So I guess I should update you on my life.
I have a feeling not so much is happening lately, you know, since I my last semester has ended. I felt like I was left alone to think and really think. And left alone to make me dream about a life that is more than this island-life.
But now I'm thinking about it, (that's what they wanted, wasn't it?) I have a pretty interesting life. Different variations of crazy things, that I never dared to dream of:
Swimming with dolphins, exploring the rain forest and skinny dipping at a full moon. Those things aren't exactly the things a 'small-town-girl' would normally do, but let's just say I consider myself lucky.
Lucky to be stuck on this island. Lucky to be done with school. Lucky to have no clue of what to do with my life. Lucky to speak sarcasm fluently. And lucky to have plenty of time to figure out who I am and want to be, since I'm on my own so much.
So life on an island can be pretty lonely sometimes, because the few friends I have, live on the Main Land, which is across the small bit of the Black Ocean that separates the island from the rest of the world.
So, it's all about the people on the island. To be better friends with. Apart from my little brother, Tyler, and Sophia of course, who has been my friend since we were little. But she's gone for about 300 days of the year, at least that's what it feels like. Because she takes classes on the Main Land for her Independent Studies. She's learning about different cultures and languages.
I wanted to attend a course about Human Recourse and Skills Development, but of course I got lucky and I couldn't start, because there weren't enough people who signed up for the course. So I decided to wait a year and stay home. So I could explore some more island, and do stuff I wouldn't normally do, like sleep in the Green Forest and hunt on wild life.
To give you a clue of what this all looks like: the island is about 250 kilometers long, so you could cross it in a day, by car, that would be. But it's not very likely, because there isn't a road that leads you from one point on the island to the other.
And it's about 100 kilometers wide, which would take about 2 hours. But not here, no. Not on this island. In the south, about a hundred kilometers wide, in the middle, is a big forest. A rain forest, which is called the Green Forest. Behind that a beautiful beach, called the Blue Bay. In the east we have some more forest. But lets say it's a bit more accessible. It's the more go-to / school-trip kind of 'jungle'. It's pretty awesome though. It's called The Growling Trees, don't ask why some one gave it that name.
Then in the west we have the beautiful Kind Mountains, that make our skyline.
And in the north we have The Fields. There's where all the people work and get their food and things.
I live in the west. At the foot of the Kind Mountains and within the reach of the Green Forest. My dad works at The Fields and my mom has a little store there. So I'm left alone at home a lot of the time. The island community isn't very big, and since I've lived on this island for all my life, I figured I knew everybody. Because as a child I was at The Fields a lot with my parents, like everyone else. But that wasn't the truth.
My next door neighbor lives about 5 kilometers away, but still. I have a feeling we're pretty close, all together.
And yet today, I met someone, when I was trying to figure out how to build a sleeping fort on the edge of the Green Forest.
His name is Jonathan. He's tanned, has the biceps of .. someone who did a lot of work outs. Gorgeous green eyes, freckles every where and long, curly, brown hair.
His appearance obviously made a huge impression on me, and believe me: I've met some weird, nice, beautiful and crazy people on this island.
But him.. I'd never him seen before.
From what he told me, I figured he'd lived on this island all his life as well. He turned out to be the son of the dolphin-headmaster. I was so surprised I'd never seen him before. I went swimming with the dolphins down at the Blue Bay a lot, after I was done at school.
But hey, everyday is a new adventure on this island. That's what my granddad used to say. Meeting new people always fascinates me. And he.. he was the crown juwel.
But not entirely within my reach. I asked my dad about him and he told me Jonathan didn't really have a good name. He did some bad stuff and even got picked up by the islands-guardians.
Which I should probably tell you a little bit about.
Untill now, this probably sounded all pretty normal.
Well, our island-guardians.. They are ------------
I used to think I would spent these days being crazy with Sophia, she would be the wise one and tell me all these made up stories and I would listen to them and think of a moral. So we could teach our little brothers and sisters.
And we could figure out away we'd raise our own children, when, of course, the time was there for us.
Some times I would just lay in the grass and think. I would see the clouds toss and turn, I would feel the warm rain come down on my skin, and I'd wonder. Wonder what it's like to be away from all this and there would be an ache in my heart. It would really hurt to think about that, because in all the years I lived here, the island never did anything wrong. It was always me.
Or it was never any of us, because we would just play in the hills and scream at the mountains and they would scream back at us, for not wanting to see us cry.
I always had this one wish to lay here with Sophia and see the dandelions fill The Fields and see the workers climb up the hills to get all the sheep together. I wish we could wish together, and now I am just alone.
The mountains still scream back at me, because I tried. But not like they used to. Just like me, they lost a voice. And I feel like I lost my best friend.
A new day was coming up with the sun and I closed one eye, against the brightness. I quickly shove down some cereal and grab a pack of crackers from the counter.
Today was the day of a new made up adventure. Because, you know, that's what I do. I make up my own adventures and fantasize about them. So that they seem to come true in my head. But in real life I just had a long walk up into the mountains. The usual thing; running away from facing all the crap that's going on, down in The Fields. Like my parents having not enough money. And my little brother, who almost got kicked out of school, again, for yelling at the headmaster.
And me? I just don't seem to make it any better myself. Except for my job at the Dolphin Bay, where I recently got hired, I'm not doing very well as a responsible adult-to-be.
Running away and such. It's not what people are used to here on the island.
About time that I introduced myself, isn't it? Oh, wait. There's Jonathan. I probably will go and take a break now. We were supposed to have lunch and go hiking this afternoon, but Keith, Jonathan's father and owner of the Dolphins Bay, asked us to take care of the messy shore and so we really couldn't say no.
"Heya Maya!"
"Hi Jonna."
YAY:) To be continued. xxxxxxxxxxx
