Read Online Island's End by Padma Venkatraman - Free Book Online

duku-ta hid in the mud, pretending to be dead tree trunks, until a man came near enough for them to gulp down. Kara killed the crocodile that ate two of our men and carried it back. But though its giant body fed the entire tribe, Kara warned us all to keep far away from the swamp and he never went there again.
    “Once your canoe is made, I will take you to the swamp,” Lah-ame says. “But you must journey through it alone. The insect-eating plant’s waters will carry special healing powers in your hands, and you will need these waters to heal. It also holds a message to help you guide the tribe into the future, a message that you might only understand long after you complete your journey.”
    That evening, I hardly taste the food we eat. Even with the fire I built dancing in front of me and my medicine bag at my waist, I feel unprepared for such a test. Although the crackling flames warm my skin, my spirit remains cold with horror. Lah-ame stays close by until I leave for my own hut, but we find nothing more to say and his presence no longer comforts me.

15

    T hat night, I am unable to rest on my sleeping platform. My body feels as tense as a tightly pulled bowstring. I twist and untwist my medicine bag’s drawstring between my fingers, wondering if the tribe’s warm breath will ever stroke my cheeks again. I long to feel Mimi’s and Tawai’s arms around me and hear Danna say I will survive whatever lies ahead.
    It would help me so much to even glimpse them from a distance. Perhaps I could try to see them in spirit at least, using my power to journey through the Otherworld.
    Lah-ame is fast asleep. Except for my spirit’s wanderings in dreams, he has always been near me when I entered the Otherworld. I remember his warning after my dream of snakes not to send my spirit away from my body without his guidance until my training was complete. But I must search with my spirit for my tribe’s communal hut tonight, because I cannot bear my loneliness any longer.
    I slip out into the jungle. As soon as I am out of Lah-ame’s sight, I lie on the moist earth facing east and close my eyes. Listening to the wind rattling the leaves overhead and raindrops drumming on the jungle floor, I send my spirit into the Otherworld.
    Behind my closed eyes, I see a light twinkling like a firefly in the trees. I drift over the moist earth toward it. It leads me to a moonlit clearing, where I see a huge banana-leaf hut with a roof sloping low to the ground and no walls. Moving closer, I see my entire tribe asleep inside. Family groups are huddled together on the many wooden platforms. Natalang’s thighs wobble as she turns on her side, next to her mimi. The tips of Danna’s mouth are turned up as though he is having a good dream.
    Across from Danna’s family lies my own. Tawai’s head rests against Mimi’s shoulder. Her long fingers are wrapped around Kara’s thick ones but Ashu’s fists are clenched even in his sleep.
    My chest tightens with loneliness. I am still far enough away that I can only see them. I want to get near enough to smell the sweat on Kara’s skin, hear Mimi’s breath rising and falling like the ocean waves, feel the warmth of Tawai’s hand curled up inside mine.
    I imagine waking them up and hearing the tribe’s shouts—first of surprise, then of welcome. But if I return to my people now, it will be harder than ever to leave again. Knowing that I must journey through the swamp, I might not find the strength to pull myself away. It feels very long ago that my spirit was so full of excitement and curiosity about the Otherworld that Lah-ame’s warnings of pain and death meant little to me.
    Slowly I force myself to glide out of our communal hut and into the clearing. The huge leaf hut grows small and distant as I leave it behind and float back across the jungle. When I turn for one last look, it has become as tiny as a spider’s web.
    Opening my eyes, I find myself alone once more, raindrops sparkling around