Skipper kept on running and running until she was far away from the hotel in the forest. Perched up on a ledge overlooking the forest, hotel, and beach, she watched the sun's last rays glisten off the vast ocean in the foreground.

"Why would Stacie call me a wimp and a geek? Sure I'm obsessed with tech, but at least I can socialize! Sort of." she said to no one in particular.

Skipper thought about what Stacie had to her in the hotel and the sisters experience on the zipline.

"Easy for Stacie to do. She's not afraid of heights. Or dying. Or anything." Skipper grumbled. "And why is she always so competitive? We had just gotten here when she invented a new sport called 'snorfling' at the airport! Why can't she just accept me for who I am? My life isn't as exciting as hers, but I'm okay with it that way."

A though suddenly occurred to her. And it wasn't a good one. All of my sisters have more exciting lives than I do! Barbie owns one of the world's largest fashion businesses, Stacie is an extreme sports guru who'll be an Olympic athlete, and Chelsea is very smart. A lot smarter than I probably ever was when I was 6 and she just won a dance contest! She's on her way to becoming the next Barbie. And what about me? I play video games, run a blog, take pictures and make and direct movies as a semi-profession, and sit around and play music. Well, I guess the directing movies part is neat, but what about all the rest? I look like a slacker compared to them, especially Barbie! I don't own a business or do extreme sports or win dance competitions! She thought becoming frustrated.

Skipper became so upset that she ran up to the nearest tree and tried ripping one of the low hanging branches that had some mangoes on it, but the branch held strong. When she accidentally let it go, the branch flew up sending mangoes flying into the air and raining down. Several of them hit Skipper's head.

"Ow! Ow! OW! OW!" she yelled in pain as the mangoes struck her head and the back of her neck. "Urrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhh!"

She tried calming down, only to become more uptight. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! I can't even take down a measly little tree branch! Or keep the mangoes from beating me up! I got beaten up by freaking fruit! Skipper sat at the base of the tree and calmed down.

"Heeeeeehhhhhhh… Stacie's right. I am a wimp." Skipper sighed.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed that it was now dark outside until she heard the sound of macaws in the distance from the trees behind her. She also hadn't noticed her stomach growling. By the time she did, it was very late. Skipper pulled out her phone to check the time.

"Niine forty-five already?" she said. "Man, I'm really hungry right now."

She considered going back to the hotel, but she wasn't ready to face Stacie yet. Looking in her pockets, she found 2 pieces of chewing gum and a lollipop. Looking on the ground, there were several mangoes that had fallen out of the tree branch when she tried to take it down earlier.

"Meh, food is food. I'll be those mangoes are good." Skipper shrugged as she grabbed 2 mangoes and the candy from her pocket.

The mangoes turned out to be very sweet, juicy, and best of all, filling. Along with the candy, Skipper's stomach was soon full and she rested against the trunk of the large mango tree as she looked down at the forest, beach, and ocean in the foreground from her hilltop perch. It was now totally dark outside, save for the light coming from the large, silver full moon. The moon's rays seemed to light up the beach in the distance, making it look greyish and silver. Beyond the beach, the moonlight shimmered on the ocean's surface, highlighting the dancing waves. Skipper relaxed. It was now 11:00 pm according to her phone. She began to feel woozy and tired. Still not wanting to head back to the hotel, Skipper decided to do the next best thing: camp out.

" I guess I'll sleep here until tomorrow." Skipper yawned as she stretched out and leaned between 2 large tree roots before drifting off to sleep.

The night progressed calmly until about 3 in the morning. Unbeknownst to Skipper, dark storm clouds began to overshadow the moon, eating up all the light that she had seen earlier before going to sleep. Then, heat lightning lit up the sky over the island, creating a brilliant, but intimidating show of orang-yellow light. Finally, the rain came. At first, Skipper didn't notice it because she'd fallen into a deep sleep until she was awoken by a loud crack of thunder. Startled, she looked around before remembering where she was. The thunder continued and then, the rain came down.

"On no, rain!" cried Skipper. She looked around for shelter, but there was none. "I'll have to get back to the hotel before it gets too bad!"

With that, Skipper started down the path that led down the hill into the forest that lay behind the hotel and beach. The rain began to come down heavier as Skipper forged her way ahead with no protection from it. Unfortunately, the rain had made the path downwards slick and slippery. There was almost nothing to grab onto as Sipper nearly slid several times, but was able to maintain her balance. She was almost halfway down the hill path when disaster struck. There was a very steep curve ahead and the this part of the trail was made out of flat rocks that had become slippery with the rainwater. Skipper didn't notice until she began slipping on her approach to the bend. Then, it happened. Skipper lost her balance and slid down the path towards the bend.

"Whoa! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" she cried as she fell, landing on her back.

Skipper continued to slide until she slid right off the trail and crashed through the wet underbrush of the forest around it. Crashing through and flattening various small plants, Skipper tumbled down a hill until she landed in a pool of something that felt like drenched sand.

"Ohhhhhhh… that hurt." she groaned as she pulled herself up.

Or tried to. Whatever she had landed in held her fast and was up to her waist. Skipper tried pulling herself up and out, but she was unable to do so alone. Her left hand and arm were also trapped in the compact, sand-like substance.

"Ugh, why can't I get up?!" she cried, now a bit scared. "There's nothing else that can hold someone in like this except...OH NO! QUICKSAND!"

Skipper, now aware of the danger that she was in desperately tried even harder to pull herself out, but couldn't. All she did was continued to sink deeper. Skipper managed to keep her right hand out of the quicksand, but it was now up to her lower neck. I'm doomed! There's no getting out of this! Skipper braced herself for the sand to rise above her nose and mouth and suffocate her, but suddenly, she stopped sinking, as she felt her feet hit the bottom.

"I've...I've… stopped.?" she gasped, relieved and surprised. "All right, time to get out of here!"

Skipper renewed here struggles, but she was well and truly trapped. Oh no! What if I can't get out of here! What if no one finds me?! I'll starve and dehydrate! I'm gonna die out here if I don't get rescued! Get a grip Skipp! You're 16. Get someone's attention!

Skipper sucked in a breath before screaming as loud as she could. "IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE? HELP! I'M STUCK IN QUICKSAND! HELP ME, PLEASE! SOMEONE!" she cried,but it was no use.

There was no one around and the cracking thunder drowned out her cries for help. The rain began coming down heavier soaking Skipper to the bone and completely drenching her. Giving up, Skipper stared down at the quicksand that held her prisoner, demoralized, exhausted, cold and soaked. Stacie really was right about me. I'm a klutz and now I'm trapped. I can't do anything strong or athletic physically. I can't even save myself! Skipper tried hard, but ultimately couldn't stop her tears from falling, mixing in with the rain that unleashed its wrath upon her, and the quicksand that continued to threatened her life.

Meanwhile in the hotel…

A loud crack of thunder awoke Barbie, Stacie, and Chelsea along with the puppies. All of them decided to huddle in Barbie's room for comfort. As they moved in close to each other, they realized that Skipper hadn't returned. Stacie was the most worried of all.

"Barbie, do you think Skipp's okay out there?" asked Stacie with a worried tone. "It's coming down really hard out there."

"Yeah, what if she gets hurt?" asked Chelsea, who was equally as worried as she looked up at Barbie.

Although they did not interact that much, Chelsea missed Skipper terribly. Skipper was the one who took all the best pictures of her, filmed all of her and Barbie's hair and craft tutorials for Barbie's blog and found the best music to download to their favorite game Just Dance. Skipper's tech expertise was the reason for her and her sisters' fame on the internet. The puppies barked their agreements with Stacie and Chelsea. Barbie looked out the window. She was especially worried for Skipper. Skipper hated thunderstorms when she was little and Barbie had often found herself having many unexpected sleepovers with her timid younger sister. Even though she was now 16, they still gave her a good startle. Not to mention it was dangerous to be outside during thunderstorms, especially tropical ones.

"Don't worry guys. I'm sure she found shelter someplace and is fine right now. She'll come back in the morning. If not, we'll go look for her. I promise." said Barbie, her voice shaking a bit.

Laying back down, Barbie remembered the night they had camped out 2 nights ago and it began raining after getting stranded near the horse festival grounds. She also recalled the previous night when they had gotten lost and couldn't find their way to the hotel for Chelsea's dance contest. After Barbie had confessed that she was scared and didn't know what else they could do, it was Skipper who had reassured her it was okay to be scared and that she understood.

Flashback:

"You could've just told us you were scared." said Stacie.

"Yeah Barbie, we're sisters! We get it!" smiled Skipper.

Skipper's word played over and over in Barbie's head like a haunting tape recorder. "Yeah Barbie, we're sisters! We get it!" Rolling over, Barbie decided to watch the rain fall outside the balcony window of her bedroom until she could go to sleep. Oh Skipp. Wherever you are, I hope that you're dry and safe! Please, come back!

That of course, was not the case.

To be continued...

Author's Notes:

What do you guys think so far? Also, the trailer for the new dreamhouse adventures series was releases and I think the release date is now May 18 on Netflix. Check it out when it comes out!