Part Three: The Island

Bridget ran until her legs collapsed under her.  The dolphin paused about twenty feet from the shore and waited until she caught her breath.  She was lying on the sand for about ten minutes.  She knew that she needed to start again when the dolphin started making soft dolphin squeals, but she was so tired.  “Just a little longer…” she murmured.

The dolphin left, but returned a moment later.  A splash of water hit Bridget’s face.  “Hey!” she shouted.  The dolphin retreated to the sea and looked at her, laughing the way dolphins do when they think something is hilarious.

She stared at it for a moment, shocked into silence, then burst out laughing.  She waded into the water and splashed some back at the dolphin.  “Not that you care about getting wet.” she said, but it made her feel better.  It was hard to run in her wet clothes, but the dolphin didn’t slow down.  In fact it speeded up, if anything.  Finally, she yelled, “Stop!”

I don’t know what she expected; it was a dolphin, after all, but it <em>did</em> stop.  That’s when she realized that they were at the tip of peninsula.  There was a small island just past the tip; she could probably get to it by wading there.  The island was no more than two hundred feet across, surrounded by tall palm trees, and sparkly.  No, I’m not kidding you, it really did sparkle.  That was the first thing she noticed.  A faint shimmer held itself around the island, lacing itself around the palm fringes and swirling in with the water.

She wasn’t tired any longer.  In fact, she felt more alive than she ever had.  She waded out until the water was up to her waist.  “Am I supposed to go here?”  she asked the dolphin.

It stared at her with its brown eyes.  She took that as a yes (she was correct, in fact) and sloshed through the water until she reached the island.  The island was ringed with trees, as I mentioned before, and these were intertwined with visible swirls that glinted in the sun.

The dolphin squealed at her.  She squealed back.  “What’s your problem?  First you say I should go onto the island and now you think I shouldn’t?”  The dolphin shook his head in a sort of circular motion that could be taken for either yes or no.  When she stared at it in confusion, the dolphin swam up to her and nudged her towards the island.  “Oh great, wipe your nose all over me, why don’t you?”  Her lack of sleep was beginning to set in, and no matter how magical this place was, there was still hunger to be contended with.  She stumbled onto the island, just outside of the trees.  Then she stood up and tried to push through the trees.  They wouldn’t let her.  She looked back at the dolphin in puzzlement.  The dolphin stared back.  Then he looked at the trees, staring hard.

She turned back to the trees and tried to walk through again.  This time they gave way.  Bridget felt a slight tingle on her skin, but otherwise the trees gave no resistance.

Bridget didn’t gasp.  She’d done enough gasping.  But she wished she’d saved one of her gasps for this.  Inside the ring of trees was a meadow.  Shafts of sunlight shot down to the grass in some places, but mostly it was dark.  But there was beauty in this dark.  It was soft and inviting, and little silver flowers were dotted on the grass, like stars had fallen down and taken root.  They seemed to give off a tiny light of their own.

The grass tickled her feet softly, and when she felt it, it was softer than silk.  It was thin and fine and it smelled fragrant.  She bent down and got close to the flowers to have a better look at them.  The inside had little maroon dots near the center.  She leaned closer to see if they had a scent.  “No!  Don’t smell them!” a voice shouted, and something rustled through the trees.