Dance with Danger

The relentless pull of the undertow was a familiar dread, a phantom limb of a memory I couldn't quite grasp. Today, however, it was terrifyingly real. Hands, strong and unforgiving, shoved my head beneath the emerald green waters of Bulan Island. My lungs burned, demanding air, as my vision dimmed. This was it, then. Drowning in a paradise locals called 'East of Eden,' a place Cain was cast to after his unforgivable sin.

Just as darkness threatened to claim me, a violent splash, followed by a fierce shout, broke through the roaring in my ears. The hands vanished. I clawed my way to the surface, gasping, coughing, collapsing onto the white sand. Overhead, the sky was a bruised grey, pregnant with rain, but in that moment, there was only a profound, dizzying peace. I was alive.

"You okay?! Can you hear me?" A female voice, laced with impatience, cut through the quiet. I opened my eyes, the first fat drops of rain splattering my face, and saw a figure hovering above me. "Welcome to Bulan island. We usually drown people to death as a greeting. Are you one of those idiots who thinks this is a place brimming with gold?" Her words were harsh, yet her presence, unexpected as it was, had pulled me back from the brink.