The Human

                The drops of light rain where perched on the tropical plants. As the acrid sun bore down on us, I watched it. It crouched on all fours, smelling the ground and glistened with sweat. It had a misfit spear in one hand, and it balanced on the other. It was all but naked in lone pair of bleached shorts held up by a knife belt. I silently shifted closer in between the bushes, mesmerized by it. It jumped up and turned towards my direction. It’s dark hair, that had grown since it had been marooned here 4 weeks ago, now covered it’s face. It’s eyes searched the forest around us and it’s hands began to tremble. It senses me, I thought as a flood of humor travel down me. It knows I’m here. I breathed deeply and let it’s sent engulf me. I could feel it’s anxiety seething off it’s skin and the pure terror about to erupt from inside of it. I could taste it’s sweat, and feel my teeth sinking into it’s fresh meat. Oh, I wanted that human but no! Not yet.

         I saw a struggle in the Human’s eyes. He took one step forward then three back, debating what to do. The Human looked this way and that way then, it’s eyes locked with mine. He inhaled a gulp of air and froze in shock. Now, something inside of me whispered. As I was about to reveal myself to the petty human, a crash came from the other side of the forest. The human took off towards the beach without even investigating what the crash had been. I lost my chance.

         The sun was now set and there was a blanket of stars in the sky. Here on the beach, the Human had placed it’s camp. He had managed to acquire a few coconuts and other fruit scattered around this puny island earlier in the day. They lay beside a homemade fishing pole and a group of rocks in which had no purpose. Now, he was sitting by a tree stump with his dirty head on his scarred knees. Beside him were a pack of empty matches. He made no sound and was utterly still. It was unlike any other behavior I had witnessed from the Human and it made me nervous. Had something else got to him before me? I glided along the trees getting closer to it not worried about being seen. I didn’t stop until I was only 5 feet away from him. Here, I waited.

         The sun shone with morning glory and I waited on top of mountain watching it. The Human had not arisen last night for 3 hours and I began to bore. Now, he was walking along a trail he had engraved in the island talking to himself. He might be going mad or, trying to come up with a rescue plan. Didn’t matter either way, he’s going to be mine in the end. My eyes followed him like a cat following a mouse. I will get him soon, the voice whispered in my head. He was moving things in a certain arrangement that I could not understand in my head. A tree stomp there, a bundle of rocks here. Then, underneath a rock, a shining white box appeared glittering in the distance. Curiosity sparked in me and I slid down the mountain to where the Human was still talking to himself. I took my place behind a few bushes and watched intensely. Closer up, I could see that the white box had a red cross. The Human was obviously very pleased with this; he started jumping up and down, yelling with happiness. Then, out of nowhere, he ran right at me. I froze, ready to attack but he merely trotted by. That was too close, this has to end tonight.

         His arms were flailing as he tried to run faster. I could taste the beads of sweat flying off his forehead. The adrenaline of chase raced through me as I ran after him. It was dark and he had no idea where he was going, but I did. He tried to jump over a tree that had fallen a few days earlier but his foot caught on a branch that he couldn’t see. He let out a cry of pain curled around his foot. I stopped running and just watched in plain sight. He sat there huddling his foot sobbing. Disgusting. He started muttering something. I moved closer consuming in his sent. I knelt down and put my head close to his. The moon light shone so half of his face was glittering because of the sweat but, the other side was utterly dark. He lifted his head and his eyes met mine. They glowed with horror and desperation. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I leaned in closer so our foreheads almost touched. He let out a sound from the back of his throat and began to shake. He knows, he knows how this is going to end. I sat on my haunches and looked at him, inside of him. He slouched down, giving up. Then one last time, his eyes met mine and in his eyes I could see defeat, I could see his mind, faith and hope collapsing because on my island, no one survives.