Paradise Escape

by Mia Rodriguez

  Once we arrive at the same area we were before we rush past it. It is only until then that Miguel and I start talking in hushed voices.

  "Why'd you kiss me?" he questions, turning to look at me.

  "I was so happy that you were alive."

  He nods. "Now you know why I didn't want you to leave Paradise Village, to go through all this danger."

  "This may sound stupid," I blurt, "but I'd rather be out here than in Paradise Village. At least here I feel I have a fighting chance with these predators."

  "I suppose you're right."

  "Here I can actually do something for my freedom instead of wishing on it every day, dreaming about escape while my time is running out. Hey, don't forget that your time runs out much faster."

  "Yeah, the Elders only let us live until we're twenty."

  Fury burns me. "They're despicable!" I snap. "Totally despicable."

  Miguel's smile disconcerts me.

  "Why are you grinning at me?" I ask him.

  "You must not hate them that much," he says matter-of-factly.

  I eye him, puzzled. "I do."

  "Then why did you volunteer to help Morrison after the alligator had bit into him?"

  I shrug. "It seemed like the right thing to do."

  "Others would've not moved a finger to save him."

  "I don't want to be like the Elders and Masters," I mumble.

  "What?"

  "I don't want to be like them--have no respect for human life except their own."

  His smile gets wider.

  "I was worried that hatred had permeated your core. It hasn't."

  I shrug. "It's still in there. I don't know if I can ever get rid of all of it."

  "Maybe not, but at least you recognize it."

  "Maybe."

  "Maybe someday you'll fall in love and it'll be greater than the hate you feel," he says hopefully, his eyes firmly on me.

  "I don't think so," I blurt.

  He shifts his eyes away from me. "Don't say that." His tone is soft and hurt.

  "Miguel, I'm just being honest."

  Frida," he says as his eyes shift back to me, "love is greater than hate. I know first hand."

  I don't want to ask him what he means by that. Changing the subject seems like the right course to take.

  "How long do you think it'll be before other Elders get here?" I ask him.

  "That's hard to say. With another blast and the dogs likely to go back to Paradise Village, they'll be on their way soon."

  I frown. "Are you sure there isn't another road we can take?"

  "I'm afraid we're stuck on this one but . . ."

  "But what?" I ask anxiously.

  "Once we make it to a certain point we should be safe. We can head in another direction then."

  "But the dogs can still lead them to us."

  "Not necessarily. There's another stream close by we can use to lose our scent."

  I smile. "Sounds like a good plan."

  Shotgun blasts reverberate through the air.

  Uh oh!

  Elders are near.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Miguel and I are next to a tree and I quickly signal Miguel to climb. We simultaneously check it for snakes. There's none on the trunk and we don't have much time so we start scaling the tree. It's leafy so it's easy to hide in it. Miguel is behind me as we move from one branch to another.

  His head accidentally bumps the back of my shirt. My boomerang falls down, and it lightly hits the ground below us. It will be too risky to scramble down to get it, so we keep climbing.

  "Sorry," Miguel whispers when we reach a high enough branch.

  A few seconds later, I make out the owner of the shotgun through the leaves. My face contorts.

  It's the Mister.

  Luckily, he's by himself. He has his shotgun but not even dogs accompany him. If only my boomerang hadn't fallen I could've hit him on the head.

  "Monica! Where are you?! Please still be alive?! I'm here for you!" The yells cut into the air.

  I'm wondering what he had been shooting at back there.

  "My Little Bird!" he yells with anguish. "You're still alive. I just know it!"

  His eyes dart around the area. His sight lands on our tree. He scans it slowly.

  A bead of sweat rolls down my face.

  "Oh, Monica. Why'd you run away?" he mumbles to himself.

  Turning around, he starts walking away. Relief pours through every cell in my body. Then he plops down on a huge boulder. Sighing, his face looks exhausted. Pulling out a picture from his pocket, he eyes it with anguish.

  "I've got to find you, Little Bird," he says as his eyes get misty. "I can't live without you."

  My muscles stiffen up. It's the worst feeling having someone you despise moon over your picture. I look over to Miguel who is frowning.

  "Why'd you leave me?" he cries. "Someone must've turned you against me. I know you wouldn't have left me otherwise."

  I wish I could tell him exactly what I think of him and his discipline club and his forcing me to marry him.

  "Don't you know what you're doing to me?!" he asks the picture with fury as his face contorts. "Why are you being so selfish?"

  I really want to tell him off.

  "Why are you being so inconsiderate towards me when all I've ever done is love you? Why?! I just lost Mildred and now you're gone too. Have you no heart?"

  This is the most surreal experience I've ever had.

  He stumbles off the boulder as if he can't stand sitting down any longer. "Monica, I'm so furious with you that I don't know how to contain it!"

  I'm pretty sure his anger isn't worse than mine.

  "You've completely disappointed me! You've taken advantage of my trust and love! You're the most horrible of persons!"

  A bird sound resonates from above. It's the cry of a soaring eagle traveling our area and probably looking for food.

  Uh-oh!

  I want to warn the majestic bird to fly away as swiftly as possible because I know the Mister's temper and his need to unload it with whoever or whatever. I'm hoping I'm wrong.

  I'm not.

  The Mister pulls up his shotgun. Blast. Blast. Blast.

  The bald eagle falls from the sky dead. Poor eagle. I shudder when I think that those shots were actually meant for me.

  Meanwhile, he walks over to it and kicks it furiously. "That'll teach you to try to leave me, Monica!"

  He still resorts to physical violence even when he had already killed the beautiful eagle. The Mister is a real piece of work.

  He grabs the majestic bird. "You will never defy me again!" Flinging its body towards the tree, he has a self-satisfied smile. I almost gasp when it lands close to the boomerang. Miguel's eyes widen.

  "Never!"

  He puts away my picture. "I'm going to find you, Monica, if it's the last thing I do."

  After consulting his map, he starts to leave. I breathe out a huge breath of air. But then he suddenly turns around again.

  "Wait a minute," he mumbles. He scans the ground where the eagle is at as if something doesn't add up. "What is that?"

  He strides over to it. Picking up my boomerang, he yelps with joy. He looks up to find Miguel and me.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  "Monica!" he yells, surprised.

  I glare at him. He is speechless for a few moments after calling out my name.

  "I'm so happy to have finally found you," he gushes, tears falling from his eyes.

  I keep glaring at him, but he ignores my anger.

  "I heard the blasts," he explains. "Those stupid dogs wouldn't stop running when I ordered them to," he snaps.

  "Did you kill them?" I question, figuring out what the shots I had heard earlier had been for,

  "I only was able to get two of them," he retorts. "Where are the Elders who came after you?"

  "One died in a blast. The other was eaten by
an anaconda," I state.

  "An anaconda?"

  "Yes."

  "How ghastly," he mutters.

  "It was pretty horrible."

  "See what happens when you're away from our protection?" snaps the Mister. "That anaconda could've eaten you!"

  "Instead it ate the ones who were trying to harm us."

  "They were just trying to catch you to save you from danger!" he snaps.

  "Do you really think that?" I retort.

  "Monica--"

  "Why don't you just let us go? You know they're going to kill us if we go back."

  "I won't let them hurt a single hair on your head."

  "They're going to do it anyway," I insist.

  "They'll do as I tell them!" he snaps. "And you'll do as I tell you!"

  "But--"

  "Why did you run away?" he asks furiously. "And you Miguelito, why did you allow her?"

  "I don't want to be in Paradise Village anymore," I snap. "I don't want to be a servant anymore! I don't want to be forced into things I don't want to do. I don't want to be brainwashed about the Great Master anymore."

  "You don't know what you're saying," he says, horrified.

  "I don't want to marry you."

  "Don't say that! Monica, those are words that you can never take back!"

  "I don't want to take them back," I say defiantly. "I mean them."

  "How can you be so cruel," he cries.

  "You beat your wives sometimes even to death and you call me cruel?" I question angrily.

  "Monica, you don't know what you're saying. You're under the influence of the hot sun and the jungle."

  It never ceases to surprise me how the Elders and the Masters can twist everything their way. How can the Mister not realize the damage he's done to me? How can he believe that I'm in love with him?

  "Miguel!" he snaps. "You still haven't told me what you're doing here with Monica!"

  "We decided to escape the horrible life we had in Paradise Village," he says simply.

  "Horrible life?" questions the Mister in disbelief.

  "Yes, very horrible."

  The Mister eyes Miguel disconcertedly. Then a realization creeps into his eyes. "Where's you're stutter?!"

  Miguel rolls his eyes. "Gone."

  "You were putting one over on me, weren't you?"

  Miguel shrugs.

  "Weren't you?" he repeats, his nostrils flaring.

  "What does it matter?" Miguel grumbles. "I served you well, didn't I?"

  "I don't like liars!"

  "But you like abusers?"

  "How could you betray me after everything I've done for you?" he asks, his voice with a deeply hurt tone.

  "What have you done for me?"

  "I loved you like a son."

  "You would treat a son the way you treated me? Who needs enemies?"

  "I'll teach you to disrespect me and make a fool out of me!" he snaps pulling his shotgun up. I immediately wrap myself around Miguel.

  "You'll have to shoot me to get to him," I sneer.

  "Monica, get out of the way!"

  "No!"

  "Get out of the way!" he repeats.

  "I'm staying where I'm at."

  "You'll suffer the consequences for it!" he states, aiming the weapon on us.

  "Do your worse," I hiss, waiting for him to fire.

  "No, Monica," Miguel says, trying to extricate himself from me.

  "If you keep jostling we'll both fall to the ground and kill ourselves," I tell him. He stops jiggling.

  The Mister puts the shotgun down. "I could never shoot you, Little Bird," he says, his voice broken.

  I sigh with relief.

  "I love you so much," he states, his voice catching in his throat. "I love you so much that I'm willing to forgive you."

  "Forgive me?"

  "I don't know what's gotten into you, but I forgive you."

  "I'm not asking you for forgiveness," I blurt.

  "Come back to Paradise Village with me, Little Bird. We can have such a great life together. We'll just forget this ever happened."

  "Do you really think it'll be that easy? The Elders will never permit it."

  "I already told you," he says warily, "they'll abide by my rules."

  "I don't believe it. They'll find a way of killing me"

  "Please, Little Bird. Trust me."

  "Trust you?"

  "I'll take care that nothing happens to you."

  "You're deluding yourself."

  "I can't believe that you don't know who I am!" he snaps.

  "I know who you are."

  "If you did you'd know that I'm the most powerful man in Paradise Village."

  "Power has its limits," I state.

  "She's right," Miguel agrees.

  "Stop doubting me!" the Mister snaps. He's so upset that he stomps off muttering under his breath.

  Miguel looks at me with worried eyes. I return his stare with the most comforting expression I can muster.

  "We'll be okay," I whisper.

  "I'm going to say it again, just once, I love you, Monica, and I would never let anyone harm you. Please believe me," he growls.

  "If you really loved me you'd let me go."

  His face contorts. "I'm losing my patience! Both of you get down that tree now!"

  "How do I know that you won't shoot Miguel once we're on the ground?"

  The Mister's eyes narrow. "Why are you defending him so much, Monica?"

  "He's my friend," I growl.

  "Have you been trying to take my Little Bird away from me, Miguelito?" he asks furiously but before Miguel can open his mouth the Mister starts ranting. "You traitor! You thief! I don't know why I hadn't seen it before. He's the real reason you ran away from your home in Paradise Village, Monica! He's twisted your mind against me! You're as much of a victim in all of this as I am!"

  He furiously stomps back to the tree with his shotgun. Pulling up his shotgun, I take in a quick breath wondering what he's going to do. "Come down, now!" he demands as the barrel of his gun shakes the tree branches nearby.

  A snake drops on him.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The long snake coils itself around the Mister's arm.

  "Get off of me!" he yells trying to get rid of it. But it has a strong hold of his arm.

  "Get off!"

  In panic he rushes off. During the skirmish the snake falls to the ground. The Mister takes his rifle and shoots it.

  "There!" he yells at it. "Take that! You thought you had me didn't you?"

  "It wasn't a poisonous snake," Miguel explains. You didn't have to kill it."

  "Don't tell me what to do! Now get off that tree!" he says, starting to head back towards us.

  "Uh-oh," Miguel utters, holding tighter onto me. We're still intertwined, and I put my ear to his to help cover it while he uses his one hand to cover the other ear while I put my right hand on my right ear.

  Click.

  BOOM!

  The tree reverberates. If we would've been just a little closer, the blast would've blown us from where we are at.

  After a moment of freaked silence, we climb down. When I hit the ground, I pick up my boomerang and I go to the boulder the Mister had been on and sit down. Miguel follows me.

  "Are you okay?" he asks, concern in his voice. I can barely hear him, but we are fortunate that the explosion had been further away than the other times.

  "Yes."

  "Can I just have a moment?" I ask solemnly.

  "Sure."

  All this death was really getting to me. And I am struggling with different emotions over the Mister's demise. On the one hand, he was cruel and evil. On the other, he was strangely attached to me. Am I happy about his death? No, not really. I just wanted him to leave me alone.

  "Let's go," I tell Miguel, my hearing beginning to normalize. "I'm sure other Elders are on their way."

  "I'm sure that this time they'll be going
all out to find out what happened in the blasts," he groans. "But they won't know if we're the ones dead in the explosions."

  "Unfortunately, the dogs will tell them likewise."

  We stand up and head out. He gives me his hand and I take it. I could use a little warmth right about now.

  "His death affected me too," murmurs Miguel.

  "At least he can't hurt anybody anymore."

  "That's right."

  After walking a few miles under silence, darkness starts arriving. Miguel looks worried at the sky.

  "We need to speed up," he tells me. We can't let night fall on us."

  I'm puzzled. "It's going to reach us wherever we are, isn't it?"

  "It's too dangerous to spend the night out here. There's a small hut down the road. The Elders had us build it so we'd have somewhere to stay when we were installing the mines."

  "But won't they suspect we're there?"

  "It's a chance we'll have to take. Besides, night is almost here. I doubt if they'll be in the jungle at this hour."

  I follow his long strides. I don't want to get stuck out here in the dark either. With what I had seen, it was way too dangerous. I give a sigh of relief when I see a wood hut. It is made of mud with straw, but where I'm standing, it looks like a palace.

  Before going inside the open doorway, we check for animals inside. Fortunately it's empty. Miguel still doesn't trust his eyes and takes the flashlight and looks at every corner. He wants to make sure there are no small, dangerous animals lurking around.

  "We fumigated the place while staying here and after we left," he explains. "I guess it worked."

  I take a good look at the small place. There is no furniture. A few hammocks hang from the ceiling. He gets on one, and I get on the one next to his. Pulling out the edible plants I had gathered, I hand him some.

  "It's better than nothing," I say.

  "Maybe tomorrow I can fish."

  We practically swallow our food. The plants are actually very tasty.

  "Miguel," I say gently, "can I ask you something?"

  "What's that?"

  "Are you sorry you came with me?"

  "Are you having second thoughts?" he questions.

  "No, not me, but I was wondering about you."

  "Not me either," he asserts.

  "Are you sure?"

  "As sure as I can be."

  "I'm glad."

  "We should get some rest," he tells me. "Tomorrow we need to hit the road at first light."

  I nod. It doesn't take long to fall into a deep sleep.