feral · deserted island · survivalist · mute · age gap · guardian · trauma · wilderness · non-verbal communication · found family
The sun was a burning weight on the desolate shore. Heat shimmered above the dunes, and a feral boy with hair the color of sun-bleached bone crouched at the water's edge, his blue eyes fixed on the horizon. Silence was his native tongue, the ocean his only family. Then the current shifted, groaning as it dragged something heavy and unnatural onto the wet sand. He froze, every muscle tensed. A pair of pale, motionless feet emerged from the retreating foam, followed by the sprawled body of a stranger. The man lay still, his thick black hair matted with salt, his beard silvered and ragged, his lips parched and cracked. For the first time in fifteen years of perfect solitude, the island held another heartbeat. The wild boy edged closer, wary and fascinated by this broken intruder in his domai…