Still, I wonder, do you remember? - DFD
Do I remember?...How could I ever forget?
Part Two.
I felt an immediate charge from the yellowy-white talisman hitting my skin. I unwrapped it from its crudely fashioned presentation made from freshly dried seaweed and a reclaimed aluminum Taco Flavored Doritos bag that Trini had (obviously) gathered from the beach.
I nodded toward Trini, put the amulet around my neck, and embraced him by clenching our righthand pinky's-turned-chest bump-bro hug, in a very masculine kinda way that we had adapted from our daily viewings of the excellent film Top Gun back in Thailand. All was forgiven.. no... All was
understood between Trini and I.
There was no resentment or blame that we place upon each other. Instead, we focused our energy to the task of survival on the wretchedly wild and untamed island. It was decided that Trini would leave early in the morning to hunt and gather supplies (due to his evolutionary advantage of being born short-armed, like a great Tyrannosaurus, as he debated), while I readied the cave for cooking, dinner, and the cleaning for the following days (based on the fact that I had once thrown a rock at a crab and screamed "like a girl" when that dirty sea-insect tried to infiltrate our camp one evening).
I would say that it was a difficult life, but I found myself with plenty of time to sunbathe and relax on the beach while Trini left camp each day only to arrive back later those nights with; food, drink, and supplies he must have scrounged for all day. The truth was, I felt so energized in the morning upon awakening, and so content and relaxed in the early afternoon, that it was as if I was powerless to stave off a nap after my chores around the cave were completed. On the rare occasion Trini would arrive back to camp when I was feeling agitated, he would console me, remind me to rub the amulet that hung around my neck, and would tell me tales that he learned in the jungle as told to him by the "spirits" (as he called them).
One night I became restless from what I thought I had recognized as the rumble from an amplified Roland TR808 bass drum (in the near-distance) when he told me of the tale of the Huaka'ipo, the restless souls of ancient Hawaiian warriors who marched single-file across the islands "In The Night!!!" for eternity.
Looking at a Huaka'ipo was considered an evil omen, he said. While these cursed "Night Marchers" mostly appear "In The Night!", they have occasionally been known to escort a recently deceased relative to the afterlife during the daytime, and suggested that they could have come to claim the soul of my recently departed love, Esmeralda. Trini warned me that the only way to avoid their wrath was to lie face down, pray to my talisman, no matter how they tried to trick me, and never to look up if I heard them speaking to me. Failure to do so would result in death unless an ancestor recognized me as their blood (which they never do because grandchildren are all @ssholes) and claimed me.
There was a certain energy in the world the next day. I started late, and could've sworn I'd heard voices from outside the cave and a sound that could only be described as 'slicing'. I had hopes that it might be a rescue party, but the tale of the Huaka'ipo was still fresh in my mind and decided to only run to the shore and back for supplies if I prayed and kissed the amulet while keeping my eyes down to avoid the Huaka'ipo's gaze.
As I was down at the beach gathering and crushing seashells in order to use the iridescent lining as body glitter and as a general "sparkling" effect to add a sense of sophistication to our cave dwellings decor, when I uncontrollably looked upon a the sky. Above me was a crescent moon. I gazed, transfixed by its beauty, when a flashing light came from the horizon to the east.
It flickered red.
I looked away in fear of retribution from the Night Marchers but couldn't resist the strobing lights. In the red I distinctively recalled seeing a piercing white symbol. Was it the letter 'H'? Maybe a celestial tic-tac-toe- pound-sign? A number three on its side? The sound of painful cackling carried across the air as the familiar sound of an 808 drum pounded in my chest when a shadowy figure appeared while my eyes adjusted back to the darkness...
I scrambled to the cave like a 12 year-old babysitter who's afraid of the boogeyman runs up the basements steps! Afraid for my life and soul, I collapsed fetal positioned onto the cave floor and resumed praying and rubbing my talisman until it broke.. Blubbering and sobbing with fear, I threw the broken half of the amulet at the figure entering the cave where it made contact squarely upon it's face and burst into a cloud of powder.
It stopped its pursuit and stood there silent, almost dazed.
Frightened beyond belief and with no Trini in sight, my eyes began rolling to the back of my head. The last thing I heard before blacking out was a voice standing above me saying:
'Mahalo'
