The Evergreen Enigma

Part Three: The Decision

                                                                            Part Three: The Decision

     Dexter folded up the map again and placed it between the pages of the book. He took one more quick look around the room, not wanting to miss anything having to do with the island, and then he slipped "Evergreen" into his backpack. Throwing the bulky bag over his shoulders, he started towards the rotting door. Within seconds, he was standing outside, the cool air wrapping around him and the sound of rustling autumn leaves filling his ears. Not owning a car of his own, Dexter walked most places that he went. He had his license, could borrow his mother's car, and was a fairly good driver; the boy just preferred the scenic route, and he liked seeing and feeling his environment up close, especially in the autumn weather. That time of year had always been his favorite, in fact; the beautifully colored leaves, the chilling winds, the smell of harvested crops filling the air- he loved it all. Dexter lived in the Washington State countryside, a house with the perfect atmosphere to suit his interests. In the front of his house, looking out his bedroom window or sitting on the front porch, he could watch the sun rise as the cows grazed in the pasture. On either side of his house, and across the street backing up to the fenced in field, were other houses- larger than his own, but filled with neighbors who would never say so. Behind his house, he had a massive, fenced-in yard where his dogs could play, and behind that was his favorite place. Outside of the fence, there was a small layer of pine trees; thick enough to provide a barrier, difficult to see through, but thin enough to navigate and get through. When he cleared the trees, it was nothing but wide open field. The knee high grass, dangerously snake infested during the summer months, was beautiful, and progressively got more enjoyable as the weather cooled down. The field wasn't used for crops, as the owners of the land were older and could no longer get out to plant or harvest. As grumpy as they were, Dexter tromped through on a daily basis, avoiding the bits of land closest to their house. Having been caught a few times by the old man, Dexter knew better than to let it happen again. Once, a few years prior, he had decided to camp out and sleep on the land, but chose a location far too close to the brick house where the owners resided. When he woke up, a peaceful sleep interrupted, there was a shotgun in his face, and by the butt of the gun was the old man yelling for Dexter to leave. He quickly gathered his things and ran up the small hill to the more level part of the field, closer to his own home, invisible to the man below. Once he assumed he was out of sight, Dexter simply laid his blanket back down and re-entered his sleep.

     The abandoned house of Carter Renaldo wasn't very far from Dexter's home- only a fifteen or twenty minute walk. On his way home, kicking pebbles and crunching on leaves with his sneakers, he couldn't think of anything other than what he had learned about Evergreen Island. Part of his mind wanted to believe that the mystery was merely part of a book, and that Renaldo truly had been crazy. However he had a feeling in his gut; Dexter knew the madness wasn't a work of fiction. The author of "Evergreen" had set out to spread awareness for the people of the island, attempting to help them through his book, but was only shut down and accused. Dexter's heart ached with that thought, and for the rest of his walk home, he was consumed with a wrenching feeling for those people on the island. Were they struggling to find food and starving, their young children rotting away with no energy? Or maybe they had food- but were they without proper shelter? Were they sitting in the cold rain or baking in the hot sun, dying from dehydration because the only water source around was ocean? So enveloped in his heart breaking thoughts, Dexter was home before he knew it, his legs numb and moving automatically with little meaning.

     He stopped at his driveway, holding his arm up to see his watch. The nighttime was slowly beginning to fade away, the light of the sun breaking through the thick darkness and providing a hazy, thin light; it was 4:09. He let out a heavy sigh, filled with grief for the unknown, and began walking down his driveway and towards his entrance. Rather than using the door and running the risk of waking his parents, he went in and out through his bedroom window, which was relatively high up, though his house was only one story. It required a bit of a leap from the boy, but his height, a staggering 6'1, gave him an advantage. When he reached the mulch flower bed below his room, he slipped his fingertips underneath the window and pried it upwards, creating a sufficient enough opening for him to get through. He hopped inside, faced with his simple bedroom- a bed and dresser on one side of the room and a desk and closet on the other. As he skimmed across the bedroom, he was overwhelmed with an indescribable feeling. This room was where he spent most of his time, when he wasn't at school or somewhere like the field, and it seemed so personal; however, despite that, it seemed so distant, so cold. At that moment, something so obvious caught his eye and made him throw all current feelings other than pure determination away: his computer. Careful not to make noise, Dexter hurried to his desk, plopped into the chair and powered up his laptop. As he furiously typed in his login information, urging for the computer to work faster, he pulled "Evergreen" from his backpack, along with the map that rested inside of it. By then, the large, flat screen was operating, waiting for its first command. Dexter clicked on his browser, hurriedly typing the moment the application loaded. He searched, hoping to find something; however, he found all in vain. "Evergreen Island," "The Island of Evergreen," and even "Renaldo's Evergreen Island," all yielded no results relating to his topic. He frowned, loss of hope overwhelming his mind and soul. The island truly was undiscovered; that is, if it was real at all. Dexter was doubting himself, unbelieving of his own foolishness for believing in such a tale. A glimmer of hope, a spark of concern for the people who could possibly thrive on this island came over him, and he tried one more thing; he searched for a map of the Latvian coast, as the paper within the book had shown. The map from Carter Renaldo was not only very old, but faded and difficult to see. It was drawn, possibly altered from the original. Seeing the actual map, the picture was very different from what Dexter had originally seen. Directly outside of Latvia, the Gulf of Riga fed into the Baltic Sea. Forming a backwards "L" shaped canal, the Baltic Sea turned into the North Sea as it went west of Denmark. Seeming to match the location of Evergreen, Dexter took a chance. He zoomed in on the area of water that was in the correct place, and he was astonished: there, about a forth of the way between Denmark and the United Kingdom, lay a small, microscopic dot that resembled a land form. How it had gone so long without being discovered, until the potential captors came about, was beyond him; however, Dexter still wasn't completely sure. He wiped at the dot with his fingertips, and even the tip of his shirt, ensuring that the mysterious dot wasn't a smudge on his computer screen or a figment of his tired eyes. Despite his best efforts to remove it, the speck remained.

     At this point, Dexter began feeling foolish once more; however, this time, it was not because he believed in something that wasn't there. He felt foolishly because he almost allowed himself to not believe in something that indeed was there, and he nearly let himself forget a group of people who needed him.

     And in that moment, his mind was made up, and he made a decision that would forever change him; he was going to do something about it.