Queen Of The Castaway Isle

The first thing Sophie did was call her lawyer.

Well, technically the first thing she did was get into her car and start driving off. No need to waste time. Then it was calling her lawyer, who she easily found on speed dial, on the speakerphone. Even though it's been 13 years since she drove this vehicle, she quickly readjusted.

It was her first car, you don't forget that easily.

The family lawyer was familiar with Sophie, having worked with her so frequently in the last year. From his experience, the old man thought she was an exceptionally m.a.t.u.r.e and responsible youth and could make the proper decisions for herself and her family.

While he found her requests sudden and a little odd, he saw no reason to refuse.

After finishing the slightly stressful and very tedious phone call with a promise to follow up by email, Sophie left her now parked vehicle and entered the bank to put her accounts in order.

Being the eldest, and the only a.d.u.l.t at the time, she had inherited her parents' entire estate. It was a shame she was not sent back in time early enough to see her parents again but she would not waste what they had left her.

Resources!

She withdrew a large amount of cash to be used today and put the rest in a long term savings account with a good interest rate. If she did not return, she signed her siblings and cousins to be able to receive and access her account. She even signed the paperwork saying the money could not be taken out or touched by anyone for X amount of years. This was a better deal for the bank but would ensure her and her family's finances when they got back, which they will.

She will make sure of it.

After ensuring that all her bills were taken care of and matters settled, she quickly drove off to the next matter of business for the day.

Her next stop was a family planning clinic available for walk-ins.

There was no time to make an appointment with her usual primary care doctor, or wait to do the long process of insurance and paperwork. She paid in cash and got checked for not only a clean bill of health but also some specialized prescription medications for oversea travels. While the medication and antibiotics were useful it was not the main reason she came.

Sophie also urgently requested and paid in full for a gynecologist. Together discussed her options for long term birth control.

It was an unpleasant topic for her, as it was filled with traumatic memories. On the island she had done things she was not proud of, things she wishes she could forget. It was undeniable that as a young woman in that dog eats dog world, she was humiliated and abused many times over. Both her and her little sister.

It wasn't something she felt comfortable thinking about, even in therapy. She hated the word victim but damn that's what one of the labels on her file was. Violent **** victim, she hated it and it took so much out of her to even admit what happened had happened.

Then there was the s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e matter of June's death.

The stillborn, Sophie buried it with June without even checking if it was a niece or nephew. She didn't blame or resent the fetus but neither did she care or mourn for it. It was June she cried for, gone mad for.

It was honestly better that the child was not born, it would be too cruel to force it to live in this world with or without its mother. It was no world for an innocent child to grow up.

June, she was so worried for June.

June's earlier flight would crash land much more violently than they would. When they had found her, she was injured with a dislocated shoulder, possibly more. At this time her precious little sister should only be 16!

Sophie was personally worried but she knew nothing serious would happen to June in this brief time period they were apart. She would be scared, shaken and roughed up but beyond her shoulder injury and the shock of the crash, she would be fine.

It was still the early days after all.

Such a little beauty, in the early days' people, would be so kind and fawn over her as if she were their own sibling. June had a sweet face and an even sweeter, even coquettish, personality. She was the baby of their family after all.

But who would have thought that rescue could not come soon enough and people would begin to lose their reason? Especially certain types of cruel and evil men! Who was she kidding, of course, that's what happened. Sophie has long lost hope in humanity as a whole, it was only for people she cared for that she paced any value.

In this life, she would not let those criminals off. She would not let them make any excuses and rejoin society or even the chance to be rescued.

It does not matter if they dare attempt to touch her again, they would pay for their crimes this time. Even if she had to enforce it herself.

But she is only one woman of average strength, for now, she had to ensure nothing like an unwanted pregnancy would happen to her. While she does not intend to have s.e.x.u.a.l relations, she must be prepared for the worst.

She learned that the hard way.

It was on this very visit that she and her doctor agreed to get a hormonal IUD procedure on the same day. It was guaranteed to protect her from pregnancy for at least 5 years, but it could last for 7. That was a safe span of time given the 8 years before rescue. In the last time around she hardly saw anyone hiding in the mountainous jungles of her final years. She could take her siblings away to safety earlier than that.

The IUD would also stop her periods and she would experience no monthly mess for that guaranteed 5 years, possibly more.

5 years of no menstrual cycles, her chances of self-sufficient survival would go up greatly with this.

Though she would be sore for days, to the point she was given painkillers, it was worth the slightly painful procedure.

Not only would it give her great peace of mind but the lack of her menstrual cycle was very convenient! In such a place like a wild island, it was troublesome, dangerous even, every time a woman's cycle came.

This way she would also not have to concern herself with cleaning her clothes or searching for leaves and moss to use as sanitary napkins.

It was very convenient! Now she could move freely, most modern people did not realize how debilitating it is for women during that time of the month.

Sophie drove on even through the soreness and dulled pain to the pharmacy.

There she picked up the prescription allergy, pain relief, and other common travel medicines. She also stocked up on various over the counter medication that could be useful. She even grabbed things like Epi-pens, though no one in her family had allergies. They were still useful in cases of saving lives.

Even if they wouldn't use it themselves they could save others if they wished or trade the pens for valuable supplies. It also wouldn't be bad to put someone in their debt.

In the pharmacy, Sophie also did not forget vitamins and nutritional supplements. Something like Vitamin C could be a lifesaver on an island in the middle of the sea. Scurvy was a popular pirate joke but she had seen the horrors of the disease first hand. The blistering open sores and constantly dripping blood was a sight that was basically seared into her eyelids, though she was experience seemingly far worse things. It was a slow, not slow enough, and horribly painful way to die.

Yeah, she was stocking up on Vitamin C, already tasting the blood on her gums though she reasonably knew there was none.

To avoid too much suspicion she moved on to another market pharmacy to stock up on more over the counter medications.

In places like Walmart and Target, she paid in cash for generic over the counter birth control pills, patches, some menstruation cups and even boxes of c.o.n.d.o.ms. The pills wouldn't last forever but every bit would help.

Just because she was protected didn't mean June was, she was still too vulnerable.

Her sister's death was too painful, if she could not avoid men then she must prevent June from falling pregnant at the very least. She couldn't buy too much at any one store and had to keep moving. It was annoyingly inconvenient and time-wasting but the more she had the better for June's safety.

On the topic of pregnancy and menstruation, she was focusing on June. But Mattie was important as well, if he wanted some c.o.n.d.o.ms then of course he would give him some. He was technically an a.d.u.l.t.

Sophie was a reasonable person and a very cynical a.d.u.l.t. She gets how a healthy teen boy would have those urges.

In her heart though she hopes to deter Mattie away from women and relationsh.i.p.s on the island. Wasn't part of the reason he got murdered was over a girl and someone else's jealousy? Mattie wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last deadly casualty in a love spat.

Worse than animals, she sneered.

There was also a type of women who would purposely seduce men early on to hang on them and use their resources. Sophie was a practical person, she couldn't judge them. Even if she hadn't had to resort to such shameful deals herself she would never judge them doing what they had to do to survive. They were only using the tools they had on hand.

Didn't mean she approved though. The majority of those types tended to be leeches and waste dwindling supplies.

Besides, only the truly smart and crafty ones would get away with such behavior after the middle years. For the most part, they didn't have an easy death.

Some people had physical strength, others could build things or grow food to survive. These women were just using a different set of skills at their disposal. It's fine if they don't bother her or her family, that was her defining line.

Sophie felt like a parent, she couldn't let men get close to June nor let women get close to Mattie. How tiring. It's unrealistic but she would prefer to herd them away in isolation and safety till their island wait time was up.

What a mess everything is or will be.

These were her scattered thoughts as she hopped and raided shops for the pharmacies.

That and how badly her cramps hurt. She was going to need more painkillers, a lot more painkillers.