracks. "It's hot." I said, "Where are we anyways?"

"Travis, if you don't recall we took the wrong frigging travel method. If I knew where we were don't you think I would have filled you in?" Kelly grumbled.

"Uh, Kelly I think we're all pretty disappointed here." I retorted, "It'd be a lot better if you weren't pouring salt on the wound with sarcasm."

"Whatever..." She rolled her eyes, "Are we clear?"

I scanned the area, "We can get by."

We scampered out of the large seaplane and ducked behind a large stack of boxes. I Immediately felt a powerful freshness in the air and noticed the clear skies reflecting off of deep crystal blue ocean water. We seemed to be on a large wooden dock, supported by stilts above the shallow wetness below.

"...Tropical paradise..." Thomas mumbled.

As the large men went back to unload more boxes we took a sprint and rushed through the maze of cargo, escaping from the pier, crossing the beach, and plunging into a dense jungle.

I wiped the sleep from my eyes. "Kelly, I know you already said you didn't know, but where the hell are we going? I've watched survival shows on TV and they say going deep into the jungle is like the dumbest choice to make."

She swatted at the thick foliage, "Travis will you please just-"

"WAAHHH!"

Coldness shot my frame as a boy plummeted to the ground just in front of us, slowly rolling over as I began to process how painful that must've felt.

He wore somewhat simple clothes. A white T-shirt, some shorts, and a patterned wrap-around garment on his waist. He immediately sprung up and stared at us with large brown eyes.

I felt a heart throbbing nervousness.

"...Lea wa tokete mo hashi?" He said.

We gawked at each other.

He cleared his throat, "What's with your clothes. That's what I said."

The boy had thick frizzy brown hair and a fresh tan. He wore a gap toothed smile "You don't speak the language?"

"No." Kelly glanced around, "I don't mean to be rude but, where are we? We're from America."

"Oh!" He said, "That is why you wear such hot clothes."

He dusted himself off. "My name is Talathong, and right now we aren't too far from the village."

"Are you alright?" I said, grimacing at his unsettlingly high pain tolerance. "You hit the ground really hard."

His face lit up, "I'm okay. I can be pretty tough, you know!" he said, flexing a small muscle, "I'm training to be like the chieftess' son."

Kelly furrowed her brows. "Chieftess?"

"Yes. She leads our tribe, and her son is so cool!" He paused just to turn away with a grin.

He was nearly bubbling over with excitement, nearly oblivious to the fact that we were staring him down like a maniac.

He regained his composure, "All the children in the village try to become like him, but when we do the adults act angry. That's why I train near the shore."

He turned and took a sprint towards the large thick tree he had just fallen from and took a big leap, clinging onto a large trunk and hoisting himself up.

He gestured towards the forest, "If you want I can introduce you to my people."

We all looked at each other.

"Huddle!" Kelly whispered.

We took a large step away and he tiled his head towards us in curiosity.

"Are you sure we can trust this guy?" I said.

"Who knows?! Kids are smarter than you think, we thought Liza was just a little innocent kid and look how that turned out..."

"She was travelling with a grown man, he's climbing trees by himself in a jungle," I said.

We turned our heads in unison to see him dangling upside down, grinning widely at our sight.

I turned back around, "C'mon, we have no idea where we are, the world is on it's friggin' head, and somebody is literally itching to show us around."

Kelly let out an aggravated sigh, "Alright."

She turned around, "Talathong, show us the village."

His face beamed with delight, "Follow me!" With that he took a jump and landed on another large trunk, and another, this time hanging on to some thick moss.

Kelly grumbled, "Travis, I swear to god, we better not end up having to take out a whole frigging hoard of jungle people!"

We navigated through the deep rainforest, passing thick tall grass and huge flowers. As we walked Thomas grabbed hold of a large raspberry.

"Dang." Kelly said "That thing's as big as your hand!"

"A reaction like that seems natural," Talathong said, "These islands are a very special place, I hear there is nothing else like it in the world. Here, our villages are blessed with plenty of sun, wind, and water for us to sustain ourselves. As a result we host a large number of things that dont exist in most places."

Before he'd finished that sentence, Thomas had just got through licking his fingers.

In minutes we emerged from the dense wilds and found ourselves standing in a flourishing tribal village bathed in sunlight and dotted with surprisingly large palm trees and big leafed bushes.

People from all ages transported jars and woven baskets full of fruits and vegetation on their heads while deep green plants and huts of all sizes were decorated with colorful ribbons and beautiful flowers.

As we passed through the marketplace people began to slow down, whispering to each other.

I began to tense up as Kelly leaned over, "Be ready," she said.

Just then we stood in the center of everything as the stirring life came to a halt. That's when, rather than attacking, the people fell to their knees.

They actually bowed.

We stood there, looking on in confusion.

"Talathong,"

He replied innocently, looking up at me with huge eyes "Hm?"

I whispered, "What's going on?"

He looked around, frowning before shrugging his shoulders.

Just then I winced at the sight of a tall strong woman strutting barefoot through the middle of the village.

Her arms swung just by her wide curvaceous hips and were lined with golden bracelets embedded with precious stone that revealed tan lines in her flawless golden skin.

None of us, not even Kelly could resist staring as she came closer, her long dark hair dancing in the breeze.

She wore a drape that hung around her waist along with silky glistening garments lined with gold and wrapped over her shoulder and chest.

Beautiful women and strong broad shouldered men followed behind her, their hands folded and ready for service.

She paused in front of us, towering at nearly seven feet. "We welcome you to our village," she said, "My name is Yuhzora."

We each gawked at each other before taking a knee, in hopes that it was the correct gesture.

"I'm T-Travis." I said.

"Thomas."

"N-Names' Kelly." She said, outstretching her hand.

Yuhzora reached out and shook it, "Pleasant meeting you three. Now, where do you come from?"

We stuttered, "W-Well..."

There was a short pause, and I nudged Kelly at a loss for what else to do.

She took a double take, "You see, we didn't exactly... Expect-"

"I found them!" Talathong said, "I was by the shore training to be like Ke-"

"WAKATTE!"

I heard a booming voice echo from the crowd that continued to shout at Talathong in an enraged tone

Talathong winced "Papa! I d-didn't-"

A short, muscular man stepped from the crowd, his face boiling with rage. "Mena jo gamaba ju!"

"No he's not! Nobody even tried to understand!" Talathong's gaze lowered as his eyes began to glisten with a hurt wetness.

"WARUGI! Talathong hagada!"

Talathong's face dropped and he trudged away, seemingly heartbroken. The two left and disappeared into a hut.

Kelly turned to Yuhzora, "...What was that about?"

Yuhzora folded her arms, "It's a sensitive subject, but the 'he who shall not be named' is my own son. As the former sentence implies, he's not one to be mentioned among ourselves. Besides that, how did you arrive here?"

I couldn't help but pause at the sound of her elegant, clear speech.

"We came here on a cargo seaplane," I said. "We were in a hurry and wound up on one because..."

I paused and took a long look around me, and suddenly I can only hear my heart thumping in my ears.

It's worth a try...

"Because... Because we- OW!"

Kelly grimaced at me.

Yuhzora lifted her brow before cracking a small grin, "You're wanted? You are hated and sought after by people for the sake of your death?"

We stared at her.

"You will be safe here. We are of the third world." she said, "These islands make up our nation: Tajora."

Tajora, Tikara. 12:17pm

Later that day we found ourselves in a large stone palace. The floors were marble while the interior was built almost entirely out of thick glass and precious stones, that is if you could call it an interior. There were practically no doors, and all of the rooms were divided by colorful silky curtains.

We sat in a large room around a smooth stone table. I looked to the side to see Thomas quietly eating away at the abundance of food provided for us.

"What's this?" He said.

Yuhzora smiled "Ikan Pindang. The fish is good, isn't it? Everything is fresh."

"Tajora is an archipelago of 4,000 islands in southeast Tikara." Kelly said, scrolling through a list of facts on the internet.

"The official language is Tajoran, although most of the population can speak English, Khmer, and Creole." Kelly said, scrolling through an article on her laptop.

"Tajoran people aren't very religious, but the inhabitants usually practice Buddhism and keep Taoist traditions. The land is rich, famous for it's unique wildlife and ancient cities. The main exports are fish, cocoa beans and salt."

Yuhzora furrowed her brows, "That device is very intriguing... It's called a 'laptop' if I recall?"

"Yeah," Kelly nodded.

"I see..." Yuhzora tossed her long wavy hair out of the way, "So you didn't intend to come here?"

"Well it was an accident," Kelly said, wiping her mouth, "We were chasing down this terrorist organization called the Divine Society, but it's sorta hard to do that in America because people are constantly trying to kill us.

So we decided to go to Ghira via cargo ship and figure things out, but took a wrong turn and piled into a seaplane."

"I see..." Yuhzora muttered, her relaxed pondering gaze shooting towards the sky.

She sat there gazing off for a while.

"Regardless, I can assure you of safety here. As a third world country you are idolized by our people. In addition, you've arrived at a very special time, we are currently preparing for the Celestial Festival."

I wiped the sweat from my head, squinting in the sun's beating heat, "What's that?"

"The Celestial Festival occurs every year on the second day of August. Tajora is a blessed nation and is positioned on the globe in such a way that, combined with earth's orbit and the planets aligning, the many worlds in our vast universe can be seen from here. In our own villages! From the late afternoon to the next evening."

After she finished that statement her face dropped "That day also happens to be..."

She paused.

"...My son's birthday..." her face seemed to twist somewhat, "My so- Ahem... The prince never usually comes, he hasn't since he was seven, but this year he'll be turning twelve, and that means he'll receive his official position as our new leader."

She shuddered.

I cleared my throat, "Well... Why doesn't he come?"

"He simply REFUSES to stand by his people!"

I began to feel an awkward nervousness. She must have noticed, because her eyes began to fill with embarrassment.

"I'm, sorry" She said in a lower, velvety tone, "Raising my voice was rather rude..."

Yuhzora quickly regathered herself, continuing as if the outburst hadn't happened at all. "Our village has been preparing for about a month so far. I understand that you didn't intend to come here, but I would be honored if you could stay and participate."

We looked at each other.

There's something about knowing people so long you can tell exactly what they're gonna say.

Me and Kelly spoke in unison, "Sure."

Thomas

... I feel like hell.

They saw my scars...

Those aren't from Boarding School, I put them there. It felt nice when I cut myself, not nice in the sense that I got off on it, nice in the sense that the stinging pain and the feeling of my flesh splitting open gave me a different reason to cry. For once it felt like I wasn't just some mopey jackass.

I know it's not good for me, but honestly, when as anything ever been good for me? At least that pain comes from myself.

At least I'm the one who controls it.

I took off my shirt and looked at my arms. The scars had been disappearing, even the big ones weren't visible anymore.

What's going on with my body?

I'd been asking myself that a lot lately... And I'm not referring to puberty. Although I've heard that most boys my age can't grow facial hair, nor do they sound like men.

My body felt so strange days, I literally felt like I could wrestle a bear one second and then practically be in a coma the next. I had no explanation, but my feelings had always impacted my physical well being.

My psyche and my body had always seemed to be one, after a certain point in my life I could hardly front feeling a certain way because my actions would always reflect exactly what's going on in my head.

Even simple feats of self control became a conscious struggle. The urge to shove someone off, to avoid staring and desiring something that wasn't mine, or just wanting to destroy stuff for the hell of it was a mind numbing emotional battle.

Thinking before I spoke, premeditating actions, I felt no concept of that. As far as I knew I was just an animal living off of pure instinct and nothing more.

I sat there for a moment, listening to the swishing of water and staring into the horizon as the sun glistened off of waves. A pain welled up inside my chest. For what? The hell am I depressed about now? It's not like I haven't felt worse... I always expect myself to get used to this feeling but I never do. I should be over this shit.

I can't even breathe sometimes, like it's somehow possible to be suffocated by feelings. My head pounds even though I'm not crying, sleep only seems to drain me.

Small waves crashed into the rocks around me and sent a spray of ocean water splashing onto me. I wiped my face and used my toes to play with the powdery white substance at my feet. It was so squishy and soft, especially the wet sand.

I couldn't deny how beautiful this place is. Even at night it's warm and the sky stays in a near perpetual twilight of midnight blue and orange.

I had no idea timezones were this screwy. It's like 1:00am here and the sun is still setting, and I've never even heard of jungles and wildlife like this.

These days I really want to know where all of this is going. Roscoe, Silona, the Divine Society...

A weight dropped in my chest.

"Joshua..."

What the hell... Why is he even...

I can't even find the right words. He's always enjoyed terrorizing me, now I'm stuck with the image of him and his brothers ripping a girl open.

What the hell is my life...

Even though that was years ago it still hurts like a disgusting aftertaste. Even with Travis and Kelly, I'm alone. I used to try telling myself that just because people were there I wasn't, but now I know the difference.

Kelly keeps us safe, Travis only suffers with me, and even he...

I hesitated at the thought.

~~~

"...Do you ever pity me?"

"...Sometimes..."

~~~

I hate the way people do that, they don't seem to understand that people remember what you say.

I clenched my fists.

"Even when words slip, people speak from the heart..."

Maybe I'm pretty pitiable, but I shouldn't have to feel that way, especially around you.

...I hate you.

That's what I want to say, but I'd just feel guilty. We've been around each other for years, but even after all we've been through I can't help but feel this way.

It is what it is I guess...

Eventually the twilight dimmed and was replaced with a sky filled with millions of shining stars.

As I continued to sit on this huge rock I turned my head to the right. For a split second a figure appeared not too far from me.

My eyes held themselves open for a second, then I forced myself to blink.

I need to sleep...