I live on the island of abandoned dreams. I grew up where others go to forget about their failures and mistakes. This is where I live and not a single soul is happy here.

Technically, you’re not supposed to be born here. People are supposed to come here only when they can not make anyone else around them happy. I guess it’s like sealing the fate that you’ll never smile again or open your curtains to let the sun in. You’ll never go out and dance, because dancing is no longer fun. You’ll never love, because you cannot be happy on this island.

The reason I’ve grown up unhappy, unlike the others on the land who eventually become unhappy, is because I was inside the womb of my mother when she was unhappy, and when she came to the island of abandoned dreams. My mother said I had a father and that he was a “lying cheating pig”, but I don’t like to believe that. Sometimes when I’m alone in my room, I like to dream of sailing away from this miserable place. I dream of finding my father and that my life will be fulfilling and happy, but then I snap out of it and I am again surrounded by the gloom of the people here. I tell myself nothing exponentially great happens to people or there wouldn’t be a place like this in existence.

Every day for the last fifteen years I’ve hidden the fact that I yearn to be happy, until I met a woman that changed my outlook on life. It was a windy, stormy type of day on the island and I was walking home from the market. I glanced to the beach off the side of the island and saw an old woman in a strange purple robe and matching hat. I thought to myself that she looked like a wizard, and I chuckled. Then I realized that was the first time I laughed in public. Sometimes I laugh in my room, but public laughing is forbidden here. I quickly looked around to make sure no one heard me, and then for some odd reason, I felt compelled to walk over to the woman. As I got closer, I noticed that she had built herself a sand-throne and was sitting in it high and mighty as if she owned everything on the island. I asked the woman if her dreams had failed her and if she had meant to be here.

She looked at me, smiled and said, “I’m here for the ocean views like everyone else,paradise, simply breathtaking.”

I looked at the woman with a puzzled face and said, “Do you know where you are ma’am?”

“Well of course! I’m on a gorgeous island in the middle of the ocean! Why do you look so tense? Have a martini or something!”

At this point of our conversation, I really didn’t know what to say, so I just stared at her. She stared back for a while.

 “Dreamer’s love dreaming,” she said. “I hope for your sake you’re a do’er too. Because I can see it in your eyes that you dream, but it’s always up to you to act on those dreams.”

With one last look, she turned around and walked away. I felt as if this woman knew me. I turned around too, and started to stumble in the sand repeating her last words. I spun around again to see the woman one last time, but she was gone. I know how this is sounding, woman lays on mysterious final words then disappears, oh real original. But, the reason I am documenting this story is because I didn’t listen to the woman. I just simply pondered her words. Once I thought about it, really thought about it, I realized she was right. Some people dream, and some people dream and act upon those dreams. I am not someone who acts on my dreams. I wish and wish that I had a shot at happiness and that I wasn’t born on this dreadful island, but I never do anything about it. I could leave if I wanted, but I don’t think I’d fit in a society that’s happy.

Instead, one day I floated out to sea and just laid on my back, watching the birds circle as they searched for fish. Then I thought about how nice it would be to live in the water forever, not having to deal with unhappy people, and lost dreams. At that moment is when I saw a pelican swoop down and gulp up a fish, I realized why I had saw that woman. She had said it was up to me to act on my dreams. But maybe dreaming really hard might lead to something happening, I thought. So I closed my eyes and went under the water. I took a huge gulp of the salty ocean. The next thing I knew, I was a mermaid. Not like Ariel, I kept my blonde hair, but I grew fins and I could breathe. I didn’t know if it was real or perhaps I died, and this was my heaven, but either way I dreamed so hard my dreams became my reality.