KEEPER OF THE DESERTED ISLAND

ANOTHER BREAKOUT

A YEAR LATER

Gaia was now a master of archery, hunting and fighting because Aurelia made sure she trained so hard that she almost gave up but since her teacher was strict and knew how to build up her morale, she endured all the trainings and she got better faster than expected. She had always lamented that her only wish is going out of the island into the main town to visit the market with Aurelia but she was always turned down by her said guardian

“it not safe to go out there, you have always worked with your powers but it’s been a year you used it, what if something happens and you lose your control again?” Aurelia cautioned

“I can’t even feel the powers anymore so why are you so adamant about making me feed my eyes at the market? I heard from my school mates that the market is filled with pretty things” she cried

“Your powers are not working because you are on this island, your powers are restrained” Aurelia told her

“Have you never been to the market? Why are you so eager and curious about it? It’s just the same, there is nothing new about the market you keep crying about, they are the same everywhere” Aurelia scolded

“but I have never been to one all my life” she pouted folding her arms in anger

“What? You mean you have never visited the market?” Aurelia asked in surprise and she rolled her eyes

“If you are such a great witch then you should have figured that out without me having to tell you” she answered with a hiss

“Why haven’t you been to the market?” Aurelia asked again ignoring her reply

“Because I had no friends to visit the market with, they were always afraid of me and would call me a monster, I am mostly indoors with my mother or I go to school alone, that’s the two location I have been all my life. I had no opportunity to visit the market with others whenever they went” she replied sadly and Aurelia was moved with pity for a while before she shook her head

“Still you can’t go out, there will be a time for you to go out so don’t worry and just train” Aurelia remarked and left to do other things

“I’d rather talk to stones than talk to her, she’s too rigid for my likening” she grumbled before picking her bow and arrows to practice.

After two weeks, Aurelia made dinner and saw that most of their ingredients were almost exhausted, she knew she would have to visit the market now and decided to take Gaia along with her. She set the table and called out to her from the training ground to come home and eat

“We will be going out of the Island tomorrow” she said as Gaia settled down in front of the food table

“Did you just say we will be going out of the island? Really?” she asked in happiness

“We are almost out of foods and ingredients so we have to buy more and I am getting older these days so I can’t carry them alone” she replied fixing her eyes on the food in front of her

“Eiiii you have always been so strong to carry them all by yourself but now you are suddenly weak?” Gaia countered

“You can sit out of it then, I will go alone” she lashed out immediately but Gaia quickly held her hand

“Why are you going back on your word? I will be more than glad to help with the shopping and carrying so why the rush? Do you change your mind easily like this?” Gaia quickly said and she smiled a bit with the corner of her lips

“so what and what are we going to buy at the market? Will we stay long? Are we going to look around more or we will just buy food and return?” she kept pouring out questions until Aurelia was forced to shut her up with a spoonful of soup

“You should learn how to keep your curiosity, tomorrow is here already” Aurelia remarked and she just sighed

“I wonder why you are warm this minute and the next you are cold, it must be a sign of old age” she remarked and Aurelia yelled at her

“I didn’t lie old woman” she repeated and stuck out her tongue making Aurelia lift up the spoon to smack her but she just dodged it before bursting into a long laugh

“You should eat before it gets cold, you don’t like cold food” Aurelia said picking up a spoon for her and they both ate the food silently

They finished their dinner and Aurelia made the bed as Gaia went to clean up the dishes before she went out to her favorite spot at the side of the coconut tree where the water was visible. Gaia stared at the moving water which has turned dark thanks to the darkness but she was still lucky enough to have some moonlight sprinkle over the water for her to see its movement

“Even the water is free but I a human is always restricted from doing anything or living the normal life of others” she sighed as she cupped her knees to her chest in sadness

“You were so excited about going out few minutes ago so why are you here bundled up in sadness again?” Aurelia asked covering her up with a thick blanket before settling beside her

“You know it’s just sad that I cannot live like others, making friends shouldn’t be that hard and special but it is for me because no one wants to be my friend, they think I am a monster, well it’s not like I am not one because who touches something and life is squeezed out of it immediately? I am just an unfortunate being who brought nothing but misfortune to both herself and the people around her, even the poor nature is suffering from my misfortune because the burnt grasses did nothing wrong” she said with tears streaming down her face

“Why would you call yourself unfortunate? You don’t even know what you carry, you are one of the luckiest tiny percentage of humans to ever grace this planet. You are only talking this way because you haven’t come to the fullness of your power and you didn’t meet a great mentor who was meant to put you through. You became so fulfilled in your powers earlier because of the environment you lived in, no one extended their hands and you gradually became cold to everyone. You need people so that you can learn the various emotions but people drifted away from you at a very early stage of life but that is also something to be happy about” Aurelia slowly explained

“did you just say it’s something to be happy about? How is having no friends something to be happy about? Do you even know anything about how lonely that is? I can’t even play with my age mates, the adults refer to me as monster and would warn their children to stay away from me and our house, do you know the humiliations I and my mother had to face each day? You can see how tired she was about that she came to dump me here” she screamed at the old woman who was trying to comfort her but the woman was not fazed

“Do you know why I told you that you are lucky? Because you will find people who will stay with you permanently and love you for who you are earlier. I didn’t know anything about my powers because it was well hidden till I was married, I began to manifest in them and since I didn’t know about them earlier because my mother died early, I didn’t know anything about controlling them. I became a monster overnight and everyone began to run away from me, even my own husband couldn’t stay. I thought I have the best of friends in the world but they all disappeared from my side when I began to manifest in them. My husband’s family protested for him to throw me out of the house without even listening to my pleas and that was how I got separated from my husband and became a wanderer until I met the former inhabitant of this island who trained me in my powers and I was able to control them till now” Aurelia calmly narrated

“You asked if I knew what loneliness is? Of course! Why won’t I know about it? I have been living alone for over forty years with no one to talk to, you haven’t even spent up to half of that in this world so who do you think know better about what loneliness is?” Aurelia added and Gaia felt bad immediately she heard those words

“when you learnt how to control your powers, why did you decide to stay here instead of going back to the midst of people? Why are you just staying here alone in this place with nothing but water, sand and bushes filled with animals?” she asked looking at her

“I am living alone here because I am the keeper of the deserted island” Aurelia replied and she c****d her eyebrows in confusion

“Keeper of the deserted island? What is that?” she asked curiously

“This island is called the deserted island where no one lives, do you see anyone live here except us? This island drains all power once you step on it but since I am the keeper, I am licensed to use my powers to guide everything in here. The former inhabitant was the previous keeper and she passed it unto me after her death” Aurelia explained further

“Keeper of the deserted island? That’s a weird title” she muttered

“It’s my destiny that I cannot avoid so there is nothing I can do about it than to accept it and live my life this way. If I had to refuse to live here then you wouldn’t have been able to come here and it would have been a great disaster for you to live in the world with this your energy, the world will be in great danger, you are a mixture of a wolf and a witch” Aurelia told her

“I guess I will have to live all my life in isolation just like you, I better get used to it now” she sighed

“Don’t worry uselessly about the future, just live each day being happy and the door of your world will be eventually opened unto you, we should go in and sleep now, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow” Aurelia said standing up to go back inside and Gaia stood up immediately to run after her

“You walk too fast for someone too old” she remarked and Aurelia chuckled as they settled on their beds

“I am honestly scared for tomorrow but since you are by my side, I think I will be okay” she added but Aurelia just turned her back and snored instead of replying

“Did she sleep off so fast or she’s just ignoring me” she whispered before turning to her side and slept off too.

They set out to the market early the morning of the next day. They took the boat, walked through the woods and took another boat until they crossed over to the main town and then headed to the market which was already busy as it could be with people from far and near displaying their goods and others buying what they needed

“Wow! The market is so beautiful and big” she exclaimed looking around in happiness as she touched different things she was fascinated with

“Let’s look around the more before we start getting goods” Aurelia suggested and she readily and happily agreed to it

They started their excursions from the fabrics store to the jewelries and other fascinating household items which was so beautiful in Gaia’s eyes. She was touching as much as she could while also being cautious about damaging them so they won’t be paying for something they didn’t budget for.

“are you that happy? Are you having fun?” Aurelia asked behind her and she turned with a wide smile to reply the question

“yes! I am having so much fun because I have never been to the market and I have never since so many beautiful things at once, how come many pretty things exist in the world” she exclaimed and hopped in happiness

“She has finally let open the door of her heart, she has been gradually warmed up” Aurelia stated with a satisfying smile as she saw her hop around but was still keeping her eyes on her to keep her in check since her powers could manifest anytime without notice if something triggers it

Gaia got to the scarfs store and looked around the beautiful piece of scarfs being displayed on the table

“Do you want to pick out something?” the person selling asked immediately attending to her

“yes, give me something that is not too shiny but still beautiful” she replied with a wide smile

“It must be for your mother” the trader replied and she nodded before asking how she knew

“you are so happy and eager to get one and old women like us don’t like shiny scarfs” the trader replied with a smile

“You are not old though, you are still very young” she remarked and the trader laughed

“I guess I am not old like you said, this will be a perfect fit for her. You should help her tie it around her neck, she will like it more that way and feel so much happier” the trader said picking out a wine scarf and presented it to her

“Oh she will like that more? Thanks for the tips, I will make sure to do that” she replied and paid with the little allowance she had with her

Just as she stretched her hand to receive the scarf, she brushed hands with the trader and a tingling feeling of shock flashed through her body for a while, the trader also felt the same and they both stared at each other in surprise. Their hearts were both tugged hard for a while and they both clenched their hands on their chests in pain

“What is happening? Why am I feeling this way” she muttered in pain and looked around to look for Aurelia who branched to the side of the market where she was looking at her own granddaughter working hard to help with sales in her father’s shop

She felt the urge to rush forward and pull her into a hug but she would be tagged as a mad woman since both the father and the granddaughter didn’t know her. Her own daughter who was also old already was sitting at the right corner watching her child help out her father in his shop

“at least you are all living well” she remarked and turned to see Gaia clutching her hand to her chest as she struggled to walk away and ran to her side

She turned to see where she was coming from and raised her eyebrows as she saw the woman from afar

“it’s her mother” she thought to herself before asking her if she was alright and if she had a contact with her. She replied that she did have a contact with her as she sat down on the nearest bench to rest

“that was why, she has met with her biological mother and their bonds are pulling at each other” she said to herself as she saw Shirley also place her hand on her chest trying to ease her pain from afar

They stayed there for a while and she eventually felt better and they proceeded to get the foodstuffs they initially came to get. They were going to the section when they noticed the unrest in the market

“What is going on? Why is everyone running away?” Aurelia asked looking around when she saw people running away and also leaving behind whatever it is they are selling or they have bought

“please help us! Save us! This is trouble!” were the sounds coming from people as they ran helter-skelter, the market that was bubbling and happy just few minutes has turned to a fight for survival

“We have to leave at once” Aurelia declared and they began to run with others with Aurelia walking as fast as she could with the help of her walking stick. Gaia was trying to wait for her pace but she yelled at her to run

“YYou shouldn’t worry about me, I can take care of myself” she yelled at her as they raced for the border but just as they were about to run out of the market, Gaia stopped and took another turn making Aurelia wonder what happened to her

“He’s in danger” she said before dashing to where she was going to and Aurelia could not even stop her even though the soldiers of the enemies arresting people were already surrounding the market and rounding people, taking them into s*****y.