Young Writers Society

Blaze David

The only thing he could think of was like it was being baptized. He had been, on the urging of his mother, when he was six or so.

The church was all wrong.

The stained glass was broken--sandy, white, green, aqua--and shattered all around him. Light came in unfiltered and it made him think of the angels of the Bible, on fire and burning.

His skin was burning.

His eyes were burning.

Water washed over his mouth and nose and he was sure he was drowning, but he felt no hand at the back of his neck, rather something like wet concrete. Sinkhole, like on the cartoons.

He had to be sinking. Sinking and drowning.

Maybe he could find a branch.

He pulled away from the sinkhole and the water poured away, as if grasped and pulled like a carpet underfoot.

He smelled salt and his lips were bloody and cracked, maybe because of the glass.

He looked down and closed his eyes, though his eyelids were doused in fire his eyes didn’t burn. He felt something squirm around by his calf, something scaled, and his wool coat was heavy as anvils on his shoulders and sides.

Why was he--?

He opened his eyes again and looked back.

Palm trees.

He was either dead, mad, dreaming, or on an island.

Maybe all of them.

He vomited onto the sand, brine and bile, and got the fish out of his pant’s leg. He put it in his coat pocket, in case he needed it later, and started to try to slog up between the pews--between the driftwood, he meant--and towards the tree line.

[b]Do not read if suicide triggers you[/b]

Luna Rae

I sat on the cold ground with the cool blunted blade to my torn up skin and cried, I wanted to leave this horrible place and never come back. Even if that means to die. The thick red blood drizzled down my arm slowly and almost painfully. The cool blade scrapped at my skin, I felt hardly anything. I was too numb and had been doing this for years. He really did it this time. My owner, that is.

He went too far this time, killing the one person I had left that loved me... Damon, was his name. He was my best friend. He'd try and visit me in secret each night. Sometimes he stay with me to keep me warm at night. This place, this hell I am in can get awfully cold at night. My owner doesn't care, he just uses me for unpleasant things. Damon was always there for me when I needed him, he was there when I was crying and now he is gone. He is never going to chase away my nightmares with his soft kisses he used to plant on my cheeks and forehead. Never again will I feel his warm hands around me holding me tight. I will never experience a love likes his again.

Jamie, My owner, killed him the morning he forgot to get up and leave me for another day. Jamie sat Damon on one of the wooden chairs near my bed and made him watch Jamie do very unpleasant things to me. I cried the whole way through, Damon screamed and tried to get out of the ropes. Jamie just smiled wickedly down at me. How could he enjoy this? I asked myself like every other time. But just doing those things weren't enough for him, he made me watch as he slowly and painfully killed the only one I loved.

This cold hearted man has pushed me to this decision, and I am not going back this time! I coked on my tears as I dragged the blade through my skin. A low growl came from behind me. Turned to see who or what it was through my teary eyes. Jamie stood over me with fire in his eyes. He swore at me a few times and grabbed a fist full of my hair. "Stop! Please!" I screamed as he dragged me to the door of my room. I dropped my blade and scream again as he hit me across my stomach. He dragged me out of the house into a dreary outside.

"I've had about enough of you!" Yelled and threw me on the hard gravel. My cuts were stinging from the dirt and flew into them.

"Please don't hit me." I cried and blocked my face."

"You're pathetic." He spat and walked inside. Is here just going to leave me here to die?

I closed my eyes and though of Damon next to me. This is it, this is who I will spend my last few minutes maybe hours. The pain was becoming unbearable just I kept my mind on Damon. I laid there for what felt like hours, and it probably was. A car sped past me and stopped next to me. I kept my eyes closed.

"Is she dead?" A male voice asked.

"Of course not!" The other voice yelled. I opened my eyes to see Jamie and another man around thirty like Jamie. "Pick her up and just take her.. she has no place here, after how she treated me." I was in too much pain to fight with him. I let the man pick me up and place me in his car. Where am I going? Jamie chucked some of my bags in the boot of the car and slammed in shut then the same with my door. The man that was in a black waist coat put something over my face then everything went black. . .

I woke up again, in the sand? I tried to move my arms, but the pain was too much. I had a small backpack with me with a jumper and some food. I reached over to grab my jumper despite my aching arms. I carefully slipped it on and tried to drag myself through the sand, I didn't get too far when I collapsed again. Hopefully someone won't find me. . . And if they do, oh I hope they are kind.

Alph

"So long, Todd," I called out to him, as his 1974 Dodge something-or-other truck banged, tooted, and sputtered its way down the trail. He was to pick me up in six hours to go home, hopefully with a bucket of beautiful fish.
"Seeya, Alph." Bang. Toot. Sputter.
Aaand he's gone.
Alone with my thoughts. I carried my various things to my little one-man sailboat, including rod, reel, bait, and, of course, lunch. I set all my stuff down, get in, and I was off on what I had no idea was to be the longest journey in my life.
In the boat, fishing. You have no idea how relaxing that is until you've tried it.
"Are those storm clouds?" I thought to myself, "I hope it doesn't [¡]ooh, a bite![/¡]"
I was distracted for the next several minutes by what turned out to be a piece of driftwood. By then, my boat (the [¡]Impressive Victory[/¡]) had itself drifted out a ways into the sea.
Because of this, I didn't even see The Storm until I'd wound up on its brink.
The next little while was rather unpleasant and not something that makes me happy to remember. Lots of water, creaking, and screaming like a five-year-old girl who's just found out that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has just been cancelled. It was not a thing which ended up in a state of creating a feeling in myself of joy or happiness, to put it simply.
When I woke up, it was on a sandy beach with a volleyball, the waves gently lapping my toes.
Just kidding!
It was actually on a very sharp rock slanting at 45° into the ocean with waves eating my feet and a crab eating my ear.
I then struck out to find what remained of my ship and other possessions, after carefully assessing my situation.
Just kidding!
I spent the next four or five minutes running around screaming.
I probably would have screamed a lot harder if I knew what was in store...

Katie Stone

"Colin!" I said, poking Colin. He whipped around and squirted me with his hose and ticked me before I had anytime to react.

"You gonna fight back or what?" He asked throwing me a sponge. I caught it ran inside the boat. Our parents boat consisted of 6 different rooms including, Colin's room, My room, the dinning hall and kitchen, my parents room, and a bathroom. It was pretty big and we used it almost everyday, almost. It was big enough to live on, but we already had a house. Colin walked inside to try to find me in my brilliant hiding spot. He finally found me when a loud bang could be heard from outside. I ran to hide behind him when he picked me up. I looked outside to see somehow we had drifted away from the dock. Colin ran to the control room, but the boat wouldn't start. He held my hand and set me down and he led me over to his room. He sat us down on the floor and hugged me close as the storm raged outside. The boat rocked as we hugged each other close. The boat was slowly filling with water so Colin picked me up and sat us on the bed to keep from getting to wet.

"We gotta get out of here," Colin screamed over the wind as he carried me to the deck. We were in the middle of the ocean in a sinking boat. We were as good ass dead. I cried as Colin carried me out to a piece of wood. The boat was halfway down as we sunk into the ocean. He sat me on the driftwood as he climbed on to as the boat went down. We are going to die.

Colin Stone

Katie was sobbing now and clinging to me as we jumped onto the driftwood. Our beautiful little boat sinking into the murky deaths of the ocean. I could tell Katie knew we were gonna die, but I wasn't going to let that happen. We held onto our little piece of drift wood in the ice waters as the storm still roared on. I looked over at my little sister who was still clinging to my neck. Her little face was terrified. She was losing conciseness from the cold, but I knew if she fell asleep. Her body would remain the same body heat. I laid her on the wood and rested my head on her chest to make sure she was alive. She was. I finally felt myself drifting off a while later, I fell asleep to the beats of her little heart.

I woke on a beach little Katie still wrapped in my arms. I sat up slowly only stopping once to throw up some water. I stood looking around at the beach and cradled Katie and tried shaking her awake. She awoke and had the same reaction as me and threw up. She sniffed and got down from my arms to hold my hand. She sniffed as we walked around the beach for any sign of other people.

Celest

I felt the tiny yellow lifeboat start to deflate under me. For the first time I am really scared for my life. I'm in the middle of the ocean in a deflating yellow boat with two splintered oars. My hands were undoubtedly bleeding from the blisters from the splintered wood. I forgot how long I've been out here and am considering the thought of swimming to the ocean floor to see what dangers await me there. I didn't even get to say goodbye to my mom or baby cousin. I gripped tho oars once more not seeing the pointed piece of wood that punctured my open wound. I let go of the left oar and yelped. There were hot tears streaming down my face that stung my skin. "Why don't you just give up?" I asked myself again and again. "They won't, can't find you." I leaned over the side of the yellow boat and saw the beautiful vast ocean. It was beautiful and hypnotizing as if it beckoned me to plunge in and drown. I don't know what came over me,but I fixed my braid and positioned myself to take a dive into the cool deadly waters. My feet were first, the sensation was relaxing and calming. I let my feet dangle there in the ocean and let the current take over my now motionless body. "I'm done," I thought,"this isn't worth it" Just then I put my stinging hands on the rim of the boat and pushed myself under. The pain was excruciating,but I didn't care. I closed my eyes and let my body sink. Then I heard a voice. It was light and airy. I recognized it clearly. "Cele," was all it said. No one called me Cele,but Ara my baby cousin whom I treated more like her sister since she was abandoned by her family. I don't really know how to explain what happened,but I ended up here on this what looked to me abandoned and desolate. My eyes opened and her I was. My hair was a mess and my clothes were drenched and stuck to my body. My hand went to my neck and I felt,y gold chain which was really all I cared about. I slowly got up and quickly looked at the land around me full of trees and beaches. I wanted to know if anyone could help me on this island. I desperately needed help and wanted to get back to my family who I loved so very much.

Mike Lewis: Day 32

The island wasn't kind. The traps that Mike had been setting didn't catch much here, and the lake that he had set up camp next to yielded few fish. With the little supplies that he had, he was living like a king. He could hardly expect more. However, when the Helicopter crashed, and he woke up propped up against a tree, with green goo covering a large gash on his back and the word Glunk bouncing against the sides of his head, he had only found a machete, a large hunting knife, some metal wire, some hooks and some fishing line, a compass, and some rope. No means by which he could make a fire, and he wasn't about to go near the fuel tank.

The methods he had been trying alternatively had ultimately failed. During the night, he had no choice but to go to sleep in the makeshift "treehouse" he had fashioned, which was really a tarp hung on a rope in a fork in the tree, where he slept. The nights were cold, but not dangerously so, and it had seldom rained. His tree "house" had served it's purpose for the past month, and had done so quite well. Other than that, he only weant into the trees when he spied a birds nest low enough to raid. He had to remind himself that anything was fair game in the wild.

This day, however, was full of many surprises.

For one thing, he awoke to the sounds of fluttering. A bird had landed curiously on his chest as he slept, clutching a bundle of twigs. As his eyes fluttered open, the bird flew away before he could catch it. He cursed his luck as he rose sat up, stradling a fork in the tree to keep from falling. It was only thirty or more feet up, but still a nasty fall. Especially since the lowest branch was at twenty feet. He made his way to clamber down to the lowest branch, and then cursed as he went back up to collect his gear. He grabbed the knife and the machete, the compass, and the rope. The hooks he used to build a few automatic fish traps in the stream. However, they rarely yielded any fish. This morning, however, he woke to find that the trout had been buisy this morning. He made a mental note to himself that fishing here was best at dawn. All three of his auto-setting traps had each caught a brook trout. I'd cook 'em up nice, too... he thought bitterly, If I had some fire! He briefly remembered a trick to making fire that he had tried in the past, and failed to make fire. But this was a survival situation. He decided to let the trout struggle feebly against his traps while he built a cooking fire.

He found a strong, bent stick, and cut a notch in it, forming a short, thick, bowshaped piece of wood. He found another stick, a large piece of maple a little thicker than a golf ball. He cut a short length of that for a drill, and took it as well. Finally, he slashed a piece of wood from a fallen tree that had fallen across the stream that he had frequently used as a bridge. Now all he needed was a hearth board. It wouldn't be hard to find; he remembered spotting a suitable piece of wood not far from one of his traps. He quickly went and fetched it.



With this, he fitted his bowstring around the drill. Using the piece of bark as a brace, and stepping on the notched hearth board, he began to drill. After about five minutes he realized that he had no wood. He cursed again as he spent the next fifteen minutes gathering twigs and branches of all sizes. He found a piece of dead moss, suitable for catching sparks, and placed it and some twigs under the hearth board, inside of a ring of rocks that he had put around a dirt patch not far from the lake. He started again to drill, pushing down as hard as he could on the drill, and he began to smell the satisfying scent of burning wood. Fifteen more minutes, and the moss finally caught. He removed the hearth board carefully, the twigs going up as he gradually fed the flames untill he had a merry blaze going. His hopes were that he could get a nice hot oven going, where the embers would stay hot for a long while. He intended to never have to light another fire untill the rain put this one out for good. It was then that he retrieved his haul of fish, the brook trout still pathetically pulling against the lines. He pulled them up, and with knife triumphantly slashed their heads off. He scaled, and gutted them, throwing the remains into the river. He would have to dig for more worms later, he knew, but he was happy. Best breakfast ever, he thought to himself as he mounted one of the fish onto a stick to roast it, electing that it would be better to cook them all now than to try and dry them in this humidity, risking his precious food. He would have to eat them today, else they would spoil. He had an entire fish for breakfast. It was relatively flavorless, and yet the most delicious thing he had yet tasted in his life. Foraging for edible herbs had lost it's apeal. He demanded meat. He was a predator. A predator... he nodded as he tore voraciously into his fish, while the other sat propped against a stone cooking in the oven shaped fire he had made.



He had just finished eating his second fish when a sharp rustling and a squeal brought him to his senses. He rushed to the noise to discover that a large groundhog had wandered into one of his snares, and was suspended five feet in the air by a sappling that bent under it's bulk. Mike whooped aloud. His luck this day was unlike any that he had ever had. Three fish, and a fat groundhog. He grabbed the hog around it's neck, as it clawed and bared it's large rodent teeth, but to no avail. I am a predator, he kept telling himself. He reached with his other hand to snap its neck, but as he did so, he noticed it's round stomach. Female... It's pregnant. he thought. He looked at the rodent. Could he eat it? Would a wolf hesitate? He pondered this. He nodded his determination, and with one deft flick of the wrist, he snapped the mothers neck. A predator could show no mercy.

He gutted it, removing the would be groundhogs from her stomach and attaching them to the hooks, which he reset as he cut the meat into small chunks and placed in the box while he roasted them on a stick he had sharpened. He was a predator. He could survive out here. He had the fire. He had the brains, and the strenght. It was nearly dusk, and he had only eaten two of his trout. He still had one left, and the groundhog was big. Big even for a groundhog, yielding a day's worth of meat. He was half way through roasting the chunks, and putting them back in the box when a movemet by the lake caught his eye. A girl. She was walking near the edge of the lake, looking out over the landscape, and hadn't noticed him yet. Mike couldn't believe his luck. He was already in a good mood from all the food he had caught, a mood he had never been in for as long as he can remember. More people! Finally!

"Hey!" he called out, and she jumped suddenly, her eyes widening. "Come over here! Don't worry, I've got some food here!" he said. He suddenly felt a pang of worry. If she joins me, can I feed two people? But he soon perished the thought, not wanting to spoil his good mood.

She walked over slowly. Not timidly, though. More like warily, as though she wasn't quit sure yet. He took a bite of the groundhod, which tasted as good as the trout. "I've only got fish and Groundhog on the menu, but at least I'm letting you pick." he said playfully.

"Thank you..." she said. She ate the meat hesitantly at first, but soon found herself going back for some more. Between the two of them they didn't eat much. It seemed they both knew the importance of food out here. After a while, she turned to him.

"Are you--" she began, but Mike already knew what she was going to ask. He was going to ask the same thing.

"Alone? Yeah. For a month, at least." he said, looking into the dying flames of his fire. Despite this, the embers glowed a bright and defiant orange against the red of the sky, radiating a comforting warmth. She, too, was looking into the fire. After a moment more, Mike turned to look at her. She was pretty, especially in the light of the fire. She was pretty short, and had black hair. The fire danced in her eyes, but not on the surface. It was like looking at a fire that burned in the depths of a still pond. They were mesmerizing. He didn't tell her this, though. Instead, he extended his hand. "I'm Mike." he said.

Hesitantly, she shook it. "Raven." she said.

Raven:

"How did I manage to fall overboard the boat? I am so freaking clumsy!" Raven muttered to herself. For the past four hours, Raven had been trekking along the island. She had no clue as to where she was. Just that she fell off of the boat, and ended up swimming to land before she drowned.

Raven had always hated getting lost. It made her feel less in control. Looking further ahead, Raven noticed a lake. Maybe she could get a better view of her surroundings from over there…

After a moment’s hesitation, she walked in the direction of the lake. Maybe she would find water, or food. Raven hadn’t had anything to eat in over 8 hours, and boy was she hungry! Once at the water’s edge, Raven began to kick around the sand and splash around at the small waves of water.

“Hey!” Someone shouted. What? Another person, finally! Raven looked around for the source of the voice. "Come over here! Don't worry; I've got some food here!" Foods, oh thank you, thank you, thank you!

The boy who had shouted her over looked around the same age as her. He was also quite handsome. He offered Raven an option of fish or groundhog. She thanked him and settled into her food.

Raven wondered whether he was alone, so she decided to ask. “Are you--” but he seemed to already know what she was going to say.

"Alone? Yeah. For a month, at least." he said. Raven thought about how lonely he must have been, and stared into the faded glow of the fire. Occupied with her thoughts, she almost didn’t realise the boy had said something.

“I’m Mike.” He said. Well, at least she now knew his name.

“Raven.” She replied. “Um, where have you been sleeping?”

“Oh, up there.” Mike said, and pointed up into the trees. A tree house! No wonder she hadn’t seen any camp set up.

“That was a smart idea… away from any predators.” Raven had to admire his thinking, not many people would have had the thought to set up base camp in the trees.

“Yeah, it’s safe, just a nightmare to get up and down to.” Well, no wonder, there didn’t seem to be a clear path up to it.

“I can imagine…”

"Uh-huh." Mike replied.

"Um... where am I supposed to, yanoe... sleep?" Raven asked very awkwardly, would Mike even be willing to let her share the treehouse? An dif not, where else would she go?

"Oh, that's no problem! There's enough space for the two of us, maybe even three, so you have moving space too. Kind of."

"Kind of huh? Well, I guess that's fine!" She laughed.

"Well, want me to show you up? There is one way I find safest, I can help you up if you need..."

"Thanks, I can climb, but I'm not expert..."

"Come on then, let me show you to your excuisite suite." Mike completed his sentence with an over exaggerated bow and a sweep of his arm.

Laughing, Raven said "I can tell you and me are going to get along just fine."

Blaze David

It had been a day. Well, a night, really.

His coat was now merely damp and the rest of his clothes had dried in the last afternoon sun and this morning’s sun. He’d caught some sort of rodent, a rat he presumed, and he’d eaten it. He’d eaten worse. He’d left a bloody skeleton behind him and he hadn’t stopped moving except for three hours rest he’d gotten during the very darkest part of the night, the only time the giant cinder sun or it’s reflection against the moon hadn’t kept him awake.

He yawned and picked out a bit of meat still in his teeth. He ran his coated tongue over his canines, tasted blood and sand grit, and then looked out at the ocean.

He’d seen signs of life, or signs of past life, including a half-buried femur and a few feral chickens. He’d seen a building, but one wall had fallen and the floor had seemed rotten and it hadn’t seemed a good idea to stay.

He hadn’t found a resort or any beach houses or whatever. He was thus assuming this was a trial, and he was either alone or the people he would meet would be threats.

That is, that was what he’d been thinking, sitting in his nest of palmetto leaves and scavenging for drupes, when he looked up and caught sight of movement.

He froze and dropped to his belly, hiding in shadows, until his eyes adjusted and he realized he was looking at two children, one a girl that clearly hadn’t gone through puberty yet and a boy still in the grips of it.

He tilted his head. What was their purpose?

He remembered he’d been not much older than the boy when his trials started, but it was rare to see a child so young. Not one that didn’t look at death’s doorstep.

He was intrigued, and he was larger than both combined. He grabbed the sharpened stick he’d made--his rat-killing stick--and slipped it into the waistband of his pants and pulled his coat on to hide it.

He then got to his feet and slowly walked towards the pair of children, tread steady and confident. His eyes were moving too quick, trying to take in everything.

What was wrong with them for them to be here?

He had to know.

We walked along the long beach till Colin suddenly stopped. I hid behind him in case we saw a bad guy and he pulled me towards his side. The figure dropped as it seemed to scan us. Colin stiffened around me as the figure started to approached. I prayed that it was a good guy as he sized up to Colin me still behind his safe legs.

"What are you guys doing here?" He said looking like a giant in the moonlight. The giant looked at Colin over to me.

"Uh, looking for help?" Colin replied picking me up. I squirmed not wanting to be closer to the giant, but Colin just held on tighter. The giant seemed to just smile. I let out a slight whimper as the giant looked at me again.

"Is this your little sister?" The giant asked, pointing a huge finger at me. Colin held on nodding as the giant led us over to the camp.

It wasn't huge but it was good enough. I sat on a rock and drew in a small mud puddle near by with Colin close enough to grab me and run if we needed to.

"I'm blaze by the way." The giant said trying to make it less awkward.

"I'm Colin, and this is Katie." I looked up to see the giant offering me his hand. I took it not sure what to do and he shook my hand.

"Nice to meet you Katie." He said as I ran away to hide from Blaze the Giant. He chuckled as Colin yawned. He set us up a little bed and I was asleep instantly.

Colin Stone

After Katie was asleep, which was almost impossibly quick, me and Blaze talked for a little bit.

"Yeah sorry about Katie, she's a little shy." I said looking straight at him.

"So how did you guys get here?" Blaze asked sharpening a stick he had pulled from his belt.

"The storm pulled our boat out to sea, so we somehow drifted out here in the storm." I replied picking up a stick of mine own.

We talked for a little bit longer till we both were to tired to speak. I was the first to give in and he followed soon after.

Celest

I was walking around the island now afraid. I loved the forest usually and the beach. Outside was like a second home to me. I was a tomboy and the girly girls in my class didn't let me forget it either. I was in seventh grade the year of boys and makeup which were subjects that never held my interest. Boys were just a nuisance in my opinion and not worth impressing and makeup made me itch. I continued walking what I hoped was north trying to find someone else in my predicament or at least a place to sleep for the night. My body was starting to ache and then I heard something. The noise was similar to those of footsteps. I had gotten so excited just then that I began to run towards them. I pushed aside the bushes and trees keeping myself focused only on where they were. I saw the shadows of tons of people. I ran through the bushes hoping to find someone,but it was just a trick I had played on myself un intentionally. Was I already hallucinating. I had remembered reading about insanity and hallucinations in a book about psychology. "I'm losing it"I muttered. I was starting to feel sick now and really hungry. I was starting to give up hope once again until I heard something once again. "It's just another hallucination. Ignore it," I told myself. I heard it again much louder this time,"Maybe it's real" I thought. I turned from what I thought was north and I guess has begun traveling south or something,but direction doesn't matter because if this is another person or even PEOPLE I could have just the tiniest hope of getting back.

James/Glunk

I rushed about through the forest, crazily. So many people have been appearing on the island. My island! Finally people! After so long! As I crept through the forest I guess I let my excitement get the better of me. Apparently I had started chattering and muttering to myself, again.

Oh, what the heck. Let me mutter. Finally, other people! I continued my happy dash through the forest. I looked up as the sky started to darken. Darkness approached. I should head back home soon.

I was so lost in happy thoughts that I missed the presence of someone near me. Suddenly, I crashed headlong into the person. It was a young girl.

"Forgive me, young one. I am clumsy in my age." I tell her extending my hand. "My names Ja...Glunk." Weird for a bit there i didn't remember my name correctly. James? the name sounded familiar and somehow right. When she takes my hand I help the girl up.

"What is your name, young one?"

"Celest"

"Well, young Celest, you look like you could use a hand. Do you wish to come to my home?" I offer. She nods. "Well, come along then."

I start walking in the direction of my home. Celest following behind me.

Celest

I ran with the thought of "More People" in my head that I hadn't noticed where I was going. We collided head first and I fell backwards. I didn't show any signs of pain,just in case this person was mean and not friendly. My eyes opened to see a gray haired old man with yellowing teeth extend his arm out to me,"Forgive me young one I am clumsy at this age,"he said. "My name's Ja... Glunk,"he said as I took his hand and he helped me up. I hadn't realized how skinny he was(lack of a better word) till he helped me up. I could count his bones,but Glunk to me didn't look mean at all,he looked like a man who could help me and become a friend on this island. He looked at me than asked,"What is your name young one?" "Celest" I replied quietly. "Well, young Celest, you look like you could use a hand. Do you wish to come to my home?" He offered.I nodded silently. "Well, come along then." He said turning in the direction of his house. I quietly followed after him. After walking with Glunk for a while,I gathered the courage and asked him,"A-are y-you a-a," he stopped me and nodded,"Yes young Celest I am alone on this island,but now I have found you and you've found me so we could use were alone opposed to was now right?" I smiled at the fact that I wasn't alone any more and picked up the pace just a bit. "We shouldn't be that far now," he said. I hadn't known what kind of house I was looking for till I saw it, it was at the side of the mountain. Though the trees were blocking it mostly,I could see its structure which looked like a log cabin. As we advanced through the forest I saw the house more clearly. It was a crudely built log cabin that had things thrown everywhere,but today I didn't care it was shelter and it would keep me warm at night. I skipped over to Glunk's side and we walked the rest if the way to his house side by side.

I woke up again from my nightmare to realise I was still in it. I let out small whimper and held my arms around my legs. Where am I? My mind was so foggy I couldn't see right. I stumbled up the sand in the dark and saw a fire going.

I rubbed my eyes once and crawled closer. There was a man that looked in his early twenties. The man stuck something in his mouth and looked intently a the bush beside me. I drew back making sure he didn't see me. But it wasn't me he was looking at.

I turned my head as I saw him grab a stick from beside him. I didn't understand what he was looking at. Something in the shadowes shuffled closer to him. Then, that's when I saw their faces. I cover my mouth so I didn't scream. They looked like the walking dead. The man walked closer to them with his sharpened stick.

Is he going to hurt them? I closed my eyes hoping this was a dream, "Please be a dream." I whispered forgetting I was hiding.

The mans head snapped to where I was hiding. "Who's there?" I bit my lip, his voice was so intoxicating.

"No one. . ." I mentally cursed myself. The two children hissed, "Luna. . . My name is Luna Rae." I said panicked.

"Get put of there, now!" He said firmly. I crawled to my feet, "Slowly." I nodded and moved out of the shadowes. His eyes shifted from me to the two young children. "Names Blaze." He whispered before walking closer to them. I stood there not wanting to look at their hollowed faces. "Stone children." He informed me. I nodded. but that information meant nothing to me. I was freaking out. What's going on? I tried to say, but again, everything went black.

Alex

I curse at the rain as it ruins the paper I was reading. Then I smile at the sound of a boat horn, my ship had finally arrived. It was a luxury cruise, and although I couldn't rent the whole thing I was able to get a private room. I pick up my bags and start walking towards the line that was already expanding.
"I forbid you to go on that ship!" Someone yelled from behind me, I notice it was my dad. I turn to him with an happy smile, Leave me alone old man..
"So you choose to come with me? Wonderful, now hurry gather your bags." His hand reached for my neck, but I had already moved out of the way. "Father there is nothing you can do to stop me from going on this cruise. I don't care about the family business reputation, as of right now all I care about is relaxing. I'll be home in several month or so. Now don't get in my way again." I say bitterly to him and walk up the ramp, as everyone else had already made it to the ship.

A few hours later and I decided to go to the ships bar. There were tons of guys there, all drunk. But I wasn't going to put it past them that's what I was here for. As the night progressed everyone only drank more. Before I knew it, some guy came up and hit me. I got up and slammed his face into a table, then left. I went to my room and opened the door, but then everything went black.

I wake up to find my self in a life raft. My bags nicely tied down put into it, I look behind me to see an island. What the hell happened last night I don't even remember. I grab a paddle and head for the island, wondering where I could be.

Blaze David

The children were not any of Ioann’s. They were so innocent they had let me sleep beside them as night had fallen. I had let them sleep and kept guard when I could, and used my makeshift short spear to catch a fish as the rose of dawn shakily made its way up the sky. Sometimes what he had done to my eyes was worth it.

I had realized I also still had a fish in my pocket, but it was rotten. So I used it as bait next, using a bit of net I had found washed up on the beach to help me.

I had got two fair-sized fish and had returned to the sandy place where the children were wrapped together like puppies, only for them to wake and rub at their eyes.

“Go look for some wood,” I told them. “I’ll start a fire.”

I pulled a piece of glass out of my pocket to show them. “It’s like burning ants, but I’ll be cooking fish.”

I had put said fish in a small puddle of brackish water, keeping them alive until we could cook them.

The two went to get sticks and came back fairly dirty, but arms laden, and that’s when I spotted movement.

I turned to see a girl, one closer to my age, and heard a name, Luna Rae, and then she fainted.

I waved at the children for them to move away from her and then moved close myself.

She was wearing normal people clothes, but she was scarred like myself.

Maybe one of Ioann’s. I looked over her again. Sex worker? Probably.

I checked over her scalp and felt nothing wrong, so I took of my coat and wrapped it up into a square. I placed it under her head.

“Keep an eye on her,” I told the male Stone child. “I’ll cook something for us to eat.”

If I couldn’t get a fire, I could at least feed them palmetto drupes, but I knew them to taste like old cheese and bad wine--it was doubtful I could get the female Stone child to eat them. Then again, burnt fish wasn’t exactly a feast either.