She takes a deep breath and winces. “Ribs, and maybe my left foot.” Then she moves her arm to her forehead and grins. “Sorry, Chloe, I’m going to opt out of your ‘deep breathing’ clinics.”
That makes Laiyla laugh. “Oh, shit.” She presses her palm to her head. “Ow. Ow, ow, ow.”
“Adrenaline is wearing off,” KT says, staring at the ceiling. “Pain is going to come on something fierce.”
Laiyla wets a washcloth for me, and I clean blood away from KT’s wounds while Laiyla searches the room for supplies. She manages to find bottles of water and snacks and a basic first aid kit. Then, as I do my best to close KT’s deeper cuts with butterfly stitches made out of Band-Aid adhesive, we get to know each other better.
KT is a marine engineer who works in the engine room on cruise ships. Laiyla is high up the corporate ladder in her parents’ hotel chain. In the face of these accomplished women, I’m embarrassed to say I take jobs as they come and live in the moment, moving from place to place as soon as I get the money to travel.
“What about you, Chloe?” Laiyla asks.
“My background is similar to KT’s to some degree. My mom ran off with another guy when I was young. Unlike your dad, who sounds amazing,” I say to KT, “mine was a drunk and lived in the bottle, so I was raised by my older sisters, who both bailed as soon as they were eighteen, leaving me alone to take care of my dad.
“When I was old enough, I followed their lead and became a nomad, searching for healing. I mean, I didn’t know that’s what I was looking for, and I sure as shit fell into my fair share of potholes, but the universe eventually guided me toward spirituality and amazing people who have helped me heal from the abandonment.
“I’ve traveled all over. I love seeing different countries and meeting amazing people. I’ve been studying spirituality and meditation for about five years. What started off as a need to heal and find meaning turned into my passion. Since the best way to master anything is to teach it, I’m on this retreat to help other people find peace and purpose and to deepen my own experience.”
“So, you really walk the walk,” Laiyla says.
I laugh, because, to be honest, I don’t know what I’m doing. “Every day is a struggle. I have to constantly bring myself back to my practice, as in, twenty times a day. It’s never a straight path, and I often find myself slipping into negativity, fear, even anger. But what I’ve learned over the last five years has drastically improved my life, my outlook, and my happiness. I’ve come to believe without question that everything happens for a reason and wherever we are in life is exactly where we’re meant to be. I’ve cultivated patience and acceptance and compassion—for myself and others. I’m legit terrified of where I’d be without the grounding beliefs I’ve developed over the years.”
“Wow,” Laiyla says, nodding like she gets it. Then she starts asking all the rapid-fire questions she and KT have already answered. “Biggest dream?”
“Maybe the whole Eat, Pray, Love thing. Someday, I’d like to touch every country with information and practices and tools that could help others.”
“Boyfriend?” KT asks. “Or girlfriend?”
I smile and shake my head. “I’m like you,” I tell KT, “a sexual nomad. It works for me. I don’t want to be tied down, partly because I know my journey isn’t finished, partly because I’m not thrilled over the possibility of being abandoned again.”
I finish up bandaging the last large cut on KT’s body and sit back on my heels. “That will have to hold you until we can get you to a hospital for real stitches.”
The roof of the cabin rattles, and we all look up and tense until the gust passes.
“One thing’s for sure,” Laiyla says. “I never expected to spend my birthday like this.”
KT and I swing our attention to Laiyla. “Today’s your birthday?” we ask in unison, then look at each other and say, “It’s yours too?”
Laiyla laughs at the spontaneous choreography, but then sobers. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-three,” KT and I say in unison again.
A familiar tingle starts in the pit of my stomach and grows into velvet butterfly wings filling my torso. It’s a sign. A sign I was meant to meet these women. I don’t know why yet, but I’ve seen the higher powers in the universe work more than a few miracles, and there’s no doubt, this is one of them.
KT looks at me and Laiyla in turn. “Are you guys shitting me?”
Laiyla and I shake our heads, and while KT and Laiyla continue to find this unbelievable, I grin.
“This is proof of divine intervention,” I insist. “This is how the universe or spirit or God—it doesn’t matter what you call it—shows us our path. There is no way all of us ended up trapped in this room together by accident or coincidence.”
Laiyla and KT look at each other, gauging the other’s reaction to this claim.
“I know you’re both skeptical,” I say. “Most people are. It’s difficult to accept that there is an unseen higher power at work for the greater good. One that yearns for us to be the best version of ourselves, but I hope you’ll continue searching once this retreat is over, because the more you look, the more you see.”
KT picks up her water bottle and holds it up. “Here’s to looking for miracles in all the wrong places.”
Laiyla and I laugh and tap our water bottles with KT’s.
“And we should pinky swear,” I say, “that we won’t ever lose touch with each other after this is all over.”