One little scratch
And I shatter
One little push back
And I fall for miles in a lightless chasm
One little thing gone wrong
And I cry until I'm dehydrated
One little kiss
And I brush it off as if it were a mosquito
One little push forward
And I don't even stumble
One little thing gone right
And I don't even smile
Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Predator and Prey
Since moving to her grandparents’ house, Sabrina had developed a strange habit of going to the ocean every night. They had a beach house on the ocean, so it was just a matter of getting out of the house to get there. She did this because she knew she wasn’t going to fall asleep until around 5 o’clock in the morning. She usually didn’t bother to take medication unless it was a school night, but even then she only got two extra hours of sleep.
Most nights, she just watched the night sky’s reflection dance upon the surface of the ocean, sitting close enough so that only her feet got wet when the tide came in and thought about her parents. Sabrina was seventeen when her mother died of cancer. They were very close, and it took a long time to recover. When she thought about her father, it wasn’t thinking as much as it was wondering about him. He had died in a car accident when she was two years old and that’s about all she knew about him.
It was on a warm summer night like this, a year after her mother’s death and a few weeks after graduating from high school that she noticed something strange in the ocean. There was an island that she never noticed before, and it was big enough that she definitely would have noticed it before. For a long time she just stared at it, until she noticed something else that was strange: it seemed to be moving. It was moving as slowly as a cloud, but nevertheless, it was moving.
Sabrina jumped up and ran to her canoe. She pushed it out into the water and jumped in. She almost crushed the midnight snack that she had left in there in case she got hungry later, but she was so excited that she didn’t even notice. The ocean was calm that night and though the island was rather far away, she knew she’d be able to reach it without a problem. As she was rowing, she began to think that this wasn’t a good idea. The island might be dangerous, and if it was in fact moving, she wouldn’t be able to get back if she stayed too long, but these thoughts were soon drowned out by thoughts that said that this may be her only chance to do this. If the island was in fact moving, she would probably never see it again.
When she arrived, the island seemed even stranger. It seemed like she had just crossed a lake instead of an ocean. The beach was muddy and grassy and immediately followed by a thick forest.
After she pulled her canoe a safe distance from the shore, she ventured slowly into the forest.
When her canoe was no longer visible, she stopped.
“Hello?” she called, and immediately wondered whether or not it was a good idea to do that.
Not long after she called out, a hawk landed on a branch only a few yards away from her. Not only was she surprised that it was so close, but also that it seemed to be looking right at her, almost staring at her. When she looked directly at it, it flew towards her. Before she could even gasp it disappeared in a puff of smoke and a man stood in its place. He was rather tall and thin, had dark hair, dark eyes and dark circles under his eyes. She screamed as she saw this, but she didn’t run. She didn’t want to. She was too intrigued.
“Are you looking for someone?” the man said in a calm voice that Sabrina found frightening.
Sabrina slowly shook her head.
Then the man made a strange face as if he had just noticed something peculiar and started walking towards her.
“What are you…?” Sabrina said as she stepped back.
“No… you couldn’t be…” he said as he tilted her face into a patch of moonlight so he could examine it.
Sabrina was about to kick him in the stomach and run when she heard a voice.
“Sar! What do you think you’re doing? Leave her alone!”
A woman in a long blue dress was standing a few yards away from them with an angry expression on her face. She was short and had long curly blonde hair.
“I see you’re still angry at me, Elre, but isn’t it time you moved on?” the man said as he dropped his hand from Sabrina’s face.
“Right now, I don’t care about the past, I care that you don’t hurt this girl,” the woman said as she started walking closer to them.
“I don’t intend to hurt her,” the man said politely “but do you mind if I ask why you care? Do you know her?”
“If you don’t intend to hurt her, then why did I hear screaming? And to answer your question, I just don’t want to see another young person die, and I don’t trust you!” at these words, the woman grabbed Sabrina’s hand and started running.
Sabrina, though confused, ran with her. She just wanted to get away from the hawk man, and this woman didn’t frighten her as much.
“Is he following us?” The woman asked after awhile as she was still running.
“I don’t see him,” Sabrina replied
The woman slowed to a walk “I’m so sorry, you probably weren’t in any immediate danger, I just get so irrational when I see that man,”
“It’s okay, I didn’t really trust him either,” Sabrina wanted to ask what happened between them, but she figured she had to ask the first questions first, “so, your name’s Elre, right?”
“Yes, and you are?”
“Sabrina, so, where am I? What is this island?”
Elre stopped “You mean, you’re not from the island?”
“No,” Sabrina said as she stopped as well.
“Then how did you get here?”
“I canoed here just a little while ago,”
“So, you saw the island?”
“Of course, I couldn’t have canoed here if I didn’t see it,”
“But, only someone who has already been on the island can see it,”
“That can’t be true, I’d remember if I was here,” Sabrina pushed this information aside for that moment. She knew that this was indeed a strange bit of information, but she wanted to find out more about the island first, “so, what is this island?”
Elre started walking again “this island is called Harkai, it is an island that moves and like I said, is only visible to the natives,”
“And who exactly are the natives?” Sabrina asked, even though she already had an idea of what the answer might be.
“To put it simply, shape shifters,”
Sabrina didn’t say anything and waited for Elre to continue. She wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it herself.
“The natives of Harkai are as much human as they are animal. Every human is also an animal, and every animal is also a human,”
“Can you transform into any animal?”
“No, we each belong to different clans. I am from the rabbit clan, and I can only transform into a rabbit,”
“And that man from before, Sar, wasn’t it? He’s from the hawk clan?”
Elre bit her lip, “Yes,”
“So, do you mind if I ask what happened between you two?”
“On this island, we eat like animals There are predator clans as well as prey clans.”
“You mean, people from the predator clans eat people from the prey clans?”
“Yes,”
“That’s disgusting!”
“It’s nature, but the predator clan members are only supposed to eat the prey clan members that are already dead, but since we reproduce and age like humans, supply is often low, and the predators hunt us. This wasn’t a problem before the disappearance of the White Owl, and I’ll tell you more about him later, but now we live in constant fear of being hunted.” she took a deep, sad breath and stopped, “About three months ago, I was with my son, and we were both in our rabbit forms. I saw a man walking by, it was Sar. The moment he saw my son, he transformed into a hawk and took him away.”
Then Elre stopped and was silent for awhile. Sabrina said nothing as she looked at Elre’s unmoving back. She couldn’t think of anything to say.
“He was only twelve,” Elre said with a cracked voice and then started whimpering softly.
Sabrina walked up to her and put her arm around her shoulder.
“I’m sorry, I should be able to keep myself together by now, but whenever I think about it, it hurts again,”
“It’s okay, my mother died a year ago and I still cry about it sometimes,”
After a moment of silence Elre wiped away her last tear and said, “Well, let’s get going,”
“Where are we going?” Sabrina said as she started walking again
“To the house,”
“You have a house? How did you manage to get a house on this island?”
“It belongs to the entire rabbit clan. Every clan has one or two. They were built a long time ago when some islanders decided they wanted human shelter, so the White Owl took them ashore and they learned how to build houses. The houses are usually used as a place to hang out during the day and we usually just sleep in our own animal homes, but it has a few beds. You can stay there tonight,”
“Who or what is the White Owl?”
“He was our leader. I never met him myself, but I heard he was very wise. He settled all of our islands problems. He also had a special ability. He could control Harkai’s movements, so he could bring the island near land whenever the food supply was low, and the predators could hunt real animals there, and even eat human food if they wanted to. That’s why the predators didn’t hunt us before, they didn’t need to. Unfortunately, he disappeared, I can’t remember how long ago. He stopped on shore one day and never came back. Without the White Owl, the island moves on its own, and now it hardly ever comes near land. Tonight was a rare occurrence that it came close enough for someone on land to see it. What’s even more surprising is that there was someone on land who could see it.”
A little while later they arrived at the house.
“Wow, it’s huge!” Sabrina said as she pushed away a tree branch that was blocking her view.
“It has to be, it belongs to the entire rabbit clan,”
“So, we are you letting me stay here? Why are you still with me?” Sabrina asked as Elre lead her into the house.
“I couldn’t leave a girl with no where else to go alone, and also, I’m rather curious about you. It’s not often that you meet a girl not on the island who came here on her own.”
Elre lead Sabrina into a large room with six beds in it.
“Alright, it’s really late, and I’m exhausted, so we’ll figure things out in the morning,” Elre said as she sat down on one of the beds
“Alright,” Sabrina said as she collapsed on a different bed, even though she still wasn’t tired.
Elre was snoring softly within minutes, but Sabrina, of course, was still awake. Even if she wasn’t a hopeless insomniac, she still wouldn’t have been able to sleep that night.
After lying awake for hours, Sabrina suddenly sat up and gasped. How was she going to get home? She had been so fascinated by the island that it had completely slipped her mind. Could she even get home? If she couldn’t, how was she going to eat on this island? If there was any human food, the predators could have eaten that. She wasn’t a shape shifter, so she couldn’t transform into her animal form and eat. Then she gasped again. Or was she? If she could see the island, maybe she was a shape shifter too. Before she could have any more epiphanies, she noticed through the window that it was getting lighter. The sun was starting to come up. She suddenly felt tired and decided that she could find out more when she woke up.
Sabrina woke up feeling very hungry, and the thoughts from last night that had disturbed her came back. She realized she didn’t know what to do next. She really wanted to learn more about the island and find out if she was also a shape shifter, but at the same time, she knew she had to get home. She decided that she had to first find out if she even could get home.
Elre was no longer in the room, so Sabrina went downstairs to the main room. Sure enough, Elre was there and she was talking to two other people.
“Sabrina! I thought you’d never wake up,” Elre said with a smile.
“Yeah, sorry, I always oversleep,” Sabrina said and returned the smile.
The other two people walked away as Sabrina approached. Apparently they were uncomfortable with strange girls in their house. She didn’t blame them.
Then Sabrina got serious, “Though I’d like to find out more about how I was able to get here, I have to go home. How can I do that?”
“I suppose the same way you got here, if the island is still close enough to land, if not, I don’t know what to do,” Elre said, getting serious as well, “Do you know what side of the island you landed on?”
Sabrina thought for a moment. She lived in Virginia, which was on the east coast, so she must have landed on the west coast of the island.
“West,” Sabrina replied
Elre headed to the door, “Alright, let’s go see if you can get back, but to be honest, the island doesn’t usually stay near land very long,”
Sabrina nodded and followed her.
When they arrived, both Elre and Sabrina were very surprised to see that land was still in sight.
“I don’t believe it!” Elre said
“I know, what’s even more surprising is that I can still see my house, it’s farther away than it was last night, but I can see it,” at these words Sabrina started looking for her canoe, and when she found it, she found even more good news: Her midnight snack was still in the canoe.
“So, are you leaving now?” Elre asked as she approached her, sounding disappointed.
“I’m going to eat first, the land will still be there in a few minutes,” Sabrina said as she opened the bag. It contained an apple, a peanut butter sandwich and a bag of cheetos. She was hungry for the apple.
As she ate, she remembered something, “If the island barely moved since last night, do you think it will still be close in a few hours?”
“I don’t know, do you really want to take that risk?”
“Do you know where I can find Sar?” Sabrina asked, ignoring Elre’s question.
“Why do you want to know?” Elre said with a serious tone.
“I know you don’t trust him, but last night before you came, he seemed to know something about me, and I want to know what that is before I go,”
Elre said nothing.
“Elre, you’ve been a big help to me ever since I came, will you please help me one last time?”
“Fine, I know where the hawk clan’s house is. If he isn’t there, then I don’t know where he is,”
The two walked in silence the whole way there.
“Are you coming in with me?” Sabrina asked when they arrived at the house, which was as big as the rabbit clan’s house.
“Like I said last night, I don’t trust this man, so yes,” Elre replied with a cold tone.
“Will you be okay, I mean, you’re a rabbit and they’re hawks,”
“As long as I’m in human form, they can’t eat me, so it’ll fine,”
Sabrina knocked on the door, even though she was nervous. A skinny girl who looked like she was ten or eleven years old answered the door.
“I’m looking for Sar, is he here?” She said confidently, even though she wasn’t very confident.
“Yes, hold on, I’ll get him for you,”
“Thank you,”
“I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Elre said as soon as the girl left.
“You said he can’t eat us, so there’s nothing to worry about,”
When Sar arrived, he seemed genuinely surprised to see them.
“Sar, I need to ask you something,” Sabrina said.
“I’m listening,”
“Do you know who I am?”
“Why don’t you take a seat?” he said, indicating the patio furniture.
Sabrina sat down on a sofa and Elre sat next to her. Sar sat on a chair across from them.
“I know this is really awkward, because I know what you did to her son…”
“But you’ve only heard her side of the story,”
“What other side is there? You killed and ate my child!” Elre snapped as she stood up.
“Elre calm down, what is your side of the story?” Sabrina asked.
Elre sat back down.
Sar spoke with a tone of melancholy in his voice, “First of all, while I was the one who killed your son, I was not the one who ate him. That day, my daughter, I believe you met her just awhile ago, was on the verge of death. She hadn’t eaten in days. I knew that I’d lose her if I didn’t do something soon. I saw a young rabbit, and without another thought I took him. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I am not proud of what I have done and I am truly sorry, Elre, but I do not regret it, because my daughter is still alive today. It is true that the prey clans are suffering, but so are the predators. Many of us, including my wife, have starved to death, because we do not want to kill other people to eat, and the ones that do hunt only do so when they are truly desperate.”
Elre said nothing and continued looking at her hands as she had been during Sar’s entire speech.
“Elre, can you ever forgive me?”
“Maybe someday,” She replied softly “but not today, not while it still hurts this much to think about it,”
“I understand,” Sar said, “now that that’s settled, I believe Sabrina had something she wanted to talk about,”
“Yes, I wanted to ask…” then she stopped “I don’t remember telling you my name,”
“So I was right, it is you,” Sar said.
“Who am I?”
“You’re the White Owl, if you know who that is,”
“What?! I can’t be! The White Owl disappeared years ago, and I’m only eighteen!”
Elre was just as shocked as Sabrina was.
“Perhaps I should have been clearer; you’re the daughter of the White Owl, the new White Owl,”
So I’m not an insomniac, she thought, I’m nocturnal.
“So, my father…?”
“Yes, your father was the White Owl, and he was a friend of mine. On one of our stops on land, he fell in love with a woman, your mother I assume, and married her. About a year later, you were born. Even though he had a family, he couldn’t abandon his duties, so he brought you and your mother on the island sometimes. That’s how I know you. I recognized you last night because you have the same face as your mother,”
“My mother knew about this?”
“Yes, both of you traveled with us many times, of course, the last time you came you were very young, so you obviously don’t remember,”
“I still don’t believe this!” Sabrina said as she stood up.
“I think he’s telling the truth,” Elre said.
“Huh?”
“The island has barely moved since last night, and it wouldn’t have stayed that still for so long. You may not have tapped into your powers yet, but the island is already responding to your presence.”
“But I can’t be!”
“But you are,” Sar said
“I mean I shouldn’t be! I barely graduated from high school, I can’t be the leader of an entire island! Especially one in this state! I’ll only make things worse! I have to go home!” she said as she left the patio.
“But we need you!” Elre pleaded, getting up as well, “We’ll help you every step of the way, we’ll teach you how to transform and how to tap into your powers, just don’t leave us!”
“Until I do control my powers, how will I eat? Can I at least go back and get food and tell my grandparents that I’m okay?”
“If you leave the island, you may lose control of it. The island may be gone by the time you come back, so it would be best to learn to control your powers before you leave it,” Sar said.
“Then I’m sorry, but I can’t!” and with that, Sabrina turned and ran into the woods.
“Sabrina!” cried Elre’s voice, “Sabrina!”
Sabrina didn’t answer, she just kept running, and she didn’t stop until she reached her canoe. Sure enough, her house still visible. She started pushing the canoe into the water. She had to go, she told herself, she wouldn’t be able to eat if she stayed here. She did have more food, but it wouldn’t last long enough. Her grandparents were probably worrying, and she had to let them know that she was okay. She didn’t know her father, but she knew that she wasn’t going to be as good a leader as he was. The people of Harkai needed someone better than her. Then she stopped. Who else do they have to help them? She knew she wouldn’t be as good as her father, not right away at least, but at least she was someone who could help them. Not just someone, the only person who could help them. She realized she was just making excuses because she was afraid she couldn’t do it. She pulled her canoe back on shore. She wasn’t as wise as her father, but she was wise enough to know where she was truly needed.
Most nights, she just watched the night sky’s reflection dance upon the surface of the ocean, sitting close enough so that only her feet got wet when the tide came in and thought about her parents. Sabrina was seventeen when her mother died of cancer. They were very close, and it took a long time to recover. When she thought about her father, it wasn’t thinking as much as it was wondering about him. He had died in a car accident when she was two years old and that’s about all she knew about him.
It was on a warm summer night like this, a year after her mother’s death and a few weeks after graduating from high school that she noticed something strange in the ocean. There was an island that she never noticed before, and it was big enough that she definitely would have noticed it before. For a long time she just stared at it, until she noticed something else that was strange: it seemed to be moving. It was moving as slowly as a cloud, but nevertheless, it was moving.
Sabrina jumped up and ran to her canoe. She pushed it out into the water and jumped in. She almost crushed the midnight snack that she had left in there in case she got hungry later, but she was so excited that she didn’t even notice. The ocean was calm that night and though the island was rather far away, she knew she’d be able to reach it without a problem. As she was rowing, she began to think that this wasn’t a good idea. The island might be dangerous, and if it was in fact moving, she wouldn’t be able to get back if she stayed too long, but these thoughts were soon drowned out by thoughts that said that this may be her only chance to do this. If the island was in fact moving, she would probably never see it again.
When she arrived, the island seemed even stranger. It seemed like she had just crossed a lake instead of an ocean. The beach was muddy and grassy and immediately followed by a thick forest.
After she pulled her canoe a safe distance from the shore, she ventured slowly into the forest.
When her canoe was no longer visible, she stopped.
“Hello?” she called, and immediately wondered whether or not it was a good idea to do that.
Not long after she called out, a hawk landed on a branch only a few yards away from her. Not only was she surprised that it was so close, but also that it seemed to be looking right at her, almost staring at her. When she looked directly at it, it flew towards her. Before she could even gasp it disappeared in a puff of smoke and a man stood in its place. He was rather tall and thin, had dark hair, dark eyes and dark circles under his eyes. She screamed as she saw this, but she didn’t run. She didn’t want to. She was too intrigued.
“Are you looking for someone?” the man said in a calm voice that Sabrina found frightening.
Sabrina slowly shook her head.
Then the man made a strange face as if he had just noticed something peculiar and started walking towards her.
“What are you…?” Sabrina said as she stepped back.
“No… you couldn’t be…” he said as he tilted her face into a patch of moonlight so he could examine it.
Sabrina was about to kick him in the stomach and run when she heard a voice.
“Sar! What do you think you’re doing? Leave her alone!”
A woman in a long blue dress was standing a few yards away from them with an angry expression on her face. She was short and had long curly blonde hair.
“I see you’re still angry at me, Elre, but isn’t it time you moved on?” the man said as he dropped his hand from Sabrina’s face.
“Right now, I don’t care about the past, I care that you don’t hurt this girl,” the woman said as she started walking closer to them.
“I don’t intend to hurt her,” the man said politely “but do you mind if I ask why you care? Do you know her?”
“If you don’t intend to hurt her, then why did I hear screaming? And to answer your question, I just don’t want to see another young person die, and I don’t trust you!” at these words, the woman grabbed Sabrina’s hand and started running.
Sabrina, though confused, ran with her. She just wanted to get away from the hawk man, and this woman didn’t frighten her as much.
“Is he following us?” The woman asked after awhile as she was still running.
“I don’t see him,” Sabrina replied
The woman slowed to a walk “I’m so sorry, you probably weren’t in any immediate danger, I just get so irrational when I see that man,”
“It’s okay, I didn’t really trust him either,” Sabrina wanted to ask what happened between them, but she figured she had to ask the first questions first, “so, your name’s Elre, right?”
“Yes, and you are?”
“Sabrina, so, where am I? What is this island?”
Elre stopped “You mean, you’re not from the island?”
“No,” Sabrina said as she stopped as well.
“Then how did you get here?”
“I canoed here just a little while ago,”
“So, you saw the island?”
“Of course, I couldn’t have canoed here if I didn’t see it,”
“But, only someone who has already been on the island can see it,”
“That can’t be true, I’d remember if I was here,” Sabrina pushed this information aside for that moment. She knew that this was indeed a strange bit of information, but she wanted to find out more about the island first, “so, what is this island?”
Elre started walking again “this island is called Harkai, it is an island that moves and like I said, is only visible to the natives,”
“And who exactly are the natives?” Sabrina asked, even though she already had an idea of what the answer might be.
“To put it simply, shape shifters,”
Sabrina didn’t say anything and waited for Elre to continue. She wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it herself.
“The natives of Harkai are as much human as they are animal. Every human is also an animal, and every animal is also a human,”
“Can you transform into any animal?”
“No, we each belong to different clans. I am from the rabbit clan, and I can only transform into a rabbit,”
“And that man from before, Sar, wasn’t it? He’s from the hawk clan?”
Elre bit her lip, “Yes,”
“So, do you mind if I ask what happened between you two?”
“On this island, we eat like animals There are predator clans as well as prey clans.”
“You mean, people from the predator clans eat people from the prey clans?”
“Yes,”
“That’s disgusting!”
“It’s nature, but the predator clan members are only supposed to eat the prey clan members that are already dead, but since we reproduce and age like humans, supply is often low, and the predators hunt us. This wasn’t a problem before the disappearance of the White Owl, and I’ll tell you more about him later, but now we live in constant fear of being hunted.” she took a deep, sad breath and stopped, “About three months ago, I was with my son, and we were both in our rabbit forms. I saw a man walking by, it was Sar. The moment he saw my son, he transformed into a hawk and took him away.”
Then Elre stopped and was silent for awhile. Sabrina said nothing as she looked at Elre’s unmoving back. She couldn’t think of anything to say.
“He was only twelve,” Elre said with a cracked voice and then started whimpering softly.
Sabrina walked up to her and put her arm around her shoulder.
“I’m sorry, I should be able to keep myself together by now, but whenever I think about it, it hurts again,”
“It’s okay, my mother died a year ago and I still cry about it sometimes,”
After a moment of silence Elre wiped away her last tear and said, “Well, let’s get going,”
“Where are we going?” Sabrina said as she started walking again
“To the house,”
“You have a house? How did you manage to get a house on this island?”
“It belongs to the entire rabbit clan. Every clan has one or two. They were built a long time ago when some islanders decided they wanted human shelter, so the White Owl took them ashore and they learned how to build houses. The houses are usually used as a place to hang out during the day and we usually just sleep in our own animal homes, but it has a few beds. You can stay there tonight,”
“Who or what is the White Owl?”
“He was our leader. I never met him myself, but I heard he was very wise. He settled all of our islands problems. He also had a special ability. He could control Harkai’s movements, so he could bring the island near land whenever the food supply was low, and the predators could hunt real animals there, and even eat human food if they wanted to. That’s why the predators didn’t hunt us before, they didn’t need to. Unfortunately, he disappeared, I can’t remember how long ago. He stopped on shore one day and never came back. Without the White Owl, the island moves on its own, and now it hardly ever comes near land. Tonight was a rare occurrence that it came close enough for someone on land to see it. What’s even more surprising is that there was someone on land who could see it.”
A little while later they arrived at the house.
“Wow, it’s huge!” Sabrina said as she pushed away a tree branch that was blocking her view.
“It has to be, it belongs to the entire rabbit clan,”
“So, we are you letting me stay here? Why are you still with me?” Sabrina asked as Elre lead her into the house.
“I couldn’t leave a girl with no where else to go alone, and also, I’m rather curious about you. It’s not often that you meet a girl not on the island who came here on her own.”
Elre lead Sabrina into a large room with six beds in it.
“Alright, it’s really late, and I’m exhausted, so we’ll figure things out in the morning,” Elre said as she sat down on one of the beds
“Alright,” Sabrina said as she collapsed on a different bed, even though she still wasn’t tired.
Elre was snoring softly within minutes, but Sabrina, of course, was still awake. Even if she wasn’t a hopeless insomniac, she still wouldn’t have been able to sleep that night.
After lying awake for hours, Sabrina suddenly sat up and gasped. How was she going to get home? She had been so fascinated by the island that it had completely slipped her mind. Could she even get home? If she couldn’t, how was she going to eat on this island? If there was any human food, the predators could have eaten that. She wasn’t a shape shifter, so she couldn’t transform into her animal form and eat. Then she gasped again. Or was she? If she could see the island, maybe she was a shape shifter too. Before she could have any more epiphanies, she noticed through the window that it was getting lighter. The sun was starting to come up. She suddenly felt tired and decided that she could find out more when she woke up.
Sabrina woke up feeling very hungry, and the thoughts from last night that had disturbed her came back. She realized she didn’t know what to do next. She really wanted to learn more about the island and find out if she was also a shape shifter, but at the same time, she knew she had to get home. She decided that she had to first find out if she even could get home.
Elre was no longer in the room, so Sabrina went downstairs to the main room. Sure enough, Elre was there and she was talking to two other people.
“Sabrina! I thought you’d never wake up,” Elre said with a smile.
“Yeah, sorry, I always oversleep,” Sabrina said and returned the smile.
The other two people walked away as Sabrina approached. Apparently they were uncomfortable with strange girls in their house. She didn’t blame them.
Then Sabrina got serious, “Though I’d like to find out more about how I was able to get here, I have to go home. How can I do that?”
“I suppose the same way you got here, if the island is still close enough to land, if not, I don’t know what to do,” Elre said, getting serious as well, “Do you know what side of the island you landed on?”
Sabrina thought for a moment. She lived in Virginia, which was on the east coast, so she must have landed on the west coast of the island.
“West,” Sabrina replied
Elre headed to the door, “Alright, let’s go see if you can get back, but to be honest, the island doesn’t usually stay near land very long,”
Sabrina nodded and followed her.
When they arrived, both Elre and Sabrina were very surprised to see that land was still in sight.
“I don’t believe it!” Elre said
“I know, what’s even more surprising is that I can still see my house, it’s farther away than it was last night, but I can see it,” at these words Sabrina started looking for her canoe, and when she found it, she found even more good news: Her midnight snack was still in the canoe.
“So, are you leaving now?” Elre asked as she approached her, sounding disappointed.
“I’m going to eat first, the land will still be there in a few minutes,” Sabrina said as she opened the bag. It contained an apple, a peanut butter sandwich and a bag of cheetos. She was hungry for the apple.
As she ate, she remembered something, “If the island barely moved since last night, do you think it will still be close in a few hours?”
“I don’t know, do you really want to take that risk?”
“Do you know where I can find Sar?” Sabrina asked, ignoring Elre’s question.
“Why do you want to know?” Elre said with a serious tone.
“I know you don’t trust him, but last night before you came, he seemed to know something about me, and I want to know what that is before I go,”
Elre said nothing.
“Elre, you’ve been a big help to me ever since I came, will you please help me one last time?”
“Fine, I know where the hawk clan’s house is. If he isn’t there, then I don’t know where he is,”
The two walked in silence the whole way there.
“Are you coming in with me?” Sabrina asked when they arrived at the house, which was as big as the rabbit clan’s house.
“Like I said last night, I don’t trust this man, so yes,” Elre replied with a cold tone.
“Will you be okay, I mean, you’re a rabbit and they’re hawks,”
“As long as I’m in human form, they can’t eat me, so it’ll fine,”
Sabrina knocked on the door, even though she was nervous. A skinny girl who looked like she was ten or eleven years old answered the door.
“I’m looking for Sar, is he here?” She said confidently, even though she wasn’t very confident.
“Yes, hold on, I’ll get him for you,”
“Thank you,”
“I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Elre said as soon as the girl left.
“You said he can’t eat us, so there’s nothing to worry about,”
When Sar arrived, he seemed genuinely surprised to see them.
“Sar, I need to ask you something,” Sabrina said.
“I’m listening,”
“Do you know who I am?”
“Why don’t you take a seat?” he said, indicating the patio furniture.
Sabrina sat down on a sofa and Elre sat next to her. Sar sat on a chair across from them.
“I know this is really awkward, because I know what you did to her son…”
“But you’ve only heard her side of the story,”
“What other side is there? You killed and ate my child!” Elre snapped as she stood up.
“Elre calm down, what is your side of the story?” Sabrina asked.
Elre sat back down.
Sar spoke with a tone of melancholy in his voice, “First of all, while I was the one who killed your son, I was not the one who ate him. That day, my daughter, I believe you met her just awhile ago, was on the verge of death. She hadn’t eaten in days. I knew that I’d lose her if I didn’t do something soon. I saw a young rabbit, and without another thought I took him. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I am not proud of what I have done and I am truly sorry, Elre, but I do not regret it, because my daughter is still alive today. It is true that the prey clans are suffering, but so are the predators. Many of us, including my wife, have starved to death, because we do not want to kill other people to eat, and the ones that do hunt only do so when they are truly desperate.”
Elre said nothing and continued looking at her hands as she had been during Sar’s entire speech.
“Elre, can you ever forgive me?”
“Maybe someday,” She replied softly “but not today, not while it still hurts this much to think about it,”
“I understand,” Sar said, “now that that’s settled, I believe Sabrina had something she wanted to talk about,”
“Yes, I wanted to ask…” then she stopped “I don’t remember telling you my name,”
“So I was right, it is you,” Sar said.
“Who am I?”
“You’re the White Owl, if you know who that is,”
“What?! I can’t be! The White Owl disappeared years ago, and I’m only eighteen!”
Elre was just as shocked as Sabrina was.
“Perhaps I should have been clearer; you’re the daughter of the White Owl, the new White Owl,”
So I’m not an insomniac, she thought, I’m nocturnal.
“So, my father…?”
“Yes, your father was the White Owl, and he was a friend of mine. On one of our stops on land, he fell in love with a woman, your mother I assume, and married her. About a year later, you were born. Even though he had a family, he couldn’t abandon his duties, so he brought you and your mother on the island sometimes. That’s how I know you. I recognized you last night because you have the same face as your mother,”
“My mother knew about this?”
“Yes, both of you traveled with us many times, of course, the last time you came you were very young, so you obviously don’t remember,”
“I still don’t believe this!” Sabrina said as she stood up.
“I think he’s telling the truth,” Elre said.
“Huh?”
“The island has barely moved since last night, and it wouldn’t have stayed that still for so long. You may not have tapped into your powers yet, but the island is already responding to your presence.”
“But I can’t be!”
“But you are,” Sar said
“I mean I shouldn’t be! I barely graduated from high school, I can’t be the leader of an entire island! Especially one in this state! I’ll only make things worse! I have to go home!” she said as she left the patio.
“But we need you!” Elre pleaded, getting up as well, “We’ll help you every step of the way, we’ll teach you how to transform and how to tap into your powers, just don’t leave us!”
“Until I do control my powers, how will I eat? Can I at least go back and get food and tell my grandparents that I’m okay?”
“If you leave the island, you may lose control of it. The island may be gone by the time you come back, so it would be best to learn to control your powers before you leave it,” Sar said.
“Then I’m sorry, but I can’t!” and with that, Sabrina turned and ran into the woods.
“Sabrina!” cried Elre’s voice, “Sabrina!”
Sabrina didn’t answer, she just kept running, and she didn’t stop until she reached her canoe. Sure enough, her house still visible. She started pushing the canoe into the water. She had to go, she told herself, she wouldn’t be able to eat if she stayed here. She did have more food, but it wouldn’t last long enough. Her grandparents were probably worrying, and she had to let them know that she was okay. She didn’t know her father, but she knew that she wasn’t going to be as good a leader as he was. The people of Harkai needed someone better than her. Then she stopped. Who else do they have to help them? She knew she wouldn’t be as good as her father, not right away at least, but at least she was someone who could help them. Not just someone, the only person who could help them. She realized she was just making excuses because she was afraid she couldn’t do it. She pulled her canoe back on shore. She wasn’t as wise as her father, but she was wise enough to know where she was truly needed.
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