Thunder sounded and lightning flashed as a fierce storm raged on, the trees creaked and groaned as the wind and rain whipped their branches violently. The lights inside the dormitories and apartments flickered before losing all power.

Willow Rochester, a girl of nineteen, lay fast asleep in the bed of her new campus apartment. She was a sophomore. The thunder went unnoticed until a large streak of lightning struck right outside her apartment followed immediately by an enormous boom. Willow sat bolt right in bed, her deep blue eyes wide with fear, instinctively reaching for the bat she kept by her bed, which she dropped when she realized it was only thunder.

She scared easily, and so felt the need to keep some kind of weapon near by at all times. She plopped back down, intending to sleep again, but found herself unable to due to the thunder and lightning which was growing louder and brighter. She tried concentrating on numbers,counting backwards from one hundred, and always starting over at forty. It was just beginning to work when she heard something in the kitchen.

Willow sat up and grabbed her bat once more, she swung her legs quietly over the side of the bed and walked cautiously to the kitchen. Half way there she tripped over her strewn about shoes, yelping as she dropped her bat with a clatter. She straightened herself quickly, picking up her bat and continued to the kitchen.
She flicked the light switch, but the lights did not come on. She cursed under breath and reached for the flashlight on the nearby counter, after turning it on she sighed with relief, realizing that the something she had heard had simply been a tree branch scrapping across the window. How typical.

She turned around, pushing the swinging door, leading from the kitchen to living room, open. Once in her room, she pulled her shoulder length blonde hair into a ponytail, deciding to read, since she was almost certain there was no way she would be able to sleep now. After taking her favorite book down from the bookshelf, she snuggled deep into her blankets and read by the flashlight. She hadn't even reached the second chapter when she heard yet another noise. Snapping her book shut, she jumped from bed, searching for her bat, only to realize she had left it in the kitchen.

She opened her door slowly and looked about the living room, hearing the noise again, she noticed it coming from the window, this time sounding more like banging. She lifted the cushion of the sofa and pulled out a hammer. She had weapons hidden and many places around the small apartment.

She walked over to the window, readying herself to attack, she flung it open and found nothing, she looked from side to side and saw that one of the hinges on a shutter had come loose, causing it to swing back and forth hitting the window. Willow growled angrily and slammed the window shut, getting a single apartment was the worst mistake she had ever made. She slumped down into a chair and decided to call her best friend, Anne Webs, who would be willing to come over and comfort a frightened Willow.

Picking up the phone, she smiled slightly, happy to hear the dial tone.

Someone answered the phone groggily.

Willow asked.

her friend replied. What are you doing up!? It's two in the morning!

I couldn't get back to sleep after the thunder woke me up, she explained.

Anne sighed exasperatedly. Do you need me to come over there? she asked, sounding somewhat annoyed.

Willow said guiltily.

She heard Anne sigh again and then, All right, I'll be over soon.

Thanks so much Annie! Willow exclaimed happily. Oh, and could you bring your laptop so we could watch Pirates of the Caribbean? she added hopefully. She had her own laptop, but the batteries were dead, and apparently the power was out.

Anne laughed. Yeah, sure! Both the girls loved Pirates of the Caribbean more than words could say and had watched it over twenty times.

Anne arrived with in a matter of minutes, living only a few apartments down from Willow's. Anne set her laptop up in Willow's room and popped Pirates of the Caribbean into the disc drive. Both girls laid themselves down in front of the screen, propping their head up on the hands.

Near the end of the movie, Willow was still watching intently and Anne was beginning to feel drowsy, she yawned widely, and allowed her head to drop to floor. As her head hit with a thud, lightning hit the roof with a crack, breaking it and coming down into Willow's room, striking the laptop and Willow and Anne.

Willow groaned in pain, she felt as though she had just been hit upside the head with a frying pan, then thrown into a brick wall for good measure. her back hurt too.

She opened her eyes slowly, and taking in her surroundings, gasped. She sat up quickly, which she soon realized had been a mistake, as she was, for some unknown reason, in a hammock and upon sitting up had caused the hammock to twist and she fell out, only to land on another hammock and knocking herself and someone else, who she saw to be Anne, to the ground.

Anne yelped and sat up. She was ready to yell at Willow when she noticed the barrels, a group of hammocks and circular windows. They were clearly no longer in Willow's room. Willow, where are we? She asked, her voice unnaturally high.

I don't know. Willow replied, her voice just as high.

How'd we get here? Anne continued, looking around for anything else, the only other thing in the small room was a small dusty desk.

Willow was about to tell Anne that she had no idea about this whole thing when they heard a door open. The girls whipped their heads in the doors direction to see a strange looking tanned man. He had dark brown hair, braided in some places along with beads, bones and other trinkets, all held back by a faded red bandana, his eyes were of a honey brown and lined with kohl. Se looked very familiar. he exclaimed, swaying slightly, as though he were drunk. I see your awake, now mind tellin' me what yer doin' on me ship?