The Island of Mangos

“I need you to listen to me, Caleb.” Julia said as they sat at the dining room table.

Caleb nodded.

“Do you remember your Uncle Carl?” She asked.

“Not really.” He said honestly.

“Well, your Uncle Carl is sick, and we have to go to the island to… say goodbye. When we get there, you have to listen to everything I tell you and follow my instructions no matter what. I know you’re in high school now and you have your own mind and you want to do things your way, but during this trip, you are going to do everything I say, no questions asked, okay.” She squeezed his hand tightly and put on her best smile.

Caleb nodded in agreement, but he could see through his mother's smile. It was the same smile she had when his father had left. The mask she wore was pain.

“Are you okay, Mom?” Now he returned her grip.

“Yes, I’m fine, I just don’t like going back to the island unless I have to.”

“Do we have to go? I'd rather stay here with you and watch a movie this weekend.” He tried to give her away out.

She knew what he was up to and smiled back with a genuine smile. “Yes, this is something I have to do. We’ll watch a movie when we get back, I promise.”

The next day, they headed to the island.

They rowed to the dock and stopped. The sun was high in the sky above them. At the pier, two other small boats floated with their anchored ropes.

Julia and Caleb climbed out, each with a backpack on their back. Julia also tied up thier anchor.

“That was a whole exercise, Mom. We should take a plane back.” Caleb stretched his arms.

“There are no planes coming this way, this is the only way to get to the island.”

“I can’t believe you never brought me here.” Caleb let his eyes wander over the horizon, taking in the view.

Mango trees covered the small island, and at its edge was a beach leading into the clearest blue water. The breeze had the hint of a sweet smell.

“Our family owns this island?” His bright eyes looked at her.

“Yes, this island has been in our family for a long time. I hoped that I would never..." she broke off. She put on her mask, the one with the fake smile Caleb didn’t like. “It’s beautiful here, isn't it? Remember what we talked about, I say you do, okay.”

Caleb nodded, still in a trance about the beauty of the island.

“Come on.” Julia said as she walked towards the beach.

Caleb followed her, letting his senses soak up the surroundings.

They left the pier and walked across the beach to a sandy path that wound through the mango trees. They walked down the path past the hanging mangos, which were colored yellow, orange, and red in various hues.

Caleb stopped at one of the mango trees and looked at the hanging fruit. His mouth watered and his mind told him to tear it off and devour it. He followed the urge and reached for one, but Julia grabbed his hand inches away.

“Don’t.” She said. Her grip on his hand was tight.

Caleb pulled his arm back and shook off the urge.

“You don’t eat anything from here. You eat only what we brought in our bags, understand?”

“But the fruit looks...“

“What did I say?”

Caleb saw that her face was stern, her mask was the same. He knew she really meant it.

“Okay Mom, sorry.” He rubbed his hand where Julia had grabbed it.

Julia indicated with a shake of her head that they should continue down the path, and they started walking again.

At the end of the path, they came to a small clearing with a small wooden house.

Caleb looked around. “Is this the only house on the whole island?” He couldn’t see past the huge mango trees around them.

“Yes, it’s the only one. Your Uncle Carl is the only person who lives here. Your aunts should be in there by now, come on.”

Caleb could see his mother was in a hurry, but he was baffled by it all.

The small house had no front door, so they strolled inside. In the entryway was the kitchen. A small stove stood in the corner, and in the center of the room was a round dining table with four chairs. Two of the chairs were occupied.

“You guys made it.” Bimi spoke up first and stood to greet them.

“Hey, hey!” Keola followed her.

They both greeted Julia first with warm hugs and familiar laughter. Then they made their way over to Caleb.

“He’s so big, what are you feeding this boy?” Asked Bimi. She stood to his left, and Keola stood to his right.

“He’s going to be as big as his dad one day.” Keola said. 

Caleb looked over at his mother, and he could see her mask change briefly, sadness. He looked back at his aunts, whose smiles betrayed them as well, their masks both as sad as his mothers.

“Hi Auntie Bimi and Auntie Keola.” Caleb said, smiling broadly.

Both aunts hugged him.

“Here, let me take that, put your bags down.” Bimi reached to take his backpack off.

“No, that’s okay, I’d rather keep it on.” Caleb said politely.

Bimi looked back and forth between Caleb and Julia.

“Let me guess, you’re keeping yours on too?” Keola said to Julia.

Julia smiled and nodded. “Caleb, go see your uncle, I need to talk to my sisters for a bit. He should be in the room to your right.” Julia said.

Caleb wanted to retort something, but he changed his mind and just nodded. He followed his mother's instructions and found the room.

His uncle was lying in a bed made of the same wood as the cabin. Next to the bed was a small nightstand with a glass of water. On the right wall was a window without glass, through which a cool breeze blew.

His uncle was asleep with the blanket pulled up to his armpits, and had his arms hanging out.

Caleb stood over him, he could see his resting face, but the mask he wore was tired. He stood there for a while, wondering how someone could look so old and almost be the same age his mother.

His uncle's eyes shot open. Caleb jumped and backed away.

Carl began coughing hysterically and reached for the water on the nightstand next to the table. Caleb recovered from his fright and went to help his uncle. He grabbed the water and handed it to his uncle, whose hand was shaking.

Carl gulped down the water and half-choked on it as it ran out of his mouth. When he was done, he waved the cup in the air for Caleb to take, which he did.

“Who the hell are you?” Carl asked.

“Uh, I’m Caleb, your sister Julia’s son.”

Carl's face changed from realization to anger and then to absolute terror, his mask showing the same.

“Why did she bring you here, you must go, you both have to go!” He made a shooing motion.

“We came to see you. My mom is talking to my aunts right now, do you want me to go get them?”

“Your aunts are here too, oh no... it’s happening. Go, you have to go!” Carl began coughing hysterically again.

Caleb quickly backed out of the room. He almost ran back into the kitchen. He could hear his mother talking as he came closer, she was whispering, but her speech was harsh.

“You both know I can’t stay, I have a son, so it's just the two of you.” Julia said.

“No one told you to have a child, you knew this day would come.” Bimi retorted.

Caleb wanted to stay where he was and keep listening, but his foot stepped on a board that creaked, so he rounded the corner into the kitchen.

They were all sitting at the table.They all jerked their heads in his direction. Their faces were smiling, but each had a mask that told a different story. His mothers showed concern, but his two aunts showed rage. Caleb had to suppress the urge to be defensive.

“Hey mom, uh, Uncle Carl is awake. I think he needs help.” Caleb said.

Everyone at the table quickly stood up.

“He’s awake, are you sure?” Keola asked.

Caleb nodded. “Yes, I gave him some water because he was coughing a lot and-" he broke off.

The three sisters made their way out of the room, Julia being the last.

Caleb gently grabbed her arm to stop her. He whispered something to her. “Mom, I need to talk to you.”

“Just a second, let me talk to your Uncle Carl.”

He didn’t let go of her arm. “Mom please, it’s important.”

She saw his concern and stopped trying to leave. “What’s wrong?” Now she reached out and grabbed his arm.

“Mom, I need to tell you something, but don’t freak out, okay.”

She nodded her head, her mask worried.

“Mom, remember when I got into that fight at school and you asked me why I threw the first punch when you know I’m not a fighter?”

She nodded again.

“I can see things, well, just one thing. When I look at people, I can tell their true feelings, even if they lie to me. When I look at people, I can see their face, but about an inch in front of their face is… it’s something like a mask. Like a mask made of glass. It has the same shape as the face, but it changes depending on the person's emotional state. So even if someone smiles at me, I can see if they are angry, sad, or something else. I can see the truth if they are hiding it. The day I got into the fight, I could see the other person's mask, he was more than angry at me, he was furious. I knew he was going to hit me, so I hit him first.” He grabbed both of his mother's shoulders. 

“Mom, I don’t know why Uncle Carl said we had to go, or what you and my aunts were talking about. But the mask that Auntie Bimi and Auntie Keola were wearing just now when I came in here was rage. They want to do something bad.”

Julia didn’t think twice about what her son had told her. “I believe you, let’s go, we’re leaving.” She pointed to the front of the house and started walking in that direction.

Caleb quickly followed behind her. “Mom, you don’t think I’m crazy, you just believe me?”

Julia walked quickly down the front stairs and then onto the sandy path. “I believe you because there are things that I haven’t told you. Things I should have told you a long time ago. About this island, about our family. But what we’re going to do now is walk fast, but not run. We have to save our energy for rowing. But we have to make it to the boats before the sun goes down.”

Caleb was right behind her as they made their way back into the mango trees. He looked up at the sun, which was still in the sky, but since they had arrived there, it was much lower, looking like late evening.

“It was just noon when we got here, how can it already be almost night?” Caleb asked.

“Time works differently here, IT can only come out at night, so when IT wants it to be night, it happens.” Julia said.

“IT, what is IT?”

Julia sped up a bit and Caleb did the same.

“A long time ago our ancestors were slaves and the slave ship they were on came through here. The slavers saw a beautiful island full of mango trees. So they docked here to eat mangos and enjoy the beautiful beach before continuing their journey. They left our ancestors locked up so that none of them could enter the island, but they could see the slavers through the cracks of the ship, they saw them basking in the sun and eating ripe mangos. The slavers thought they would sail back before night fell, but none of them ever made it back to the ship, they all died on the beach.”

The sun was now so low that it cast nightshade on the mango trees. Caleb could see that where the nightshades fell on the mango trees, the fruit was now rotten. The sweet smell of the air was now sour from the rotten fruit. He wondered if he should say something to his mother, but he was sure she already knew.

Julia glanced behind her to make sure Caleb was keeping up. “Our ancestors saw the slavers fall one by one on the beach. They didn’t know if they were unconscious or dead, but when night came, IT came out to collect the bodies. They called it Umbogi, the invisible monster, because they could not see it. One by one, Umbogi grabbed them and dragged them into the mango forest. Our ancestors were smart enough to wait until morning to free themselves, but when they tried to sail away, they couldn’t. They felt the pull of the island demanding their return. So our ancestors decided that they had to make a sacrifice, someone had to stay behind to appease Umbogi. The strongest warrior was brave enough to stay, and it worked. The rest of our ancestors sailed away to freedom. But as the years passed, they all felt the urge to go back again, they couldn’t fight it. Another sacrifice was needed. Every time this damn island beckons our family, we have to come here and vote on who stays behind. The last time we were here, your uncle was brave enough to choose himself so me and your aunts could go and live. But the island has called us again and..."

“It must be either you or one of my aunts,” Caleb said as they reached the end of the path and were back on the beach.

It was night now and the only light was the moon and stars above them. Rotten fruit dangled from all the mango trees behind them.

“Hurry up, we have to go.” Julia said and started running across the beach.

Caleb did likewise and kept pace with her.

Caleb heard sounds coming from the path behind them and saw his two aunts rushing onto the beach.

“Julia, no!” Shouted Bimi. The two aunts ran after them.

“We both voted and we chose you and your son, you have to stay!” Demanded Keola.

Julia and Caleb reached the dock and rushed to the boat.

“Get in, Caleb.” She pointed to their boat.

“You first, Mom!”

“Do what I say, get in!”

Caleb listened to her and climbed into the boat.

Julia reached for the anchor ropes for the other two boats. “Stop!” she shouted.

Bimi and Keola had reached the edge of the pier and stopped.

“I’m not staying here with my son to die, you two have to decide now which one of you is going to stay!” Julia yelled.

The two looked at each other and shook their heads. 

“No, we both voted for you and your son. If he stays too, maybe we can live our lives to the fullest and never have to return to this island again.” Bimi said.

Julia shook her head vigorously. “Then I am sorry. I love you both.” She took the two ropes from the anchor and threw them into the water.

“No!” They both screamed as Julia knelt down and kicked the two boats with her foot to send them off the dock. Then she took the rope to their boat and climbed in.

“Row.” Julia said to Caleb. Her face was full of tears.

Caleb saw that her mask was cracked all over, like someone had hit a piece of glass with a hammer.

He rowed.

There was a splash in the water and Caleb turned to see Aunt Bimi in the water trying to swim to her boat, which was drifting away. Aunt Keola stood at the end of the pier and watched them row away.

His eyes scanned the island and took in the horror. At the beach edge near the water Caleb saw IT, Umbogi. It stood naked and had the form of a man, but its limbs were elongated. It was ten feet tall and its arms were so long that it rested them on the sand beside his feet. Its skin was an assortment of hues like the mangos. Caleb knew it was staring at him. It knew he could see it. It also wore a mask, evil and menacing.

“Don’t look back, just row.” Julia said between sobs.

Caleb turned back around and kept rowing while thinking to himself. None of the ancestors could see it, no one could see it. Except him. He knew what he had to do now. He would come back, but this time he would be ready, he would be a fighter. He would free his family from this prison.