Spoiler! :
and made up for that by writing poems (
...After listening to his story of how we had managed to be stranded on this island, Ed and I went to explore it for what wonders it had in reserve for us and whether we could make it a place that was going to be home for us possibly for the rest of our lives. "For the rest of our lives". That phrase echoed through my ten-year-old mind, scaring me to think that I was going to grow up isolated from the rest of the world, with my tutor- and the surrounding wildlife that lay unexplored until our arrival. We would be living, possibly, without enough resources to survive, which could cause us to die early before even having discovered many things in life. Possibly, just possibly.
What kept me alive each day, though, was hope. The hope that someone would find us one day or that we would manage to get away. But for the meantime, all we could do was try to survive by helping each other to stay hopeful and alive.
Never had I known that Ed was so good at constructing as well as all his other qualities. This young man was already a genius at sixteen, he was already a tutor and to find out that he could build as well was very impressive to my little girl's eyes. I found this out when he decided to build us a shelter.
"Look, Luna, the clouds are building up. We need to find something we could stay under for shelter," he pointed towards the grey clouds that were closing in on each other, getting more and more dense.
"But we've circled the whole island," I said looking around as if I would find something new, "we've searched for caves or any hidden huts but there were none, Edwin. What ever are we going to do?"
He turned away from looking at the sky to face me, grinning excitedly. He held my shoulders and said: "We're going to build one!"
Obviously, I had never done this before. This required getting filthy. At home I was only allowed to get dirty when falling off my horse, apart from that, looking scruffy and tattered was disallowed in my house especially if in the presence of my mother who believed that a lady must never look a mess and that it was a boy's norm to be dirty. I secretly enjoyed getting wet and covered in dirt which was why at times I would ask the stable's keeper to let me look after Butterscotch (my horse), that way I had an excuse for putting mud on me!
Building this hut needed this particular factor, what with the mud, sweat and insect blood all over my body which came from the constant slapping of many-legged creatures that crawled on me. Despite the rain that was about to fall and its pre-rainfall wind that was blowing, I had dripped out many amounts of sweat which made my body feel so unpleasantly sticky. I had sand in my hair and pains everywhere from heaving heavy things and climbing up trees to fetch materials that Edwin needed.
At one moment, Ed had to continue alone for I was no longer fit for helping him anymore. My legs ached. My hands ached. My head ached. I decided to lie on my back to take a break, and then carry on later before the rain started falling. I closed my eyes and before I knew it, I was sleeping and was already deep in a dream.
I could see myself lying in my garden at home and feeling the rain drops land on my face and sky-blue dress. I was going to get into trouble for doing this but I did not at all mind. I loved the feeling of rain dropping on me. Suddenly, I was soaked! The drops were beating my face violently, I was cold. I felt as if my dress had been taken off me. I shivered, clutching my wet skin…
I woke up cold and drenched, lying in the wet sand with the rain falling over me and Ed bellowing my name as the rain poured loudly. It seemed as though he had been searching for me, since he had gone to assemble materials for the hut’s roof. When he found me lying in the unfinished hut that just looked like a box with no top, he ran to help me get me to a tree that had leaves large enough to shelter us. The shirt that he had been drying earlier in the sun was hanging over my shoulders as we sat under the tree, cold and wet, waiting for the sun to come out.
Trying to focus on what Ed had told me about our ship-wreck, I was brought to see images that I had seen before, scenes that I had been in before. The problem is that they were blurred as my mind slurred. I pondered and wondered about all the events that Ed had listed to me. Marriage? Me? At eleven years old? I let out a little laugh that turned out to be a loud chuckle as I thought of how amazingly stupid it sounded. Luna Aurora, eleven years old on the arm of her husband; Luna Aurora, who did not even know much about the wonderful thing they call life; Luna Aurora, who was still getting used to how babies were produced; Luna Aurora, who was about to do what only her ancestors did: marry at such a young age. The times had changed! It was not because Lord Brown was an old man that had landed in a future era, that he had to bring his old traditions into practice again! I laughed again and this time Ed looked at me, puzzled.
“What ever are you laughing about?” He seemed tired and as though he was catching a terrible cold, “I heard you the first time but decided to let you at it, but laughing to oneself is something close to craziness!” I giggled at this and told him about my thoughts on what he had told me earlier, on the beach.
“I mean, marriage? Is he serious? What a bonkers old man! I think people should be locked up for such deviant thoughts! It should be illegal to marry a girl of my age! Do you not think so?”
“Indeed I do! I believe sixteen should be the limit! I dare say at eleven you cannot even bear a child!” He also laughed with me, and after a good one, Edwin talked to me about Ellie, his beautiful fiancée that I had seen in the locket. I knew her personally: she was a kind soul, talented as well!
“She’s perfect,” He said, taking the words right out of my own mouth, “I love her. And talking of marriage-“
“You wanted to marry her?” I asked, in the middle of his sentence. He nodded his head, but then shook it. I did not understand such a quick change of mind so I pressed my eye-brows together in a nonplussed way.
“Yes, but not now. It is still a bit early...and we’re... we're still a bit young. I prefer waiting until around the age of eighteen to propose. That way, we would be sure of what to do with our lives…especially after my examinations for Cambridge who have asked to assess me. I’m very excited…at least, I was but now…” He looked around and I knew very well what he was thinking, so I nodded slowly.
“I understand. But just imagine we manage to sail away, that we manage to get home. Would you move to Cambridge with Ellie?” I saw his face brighten up a little and he nodded with a smile.
“Definitely. I would not dare miss such an opportunity! They had questioned me on whether I was happy to meet them earlier this year, but I declined this offer because I preferred finishing off my secondary school years. Also, I would’ve missed you and the whole family. Anyway, you still needed me for your tutoring, didn’t you?” I smiled at this, but felt sad inside.
“You are still leaving. I will still need you in two years!” I knew I was being silly because at the age of thirteen, I knew I would have to expect a 'tutoress' who would teach me many other things. Things that young ladies must learn in order to help them with their lives.
“Trust me, in two years you will not be needing me anymore, little sister, and besides, I will come back and visit. But there's no need for you to be worrying about this matter. I don't want you having to worry about...about adult thoughts, now do I?” He cleared his throat in an uncomfortable way. "I saw Jilly earlier on the beach," He said, changing the subject.
We kept on talking as the rain brought down the night with it. The sun had disappeared along with the heavy rain clouds and only little rain drops fell rhythmically. Edwin straight away thought that it was time to finish roofing the hut so that we could sleep under it and shelter away from any other rainfalls that would be making their way through the night. The conversation with Ed, the pause we had taken or the rain had somehow revitalised me and I was ready to work.
When Ed had rounded pieces of wood to make a warming fireplace once we had finished with the hut-making, I went in and took a deep breath of the air that I thought that I would be breathing for many days, weeks, months or years even. I let the island's air fill my lungs as much as possible and let it out as I stretched my body on the floor, ready for a long, long journey to the morning. As I shut my eyelids, I wished that when I opened them, I would be back in my castle, with Mildred, my room maid, bringing in my breakfast, telling me to get dressed and that Edwin was waiting for me in our library.
I laughed mockingly at myself. Don’t be silly, I said to myself. You will wake up to insects telling you that they have decided to suck your blood and poisonous leaves telling you to eat them! Goodnight mummy, goodnight daddy. I am alright here, but I just pray that you find us soon. I do not want to stranded on this island for the rest of my life.
And that was how my very first day on the island went: painful, wet and full of hope that we would one day manage to get away from it.
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