Stranded

Chapter 4

I woke up the next morning to the sound of Midnight scratching and hissing at the door leading to the outside.

"What is it now?!" I was answered with more hissing and scratching.

I picked up Midnight so she couldn't escape to the outside world. There was no sound coming from outside and I was afraid to open the door, but what else could go wrong that hasn't gone wrong already? There can't be anymore humans here; it's a deserted island.

Well boy wasn't I wrong.

As the door squeaked open, the figure of a man appeared in front of my eyes.

"Dad?!" I blurted out, only to not find my dad as the door opened all the way, but a teenage boy with scruffy brown, almost black hair and bright blue eyes walk in.

This isn't real, I thought to myself. It can't be real! This only happens in movies and books!

The boy stared at me as if I was an alien.

"What's wrong? Why are you staring at me?" I asked.

The boy shook his head and started to speak. "No. Uh, um, do you live on this island, it's kind of remote...if you couldn't tell," the boy said with a smirk. His accent wasn't an American one. This boy was British.

"Oh, yeah. Totally couldn't tell." I rolled my eyes at him. "Why are you here?"

"Same question to you."

"Well I was thrown off my boat some how and my whole room came with me," I said very matter-of-factly.

"Oh. Well at least you have shelter...and this, is your room? It's really cool..." he trailed off, walking into my room.

"Hey! I didn't invite you in here! I don't even know your name!"

"Maxon. Maxon Grey. Max for short. And sorry, force of habit. I'll go." He walked out, grabbing the doorknob and pulling it behind him.

"Samantha. Samantha Brown. Sam for short," I bursted out.

Max heard me and opened the door once more. "I like that name. It suits you."

"I don't even know you, how do you know if my name suits me?"

Max continued to look around my room while speaking to me, like this was a leisure talk on the street or something.

"You just, you just look like a Samantha to me. That's all."

"Please don't touch my things, but please tell me who you are and why you are here, because I am very interested to know."

Max put down one of my books and turned to face me.

"Oh I've been here for a while."

"Like, how long?"

"About 10 years," Max said.

"What? Ten years?! Why that long?"

"I like it here. It is better than my other life," Max said, about to sit on my bed.

He sat down and continued to look at me, not in a monotone look, but in the look of curiosity, like I was a new species he had never seen before. What was it with this boy and staring at me?

"What is it?" I ask.

"Nothing. Nothing. You just look so familiar to me."

"I can't imagine why. I mean, I've never been here-"

Max cut me off.

"Are you sure you've never been here because-"

I cut him off for pay back.

"Look Max, I have never seen you before, nor have I been on this island before. All I know is that I don't know where I am, and I want to find my father."

I got up from the bed and went to the window and stared out at the horizon. It was beautiful. The sun was already up in the sky, but the sky still had a sunrise glow to it, and the trees looked as if they were reaching for the sun.

"I can help you find him, I mean if you want me too. I'm a good Finder. Well, that's my job anyways."

"What's...a Finder?" I asked Max very curiously.

I could hear Max stand up and walk towards me. "It's my job. I find and collect food. And sometimes children if they wander from the camp or get taken by the Night Crawlers."

"Wait, Night Crawlers?!" I was officially confused.

"Night Crawlers are the Indian people that live on this island. We call them Night Crawlers because they only come out at night, and when you see them, they crawl around on the ground like animals. They sometimes like to take children to...to cook them. And then they-they eat them. It's quite scary, really."

We were both staring at the trees that were stretching towards the sky.

"Okay. You can help me if you want. But I do wanna see your camp."

Max turned towards me and I could see his smile through the corner of my eye. I could tell I about just made his day.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door.

"Lets go then!" Max said.

"Wait Max! Midnight!" I called for my cat and she ran towards me. "Max, I am not leaving her here. She is coming with us."

"Okay," he said. "As long as she has a leash on her. Don't want her getting lost do we?"

"No. But I don't have a leash. We live on a boat."

Max looked like he was thinking, and then ran outside and came back in a couple minutes later.

"Here, this is the best I can do for now. I found this old rope on the beach. Very lucky, huh?"

I tied the rope around Midnight's collar and tied the other end to my hand so she couldn't get away even if she tried. We then headed off to Max's camp.