Eden Island: Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Letter

“This has to be wrong,” I said, my forehead scrunching in confusion. “They can’t send someone like… someone like me to the best private school in the US, can they?” I asked, my head spinning.

I looked down at the letter in my shaking hands. The paper was a rich shade of off-white. The font was an elegant, curving script, and the Eden Academy logo was printed in the corner. But what stuck out to me the most was who it was addressed to, the words ringing out as if being shouted into my head. Yuna Seo. My name. The dean’s name was at the bottom. I read through again and again, looking to see something, anything that refuted its authenticity. I frowned.

“It’s real, alright,” said Wanda Cliff, my social worker, a big smile across her pale cheeks. Wanda had been the one constant in my life since day one. Every time I switched foster homes, every time someone decided that I was a burden on them, Wanda was at the door within an hour of learning, a smile on her face. She’d take my hand, and lead me to her car.

There were some days when I wondered why Wanda did it. She was far too overqualified for the job she was working. She had an engineering degree from Stanford University. She was well on her way to making more than she knew what to do with, but she suddenly changed her track. Once, when I was eleven, I asked why she’d decided that. She was driving at the time, and she looked at me before turning her eyes back to the road.

“Just ’cause. I didn’t want to live the life of someone who hadn’t benefited people. As an engineer, I could have benefited society and tech, but I couldn’t have helped people. See, honey, when I take care of kids like you, who haven’t seen just how great life can be, it makes me so proud to see you pushing yourself to get the best grades, maintain yourself, everything you do. I know it sounds weird, but doing this makes me feel like I’m your mom, just dropping you to sleepovers.”

Many times we had talked about Wanda herself taking me in. She admitted that I had been kicked out of foster homes an unprecedented amount of times. It wasn’t normal, she said, but it wasn’t unheard of. Eventually, we came to a decision. Wanda had suggested that I try my best to complete high school with good grades, and she would assemble a college fund for me. It was the best we could do. Wanda had savings, but not enough to take in a child. This was the next best thing.

For people like me, people with no money, no friends, nothing, Eden Academy was a pipe dream. Eden Academy was a school for the elite. All of the important people in society had gone there. The teachers were top-notch, and the campus was on an island. It was out of my league to say the least. So when that letter came in, all I could do was gawk at it like an idiot.

I wasn’t a bad student. If anything, given my background, I was a top student. My extracurriculars were flawless. I had work experience. I spoke many languages. I was an ideal candidate in the skill department. But, I also happened to be flat-out broke. My money all went into either things I needed for school, my college fund, or extracurricular stuff. Eden was never in the picture. And yet, the letter was in my hand. My eyes narrowed.
“This doesn’t make sense. Why would they ask for me? I didn’t even apply. How would they even know I exist? How would I even afford this?” I asked, each question raising a new one in my mind. Things just weren’t adding up about this. Wanda smiled.

“Well, you got in on scholarship. Let’s just make the best of it. This can’t be a bad thing, can it?” She asked, taking my hand. I looked at her, wondering whether this was a dream, or more accurately, a nightmare. I didn’t want to go to Eden. I’d seen pictures of the campus online, but I just couldn’t stand how artificial it looked. The campus itself was nice, I suppose. It was the students that scared me. The smiling students on their website’s homepage had designer clothes on, expensive jewelry, and perfect hair and makeup. They were engineered people. I couldn’t be around them. I’d lose myself. I’d lose it in there, surrounded by those perfect, false people.

I shook my head. No, I would go. The school was a boarding school. It would provide me with a sense of home, even though I had none. Wanda was home, but I knew that she was close to her breaking point. She was tired, and lonely. She’d lost her husband to an accident, and she hadn’t been quite the same since. There wasn’t the same light in her eyes. Maybe my going to Eden could be for the better. I had no way of knowing, though. So all I could do was hope that I wasn’t making a mistake.