Chapter 9:

Chapter 9. Life on the island

Master Brian's maid


And of course that will happen, Mr. Harvet agrees to the condition that his ex-wife offers, he will become a good father and provide for his young daughter until adulthood. Contrary to that, Mrs. Dixi was extremely upset, she did not understand why Harvet did this, when it had to cost more money to bring another child into the foster home.

But she is not too narrow-minded, she thinks that maybe she will be a new pleasure for her to torture and abuse, if she is able to work, she will become an unpaid worker for family. Dixi as efficiently as possible without her having to spend extra money to hire someone else. Just thinking about that makes Dixi satisfied, so she easily accepts raising Jane like any other child, only she won't love Jane as much as her own son.

Jane since moving home to live with Mr. Harvet's family, she has never had real joy because she is surrounded by mostly unnamed sadness. Jane is cared for and raised by Mr. Harvet and Mrs. Dixi but she does not seem to feel it, she only receives estrangement and abuse from Dixi and her cousin Ruben.

And every time like that, there is something sad or resentful, Jane immediately runs over to Mrs. Omot's house for temporary shelter. She sometimes took Jane to the hospital to visit her mother, at such times Jane hugged Pearl even tighter, the little girl hugged her poor mother and cried all her tears, Jane always wished that her mother would soon recover quickly to be able to return home with her but unfortunately that is very difficult to do.

Life went on like that, in the following years Ms. Omot got old and her old disease recurred more, she was forced to go to a nursing home for daily monitoring and treatment, so from now on, Who can help Jane anymore? The little girl had to surrender to her fate, resigned and grew up.

Mr. Harvet knew that, when he saw Dixi beat and scold Jane, he immediately tried to intervene because with him, Harvet wanted to take advantage of his love to make Jane obedient and stay in one place for his own purposes.

Each time, he would appease Dixi by giving her a little more money for daily living or giving her some cheap jewelry and perfume to make her happier. Just like that, those days also gradually passed, Jane still grew up beautiful and healthy, only she was too kind and gentle to let others bully her.

Fifteen years later, Jane is now an extremely beautiful and lovely eighteen-year-old girl, with white hair and a slim body and fair skin. Because of her outstanding appearance, Jane is noticed, teased and solicited by many men on the island. But not because of that, she lost herself to become a woman who easily carried them along. Jane always deftly refuses them for the reason that there is still a lot of work to do at home, or maybe to avoid unnecessary collisions, Jane restricts going out of the house and embarrasses herself by dressing up sloppy, untidy combed hair and dirty clothes.

Mr. Harvet also agreed to it for his own sake, so he always became a good father in Jane's eyes when he tried to prevent the youth and other men from trying to continue. close to his daughter. And it was the only good thing in Jane's eyes that he could do right now besides shouting and swearing and pouring all his money into the casino when he lost badly. Jane no matter how bad her father is, she is still grateful for it because Harvet took action to protect her from the men who followed her outside, even though that is inherently the responsibility of a father required.

Jane's working day is like every other day on this island, but the strange thing is that today she is not at home full of fish like usual, but wanders on the beach on a clear morning when the sun is still low appear. When everything on the island is still chilly and the smell of the salty sea breeze is still wafting in the air, the small boats of the fishermen who come to the island soon bobbing in the distance are floating on the sea. The fine sand and strong waves hitting the shore and the small rocky beaches here make the scenery even more majestic than ever.

A white-haired girl was walking along the beach with a sad expression on her face, maybe she had just gone through something with one cheek hit to the red and a thin coat she was wearing in a hurry. Jane walked quietly watching the sea from afar, sometimes she bent down to the ground to see her footprints imprinted in the sand, washed away by the waves, no matter how sad she was or how sad she was, wearing a ragged or luxurious outfit, it also can't obscure her innocent and pure beauty. No matter how beautiful the surrounding scenery is, Jane still wanders barefoot on the fine sand with sad eyes, she walks and sometimes stops, using her hands to pick up seashells from the sand and put them in a small bucket.

Perhaps the little joys of seashells would now fill Jane's wounded heart. She kept picking them up until the bucket was full, an unconscious act to soothe that fragile soul. Then Jane went to a nearby rock and sat down to look at the items she had picked up. She sorted them into categories and then sat and talked to herself:

“Today is a lucky day, I have collected many different seashells. This one can be used for jewelry, and this one is for home decoration, Emi would probably like it."

When it came to Emi, Jane involuntarily smiled lightly, because she loved this little sister very much. Emi is a small girl about ten years old living near Jane's house, Emi is a bit mischievous and loves the seashells that Jane makes. And when she thought about Emi's smiling face when she received the gift she gave her, Jane was very excited in her heart. So Jane quickly folded them up and placed them on a nearby large leaf that she picked up and put them neatly in the bucket. She sat there playing for a bit, looking far away to the sea, where the light yellow sunlight was shining down when the sun was rising from above, there was the sea breeze mixed with a little salt and the sound of the waves, whispering of each white water bubble.

Jane had a slight smile on her lips as she imagined herself being comforted by the sea as sadness and loneliness crept into her little heart. Jane is used to it, she is used to being beaten up by her stepmother, Mrs. Dixi, often when she makes a mistake or does anything that displeases her. And early this morning too, Dixi slapped Jane on the cheek clearly when she missed more fish in the box, they were sold to a few traders, the fish was a lot but the selling price remained the same, which That proves that Mrs. Dixi will lose a small amount of money when she gives away her fish to no one else.

When Jane found out about it, she apologized but Dixi still refused to let it go and just like the previous times when Jane made a mistake, she was severely beaten and scolded by Dixi. Jane knows she did wrong, but she is still very sad, since she came here to stay with their family, she has not been happy for a day. At times like these, Jane misses Pearl even more, her poor mother being treated in the hospital with aches and pains from illness every day.

But Jane promised Pearl that no matter how hard things get, she will live a good life no matter how bad they are. Anyway, Mr. Harvet treated her well and fed her enough every day, which was the only consolation for Jane and kept her on this deserted island.

Anyway, Jane doesn't know where to go if she goes to the world out there, where people tell each other there are skyscrapers, busy, modern roads with cars and bright lights, dazzling colors and luxuriously dressed people with their signature perfume scents. Jane doesn't really know what it's like, only knows that it is very beautiful and civilized, contrary to this place, only makeshift houses, fishing boats, sand and wind, and delicious seafood. fishing ashore.

There are also electricity, lights and televisions here, but most people don't make full use of them, like television, for example, the one at Jane's house is full of old, timid songs all year round that can never be fixed. Jane also didn't mind that when her day was extremely busy, waking up early in the morning she started working, first pulling down the fish boxes on the ship and sorting them out. After that, handmade fish and marinated them in ice when requested.

It's quite late now, Jane was forced to go home to continue her unfinished business earlier, when she blatantly ran away because she was beaten by Mrs. Dixi. So Jane took her bucket of shells and left to go home.

When Jane had just returned home, she heard Mr. Harvet and Mrs. Dixi arguing loudly. Harvet grabbed Dixi's hair and spun the woman in a circle, while Dixi used a long, thin wooden stick to hit Harvet in all directions. Jane ran to stop her father and stepmother. The two of them pushed Jane aside, continued to struggle, until Mr. Harvet no longer had enough patience, he decided to strike a decisive blow to end this fight, that's when Mrs. Dixi was beaten by him. She fell to the ground, Dixi angrily sat up and said:

“Wait there, Harvet. We're not done yet."

Harvet smiled triumphantly when Dixi shot him an angry look, she didn't want to be beaten by Harvet anymore, so she was so angry, holding the anger in her heart, and grabbed her long wrinkled skirt that she was wearing leave. She turned to Jane and continued to shout loudly:

“Jane, where were you? Keep working for me."

Jane slowly followed Dixi, but she grabbed her by the hair and pulled her away, she implored urgently:

"Pain, please be gentle with me."

Mr. Harvet, seeing the scene only laughed, took out a cigarette, smoked it, and hurried out of the house, to a casino beneath an island cellar. Stepping out to greet him was Joca, a man with a spiked head and a bushy beard that was not neatly trimmed. He smiled and said:

"Harvet, you're late everyday. How much?"

Harvet stepped inside where small crowds had gathered to play cards, and he answered as he walked to the place to play:

“I bet this game with 2 tons of fish I just caught.”

Joca patted Harvet on the back a few times to applaud the wise decision he had just made:

“Okay mate, that’s great.”

Meanwhile at home, Mrs. Dixi was making some dishes for her son when he had just returned from driving the train. His name is Ruben, a delinquent with tattoos all over his body, and insolent eyes ready to mess with someone. As soon as Ruben entered the living room, he slammed the table and shouted:

“Where are my bottles of wine?”

Mrs. Dixi ran up and said:

"Getting drunk again? I threw them all away."

Ruben still couldn't believe his eyes, he whined in a drunken voice:

“Mom, why did you leave them, you are lying to me right? I remember it's still inside."

Dixi annoyed and asked again:

“Are you crazy? Do you have a problem with your memory?"

Ruben still ignored Dixi's question, he was bouncing like an idiot:

"Darling, please make me drink."

She nonchalantly replied yes:

"I'm not crazy like you, I don't have any more money"

When Ruben heard that, he chuckled, he said in his heart with dreamy eyes looking around:

"Haha, if one person doesn't have it, another will."

So he quickly rushed into Jane's room, Ruben rummaged everywhere for money, from nooks and crannies like the bed, wardrobe and even Jane's personal belongings, he found them all and he finally saw a pile of money in a small jar below the clothes closet. Jane was working in the back of the kitchen, she heard a loud noise coming from her room, Jane quickly ran into the house to see and stop her brother. The little girl shouted loudly:

"Ruben, give it back to me."

Ruben jerked harder, insolently shouting:

"You get out of the way, it's all mine, I don't pay."

He slapped Jane on the cheek, causing her to fall to the floor, causing Jane to suddenly let go of her hand. Ruben, after stealing the money, happily went out of the house while Jane sat in her room sobbing, she picked up her shell money can and held it in her lap. This is all the money she has earned over the past few months to treat her poor mother who is in the hospital. Jane did not have time to wipe her tears when she was scolded by Mrs. Dixi:

“Hey, how long are you going to sit here crying? Do you go to work or not?"

Jane tried to step out and was hit by Mrs. Dixi with a stick for the crime of procrastinating. She had to put her sadness aside and focus on continuing her unfinished business. Jane really doesn't know how much longer she has to live in this hellish house when she wakes up every day to work, hears scoldings and is often beaten.

Everyone in this family does not love her, she knows it because they always consider her a debt, a thorn in their eyes. Same goes for Mr. Harvet, who ruthlessly left his sick wife in the hospital to live with Mrs. Dixi, a prostitute of this small fishing village. Before marrying Havet, she had sex with many people and also had multiple abortions, but unfortunately got pregnant and gave birth to Ruben.

But unexpectedly, she fell in love with Harvet, a rough guy, addicted to gambling and irresponsible to his wife and children, then she and Ruben came here to live together, forming a family with her right now. At first, Mr. Harvet did not accept Ruben as his own son, but when he saw that he could do the job, help him fish and steer a boat well, he immediately accepted it. It seems that both Harvet and Dixi are evil people who live to take advantage of others to serve their own interests.

That evening, after Jane finished all the work assigned by Mrs. Dixi, she returned to her bedroom with a tired and exhausted body. Jane is still upset about what happened today when she was robbed of all her money by Ruben so she couldn't sleep. Jane wandered out into the sea again, she sat on a large rock looking at the night sky, a storm of sadness suddenly hit her inside. Jane secretly wondered who she was and why her biological parents abandoned her? Do they perceive her as a burden and unable to love and nurture her?

Everyday questions are raised around the confused mind of the little girl. Jane just sat there and let her soul fall into the wind and the night of the sea, it seemed to hold her tightly and not let Jane leave. She comforted herself as she wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes with her hand:

"It's okay, everything will be fine, don't cry."