Escape From Paradise Island Read online

  Master Yi looked up jovially. "Are you ready for the next level?" he asked.

  "You're just going to show it to me, right? And then I get to think about it before doing anything?"

  "Of course. You know how it is, Jamjar: the thinking is the most important part!"

  "And what about these poor devils?"

  Master Yi looked around and sighed. "Most will never be truly free," he said. "But we still have high hopes."

  "And the others?" said Jamjar "My friends? Down there."

  "Ah,… the melting pot of life. There are many possibilities down there. Don't worry, everyone finds their way if they want to,… some however, travel much further than others in the process."

  Sister Jade rose and beckoned for me to follow. She led me through a maze of passageways that eventually came out onto a terrace on the other side of the island. Below, I could see a long winding pathway which led to an azure shore. There was a jetty and a small boat with a sail being made ready.

  "The question is this," she said. "Do you have the courage to get on that boat not knowing where it might be taking you?"

  "Whoa! Master Yi said I could think about this before deciding on anything."

  "Well, you can think about it now. But the boat will be leaving with the tide. And there may not be another for a long time."

  "Where will it take me?"

  "I am not lying when I tell you I do not know."

  "Am I free?"

  "Jamjar, I truly do not know."

  It sounded like another trap, and I didn't have much time to consider it. Jackson would be waiting on the beach now. If I ran, I could maybe still patch things up and put everything back the way it was between us. But what if the boat really was taking me to freedom? Could I afford not to chance it? There was no sense of privilege here,… more an invitation to take an insane leap into the unknown.

  So,…

  I walked the path, thinking I could always turn back, and maybe if I walked slowly enough the tide would turn and the boat would go without me, then I could say it wasn't exactly my fault. But the tide didn't turn and the boat waited. There were monks to help me aboard, strong arms and serene smiles,… then the lines were cast off.

  I had made the leap.

  It was a while before I noticed Summi resting in a hammock on deck, her head upon a pillow, her face ashen, lips dry and cracked.

  "Is Jackson not coming?" she asked.

  "No," I told her, barely able to hide my delight. "It's just me." But then my brain starting working the puzzle. If I was with Summi, it meant the boat wasn't sailing us to freedom, because she would die on the outside. The boat was taking us somewhere else. For a moment it felt like I'd fallen for another trick, allowed my attachment to Summi blind me to the obvious. I could almost hear the trap slamming shut - but then I remembered the smile of the statue, remembered the feel of it and realised the sound was not of the trap shutting, but of the trap opening.

  "Jackson didn't get it," I said. "That's why he's not here."

  "But why am I here, Jamjar? What did I do?"

  "You made a choice yesterday."

  "To be with you?"

  "No, to come back to yourself."

  "But I'm not ready to go home yet."

  "Don't worry, Summi. We're not going home."

  The boat carried us out into the wide ocean. It was exhilarating. It didn't matter any more what the destination was, I thought, because one place is as good as another, when you wake up one morning to find that you're already free.

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