The Island at the End of the World by Sam Taylor

Author:Sam Taylor [Sam Taylor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571317691
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2015-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

XV

Walking in the garden in the cool of the shade, here by the edge of the lake. It’s late afternoon, and I’ve just woken up. Over the water the heat haze flickers, but here between birch trees a breeze blows across my face. I hear birdsong and the river, His voice as the sound of many waters …

Everything’s too good to be true. Ergo it must be false. I know this, and it is why I guard my suspicions tight and dark inside me, always smiling and pretending, like he does.

Yesterday was a moonday, so it has been twenty-nine days since Will landed on our island, and during that time it has rained almost every night. The lake is full, the river high, the horizon invisible. Since he came, Alice has been kind, cheerful and polite towards me; she is a changed girl. Finn and Daisy love him, of course. And the work he does, the respect he shows … And yet I know I must stay vigilant. Will is a charmer, he’s a snake. I must not let him hypnotise me with his words, smiles, actions. There are hours, whole days, when I wish I could just relax and enjoy these moments, this sense of security, like my children do. But I am here to protect them, and I must not let my guard down. What is he up to? What does he WANT?

Only once that I know of has he spoken a word out of place, back on the second day. Finn was asking him about televisions and telephones, and Will took out his mobile. This was outside, under the branch roof, and I was tending the vines, watching from the corner of my eye. When I saw Finn take that evil instrument in his hands, I yelled ‘No’ and ran towards them as Finn put the tiny plastic Devil to his ear. Will saw the look on my face and took his Devil away from Finn, who cried out. ‘It doesn’t work,’ said Will, to me, fear in his voice. ‘There’s no signal up here. Listen.’ He handed It to me and I let It fall to the hard ground. There, like a shiny beetle, I crushed it beneath the heel of my boot. Finn shouted ‘Why?’ and I told him about the microwaves, the toxins, the radiation pouring from the Devil into his ear. Finn stared at Will, who said ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.’ Finn didn’t speak for the rest of that day.

On I walk, round the edge of the lake. I left Daisy playing with Goldie in the shade behind the ark. Finn, I guess, is somewhere with Will, as always. As for Alice … down by the beach? I don’t know. Not so long ago, the dark emptiness of that not knowing would have bred horrors in my mind; I would have visioned her entering the Afterwoods, seeking out secrets, but now she seems to have forgotten those obsessions. I have

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