by Marien Dore
I looked up at him and said sarcastically, “Wow, suck greatly while you are perfect. I feel great about myself.”
“I think it’s only fair that I’m perfect. You are perfect all the time and at everything.”
I blushed, “Oh come on! I’m on the verge of insanity, made you feel guilty for months, and nearly killed us because of a stupid stunt which gave you an awful scar. Trust me, you are perfect all the time, not me.”
I felt his hand squeeze mine. He looked down to me, his eyebrows dipped but a smile still on his lips. “How do you think you are still going crazy? The vivid dreams, hallucinations, your feelings?”
I nodded, waiting to see how he was going to try to convince me I wasn’t insane. I know what he told me before, and I understood. When it came to seeing my mom’s body those few times here, he mentioned that it could be because I was forcing myself to remember. But I knew that didn’t mean I was sane.
“When was your last dream?” We had stopped, now far enough back to where he was going to throw it again.
I looked up into his eyes and saw his confidence there. The confidence that I was completely wrong. I thought back to the last dream I had, and I realized something I hadn’t before. The more I started to fall for Casey, the worse the dreams got. Time went on here and somewhere along the line, my mind started to process everything. Mom’s death, my family’s impossible betrayal, and the realization that we were stuck on an island. Here with Casey, I could let it all sink in, and that’s where it all came from.
With my mind in that state, I understood now why my dreams got worse and led to realistic hallucinations. I became more depressed in a sense. I started to fall for him, which made me feel worse. Time went on and the more I fell for him, the more upset I became. It led to my mind acting out.
It wasn’t insanity. If it were, I would still have had the dreams after he told me he loved me. Being together secured something within me. Though I am still accepting what happened, I no longer felt that aching feeling I got knowing I couldn’t have him. Now, I had him, and there have been no dreams, no sign of such.
I stared at him, again trying to accept something I hadn’t seen coming. Somehow, he saw that was the truth and put all he had behind it. It was such a shock. After all this time, I thought I was going insane while he had me figured out.
“I’m not insane,” I shook my head and couldn’t tear my eyes away from his.
“You accepting your life and my effect on it,” He continued on from that. “As for your other ’screw ups’ in life? You made me feel guilty. That’s not an exaggeration,” he chuckled. “It’s my own fault for falling for you while with Jill when I was a teacher. Sure, you’re the reason for me being guilty. However, if I weren't guilty, that would mean I would have never had feelings for you in the first place. It was worth it. As for that stunt, that’s obvious. Where would we be right now if you didn’t do that? We probably wouldn’t be together, and your dreams would have probably continued because of that. Was it worth it to be together? For me it was. It was dumb, but it resulted in me opening my eyes.”
I was beyond blown away at how he could pinpoint everything. How he figured out all that about my mindset and sanity. It was just fascinating to hear how he thought I didn’t do anything wrong. “Yeah but if I didn’t do that, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt. You have hurt so much for me whether it was worth it or not.”
His eyebrows dipped in thought. The smile on his face faltered a little bit as he looked me closer in the eyes. “You... blame yourself? For me getting hurt?”
“It was my fault,” I swallowed, finding my voice. “It was hard, Casey. To see you every day with that cut and knowing it was because of me. You couldn’t do anything, couldn’t move or help or anything.”
“I know that. Tell me something right now,” he grasped both of my shoulders and looked harder into my eyes. “Being here now, being together, is it worth what happened?”
It sounded terrible, but I had to tell him the truth. “Yes. It was worth it, that stunt, and the cut you received from it.”
His lips tilted upward. “I know it was. It was worth it for me too.”
I chuckled, unable to stop myself. “That just proves it! How perfect you are. I mean… wow,” I breathed. “How were you able to figure all of that out about me? How were you able to see the reason behind my dreams, behind everything? It’s pathetic in a way that you understand me more than I know myself. You are the perfect one.”
“I don’t see how I’m the perfect one. Give me a few small quick examples.”
“Well, you are an excellent dancer, you are very strong - physically and mentally. You can hit that target every time now, make a spear, teach and have the patience for it…”
I paused, looking up at his sneaky expression, “Well, that’s nothing compared to you.”
I went on, willing to prove how awesome he really was. “You admit your mistakes, you don’t judge, you are extremely sweet, make me feel at home and happy again, and you know the value in life. You are funny, and you show me a good time.”
He stood there, nodding, “What else?”
“You being guilty makes you that much more perfect because you are only human. You know how to treat women right, say the right things at the right time, are not afraid to say what you mean, and do what you think is right. You show support, give love--”
I cut myself off at the realization of what he was doing. To that list, you could add sneaky. Pausing in my ramble, I glared up at him, and I saw he noticed I figured out his game and broke into laughter. I smacked his arm as he continued chuckling, backing away from my playful fist.
“You bastard! That was unfair! I bet you think you’re so cool now.” After all, he did goad me into telling him all these wonderful things about him just to hear it.
“Yeah, pretty much. Thank you, though. I feel better about myself,” he teased.
I chuckled. “You never had doubt to begin with.”
Smiling, he turned back to facing the target and took a breath, exhaling slowly. He moved his arm with the knife back and over his head. Taking a step forward, he swung his hand forward and released the knife towards his goal. The knife was a blur before we watched it stop, the blade digging into the wood of the tree, the smallest circle surrounding it. He hit the perfect mark again, and I looked up at him smirking.
It wasn’t a surprise, seeing as he was now perfect at this part but there was more to hitting a target other than aim and throw, especially when our actual target would be moving.
“Okay, you’re obviously good with this part,” I said as we retrieved the knife and went back to where we stood before. “You now need to somehow do it while moving or have the target moving.”
He nodded, “Should I run and throw?”
I shrugged “Try it.”
With that, he took a couple steps back and held the knife at his side. He looked ahead and observed where he would run and how he would do this. A second later, he looked back at me, “Stay back because I have no idea how this will turn out.”
I nodded and watched him, waiting for him to go. He took a few steps back again as he studied the distance. Then, after a breath, his legs and feet were in motion, running fast ahead towards the tree. I watched as he sprinted forward, the knife grasped in his hand. Still several yards back, he started moving more to the left. Then, his arm rose as he ran and struck it forward, letting the knife go as he ran. I didn’t see it hit the tree. I didn’t even see where it went.
Casey slowed to a stop and jogged back to the target, wanting to see if the knife was lodged in the bark. Seeing it wasn’t there, he looked around as I began to walk forward, my eyes scanning the ground and looking for the blade.
Scanning over the forest with him, I finally found it. It was lodged into the bark of another tree. It was much further from the target than I expected. It made me want to smirk, “I found it!”
I took the handle and pulled it out of the bark, turning to see him standi
ng ways away. He saw me and stared at the knife in my hand with disgust. He began to walk over to me and saw where I pulled it from. His face made me so amused, I had to laugh.
“Well my fucking…” he mumbled, taking in an uneasy breath of anger. He turned around and walked back to the tree we drew our target on and I followed after.
“Well, at least your ego died a little. It was pretty high up!”
“Ha… ha!” he said sarcastically.
Thinking beyond this amusing moment, it made me ponder over something else, “I don’t know if this is the right way to practice considering most of the time, we won’t be moving; the fish will be.”
“Yeah but how else would we practice?”
“Well, until we can figure out how you should practice by moving and throwing. Maybe not running but maybe just walking at first. I still need to try hitting the target standing still,” I scoffed.
He nodded and handed me the knife, “It’s your turn. I have an idea on how to make the target moving until then, you practice.”
“How are you going to make that happen?”
“You’ll see,” he said as he turned and started to walk back towards camp.
“Well… I’m not sure what to say.” I said, our sweaty backs feeling relief from laying in the cool and shady grass. My side close to his as well as my head, we laid there looking up together.
“Well, you could always say something like, ‘Wow Casey, I never knew you had such a creative mind to come up with this.’”
Looking up at the canopy of trees, I was more than proud of this idea he came up with. I also couldn’t believe I never noticed how many birds there were here. Sure, it was cruel in a way, but this was survival and practice. It was incredibly creative considering it’s only been a few hours since he announced that he had this idea and made a slingshot.
“Fine, it’s brilliant and creative,” I mumbled, making him snort. I turned my head to the side to look at him. “How will we do this, though?”
“Well, I will be doing this. You still need to hit the target before you move to the big leagues,” he teased, elbowing me. “Anyway, you hold the small stone against this strap, which is just a small part of a vine. With your other hand, you hold the stick in place while you pull back the vine and hold it up.” Without the stone, he held up the sling-shot above him to demonstrate what he meant. Pointing it up towards the innocent sound of birds, he continued explaining. “Pull it back, aim, and release.” He pulled back the vine, and it shot forward in the air only an inch. After that demonstration was over with, he rested his hand with his invention against his chest.
It was perfect. One stick that branched into two sticks were used as the handle and prongs. It supported the piece of vine, which was surprisingly good enough to use. A small pile of stones rested at his side in the grass.
“But, how is this any different from standing still and throwing at a target?” Did he expect to have a flock of birds constantly flying above him?
“The target isn’t going to be standing still. The birds won’t be sitting on a branch. They will be flying up in the canopy of the trees.”
Looking up now, I was wondering if he went crazy. “I hear them, but none is flying or in sight.”
“That’s because I didn’t start shooting the stones up and attempting to hit them. When that happens, they will be all over the place. Which will force me to be fast, aim steady, and shoot at them from here.”
I eyed the distance from where we were lying to where the birds squawked from high above. I looked back at Casey, giving him my honest opinion on this. “That’s impossible. They are so high up, you would have a hard time hitting them even if they didn’t move. You won’t hit one from laying this far away on your back.”
“I understand that part, but it’s good practice and closely related to the reason for our practice. It’s just like going after fish except we won’t be wasting time because there are so many birds. We won’t need to wait for anything. Also, even though it’s quite unlikely, this isn’t just good practice. This thing actually shoots the stones up higher than I expected. We might actually hit a bird if we are lucky. Kill two birds with one stone type of deal,” he said smirking at his words.
I chuckled and nodded. “Alright then, genius. Show me your new idea in motion. You’re just going to humiliate yourself.”
He smiled. “You are going to regret saying that later.” Taking a handful of the small stones, he set them on top of his chest and in easy reach. Holding the slingshot up, he took one of the stones and pressed it against the vine. Then his other hand held the slingshot up and over him. Stretching the vine back and down towards us, he moved the tool just above his eye. He let it go, and the stone was gone a second later, shooting up towards the tops of trees.
I couldn’t see it, but I knew the trip was successful by the sound I heard of the stone hitting the leaves. I watched the next events unfold within seconds after that one sound echoed through the canopy of trees. After the stone disrupted the mass of singing birds, colors other than the blue of the sky, green of leaves, and brown of bark hit my eyes. The yellow, tan, and white colors of a few birds taking flight came into my sight as they dispersed.
Casey obviously tried this before he called me over to check out his slingshot because he was on the job a second later. His hand reached over his chest and grabbed another stone, set it against the vine, and sent it flying not a second later straight above us.
More birds came into sight as Casey continued to pelt the stones in their direction, his hand moving in a cycle over his chest to the slingshot. The birds were quick to leave which forced him to try harder and faster, which was good. It would make him improve. He did get a few more stones up there before the last of the birds were leaving.
After his last stone shot up, I turned to him and smiled, slightly ashamed about doubting him. “Wow, that was actual—”
I couldn’t continue, not when something small and sharp hit my forehead all of a sudden. I didn’t need to look for what it was because I knew and my cheeks heated. Casey’s last stone he shot up in the air came back down and hit the middle of my forehead. And I knew this not just from the feeling of it hitting my forehead. Nope, it was Casey’s loud laughter that erupted from my side.
“Oh... my... g-g-god!” he wailed in laughter after he rolled over onto his stomach and buried his face in his arms.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard him laugh so hard or so loud. I didn’t blame him. If I were him, that’s what I would be doing. It would be funny for me later, but right now, it was more embarrassing.
I reached up and rubbed my forehead, feeling a small mark it made but nothing close to anything major. I glanced back over to Casey and saw he rolled back over, the slingshot a few feet away in the grass. His hand rested on his quivering chest as the sounds of squawking birds was replaced with Casey’s loud and shaky laughter. I saw him bite his lip, trying or at least attempting to shut up upon seeing my not amused face.
“I-I’m…” he tried speaking but couldn’t stop himself. He got a hold of himself a second later and between his laughter, he managed, “I’m so sorry!”
I nodded as I sat up, looking down at him. He knew I wasn’t enjoying this. At least he was trying to stop despite his sense of humor forbidding him to. I couldn’t blame him.
Though a small stone came back down to hit me, something much better decided to fall from the heavens at that moment. This would be a moment I would never forget.
“Oh shit!” His laughter cut off a second before mine erupted, his words appropriate from what was sent his way.
The tables were immediately turned. This had to be the funniest thing I have witnessed. After sitting up, I quickly collapsed back to the grass, my laughter just as loud and ridiculous as his was a moment ago. Casey was now just as embarrassed as I was before.
I looked over to him. I truly did feel sorry for him. I mean, if a bird ever shit on me in front of someone I loved, I would be embarrassed.
He laid there, pure disgust radiating from his face - which was mainly the best part about this. His face was still and taking it all in, the shock and irony of the whole situation, mouth set in a frown. I was just happy it didn’t end up in his mouth since he was laughing so hard before. Thankfully it was on his cheek.
My body rocked with my laughter, and he turned his head to look down at me. I saw him purse his lips, nodding as if this was about the accurate situation for us.
“I’m sorry Casey! But shit,” I laughed harder. “Literally!”
I saw his face slowly thaw out. His lips started to tilt up, his cheeks turning red under the bird shit, and his body began to quiver in overwhelming humor. He whimpered with fits of laughter. “What could be the odds of that?”
I just shook my head, clasping my hand over my mouth as I shook with laughter. He soon followed, thriving in the laughter and humor that was rocking our hearts. The fact that it smeared slightly on his cheek didn’t help. I don’t think either of us laughed so hard in our lives before because it had to be more than five minutes before we came close to calming down.
His laughter began to slow and while I tried to shut my mouth. His eyes narrowed at me in mock suspicion. “Why, Janice, getting shit dropped on my face couldn’t be that funny, could it?”
I laughed harder as I recalled what I said before. “I told you that you would humiliate yourself.”
“Yeah, that was quite humiliating.”
“Even more so now since you just smeared it more over your cheek.”
His cheeks grew redder, “Well, maybe my darling could help me.”
He began to roll towards me, and I squealed. I chuckled and rolled away from him, getting to my feet. “No! You aren’t getting that on me!”
“Aw! But I am suffering!” He got to his feet and started walking towards me, “Please, please, help me!”
My mouth was hurting from how much I was laughing and smiling. “Now, let’s all calm down! We’ll go to the lake and wash it off.”