He cursed as he fell flat on the ground. Barry picked up the bottle immediately, making sure the water doesn’t spill. Caressing his cheek, which made a direct contact with the ground, he sat up, ready to kick whatever made him fall but his mouth felt dry as his eyes casted on the thing which made him fall.

In front of him stood an enormous, grey, destroyed aircraft. It looked nothing like the normal airplane that people would board... it looked ready to...attack. It had six windows of each side and all of them were broken. The island had made the aircraft’s its own property as it covered it with long, narrow leaves.

But all this didn’t shock Barry as much as the U.S army’s logo did.

Shocked to his core, Barry gets up on his feet and looks around. Not only was the U.S army’s fighter plane in front of him, but under the brown and yellow bunch of leaves, there was remains of a uniform. Usually the uniform would consist a two-piece flight suit in the universal camouflage pattern that offers the soldier protection from flash fires. The one in front of Barry surely had universal camouflage pattern but that too was barely visible.

Barry picked up the irregular shaped remain of the uniform. It was torn from the sides and looked like the only thing that got saved from whatever attacked the plane… including the person.

---

Freya woke up with a dry throat.

The sun was out and shining with all its might. Not that it was making her sweat but cold days and nights on the Island were much better.

She yawned and looked around.

“Barry?” Freya called out, her gaze fixated on where she saw him last – a few feet away.

“Barry, I swear if you got yourself in trouble again…” she stood up, irritated.

Being with Barry felt like taking care of a baby, who – somehow – gets into trouble, always. As if, trouble seeks Barry on its own.

“Annoying piece of shit.” Freya mumbled as she gathered her stuff, “If he eats another stupid fruit of the island, I will end him myself. I’m so tired of taking care –“

“Hey!”

Before Freya could finish her sentence, she turns around to come face to face with a frantically running Barry.

“Whoa, what’s running after you?” She asks,

“I – I brought –” he said in between his breath, “Here!” Instead of completing his sentence, he shows her the bottle.

Freya twitches her eyes, “What’s in it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you mix something?”

Barry’s eyes widened with the accusation, “Mix? I – do you really think I’d do that – actually don’t answer that. I woke up early to get water for you,” he said in a hurt tone, “And, by the way, to answer your query, no I did not mix anything.”

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“Geez, okay. Why do you get all worked up for nothing,” She rolled her eyes and mumbled.

Twisting and opening the cap of the bottle, she takes a huge gulp.

“Mhm, you got it from the waterfall, didn’t you?” She hands back the bottle of Barry.

“That doesn’t matter. Look what I found.”

He shows her the piece of army’s torn cloth. Freya, as always, looked unamused. As if, this was something she witnessed daily.

“A piece of cloth.” She takes the cloth in her hand, “Very interesting.”

Barry gives her a tight smile, “Yes, but do you know what this means? This means we can get out of here. This means, other people know about this place!”

Freya looks at him with doubtful eyes, “I’ve been here since I was, what, six? And I’ve never seen one human.”

Barry shots her a look,

“I mean of course except for you,” she adds,

“Right,” he rolls his eyes, “Anyways, this – this can help us. And, I know this thing confirms us that other people know about this place and if I am correct, they might as well send someone to help us! Do you know what that means?” . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . .

Freya looked at him with a blank face,

“It means,” he held Freya by her arms, “We can get out of here.”

She looked uneasy as soon as he said the last line, “How are you so sure? What does that cloth mean to you?”

“No, not to me specifically but this – uh, how do I explain…” He looked at the ‘clueless Freya’ standing in front of her, “Who protects this Island?”

“The Banshees.” Freya replied.

“Exactly! Similarly, the place is live, it is protected by a group of people – the army.”

“How many people?”

“A LOT. More than hundreds and hundreds. And, those people can do anything to save us and their country – similar to the Banshees – they are looked upon when they country is attacked,”

Freya nodded,

“However, unlike the Banshees, the army wears suits – similar to this one – this one has universal camouflage pattern that offers the soldier protection from flash fires because it is known as the army aircrew combat uniform and is usually worn by solders.”

Freya nodded slowly, “That means… the people who wear this – this uniform – they are not a part of the Island, right? It means they came from the outside; from your world?”

Barry nodded, “Yes, it means they came from my world – from America.”

“Oh.”

“What happened? You should be happy! We can get out of here!”

“I – I need to show you something… wait here.” Freya mumbled.

Barry looked at her as she took a few steps back and got down on her knees to search something in her back. She fiddled for a moment and suddenly became still... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .

She sighed and stood back up on her feet.

“I think this one is going to be a shock for both of us,” She said sarcastically, and put forward her hand.

“What’s this?” He asked.

Freya handed him a wooden box. The box had a thousand butterflies made of a strong and shiny metal, and behind only a one key hole.

“Did you make this?” Barry asked.

Freya nodded, “Open it.”

He took the key from Freya’s hand and opened the box. Inside the wooden box was a patch of army’s uniform with a name written on it.

“FName: Rick – Lname: Terrance.”

“Rick Terrance?” Barry looked up at Freya who had her hands folded on her chest, ready to drop another bomb on Barry…and herself.

“Yep, otherwise known as my father.”