Chapter 1:
‘Day three, step one; get food, no water, wait no, food, water is easy to get in the nearby ocean,’ I thought to myself. The long grass grabs my leg at each step I take. I pick up speed panicking to find anything that I can digest. ‘Faster’ I told myself ‘Faster.’ I dodge trees, jump through waterfalls, duck under branches, but then I start to slow down. Teardrops started pouring down my face like the waterfall in front of me. I dropped to my knees in desperation. I used to think being homesick was going away to a sleepaway camp, but I never would've thought I'd be stuck on an island. Alone. I'd hear the stories of fishing boats going missing never to be seen again, but never thought they were true. I felt hopeless, what was the point. Wait, my boat! I realized that while it was broken into shatters, it still had my fishing rod on it. I didn't bother running back to the shore, this time I just walked and tried to compose my thoughts. How was I to tell my family where I was and that I was alive? My wife, and children Lily, and Jude who need a father like me. If I die in this… place would they ever know?
I got back to the shipwreck and went through all my stuff; A fishing rod, and couple nets, everything else must have fallen overboard during the storm. I grab the fishing rod and tried to catch a fish on the edge of the island, but the water was too shallow. Fishes that live in salt water tend to stay away from the ankle deep waters and venture into the depths of the sea. It was becoming nightfall so I needed to come up with a new plan, I grabbed the net and created a funnel-like shape in the sea for fish to swim in and not be smart enough to swim out. I sat down, proud that my fishing experience came in handy for once. Night was upon me so I went to the wreckage of my ship and slept under the planks of wood.
I woke up quick the next morning dying for a meal. I must've slept for a long time seeing as though the sun was already around ¾ of the way down. I jumped out of bed to check on the net. Nothing. I started feeling the effects of the lack of food. I needed something, anything, I was too tired and unmotivated to get water from a waterfall, I just dunked my face into the sea and drank as much water as I could take. Bad choice. I threw up the little food left in my body and lay there, next to my own vomit. I started seeing things, my family, fish, and a large, black, steamboat by the horizon. I realized I was still malnourished and needed water, so I made the smart choice and headed to the waterfall. I cupped my hands together to create a makeshift water bowl to drink out of. After what seemed like ten minutes of drinking water I couldn't take anymore but I still grabbed the biggest leaf I could find and made another portable cup to go. As I headed back to the shore I noticed a fish washed up on the hot sand. I dropped my lead and ran to find that it wasn't a fish, but a bottle. Why was there a bottle on the shore of my island, aren't I the one supposed to send off bottles? I was hesitant to open it but I figured I had nothing to lose. There was a paper inside, newly folded and crisp, couldn't have been more than a week old. I grabbed the paper to see the words “Who are you? Do you need to be rescued?”

Chapter 2:
“Sign here and we’ll be set to go,” the woman informed me, “Thank you for your business sir.” I couldn't believe it, this fool gave up a great island for only 500 dollars! My boss was going to be so proud of me. I hopped into my car and sped to the office headquarters. “You won't believe it! You know the island we've had our eyes on? I practically stole it for the price of 500 dollars!” I said cheerfully to my boss. “Well done Richard, we’ll send a ship and crew with you to explore the island at sunrise tomorrow, don't be late,” she replied right before slamming the door close. But I didn't care, because if this island was all we thought I was, it would be the quickest promotion known to mankind. I went home to my wife later that night and told her the great news, but she didn't seem as excited as me, she felt that there must've been a reason the island was so cheap. She had a point, I went to bed thinking about what she'd said.
Sunrise was at 6:23am, meaning I'd have to wake up at 5:30 to have enough time to make it to the office. Issue was, I never woke up, because I never slept that night. But I still managed to get myself out the door in time for sunrise, four minutes early to be exact. Since I was the one who bought the island I was the head of the crew and captain of the ship. Me and my 31 men and women boarded the black steamboat that awaited us. The ride was going to take around 11 hours with no wireless connection to the internet, so we had time to spare. We starting playing cards, eating, and talking. After telling the crew what my wife had said, the main topic of the night was why the island was so cheap. “Maybe they wanted to get rid of it,” one person would say.
“It's probably haunted,” another added
“What if it's a trap?” Someone added.
“Woah, woah, woah, let's not get ahead of ourselves,” I said to try and reassure them, even though I myself was panicking, “I'm sure we just got lucky, no reason to panic.” Even though I said that I started to believe what they've said, what my wife had said, what if it is haunted?
At 4:56pm we spotted land. Everyone grabbed their telescopes and binoculars to see if there were any signs of it being haunted. It was dead quiet, every person was rushed with adrenaline looking for a sign. “Holy crap, there's a person, or a least I think it's a person!,” the man standing next to me yelled, “but it's head is in the water!”
“What?!? Give me that!” I replied while grabbing his binoculars. Sure enough, there was something living on this said to be empty island. I looked through the binoculars once more to make sure I wasn't seeing things. But found the thing to be hurling something out of its mouth. I dropped the binoculars and sped into the office of the ship. Not only was I lied to about the island being abandoned but it wasn't a person, it was some being that took its energy from the sea then created a green substance to catch its prey! This wasn't real, it couldn't be we must've been living in some movie.
I sat alone for another 15 minutes before I made my decision, “we have to turn around,” I declared.
My crew looked around at each other disappointed until the man who stood next to me 15 minutes ago, Adam, stepped forward and said, “sir with all due of respect, we've been talking and what if it's a person, stuck on the island? There's a broken boat on the shore, the thing left but what if we send it a message? To see if it was a person or not?” I didn't know what to think of this, while it was more likely than a monster, a human lost on an island was also near impossible as well. But with the thought of that promotion in the back of my mind I agreed. We wrote a letter that wrote “Who are you? Do you need to be rescued?” We sealed it in a bottle and launched it into the water, we were hundreds of yards away but the current keep the bottle going all the way to shore. Once again, it was silent everyone was waiting for the creature to come out. All of a sudden it came running to the bottle, held it for a while then opened it. Chatter started roaming throughout the ship. The creature looked at it, confused. My heart rate starting speeding off the charts, I knew it, this was no human! It would know what it said! Then I heard the loud sound of the steamboat horn go off as I turn around to see Adam pulling the horn as loud as he could. The crew gasped and looked to see the creatures reaction. I couldn't believe it! Adam set us up! Now this… creature was going to kill us!
Then I hear “it's jumping, waving its hands, begging,” from the people around me. I guess they were right this was just a poor man in need of help. I directed the crew to go towards the man and save him. The closer we got the more I realized I was wrong, the smile on his face, the tears from his eyes. I felt proud, that not only I helped save a man, but I still got an island for $500!