The boy woke up, shaken and groggy, in an unfamiliar bed. An IV cord was attached to his hand, and he stared at it for a moment before realizing what it was. Monitors beeped by his bedside.
He looked around the room and his eyes fell first on the girl sitting on the chair by his bed, asleep. The morning sun creeping through a crack in the curtains gave her red hair a golden shine. He smiled at the sight of her.
“Good morning,” I said quietly, stepping forward.
He looked up at me, startled, not having realized that they weren’t alone.
“Hello,” he said shyly. “Are you my doctor?”
“Yes, one of them. I’m Doctor Ralph Arches, and the young lady by your bed is my daughter.”
“Maya… No, ” he paused, shaking away his disorientation. Then he smiled, looking at her again. “Mara.”
“Yes. She says you’re her hero, that you saved her before the snowstorm.”
“There were some bullies. I got them away from her, that’s all.”
“Well, she’s refused to leave your side while you recovered from what they did to you. She found you just in time, and led searchers to you. It’s a miracle you’re still alive, you’ve been through a lot.”
“Mostly just some bad dreams, ” he said.
“Oh?”
“Whatever came before doesn’t really matter any more than a dream. What matters is that I’m alive today. And she’s here.”
My daughter woke, and their eyes met. A moment later, so did their hands, coming together over the blanket. I left them in private, and went home to my wife.
No Man an Island 
14 comments
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May 25, 2008 at 3:32 am
nomananisland
Before you go complaining about a Dallas dream ending, reread that last sentence.
Not a dream. Figure it out yet?
June 7, 2008 at 12:49 am
Fiona
I’m afraid I’ve been a little lost for the last few chapters.
Since it’s not a dream, I can only think of two explanations:
1) Heaven for each individual is our heart’s desire. This is Ethan’s heaven.
2) Since our Earth has ended with the last battle, Ethan and Mara (and Raphael?) have been given new lives in a paralell world, another chance to explore their human potential.
I have a feeling neither of these is quite right.
June 7, 2008 at 1:12 am
nomananisland
I’m sorry you feel a little lost, Fiona. I promise, the answers are there in the text. I would say that you are on the right track. But it’s more like Ethan’s conception of heaven, maybe. And “Raphael?” — you said. What did Raphael write at the end of this chapter? How might that be significant?
However, since the story is finished (for now) I’m willing to answer any question, as much as I am able.
Just ask. 🙂
June 7, 2008 at 1:38 am
Anonymous
It’s not a dream but is it heaven, or some fresh start in the world as it was meant to be
June 7, 2008 at 2:55 am
nomananisland
Okay, here’s a helping hand:
June 7, 2008 at 9:21 am
Merrie
Isn’t it said somewhere (ok Bible studies was never my thing) but something along the line that one day people will be allowed in to heaven.
I’m guessing that through this battle we came to the last battle and good won. As good won (so even though it happened) Ethan was rewarded (being the one that fought the battle) by coming back to the point it all really started.
And the world itself was being rewarded in helping out by never having been destroyed in the first place.
I.e. everything we’ve read did happen, but because it happened it also eliminated itself.
The proof that the day of judgment had indeed been is also the fact that Raphael is going home to his wife. A wife that died many millienias ago, but has now been resurrected and is living with him in heaven.
June 7, 2008 at 9:27 am
Merrie
Oh and because I didn’t mention it in my previous post.
I think I hated (hated not as in thinking it was bad, because it is mostly well written (did not read the revised version) but because I had a hard time connecting to anyone in the story because of their believes) the story while I was reading it, but I was completely captured by it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Now that it has come to an end I will miss it, and I’m looking forward to reading your new story.
June 7, 2008 at 12:02 pm
nomananisland
Merrie: thank you for your honest appraisal. I knew when I started that Ethan would be difficult for people to connect with, and of course a lot of the religious subject matter. I’m sorry Genevieve, at least, didn’t reach you — she intentionally never really expresses any religious convictions, and just does what’s right because it’s the right thing to do. But, in the midst of a very spiritual story, that probably wasn’t that obvious.
I greatly appreciate that, despite not feeling very connected to the characters, you still found the story compelling and interesting. I know from experience that it can be very hard to enjoy a story if the characters aren’t personally relatable. Thank you for giving this a chance, that means a lot.
“The Surprising Life and Death of Diggory Franklin” is a lot more humourous and down to earth than this story, so hopefully that will be fun too. But keep your eyes peeled for the sequel to “No Man an Island,” because it’ll be very different from its predecessor.
Here’s the link to Diggory for people:
http://gavin7w.blogspot.com/
June 7, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Allan T Michaels
Very good Gavin. The story took some getting into (I haven’t gone back to reread the modified beginning chapters), but I enjoyed it immensely, always looking forward to the next day’s update.
I will have to meditate on the broader meaning, and purchase the LuLu copy to reread. I’m sure I’ll get more out on the second time through.
Bravo sir. Nearly a year’s worth of posts. An ambitious project, well executed.
June 7, 2008 at 5:10 pm
nomananisland
Thank you sir.
Katie started a second read through, apparently, and says the beginning is really different when you know later parts, it creates foreshadowing that wasn’t readily apparent before. Which is great to hear, since I designed it that mutiple reads would offer something different.
For you it will be different again, because of the modified beginning. But that’s kind of appropriate, given the ending and the last two chapters. 😉
Time for Diggory, with less intellectual underpinnings, something fun while I plan the sequel and keep hacking away at Jonah and Samaritan. 🙂
June 8, 2008 at 10:27 am
Merrie
Well Genevieve and also Gwen is the two characters that I even related to some extent too.
And yes, also for me it’s hard to relate to a story where I can’t relate to the characters, if you feel for them reading is usually a lot easier.
But the story itself was intriguing, and thought-provoking, so even to the people didn’t talk to me it was well worth the read.
July 14, 2008 at 3:25 am
srsuleski
*flails*
I’m so confused. At first I was confused about how it could possibly be “just a dream” — now seeing that it wasn’t “just a dream” you have me all confused about what is actually going on. 😛
And I can’t imagine what the sequel could be about! Unless it picks up at the end here with this alternate life… does this mean all the “friends” who died will be in the story again starting over from when they were kids, or not, because they died as lost sinners?
Augh! So many questions!
I don’t have time (or mental energy) to go through the chapters listed in the “clues” post tonight, but I’ll probably try to get to that later.
This was a truly amazing novel, Gavin. It boggles the mind.
July 14, 2008 at 10:21 pm
nomananisland
It boggled my mind to write it, so I’m not surprised at how confusing it can sometimes be for others. But it is tremendously gratifying to hear that people are enjoying it. (Especially when a lot of my readers are also fellow writers, and you can find links to their excellent work in my blogroll).
The sequel answers some of the questions people are raising. Which is irritating me, because it means I can’t answer all of the comments as much as I might like. That’s why I gave the clues, but that list is really really really long because of how layered the entire manuscript is.
I may indeed have to look into Sonja’s suggestion about a readers’ forum, so that NMAI fans (and Diggory fans) have a place to hang out and work out some of these questions (with me of course).
And, depending on my pace with the sequel, I might fill you all in anyway (I wrote like 20 pages in 2 days, but then the past two weeks have been really really ridiculously busy and I’ve done like zero writing on anything. Thankfully, I have a few banked chapters on Diggory, or I’d be behind).
August 10, 2008 at 1:47 am
Alderin
I have to say, “Bravo!”
Very well executed and entertaining story. I do agree with Merri on the nobody I could ‘connect’ with. It took me a while to get over the spirituality of it until I placed all of the spiritual reference into the same category as magic in other stories (“wouldn’t it be nice/interesting if…”). Once reading in that mindset, I was very hooked and enjoyed the whole story. I haven’t re-read the re-written beginnings, but I will have to wait a while to do so, because my memory is quirky that way.
Again, excellent story!
*HUGS*