The Marshland

I watch a small, neon green lizard slowly blinking their eyes on my patio ledge as I take a sip of my morning coffee. I’ve found them comforting ever since I’ve moved to the Island. I’m not used to seeing lizards since I’ve lived in the busy city of Boston my whole life. Things like this make me feel hopeful about my move, they make me feel like I finally have peace and everything is going to work out. There is a walkway on the salt marsh behind the apartment I live in, and in the marsh I see thousands of small crabs that scurry on the sand. There is a small lake outside of my apartment that have fish that can jump up to ten feet out of the water. I’ve been living in this small town of Jekyll Island for about two months now, and every day is starting to feel like Groundhog Day. I’m in one of the most beautiful places and have everything I could ever want, but quite frankly I’m bored. The only true solace I get comes from watching these little creatures.

I pick up my phone and scroll through the Instagram reels for the day, the way I usually waste about thirty minutes of my morning before getting up. I click on my profile which reads “Luna Lockhart” and my zodiac sign, which is a Pisces. I click on my profile picture icon and check who has seen my latest post. The picture of myself I posted the night before, my ex-boyfriend Jacob has been viewing all of them but never reaches out to me. I guess I don’t blame him after the way things ended, what could he possibly say to fix us? He abandoned me at a hotel six hours away from the airport in California. I still wish he would try to say something, anything. My phone rings and I see a picture of my mother smiling on the surface, “Hey mom,” I start, “Hi Honey, what do you have planned for today?” My mom knows how depressed I’ve been lately with the change and not knowing too many people in the area. “I am going to go to my yoga class, go to work, and hit a meeting later tonight.” I always try to sound happier than I really am while on the phone with her. My mother then proceeds to tell me about how awful my father has been lately and how she wishes she could get away from him. I’ve always wished she would keep to things to herself because I hate hearing about how much my father is always suffering, but I let her go on because I know she needs someone to talk to who understands. My father is an alcoholic, a curse he has also passed down onto me. The only difference is I got sober, and he couldn’t.

After I get off the phone with my mother and I look through the different volunteer opportunities I’ve researched. I’ve looked into planting trees in the community, serving food at the homeless shelter, and helping animals at a wildlife rehabilitation center. I have an interview set up for today to meet with the woman in charge of the organization that plants the trees in Jekyll Island. The woman’s name is Savannah, I grab my phone to call her to confirm our appointment. Savannah sounds like a middle aged woman, maybe in her 30’s, she sounds very sweet and I have a good feeling I’ll get along with her. I throw on a pair of jeans and a simple white sweater, then grab my car keys and head out of the door. I place the address in my GPS, it says thirty minutes away. On the way to the address, I put on my Global News Podcast, the podcast is talking about how scientists have found a new stem cell therapy that could potentially help patients with different types of cancer, and even substance abuse addiction. I take a quick picture of the study and send it to my mother. The drive to the location is filled with salt marshes and beautiful lakes, I peek around at the signs of the different parks for ideas to go to. As soon as I get out of the city I don’t see any more cars driving, it’s relaxing to have wider roads and less cars.

 I pull onto the street of the address and the road turns into a dirt path, the path is beautiful with bamboo and cypress trees covering the sky overhead. I see a small brown cabin ahead of me and pull into the bumpy dirt parking spot in front. There is only one other car here, it is a rusty beige truck that looks like it hasn’t been driven in years. I start to think I may have ended up at the wrong address.

I knock on the door and hear quiet talking, then footsteps approaching. The woman who answers is a beautiful middle aged brunette woman. She wears a tight beige dress with her cleavage exposed, along with simple white sneakers. The woman beams at me, smiling ear to ear, “Hi! You must be Luna! Please follow me this way.” I follow close behind her, taking in my surroundings. The cabin seems more like an apartment than a place of business, I start to wonder if this is Savannahs home. “I know you’re probably wondering why we’re in this cabin” Savannah laughs, “We’re currently renovating the building right now so this is our temporary address.” The wood floors are rugged and everything inside is very rustic, it seems to be designed like how I would imagine a fisherman’s home. Savannah brings me into a small room with a desk and computer, a black chair on either side. “Okay Luna I’m just going to have you fill out some paperwork, and I’m going to go grab some documents I’ll need you to sign.” I nod my head and start filling it out, the questions are straight forward, asking my age, weight, & height. Scarlett returns and smiles at me from across the table. “If you can just sign right here.” I sign the paper and smile up at her. I notice a sudden shift in her energy, it seems as though she doesn’t feel a need to be pleasant anymore and it automatically gives me an uneasy sensation in my stomach. Savannah looks over my shoulder and I feel a prick in the back of my neck.