The Island

The oppressive, sweltering heat suffocated everyone slowly as they all stood viewing the beach solemnly. All the vegetation on the little island bowed its head in sorrow as they withered silently under the glaring headmistress that was the sun and even the birds did not sing as they noticed the heavy atmosphere. Only the wind danced, lingering in everyone’s ears. However all this went unnoticed as the people on the beach could not afford to enjoy such pleasure.

All eyes were set on the young child that stood in the center of everyone’s attention. He was a beautiful boy, ten summers old. His hair was darker than the black that possessed the night, his eyes a startling cerulean hue. His skin was softer than the silkiest leaves in the greenery of the island and to compare his athletic skills with other boys was an iniquity. However all this came with a price, as it followed a tradition that had been followed for years by the inhabitants of the island.

The muggy sea air smothered him as he stood silently watching the adults hover around him like flies around rotting meat. He wished they would go away, he had known this day would come and he wished he had a more calm or reserved goodbye from his villagers. He looked back to the island, envisioning a tropical paradise it had once been and hoped it would return to its state for years longer after his sacrifice.

The sun started to kiss the horizon and everyone moved back into the dancing shadows as the bitter wind beat the leaves of the dying trees. The sea was a mirror and the boy alone, stood by the water’s edge, gazing out solemnly out as he watched the last rays of the sun beam on his face for the last time. The sea lapped at his feet, it was an obedient hound waiting for orders as the backwash surged around his feet dragging back grey grains of sand into the vast ocean.

The din was silenced behind him as he stood in his solitude, half-naked facing out to the ocean. He was about to see for himself what he had been only told through stories that were told by older children, every line of the story, fabricated into a meaningless horror story to frighten him. But now here he stood. After all those days he spent swimming until he was a wrinkled, dried prune, he had never seen the sea be so still, the waves rippled gently, glistening grandly as if the sea was made of countless pennies. He was entranced by the slow waves that were motioning him to come in and join them for a last swim. The angry wind that battered his friends and family were but a mere whisper into his ear commanding him to give in and embrace the sea. Despite all this his resolve never crumbled under the invitations of what he loved most. He looked stiff but inside, there was no inner turmoil and he waited for his fate.

It was only bubbles at first, popping to release odorous gases that made him gag. It was an indescribable smell and he gritted his teeth, holding his breath. A head broke the waves and matted black hair floated in the water. The figure had white skin, the ugliest of white he had ever seen that made him recoil because it was as if it was made of the very material that corals were made of. Its wiry black hair clung to its skinny shoulders, a black knot of troubles and misfortunes that lay in his life. Its long pencil thin arms reached to its knees as it groped for something unconsciously. It had an elongated pale face with white eyes that had in the middle a speck of a pupil that was focussed directly on the boy. It opened its mouth and bared its teeth. Sharp shark teeth, yellow with age and decay faced him and he couldn’t bear to look at the horror any more. It splashed through the waves in long strides towards him and he gulped, trembling as he felt its presence mere inches away.

The villagers gasped in terror when they saw the monstrosity that had come from the sea. Mothers covered their child’s eyes and turned away themselves. Men winced and struggled to keep their eyes fixed on the beast. It grasped the boy’s throat with bony white hands and dug its long cracked nails into the boy’s neck. To the credit of the boy, he made no sound as he received his fate heroically. The monster lifted the boy up, with a spindly thin arm and its red forked tongue flickered out to catch a drop of blood that escaped from the boy’s neck. Effortlessly the monster held the boy up and small changes were already starting to occur. The sea water that dripped from his hair was dark and melted into the ground. Where the drop of water landed, the sand turned golden and pure.

The monster bellowed a monstrous sound that would be engraved in mankind’s minds and hearts for years to come. It staggered into the water with the boy, the boy now limp and lifeless.  Any heroic thoughts that he had conjured up was no use as the monster finally disappeared into the water.

Quickly, villagers streamed onto the beach where the monster had been after a meek pause. There were wails of sorrow and mute boys sat on the sand terrorised even from the great bellow of the monster. The elders appeared from the shadows of the trees and boulders to look upon their island from the beach, anticipating great events and so they should have.

As a new wave of fresh seawater crashed onto the beach they saw something that was extraordinary. The dull dreary sand, mixed with grit and grime was now golden silky soft sand that sunk between their toes. The wind that had been hostile and chilly was now a zephyr that breezed gently through all the beings on the beach. Wildlife and vegetation flourished under the happy beam from the sun, receiving it happily after years of malnourishment. The birds danced and flitted through the branches, singing joyfully to the merry but sorrowful people on the beach. The suffocating intolerable heat and humid air disappeared, brushed away by a stroke of a brush. It was replaced with a cool air that instantly changed the song to a jaunty tune. Everyone mourned the lost soul that had sacrificed his life to make the following years a prosperous year and they were sure they weren’t going to throw away his sacrifice.