Freedis island

Nicole~

A few days before the cave incident.

"I really hope I'm chosen to serve the goddess this year." I let out as my friend, Trish, sat on the grass beside me. We had just ended a race that I had won.

"It's like this every year with you," she said, though slightly out of breath. "Why do you want to leave the island so badly?"

"You know why, Trish." I grinned at her as she laid down on the fresh grass, looking up at the clouds in the sky.

"I want to have more years with you on this island so I hope you're not picked again this year." She said and I laughed.

As we laid in the open fields, enjoying the scenery, we chatted about the most recent things in our lives, all mediocre, like Trish's abominable crush on Bart. Everybody knew Bart, not because he was particularly popular or anything but because he had a knack for making trouble. His one talent was causing trouble for the adults and it was a weird confession when Trish told me she secretly had a crush on him.

"I don't know why this tradition exists anyway." Trish groaned, "Why are only women allowed to leave the island?"

"Because we're special, duh." I deadpanned.

I was also serious, the culture here was that once every year on the Freedis island festival, twenty people of the female gender would be chosen to serve the goddess. Those twenty would go into the cave of wonders to receive the goddess's blessings and afterwards would be escorted out of the island. Because the entire process was sacred, only a few selection of men were allowed to escort the women on their journeys.

My mother had been chosen when I was very young and she had told me stories about the world beyond our island before she was chosen. I wanted to explore the world, to see all the wonderful things life had to offer me. I wanted to be free.

Since my mom left the island, I dreamed of the day she would come back to take me with her. But that day never came, at some point, I wondered if she was enjoying her time too much to come back to me. I knew that it was tradition for them to never come back once they leave the island but my mom promised me that she would come back, she promised.

"Let's go to town. They're announcing the chosen women this afternoon. I want to be there." I said excitedly.

"Aw, come on," Trish groaned, "Let's not."

"Why not? I have a good feeling about this year."

"You said that last year, and the year before that."

"Well, I'm sure this year," I got to my feet and I tried dragging her up but she didn't budge.

"Ugh, fine." She said after minutes of trying to drag her up, "But when you're not chosen, you owe me a rematch."

"You're on." I laughed and she laughed with me. " Come on, let's go."

I rested my arm around her shoulder and she held me by the waist as we made our way to the town.

We walked around town, making our way to my house to eat lunch before we would go to the square where they would announce which lucky ladies would be serving the goddess this year.

"Hi, dad." I said as I opened the door to my house.

"Hi, dear." His voice came from the kitchen where I was sure he was making lunch. Trish and I went into the kitchen to meet with him. "Hi, Trish." He said as he saw her.

"Hi, Mr Scarlett. Lunch smells lovely." Trish was already salivating.

"Don't you know it?" He joked. Trish had been eating at our house since before I could remember and she was the biggest eater I had ever encountered. She was my father's biggest fan, she loved all of his food, even the bad ones. Though, my dad had never really had a bad meal. Still, she was a foodie and she was practically family.

"Are you done?" I asked, glancing over at the pot on the stove.

"Impatient, are we?" He gave a small smile. "Still excited about the announcement?"

"Of course, I can't wait to be chosen so I can explore the world." I chirped excitedly and I noticed my dad's sad smile.

"You're certainly in a hurry to leave your old man, huh?" He said in a low tone.

"Dad," I moved closer to him, enveloping him in a hug, "I'll visit you, I promise. I'll drag mom back too for a visit, I promise." I looked up at him and gave a small smile, he smiled back.

"I don't doubt it, pumpkin." He gave me a kiss on my forehead. "Now, settle down so I can serve dinner." He said as he let go of me, making his way to the stove.

I went to the table which Trish was already setting, she came over to me and whispered, "If you leave, it would kill him." She continued setting the table and I joined her in silence. I knew my dad suffered a lot when my mom left, and losing me too might just break him but I didn't want to spend my entire life on a small island when there was a whole world out there. It was a choice between my father and my passion but I wanted to be selfish, I wanted to go out and find myself before I lost my spark, it was something I needed to do.

My dad carried the pot over to the table, then he went back to take the cooked rice and set it on the table, Trish and I set down plates ,spoons, cups and water. We all sat around the table and said a small prayer to the goddess.

My dad dished our plates and we started eating in silence, even though the atmosphere wasn't awkward at all, it was a comfortable silence.

My dad cleared his throat and I instinctively knew he was about to say something about the festival, "So," he started, "are you going to be sad again when you're not chosen this year?"

"Dad..." I dragged, and he laughed, Trish also chuckled. "Just wait and see, I'll be chosen."

We shared stories and talked about small things as we ate and as soon as we were done, I hurriedly packed the plates into the sink and I tried escaping from the house when my dad blocked the exit, preventing my escape.

"Not so fast, young lady. Dishes, now." He gave a dismissive wave and I pouted. When my pouting did not work, I grunted and went to do the dishes, dragging Trish with me. Together, we hurriedly washed the dishes and as soon as my dad approved, I dashed out of the house to the town square, holding Trish's hand as she told me to slow down.

When we got to the town square, the ceremony had just started and people were already seated around the statue of the goddess. Trish and I went to take a seat at the back so we wouldn't disrupt the others who had been there earlier. The dancers were still dancing to our traditional music, their movements in rhythm with the beat of the music. The tune got me feeling jiggy and I swung my head to vibe with the music. Trish joined me and some others were moving with the music in their own way. Not a lot of people were present for the announcement since the real party would be at night during the chosen ones sendoff party.

The music stopped and as soon as the village chief made an appearance, cheers and shouts could be heard from the audience, Trish and I joined in the cheering since our village head was a man loved by all who lived on the island. He held his hand in the air and the cheering stopped, that was the intensity of his authority.

"It's that time of the year again." He started, his voice cheerful, "Time for our wonderful women to shine and do what they do best." He paused for dramatic effect, "Serve our goddess."

The crowd roared with cheers and claps and whistles, Trish and I jumped with elation. It was an honor to be chosen by the goddess to serve her, it was a dream for many women in our island. Age was irrelevant in the choosing so some women could go their whole lives without being chosen, those particular women were known as failures since being chosen was a big deal in my village. But it was difficult to know who was a failure and who was not since a ninety eight year old lady could also be chosen, so there was a system set in place, if a woman of age thirty had not been chosen, she should pay a visit to the high priest, a messenger of the goddess, who would consult the goddess and it would be known whether a woman is a failure or not.

"It's time to know which wonderful high end women have been chosen this year." He gave a small chuckle and then our eyes met. He held my gaze and gave me a small wink.

I squealed.

"Trish, did you see that?" I jumped excitedly, holding Trish's hand. "He winked at me."

Trish was not as elated as I was though, "He was probably just sending his greetings."

"And so," the chief continued, "here are the names of the twenty lucky women this year."

I tightened my grip on Trish's hands.

"Samantha of the Gris household."

There were shouts of celebration in the crowd as a young woman hugged a man and continuously screamed, "I've finally been chosen."

I breathed in.

"Lora of the Lyonis household."

Another bout of celebration.

I breathed out.

"Coral of the Rickos household."

Yet another bout of celebration. Seventeen more to go, my name had to be among those seventeen. I breathed in. He called a few more names, none of them mine and the shouts of celebrations continued.

Then the village chief looked at me and held my gaze for a few seconds. Trish's grip on me tightened as she watched us.

"Nicole of the Scarlett household."