Isolated

The Past

Each child knew why the waters had risen. They had been told by a parent or a teacher.

It was a man.

They'd ruined the planet. Their filth and ravaging lifestyle stripped the earth of all that was good and when the land beneath their feet could take no more the rains fell and the waters rose.

Father had told Bonnie when she was young there used to be frozen waters on the top and bottom of the earth. But when the air got dirty, it got too hot.

Then the seas became warmer. The ice could not stay cold anymore so they melted, and then waters rose and covered the land.

All of it.

Their island was all that was left. Every other life had been destroyed. Father told them the Maker would never kill or destroy the entire inhabitants of the earth, and that is why the original families were saved. So mankind can go on.

Over 150 years passed since the first dozen families landed on the island seeking refuge from the destruction of the rest of their planet.

Those families created the lives they had here. They built buildings, they toiled the fertile grounds of their island, and they had babies.

Bonnie had sat by her father years ago when she was just a child. They watched the sunset and Father told her about their past so she could understand their future.

"Bonnie, we are the chosen ones who must carry on. Beyond the sands of our island lies death and destruction. There is no more life. There is no more good. We live the way we do so there may be abundance."

Abundance.

The word she heard often. Abundance of food. Abundance of joy. Abundance of babies.

The last one.

That is why each husband had more than one wife. For years, in the beginning, there were more women than men.

The island needed more people, and more life, so the women made them. Each man took as many wives as needed so no woman was left unmarried and each home began to fill up quickly. More babies meant more children. More children to grow into working hands and more girls to grow into more women.

The cycle was the way they were supposed to live. It's how the Father and Brothers long ago decreed it.

"Father, why is it that you love Mother Lana more than my own mother?"

Bonnie remembered the way his posture stiffened beside her, "who told you that, daughter?"

"Timothy did. He has six brothers and sisters and he said it is because his father loves his mother more than the other mothers."

"I love your mother and Mother Lana the same. What he said is not the truth."

But what Bonnie knew now was that Father didn't love any of his wives. Not her own mother, not Lana, not Savannah, and not Anna Joy.

Father used them up to build his family. His legacy. His family was the largest on the island. It was his duty being their Father to have the biggest family. To produce a son who would carry on his mantle when he was done leading their people.

A Father was different than the rest of the men on the island. And so where the Brothers. The Brothers were chosen by the Father. Whereas the Father was always born into the role. Bonnie's grandfather was the last Father, his father before he led, and so on.

Next was supposed to be her twin. Her only full brother.

Bonnie rolled over onto her side in the stillness of their small room, trying to not disturb her mother who she hoped was finally asleep beside her.