Refilwe Madumo

Even though I was worried when we arrived here, I could still recognise that this island was beautiful. There were crystal waters and tropical palms. Sand that crunched beneath your feet and coral that decorated the ocean floor. Looks can be very deceiving though, Auntie. It didn’t stay beautiful for long and ever since we landed, I was praying that we would be rescued.

She drifted. A wisp of vapor, soaring against an unknown breeze. She closed her jade stained eyes, taking in a deep breath, inhaling her deepest desire. She neither lived, nor settled a life in this particular place, but it was where her soul was currently bound to. Don't forget about the jade stained eyed girl, she is crucial to the story.

White foam spreads across a carpet of clear blue. The carpet rises, and the foam curves off the back and crashes to the ground. It travels back across a desert of sand and repeats its actions. The morning sun meets the surface, bouncing off and chasing the reflection of the birds flying. Screams of excitement run past me, their bodies wading into the deep blue. Fiberglass skimming across the top, breaking the perfect surface. There was no looking back now. My heart jumps as i follow closely behind. My arms moving fast, diving deep into the warm liquid. Eager to get to the Hawaiian Dives. We start to slow, the sharp, brown rock, marks the bottoms of my feet as i run across. My hands grip onto the rock as i throw my body up to stand. You could see everything from up there.

As I helped set up the tents, I noticed a gentle breeze pick up. We left the rain fly off so we could look at the stars as we slept. Shortly after I fell asleep, the gentle breeze had brought in dark clouds and turbulent winds began to arise. Our parents slowly woke up after the crickets stopped chirping, and the whistling of the winds made it absolutely

I had lived on my luxurious island for many years. My island is filled with life and colorful blossoms. With all the plants and beauty, the only people on my island are young women. Everyday, my beautiful, young maids and I awaited the arrival of a man or woman lost at sea. For years we waited, no person ever washing upon our shore. All we longed was a new friend, or man to get lost at sea and wash up on our island for us to care for and love.

The ship should not be moving this fast! The wind is crazy and pushing us east and the waves are following along, the rope binding the three ships together is about to break. If we lose one… We won’t find it again. I go to sleep.

Over the town of Ledwin, in the middle of a particularly hot July, the sky flickered while the waning moon hung in its tent. It was not the stars that shined deep across the cosmos, or the flames of a meteorite breaking through Earth's attenuated barrier. No, the very sky itself became bright, shining as if the sun was antagonized into a fearsome rage, then dark, as if it were subdued by a much more terrifying presence. It was like some sort of anomalous, uncanny light switch was being pushed, flipping the sun on, then off. On, then off. Alternating between levels of such extremity that it was a miracle the air itself didn’t catch fire and then freeze over, for it was not temperature that changed, only

A mass of dark-skinned people flocked to the side of our ship to admire the magnificent vessel. I had arrived as only a visitor to this mysterious place, but the captivating landscape of Bermuda elevated my curiosity and I made the decision to leave the ship. On the dock, people were adorned

I’ve talked to others on this island; they’re either slaves or wives of the Finfolk,” there was a glimmer of hope in her voice.

I gazed up at the mountain now drenched in light red and squinted, trying to keep my eyes open, as the bright sharp light burnt into my eyes. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I finally closed them unable to the pain any longer; I wiped my watery eyes and thought where Samneric’s fire was? There was a rumble inside me, and I looked hopefully at the jungle wondering if I could find Samneric’s fire as well as something to eat. In the morning light the jungle seemed like an old and tattered rug chewed to bits by moths, yet despite this the jungle and the whole island was beautiful shining in the sun’s warmth. I kept on walking as the jungle beckoned me calling me with its beauty. As I passed between the trees, the canopy overhead plunged me into velvet darkness. The only source of light was from the small gaps in the shell of overlapping leaves, where the sun glistened through. Moss and lichen covered the ground in abundance, thriving in this humid atmosphere, and feeding on the eerie green light that managed to penetrate through the ceiling of emerald leaves. The strange green shade and the various knotted pillars made it impossible to see for great distances or to walk about freely.

In the early morning, I took a deep breath in, a familiar scent filled my nose: a pungent odor of salt and a pinch of sulfur in the damp air. The droplets of briny seawater clung to my stubble as I peered into the storm. The fog overcame my sightlines, I could only see about fifty meters in the distance. As our vessel sailed through the choppy waters, I could make out what looked to be a wall of some sort. Suddenly, an alarm sounded behind me. Rapidly, I turned around to see why someone had triggered such a ruckus, Captain Byrne sat in the cockpit signaling for me to hurry back inside the boat, that’s when I noticed the seeming wall-like object was a wave. I pushed my way through the strong winds back inside to where the rest of the

was a big wave. The wave hit the boat. The boat started to capsize then the next

‘Well’, said grandmother, ‘you know that we live on a small island in the middle of a vast ocean. The ocean separates us from other islands’. ‘Yes’, said Sey-Tu, ‘like the island of auntie, it takes us a whole day to sail there’.

Perhaps the most unsettling deviation I saw was the sky’s morphed composition. Where the abundance of beautiful life and whimsical clouds once used to be, now was flooded with grotesque cloud forms and hideous birds that screeched distorted notes from lullabies that once calmed me. The sense of impending doom presented by the sky had urged me to ask the captain if a pejorative forecast was expected. The captain asked me how detrimental weather was a concern of mine, because he claimed to see nothing but a clear sky and serene sunrays. “Quit seeking attention so avidly and carry on just like the rest of your buddies,” he spat.

“Oh no, Miss. It has never happened before when a group got stuck. Well, that I know of, so we should be fine. Besides the weather looks great.” said Tomas, who was a citizen of the Faroe Islands. I can tell he had a sense of pride of his small island he called home and also sense the adventure in his eyes and I knew I was going to have a exhilarating time with him.