It was an early summer morning, and the only person awake on the island was none other than Angel Witton. Angel loves to ride her bike around Angel Island before all the crowds come on the first ferry. Angel's parents are rangers on the island. She lives in the former home of some war officer from the civil war. Usually she's pretty good at riding her bike with lots of distractions, but today something surprised her so much that she almost fell off of her bike. She looked down into the docks and saw a mostly empty ferry pulling into the pier. Squinting a little, she saw that it was about a dozen official looking people walking onto the dock. Now, it isn't odd for strangers to be walking around on the island coming from a ferry, but it was five o'clock in the morning, and the ferry from the mainland leaves at ten. Angel walked as quietly as she possibly could past them.
"Beautiful island you have here" said the closest man.
"Yes, very lovely" said another.
Then, Angel did the last thing she wanted to right there. She tripped on a Coke can from the tourists, fell over, and bumped into two of the business-y men.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," said Angel, lying on the ground, clutching her foot.
"Um, are you alright?" asked a man wearing the ugliest tie she had ever seen.
"Uhhhhh..." Angel totally forgot the men were there. "I'm-I think so-sure-okay-bye!" Angel got on her bike and raced up the hill back to her house. When she arrived, it was just past seven.
"Jerry!" Angel yelled at the gardener from across the street. Jerry was the youngest on the island aside from her. Jerry was thirty-six years old and the closet she had to a best friend. "Guess what!"
"Chicken butt!" replied the humorous gardner.
"No! There are people on the island!"
"Yes! We are!"
"No! Fancy business-y men came on the ferry!"
"What? The ferry isn't running yet. It's not even seven o-clock."
"But I saw it pull in with all these guys wearing fancy clothes"
"This I got to see." said Jerry as he pulled his bike out of his truck.
As the duo rode down to the docks and visitor center, Angel spotted the mysterious men.
"Look there they are!"
"I'll be darned" said Jerry "I thought you were pulling my leg."
"Jerry! You didn't believe me? Then why did you ride down here with me?" asked Angel.
"I was bored. Cutting hedges isn't a fun part of my job" said Jerry
Angel rolled her eyes at the young gardener as she focused her attention back on the odd visitors. They started strolling her way. "Quick! Behind the bush!"
"Luscious forests and unique historical sites are the main tourism appeal on the island" said a man Angel recognized from somewhere, but didn't know where. "We are one of the main tourist attractions in the Bay Area."
"Angel, I got to go or I'll lose my job." whispered Jerry as he gathered his bike and left.
Then, Angel understood who the man was, he was the Superintendent of the island, Mr. Diaboli. Everyone who lived or worked on the island was scared of Mr. Diaboli.
He was in his late forties, as a classic business man. He grew up in an extremely wealthy family. He was, how do I say this, not very nice. He threatened to fire at least one of his employees a day just to see their facial expressions. He also wasn't very good at his job. He rarely came to the Island, and when the rangers asked about getting something repaired, all he did was ignore them. Angel secretly thought that the only reason he was the Superintendent of the island was for bragging rights. She focused her attention back to the conversation in front of her.
"Picturesque beaches perfect for swimming"
Anyone in their right mind wouldn't even think about swimming in the bay water. It is freezing cold! Angel thought.
"I'm sorry sir, this island very beautiful, but I don't understand why you brought us here" said the business man with the ugly tie. Angel sat up a little straighter to hear them better.
"Well it is obvious, knowing all of your professions" said Mr.Diaboli
"But this land belongs to the state" said Mr.Ugly-Tie.
"I can pull a few strings to give the land to you"
Then, as Angel was practically screaming for them to tell her what they wanted with the island, She realized something. While she was listening to the men speak, her bike rolled down the hill. All thoughts of Mr.Diaboli evil plans escaped her mind as she ran down the hill after her bike. All of the men watched her retrieve her bike.
Murmurs escaped through the crowd.
"Why is there a little girl here?"
"I thought the public ferry left at ten?"
Angel tried to make a run for it, but was interrupted by Mr.Diaboli.
"Angel! Get back here!"
Angel sulked back to him.
"This is Angel Witton, she is the only child who lives on the island. Her parents are Park rangers for Angel island." Introduced Mr.Diaboli. "She spends her day running recklessly about the island." Angel shook the hand of Mr.Ugly-Tie.
"Nice to meet you Angel. My name is Robert Michels, I have a niece about your age who is a little reckless herself." Angel blushed at his last comment.
"Nice to meet you too Mr. Michels" Angel immediately liked this man.
"Oh, please just call me Rob." He replied as Mr.Diaboli scowled at their friendliness. He intended to make Angel look bad with the 'ruckless' comment. He needed this to stop.
"Angel why don't you run along home for breakfast, Don't you have lessons today?" scowled Mr.Diaboli.
Angel rode the long way home. She had plenty of time, lessons start at ten. Angel didn't want to argue about going home with Mr. Diaboli. That never goes well. When Angel was born, Mr.Diaboli wanted to kick the small family of of the island. Angel's parents are extremely passionate about the island. So passionate about it they named their only daughter after it. Everyone who worked on the island protested about it. It made front page in the newspaper. There was chaos on the island about it for six months. Mr.Diaboli didn't want to look bad, so he let Angel stay. But ever since, he hasn't been the nicest to her.She also needed the time to think about the recent discussion she overheard.
Once she got home, she realized she had plenty of time before her lessons, so she went to her favorite place on the island, the hospital. It was a big red brick structure, no one dared to go inside except her. Crawling inside the door to the cellar, she checked her phone for the time. It was eight am.
"Just enough time to check in and see that everything is alright" she said under her breath. Once she was inside she turned on her lamp.
When Angel was younger she got bored easily. She couldn't ride around the island all day as she does now, she would sit on her front porch wanting someone to play with. That was before Jerry worked at the island. She often complained to her parents about her boring life, so her dad suggested she build a fort just for herself, where no tourists knew existed. So she looked, but the tourists knew every inch of the island. And then it hit her, she would make her "special place" inside of the old hospital. Most of the tourists were way to scared to go anywhere near it. So she slowly brought furniture to her little play house. She brought books and a table and chairs from her house to this abandoned clinic. Two months after she finished her playhouse, her father got a heart attack and died.
She sat down on her chair and pulled a Ramona and Beezus book of of the shelf. Angel liked reading realistic fiction because she liked to read about people who have normal lives, friends their age, and have probably left the square mile that they live in. She resumed her page in Ramona and Beezus and soon fell into the fictional world of the suburbs.
