Chapter I
Its 2 o'clock in the morning. The crickets are chirping, the waves are lightly splashing on the shore; the crescent moon shines onto the ocean, making it glimmer. It is a perfectly natural night on Providence Island.
Earlier that day a single father came on a boat from the mainland with his 14 year old daughter.
He had receding gray hair on a lined face that looked like it had seen many sights over many years. He wore a grey suit that may have once been very well cared for, but not so now. He is a traveler, keen on seeing rare sights. His continuous absence from his family led to divorce where the mother of the daughter left with her lover, and the father, still wanting to travel, brought his daughter whom he barely knows to a remote island where happy families and children her age live so she can live happily while he explores.
She has silky smooth ruby hair that elegantly falls about her pretty face. Her hair is not as long as some of the girls' where her hair falls just short of her shoulders. She has a white tank top and a skirt that matches her hair. She put her past behind her, and forgot all about her previous home and her previous life.
Their ship had docked and the old father stepped off and swept the area with his eyes. He was a strict person, disliking the children playing on the sandy beach giving no care to their clothes and the two boys on an elevated island 30 feet from the shore sitting on a bent tree, both looking immensely dirty and content.
The girl tentatively stepped off and looked around. She was like her father in the way that she was adventurous, yet like her mother with courage. She giggled a little as she watched the younger kids splashing around in the water and her eyes drifted to the two boys on the tree.
By now the two boys had noticed the new arrival and were watching with interest. The appearance of a girl made their eyebrows rise.
The brown spiky haired boy sitting on the tree was wearing a red shirt with a light black jacket and matching red shorts. He had navy blue colored eyes and an innocent face. He is 14 years old.
The silver shoulder length haired boy leaning against the tree had a banana yellow sleeveless shirt which still showed his muscular build, and dark blue long pants. He had teal colored eyes and his face a look of arrogance and slight secrecy. He is 15 years old.
The brown haired boy murmured out of the corner of his mouth.
"Age?"
"13, maybe 14" murmured the silver haired boy back.
Both of them noticed the girl watching them and slowly rotated their heads so they would look at the horizon.
"Think she noticed?" said the brown haired boy.
The silver haired boy considered for a second before whispering back, "Nah".
The father went to grownups watching there children and started talking to them. His daughter came up and he shooed her along. She rolled her eyes at him and walked off keeping an eye on the boys by the tree. She noticed definite groups of kids, four slightly younger boys quite determined to dunk each other under the water, 5 younger girls making sandcastles, and 3 infants crawling around being carefully watched by their parents.
The girl made her way towards the two boys on the tree. She walked across a wooden bridge from towards the smaller island rising out of the water. The boys pretended not to hear her, keeping their heads perfectly still. The island had the one bent tree the boys where on, and 5 coconut trees where the coconuts where starting to become ripe.
The girl approached the boys. As she did so, the silver haired boy turned his head towards the noise of her footsteps. Now the brown haired boy's head turned.
The girl stopped and held her arm behind her back, being slightly shy.
"Hi, I'm Jenn. I'm new here."
She looked into the silver haired boy's eyes and slightly blushed.
The silver haired boy fainted grinned.
"We know. I'm Lance, and that's Stryk" he nodded at the brown haired boy who gave a goofy grin.
Lance left the tree and turned completely around to face Jenn.
"Let's show you around." He said.
Stryk smiled and got off the tree and started the tour.
"This is our hang-out. We come here all the time. The beach is where the littler kids go, and the grownups sit on the homemade benches."
Jenn nodded along and Lance snorted.
"That was a pretty crappy tour."
Stryk frowned and opened his mouth, but Lance cut him off.
"Here. We want to show you something."
He glanced around to make sure no one was watching, and then pointed at a small hole between two trees that was covered by the branches.
Lance held the branches aside for Jenn before quickly jump in before Stryk could get through. He laughed as Stryk made his way through yelling at Lance.
They came out in the forest, yet there was a slight trail on the ground.
Jenn looked around in awe. There were splotches of sunlight streaming in through the gaps in the branches. Crickets were chirping and butterflies were fluttering past. There were large boulders partially in the ground and they were covered with rock carved graffiti. The waves from the ocean were no longer heard, nor were the shouts of playing children. It was a place all to themselves.
Jenn's mouthed formed a "wow" before Lance started to lead her along the path. They wandered deeper into the heart of the forest were they came to a spot where untouched boulders lay, making a horseshoe of rocks.
In the wall smack in the middle was a wooden door with no handle or keyhole. It was attached without hinges, yet firmly in place.
Completely awed, Jenn starts rotating slowly so as to take in every detail. Lance spoke up.
"We come here to be alone. It's sheltered and people can't hear us from outside."
"It's amazing…" Jenn whispered, "It reminds me of something… something I can't recall…"
Lance looked at her slightly puzzled. There was a flash of light in which he glimpsed the door, but it was slightly different. Before he could see the difference, the vision was gone.
Stryk had picked up a rock and started carving into the side of one of the boulders. Jenn watched him while Lance leaned against the rock wall and crossed his arms.
Stryk slowly chiseled away at the rock and finally backed up. On the rock wall was three heads: Lance's, Stryk's, and Jenn's all looking towards the center of the horseshoe.
Stryk sat back and grinned at it, Lance simply stared at it with his arms still crossed, and Jenn took out a camera and snapped a picture of it. She then turned around to face Lance and Stryk.
"Ok, come here."
Stryk bounded over and Lance sidled up next to her. She aimed the camera at the three of them.
"Ok, smile!"
Its 2 o'clock in the morning. The crickets are chirping, the waves are lightly splashing on the shore; the crescent moon shines onto the ocean, making it glimmer. It is a perfectly natural night on Providence Island.
There is one slight difference to the island. Two teenagers are still awake.
Lance is bent over his journal trying to write by candlelight. He summarizes the day, as he normally does. He is up so late from watching the sunset on the smaller island with Stryk and Jenn.
He can still remember leaning against the tree in his usual manner, Jenn and Stryk both sitting on the tree. Talking about their lives and adventures they've had on the island, watching the sky turn blue, to red, to indigo, then as the sun drops down, seeing the small green flash of the sun's last rays.
Lance and Stryk are both orphans and they live in the same room together. Lance looks over at Stryk to see him sleeping and snoring heavily. He slightly grins and returns to his journal, finishes up with a couple sentences and closes it. He blows out the candle, but doesn't fall asleep right away. He lays there, arms behind his head thinking about the events of the day.
The other teen still awake is Jenn. She got a room with a family on the island. Her father made the arrangements and left as soon as he could. Jenn lay in her bed, looking the picture of her new friends. There was Stryk on the left, Lance on the right, and Jenn in the middle with the weird door behind her. She was smiling in the picture, Stryk had a big toothy grin, and Lance was nearly poker faced, though the ends of his mouth curve upwards ever so slightly.
She gave a sigh of contentment and drifted off to sleep.