Chapter Twenty-Five
“How long is the full track?” I asked Henry, struggling up the stairs behind him.
It was a question that I really should have asked before we were already an hour into the hike.
I was too keen to get moving in my new boots, followed by the sugar rush of maple pancakes and my excitement to immerse myself into the depths of this island.
I expected that this was how I was spending my day.
What I wasn’t expecting was how unfit I felt.
Henry finally stopped, placing his hands on his hips as he spun around. It wasn’t until now that I noticed he too was puffing and for someone with ripples in his arms and abs as deep as him to be puffing, well it certainly made me feel a lot better about my fitness.
After breakfast, Henry helped me out with the handmade cream.
As he helped me apply it, to my swollen lip, marked with his teeth and a black bruise that surround it, it had bought him to tears, once again vowing to never hurt me again.
I knew he was sincere, and we had organized to spend the night talking about where I felt comfortable and where my boundaries sat around his fetish.
As he applied the cream it felt cool and tingly between my legs before it soothed and almost numbed any pain.
I hadn’t even felt it, during this walk.
Although I had packed the cream with me in case it did wear off.
“This is one of the steepest bits and we’re halfway through it.
After here it just gets flat for a while before another set of stairs, they’re a lot shorter than these ones, though.
My guess is that we will probably reach the middle of the island in another half an hour.
It is really beautiful once you get there and as soon as you see the view it instantly feels worth it,” he said, pulling the water bottle from his backpack and handing it to me.
I began instantly sucking it down. Although between my legs was soothed, my quads were on fire. I made a mental note to start upping my exercise routine as soon as I got back to the city. Countless walks around the city with the odd Pilates class was all I had done, in the past couple of months.
I did have to agree with him. We were only halfway to the middle of the island and all around me, the views were already spectacular.
Deep green surrounded the cement stairs that had appeared in the middle of the island, and from how high we were already up, I could see the edge of the blue water, glistening in the sun behind us. I handed the bottle back to Henry.
“Are you okay to keep going, my love?” he said, my heart panged. We had been calling each other cute pet names since this morning’s conversation.
“Of course, my darling,” I said, as he spun back around, and I followed behind him.
Throughout the walk I had been trying to stay as present as possible.
But my mind couldn’t stop running through the moments of my life that lay ahead.
Walking into work Tuesday morning and telling my boss that I quit, picking out an office space with Henry, thinking about what specifically my first project could be, when I had full reign.
Not to mention everything that I had to look forward to with Henry.
We reached the top of the stairs where a thin dirt path weaved between the thick green bushes on either side and led towards the middle of the island.
“Are you okay?” Henry asked, slowing to my pace. I had been so lost in my own mind, it had made the rest of the stairs a breeze, but I realized that I had spent most of our walk in complete silence.
“Yes, sorry, I’m good, absolutely wonderful in fact,” I said, taking his hand as we continued down this track. “Thank you for taking me here, truly and thank you for everything. All of this, I guess you really have left me speechless.”
Henry smiled, squeezing my hand tighter. “Thank you for being you. I feel so grateful that I’ve met you,” he said placing a soft kiss on the top of my head.
“Ditto,” I said. I began to hear the sound of running water in the distance. “Wait, is there a waterfall in the middle of this island?”
Henry’s dimples were fully exposed now as he chuckled. “Surprise,” he said with a wink.
“Oh my God If I knew that, I wouldn’t have been dawdling so much.” I couldn’t remember the last time that I had immersed myself in the beauty of a waterfall. “So, wait, did you build this whole track when you bought this island too?”
Henry shook his head, letting go of my hand as the two of us began to get sweaty under the hot sun.
“No, this was already here. The path and the stairs needed to be worked on soon for general safety measures, but it all came as a part of the island. The only things that I have built here is what you see surrounding the property, the pavement, the pools, and the pier. Everything else has been left exactly as it came.”
“So how did this island exactly become yours? Like who did you buy it from?”
“Miss Bentley was government-owned land before I claimed her. I had come across the original listing with one of my real estate agents. He had been given it to sell and didn’t really know what he was going to do with it.
At first it was meant to be a military site, but then the government found more appropriate places.
A few large hotel giants took a look at it, but for the size of the island, and the fact that it’s not exactly an easy trip to and from, they all decided that it wasn’t worth it.
I wasn’t exactly in the market for an island but when I saw it and the steal that it was going for, I couldn’t say no. ”
Somehow, I think that the price of an island was not exactly a steal, but I suppose at Henry’s level it probably wasn’t a single dent in his bank account.
“So, if it’s two hours to the center, how long is it around the island?
” I felt so rude already being on this land that was so beautiful it almost felt sacred.
Other than a day out in the water, hadn’t really left the house.
This holiday was meant to be about relaxation and connection but there was so much more to explore.
“We can walk around the full beach tomorrow if you like, it only takes an hour.”
“That would be nice,” I said. “So, do you know anything about the history of this place? Like these stairs have been built here before, and the statues that have sunk, there must be so much to its history….” I said, as I followed the path, wondering about how isolated this place had been for so long, and the people that had walked this very track before.
I don’t know if it was just because I hadn’t spent enough time in nature other than the very many city gardens for a while, if that was the reason that I felt this way…
but something about this place really did feel so special, like it needed to be kept in its original form.
It made me smile, knowing that this small island was placed perfectly in the hands of Henry and not some large hotel company that would ruin the core of it.
“I know that it’s ignorant of me to not know much about this place.
I do know that many years ago it used to be a much larger island to a group of natives, which is the very story I told you yesterday about the sunken statues.
I can’t go into much more of the details than that.
There hasn’t been much of a reason for me to come out here that often.
It can get quite lonely out here by yourself pretty quickly.
It’s great for thinking time but other than that, this island is meant to be shared and enjoyed. ”
“Does that mean we get to come out here more?” I said as we began climbing the stairs, Henry in front of me.
“Miss Molly, we can spend as long as you want out here. We can come out here whenever you want. Heck, you can make this whole island your entire office if you like.”
I giggled. Not because it was funny but because I didn’t know what else to say. It was all just so much to come to terms with.
Lost in my mind again, I didn’t realize how far ahead Henry had climbed. He stood at the top of the staircase. “C’mon, babe, you’ve got to see this.”
Babe was a new pet name that he hadn’t tried yet.
One that I didn’t mind but one that I had to admit didn’t exactly feel comfortable being spoken from his usual eloquent mouth.
I sped up the rest of the stairs and Henry took my hand.
I gasped; I was literally standing at the very top of the island.
It looked as if we were on the edge of a volcano, but the top of the spout was nothing but an open pit of bushland, with a tall waterfall falling down a thin strip of rushing water on the far side.
As I spun around, I could see 360 views of the whole island.
In the distance was nothing but the horizon.
It felt like we were the only two people in the world.
“Can we get closer to the waterfall?”
“Of course,” said Henry pointing to the right of the path in front of us that followed all around to the top of the waterfall and back towards where we were standing.
“Just stay back from the edge,” he said as I skipped in front of him.
I could see the steppingstones on top of the waterfall in the distance, and I couldn’t wait to step across them.
I didn’t think to bring my phone because it was the last thing that I wanted with me in nature.
Now I was really kicking myself that I didn’t have a camera.
Henry was right in warning me about the edge of the track.
It was incredibly thin, with no railing.
It would be the worst nightmare for anyone with a fear of heights.
But here I was on top of the world with the love of my life.
I wanted to skip towards the rocks, but one wrong move and I would be falling towards the bottom of the waterfall, and down into the deep pit of the middle of the island.
I had no idea how high up we were but high enough for the trees below me to look like nothing but little broccoli stumps.
Step by step, I watched the dirt beneath me, feeling Henry right behind me, planting each foot firmly on the ground, avoiding the many loose rocks that lined the path. A railing out here would have been very beneficial, but I still stood by how beautiful it was to be left completely untouched.
As I kept my eyes down on the ground, watching every single step, my body came to a halt as one of the large rocks blocked my path, was protruding out and not giving me much room to step forward.
It wasn’t how the rock was sitting that had caused my body to freeze but the large red stain that covered it.
My hands began to shake, with my voice as I tried to speak clearly, “Henry, Henry,” I whimpered as though I had already completely lost my breath.
“Is that? Is that what I think it is? Is that blood?” I finally forced the words out as Henry grabbed hold of my hips, keeping me planted still.
He leaped past me to get a closer look at what I was staring at.
Henry’s face tensed as he shook his head, “No I don’t think that, that’s…”
I screamed, leaning down towards the rock as I got a closer look.
I had kept my cool, I was trying to keep my cool.
But that part of me was now far gone. This was not a dream; this was not a hallucination.
I was standing here, and this was real. My eyes caught on the strands of long blonde hair wedged underneath the bloodied rock.
I grabbed hold of it, I felt it in my hands and suddenly it was like I was under water again.
Feeling the long red strands of hair in my hand.
But this was real as I tugged at the hair, it broke off from underneath the rock with ease as I felt the brittle black hair all clumped up in my right hand.
I took a small step away from the rock, my body shaking.
“What is this?” was all I said waving the hair that was held tightly in my palm. Unsure if I should have said, “Who is this?”
Henry’s eyes were wide, looking at the hair I held in my hand and back down at the rock.
His jaw dropped open and he shook his head.
“I have no idea what that is, Molly,” he said as he gulped.
“I can’t tell you the last time that I was up here.
I can’t tell you who was the last person up here either. ” His eyes flooded with fear.
That was the moment when it began raining.
Not just raining, pouring. The rain bucketed down on the two of us, leaving us both saturated within a matter of minutes.
And with the hair in my hand, lump in my throat, the tightness began to take over my chest. The instant rain on my parade, was the perfect analogy for how we were feeling right now.
Henry tried to pull the hair out of my hand, but I held tight and swiped my arm away from him.
I stepped back and my body began to shake on the thin path.
He grabbed hold of me, holding me tightly underneath his arm.
“We need to head back,” he said, “Stay close to me and we will both get back safe.”
I didn’t say a word, I just nodded. The last thing that I wanted right now was to slip on the thin path, falling to my death.
I could be just like the woman or the man whose hair I was holding.
Another body that someone would find, the next time someone hiked through.
Although there was no body, I didn’t see a body, but there was hair.
A whole lot of hair. There had to be a body somewhere underneath their rocks, didn’t there?
My mind ran wild, as I stayed close to Henry following his every move back towards the stairs.
Was he telling the truth? He had to have been.
But whatever I saw… that blood was not old.
It couldn’t have been. Surely, blood didn’t stain like that, from where it was so close to the waterfall…
it would have had to have been fresh? And the hair, although it was brittle, it was in my hands, and if that hair was attached a body…
well, how long would it have taken to disintegrate?