The Island
Vivienne | Bayside P-12 College |
Secondary English | Term 4 2023
Cold, tired and exhausted I make my way along the winding path through the forest. I was on my daily morning walk along Kocos beach where I witnessed a dense, murky liquid spreading through our clear waters. I have to notify the community immediately of the strange, potentially dangerous substance. My thick, long braids weave in and out of the trees as I approach the waterhole. The water hole is the centre of Iyouna Island, the heart of it. I was born on the island a so was my mother and father and their mother and father and so on and so on. No outsider has ever stepped foot on our island.
People are dashing left and right in panic. I wonder if they know about the mysterious substance. I rush over to a big group that has formed. Everyone is surrounding Jabari the local fisher who lies dead on the ground.
“Jabari was just about to give me some fish when all of a sudden he just drooped dead in front of me!” Exclaimed the baker in terror. So, my best guess is that the dark water has something to do with the death of Jabari.
“Intruders!” Yelled someone from afar. That meant that the bad spirits were coming. I grab my bow & arrow and run to the edge of the island towards the clearing. In the distance, I can see them approaching.
“Arrows ready!” yells the chief. Everyone listened accordingly and lifted their arrows in preparation. As the bad spirits come closer I notice that they are yelling something in a foreign language. The only word I kind of understood was ‘help’ because it’s the same in our language. I have the feeling in my gut that they are here to help.
I slowly lower my arrow, debating on what to do. The black-affected water lapped at my feet with every passing second. The good or bad spirits are now getting closer and closer like a time bomb about to explode any second now.
“STOP!” I yell. Everyone looks at me in shock. “Let them on I think their good spirits.” Almost immediately people burst out arguing, some agreeing with me others disagreeing. The whole place is in chaos. Nevertheless the spirits approach. I’ve never seen some up close before but now I know we must decide.
As soon as the spirits hit land it’s very clear as to who aggress or disagrees with me. Some islanders immediately start yelling and shooting at them whilst others try to protect and help them. All I know is that I am in the middle of it all. Darkness. I awake with a sharp stabbing pain in my left leg. The pain is almost unbearable as I look up to see about 30 concerned faces peering down at me. I’m covered in the black substance, just realizing I’m almost fully submerged in the water. Each push of a wave sends excruciating pain down my leg. I think I’ve been shot!
I look down to see an arrow sticking out of my leg, just the tip pointing out. There’s blood dripping down the side of my leg and into the water. The people around me all run around trying to find something to stop the bleeding. Then a spirit comes up and mumbles something under his breath. I don’t have enough time to register what he says before he rips the arrow out of my leg. I let out a painful scream and passed out for the second time. Now I don’t know if this is the pain talking but now that I had a better look at the spirit I notice that it looks very similar to us just with much lighter skin.
Not long after the arrow is removed someone begins wrapping my leg in leaves. I am slowly picked up and put out of the black water. There I witness a contraption being put in and, in some miracle, the black substance gets sucked up into it. I guess somewhere whilst I was passed out the good spirits and the islanders became friends because as I looked around I saw them walking around peacefully and us showing them things and them showing us things. Everyone is back to normal, well almost everything.
Vivienne | Bayside P-12 College
