San POV
I wake up in Yunho's arms, his warm breath brushes against my forehead. I was to scared to go to bed alone last night so he offered me to sleep in his bed tonight. I carefully pull away from his grip and go to the bathroom.
I open the bathroom cabinet. What do I use today, rose soap or lavender soap? Questions I never thought I would ask myself. I wish I could share all these things with my family. I hope they are doing okay. I let some water into the sink and look into the mirror. I look quite different now compared to how I looked on my first day on this ship. I have gained quite some weight, my skin has gotten a bit paler even though we spend a lot of time outside but the sun here just isn't as strong especially because winter is near, my hair also looks nicer because Seonghwa who's mum apparently owns a beauty salon, cut it for me, my skin looks dewy and healthy and my eyebags have gotten a little bit less prominent. I definitely look more handsome now but I still have to get used to my new look.
After I washed, shaved and got dressed I go to the kitchen and make myself a tea. Then I get some bread and marmalade. I still can't believe that I get to live in all this luxury. Even the richer people in our village didn't have a water filtering system or a cold storage. As I am eating, Seonghwa and Yunho come into the kitchen. I still don't understand why everyone is so nice to me. They always take care of me and seem to genuinely want to get to know me even though they are from better off or even super rich families while I am from a poor and cursed family. Actually I don't know anything about Wooyoung's or Yeosang's families. They always seem to avoid that topic.
I finish my breakfast and go outside. Jongho is navigating the ship. I put my arm around him and tossle his hair.
"Good morning. Did anything happen tonight?", I ask.
"I almost stepped on Mr. Skeleton but otherwise nothing."
"Oh okay. You sound tired. Go to bed I will take over from here."
"Thank you!"
I take over the wheel and Jongho goes inside. It's very cold today and I am freezing a little. Maybe I should have put on one of my new sweaters?
Navigating is a kind of boring so I try to entertain myself by singing one of the songs that my father taught me.
I look at the clouds above us. It is kind of interesting how our world is just sandwiched between two layers of clouds with the bottom layer being much denser than top one. Is there a world under the clouds? Is there nothing under there? And what exactly lies above us? What does the moon look like up close? Are there any other worlds out there?
I always wondered about these things.
After a while someone enters the deck.
"Your singing is making me sleepy again.", Wooyoung nags.
"Good morning.", I say.
"Your clothes are so thin. Aren't you cold?"
"A little bit."
"Wait I'll bring you something warmer to wear."
He disappears inside again before I can say something against it.
Two minutes later he is back with one of my jumpers.
"Here put that over your shirt.", Wooyoung says and holds my coat while I pull the jumper over my head then I put my coat back on.
"You really didn't need to do that."
"I just don't want you to get ill.", he replies and hugs me.
Yeosang comes up onto the deck.
"Good morning.", he greets me.
He looks as beautiful as every other day. Just like the most perfect statue.
The way the wind brushes so perfectly through his hair makes him seem royal. I wish I was only half as beautiful as him.
"D-do I have something on my face or why are you staring at me like that?", he asks and giggles shyly.
"No, sorry.", I answer and look to the ground in embarrassment.
"You're just too beautiful Yeosang.", Wooyoung exclaims.
"Ahh, yes I know."
Yeosang winks at us. Why is he so cute?
"San, you didn't happen to see some chickens flying by?"
"No sorry.", I say and laugh a little bit at his weird question.
"Ah that's too bad. I would really like some chicken for lunch."
Wooyoung laughs out loud and pushes himself against me, so that I almost loose my balance.
"Yeosang, chickens can't fly that far. They actually can't really fly at all.", Wooyoung explains.
"But I thought they were birds."
"They are fat with short wings, so they just flap around and fly for maybe a meter.", Wooyoung tells.
"Oh."
How does he not know that? Even on our island we had chickens and Wooyoung obviously knows too and he is from the same island.
Then my thoughts from this morning come back into my mind.
"I know about everyone's families but yours. Why do you never talk about them?", I ask.
"They are dead.", Wooyoung states.
"Oh I'm sorry to hear that, how old where you when they died?"
Wooyoung begins shaking, I can see him hold back his tears and Yeosang stares silently to the ground.
Oh no! I shouldn't have asked that! I should probably try to cheer them up again and change the topic.
"Ehhh, do you see that cloud over there? It looked like a chicken.", I exclaim.
"Don't say that now I'm hungry again.", Yeosang says.
Wooyoung giggles but I can see a few tears roll down his face.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring back bad memories."
"It's okay."
Yeosang hugs Wooyoung tighly.
After a minute Wooyoung lets loose of Yeosang and wipes away his tears.
Loosing your family at a young age and then having to serve the cruelest family of Wolkmaar must have been really traumatizing. My past seems like a paradise compared to that.
"I'm okay. It was a very long time ago. I am past it now. I don't know why I even cried. Sorry.", Wooyoung says.
I pat him on his back. We shift over to a more lighthearted conversation. Later I help the other to put the Kruslfaesd decorations away.
9 days later
The weather is getting colder day by day. Today is the first day that I am wearing my new fur coat. I am sitting on the main deck with the rest of the crew, except for Yunho who is navigating the ship. We are playing a game called werewolves. The game has one narrator which is currently Jongho, two werewolves, a doctor and a seer.
"It's night, everyone is falling asleep...", Jongho tells.
I close my eyes and try to find a comfortable position.
"... I am going to choose the werewolves now."
I am carefully listening to Jongho's footsteps and try to find out who he is choosing.
"Now the doctor..."
I hear the footsteps get louder and Jongho touches my shoulder.
Yes I am the doctor. I clap.
"And lastly the seer."
The footsteps get louder again. Could Seonghwa, who is next to me, be the seer?
"Now werewolves open your eyes and recognize each other... Okay.. And go to sleep again... The seer wakes up..."
Did he say doctor? I open my eyes and look up, but so does Seonghwa.
Jongho looks at us annoyed.
"You're the doctor not the seer.", he says.
"Sorry, I misunderstood.", I utter.
"Let's start again..."
"Really?!", Wooyoung exclaims and sighs in frustration.
Jongho chooses the roles again. This time I am a normal resident.
"Let's introduce ourselves.", Hongjoong suggests.
"I am a person with special abilities. I can see everything. The future, the past, what kind of food you are craving, everything.", Mingi tells.
"I am a werewolf.", Yeosang states. We laugh.
"No, you're not.", I exclaim.
"I am the doctor and I am only saving myself.", Hongjoong announces.
"I am the town's sweetheart.", Wooyoung says and does a sexy and cringey pose. I lower my gaze, so I don't have to look at it any longer.
"I am a smart scientist.", Seonghwa tells.
"In your dreams maybe. He is actually just the assistant.", Wooyoung says. Seonghwa looks at him annoyed. Me and the others giggle a little bit.
"Well, I am the doctor and I will try to save you.", I lie.
"Isn't Hongjoong the doctor?", Mingi asks.
"Yeah, I am the doctor."
"No, you are an imposter."
"They might be both lying.", Wooyoung states.
"Should we vote for someone before the first night or not?", Mingi asks.
"Let's not vote now.", Hongjoong says.
"But we could vote out a werewolf.", I add.
"Are you one?", Wooyoung asks.
"Me?", I ask.
"He is one. His ears just got a little bit pink.", Seonghwa remarks.
"No, I am not."
"Yeah, he is definitely lying.", Wooyoung asserts.
"Let's not jump to conclusions for now.", Hongjoong says.
"Who is for voting San?", Mingi asks.
Only Wooyoung and Seonghwa raise their hands.
"Okay then we will not vote him out for now."
"It's getting dark again. Everyone is falling asleep...", Jongho tells.
Why are they suspicious of me? Are they the werewolves?
"... The werewolves wake up and pick a victim... Okay... The seer wakes up... who's identity do you want to know?... Okay... And lastly the doctor wakes up... who do you want to save?... okay... It's day again and Seonghwa has died."
"Of course San killed Seonghwa after he accused him.", Wooyoung exclaims.
"No, I am the doctor.", I lie.
"Then why didn't you save him?"
"Hey, let's calm down for now. So Wooyoung thinks it's San. Mingi who do you believe it is?", Hongjoong asks. "I am kind of suspicious of Wooyoung and San."
"Shouldn't we vote for San then?", Yeosang comments.
"I don't know? Who is for voting San?", Hongjoong asks.
Wooyoung and Yeosang raise their arms. Mingi contemplates for a second before he puts his arm up too.
"San has died and the werewolves have won.", Jongho announces.
Wooyoung and Yeosang high-five each other.
"Aahh, I knew it was those two.", Hongjoong exclaims.
"Guys! I think I can see an island!", Yunho shouts.
I look over the railing and there is indeed an island at the horizon.
"Good maybe we can find some treasures there, we don't have much money left.", Hongjoong says.
I climb up the main mast. Mingi follows me. He puts his arm around me as soon as we reach the top.
"Did you like the game?", he asks.
"Yeah, but I was pretty bad at it."
"Sorry that I voted for you. I hope you're not mad because of that."
"It's just a game."
We talk about games that we played in our childhood until Mingi suddenly points to the island.
"It seems like there is a lot of water on the island."
I can see a lot of water that flows over the edge and a little bit of land in the distance. It reminds me a lot of home, just that it is way colder here.
The thought of home inevitably brings back a lot of bad memories.
14 years ago
The bright summer sun shines through the window directly into my eyes. I try to turn around but a piece straw pokes my cheek. I sit up, rub my eyes and strech a little bit. I stand up and make sure the old patchwork blanket lays nicely over the straw. I walk through the withered door. In our almost empty living room my dad is preparing to go fishing. Sister is washing some pearls she found yesterday at the beach and mom is trying to garden again.
A gust of wind is coming in from outside bringing sand inside our house and into my hair. I wish we could afford glass windows sometimes or at least curtains. I walk outside onto the beach and straight into the water to wash myself. Then I search for some shells.
After searching for about an hour I found four shells. That's more than yesterday!
I go back to our house and bring my sister the shells who makes jewelry and decor out of them.
While I am there I hear my parents talk in the garden.
"I don't know why they are not growing."
"It's the family curse."
"Nobody would ever guess that your family used to be rich and respectable. Now the beautiful villa is a withered old haunted house."
"I just hope our kids can at least have a good life. Maybe San becomes good enough at something that they allow him on the ship and he can fly to another island where he can marry into a rich family or something like that."
"I pray for that. I don't want them to live like this their whole life."
Next I go to the well in the village to drink some water. As always the people there give me derogatory looks. At the well I use all my strength to pull the bucket up. After five minutes I am covered in sweat but finally able to drink something. I climb on the wall of the well to be able to reach the bucket. Before I can grasp it a woman uses it to fill up her tub.
"Hey! You! Maarlit kid! Get me some more water!", she commands. I am way to scared to say no. Last time I didn't do what they wanted me to do, they almost drowned me in the sea and threw stones at my sister the next time that they saw her.
"Of course.", I say.
I let the bucket down into the well and try to pull it up again.
"Faster!", the woman shouts.
I try to do it faster but the bucket is really heavy and I have to use my whole body to pull it up.
"Faster!", she screams again after a minute and kicks me.
Two minutes later the bucket finally reaches the top and I feel like dying.
The woman puts the water into the tub. "I need more!", she commands.
"Can I d-drink-"
"I said I need more!!"
She slaps me. After four minutes I have finally pulled the last bucket up. I sit down and lean against the well.
I feel dizzy.
Everything suddenly gets blurry.
The last thing I can see, is how the woman fills up her tub.
I wake up to my mother's voice. Judging from the sun, I must have been passed out for at least an hour.
"Are you okay? Here drink something."
My mum has placed the bucket with water in it next to me. I drink half of it.
"What happened?"
"I wanted to drink something but someone made me fill up their tub instead."
"Oh, my poor boy. You must have passed out from the struggle and dehydration."
We go back to our house where my mom cooks me a crab which is so small that I can eat it in two bites but better than nothing. Often I don't even get to eat lunch and on some days we have nothing to eat.
Then I walk along the beach and search for more shells. In the distance I see how people enter the ship.
It is one of the original ships with which our ancestors came here about 400 years ago. Sometimes a few selected people will sail to other islands to sell things like olive oil, coconuts, fishing rots and nets and so on. My parents really want me to get on that ship and start a new life somewhere else. But how could I ever leave them here?
A group of boys that are a little bit older than me walk towards me.
"Hey, loser get off of our beach.", one of them shouts.
I turn around and start walking into an other direction.
"Your sister is a *****! I saw her yesterday and uncle Vernon was lusting after her. He even made her kiss his cheek.", one of the boys shouts.
I feel something in me snap. I run back towards the boys. From there everything gets blurry. It's like the anger in me has taken over. I start fighting with the boys but they are a lot taller and stronger than me.
A few minutes later I cower on the ground with sand in my eyes and in my mouth, my ribs and my leg hurt. The boys look down on me and just laugh at me.
"Don't ever mess with us again!"
They each give me one last kick in my ribs before they start playing in the waves.
I try to stand up but fall to the ground immediately again, so I crawl until I finally reach our house. My father picks me up as soon as he sees me and brings me to our bedroom.
I had to spend a few days in bed but at least I didn't have any broken bones. Someday I am going to be strong enough to protect myself and my sister.
Now
And that wasn't even the worst that happened...
"Isn't it exciting? We are traveling to an area of Wolkmaar that is completely unknown to almost all of us.", Mingi asks, interrupting my thoughts.
"Hmm? What? Oh... yeah. Very exciting. I am curious what we are going to find on the island."
An half hour later we reach the islands. Yunho carefully lands our ship at the beach.
I go to our bedroom to quickly pack my backpack before I meet with the others in front of the ship.
"I think I was here before but it's been years. As far as I remember the island is not that small, so let's stick together."
We walk a little bit along the beach. A strong wind blows in our faces.
Suddenly I get pushed from behind.
"Sorry, I tripped over something.", Mingi says.
"Mingi found a treasure chest.", Jongho shouts. I look behind me and see the top of a chest stick out of the sand.
We start digging. It's a smaller chest. The captain opens it and there are a few gold coins inside.
We leave the beach and go further inland. The frozen grass makes crunching noises under our feet. There is not much vegetation on the island besides a few bushes. The island is kind of desolate. I find another bigger chest with some small vases in it behind a rock.
"Are Pfryspungt's island always so empty?", Jongho asks.
"Some. But most are a little more interesting .", Hongjoong replies.
Out of nowhere something cold hit my nose.
"It's snowing!!!", Yunho exclaims.
Snow? I have never seen snow. We all look up for a few minutes and watch the snowflakes dance in the air. It look almost magical. Yeosang jumps excited up and down and tries to catch them.
"Woah! So cool! Woaaahhh!", he exclaims.
Wooyoung tries to catch them with his tongue.
"Ahh I wish we could go sledding somewhere.", Yunho says.
What is sledding?
"Maybe we can go ice skating in Ispaledts.", Hongjoong tells.
"Ispaledts?", Seonghwa asks.
"The capital of Pfryspungt."
"We can have snowball fights on our ships if there is enough snow.", Jongho suggest.
"Oh, yes. I love snowball fights.", Seonghwa says.
I don't know what they are talking about. What is ice skating? What are snowball fights? It sounds a bit brutal. I guess I will find it out.
We walk around on the island for another hour before we go back to the ship. We found a few more chests with some bits and bobs in them.
"Tonight we definitely need someone who stays on the main mast. We might see the first ice shards and it's pretty hard to navigate when it's snowing.", Hongjoong explains.
Seonghwa and Mingi decide to stay awake tonight.
We eat and play a few games before we go to bed.
I am excited to play in the snow the next days.
Authors Note:
I almost died from the cuteness in the last Kingdom episode. I wrote the last part of this chapter in a hurry so there might be a few more mistakes.