Chapter 9

After waking up from his traumatic injuries, Everton realized that his body had no strength. Is it me, or does he attract horrific injuries like flies to a trashcan? Anyways, he tried to turn his head, but realized that he could only turn so far before he was overwhelmed with pain. With his limited view of the ceiling, he knew that he was no longer in Darcy's little shack, but he cared not for his current location.

He wanted to go back to sleep, but something needed to be addressed, a nagging feeling in the back of his head telling him that he is at a crossroads, and the next thing he does will change his very fate. A question that needed to be answered, or even asked.

Why? It's the question in his head. He has a thousand answers, but he needs to find the right question to ask. At this moment, a voice sounds out in his thoughts. His own mind given voice.

Why care about anything on this island?

Why show interest in its history?

Why risk yourself for a girl?

Why try new things?

Why make a friend?

Why... try?

It makes no sense! To do these things goes against the very nature of the people belonging at the top, at the literal apex of the world! You have everything you could and couldn't dream of! Why be the good guy for people not worthy of licking your boots!? The world is your oyster, so why try and be something you're not!?

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Why not? Another voice sounded out in his mind. It was the same voice, just more calm, more... confident.

Why not care about anything on this island?

Why not show interest in its history?

Why not risk yourself for a girl?

Why not try new things?

Why not make a friend?

Why not... try?

The world is your oyster, so why not try what it has to offer? What is stopping you from finding yourself? Who is stopping you from doing anything you truly want? You know the answer, you just need to be honest with yourself and accept who you truly want to be.

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"I am." Everton says out loud in a gravelly, dry voice. "I am stopping me. Who do I want to be? I want to be 'me'... the 'me' that I choose. Not one that the world has chosen for me."

Everton had been ignoring the building tension within himself. From the moment he felt something other than abject disgust or anger towards something on this island, there existed the question of why he felt this way. He had ignored the question and its implications due to his upbringing, his way of life, and the only perspective he had ever known, but the question still existed in the back of his mind.

Every time something didn't mesh with his world view, this question kept growing, and it had gotten so pressuring towards himself that he finally snapped. His world view and his growing desire for answers clashed harshly and essentially created the devil and angels on his shoulders.

The answers were within the entire time, and he even knew the answer, but he only needed to accept it.

With that, Everton returned to his dreamland, the mental burdens, gone, the nightmares, vanquished.

-0-

When he woke up again, he wasn't alone. Darcy's grandmother, Darla, was sitting in a nearby chair with a leather-bound book in her hands. She heard Everton shifting , and looked over, seeing him wake up. She spoke to him.

"Don't try to move too much. You'll recover in a few days, but don't try to worsen your wounds." She turned her page, her eyes already having returned to the book as she continued to speak, "You have a knack for finding yourself in these kinds of situations, don't you? I don't mean anything by it, but one can only make so many poor decisions before they don't get the chance to make another."

She saw that Everton wanted to retort, so she cut him off, "You are in no place to talk back here, so just listen. For one, if you hadn't acted, the pirates would've left, and Darcy probably wouldn't have been injured. Secondly, you failed, plain and simple. You just did not succeed, so there was no point in attempting such a thing."

Everton looked devastated, and he was about to withdraw back into himself, thinking that if this is the result of trying to defy his fate, he may as well give up now. But then she said one last thing.

"In doing such a brain-dead and poorly thought out thing... you tried to save my granddaughter. And for that, you have my thanks and gratitude. Doing the right thing is almost never easy, or rewarding, but do know that at the very least, I'm thankful for what you tried to do." She had already put her book down, and was looking at him with a warm smile. For some reason, tears were pooling in his eyes, and Everton had no ide-

No, he knew why, and it was time to stop lying. Her words of gratitude made him feel happy and accomplished. Made him feel as if his choices were the right ones for the first time. He wanted to say something, anything, to express the things he was feeling. These overwhelming feelings threatened to consume him, but instead he cried.

He cried softly at first, then it became harder, and louder, and then eventually devolved into sobbing as the weight of life felt lifted off of him for just a moment. In this moment, Everton knew what his goal was, what his dream was. His dream was, IS, to become the best version of himself, to become as true to himself as he possibly can. To one day become a person he can love.

This was a dream that he was willing to die for.

-0-

After calming down, he realized that Darla had simply picked her book back up, and he was about to ask her where Darcy was and if she was ok, when she answered for him, "Yes, she is safe and fine. She had a limp for a day or so, but she is good to go. Speaking of Darcy," She closed her book, and a look of steel entered her gaze, "The village has had enough of her, and I'm finally being out powered on this. She is being banished." Everton looked shocked at this, "I have done all I could to convince the people to not make this decision, but my words have no effect on them anymore. Something about 'The human fighting to protect her, but not our food. Obviously she has someone to protect her, so she is no longer needed here.' If I remember it, word for word."

Everton flinched at this, and looked very guilty. Darla softened her gaze and said, "Don't worry. I don't blame you for this." Everton looked pleasantly surprised, "This is just another excuse that they are using to get rid of her, it's nothing new. If I had my way, I would just leave with my granddaughter and be rid of this ungrateful village, but if I did that, and left the village without a priestess, she would never forgive me. That girl, her love for this village that has never loved her back is astounding, and equally as saddening.

It will take many years to train a proper priestess from scratch, and I don't have all that many years under my belt either, so I'm afraid I won't be there for my granddaughter when the world shows her its truly ugly side. So I have a request." At this point, Everton had already been sitting up, and looking at Darla, he looked absolutely shocked at what transpired next. She got up and out of her chair, and prostrated on the ground, begged him even, "Please, take my granddaughter with you! You will leave in four and a half months from now, so please, take her with you! Protect her with all you have! Please! I beg you!"

Everton is no stranger to this situation. Many people had tried begging him in the exact same way for one reason or another, but simply put, they were begging the authority he held, and not him as a person. This however, was much different. Darla had no such idea of the power and authority he possessed, only knowing the man who had washed up on the beach and had shown his actions over the last month or so. She was pleading with 'Him', as a person, as himself.

"Sure." Is all he said in response to her pleading, being the first word he had actually spoken to her since his awakening in the village of Paw Manu.

She stood up and smiled, tears in her own eyes, and as she turned to walk away and leave him to heal, she walked over to him, stooped down so that she was eye level... and then proceeded to rip the front half of his neck out.

This confused Everton, not understanding why she had done this, and his lack of vocal chords were getting in the way of asking why. She looked on in fascination as the scraps of paper slipped out of her hand, and started to reform Everton's throat. She chuckled and said as she started to walk away, "Never let it be said that Darla does not fulfill her promises!"

While Everton was confused as to what she meant, he swore he could hear soft giggling from outside the open window that was carrying a soft breeze. With Darla gone, and his curiosity of the situation giving way to fatigue, he decided to go back to sleep.

Unbeknownst to Everton, but not Darla, Darcy had been sitting outside the window, and had been listening to their conversation the entire time.