The Island

Chapter One

    Lena never imagined that would be the last time she would see her brother.
    Standing at the edge of the cliff, her long brown hair blew out with the sharp  sea wind. She stared out to the Above as all too recent memories crashed through her mind like a flash flood. Just seven days ago, Lena stood with the other members of Eden on the edge of the Outer Forest. People were smiling and laughing, congratulating their youth on their transition to becoming the newest members of the community. They were about to take part in a rite of passage that had kept harmony on the island for generations - the Placing.
    The memory was a stark contrast to Lena's current emotions. Villagers  embraced each other as they mingled, their plain robes a sea of brown burlap. Sandaled feet tamped down the earth in the sacred space. The leaves that day had a muddy hue, the kind of color that appears just before the start of fall. In the short time since the ceremony, the Outer Forest had transformed into a riot of color, signaling the true end of summer.
     Looking back, Lena recalled how families held each other. Excitement and anticipation flowed through the air, the sensation almost like what you feel before lightning strikes the ground. The young ones joked together, making light hearted comments about where they would be placed. They waggled their eyebrows as they guessed who they might be Placed with. While everyone else had spent the morning in a jovial mood, Lena had stayed in to pray that her younger brother Caleb would be placed somewhere where he could finally start to thrive. She knew how nervous he had been for the Placing Ceremony and it clawed at her heart as she remembered his furrowed brow and darting eyes.
     Even after sixteen years -  his whole life - Caleb still struggled to really integrate into the community of Eden. He was always getting scolded by the Advisors for asking one too many questions, and never quite found the same joy and contentment in the Prayer Ceremony that the rest of the village had. That day, a few minutes before the Advisors began the ritual, Lena had pulled Caleb away from the crowd. She led him to their old hiding spot, a large oak with an abandoned animal burrow dug into the earth beneath it. They had used it as a fort as children. Now, as  adults who were too big to squeeze inside, the oak was simply a place to meet when they wanted a little solitude.
    "I know you're nervous," she had said to him. He didn't respond to her, but she knew she was right. She had always been able to read her brothers emotions like a book. "Listen," she sighed. "I don't remember my Placing. Nobody does, and that's how it's meant to be. You just come out of the forest and you know who you are and what you're meant to do. You'll truly know your Place.  You need to trust the Advisors, I promise they will take care of you."
    Caleb shifted his feet and looked down at the ground, finding the dirt suddenly more fascinating than anything Lena was trying to say. He had always hated conflict, even differences of opinion made him nervous. She reached out gently and tilted his chin up to face her. "Are you okay?"
    He took a deep breath and nodded, turning towards the direction of the villagers. The direction of his future.
    He sat on the ground, pulling his knees up to his chest and clasping his arms around them. Lena sat next to him in silence, waiting patiently for him to say something. Anything.
Finally, she heard him take in a deep breath.
      "Lena?" he asked, his voice quiet.
      "Yes?"
      "What do you think is past the Outer Forest? Beyond the island?"
      Surprised, Lena leaned back to study her brother. His bright red hair and green eyes were like gems compared to her natural palette of brown hair and chocolate eyes. It was not uncommon for siblings in Eden to be so different from each other on the outside. The Above placed children where they belonged, regardless of their appearance.
    "The only thing that's beyond the island is the Above. There is nothing else," Lena said.
    "That's what the Advisors say."
    "Which means it is so." Lena played with the end of her braid, trying to find the right thing to say to give her brother the faith he so desperately  needed. "The Advisors have guided the island for centuries. You are blessed to be a part of this community. You need to trust."
      Caleb fiddled with a twig between his fingers. He started chewing on his bottom lip, the words he was trying not to say clearly fighting for an escape. A bell rang out across the field, signaling that the Placing Ceremony would begin soon. He stood and offered a hand to his older sister. Pulling her up he looked her in the eye for the first time all morning.
      "Lena - what if the advisors are wrong?"
       As the words left his lips Caleb furrowed his brow and released his sister's hand. He left her standing there watching the back of her brother's head disappear around a large rock as he made his way back to the crowd. Lena was silent as her mouth hung slightly open as she stared after her brother.
      Caleb knew the consequences of sowing doubt in the community. Her stomach did flips as she thought about him having to spend a night in the Cave. Their own mother had had to spend a night in the Cave for asking similar questions. When she came back she always seemed not quite right, but her faith had been restored. She never asked those kinds of questions again.
       Lena rolled her shoulders back and blinked, trying to keep Caleb's words from echoing in her mind. She put on a smile to try to keep from gaining any unwanted attention. Right now, she needed to fit in. She could figure her emotions out later.
      She came around the large rock and quietly blended herself in with the rest of the crowd. She could just catch a glimpse of Caleb's fiery red hair as he stood in the back of the group of sixteen year old tributes. The Senior Advisors stood on a small wooden platform above the crowd, a podium in front of him.
      "Welcome all," he said, stretching his arms out as if to embrace the crowd. His maroon robes were without tear or stain, and his large sleeves hung down towards the ground, their hems laced with gold thread. The robes the elders wore were art, the fabric flowing around them as they moved.
      "Thank you all for coming to celebrate this joyous occasion," the Senior Advisor said. "Today we will be sending off our newest generation, so that they may be blessed with learning their Place in our community." A few villagers clapped in there excitement, and a whistle went up from within the crowd.
      "Tributes," the Advisor addressed the youth standing in front of him, six in a row, two rows deep. "I ask you all now, are you ready to become a part of this community?"
       "We are ready," the group answered in unison.
      "And do you pledge to put the well-being of the community above all else, in order to earn your Place here?"
      "We place us above I," the group answered again.
       "And will you honor the wisdom of the council?"
       "We honor the council."
      The Advisor smiled and looked over the group of young faces. "Well then," the advisor waved an arm out, gesturing to the path that would lead them deep into the Outer Forest.    "We invite you to find your Place."
      The two rows of youth turned to their right and started to make their way two by two down the old dirt path. It had been well worn by generations of tributes. Hundreds of teens had made their way down that same path, and come back with the clarity needed to serve their community to their full potential.
      Behind the youth, two advisors followed closely. The Senior Advisor would stay back in Eden, while two other Advisors went out with the young adults as guides. They would be responsible for ensuring the tributes went deep enough into the forest, and that everyone found their way home.
      Except that they had failed. Caleb hadn't made it home. Ever since that day, his words had haunted her, echoing through her mind.
      "What if they're wrong?"