Pumpkin Island Page #3

Writing stories is my passion in life! It feels wonderful to create something new out of imagination. So, when a boy named Jake sails out to sea on a dare and shipwrecks on a mysterious island, it's the start of a unique and entrancing tale.

• Fantasy
• Fiction
• Humour
• Action and Adventure

								

“Well, yeah, there’s nothing else outside here.”
I couldn’t believe it. She didn’t know there was a whole world out there?
“There’s so much more than just this little pumpkin of an island out there!”
I ran up to her.
“There’s airplanes, a-and microwaves, playgrounds, video games, Sushi, anything you could wish for!”
“What’s all that? I want everything I could wish for! Tell me!” 
She plopped down on the sandy ground. I sat down next to her.  I told her the stories of the flying machines that soared through the sky so fast they left a stream of frothy white behind them.
I told her how there was a box that could make anything warm, except if you put a metal thingy inside it. Then it exploded.
I told her about a box that could make little people appear on it and you got to control them with a smaller box.
As I explained this all to her, she listened attentively, soaking it all in. After a while, she turned to me.
“How do we get away?”
I paused.
“How do we GO to that world you speak of?”
“I don’t know.” I confessed.
She cocked her head to the side.
“I’ll think of something.”
We strolled back to the house, as the sun went to bed over the dark hills. 
I scaled the jagged edges of the cave-house, and she led me to a sheet-covered bed. 




Day Four

Someone was shaking me.
“Get up already, sleepyhead!”
“Not now…” I murmured, and pulled the blanket way over my head.
This was a mistake, however, because the next moment, I felt the blanket getting yanked off of me.
“OWCH! What did you have to do that for?!?”
“C’mon, look what I made!”
“Breakfast?”
“No, sleepyhead! Come see!”
Groaning, I arose from my bed. 
“C’mon, c’mon, COME ON!”
“Can I get a drink?” 
“... Later.”
Sighing, I emerged from my lodging, and followed her. I was only twelve, but I was already getting too old for these sorts of things.
As I saw shore, I gasped.  There lay my boat, shipwrecked four days ago, now in perfect condition. As I looked at the little girl, I noticed she had dark circles under her eyes. 
Her pretty silver hair lay messily on her head, and she looked quite tired.
Even with these imperfections, she was smiling proudly.
“Did you.. Stay up all night building this?”
She nodded, never bothering to wipe the smile off her face.
“It's a gift.”
I was overflowed with happiness.
“You know what? ‘Cause you gave me such a great gift, I’ll give you one too.”
“What?”
“Would you like a name?”
Suddenly, it was her who was bursting with happiness.
“Really? What will it be?”
I thought for a moment. 
“Belle.”
“Belle?”
“It means ‘beautiful’ in French.”
“Belle.” She experimented. “I like it. It’s got style.” She said with a voice of decision. 
“Let’s GOOOOO!!!!”
“Hold your horses-”
“I don’t have any.”
“-Let’s get some supplies for the road.”
She looked a bit disappointed.
“But the only thing that doesn’t go moo around here is pumpkins!”
“Well, then, let’s get the pumpkins.”
“Hmm, you’re not a scaredy-cat after all.”

We were running back to the boat, a bunch of angry pumpkins hopping after us.
“THIS is what you call pumpkins?!?”
“Sorry, but I told you so!” She laughed. I started laughing too.
I grabbed her and sat her on the boat. Grunting, I pushed the boat out from shore, and started paddling away from the murky sands.
Belle couldn’t be happier. She was jumping all around the boat, excited, and touching the water below her as if for the first time in her life.
Well, I guess it WAS for the first time in her life. 
“Miracle land, here we come!!!”
Suddenly, I felt guilty. From what I’ve told her, she must think that the whole world was some sort of fairy tale land, should she know about fairy tales.
But something about seeing her so happy made me happy too, so I figured all the talk about global warming and pollution could wait.
I was so focused on her beautiful silver hair blowing about in the fresh sea breeze, that I almost didn’t notice the ominous thunderclouds sneaking up behind us. 
“What’s that?” Belle said in a voice of simple disgust and fear.
“Something we have to get away from!”
“Huh?”
As I tried to paddle away from the grumpy dark clouds, the boat started spinning in circles. 
“Belle, we gotta get back to shore!” 
“Why?”
“We can’t make it today! Let’s try tomorrow!”
“No! We need to get to that miracle land! I’m sick of being stuck here!”
I looked out eastwards. I could see land, but it was still too far to reach.

“We’ll try again next time. It’s unsafe now, so we need to get back to shore!”
She grabbed the oar away from me, and started paddling to her so-called “Miracle land”.
“WE GOTTA GET BACK TO SHORE!!!”
I began wrestling with her for the oar. I grew more and more terrified as the great thunderclouds loomed above us.
We wrestled, rolling around the sailboat floor. With a struggle, I managed to grab the oar away from her, but it was too late. The clouds have already reached us.
Thunder crackled around us. 
“GET DOWN, BELLE!!!”
Finally, she realized that we were in danger. The waves rocked the boat, and the waves licked our already torn-up clothes.
CRASH! A ray of thunder struck the mast. BeforeI knew it, the boat was on fire!
“Belle! Get out of here!”
I looked around, trying to see Belle’s familiar silver hair through the smoke.  
Suddenly, I felt something shove me off the burning boat. As the chill of the water hit me yet again, I passed out.


Day Five

I woke up on the very same shore we started on. As I remembered the details of yesterday, I leapt up and frantically looked around, searching for Belle.
I walked down the beach, calling out for her. 
“Belle? Belle, where are you?”
After walking for a while, I saw a glimpse of silver hair in front of me.
As fast as my feet could carry me, I sprinted towards her.
“Belle! There you are. You had me worried for a second-”
I froze. There lay Belle, sprawled out on the ground, motionless.
“No, no, no… please just tell me you’re okay, Belle…”
I sank to my knees and felt for a pulse. My heart dropped as I heard… silence. Just silence, empty and cold as silence can be. Her chest wasn’t rising, and as I searched for any other signs of life my senses betrayed me.
I stared at her, rigid with shock.
 Her perfect little face was adorned with scorch marks, and her hair clumped together by salt water, pieces of seaweed sticking out everywhere.
She would never get to see an airplane or a microwave now.
I lay in the sand next to her.
If it weren’t for me, she’d still be here, living on this island, unknowing and ignorantly happy, not knowing about the whole world around her.
And look what happened now! I lit her up with hope, sending her on a wild goose chase for an unrealistic dream.
I, a little boy stuck in his arrogant world, KILLED her.
Trembling with fear, I got up on my knees. I stroked her young little face, and the world did the pleasure to tell me that she was cold, cold as ice.

Dizzy, guilty and frightened, I got up, turned around, and headed into the forest.

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