Nightspell || Michael Clifford

Chapter 7

'Hey, Bailey?' a soft whisper woke me up.
I groaned and put my hand over my face, hoping to fall back asleep.
'Come on, dinner is ready and I think I fixed your leg brace.'
I frowned, starting to wake up more as my mind filled itself with memories.
Opening my eyes, I turned around and sat up straight, the burning feeling in my lungs coming back the more I woke up.
'Good evening.' Michael grinned, taking my leg brace from where he had it standing against the thin, wooden wall of his cabin.
He handed it to me and I thanked him as I strapped it on my leg.
Michael helped me stand up and held my hands as I lifted my leg up and bend it, checking if it was working properly again.
When I had come to the conclusion that it did, a huge smile spread on my face and I looked up at Michael.
'Thank you so much!' I said. 'How did you do that?'
'I had some left over coconut oil and I just smudged it on. We'll just have to put some more on every once in a while to make sure it keeps working.'
I looked down at my leg.
A few hours ago, I was basically ready to give up on my life. And now I felt as if everything was going to be perfectly fine.
'Come on, our dinner is burning.' Michael said, letting go of my hands and walking out of the cabin.
I followed behind him.
The previously blue sky was now a beautiful mixture of colors as the sun was setting on the beach.
We walked around the cabin where there was a small fire. 2 stacks of rocks were carefully placed on either side of the fire and a big pot was resting in between the rocks, making it possible for the pot to hang above the fire without actually touching it.
A leg length away from the fire was a stack of tree trunks, strategically placed on top of each other to form a little bench.
The smell of fish and vegetables filled my nostrils and I braced myself for what was to come.
Fish is probably the only source of meat to find in this place so I'd have to get over myself and eat it despite the fact that I found it downright disgusting.
We sat down on the little bench and Michael instantly went to work, he grabbed 2 empty coconut shells and equally divided the food between both bowls.
He handed one to me and kept the other one himself.
'I'm not the best cook so I'm sorry if it's disgusting.' Michael said, looking at me as if he was genuinely sorry.
I grinned and looked down in to my coconut shell. 'I'm sure it's not that bad.'
Michael had made something that looked like a mixture of broccoli, carrots and the fish and it looked alright.
The fish had been cut into pieces which made it easier for me to imagine that it was something else.
I grabbed a piece of the fish and stuffed it in my mouth without putting to much thought into it.
Food was something that I needed to get inside my body right now, I was growing weaker and I hated feeling weak.
Scrunching my nose in disgust, I chewed on itand swallowed it down as fast as I could.

'It's that bad huh?' Michael grinned.

I looked at him, as he smiled at me apologetically.
Shaking my head, I grabbed a piece of broccoli and ate that, hoping to get ridof the taste a little bit.
'No, I'm just not a big fan of fish. It's not your cooking.' I explained.

Michael nodded 'Oh, well...fish is basically the only thing there is to eathere except for some veggies and fruits. You can't just live off of those.'

'That's exactly, why I'm eating it.' I smiled 'I'll just have to learn to likeit. The veggies taste good though.'

A small smile crept on Michael's face but he quickly covered it up by droppingmore food in his mouth.

'So how'd you get here?' Michael quickly changed the subject.
'Eh...there was a storm.' I started, dropping more food in my mouth.

'And my parents forced me to come with them on this cruise ship for the summer.They were starting to evacuate people and I was about to get into a lifeboatbut someone pushed me and I fell into the water.'

'That's terrible,' Michael mumbled.
I nodded slowly, not sure what else to say. I had no idea how long I had beenin the water for but I clearly remembered the way the water kept pushing medown and how my legs and arms had grown numb from fighting for so long.

I remembered wanting to give up and actually staying under water because Ineeded time to let my muscles rest.
I remembered thinking about not going back up again once I was sinking down,but then my body was starting to send me alarm signs, it started begging me foroxygen and I couldn't fight those instincts.

After that everything was a little vague, I was trying to swim to keep myselfwarm, I was fighting for air, until at some point, I suddenly felt somethingunder my feet.
At first I thought it was an animal. But then I touched it again and I realizedit was sand.
Thinking back to it, it all felt like I had had a nightmare.

It doesn't sound realistic at all. I had somehow managed to drag myself on theland.

Somehow managed to survive.

'So where are you from then?' Michael asked, pulling me out of my train ofthought.

I looked at him, before taking another bite of my food. 'I'm from Sydney.'
Michael nodded and I looked around, 'Where is this island placed? I know it'sin the middle of nowhere but...where?'

'It's in between Tasmania and New Zealand. Have you ever heard of the Lord HoweIsland?' Michael asked, putting his empty coconut shell to the side.
I nodded, I had heard of it a few times, mostly from a friend who was going to spenther holiday there.

'It's a little like that, only smaller and I'm the only one living here. AndLord Howe Island is not really in between Tasmania and New Zealand it's furtherup. Nightspell is really in between them. but closer to Australia then to NewZealand.' Michael explained.

'Nightspell?' I frowned.
Michael smiled innocently, as if he had just been caught eating a cookie hewasn't allowed to have yet.

'I mean, if I'm going to be living here I might as well give it a nameright?'
I nodded. 'Nightspell sounds cute.'
'Thank you.' Michael smiled 'It took me a good 3 months to come up withit.'
I smiled and finished eating my food in silence.

'How far away is Australia from here?' I asked, suddenly curious how far awayfrom home I was.

'About an hour and a half to two hours depending on the weather.'