Tarzan and James

Curious Kindness

"Is it what I think it is?"

"If what you're thinking is my father dead, then yes." James looks down and sits in a chair. "Oh..." He says quietly.

"Do you actually feel bad?" Tarzan says with a single laugh that suggested condescention. "He was an asshole. Im here because of him. My mom died here because of him." Tarzan felt weird talking about it. He hasn't talked to another person let alone about that.

"What happened?" James asked looking up as Tarzan crossed the floor towards James. "Nothing. Tell me about you. Who are you? Why are you even here?" Tarzans tone isn't indicative of any emotion.

"Well my name's James. I was on a friend's boat when we went out too far and I fell off. Speaking of which has anybody else shown up on this island?" He shakes his head. "No."

"Is there any possibility?"

"No. I know everything that happens on the island and you're the only new thing."

"Is.."

"no."

"Why are you so defensive?"

"Why do you keep asking the same questions?"

"I'm just worried about my friend that I was with. I'm sure you can understand that?"

"No every body I've thought I was friends with ended up being worse than the worst thing you could find in this place." James is a little shocked and doesn't know how to react.

"Hey there's got to be something good about this place?"

Tarzan shakes his head and leaves through the door. "Hey where are you going?"

"I'm hungry."

"Well I'll come and help."

"The hell you will. You'll scare all of the pigs away before I can even get close."

"Well..... Okay.."

"Don't touch anything and just sit right there." before another word Tarzan disappears back into the woods.

"I guess I'll stay here." James says to himself. He looks around a bit more, mainly just finding cool shells and glass bottles.

"I haven't been this tired in a long time. I'm sure he'll be gone for a while so it wouldn't hurt to sleep before he gets back."

James feels a cool breeze that makes him shiver and he reaches down to pull his shirt over his stomach but when he opens his eyes all he sees are 2 eyes staring back at him. He sqweeks and sits up as fast as he could.

"What were you doing?" James asked, his heart still racing from the shock. "Come down here. I killed one." Tarzan leaves before James can ask anymore questions. James can feel the heat left from Tarzan hands on his stomach and cheek. "He has obviously been in the jungle too long."

James climbs down the stairs and meets Tarzan by the fire he had the pig cooking over. It was obviously a young one but it was still a good size. The thought of eating the tiny pieces he had ripped apart made James dry heave a little.  James was too hungry to turn down the protein and he did his best to stomach the meat.

James didn't say much more while he was eating and neither did Tarzan. They finished eating and went back up into the house. James picks a corner and pulls the chair next to him and gets comfortable. Well as comfortable as possible. Tarzan climbs onto his bamboo bed and looks at James."what are you doing?"

"I'm getting ready to go to bed."

"You're going to get too cold. Come over here and get under the pig skin." James went to move but then thought about Tarzan and his hands earlier.

"No I'll be fine. Over here."

"You're stupid but if you want to freeze and get eaten by the bugs be my guest. Homophobia is not a good thing to have now that you're stuck here."

"Well I'm going to get off this island. My friends will call the police and report me missing. Plus I'm not a homophobe."

Tarzan laughs. "Yeah they didn't find me and my mom but they'll definitely find you." The sarcasm makes James hold his tongue. "When they search for me maybe they will find us and take us back home." Tarzan was a little shocked at the 'us' part.

" Us? This is my home. I have no life out there."

"You want to die here? You don't want to go back to modern civilization?"

"I have the education of a 8th grader. Modern civilization is a completely different universe. I like it here and this is where Ive been for most of my life and this is where I'll stay. No one out there wants me there."

"That doesn't mean you can't go back? I'm sure someone is out there missing you."

"That's exactly what it means. I have no one out there no where to go I don't even remember that much about people or how to be human."

"Well you're not doing a bad job. You seem more normal than I thought you'd be." Tarzan looks off into the distance and thinks for a little while but then stops and responds quickly.

"Well it doesn't matter because I'm not going back."

"Okay. I can't make you but I'm going back."

"Good." Tarzan says quietly to himself. He rolls over under the jungle version of covers and falls asleep without another word from either of them.

You have survived the first chapter!!! I wish you luck on your further endeavors.