The Island Journal

Day 1: 21 May 2007

It has occurred to me that I am probably one of the single most idiotic people on this planet. You would think that after years of being told not to talk to strangers, I would have enough sense not to. Apparently not though.

So I was walking on the shore yesterday when I saw this guy sitting in his boat looking at the sunset. He looked kind of sad, so I went over to talk to him. I was surprised to see he was around my age, and actually quite good-looking. He seemed glad to have some company, because he smiled at me, and before I knew it we were talking. After a good hour of straight talking, he offered to take me for a short boat ride in his little row boat.

Figuring my dad was passed out drunk on the couch, I said sure. I’m sure if my mother were alive she would probably have died of a heart attack at my blatant stupidity, but I just didn’t feel threatened by this guy. He seemed too sad to really be any kind of evil mastermind.

As he rowed us out to sea, I kept talking. I talked about my life, my school, what I wanted to do in the future, everything I could possibly think of off the top of my head. This guy was just amazingly easy to talk to, I guess I saw a little of myself in his eyes or something. He didn’t talk much, but he watched me with those understanding deep green eyes and the same melancholy look on his face.

I’m guessing I eventually fell asleep, because I woke up on a shore sometime later. It wasn’t my shore, not the one I walked on everyday to avoid my dad’s drunken rampages. It was in the middle of what seemed like an endless sea, the sand was a shockingly pure white and the water was a beautiful, unreal light blue in the rising sun. And I was wet and smelled like seawater for some reason.

Right as I was about to start panicking, I noticed a spot on the water and recognized it as the boy’s boat, a sigh of relief escaped my chapped lips. This inhuman island was unnatural and I didn’t want to stay one moment more than I had to on it. It was too perfect, too strange, I longed for my homey, familiar, beach. As I was lost in these thoughts the boy kept rowing towards me, but suddenly a sickening crunch brought me out of my reverie in a hurry. I looked up in time to see the little boat sinking, a jagged rock rose up from where the tide would normally cover it. I screamed and ran to the edge of the water to see if I could catch sight of the boy, but he didn’t resurface.

Day 2: May 22, 2007

I’d love to know why I was brought to this island and I’ve been pondering about it since after I’d found a suitable shelter. I mean what else is there to do on a so-far deserted island? I have a few theories that I want to write down and dissect in the future.

1) God has seen it fit to punish me by stranding me here, with some guy’s death on my mind and without food and water.

2) God has seen it fit to reward me by getting me away from my suckish life, by way of an island (hopefully) filled with fruit and other survival type things.

3) That boy (whom I’m never seen in my life) had a serious hate crime against me and decided to plague my mind with guilt for not being able to do something for him.

4) Or maybe, just maybe he was helping me: I mean I didn’t imagine that sad look on his face did I? And it seemed with each stroke of that paddle his face got more intense and determined, not likely as I'm probably suffering from heat exhaustion and all that good stuff that comes about with being stranded on a (so-far) deserted island, but like I said I have time to think about these things.

Anyway now that I have those out of my head and on paper, I intend on putting you, my dear journal, back in my bag and going to go forage for some food. Maybe I’ll explore this island a bit. From what I’ve seen so far it looks like nothing short of a tropical paradise, without the people of course.

Who knows maybe there’s a spa resort on the other side?


Still day 2…


It’s extremely late, judging from how tired I am and where the moon is in the sky. Today actually turned out very fruitful (literally, ha! Pun), to my relief there were coconut trees everywhere. There were also several other fruit trees that I’m hesitant to try out, just because I don’t want to die or anything.

This island is indeed exceedingly beautiful, there are so many colors, and they are of the purest form of color I have ever seen in my life. Reds, oranges, pinks, blues, whites, purples, this island must have every color known to man as well as some not so known to man. Not only did I find coconuts and pretty flowers, but I also found a little oasis of fresh water in what appears to be the center of the island. It doesn’t surprise me too much, because how else would all this plant life thrive? Saltwater isn’t really meant for growing thing from what I’ve heard. I’d be willing to bet my life this island doesn’t get below seventy in the winter…

I’ve also found a little hollow under one of the extremely weird looking fruit trees that dominate this island, it just so happens to be perfect to sleep under. I can’t write underneath my tree, however, because of the darkness and stuff. Right now I’m perched on a boulder overlooking the oasis, with the moon as my only light.

Day 3: May 23, 2007

It appears that I fell asleep writing last night. I suppose I’m exceedingly lucky that no wild animal snuck up on me and tried to maul me. Anyway, today I intend on exploring some more, I’ve only seen about a quarter of this island. I just need to get find a suitable thwacking stick that may come in handy for any encounters with unpleasant animals, possible man-eating plants, cannibalistic natives, etc...

I won’t write until later tonight.

Later


The sun just set and I have to admit, it was ten times more beautiful than the ones on my old shore. Hmm, I already seem to consider my life before this island as ancient past. Of course it seems like years and years since that boy brought me here. Who knows, maybe it has been years and years? I wouldn’t be surprised if outside this island it was already a hundred years in the future. Though that is a bit too Narnia-like for my taste…

Ah well, It’s been a total of three days and I’m already spouting nonsense, I thought I was supposed to be here for more than a year before I reached the crazy stage.

So about my day, I made a very interesting discovery or rather two interesting discoveries. Apparently this island is a whole lot bigger than I had originally thought and secondly there appears to be a village of people a mile or so away from my tree. I didn’t approach them, because I’m afraid they might be cannibals or some such gruesome thing. They were very primitive from what I observed, their houses were made of mud and other things like that, I couldn’t tell details from where I was. I watched them and they didn’t exhibit many cannibalistic tendencies. Of course they could save their disgusting habits for every full moon or something. I’m going to try to avoid them as much as I can, but we are on an island, so it’s just about guaranteed we will eventually meet.

We’ll see how this all turns out.


Around June 24... or something

Yeah it’s been a month since I last wrote in here, but I’ve been extremely busy. With what you may ask? Well of course you can’t ask, you’re an inanimate object. I’ll tell you anyway though. So like I guessed I did meet the village people and to my immense relief they were not cannibals, they’re actually really nice. I’m officially living with the Medicine Woman, Nahkeeyah. She’s told me many stories about their history and myths, and they are absolutely fascinating! I’ve promised to tell her my story some time, it’s quite possible she might have some advice that might help me. She just walked in, murmuring something about a child being sick. When she sits down, I’ll tell her about how I came to this island.

Okay she just sat down.

Next day

Well of all the things that can happen in this wacky world, the strangest happens to me. A lonely teenage girl from Maryland that isn’t significant in any type of way.

Most peculiar.

So I didn’t write this last night because I was still trying to sort it all out in my own head. I’m so glad I had my bag that night the boy brought me here, otherwise I would not have you dear diary to help me through such harsh and unpredictable changes. This is what happened, it’s all word for word, I’m fairly certain it’ll be burned into my brain until I’m on my death bed. So Nahkeeyah comes in right? She takes one look at me and sits down, before scrutinizing me with tired, deep brown eyes.

“What bothers you, Loretta?” I tried not to let her perception ruffle me and without further ado launched into my story about the boy and him drowning and everything else. When I was finished, she looked at me with wonder in her eyes.

“My dear, you have been brought here by the Ghost.” She said the word with deep reverence.

“Ghost?” my voice shook ever so slightly, I’d never been good with horror stories.

“He was a young boy when he died, around your age. He had abusive father, dead mother, much like you. He wanted to escape from life, so one day he ran away with boat and sought out refuge. He found this island and he met our people, he enjoyed our ways very much. But one day a sickness entered the village, it was a terrible sickness that claimed many lives before the Medicine Woman at the time could do anything. He went away from our island to find some medicine from the outside and finally after several days he came back, but it was stormy and he wrecked his boat on the rocks. His ghost ferries itself back and forth every evening and when he returns he drowns amongst the rocks, I believe he thinks that he must punish himself for letting something like that happen to our island.” She let this sink in with a moment of silence.

“Why’d he bring me here?” I managed to gasp.

“You talked with him about your life, yes?”

“Everything.” I had whispered.

“Same story, same life. He pities you and wants peace to find you,” She paused to look at me, I’m sure I was trembling, “because peace could not find him.”

“Will he ever find peace?” I felt a strange empathy, a deep connection that linked us two in some wild game of fate. Again, that might be the crazy talking.

“Only when he makes it to the shore one last time.” Tonight I plan on going to the shore and seeing if I can find him.

Nahkeeyah just left, apparently the children have caught some type of cold. I hope it’s nothing serious.

Next morning


I sat on the shore last night and I did see the boy. I tried calling out to him, but he didn’t as much as look at me. Despite his being a ghost, it still is horrifying to watch someone drown, and to think he does that every night…

I will help the boy if it kills me (well maybe not kill necessarily), but right now I’m going back to the village and asking Nahkeeyah for more advice. It’ll take me all day to get back there, so I better start walking.


Late night


I haven’t had time to ask Nahkeeyah about the boy, the sickness has spread to the younger adults now. Right now I’m helping her with the kids, there’s one right beside me. Oh he just woke up.

~Dawn~


No one’s dead yet, but judging from Nahkeeyah’s expression I fear that won’t be the case soon. I’ve been running around cooling heads and administering medicine all day long. Nahkeeyah told me to take a short nap, but I can’t sleep with all the coughing and heavy breathing going on. I’ve read this diary from front to back and relived every moment I’ve recorded since months before this island business. And, I'm not really sure whether the island (they call it the Lost Island, but I don't like that name so it's just the island) is an improvement or not.

~That evening~

We’ve just lost two people. More are dying, it has spread to the Old Ones. This is terrible.

Two days later


Nahkeeyah has sent me away from the village, back towards where I first got washed up. She told me this sickness was nothing to worry about, but I saw the fear and grief in her eyes. She said I could return in fifteen days, by then I fear the whole village will be gone.

I’m running out of paper in my diary, I don’t know what I’ll do when this runs out. It’ll be like my history ended, no one except me will know how it ended either…

I’m going to look for the boy tonight to preoccupy myself, maybe I’ll be able to help him.

Next Afternoon


That boy is just bent and determined on drowning, I screamed with every bit of breath in me, until I felt rather light-headed. I don’t know what I can do to help him, but it’s like my soul is crying out for me to help him.

It’s a bit of a clichéd, movie kind of feeling, but I can’t help it. I’ve mulled over every possible idea I can come up with and still nothing! It’s rather frustrating and stressful, not to mention I have maybe a page left in my diary. I don’t want to stay here every night watching some boy drown, I want to go back to the village and help.

I’m a bit surprised I’m not sick, after all I was up with all those sick people the past few days, letting them cough and breathe on me. If I don’t have any symptoms by tomorrow I’m going back.

Maybe I’m immune to this disease or something crazy like that?


Morning

I feel extremely sick, it’s not from the sickness either. I just reread the last line from yesterday and diseases brought by white men to the Indians suddenly flashed into my mind.

What If I’m the one that brought that sickness? Like the boy might have so many years before?

The thought makes me want to go hide under a rock, really bad. I have to get back to the village, it’s only been a little over three days, there can’t be that much damage, can there?

Village~ Night


I was wrong.

The damage is beyond terrible, there are so many sick, dying, and dead. Bodies are just being chunked out a mile away from the village, instead of getting their normally respectful funerals. Nahkeeyah has come down with the sickness herself, it’s terrible and it’s my fault. I know it is.

This is my last page of the diary, after this my history will end, no one will ever know about me or the people that lived on this beautiful island. I think wild animals are stalking the camp, I keep seeing flashes in the shaded woods. I am not afraid, the least I deserve it to be torn to shreds, because of the disease I brought to this peaceful people.

Wait, it’s… human.

Oh God, it’s the boy! The boy is here!

He appeared out of the dark woods and looked around at the dying with that sad look he gave me the first day we met. His lips were barely moving as he softly, oh so softly whispered.

“History repeats.” He’s still walking amongst the village, touching the heads of the suffering. Soon, too soon, an unearthly quiet steals over the clearing. No breathing, no coughing. Did he kill them? He paused in front of me and he murmured with grief-stricken green eyes.

“I can’t save them.” I knew this already so why is it ripping my heart out? I’ve known these people for a month maybe, but they’re the closest to family I ever had. And now they’re all gone? Only me, I’m the only one left, besides the ghost boy, the ghost boy whose past is ridiculously identical to mine. So identical in fact, that we could probably pull off as the same person.

“Some will survive.” He’s looking at the village around us, “They will rebuild themselves like they’ve done in the past.”

Perhaps he’s right?

But, you dear diary will never find out, this is my last line.

Here is where my story ends.

Sincerely, Loretta Cartell


This whole thing was a bit rough and still is, (probably will always be, no matter how much editing I do), but I enjoyed writing it and I think that's all that counts and stuff :).