* * *

I am a lone still soldier,

A boat, a canoe in the sea.

Nobody sees me, nobody cares,

But I am a lone still soldier.

I may not be happy

But I say I am

And contended in my words,

I am happy.

There are storms and stormy days,

And I wonder, wonder what to say;

To ships that cross my way,

Marvelous indeed by trade:

And I may not be happy

But I say I am

And contended in my words,

I am happy.

A lone still soldier planting hope,

When roses wither

And birds are lost,

And luck is but a forlorn pluck;

A lone still soldier, asserting courage,

Asserting faith over this mortal rage.

A lone still soldier:

I may not be happy

But I say I am

And contended in my words,

I am happy.

* * *

Didn’t find a friend but I was good, as good as I’ve always been. It’s not like they were rude to me or anything but it was more like, they were there and still I was alone.

Mercy Botham: my, not-so-merciful, athletic, wide-eyed, short-hot-tempered, group leader.

Couldn’t live upto most of her expectations. She kept on giving me the dirty ‘‘you are shit” kind of look whenever I lost any of the competitions which gallingly seemed to be getting more frequent than the number of steps I took in a day.

‘She must probably hate me. Hey! What can I do? I’m only human, can’t help it, I’m not an Olympic champion. I tried, didn’t I?  …Anyway, it looks beautiful!’

I was busy in my philosophy when she suddenly blocked my view of the wondrous Peacock bay that seemed to be enlightening my soul to forgiveness. ‘You! Tyler! I’m gonna be your partner for the hike! Now, quick! Pack up and shove your ass in time!’ and she left. ‘Now, that was bossy!’

So I did shove up my ass just in time for nothing more than sweat! Dragging myself through this trudge, schlepping like an old ape over the deciduous terrain and sweating like a swine, I was cursing the sun blazing on my dehydrated head! While she, Mercy skipped about the rocks and flew up like a gazelle! Correctly approximating where exactly to land and take-off. It was hard trying to keep up. The others who followed were happily chit-chatting with their destined friends as I kept-on brooding about what exactly was my first blunder.

After a long trek, I mean a really, really long trek: almost an endlessly extended hike, that is, quite an extensive exhausting exercise to my legs, we finally, set-up our camp near the stream! Where, I don’t know exactly, but for sure it was somewhere close to where a suspicious deer was standing just before it took off, at the sight of Mercy, of-course!

Soon it was free time and I was lulling by the stream, alone, as it was deemed to be. My watch teased me back as I looked at it while time brought twilight to dawn upon the sleepy day. The bonfire was taking shape by the hands of those chosen cackling mates and Mercy was handing-out tomorrow’s schedule. Mr. Joe and Ms. Paulie our guides were having a delightful chat some-place adjacent to their tents occasionally signaling us, jailbirds to stay close to the camp and strictly ‘DO NOT WANDER-OFF’.

‘Hi, there!’ Oh great, the last person I want around me! ‘Hey!’ I said, sober in my voice. ‘What are you brooding about?’ Mercy smirked pretty peculiarly. Really wanted to ask her what was she so happy about but all I said was, ‘Nothing, nothing really!’ ‘Here, this is your schedule for tomorrow.’ ‘Thanks!’ I said not minding her presence.

After a long pause…

‘Alright! I’m sorry!’ she said and sat beside me. Quite taken aback by her sudden change to humanity I said, ‘What?’

She went on, ‘I’m sorry for being so rude to you; you just seem to take in everything without even a little bit of vindication. You must really hate me, don’t you?’

Well, now I understand why people pick on me, I’m just too nice for the world! Must definitely try and be vindictive! Must definitely try being a bitch … Noted!

‘Hey!’ she waved her palm in front of my eyes. ‘You seemed to be lost in thoughts. Are you always so blank when people speak to you?’ ‘No! Not always’, I claimed coming back to the surrounding of squawking birds and dirt-filled land.

‘I really want us to be friends… So tell me about you, you know, absolutely anything you want to!’

Suddenly when she said absolutely anything, the thought of this one incident that happened quite some time ago, which I termed as ‘the haunted mansion episode’ made me smile for it was in fact one of the most horrifying and stupidest things to happen in my life.

‘What is it?’ She said excited by my smile. ‘Okay, I’ll tell you something.’