The Island's Own Space

The Tiger

The crashing of waves can be heard from a distance. The sun was up high and hitting the surface with its warm rays. At the shore, laid a formerly drenched woman thaf was now all dried up because of the warm sun and the warm salty breeze by the sea.

Bella was washed ashore after she fell to the raging water yesterday. It was a mystery because as soon as she lost consciousness the sea became calm and washed her ashore. However, as soon as her body was at the wet and cold sand the sea raged again.

Bella groaned after feeling the heat hit her face and something fluffy and warm rubbing at her cheek. Bella slowly opened her eyes as she felt a sting in them. She narrowed them after she saw the bright sun. Bella sat up with her eyes narrowed and looked at the sea with a blank expression.

"I'm... alive." Bella stated, her mind was still calm and it seemed like what happened to her hasn't completely sunk in her brain. She wasn't thinking about anything and just stared in space.

Bella sighed a few times before the events from yesterday finally sank in her head. She looked towards her left and saw a seemed to be endless white colored sand and coconut trees. Bella was about to look in her right when she felt something heavy covered with fur at her thighs. She looked down and saw a tiger resting in her lap with a very calm and composed expression.

Bella flinched and was stunned as the warm sea breeze blew her dried salty hair. Bella became stiff at the sight of the tiger leisurely lying on her lap as her hair fluttered when the wind blew once more and covered her face slightly.

"Ah." Bella gasped when she remembered the tiger who helped her. "You're that tiger." Bella watched the tiger as it looked up at her with blank eyes as if it was telling her 'of course'.

After a few moments, the tiger nodded its head as if he understood what Bella had said. Bella was surprised and amazed at the same time by the tiger's actions and started to smile. She reached her hand to the tiger's head and was about to pat it. However, just before her palm could reach the tiger's head she stopped. Bella remembered that this is a tiger and not a cat like her pet Nicky. Once Bella noticed this fact she flinch and felt childs run down her back.

The tiger was still looking up at her. The tiger switched its gaze from Bella's face to her hand and vice versa before lifting its head more and made Bella's hand touched it. It seemed to realize that Bella was scared of itself and made the move to tell her that it won't hurt her.

Bella flinched ever so slightly at the tiger's action before smiling after seeing that it seemed to like her touch. She stroked it's head a couple of times before looking around once more. Bella thought that it would be good to be friends with animals. She was always close to animals since she was a kid and for her it became normal that animals liked her.

Bella looked around once more and studied the place.

'Shore.'

Bella thought of a single word before stroking the tiger's head once more. The tiger purred under her palm that made her looked down on it.

"I'm in a shore--"

Bella abruptly stopped and started to look around furiously. In each direction, in the sea, to left and right, and towards the path leading to the forest. Bella remembered about her encounter with the men that kidnapped her and felt chills run down her back. The tiger seemed to sense her panic and scared state and patted her thigh with its front paw. Bella felt the tiger's pat and looked down at it once more. The tiger shook its head as if it were telling her that there are no dangers around.

After seeing the tiger's gesture did Bella only calmed down and took a deep breath.

'Right, if the tiger's calm it means that there are no harm around. I shouldn't underestimate an animal's senses and instinct.'

"Just where am I? If only this shore is the place where I first arrived I'm sure that the boat we used to travel this island is still in here."

Bella had already inspected the show twice and didn't see any port nor the boat they used to get in the island, that made her sure that this place was not the place where Diego and her first arrived at. Bella thought of going in there to escape, however she remembered all of the things that happened to her in that place.

"If only I could just go there and go home. But I can't just casually go there because those people might still be in there."

Bella thought out loud and the tiger just gazed at her as she spoke to herself. In the midst of all the thoughts in Bella's mind, she remembered about Lucaon.

"Oh, my God! Lucaon!"

Bella jumped up making the tiger jumped as well. Bella looked up to find the cliff she fell from. However, when she saw the cliff her spirits went down. Bella was most likely kilometer's away from the cliff.

"How could this be? This island was very small when I arrived here! How can it be this big after..." Bella stopped in the middle of her sentence, "what day is today?" She asked as if someone will answer her. The tiger purred again as it rubbed its body on her leg before biting her loose slacks and pulling it toward the forest. Bella hesitated for a while, but the strength of the tiger seemed to surpass any ordinary tiger because it easily pulled Bella toward the forest.

Bella frowned still rebelling to go to the forest after remembering all the events that happened to her inside the forest. However, she changed her mind after seeing the determined back of the tiger on her and its heavy steps that seemed to become more heavier as it took another step. The tiger's reassuring attitude and consistent steps made the doubt in Bella disappear.

'I suppose I can trust you.'

Bella patted the tiger's head and the tiger looked up at her still bitting her slacks. Bella patted her thigh and waited if the tiger got what she meant. The tiger stared at her for a few minutes before letting go of Bella's slacks.

'Something must be wrong with me. I should be more cautious and scared of the tiger, but I feel like I know you for sometime now. It's strange.'

Bella felt strange because she wasn't feeling scared or any negative emotions towards the tiger when normally people would get scared at piss their pants upon seeing one. Bella felt a bizarre feeling of familiarity towards the tiger and thought that it must be because the tiger saved her from getting devoured by another tiger. Once Bella thought of the reason she didn't give it any more thought and just shook the thought away and walked side by side with the tiger as they both entered the warm and at the same time oddly warm forest.

"Where are you taking me?" Bella subconsciously asked the tiger as if it could answer her back. It has been almost twenty minutes since they left the beach, but the tiger showed no signs of stopping. Bella was not an athletic person and her stamina was worse than that of a baby's. However she could push herself to her limit if she wanted to just like how she ran all the way to her office from her apartment the last time.

However, the last time wasn't this time. Last time, Bella was running on concrete and the weather was fairly cool, but this time, she was walking on muddy and sometimes rocky path and not to mention the track the tiger and Bella's walking to was uphill. Bella also felt how the air on their way up keeps on getting warmer and warmer that her legs sweated under her slacks. Bella could fell her knees ache and not only her knees, Bella could hear her whole body complaining to her as she continued following the tiger that was now a few meters ahead of her.

"Wai...haa. Wait for me!" Bella called out to the tiger but it didn't even bother looking at her and walked even faster. "Hey, I said wait for me! I--I can't take another step anymore!" Bella was huffing and gasping for air. Her throat was dry and her lungs hurt from the lack of air. The tiger stopped walking and looked behind him where Bella was leaning on a nearby tree while both of her hands were on each of her knee.

Bella's forehead was wrinkled as she clutched her chest after she felt it sting and soon started to ache a little more. She tried to control her breathing. However, it was as if there's something her windpipe that made it hard for her to breath. She flinched and winced in pain as she looked towards where the tiger was, but found none. She was shock, but was in no condition to.

"Cough, cough." Bella coughed as it became harder to breath, she wheezed and frowned as she thought.

'I never experienced this before. As long as I can remember, I have no asthma or whatsoever. I'm perfectly healthy.'

"Cough, cough!" Bell coughed some more. In every cough Bella made, her heart raced faster that it was and her lungs squeezed hard that it hurt her so bad.

'Water.'

Bella thought as her body that was leaning on the trunk of a tree started falling to the grass. However, before Bella could fall to the ground and curl up from the pain. Bella felt something wide that was covered in fur catch before she could fall. The tiger caught Bella as her body slanted and pushed her body back to leaned once more on the trunk of the tree.

Bella had her eyes closed, but she knew that the tiger was the one who helped her sit up. She peeked in between the gap of her slightly opened eyes and saw something on the tigers maw. It was something like jar that was woven from weeds. Bella couldn't figure out what it was because her vision was starting to blur and her breathing was slowing down. However, Bella still kept wheezing and gasping for air. Bella closed her eyes again and leaned her head on the trunk.

The tiger tapped its front paw on Bella's thigh and dropped the woven jar on her lap. Bella opened her eyes once again and glanced down. Bella grabbed the woven jar with her shaking hands. Bella felt something liquid shook from the inside as she raised it. The tiger nodded its head to Bella. Bella had no way of seeing this because her gaze was focused on the jar. She opened the lid with her trembling hands and put it on her lips as she slowly gulped down a lukewarm water.

Bella continously gulped down the water on the woven jar and soon the water was gone and Bella coughed as her breathing became stable. Bella panted several times before fully regaining herself. The tiger then took a step away from Bella. She noticed the tiger's movements and shifted her gaze from the ground to it. The tiger nodded its head towards the upper ground telling Bella that they should keep going. Bella understood what the tiger meant and breath a few deep breathes before standing up and walking beside the tiger.

Bella could still feel the pain in her lungs from earlier, but it wasn't so bad that she needed to take a break. Unlike earlier, the tiger stayed by her side as they walked up towards the peak, the tiger didn't walk ahead and instead it matched Bella's pace. Bella til doesn't know why the tiger was leading her towards the peak of the mountain, but Bella's mind was not bothered by it.

'How can there be a mountain this high when I didn't even see any high ground from the beach earlier?'

Bella was thinking about the strange geography of the island. Her eyes were everywhere as she followed the tiger closely behind. The tiger seemed to be worried about Bella because it kept on looking back. However, Bella just put her hand on the tiger's large and wide back.

'Now, that I'm thinking about it this tiger is unusually big.'

The tiger was really big. The tiger reached Bella's upper waist and it was almost as wide as a mature tree. Bella's hand that was resting on the tiger's back flinched after she noticed the tiger's size. Bella was about to take her hands off the tiger's back, but the tiger growled at her.

'Don't'

That was what the tiger was telling Bella when it growled at her. It was telling Bella not to take her hand away. Bella gulped down and nodded her head toward the tiger as it stared at her with its crescent-shaped eyes narrowed.

After a few more minutes of the painful walk, Bella gasped at the sight that greeted her at the peak of the mountain.