The Island Of Red Love

• Eleni Kalimnios, Grade 8, The Friends School
• Short Story
• 2009

Finalist in the 'Xtreme Read 2009' competition

Her tanned legs dangled in the bitter cold sea. The seemingly tedious horizon looked like a piece of tired and worn silk to her weary and forever searching eyes. She bluntly glanced across at the lonesome sunset that was a palette of dull pinks and dreary oranges, normally so encouragingly bright and vibrant but today just sad and lonely. The sea of hope now was the sea of old memories she longed to forget. She tried to forget the heart that was once overflowed with love but she could constantly feel the new one that had replaced it with a leak as big as the ancient water pipe under the rotting jetty beneath her. She cast her tired eyes out to the ancient boats that jingled in the distant bay, they were just like her heavy heart anchored to the deep bottom and stubbornly refusing to let go. She longed to reach out into the ocean, engaging it in a hug so tight that it pulled her down forever.
She remembered an island near here and recalled the familiar words that he had said, “I’ll see you again, just look for the island of red, it’ll be my sign to you.”
With drained eyes she looked again, searching for the island, expecting to see a colorless lonesome place like her present mind but instead she saw an array of red as royal as her crimson hair draped delicately across her slight back. The memory expanded and the temptation grew and hurriedly she dived into the wintry blue water.
The moment her body hit the water she wanted to return. She tried to struggle to the top of the cruel water but her foot had been caught between two sticks, the firm grip impossible to withdraw.
Just as her last breath came a kind stranger of some sort pulled her free, pushing her back upon the jetty. She peered into the water at once to see who it was but all she saw was a faraway splash and a flash of rusty colored hair, his hair.
Rapidly she looked again across the horizon searching for the small island of red, her eyes spotted an island but not like the one she had seen before. The island of bright, hopeful love red was now as dull as the washed out sand on the beach.
A tear rolled out her regretful eye and down her thin cheek as she glanced down at the pale water. Without the apple red shadowing over the bay it looked only as drab and grey as her emotions. She slowly began backing away from the jetty full of frustration and hurt, but something in the water caught her eye as she began to leave. A perfect claret colored rose came drifting down the bay. It sparkled like a ruby and shone like hope. It supplied evidence that the island of red was once really there and that her love still did exist.