KEEPER OF THE DESERTED ISLAND

WHAT IS THIS MONSTER?

She fainted on Lady Carolyn’s shoulder and the lady quickly carried her out of the circle already formed by the people who came to watch what was going on

“My child is not a monster” she kept repeating as she ran home with her

She placed her on the bed and ran to bring a bowl of cold water with a clean towel because her body was burning hot due to the effect of the beans she was fed.

“I will take care of you, just trust me” she said with tears dropping down her cheeks as she mopped her whole body with the cold water

Gaia stirred for a minute and opened her eyes but it was still blue although not too bright this time around

“Don’t worry, you are not a monster, I will make sure to protect you” Lady Carolyn assured her and hugged her but since she was not yet awake, she sighed and closed her eyes again to continue her sleep

She was terribly sick for the next three days and the lady did all her best to take care of her so she could recover faster. She finally got fine and up to her feet on the fifth day and wanted to go play with her friends but she saw that they all ran away from her

“We don’t want to play with someone who will burn us just by touching us” one of them yelled and ran away

“You are nothing but a blue eyed monster” another spat at her before collecting his toys from her and ran home

She cried home and complained to Lady Carolyn who comforted her and told her she’s not a monster but she will have to learn how to play alone for a while

“Did something happen to me? Why is everyone suddenly running away and why are you telling me to learn how to play alone for a while?” she lamented

“You don’t have to worry about them, you have me your mother and I will make sure to be available for you so that we will pay together whenever you want to” Lady Carolyn said pulling her into a hug

“I cooked your favorite food, do you want to eat now?” Lady Carolyn added and she nodded in happiness

“Let’s go eat, who cares if they don’t play with you? You can eat and play with your mom and that is me” she added as she held her hand and led her to the kitchen

She learnt how to play alone with her mother for up to a month till the incident died out completely and everyone forgot about it. Lady Carolyn was busy cooking one evening while she was playing with a sealed box, she was groaning and trying her best to open it but couldn’t since it was sealed which was making her frustrated.

‘This thing will not open no matter how I try to open it” she suddenly yelled in anger and the lady turned to see what she was talking about when she saw claws in her hands and furs coming out from her skin

The lady gasped in horror and ran to her side to check her out but Gaia doesn’t seems to be fazed, all that was on her mind was the box and she was clearly angry at the way she couldn’t open it. Lady Carolyn who had read many books about wolves could decipher that she was that way because she was already angry and frustrated and the reason why she couldn’t control it was that she was still small and doesn’t have the orientation about how to use them yet

“Little princess, why don’t you breathe in and out for a moment so that your anger can subside and we can get these insides so you can open the box?” She said softly holding her hands before inhaling and exhaling for her to follow suit

She was able to calm her down after several exercises and before they knew, the claws retracted and the furs disappeared gradually making the lady sigh at the success of her trick

“So why are you trying hard to open the box?” she asked her smiling

“I have to know what is inside, it has been locked ever since and I am curious” Gaia responded

“You are just like her, she’s always curious too but do you know that nothing is inside the locked box?” She replied opening the box for her to see

“I just got curious for nothing” Gaia hissed and the lady smiled before holding her hands to follow her

“Whenever you are curious, just keep yourself busy and you will naturally forget about whatever it is you are curious about” The lady advised and brought her to her side to learn the dishes she was cooking even though she was still a bit small to learn them but she did that just to distract her attention from the box

TWELVE YEARS LATER

She became more matured as a fifteen years old and has started schooling with other children but no one was really her friend because they were told by their parents not to mingle with her since she’s a strange kid. She couldn’t care less about how they were treating her because she was used to being alone and would just study instead of playing around with them.

“I will play with my mom when I get home” she would convince herself instead of begging them to play with her

Thanks to her nature, she was first in all her activities. She was extremely brilliant, can remember things well, play any type of games excellently but she kept the secret of her being able to listen in extra miles, smell and do other strange things to herself. She kept being first in her class continuously and that made other kids jealous so they planned to deal with her

“We have to deal with her, she has been too arrogant just because she’s the first in the class” one of them stated

“I know right? She has always believed that she was better than everyone so let’s teach her some lessons so she can come back to her senses” another supported

They stole a pack of dried meat from the village meat seller and placed in her school bag then went ahead to tattle to the meat seller that they saw her stole meat from his store in the morning when she was passing in front of the store when the meat seller was complaining about how his meat went missing mysteriously

The meat seller who was furious about what he heard marched to the school and dragged her by her clothes

“You thief, being a monster is not enough so you have to become a thief now? Why did you steal my pack of meat?” he yelled at her and everyone came out to see what was happening

“I didn’t take any meat, what are you talking about?” she replied calmly but the meat man slapped her across her face

“I saw her taking the meat from your shop this morning” one of the culprits said with a smirk

“Yes! I also saw her putting it in her school bag, you can check it to confirm” the other supported

“You saw what? When did I steal his meat?” she asked trying her best not to yell at them

“We can confirm from your bag if you are denying it this hard” they said with a shrug and the teacher told them to bring her bag

The bag was searched and the meat was indeed found but she was not fazed, she exhaled and inhaled trying her best not to become angry like her mother had thought her. She went to one of the students and stood in front of her

“I think it will be better to confess to them now before I lose my s**t” she muttered to her but she only snorted

“Why will you lose your s**t and why should I confess when you are the thief here” the student replied with an evil smirk

“I think you should use the chance I am giving you wisely” she insisted and the second student attempted to push her away but she grabbed her neck instead making everyone gasp

She fixed her eyeballs on hers without saying a word and before they could know it, the student was screaming while holding her head in pain. Everyone rushed to help the student from her grip but before they got to her, she threw her to the floor and turned to face the meat seller

“You wouldn’t know or believe but they were the ones that stole the meat to implicate me, they even stole more than one. This one in my bag, one is under their bed at home, another on the roof and another in their own locker right now, if you don’t believe me you can check them out” she said and everyone was muttering and wondering about what she was saying

Their lockers were searched and indeed the pack of meat was there already ripped open and eaten out of it, their houses were checked and the pack of meats were found everywhere she mentioned making everyone gasped in surprise

They were greatly punished after they confessed that they were indeed the ones that hid the meat in her bag to implicate her since they were jealous of her.

“You, how did you know all the locations where the meats were kept, it’s not like you live with us” one of them asked standing in front of her

“What? Are you curious? I read through your memory since the idea of being painted a thief was already irritating me” she replied with a shrug

“Was that why it felt like my head would split open?” the student asked holding her head

“You made me do it so that was the price to pay” she replied before leaving them to go home

News already got home to her mother who scolded her for using her powers like that in front of people

“What was I supposed to do? Just watch them make me into a thief? She asked

“I’m not saying you should watch them but you should have used another method” Lady Carolyn said holding her hand but she flung the hand away in anger

“I can’t get angry, I can’t play with people, I can’t become curious, I can’t do this, I can’t do that then what am I supposed to do? Just live like a tree? It’s already tiring enough that I don’t have any friend, why must I be bounded from showing my emotions too? I am a human!” she yelled at Lady Carolyn and her claws were already coming out bit by bit because she was furious

“I’m not saying that you should not show your emotion but you can use other methods you know..” Lady Carolyn said trying to explain but she just stormed out from her presence

“That poor little thing” she said with worry and sighed

The two students were still annoyed about how their plans were ruined and how they were punished instead of her and decided to get back to her again.

“I heard she almost died when she ate beans flour some years back when she was small” one of them said

“She doesn’t eat beans? She’s allergic to it?” the other asked to be sure

“Yes she is! Can’t you see that she never eats anything related to beans?” she said and they both exchanged evil smiles

They saw her go out of the class the next day to the assembly and they stayed back to mix the white beans powder into her rice porridge which was also white. She didn’t know about this since she was in the process of suppressing her powers, she was not able to use her sense of smell and hearing well because her mother had found means for her to live as an ordinary human like she had wished for through reading of books

She just ate her food and didn’t notice that something had been added until the beans powder stated work, she became hot from inside and was so uncomfortable during the class. Her eyes flashed between blue and brown for some seconds and her vision was becoming blurry but she was fighting it.

She began to suspect that something was wrong with her food and was trying her best to suppress the effect, she took an excuse to go home but the teacher wouldn’t let her, she was told to go to the clinic to rest if she was not feeling well

She was about to step out of the class when she fell, she was out of breathe and was struggling to breathe. At her will to survive, she yelled and groaned trying to fight the feeling but her eyes suddenly turned to glowing red making everyone red, everywhere became dark in an instant and everything she touched got burnt immediately. She ran to the field in front of the class and as she stepped on the grass, they all turned lifeless and dark, the animals and insects running on the field were all killed in a blink of an eye, her face eventually was glowing with fire and she screamed so hard everywhere shook making everyone afraid

“What in the world is this monster?” the student cried out in fear at the sight of what they were seeing