Author's Notes: Just so you all know, Isla is pronounced like EYE-luh. I hope you enjoy and please tell me what you think!

The Secrets of Isla

Chapter One

The Lake

Each girl slowly followed the one in front of them. Never before had this walk through the trees been so awful and quiet. Kagome could hear Ayame crying from behind her, and when the light from her flashlight fell onto Sky's face, it glistened too. Sango was in the front, forcing them to keep moving. To continue on to do the hardest thing any of them had ever done their whole lives. Lives they had all spent together. These woods used to be their hide out, their sanctuary, now it made them sick just thinking about entering them again.

It was the first time since the accident.

The darkness felt like smog invading their lungs and choking any courage they may have had out of them. Nothing seemed as it once was. The trees were tall and foreboding and nothing moved or made a sound. Time stood still in this once beautiful world they had loved so much, until it stole something precious from them. The silence was enough to drive anyone mad.

None of them knew why the four of them were out their in the middle of the night. They knew the excuse they had all agreed upon, but it was something so much deeper. Every gut-wrenching moment since the accident, lying awake for hours in bed, staring blankly off at school, countless skipped meals, every moment of it each girl felt the urge to return to where it happened. But really, why would you want to return to where your best friend had just died?

Sky's fingers squeezed the flower in her hand tighter and let the thorns rip through her skin. She was shaking non stop and her stomach kept wrenching inside of her. This path brought so many overwhelming feelings back to her mind that she wished someone would just knock her out.

It made her remember. Remember when the five of them were kids and they had first found the tree house in the woods. How they were astonished to see their mothers names each carved into it. It was their secret, and now it was their daughters' secret, to be kept even from them. The sunny afternoons of playing with her friends went whizzing through her mind at full speed like a roller coaster, except the upside down turn was still to come.

Next she remembered running. Running so fast her legs were sure to burst open, but she didn't care. It was raining. Raining the hardest it had in years. The place she thought so fondly of was now one of utter fear. Soaked to the bone, they arrived at the lake.

Sky jerked herself away from the memories bashing against her skull. It terrified her to know they would only seem more real when the water came into view. It was just around another turn in the path. She stopped abruptly and Kagome bumped into her, apparently lost in the memory as well. "I... I can't do this..."

Tears started to pour violently down her cheeks, but she remained silent. Sango took a few more steps, as if believing if she stopped, she would never get going again. She slowly came to a stop. "Why are we doing this, guys? How is this supposed to make us feel anything but sick and scared?" She spoke for the first time in a week. She turned around and they all saw she had tears on her face as well. She looked older. Huge circles were under her eyes from not getting any sleep. They all looked a bit different.

"You know why we're here. Maybe if we pay respects to her, then we can stop feeling so guilty. Maybe actually be able to sleep at night and eat food without wanting to vomit," Ayame's voice was trembling fiercely.

"Stop it," Kagome looked down to the cool dirt path. She couldn't look any of them in the eyes, but someone had to say what she knew they were all feeling. "We didn't come back here to pay respects... something is haunting us." She stopped and let a few tears fall, her throat was burning from trying to keep them inside. "I can't sleep at all anymore. I'm terrified to be in my room alone." She stopped again and then slowly let the words fall out," I feel like something evil happened here that day. I don't think Kikyo just slipped." It was finally coming out. What they all felt in their guts but refused to let it be said. "I don't think Kikyo's death was an accident."

"Well what exactly do you think it was then?" Ayame snapped. "Do you think she jumped there on purpose? You think she died on purpose? That's sick! Kikyo would never do anything like that, she was happy!" Ayame was balling by this point and tears were now falling without hesitation from the other three as well.

It was silent for a while before Kagome whispered, "That's not what I'm saying at all." Sky breathed in heavily and let her sobs shake her body before she knew she could speak with a decent voice. "I think we all need to start saying what we really think. We know she didn't commit suicide, but the truth is, we don't really know what happened."

"It's exactly like what the police determined… she slipped. It was pouring down rain after all," Ayame said this in an angry tone but Sango narrowed her eyes at her. "Now Mia, if you really believed what you just said, you wouldn't be here right now." Sango walked closer to her and put her hand on her shoulder. "We have to do this if we ever plan on getting on with our lives. For some reason, Kikyo is calling out to us." Ayame raised a still skeptical eyebrow. Sango rolled her eyes, "Oh, come on. I don't mean like an actual ghost speaking to me. I mean the feeling in my gut that we have to come back out here. I don't know if we will actually find anything, but I think it will put us a peace."

Sky didn't think it would put them at peace at all. She knew she would be haunted by this until the day she died. None of them would have ever come out here alone, but for some reason on that day, the worst day to do it, Kikyo did. She had paid for the mistake with her life.

Why?

Her death was a mystery to everyone, especially to the four girls who had found her body. Kikyo's crumpled form on the rocks of the shallow edge of the small lake flashed through Sky's mind. This should have made her run away as fast as she could and never ever come back, but some freak force of nature made her start to walk on down the path after Sango. That day started to flood her brain again. Rain. Running. Fear.

The lake.

It was tucked into the side of a steep hill. It had a circular shape and half of it was surrounded by cliffs. Across the half that was hidden by these rocks a thick wire was hooked to each side. Sky could see the small compartment box hooked to the wire that they used as a platform. On hot summer days they used to come to the lake.

One by one they would pull themselves out to the center of the lake and jump off the box into the deepest part. The others waiting on the side would use a pulley to get the compartment back to them. Not being complete dummies, they knew how dangerous this contraption could be, so they vowed to never use it unless at least three of them were there. But Kikyo had broken this promise.

The water's edge was coming into view. It looked eerie, it was impossible to believe this was where they had spent all those happy memories. Not a single ripple touched its surface so the water looked dead and frozen. Kagome could feel her stomach turning itself inside out. Her heart and soul were screaming at her. Run! Run away and never look back! But her feet were stubborn and determined. They refused to let her turn, no matter how much she craved to.

When they reached the edge of the water they stopped dead. Their eyes fell over the familiar sandy shore, then the same old rocky hill, all the way up to the wire…then the box. It was only about seven feet from the rocks they used to climb into it. Sango tried her hardest to keep her eyes focused on it because the next spot to look was down. Then all four of them were staring at it. Sky kept getting ripped from that moment to the past. She could see herself running and splashing through the shallow water. She could see the look of terror and shock on her face and her mouth screaming silent words. Then, the worst came. She saw the long black hair, spread across the wet rocks, then the face. Her big gray eyes were dead. Stone cold dead.

She snapped herself away from those eyes and shook her flashlight a little, "Might as well get this over with," she muttered before starting to walk along the water's edge toward the rocky hill. She stepped on a forgotten strip of police tape. This made her think of something else that was very odd. When their mothers had found out about Kikyo, of course they were horrified, but when they told them how they had found their old tree house it sent them over the edge.

Kagome had never seen her mom look so terrified when she finally found out just where they had always snuck off to. This was the reason they were doing this in the middle of the night. Each mother had absolutely forbidden the girls from ever coming back to this place. Alright, why in the world would they want to come to the place that had traumatized them just a week ago? And yet there they were. And why is it unreasonable that they wouldn't want their daughters going to the place their friend had died? That would have been fine, had that been their mother's real reason. But instead, it became another mystery they had to find the answer to.

Kagome had gone with Sky and they made sure to give a certain spot of the water's edge a wide range. They had learned from a long time ago experience that although this spot was in the shallows, it was actually a huge drop off. They were almost past it when Sky suddenly stopped. She stared at something in the water while Kagome bobbed from foot to foot. She was completely on the edge and just about anything at that moment would set her off.

Sky leaned in close to the edge and stared at it curiously. "What's up?" Kagome asked, trying to cover up her fear. "I thought I saw…" she trailed off. She knew what she thought she saw, but to say it in her head and to say it out loud was a whole different story. Just then a twig snapped loudly in the brush just by where they were standing. Kagome whipped around and her huge yellow backpack hit Sky in the back.

Sky slipped on the muddy edge and fell straight into the black water, only a small squeak of surprise managed to escape her mouth. The water was now no longer motionless, however, Sky was no where to be seen. Kagome started screaming for the other two and frantically searched the water's surface with her light. They came running over to her, all three hearts were pounding so hard it would have been a relief to cut them out right then and there. This just could not be happening!

Sky felt herself lose balance and dive into the black endless pit. She wasn't absolutely terrified until something began wrapping itself around her legs and yanking her down to the depths of the darkness. Kicking with all her strength and flailing her arms through the water didn't seem to be doing any good. Inwardly she was screaming as she began to get low on breath but was still being pulled down further and further. I can't believe this is how I die! She gave one last surge of strength when a bright light lit all the water up around her.

Suddenly the three could see a bright light coming from the water. It was so brilliant that it seemed to light up half of the lake. Sky was now in their view but she seemed stuck, only able to flail her arms about, her dark hair swirling around her struggling form. Now without a second's hesitation the three jumped in to try to assist their struggling friend.

Kicking their legs with all the power they had they started to swim down the side of the drop off. Every time they almost reached Sky it seemed like she would be dragged down that much further. Sky was beginning to feel dizzy and her head was pounding so she stopped trying to kick. Instead she finally looked down to see what the light was coming from. Squinting to see through the harsh pink glow something began to come into view. A square outline stood exposed against the rocky bottom. She noticed that she was getting sucked towards this thing and when she looked up, she saw that her friends were now in the water too. They were moving down much faster than they could swim so she figured they were now caught in this current as well.

Sango was now almost next to Sky she was getting pulled down so fast. She could see the source of the pink light. Forcing her eyes to push through the intense glow she finally realized what they were being dragged towards… a very old looking well. What on earth was a well doing at the very bottom of a lake? She didn't have time to ponder this question because the next thing she knew, they were being sucked inside.

Sky let herself give in to the pull, but before she was completely lost to the light and the well's depth, she looked up and saw something behind Kagome. It was what she thought she saw before she fell into the water. A girl's face was staring at them, watching them being sucked into the well. And what freaked her out the most was that this girl... was smiling.