Willow Island

Chapter 3

As the captain leaves I thank him for his help in bringing our things to the cabin, the crude map, and the explanation to go with it.

"You are quite welcome. I hope you enjoy your stay," he says as he pulls away from the shore.

I turned to Rachel and said. "I would like to see the rest of the island. Kind of get a lay of the land. That way we can put visual references to this crudely drawn map."

"Sounds good to me. I would love a nice walk around the island. Let's go back to the cabin and grab some food and water before heading out. I am pretty sure this is going to take a while. This appears to be a decent-sized island."

After returning to the cabin to gather some food and water Rachel and I walked over to the path that led straight to the edge of the island where we were anchored this morning. We walked along until we got to the third split in the gravel and we chose to go right. After a short time, a set of thirteen cabins was standing in front of us. We went inside each one. Just as before every cabin appeared to be a carbon copy of the last. In fact, the only difference between these thirteen cabins and the thirteen we looked through yesterday was the bedding and pictures on the walls.

As we continued on our walk we eventually came to the cabins we saw yesterday, the giant cabin, and the sandy beach. All positioned along the outer walk path.

"Don't you find it a little strange that all of these cabins are exactly the same except for the aesthetics in each one?" I asked Rachel.

"No, not really. Each set of cabins was probably built at different times so they were decorated differently."

"Maybe. I guess that could be it." I replied not sure I fully accepted her reasoning. It just seemed odd to me. Why would all the cabins be exactly the same? Why was it always a group of thirteen? It was all just strange in my mind.

We continued our walk around the island on the outermost path. When we reached the original path that went straight to the center of the island. We realized we were back where we started. "Well, that was fun," Rachel said rather enthusiastically. "Shall we walk up a little further and cut to the left on the next path?"

"Sure, why not? Just give me a minute to eat a granola bar and drink some water." I replied a little less excited than Rachel and definitely a bit more apprehensive.

We continued to walk around the island in giant circles munching on our snacks until we saw all thirteen groups of thirteen cabins that sat along the three circular walk paths. Each as the captain described. All thirteen sets of cabins were aesthetically different on the inside, but identical from the outside. All except my mom's cabin that is.

"Well, there you have it. Thirteen groups of cabins with thirteen cabins each. Somebody really liked the number thirteen, didn't they." I said to Rachel as we walked up to the doorway of the cabin we were going to be living in for the next three days.

"I suppose they did." She replied as we opened the door and went inside.

"My mom's cabin is different than any of the others. I wonder why that is. She has two bedrooms, not one, and a much nicer sitting area by the fireplace. Then there is her décor. So much fancier than any of the other cabins we saw. Her furniture is also different, older looking maybe. I cannot put my finger on it. All I know is every other cabin on this island has the same furniture except hers. She must have been someone very important here."

"Uh, yeah. She was the owner Luna."

"True, it just feels like more than that."

"Maybe you need it to be more than that Luna. You miss her and you are trying to make sense of this island and her connection to it. Why don't we take a break from being explorers and go down to the beach to catch a little sun before dark. You realize we walked almost the entire day away."