Fluke

1: Paradise Is Relative

When I signed up for Paradise City, there were a few expectations I had in mind, like any other human would. One, that there would be peace and quiet. Two, that there would be herds of people there, lost in the hustle of doing nothing. Three, that there would in fact be an actual city.

None of that was true, and that was as close to my paradise as I could ever get.

For most people, the word island had a certain image attached to it, an idea as to what it should entail exactly: rainbows of beach towels lining the shore, fine grain sand stretching farther than the eye could perceive, and an ocean breeze cooling the air.

While that was fine and dandy, it wasn't the life for me. Whales were more my style, and Paradise City was all about the glamorous life of marine organisms.

I was just lucky enough to be on my way there.

I counted the bodies on board of The Millennium Osprey as the captain sat at the wheel and turned in his chair to face us.

There were seven living bodies on the boat, as well as one sitting on the floor in the corner that seemed slightly less alive, but I couldn't put a name to a single one of the faces besides myself.

The captain, whose experience could have been quantified in grey hairs combed away from his face, finally broke the silence among us. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking." He laughed. "My name's Robbie, and this is my first mate Nastasya. We'll be taking you to Paradise City."

He gestured over to a much younger woman, and despite the harshness of her glare, she smiled.

"Located thirty-three miles off of Bar Harbor, the island is a short ride away from here. If you'll look at the map over here," Nastasya ran her hand along the surface of the map displayed on a storage container, "you'll see exactly where we're heading."

I didn't need to look at the map, since I had already studied one for hours back home, but I took another peek anyway.

"Say goodbye to life as you know it, and say hello to cabin fever. Just don't get seasick on my boat, and everything will be fine. Also, if the weather turns and the seas get rough, there are life jackets stored right next to the bathroom down those stairs there," Robbie said. "And if someone falls overboard, just—just don't fall overboard, okay? Don't be that guy."

I smiled, even though he may as well have been saying that directly to me.

When Robbie and Nastasya didn't say anything else and turned back to start up the boat, I leafed through my backpack on the floor. I was almost certain that I had snacks in there unless I had forgotten to pack them, which was indeed a possibility.

A small smile rose on my face as I picked out a granola bar.

I looked back over to the others in the boat. We would all soon be stuck on an island together, and we would probably get to know each other a little bit too well for anyone's comfort. My time would be better spent on introducing myself to Robbie and Nastasya, since boats were typically required to get anywhere near a whale.

I finished up my snack, then stood up to talk to the captain and his first mate.

"Excuse me," I said, and both Robbie and Nastasya turned to face me. "It's nice to meet y'all. I just wanted to introduce myself, since we'll be working together quite a bit in the near future. I'm Reagan Winebrenner."

"Oh, so you're the whale girl, right?" Robbie asked.

I nodded. "That's me."

"Nice to meet you. So what exactly do you do?" Nastasya asked.