Hannah+C

It was mid October, the water around me icy, I could feel it in my brittle bones. My fingers and toes didn’t tingle anymore. The ocean water consumed my lower half, but my upper half floated blissfully above the coral reef, like a life preserver. Slowly I awoke, seeing my surroundings come to focus for the first time in what must have been hours. My sister lay beside me. Her chest did not rise, nor fall. Her fingers didn’t twitch as they so oddly did when she slept every night. I didn’t need to look any closer to know.I was lying in a tragic setting. I might have cried, but for some un- known reason the tears didn’t come. Nothing was as it should be.

The water wasn’t deep. I cold stand in my icy numb toes. I needed to get out of the water, swim to shore, but it was so cold. And the close by sea shore did not look very welcoming.

A man in uniform was tending to a woman, he was largely decorated, the metals shining furiously in the morning sun. As I got closer I began to see more shining, but not from the soldiers uniform. It was in the trees. I could hear charms of some kind clinking in the wind. It sent shivers down my cold goose bump layered body. It was acute, but the knowledge that this place was wrong somehow was apparent.

Once ashore, the man in uniform, who’s name was josh, decided somehow, that I was in shock, after just a few questions. Other then the utter lack of body heat, though, I felt fine. I guess that was the problem.

Josh didn’t have my full attention, but for a moment I took him in; He had a strong reassuring way about him. His eyes soft, his short blond curls, and his strong tall look. His metals still glimeres in the sunlight, but the sun was fading in the sky, and so was the flashed from his metals. They turned into small sparks of gold.

The beautiful woman he tended to had sat two seats in front of me on the cursed plane. She was tall, had gorgeous chesnut brown hair, and was skinny as a twig! But she wasn’t the Barbie she had been on the plane anymore. All down the left side of her body was burnt. Blood, and scorched skin made me sick to my stomach. Her hair on the plane had been pin straight, and perfect, but it had swollen into a matted heap on h er pretty head. Her stiletto heels were missing. Maskera drooled down the un burned side of her face.

Following Josh, who seemed a natural born leader, Barbie girl and I headed off into the woods, and to find help. As we left the beach the horrific scene of the sinking aircraft, and the dead men, women, and children, that were destined to be lost at sea within hours.

Stumbling uphill toward some kind of smoke source, we were silent, apart from the off ouch from Barbie girl every time she tripped, and the constant directional orders soldier boy was giving. He somehow found a path between the looming treen, and the ankle biting shrubs. I was wishing I had stayed home and went to work at my my terrible wateresing job this morning, instead of going on this crazy trip to explore London. DUMB DUMB DUMB. I thought to myself. I felt as though we were being watched.

After what felt like hours of hiking to the smoke, we arrived. Someone had been there and they hadn’t left much before. The area around the pit was littered with animal bones, and strange herbs.

I looked up to see soldier boy taken aback. Barbie girl didn’t seem to notice anything was wrong with the picture. A sudden urgency grew in me, and I could see it in soldier boy’s eyes. We needed to leave. After skittering down the mountain in the dark, we found a clearing in the woods, and soldier boy decided we would sleep here. My stomach rumbled, in hunger, but there was no food, and I was used to that.

Later after soldier boy and I had set up a tarp he had managed to salvage from the plane, along with a gun, first-aid kit, knife, and rope I lay awake in the cold darkness. Staring at the neon blue ceiling above me, that was lit by the night stars. Sick feelings in my stomach loomed. Flash backs of the horrific incident plaigued my mind.

“Something smells like burnt toast.” Said my sister in the seat beside me

.....Missing part.....

**Chapter two**
Whipping sleep from my dreary eyes, I saw her shuffling nearer. Chanting. I couldn't understand through her thick accent, but eventually her erie words prevailed. "Do not enter the woods." She chanted over and over. "Do not enter the woods." the words slurred.

"Don't come any closer!" Soldier boy bulled out his intimidating gun. " I'll shoot. I mean it!" He yelled wildly. " What to you want?!"

She didn't answer. The spooky old won jet swayed in place for a prolonged moment, then she looked up with a piercing stare. Staring through Barbie girl, as if she didn't really exist. "Do not go into the woods." she whispered in a raspy voice, then waddled off into the woods.

I had no idea what to say, words couldn't come out of my mouth. The warning she spoke struck fear in my fast beating heart; it made me feel utterly terrified. Finally it had dawned on me that this situation we were all in was serious. Not a joke, not a movie, but real life. My mind started racing. What If I never make it off this island. What if I never see my cat, or my mother, or father, or brother ever again? What people think I died along with Tiara. I broke out into tears. my eyes were welling up with tears so much that it was impossible to see straight.

"I'm getting out of here. Like, I'm going home. This place is just way too 1980's horror movie for me. Ugh." She stood up and headed off in the direction the old woman warned against.

Soldier boy stood up. "You can't leave. We're on an island. And if i'm correct in horror movies the dumb barbie gets killed first. Always. "

She shook her head. "Who says anyones going to die? I'm sure not sticking around to find out though." She turned around and twitched her way out into the woods.

For the next few hours slider boy ranted about how the old woman looked like a witch doctor he had come across in his travels to africa, how he was going to save barbie girl, even though he never actually went after her. He didn't seem to have the courage to go into the woods. The sun was high in the sky, so I assumed it was around noon, and feeling extra filthy I headed off to the water to bathe. I stripped my clothes, and left them on a rock, not far from the water.

It was cold. I shivered when my toes touched the surface. but instead of slow torture I decided to jump in from the cliff overhanging the ocean not too far down the beach.

I felt refreshed once I was in the waves. I didn't particularly want to get out. I was turning into a prune by the time I decided to wade out. I headed to the rock where my clothes should have been, but I seemed to be in the wrong place. Fully nude I walked down the beach thinking that maybe I had left them somewhere else. After about twenty dragging minuted I was getting angry.

"Um why aren't you wearing clothes?" I was so startled I turned to face him but I tripped on my own two feet and landed on my behind in the sand. My cheeks felt red hot looking up I didn't know weather to laugh, cry, or run off in the other direction.

Soldier boy laughed subtly and grabbed my hand to pull me out of the wet sand gently. So much for being clean, I thought to myself. he took off his shirt and handed it to me; thankfully it was long enough on me to be a dress.

We walked in silence laughing occasionally at the predicament I was in, and thinking about how it was almost dusk and barbie girl still hadn't found her way back.

After about an hour of talking Josh and I decided that It was time to try and start a fire. In the first aid kit there were a lighter, and some paper. The fire was lit after about a half hour of lighting paper and gathering twigs and wood. The warmth of the fire was comforting, but there was still an uneasy feeling building up inside of me.

There was a rustling of bushes and twigs in the woods. It startled me and soldier boy stood up. There was something reflecting the light of the fire something that kept shifting. I couldn't help but to notice, soldier boy looked scared too.

He got up to check out what it was, because there was no animal that could have made that visual. Horror stuck inside of me when he retuned with blood on his hands.

__** CHAPTER THREE **__
Her lifeless body swayed back and forth eerily in the wind. I fell to my knees the gravity of the situation fell hard on me. This was insanity. How could this happen? Was the old lady trying to warn against someone out in the woods? Did barbie girl hang herself? I was trembling uncontrollably.

Soldier boy cut her down from the tree, and dragged her lifeless corpse to our camp sight. Charms dangled around her neck, paint was all over her arms. All of this was unnerving, but the most ominous part of it all was she was dressed in my apparel. The clothes that had gone missing from the beach were dressing her breathless remains. I didn't speak, just let out sobs of fear. Soldier boy was standing over her, not knowing what to do he asked me, but received no answer. He held her for a moment, showing no emotion, leaving me to wonder how this happened, then took her out to the beach and motioned me to join him. Releasing her body into the ocean, I didn't even take my clothes back. It seemed disrespectful.

I didn't sleep that night, for fear of ending up just like Brielle. Soldier boy and I mutually agreed to not enter the woods. We were both terrified. I could see it in his eyes. Brielle's death was obviously a message, or she wouldn't have ended up hanging in a tree so close to us. When I finally nodded off to sleep, I had horrible nightmares about how I was going to die, and about my beloved sisters death.

A scream woke me (it was a mans scream), not a frequent noise, I sat upright and shivered, looking around. I couldn't see anyone. Soldier boy was gone, fear struck, and I was paralyzed. He came back with a crazed look, his face was a vile green, and he was slashed, as if he had been running through the trees without any care of what happened to him. Shirtless, and his pants were torn off at the knees. His shoes were missing too. Not such a bad look, if it weren't for his face. " We need to get off this island!" He wailed. I rose from the ground slowly, still hoping this was a dream. "Now!" he roars.

"What? Why? How? There's no way. We looked already." I say in a raspy muffled voice.

" We'll find a way. We have to. NOW! Come on. Leave everything. We'll swim if we have to. " "What happened?" I whisper. "Bodies. Lots of bodies. Everywhere. Something awful has happened here. This place isn't right."

I don't say anything more. I just follow him quickly, sensing the dire situation had just become much more dire. He was fast, too fast, I couldn't keep up. My hair was falling into my face, and my stomach, that had not been fed in days, was rumbling. I wasn't going to keep up with him, but he wasn't willing to slow down. Then I tripped, into the filth and was covered with muck. I looked up, to see soldier boy scoop me up and keep running. He was fast, even with me in tow.

We went for a while, but it seemed no use. we had to cut through the woods to reach the other side of the island and get to the near island that was hopefully not so threatening. He set me down and told me to close my eyes. I did, and took his hand. Carefully we weaved through the woods, he guided me, we were silent, except for the whimpers I let out every time I stubbed my toe on a uprooted root, or a rock he somehow missed.

I was getting restless, and I peaked. I couldn't believe myself. The scene was ghastly. Men women, and children, hanging limp in the trees, some were decayed, some were dressed like the old woman, some were dressed more modern, some stared with wide lifeless eyes right at me. There were charms on all of them. I shut my eyes tight, and swallowed hard. soldier boy squeezed my hand harder and whispered" We're going to make it out. I won't let the old witch get you." My heart beat raced, I could feel my breathing becoming heavier. I didn't dare open my eyes again. I listened, but I couldn't hear anything. No birds, no wind. Nothing. I was scared for my life.

Then I heard shuffling foot steps. I heard her. The woman, " Do not enter the woods." She chanted, I could hear her coming closer, and I wondered if soldier boy had left his gun. I didn't hear him cocking it, I peeked, Wishing I didn't, because She was right in front of me. Soldier boy dragged me along faster, running now I had to open my eyes. He kept my hand gripped in his. I had never been much of a runner. I was running out of breath. All around were bodies hanging from tall, strong, aged trees. It was hard to avoid bumping them and sending them spinning. I was so stunned I couldn't speak to tell him that the woman was somehow slowly gaining. She peeked behind the trees and was gone, then was back in sight. I was so busy watching for her, that I missed a root, and got my toes caught. Soldier boy didn't let go, he knelt beside me and tried to pick me up, but by the time I was free we were so turned around in these woods there was no where to go. She drew nearer, and I shrieked in terror.