Seashell Garden

Chapter Zero - Your Words in My Garden

There is a place called Seashell Garden. A beautiful utopia deep within the abyss of the darkened sea. Legend says that Seashell Garden is the original place where the creator had first created the human being. Others suggest that this is where the departed goes to for their eternal slumber. Few just say that this garden is nothing but a myth to give hope to non-believers, so that they don't need to fear death itself. I learned about this place from my grandmother, she is a very dedicated believer of Seashell Garden. She told me once, various times to the other kids that this garden was created just so that our nightmares would not be able to reach out towards us. Dreams are just meant to be dreams but according to my grandmother, nightmares are something else. A sorceress once cursed the human being for rejecting her generous offer of helping others out with her special medicines. This curse, according to legend, would bring our nightmares to life and they would haunt us down until we dream no longer. Seashell Garden was created by the gods just to seal away our nightmares. Once we finish dreaming them, they would instantly appear in the garden in eternal slumber, never to return again to our dreams. This is all according to my grandmother, to be honest, I really don't believe anything she says. I've never had a nightmare before, I would always dream good dreams, the ones where I could spend time with my friends and have notorious adventures with them.

I'm just impressed on how people around the world would believe that this so called 'Garden' would exist. Why am I even be thinking about this people would ask? I'm stuck on a ship on my way to a foreign land with my grandmother which is going to have a huge meeting with the other leaders of the tribes around the world. Yes, grandma is the leader of our tribe, the Ikura tribe. We're a bunch of astrologists that help guide others by using the stars to predict their futures.  Though, I've never seen any of our predictions come true! I wouldn't complain though, I've never predicted the future and I've never seen someone come back to our village to thank us for predicting theirs. Will I ever be able to predict someone's future? Would I ever be useful in the eyes of my tribe? Why am I even thinking about this?! Wake up already, it's time to go!

"Shida! Wake up already Shida, you're going to miss out our arrival to a new land!" I could hear the voice of an elderly old lady resonate through my ears. My body started to move back and forth, left to right, someone was grabbing my life and ending it by the second. I gently open my right eye and see my annoying of a grandmother smiling down at me. "What is it this time? Don't you know that I hate being disturbed during my sleep?" She giggled as she observed the mess I was. "Boy, if you wish to sleep forever, you have to enjoy life first. Now hurry and get cleaned, we're close to arriving to Akiyama!" Grandmother left in a hurry back up to the ship deck to see the land of Akiyama. This land is rich in the arts of worshiping the gods and its people are very traditional. I got out of hammock that I was resting and looked at myself in the mirror. Tanned skin, long straight black hair, red eyes, toned muscles and a three tattooed arrow heads pointing down under left eye. I ask myself each day; when will the day come that I will change and stop being a child. I just turned eighteen but my heart is of a ten year old. I quickly get dressed in my silk cream shirt and pants. "To be wearing the same clothes as always is really boring. Can't wait to see what these Akiyama people have in store to wear!" The wooden door to the room opened really slowly, emitting that creaky sound that would ruin anyone's day. A young boy entered the room, wearing the same clothes as I did. He had tanned skin just like mine yet his hair was brown and short. "Shida, you're finally awake. Grandma Mable is out there asking for you." The young boy told me with a huge smile on his smooth face. "Yui, did grandmother  actually send you to get me or..." Just right there as I was about to finish the sentence, Yui was already in front of me and gave me a hug out of nowhere. My eyes opened wide and I quickly pushed him away from me in panic. "Yui! You know there cannot be any male to male physical contact like this! What if we get caught?!" Yui looked at me, from happy now to sad. "I'm sorry Shida, I was just..." I could see it in his eyes, he was about to cry and I dashed towards him and gave a hug, one similar to the one he gave to me. Yui got startled for a second and was speechless, not knowing what to do. The sailors of the ship began to shout, all mentioning the arrival to Akiyama. "Aah! We're here! Grandmother is going to kill us!" I shouted, letting go of Yui and the both of us began to run towards the ship deck. Just when we arrived to the deck, Grandmother Mabel was right here staring down at the both of us with a horrific smile on her face. "You...missed...it." She slowly said with a horrendous gesture. "We're sorry!!!" The both of us shouted out, echoing through the entire ship.