The other feature that struck my mind was the tower that projected itself out from the centre of the island. The stones used to make it were as black as night and as dull as lead. The trees surrounded the tower as if they were standing guard over. The trees seemed to grow taller as they reached closer to the tower! There was an endless variety of green bottle green, murky green, sea green, grass green and others I couldn’t even describe. As I moved closer to the forest I saw the different types of animals that inhabited the island. Large birds with giant wing spans and feathers as black as the stones of the tower and monkeys green like the leaves but I spotted them easily because their tails that hung down like a weird projection.
Seeing there were so many animals I presumed that there would be a good supply of food but there wasn’t, at least not close to the edge of the forest. Hear and there I could see small bones which seemed to have rot. I was too tired though to try and find food so I just moved up towards the forest so I didn’t get dragged into the sea during the next high tide. I tried to make myself as comfortable as I could and went to sleep.
March 18-22 2020
I was asleep all of the 17th. When I woke up on the 18th all I thought of was getting food. I walked towards the forest and noticed the shadow of the trees on the sand and the chattering of the monkeys eating their bananas. I tried climbing the banana trees to reach the fruit but the bark was as slippery as oil and as hard as I tried I couldn’t move up. My only hope of getting bananas from the trees was to throw rocks at them. I tried and succeeded and the bananas fell on the ground, I peeled the brownish green skin and I saw the dark succulent yellow meat within. I had second thoughts about eating the banana but I still ate it because I had had nothing to eat for the better part of a week. It turned out to be the tastiest meal I had ever eaten. My first mouthful was sweet like sugar and towards the centre it started became sweeter and sweeter but it never went unbearable. It was quite satisfying and having one of these bananas was enough for a meal.
The forest was thick and dense, and I realized that if I wanted to reach the tower I would need to make a portable tent to rest in when I was tired of moving and searching for food. I thought that the easiest thing to do would be to use one of the blankets I had brought with me and stand it up with sticks so I had room beneath it to lie down and it could protect me from the weather.
March 23 2020
I stopped for the night in my tent. I thought that if I could get through the first night then I could make it until I reached the tower……
The cold air crept through the crevices in my tent chilling me from head to toe. The only way I survived was to tuck up and when I awoke the next morning the grass around me was drenched with dew and rain water. I proudly thought it was smart of me to build a portable tent now that I knew that this island had short rainstorms often. I packed up my tent and moved on to find food and water but realized that I hadn’t drunk any clean water for a long time. My throat was dry as a desert. I went on in search of the bananas and I saw a small clearing in the forest. There I saw the monkeys and they were feeding on a seemingly endless supply of bananas and there was a pond of water! I drank the water thanked God for sending me things I needed just in the nick of time.
As I slurped the water the monkeys stared at me and I noticed that they were looking at me as if they were wondering curiously about what I was doing there. I never thought that animals were that thoughtful or that they thought at all. Their faces had the expression of a child pondering stubbornly on a maths problem they can’t solve. Their green eyes shone brightly as they looked at me.
When I took to leaving the pool the monkeys followed me and went wherever I went. I knew that I was growing weaker because I had had nothing to eat save for the bananas and to eat a monkey might mean terrible illness for me. I didn’t even have a fire to cook it on so I wouldn’t do that. I tried to communicate with them simply by pointing to a banana and pointing to myself. I hoped that they would climb the tree and would bring a banana for me and God was in my favour as they did! I then pointed at the Black Tower as I recall and pointed to myself and voilà they led me through clumped passages of thickets of kinds of plants I had never seen before. The roses were black and when I think about that I would imagine those roses to be horrendous but these were the most beautiful things I had ever seen. With the rain on them they sparkled and their leaves glistened and reflected the sun’s rays to each create miniature rainbows.
When we walked past the flora we came across a barren patch where the Black Tower stood. The ground around the tower was flat and unusually had no trees on it. There was a thin layer of finely cut erect grass which felt smooth to walk on and smelt of freshly harvested wheat. The colour of the grass was vibrant yellow. I slept here knowing that tomorrow would my day of triumph or despair.
March 24, 2020
I woke up early with water pouring onto me from the early rain. I walked towards the entrance to the Tower which loomed with foreboding. They were connected to hinges by chains. I thought that there would be a lot of effort required to push the doors open but it was easy. I went through the doors like a thief. I guessed the best thing to do was to go straight to the top and that’s exactly what I did. I did as I felt was right and I thought that was the best decision I had ever made because right at the top was a very primitive but effective way of communicating with the ships around me. I communicated with the closest ship on the radar which turned out to be The White Tree. I thought of thanking the monkeys for getting me this far but I knew they wouldn’t understand. The ship was coming and I could see it sailing through the waves, against them……
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