Alabaster Island

Chapter 13

If I slept two hours that would be a generous estimate. Just after dawn, I tried to find Chloe to tell her my plan. But I couldn't locate her and no one knew where she'd gone. My gut churned. What if her and Ethan had drunk the poison? What then?

The mangoes lay heavy and sticky against my back even through the double burlap sack Mom packed them in. At first I hurried but soon my legs grew tired and doubts weighed as burdensome as the ripening fruit pressed against my back. I trudged up over the ridge that separated one half of the island from the other. "The Island's spine" Mom called it. As I descended, the weather changed.

Even though Alabaster Island was small, it had two distinct climates. On the main side of the island, rains often came in the afternoons, passing quickly. Whereas on Marlow's side it rained frequently. Today a thick fog clung to the vegetation. Each step I took was an angry stomp. Gravel crunched beneath my feet like pulverized bone.

Near Marlow's house, I came across Kassandra. She sat by the old wishing well, massaging her feet. Kassandra and Marlow had an odd relationship. Shortly after Marlow's first wife, Shianne, disappeared they became intimate. Kassandra had even lived with Marlow up until Daniel drowned. Marlow became consumed with grief after his son's death. His personality changed, and not for the better. Kassandra moved out. Even still, I'd spotted Kassandra heading up over the ridge on many occasions and doubted it was just to check supplies.

"Hiya!" she said. Kassandra came from a country in the Outlands called Australia. Among all of us and our various family accents, hers was the most attractive to my ear. 

"Hiya," I replied without enthusiasm. As custom required, I found a smooth, white stone from the ground. I opened the small blue, wooden gate that enclosed the well. The well extended six feet across. It was made of gray and brown stones haphazardly stuck together like Mom's rice crispy squares. 

I tossed the stone over the edge and held my breath. Please let Marlow agree to my request. Then I paused and counted the seconds. One, two, three, four, five...I peered into the blackness, waiting for the splash, or thud, but neither came. It never did. The answer to my wish stayed as silent as the stone. Falling. Falling. Falling. Forever.

"Off to see Marlow then, are we?" Kassandra put on her shoe and stood. "Silly shoes always letting stones in," she said. "But good for wishes." 

It seemed she spoke to herself. Or perhaps the shoe. I couldn't tell. She spent hours alone in the storehouse counting supplies and making purchase lists that got sent back with the pilot every two months.

"Is he home?" I asked, worry in my voice.

"Can't say yet, on my way myself. Fancy a walk together?" 

We continued on the path. I hadn't meant to tell Kassandra anything but somehow it came out. Maybe it was because she was the quiet type, but I always ended up blabbing around her. 

"Well now, if I were you I'd start with an apology," she advised.

"An apology?" I hadn't considered that Marlow might be angry. So many emotions had swept through me since The Binding that I wasn't thinking straight.

"Oh yes, he was very peeved that you and Chloe interrupted the ceremony. Quite annoyed indeed."

"Yeah. I'll apologize." 

"And mean it."

I nodded. Even though it felt like he owed me and Chloe an apology. 

Marlow's home had been the first house on the island not counting the lighthouse. It was the only building that didn't appear to be designed by a soldier. Made of brick to last a lifetime Marlow reminded everyone. His home existed before all the others. Mom and Shianne had lived there by themselves when they first came to the island. But even Mom didn't know who built it or why. She wondered why whoever built it chose the rainy, cloudy side of the island and I agreed. But the area had rich soil and Marlow didn't mind the rain or the solitude.