Chapter 2 – Solitude.
Since the letter was from the person who dumped her on this watcher-forsaken island, Kahlee really didn’t want to follow the advice she’d been given. But, she needed to eat and she needed a way to make money. A sigh came from the woman’s lips as she grabbed the paddleboat and made her way to the biggest island she could find. It wasn’t the right one for the store, but one of the locals pointed her in the right direction.
It was time to spend what little money she had…
…and then get her hands dirty.
While she was planting the apple tree, the woman had this niggling feeling in the back of her mind that buying it was a bad idea. She had a brief flash of an image, herself standing in a gothic-looking town and simply creating an apple out of thin air… with some kind of stick.
”No… pull yourself together girl. There’s no way that’s real.”The thought was pushed from her mind as she wandered over to the tent. Looking inside, there was a pretty good sleeping bag, some pillows and a fishing rod. Kahlee remembered seeing a few fish down at the beach, so she grabbed the road and headed straight down there. It’d give her something to eat at least.
But she wasn’t good enough to catch anything straight from the sea. Plus she didn’t have any bait, and even if she did, she had absolutely no idea what type to use! So, she went back to the mainland with her little boat and did some exploring until she came across a small pond. Something in the back of her mind told her to use the nearby shrubs to hide in while fishing… so she did.
”No-one here little fishies… now jump on my hook! I’m gonna eat you little fishie…”Despite her complete and utter lack of skill, Kahlee managed to get a reasonable little haul. True, it was mostly minnows, plus a toad and a goldfish, but it was better than nothing. She went back to what passed as her home, and then found that her barrel really wasn’t good enough for cooking food on.
”Great. Just great What am I going to do now?! I’ll starve out here!” She grumbled loudly and just went to bed, with her stomach
also grumbling loudly.
The next day was her lucky day, as she found her barrel replaced with a fire pit. That big, fat, juicy toad was cooked instantly.
”Thank you Watcher… I won’t starve now.”The garden was her next priority, watering the plants to make sure they didn’t die. That would not be good for her first crop.
As for the rest of her day? Kahlee decided to pop back to the mainland and abuse the gym facilities. She’d seen it on her little exploration attempt and figured there was a good chance it’d have toilets and showers. She’d been exactly right, and no-one batted an eye at some random woman wandering in and using the bathroom to clean herself up.
Then it was back to her fishing spot, and it seemed today would be a good day. First, she managed to find a seed.
Followed by a spot absolutely full of fish…
…and finally managed to catch a trout!
Eventually she went home, cooked her fish and went to bed. The following day was much of the same, tend the garden and go and clean up in the gym. But today, she was starting to feel the effects of isolation. Kahlee needed to talk to someone, so despite the fact it was the dead of night and a full moon, she headed over to the park.
It was completely empty. But that was fine, this place would work for something else. Her mind had been constantly flashing images of that apple in her mind, and some odd movements with the stick.
”Look brain… it can’t possibly do anything…”She tried to copy them anyway, just so her mind would stop bugging her about it.
”See?! Absolutely noth-” “
-WOW!”
The magic arcing between her fingers completely surprised Kahlee, and she spent the next couple of hours playing with it, completely forgetting that she was actually looking for someone to talk to. The loneliness kicked in again though, so she decided to try the nearby library.
That was empty too. By this point, she just gave up and went back to her tent to sleep until it was light.
When she woke up, she grilled another fish and ate that before heading back to the mainland. She remembered seeing a community pool, and wondered if she’d have better luck there.
And luck was certainly with her that day.
Kahlee: “Oh, thank the Watcher! A person!”
Akoni: “Um… hello to you too?”
Kahlee: “I’m sorry… I’ve just… not really spoken to anyone in four days.”
Akoni: “Wow! That’s a long time… how did you not go completely insane?”
Kahlee: “I was close… really, really close. Thank you for sparing me from that!”
Akoni: “Hey… it’s my pleasure. I’m Akoni.”
Kahlee: “Oh! Right… I’m Kahlee.”
Akoni: “So… you look a little worse for wear… and I don’t mean the loneliness. What’s up?”
Poor Akoni had everything landed on him. The fact she woke up on a strange beach, with almost no money, no way to contact anyone and no possessions aside from the clothes she wore, the tent she’d been provided with, the fire pit and her little boat.
Akoni: “What in SimLand did you do to be just… dumped like that?!”
Kahlee: “I don’t know.”
Akoni: “Oh. Right… you don’t want to tell me.”
Kahlee: “No. I don’t know! I couldn’t remember anything when I woke up, and I only know my name because there was a note.”
Akoni: “Amnesia?”
Kahlee: “Maybe. I know it was done to me on purpose though… so whatever I did must have been really, really bad.”
Akoni: “Wow… no-one deserves that.”
Kahlee: “…thank you. It’s nice to hear someone say that.”
Akoni: “Hey, no problem. Listen, I need to head back home. If you see me around town, stop and say hi, alright?”
Kahlee: “I will… and thank you again for letting me unload like that.”
The two parted on good terms. Kahlee found the swimming pool also had a toilet and shower, so she used those facilities, went and stocked up on some fish and then finally went back to what passed as home. The past few days had been difficult to say the least, but now she had a friend, her fishing skill was getting better and her garden was coming along.
Baby steps, but steps never the less.
**********
If anyone is interested, I am seriously considering putting Kahlee up on the swap shop.
I need to tweak her a little first, and I need to find out what expansions/stuff packs I used in creation.
