Men in Paradise - 19. Chapter 19 - The Chase

Under lean-tos, in caves, and up through branches, Homo sapiens and our primate ancestors sought shelter. Our ancestors, exposed and relatively defenseless, stood a fair risk of being eaten by the creatures. In order to help them avoid that destiny, our ancestors developed many traits, if not permanently, at least long enough to replicate and pass their genes along. These answers still clarify how our bodies work today. Giant hyenas, cave bears, cave lions, eagles, snakes, other apes, wolves, and saber-toothed cats have eaten humans. Surprisingly, these are just the predators that, during relatively recent history, have eaten our ancestors over the past 100,000 years or so. Many of our ancestors consumed such predators, such as leopards. Others took their bites, like crocodiles, komodo dragons, or sharks, but more opportunistically, savoring the occasional human or proto-human the way a rare holiday treat might be enjoyed. We were, in other words, their thanksgiving turkey. It was incredibly important to be able to adapt instantly to the possible existence of a predator while our hamburger-size ancestors lived in trees. There are several primate species that have alarm calls that are unique to various predators. We also reacted in other ways, in addition to inventing terms for these predators. A movement in the grass, a mysterious shadow, hormonal responses yelled out within our bodies when we saw or heard a sign of threat. These fight-or-flight reactions accelerated the heart, increased blood flow to the muscles, triggered hyperventilation, and made us more likely to react rapidly to a predator by looking for it, hiding, running away, or throwing a stick and then running away for the truly brave.

Jai's PoV

Whenever a living creature senses danger, its body generates a chemical, that fluid passes through the body, nerves, and then to its brain which alarms about the approaching danger. The brain as a true leader simulates the rest of the organs such as hands and legs to act as self-defense.

On that day, this fluid already started generating in my body. I was feeling something strange and my brain was giving me a warning signal once in a while.

We spent the entire day exploring Purple island and found nothing that could help us. The island was empty except for a few scattered bones, seashells, stones, and purple flower plants on the first mountain. The silence and lifelessness of that place were perturbing. We wasted an entire day on an island that was of no use to anyone, not even for birds and insects. Our visit was so disappointing we were desperate to return to our island in a hurry.

Justin collected sediments and stones for his experiments. He also told us that the sediments have rich minerals which could be useful for many things.

Afridi got bored, he started singing Arab songs and it echoed. It was unbearable. I couldn't take it any longer, I wished to drop a big stone over his head.

For my part, I gathered seashells and purple plants, I had no idea if they could be of any use, but I still collected them in the baskets.

Sakthi was worried about leaving Captain alone in Paradise. He had become so fond of that animal and I hoped he would show at least a bit of that fondness on me too.

Similar to Paradise island, we found large rocks on the edge of the Purple island situated next to the active Volcano. Rocks are partially on the sea and the rest on the land with many caves. Justin wanted to enter the caves and explore them. But Sakthi stopped him. The path towards the cave was too dangerous because we needed to climb the rocks, and it would be too slippery.

Finally, Sakthi ordered us to march back to our island before the sunset.

When we reached the shore again, the first thing that I noticed was the sudden increase in sea level and the change of color in the sea. Normally, the color of the sea in our region would be turquoise, but then it changed into darkish blue. We were so busy exploring the island and climbing the mountain, we failed to notice the sudden changes around us.

When we stepped into the water, my instinct immediately told me that something was wrong. My senses were alert, and I knew that danger was waiting for us.

But I didn't want to alert the guys and unnecessarily scare them. I was carefully looking at the water below me while crossing the sea. Few meters away, we were about to stop swimming since we were close to Paradise by then, sea level would be shorter thereafter. That was when I noticed it, the color of the water suddenly changed into the black from a distance, it was forming a shape in the water and they moved towards our direction faster than I imagined. Even though I had never seen them before, I was sure they were sharks.

"Sharks" I shouted as loud as I could and swam towards the shore.

The guys turned their heads and looked at me. They might not have seen the invading sharks, but they understood something was wrong. We started running for our lives, I meant swimming. Swimming against the waves while carrying baskets full of loads was not easy for me.

"Throw them away" Justin shouted at me and I obliged immediately.

Except for my backpack, I threw the rest on the sea and swam towards the shore as fast I could.

I had no idea how many sharks were chasing us, I assumed that they could be tens or hundreds of them. Afridi and Justin were swimming before me and Sakthi was behind. Oddly, he was slowing down. I guessed he was heavier than us and it was difficult for him to swim. And the worst part, he just learned swimming from me, so he had less experience swimming against the waves.

I saw a big shark chasing him from behind targeting his leg. The distance between them was dangerously close. I slowed a little to let Sakthi come closer to me and I reached for his hand. He was too heavy for me to pull. Unfortunately, the shark already reached him before I could pull him, aiming for a piece of his leg first. with its nose or mouth or whatever might have touched him already by then, but all I heard was a scream of a grown-up man.

"Ahhhhhhhrg" Sakthi screamed in pain, and I saw the water was turning red instantly due to the spilling of his blood.

My heart was beating faster, and I knew if I didn't act any faster, I would lose him forever to the sharks.

I raised my bamboo stick and plunged it into the water aiming for the shark. The iron edge of my stick must have poked the middle portion of its body. The seawater around me was filled with blood within seconds. I was not sure whose blood was that. There was no time to relax because more sharks were on the way. I started pulling Sakthi aggressively and swam towards the shore with him.

Finally, we reached a distance where I no longer needed to swim. I started running in the water and pulling him with me, but he was not moving fast. I looked down and found out that the shark did cut his leg before my attack. His blood was oozing out from the wound. I looked at his pretty face and understood his agony. He was almost fainting then, I took him in my arms and carried him with me. He was too heavy for me which made me realize I could no longer do it alone.

"Guys, help" I called out for Afridi and Justin.

They turned behind and realized what just happened in a fraction of seconds.

It took all three of us to carry Sakthi back to the shore safely. We put him down on the ground once we reached Paradise. We watched the rest of the sharks come as close as they could towards our shore looking for us and then swam back to the deep sea like they never existed.

Justin was examining Sakthi's leg. Blood was still pouring out on his leg non-stop. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing heavily. I couldn't take it. Tears rolled out of my eyes on their own.

"Please save him" I cried.

"Go and bring the medical kit" Justin ordered Afridi.

Afridi hurried back to the house.

"Is he alive?" I asked Justin, my voice was trembling in fear. I knew if I lost him, my life at Paradise will crumble to the core.

"Calm down Jai" Justin shouted at me and kept clearing the blood out of Sakthi's wound.

"Please tell me, he is OK" I cried again.

"The cut is not too deep, we have to stop the blood spill first" Justin answered me. I knew he was trying to calm me down.

Afridi came back with the medical kit. Justin took a clean cloth and rubbed it on the wound. Few more minutes later, the blood stopped leaking out. Justin applied to a medical plant that he collected from the forest. And then applied a wound ointment from the kit on his leg. He dressed the wound with another clean cloth and tied it around Sakthi's leg.

Afridi was watching it with deep concern. I knew he was crying too even though he was trying to hide it as best as he could.

'Will he be OK?" He asked the same question to Justin in a sombre voice which I asked him earlier.

"Yes," Justin assured us.

God was with us, keeping us safe and alive ever since that horrible plane crash. Even during the most difficult times, he helped us through it. And I hoped he would take care of Sakthi too.

And the wound magically disappeared within a few days. Sakthi was walking again in full strength. I didn't know if I should thank God or Justin's medicine for Sakthi's recovery, but Guys thought my heroism saved his life. And they praised me all the time.

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'When a man thinks about the sense of objects,

attachment for them arises,

From attachment arise desire, from

(unfulfilled) desire arises anger'.

I remembered a Sanskrit verse from our ancient Hindu Gita I read a long time ago.

I was staring at a tree near the hut for the past 20 minutes. Two cuckoos with red tails were building a nest over a branch, making noises, kissing each other's beaks, bringing items for the nest, and building it again. It was pleasant and peaceful to watch.

We were learning so much from the living creatures around us. They taught us life. They just go with the flow daily, doing what is necessary and with no complications unless they are disturbed by outside forces.

Our lives on that island were somewhat similar too. Ever since the plane crashed, our lives were in constant danger. We were constantly threatened by species such as bugs, flies, snakes, sharks, cyclones, snowfall, etc. But the love between the four of us and the way we protected and cared for each other kept us alive on that island. We were like a family, trying to navigate one of the most challenging lives on the planet. I loved the boys a lot and I knew they loved me too. I don't think I had any complications with the boys except Sakthi. My heart was falling for him day after day so deeply that became unrequited and irresistible.

'Why am I not getting the courage and do it with him like the way Justin and Afridi are doing at nights?' I asked myself. And I knew the reason why. Because I would never have been satisfied with physical connections alone with Sakthi.

Last night, I was sleeping with the boys and Sakthi was, as usual, next to me. I saw something that I never thought I would witness. Justin and Afridi were doing sex.

Thanks to the dim light, unlike the other nights, I was able to see what they were doing more clearly. Their clothes were off and their naked bodies closer to each other. Afridi's naked butt with his fair flesh was visible to my eyes. It was moving back and forth. Justin's head was in Afridi's groin region.

I lifted my head slightly above to get a better view of the scene.

Yep, Justin was sucking Afridi's cock. I saw Afridi's dick moving in and out of his mouth.

Previous days when I found them doing things, I thought they were jerking off. I never thought two straight guys could do something like that, not even in my dreams. When I heard the slurping sound and a moan from Afridi, I lost it all. It made me damn horny, my cock was in full erection poking my briefs pleading me to release it.

It's been more than six months since our circle jerk off. I have not masturbated since then, and I decided to attend to my poor cock.

Sakthi was in deep sleep next to me, he was snoring. Somehow, I found the courage to put my hand on his briefs and searched for his dick with my fingers by moving my hand slowly.

At any cost, I didn't want to wake him up and found that I was trying to molest him.

It took forever for my fingers to find his bulge. I pulled my briefs down and took my erected cock in my other hand and started jerking it.

At the same time, my fingers were fondling Sakthi's bulge. I didn't know whether it was fully erected or not, but it was too big for me to hold the bulge in my hand.

When I touched the fabric over his enormous balls, I was already reaching my climax.

I heard another moan from Afridi, I turned my head and looked at him. His ass gripped tighter and he pushed his cock deeper into Justin's mouth, I knew he was pouring his juices into Justin. It was too much for me, I came immediately.

I waited patiently for a minute or so and then I took my hand off from Sakthi's bulge, wiped myself clean, and slept off.

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The next morning, the Captain was loafing at the front porch...raising his head above and yawned at me. It didn't like me much even though I fed him whenever Sakthi was busy.

"Are you jealous that I am in love with your daddy?" I whispered at him so that no one could hear me.

There was no reply from Captain. To insult me further, it turned its head and ran away from me.

"Such an arrogant dog" I cursed it with all my heart.

There were countless books and websites in the world on how to seduce a woman or man, but nobody wrote about how to seduce a straight guy by a gay boy. Our world is full of hypocrisy and majoritarianism. Whatever the majority of people do is normal, and the rest are abnormal...how cruel is that?... I let out a deep sigh out of hopelessness.

I went to the garden to check as usual. I noticed capsicum plants produced their fruits in red and yellow for the first time. There were few of them in medium size. Justin told me earlier that they will take a minimum of three months to become fully grown ones. I checked a plant next to it which has been labeled by Justin as 'Asparagus', I don't ever remember seeing them at our local market back home. I was wondering how we are going to store all those vegetables and fruits without cold storage like a refrigerator for the winter.

We got a food container found from the plane, which is a thermal storage one, but I wasn't sure how long it could maintain a temperature without power or ice. I wondered how ancient people stored them without a refrigerator for a longer period.

I started the clay stove by burning the wood inside, threw some dry leaves on the fire, and put a water vessel over it to boil tea.

Since we ran out of tea and coffee powder we found from the container. We have been using a plant Justin found from the forest. It's called Chicory. They had violet-colored flowers, but their roots were the ones that could be used as an alternative to coffee or tea. Justin told me that ancient people who lived on that island were using it instead of tea or coffee. Chicory tea wasn't bad at all and our taste buds were getting used to it. We brought some of them and planted them in our garden too.

I tasted my Chicory tea. I added some salt to it and sipped it again. It tasted better without sugar. I planned to make a palmyra basket for each type of vegetable we were growing. I went back to the garden and took my notepad and started writing down the list. I counted it. There were at least twenty-six of them which included spices and pulses. I whistled.

'Woah, our storage room will transform into a supermarket soon' I thought to myself.

Boys joined me for tea.

Though his wound was mostly healed, Sakthi was still limping. I looked at his face when he smiled at me, it was bright and more beautiful than ever. I was relieved that he didn't know that I molested him last night.

Justin and Afridi were standing and talking cheerfully, their hands were on each other's hips. There was no remorse or regret between them.

"Guys, I got good news. We are harvesting next week" Justin made the announcement.

"Really?" Afridi asked him with his eyes wide open.

"Dude, how many times will you say the word 'really' on a given day?" I mocked Afridi.

"Sixty-five times" He replied instantly and grinned at me like a mad dog.

"Guys, we achieved something, it's a great deal" Sakthi reminded us.

We high-fived each other and then clapped our hands.

"Can we celebrate it like a harvest day?" Sakthi asked.

We turned our attention to him in silence to listen further. After all, he was the head of our tribe.

"We could do it with our distinct tradition," Sakthi said with excitement.

'Please stop using complex words, not everybody can understand them" Afridi complained.

"If you can't understand it, then ask him...I understood what he said" I mocked him again.

He looked back at me with a scowl on his face.

"It means a different tradition of our own," Sakthi explained to him.

Justin nodded his head and said, "Yep, I agree. We need celebrations, otherwise our lives would become monotonic here".

"So, what's the plan and how do we do it?" Afridi was jumping in excitement.

"It's called 'Onam' in our state Kerala. We put Rangoli which is a design art, we paint the ground using flours and flowers and then dance around it in our white costumes" I told them.

"Seriously, white costumes like ghosts?" Afridi asked me with a chuckle.

"We call it 'Pongal' where we make a special meal made of boiled rice and pulses, we can also add sugar in it" Sakthi interrupted our banter.

"How about yours?" I asked Afridi.

He shook his head like a typical Asian guy as a 'No'.

"There are no big harvest festivals in Arab," He said with a deceived tone as if he was betrayed by his ancestors for not celebrating harvest festivals.

And then he continued "But my grandfather was from Iran, we do celebrate Persian harvest called 'Mehregan', we put sweets, grains, seeds, fruits and flowers on a table. Along with Sarmah which is black eyeliner. We pray and we throw those things on the table on each other like a wish. Then we drink Sharbat which is fruit juice and embrace each other"

"So, you are a Persian, huh? I thought you are an Arab with your perfect jawline and thick eyebrows" Justin told him.

I wasn't sure if he was complimenting Afridi's looks or inquiring about his ethnicity.

"My grandmother is from Sharjah, my grandfather is a Persian, my father is from Turkey and my parents lived in Syria, then my aunt brought me to Dubai. I am a mixed middle eastern boy" Afridi ended his explanation with a chuckle.

For a moment, we were silent trying to understand what he said. We looked at his face, he was grinning again, his fingers were brushing his hair on his head. Surely, he confused the rest of us.

"It's your turn now" I turned towards Justin and told him, I was trying to keep the guys focused on the festival plan. Afridi certainly distracted us like always.

"We have 'Thanksgiving', turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pies" Justin replied to me...Yep, I forgot one of the most widely celebrated harvest festivals in the world.

"Then let's add all the four traditions and celebrate Paradise day next week" Sakthi announced with both his hands above his head.

"That requires a lot of work, I hope you guys are not going to leave me alone to cook all the things on my own" I was cautious and made sure that I will not be burdened with the tasks.

"No, we won't do that to you. Let's each one of us take care of the tasks of our traditions and be prepared for the harvest day" Justin relieved me with that statement.

"Yep, sounds good to me," Sakthi agreed.

"I hope it won't rain on that day," Afridi said with a grin.

I spanked his butt as hard as I could to keep him quiet.

As a response, he came closer and kissed my cheek "You made me horny now".

I wasn't expecting a kiss from a straight boy. His lips were so soft and it made me blush.

"See, you are blushing, no one is immune to this hot boy's charms" He shouted with his usual cockiness.

"Shut up" my response was a complete fake and he knew it.

"Kiss me back or else I will French kiss you," he said.

He wasn't giving up. He held my hand trying to pull me closer to him while licking his lips to tease me.

"Go away" I pushed him off.

That night, when we were back in the loft, we discussed more about our Paradise day celebrations. We prepared a To-do list for it. We set the day for our crop harvesting and the next day as Paradise festival.