Willow Island

Chapter 6

"Who are you? Where am I?"

I do not recognize my surroundings. The last thing I remember was walking down to the beach to look at the ocean and clear my head. Now I am in a room. No, a cave. This does not look like the cave I found on the island earlier though. This is a different type of cave entirely. The walls are smooth like they were cut out of a rock not naturally formed.

"I asked you who you are." The figure standing on the far side of the cave turned their head towards me. "You are the ship captain, aren't you?" He said nothing. He just turned his head back toward whatever he was doing. Not fazed by my presence at all.

I walked closer to him "Why are you here, captain? You are not due on the island for another day." He turned to look at me but still did not respond to me. Then turned to face forward again.

I stepped closer once more. This time I could almost touch him. I am now able to see what he is doing. He is making motions I do not recognize with his hands and softly almost under his breath he is chanting. I could not make out the words but I am sure he is chanting. "Are you a witch?" I asked him but just as before no reply. He does not even look at me this time.

Getting nowhere trying to talk to him I turn my attention to what is sitting on the table in front of him. It looks like an altar of a sort. According to what I had learned when flipping through the pages of my mother's covens Book of Tides anyway.

His altar has an ocean jar that is similar to the ocean jars my mother and I have been making together for years. There are candles of different colors. Some of the candles are white, some purple, and some are blue. I have no idea if the candle color has significance but with what I have already learned today I decide it probably does. Off to the side, I notice a shell with something burning. Maybe sage. I am not sure because I cannot smell anything.

After watching him for several minutes I look beyond him to what I can see through an image that has been superimposed on my world. A 'window' into somewhere else. I am not sure how to describe it or interpret it. Not even to myself. I look deeper inside this 'window' and see someone, not just someone, my mom. "Mom," I cry out and the person inside the window looks at me and smiles softly. Then everything is gone.

I wake up on the beach and it is two in the morning. I was asleep for several hours, dreaming. I must have been dreaming. I stand up and head for the path that will lead me to my cabin. When I entered I saw Rachel sleeping on the couch. I choose not to wake her and head for my bedroom. I change out of my sand-filled clothes and dust the remaining sand off of my body and onto the bathroom floor. After cleaning up my mess I head for bed. As I drifted off to sleep I told myself it was just a dream over and over. Not entirely sure what it was.

In the morning I wake to the smell of bacon, eggs, and coffee. Rachel is cooking, yay, because I am starving. I walk to the kitchen and sure enough, Rachel is cooking her heart out. "Good morning Luna. How did you sleep?" I shrugged my shoulders in reply. "You scared me last night when you were gone so long. I almost went looking for you."

"I am sorry. If you had looked you would have found me sleeping on the beach."

"No way. That's my thing." She said with a chuckle. "Do you at least feel a bit better?"

"Define better," I reply.

"Okay, what's wrong?" she asks with a concerned look on her face.

"I had this dream. I think it was a dream. I saw my mom again, but this time through a sort of window into somewhere else, or something. I am not sure what I saw. It was strange and weird, but it felt like my mom was real. You know not dead. The captain was there moving his hands all around in random ways and chanting under his breath. He would barely look at me and I could not make out what he was saying. Like I said weird. I think I am going crazy. My brain knows my mom is dead so why am I seeing her on this island?"