I Was An Island (Treebros)

Road to Places Unknown

To sing was second nature. He had no problem opening his mouth and letting the song spill out of him. He remembered nothing before this, it was as if it had always been a part of him, always waiting to come forth. And he understood it in an eerie way, understood why as he poured forth this sickeningly sweet symphony why people would come from wherever they were close enough to hear it and tear themselves into pieces on the jagged cliffs of his island.

"I was an island before you came along."

The place he was living in was uninhabited save for him. Beautiful yes with lush leaves on tall trees abundant with fruit. Warm white sand and cool grass but lonely. Never once had he seen another human being on it, never an animal neither. No fish swam close to the beach and no birds circled down from overhead.

Evan had been alone his entire life, and truly it shouldn't have bothered him. He'd never had company so he shouldn't be missing it. 

"Put your boat in my sand."

His days were filled with much of the same things like collecting shells and making crowns out of flowers. He was well provided for as he had always been but a cursed life was not much fun all the same. Living with the knowledge that he would never see a living soul without knowing he was going to kill them was a bit traumatizing to say the least but Evan handled it without complaint.

Granted there was no one to complain to.

There had been times when he had tried to escape his island. Trying to fashion a raft out of logs that had quickly been swept back to shore no matter how hard he paddled. The island would not let him leave.

"Hand in my hand."

But such was the curse of a siren. Blessed with beauty inside and out but convicted to a life of loneliness. He suppose he deserved it because of how deadly he was, intentional or not. He had killed more people than he cared to think about. And that is what truly bothered him.

He stretched his arms over his head. In his time of living here he had constructed a rather quaint little hut which he slept in, during the day however he liked to roam. There was a small grass mat on the floor and a big leaf that shielded him from the outside, there was nothing here to keep out but it was more sentiment than anything.

The sunshine greeted him as it always did and he found himself smiling despite everything. It was another beautiful day.

"Your heart in my songs."

He stepped his way through the grass marching on a well worn path he had walked a million times, morning meant breakfast. Breakfast meant peaches and the peach tree was near the beach which gave him a glorious view while he ate.

The sun dappled leaves of the tree were waving in a slight breeze as he gripped a branch and stood on his tiptoes to pluck a few of the fruits. They were soft and fuzzy in his hands as he neatly folded himself onto the ground and nestled back against the trunk. 

Evan looked out over the blue ocean and the even more blue sky and he wanted to be happy. He wanted to be content with what he had, wanted to feel grateful. And yet he could not.

At night his dreams ran wild with everything he had never experienced before. He always imagined himself being trapped here and then someone would ride by on a boat, or a train, or a horse and whisk him away to a bigger world full of things he had never seen before.

"I was a fighter and i was so brave." 

He didn't know who would do this and he didn't consider the fact that it was very impossible, but he just toyed with the idea of being rescued. Of seeing and touching another being and hearing someone else's voice and not being alone.

"What's the story today?" He said aloud. He had finished one peach and now rolled the pit around in his right hand. He liked to tell himself stories to, always staring him and some mysterious yet heroic stranger who rescued him. 

"Once upon a time." He flicked the pit out towards the ocean. "A boy was trapped on an island."

He could see the image in his mind, him laying in the sane admiring the clouds and all of a sudden there would be a puff of black smoke.

"And from out of nowhere." He stood and waved his arms. "A train touched down on the sand."

A huge locomotive with wheels whining and whistle blowing sending the waves lapping wildly against the rocks.

"And the boy wasn't afraid." 

He'd boldly walk up to the doors because he'd always known this day would come and he didn't care where the next destination was. Just as long as it wasn't where he was now.

But i lowered my sword, when you held me and swore."

"And a man, no an angel stepped out."

Shining halo and shimmering wings and a dazzling smile. And whoever it was would reach their hand out and Evan would take it without fear. 

But they wouldn't leave right away, no they would dance and kick up the ocean around their ankles, they'd crash through the sane and race through the grass.

And they would talk and Evan would never shut up because now he had a real person to listen, a real living breathing thing.

"And the angel took the boy away."

He already knew where they would go, to the warm welcoming arms of summertime. With everything that Evan had ever dreamed of right before his eyes, and he'd never be afraid to go back to the island again. They'd sail through the skies without a care in the world. Evan's hair would catch in the breeze and everything would be right with the world.

"And the boy never had to be alone again."

"You'd stay, stay, stay"

He sat back down in the sand. It was not as if his dreams or his stories could come true as he'd always imagined. He'd be here for the rest of eternity and whatever came after. 

He glanced back up at the sky and saw the sun was touching the top of the tree he was under, warming his feet and he knew it was time. This part was always hard for him, he did it often enough that he knew how to do it but it never made it any easier.

He climbed the rocky path that would take him to the top of the mountain, the highest part of the island where he never ventured to except on these days. It was a place of decay and death.

It was the place where he was to sit and sing.

Sometimes when he sang he was lucky and it was a small sail boat or a kayak and it would be over in just a few seconds and he could escape back to the warmth of the beach and forget it had ever happened. But other times it would be a cruise or a rich man's yacht. Filled with more people then he could count and the water would be thick with blood for the rest of the day.

The place he liked to sit was well worn and he folded himself neatly onto the ground with his robe around his feet.

The wind seemed to be calling his name. "Now" it whispered to him. "Do it now."

So he did.

"They heard a song on the wind
Listen to my call
If safety is what you seek
I offer my voice
To white sandy shores
Where you can rest in peace
Weary from the storm
Turn and follow my song
A trance soon will follow
For this world you aren't meant for long
From the mist come rocks
Jagged points loom ahead
Too late to turn around
Let me sing you to your slumber"

Evan kept his eyes closed as he waited for the sound of a boat lapping against the waves, the cries of those who had heard his song and had been drawn in, not as though they had a choice however.

Nothing came and he opened his eyes.

Not far from the island a head of chestnut hair turned towards the sound of the most beautiful voice it had ever heard.

The last few notes were drowned out and he strained his ears to  hear more but it did not come. He glanced down at the road he was following and something in him shifted.

He needed to find where it had come from.