Chapter 17:2 -Spring Island
Soi was dying, but not the way he thought he would die.
He didn’t know how many days had gone by. He had tried to keep track but after a few days without food and water it wasn’t easy to tell the days apart. He was slowly starving to death.
It was as if he’d been forgotten. No one came to see if he was alive. Instead of killing him instantly as he had feared he was now dying slowly. The first day and night was the worst, his stomach begged for food and his throat begun to dry in an endless thirst he had never known before. Then the energy left his body and his mind went completely blank. He couldn’t put two thoughts together. It was the worst way to die and he had never seen it coming. If he had known it when Sam tried to kill him, Soi would have let him.
This was so typical broken. Soi, a non-broken, meant nothing to them. When he was no longer of any importance they forgot him. They never thought of him as a threat so they didn’t need to kill him but they didn’t need to keep him alive either.
On the third night the nightmares started. But they were not the work of a dreamer, only his own craving mind. He was back at the Academy, trapped in front of the council but this time they didn’t see him. They sat at their table, all dressed in white and looked almighty. White faces looking straight forward, seeing through him. High, white walls surrounded and towered over him. At the top there was a small round window, as big as a coin, and through it the sun pushed its light.
-Soi? Do you hear me?
It was a soft female voice talking to him. A pair of small hands rocked him to consciousness and he looked into a pair of dark eyes.
-Siri? Soi tried to say but his dry throat made it known and he could only cough.
-Water, give me the water, Siri demanded and reached behind her.
Cold water touched his cracked lips, it stung but he licked every drop of water.
-Brother, I can’t explain now but we have to go. We are passing the cliffs now, it’s our only chance. Can you stand?
Soi tried his best but his knees faltered.
-He needs help. We need to support him, Siri said to someone behind her and waved to the person to come and help.
The person left what must have been the doorway and moved forward with the lantern he was carrying. Soi couldn’t see his face but he knew it was a man. He and Siri pulled Soi up on his legs and while leaning on the man’s shoulders Soi was dragged out of the cupboard. Siri took the lantern and led the way. The first room was a storage containing ropes and barrels. The second room took Soi by surprise. On benches placed in rows people were sitting quiet and motionless, all of them facing forward. Even though all of them were obviously awake and alive none of them seemed to react when the group passed through. They remained seated and dead quiet as if they were sleeping with their eyes wide open.
-Prisoners? Soi whispered as they passed the benches.
The light of the lantern touched the motionless people faces but they didn’t even blink. Siri snorted.
-Sort of, she answered. –Monsters, controlled by him.
Soi looked at the persons again. Siri was right, they were all monsters, in all stages of the destruction. Their eyes were all glowing red in the poorly lit room.
The group left the room with the monsters and Soi let out a breath he didn’t know he had kept in. They walked up a floor and stopped to check the surroundings.
-Should I go further? Siri asked and looked back anxiously at the man supporting Soi.
The man waved for her to continue forward. There was too much movement for Soi’s exhausted body and at a point he fainted. When he regained consciousness the first he saw was the moon, brightly shining above the high cliffs of Spring Island. Then he heard the waves as the crashed into the cliffs. The ship was quite near.
-Do you think he can make it? A male voice asked.
-He has to, Siri answered decidedly.
Soi saw his sisters black hair flying freely in the wind. She looked better than when he saw her in Beroal. She turned to him.
-Soi, we’re gonna jump and then swim. You know how. We’ve done it since we were little ones, remember? That’s what we’re doing, it’s a child play, right?
Soi knew his sister, he knew she was nervous as she tugged her hair. She had all right to be, he hadn’t eaten for days and he could barely stand on his own. How was he going to swim? But he took his sister’s hand and held it tight in his.
Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around his body and a mouth breathed into his ear.
-If you die or not, Jack doesn’t care because he doesn’t need you anymore. But I do, I need you. And so does Ana. We can’t win this without you, Spring Saviour, a gentle male voice whispered tenderly.
The arms released him as quickly as they had pulled him into the hug.
-Now go! The man waved the off.
Siri and Soi jumped while holding hands and hit the cold surface with a splash. Soi swallowed water in surprise as the cold water woke his starving body.
-Swim! Siri shouted to him.
Tumult erupted on the deck but no measures were taken to capture them. They were dead anyway in the eyes of the broken.
Soi took a few swimming strokes but started to sink.
-Come on, little brother! You can do better than this!
He tried again and this time it was easier, his arms and legs remembered what they should do and he stayed above the surface.
-Good! Siri shouted. –Follow me! She was swimming away from the ship and towards the cliffs. Soi thought she was crazy, she was swimming towards a certain death but he followed her because he had no option than to trust his sister. But as they came closer he hesitated. The waves clashed against the cliffs fiercely.
-Siri?! He called after his sister but his voice was still weak and hoarse.
Suddenly he couldn’t see her. Maybe she had disappeared behind a wave. He watched the waves anxiously but he couldn’t see her. He panicked and swallowed more saltwater as he turned around to see her. He kept paddling with his legs but they begun to cramp and wave rolled over him making him swallow more water. He had to kick up to the surface but his legs didn’t obey him. Somehow he reached the surface and he chipped for air.
All of a sudden something dark and big moved towards him. Was he crashing in a rock? This was it. Soi closed his eyes and prepared for the worst, to die. How many times hadn’t he done that since he met Ana. He saw her long blond hair and cold grey eyes, her sarcastic smile and how she stubbornly tried to walk straight.
-There he is! A female voice yelled thrilled.
As Soi opened his eyes in surprise two pair of hands lifted him out of the water and onto a small boat. A warm blanket was put around him and he was fed warm soup from a bowl. As he looked around him he saw nothing but familiar faces. Sitting opposite him was Siri also wrapped in a big blanket, holding a bowl of soup in her hands. To her right sat the eldest sister Sanoi and to Siri’s left sat a boy Soi didn’t think he would ever see again. Ard’s smile was wide as usual.
-I think I can predict the expression on your face right now, Ard joked.
To Ard’s left Jagger sat close to the white haired boy.
-It was me who found you! She said still thrilled.
-Not really, muttered Haz who sat on Soi’s right.
Haz glared at Ard and Jagger, seemingly unhappy about the two.
To Soi’s left sat a person Soi didn’t know how much he’d missed all these years. How long had it been since he last had looked at that slightly wrinkled face and dark blue eyes. Soi’s eyes begun to tear.
-Mother, I’m so sorry, he said.
-Son, welcome home, Soi’s mother said and draw him into her arms.
To be continued...
By J.L.Frick
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