Chapter 5

**Acacia Point of View**

Irony of life...

Sometimes, living is no less than hell and dying is no better than paradise.

As unpredictable as it can get, the whole cycle of life and death has always been too leveled.

I was born in an ordinary family of four; mom, dad, I and my younger brother. Dad was a normal bank employee and mom was an insurance agent and my little brother was in seventh grade. Nothing ever was out of ordinary for me. My life was...

Leveled.

Has always been leveled. No great joy nor there was a deep wound. But then it has all come down with just one accident in the middle of the ocean.

I should've died the very day in the very shipwreck. When I found myself on the shores of an island alive, I was hoping to live until I get back to where I came from. Not only did that not happen, life has shown me the flicker of hope blinking every now and then and when I was finally setting to see a little hope that life presented me, it snubbed the light out and crushed me with a horrible death.

Died of heart ache and fear.

The memories of moments before my death were still vivid. I remember every single thing I saw, I felt and I suffered before my life finally gave in.

Although, once death embraced me, I start to feel light and free. I'm not cold and shivering anymore. I'm not scared anymore. I'm not in pain and I'm not overly thinking anymore.

I just felt... so comfortable. As if I'm currently wrapped in warmest of the satin sheets and put to a much needed good sleep.

Am I waiting for my turn to get punished or rewarded before sent to reincarnate? I don't know. But this moment, right this minute, I couldn't feel more relaxed given how traumatized my days before death was.

I snuggled more into what was giving me warmth and hummed in bliss. The satin like feathers I was feeling around me notified me that the feeling might not be just my imagination.

What felt like a dream or reality of a just dead and wandering soul in sleep started to get more real.

My hands wandered around still in the state of partly unconscious and immediately felt bed sheets under me and one on me. My eyes still closed and brain still refusing to work, I was still weighing the option of still being dead until my wandering hands met with a table and something on it fell down with a loud clank.

With a gasp, my eyes flew open and I woke up with a startled cry. Looking beside me, what dropped down and fell was a silver spoon and one the night stand sat a small tray with a big cup steam coming out of it.

Confused, I looked around to see what was going on and where in the hell I am. I was sitting on a very large king sized bed which is very fluffy and soft that the place I sat dipped inside pretty deep. Looking around, the room looked similar to the one I thought on staying, only, this is much bigger and grand.

My heart dropped when I realized I was not in my wet jeans and top anymore. I was in one of the night gowns I saw in the other room.

Hurrying to my feet, I ran to the large window situated beside the vanity table and looked out of the glass. The view outside the glass was what I'm very familiar with. It was the very island I was stuck on.

So I am not dead. Not even close it seems.

The very realization stuck fear inside me. If I wasn't dead; just say since I'm still alive, who brought me to this room?

Who changed my clothes?

Touching the gown I was currently wearing, the long sleeves were good to protect my hands from chilling climate. My long hair fell down my back loosely and few stranded in the front. Some kind of mixed flowers and type of oriental medicine smell was coming from my hair and it actually smelt really good.

Walking to the huge mirror on the vanity table, I found my face which should be painted in dirt, mud and all the filth I stumbled into was now clean. There was no hint of dirt on me anywhere.

As if I was bathed.

Or I was bathed; only I don't remember doing it myself.

If I did not do it then who can? If someone did do it for me, then it is very clear that I'm not the only one on this island.

"Why would someone help me? If this is even considered a help." I wondered out loud.

Surprisingly, although I'm still scared, I also feel a tad bit alright. It must be due to the near death incidents from past couple of days but now that I'm thinking over everything, a few pieces of the puzzle are getting clear now.

One, I'm supposedly not alone on this island.

Two, whoever it is that is staying here apart from me, they don't want me dead.

Three, For some reason, they want me here in this castle.

Four, all my necessities are provided and I still don't know who was doing them and how they are doing without being found by me.

Walking over to the nightstand, I saw dark colored liquid in the cup and by the steam coming out of it. It is still hot and I don't know how it maintained the temperature when the climate is extremely cold.

Hot chocolate.

For a minute, I hesitated if I should drink it or not but given that I'm still alive says the different story. Whatever happened to me after I lost consciousness, I strangely feel less jumpy today.

That does not mean I'm not scared and creeped out; although I'm being more cautious than before, something told me that it's not my time to die.

Something or someone is looking out for me for whatever evil reasons that is.

Chugging down the hot liquid in big sips, I decided that I should live now. Live and go back to my home again and to do so, I have to get away from this place.

If I were to escape this place, I need to know about this place. One thing is clear, something is doing its best to keep me here and as mysterious and dangerous it looks, I will have to try my best to escape no matter what.

After all, I should try my theories first to do what I need to.

With new found feeling that is in the middle of fear, determination, foolishness and defeat, I found a closet room inside the room I was currently in.

As expected, there are hundreds of dressed of my size. Picking out a day gown and a towel, I went into the bathroom to have a shower before I see what I could do to get out of here.

Again, the bathtub was filled with hot water beside which bathing aid was placed just like the other night.

My steps faltered for a moment as took a shaky breath. The mere thought that all this was arranged for me without my notice increased the fright I tried to hide.

No matter how many times I come across these incidents, my fear only seems to increase every time and the little relaxing moment I had after waking up soon washed away.

I had to gulp down the tears that were right in my eyes ready to roll down. Fear is not the right word for the amount of terror I have been facing from the other night.

Taking a long breath, I brushed my teeth which not surprisingly was provided to me, did my morning rituals, I got out of my gown and slipped into the bathtub. Relaxing my muscles for few minutes, I soon used the bathing aid that was provided and completed the ritual.

Getting dressed, when I got out of the bathroom, I almost tripped over my own leg and almost fell down if I wasn't holding the table standing beside the bathroom door.

The tea table which was in the middle of the room is now occupied with a very large tray of steaming breakfast of different varieties and a glass of light green colored juice.

Walking to the table, breakfast was not the only think that I observed. There was something else that I remember seeing before.

The cutlery and the tray have one common thing. A symbol of some kind, maybe like a brand or something I don't know but now that remember, I saw the same symbol on the door and other objects I came across in the castle.

But wait, this is not the only place I saw this symbol. I know I saw it somewhere else before coming to this island.

Where?

I almost gave up after trying for fifteen minutes but then I finally got it. I knew where I saw it before.

The ship.

**~*~*~*~*~*~

Hello Sweeties,

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