Outcast Island

Outcast Island Chapter 5

“You were a warrior?” She inquired. She now stood only a few feet away from the man she was to share this lonely island with. His conversation intrigued her and drew her towards him.

“Yes, they called me The One Eyed Warrior. I fought in many battles with bow and arrow, knife and machete! I have done things I am not proud of, and ought not to be spoken.”

“So your name is The One Eyed Warrior?” she asked.

“I once was called The One Eyed Boy. Then, The One Eyed Warrior. For a time I have been called The Blind One. But now I am free! I do not need this name anymore. I shall need a new name on this island! Tell me, what is your name?”

My name has always been The One-Armed Girl. Most of the time I am called One Arm.” She said with a downcast tone.

There was a pause between the two of them. She reminisced over her life and her pain, and he sat quietly in thought. Then he spoke at first softly, then with a rising fervor.

“So we are both called by what we are not. Only as others see us to be. One-Armed Girl — that is no name. I shall name you! And you shall name me! We are on this island together, forever! We do not need to call each other by what we are not, nor as others perceive us to be! There is no one else here! What fate is this that I should be cast upon an island with a beautiful woman to spend the rest of my earthly days with? I shall call you My Beautiful One. If that is alright with you, of course? What shall you name me, My Beautiful One?”

She paused for a moment. She had never been called beautiful before. In fact, all she had ever been called was ugly names.

“You cannot see what I look like. Why would you call me beautiful?” she asked. She was unsure he actually meant it.

He sat up from the tree he was leaning on and inched himself a foot closer to her voice. He bent his knees and wrapped his arms around them.

“Why must I see you to think that you are beautiful? I am blind and can not see. My judgment is not based on what I can see or what others see. I can only hear, smell and touch. Your voice is soft and gentle like the breeze on my face, sweet to my ears. Your smell is like palm trees and salt water, delightful to my nose. All these are pleasant and beautiful to me. So you are pleasant and beautiful to me. So then, I name you My Beautiful One.”

She paused and thought for a few moments and wondered if his hearing was good enough to hear her heart pounding faster.