I wrote this while listening to the song above, thought that it might be interesting to share and let you listen while reading

none. But it's a boring chapter, just a little introduction of who landed on Mayanka's island. Feel free to skip.

(But there is an easter egg)

—

"Oh my god, like— GO." A man in his late forties placed his hands on his hips. He then rubbed his balding head while waiting for a woman in her late thirties to finish taking pictures of a Salak tree.

"Hal, It's literally our job to document whatever grows here." The woman clicked the camera button a few times.

"Are you kidding me? One picture is enough. You're taking like a bajillion and you're wasting our time!"

"Relax, gramps. Miss G is just doing her job. " A hand clamped on Hal's shoulder. The balding man looked behind him and saw a man in his mid twenties.

"Young man, I've been in this field of work for a little over twenty years, you don't need to take that many pictures of a Salacca zalacca tree! It's growing everywhere in Indonesia, we know what it is!"

"No, Hal. It's not that we have never seen a damn Salak tree. Look closely." Another woman, barely twenty years old pointed at the branches. She is the youngest person to work as a researcher.

Hal squinted at the region. He remained silent.

"It's been cleanly cut. Recently too." The woman touched the sap leaking out of it.

"This couldn't be done without a knife of some sort. Someone's living here." Hal sighed.

"Tamia, please tell me you brought the universal translator."

"Sure did." Tamia unzipped one of her cargo pants pockets and took out a small gadget. It's rectangular in shape, there is a microphone and a speaker.

It works by speaking into it and it will translate to English.

"I TOLD YOU SO, gramps! I told you that there's gonna be someone living here. It must be the survivors from last year's plane crash!"

"I doubt it, Mo. That plane crashed into the ocean a few dozen miles away from this remote island. Even if the world's champion swimmer was in that plane, she would have died from exhaustion. It's just too far for it to be possible, Mo."

"Maybe some of the survivors had their higher power help them, ocean currents are not to be underestimated!" Tamia brought a finger up.

"As if there is such a thing as a higher power..." Hal grumbled.

"We get it, gramps. You're an atheist." Mo crossed his arms and squinted at Hal.

"Okay, I'm done here." Miss G stood up and dusted her knees.

"Finally, I've been getting the creeps. It feels like someone's watching us." Hal shuddered and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked around and see nothing out of the ordinary.

"I think it's just some kinda placebo effect you're experiencing. You only felt this way after I told you about the cleanly cut Salak branch." Tamia pointed at her senior.

"Young miss, I am in this field for a little over—"

"Enough, let's head to the coasts." Miss G began walking away, following a trail of flattened greens.

"Damn, no respect for your seniors?" Hal bitterly grumbled under his breath.

A pair of predatory, golden eyes follow the group of researchers from within the thick foilage. The owner of those optics were agile, quiet and swift, making sure to make very minimal noise when following them.

—

"...I don't think any animal did this." Mo's eyes bulged at the sight of the rusty, severely dented, broken metal door of the luggage compartment.

"It doesn't look like they're done by a machine either." Continued Tam as she ran her finger along the bent cage a few feet away from the plane wreck. Anyone can tell that it was forcefully ripped apart, not cut.

"Hey, didn't the plane crash in the sea? Why is it here—"

"This is another plane wreck, Hal. Judging from the rust and moss growing on it, this thing has been here for a while now. Maybe a decade or so." Miss G photographed the evidence.

"Then... where is everyone? Where are their skeletons? Where are their luggages? What the hell happened to the damn metal door and cage? Why didn't we hear about this in the news?" Hal shot so many questions.

"Calm down, gramps. One question at a time." Mo patted the elder on his shoulder.

"This doesn't look like a commercial plane— I mean, it does. But I don't recognize the logo, what domestic airline has an angry snake head as it's logo? Looks more like a terrorist's to me..." Tam frowned as she took a good look at the fading paint.

"Whatever, can we go to the coasts now? I feel like we are being watched." Hal shuddered and rubbed his arms despite the environment being hot and humid.

"You're overreacting, old man." Mo snickered.

"Hey, when you get your face ripped off by a cannibal, don't say I didn't warn you." Hal glared at him and placed his hands on his hips.

"Hal, don't scare Tam. I'm sure whatever it is, all four of us can handle it." Miss G dusted her knees.

"I'm not scared, nothing is scarier than my neighbour, medusa."

"Your neighbour is medusa?" Mo asked.

"No, I mean— kinda. He has like really long hair, SUPER mean and green eyes that will paralyze you if you look directly into it. He's not a deity or anything, he's just— really scary to me when I was a kid." Tam snorted.

"Heh, his wife is pretty funny though. I remember her trying to make my neighbour look less scary to my brother and I. She told us that he was some kinda toilet santa."

"Toilet santa?" Hal's jaw dropped.

"Yeah, just like what it says on the tin. She told us that he comes into our homes, delivering presents through our toilets. Butt-naked and lubed up with butter. Gotta admit, it worked even though it was completely stupid." Tam giggled.

"His wife... sure is interesting." An amused smirk rests on Miss G's face.

"Yeah, she told us countless absurd stories. Like there was this one time, she was covered in bite marks and hickeys. Hal, I dare you to guess what she told us to protect our innocence." Hal gave her a pensive stare before answering.

"She... told you that she was... chased by a dog?"

"Nope, you will never guess what she told us."

"What did she tell you?" Mo asked.

"She told my brother and I that she was my neighbour's dentist and all the bite marks were molds of his teeth." Tam burst out laughing and so did the rest of the team.

"What!? That's totally insane."

"I know! It's really cool though, like she's the only person who doesn't fear my neighbour. Like his glares really kills, made a bunch of kids crap their pants in fear... maybe some adults too. But not her! She would nonchalantly ask him what they're going to have for dinner, it doesn't matter if he's on fire due to rage, she just... doesn't give a shit! Kids in the neighbourhood respected her for that."

Tam's nostalgic story telling lightened the mood a little, letting her teammates laugh.

Soon, the lingering feeling of being watched disappeared.