Vessles
Prologue
The crash of the waves always filled my eyes. The smell of salty air became accustomed years ago. Everything about the sea took hold of me. It grabbed and pulled my soul. I was never to leave this island.
A certain group of the island, called the elders, made the pact to keep every local inside the island, for the outside world was ugly and bitter. They made sure to keep insiders in, and outsides out. The people on the island were not to be influenced by the outside world.
Father told me stories. Stories the elders created. Stories of the poor souls.The ones that tried to escape, but the sea refused to let go of, for they gave away their souls. They tried and tried; one after the other. Despite all their failures, future runaways never faulted to try and escape. Though, not one of them made it to the city. The creatures of the sea made sure of it.
These stories were to scare and be engraved into young minds.Growing up with these stories made it's impact on my young mind, as they did every other young child. I feared the water and it's fierce roars. I feared being taken away from my father from being too close to the shore.
Though, now that I stare off into the ocean through new eyes and a new perspective, I knew there was something missing. The elders made it seem as if we were the only ones out at sea, and the city was full of evil criminals that wouldn't waste a second cutting your head off. I knew this not to be true. I was given clues at the shore, small things. Little watches and fancy jewelry that once glistened in the sun, but now were rusted from the sea salt. Pictures of families smiling at the camera; faces I knew weren't from the island. Such nice things and beautiful faces not from the island must be from the city.
I knew not to show father. He would only become upset and scold me for questioning the elders, and disobeying them by walking the shoreline. So I kept them to myself.
I acquired many little clues, that I had a special spot for them. My own little private sanctuary. And one afternoon, as I was about to do my weekly scouting down by the shore, a few yards off to the east, the elders gathered. Never did all elders meet, it wasn't even considered rare, for it never happened.
I didn't even realize that I was walking towards the group till I could pick up on their conversation.
They spoke of one of the elders' wife being extremely sick and needing medical attention far too soon for any of the medical teams on the island to gather ingredients needed to cure her. They talked about getting one of the city doctors to come and diagnose the woman, but not to mention it to any of the insiders.
I knew that something this big and unheard of should be told, and I could have been the one to expose it. Yet, as I was walking back to father's hut, all that could hold my attention was being right. If there was a doctor that could cure the elder's wife, then the city's people could not all be bad. There must be good beyond the raging waves of the sea.
A certain group of the island, called the elders, made the pact to keep every local inside the island, for the outside world was ugly and bitter. They made sure to keep insiders in, and outsides out. The people on the island were not to be influenced by the outside world.
Father told me stories. Stories the elders created. Stories of the poor souls.The ones that tried to escape, but the sea refused to let go of, for they gave away their souls. They tried and tried; one after the other. Despite all their failures, future runaways never faulted to try and escape. Though, not one of them made it to the city. The creatures of the sea made sure of it.
These stories were to scare and be engraved into young minds.Growing up with these stories made it's impact on my young mind, as they did every other young child. I feared the water and it's fierce roars. I feared being taken away from my father from being too close to the shore.
Though, now that I stare off into the ocean through new eyes and a new perspective, I knew there was something missing. The elders made it seem as if we were the only ones out at sea, and the city was full of evil criminals that wouldn't waste a second cutting your head off. I knew this not to be true. I was given clues at the shore, small things. Little watches and fancy jewelry that once glistened in the sun, but now were rusted from the sea salt. Pictures of families smiling at the camera; faces I knew weren't from the island. Such nice things and beautiful faces not from the island must be from the city.
I knew not to show father. He would only become upset and scold me for questioning the elders, and disobeying them by walking the shoreline. So I kept them to myself.
I acquired many little clues, that I had a special spot for them. My own little private sanctuary. And one afternoon, as I was about to do my weekly scouting down by the shore, a few yards off to the east, the elders gathered. Never did all elders meet, it wasn't even considered rare, for it never happened.
I didn't even realize that I was walking towards the group till I could pick up on their conversation.
They spoke of one of the elders' wife being extremely sick and needing medical attention far too soon for any of the medical teams on the island to gather ingredients needed to cure her. They talked about getting one of the city doctors to come and diagnose the woman, but not to mention it to any of the insiders.
I knew that something this big and unheard of should be told, and I could have been the one to expose it. Yet, as I was walking back to father's hut, all that could hold my attention was being right. If there was a doctor that could cure the elder's wife, then the city's people could not all be bad. There must be good beyond the raging waves of the sea.