Trapped

“God I barely got any sleep last night, can’t believe its morning already, and ouch, why is this mattress so uncomfortable?! I knew I should have gone with the other one, curse you Dylan for tricking-“

“AAAHHHHHHHHH”

9 hours ago

“Karen, change the news exclusive, remove the story of the fire, instead add the exclusive about the people who disappeared, all the details are in here, it was David Williams, a known photographer, Brian Matthews and Emma Smith from the police ranch, both detectives, Ashley Brown, an interior designer, and Elenour Jones, a fairly good lawyer, all of them disappeared at sharp 11:59 am, 8th june, that is yesterday night.

With this exclusive, our rates will surely go higher, and JYP news will be number 2! Change the orders, make sure our news channel tells the story first, and I want NO mistakes, you hear me? None.”

“Sir are you sure we should put this as our exclusive? We might get in trouble”

“Just do as I say Karen!”

“I’m sorry sir, I’ll get it done”

Present time

I look around, I was definitely not in my room, or on my bed for that matter, I was lying on what I was 100 percent sure was an ocean shore, which is impossible because “shipwreck” and “ending up stranded in an island” was not on my to do list, heck, I had never even been close to the sea before, forget about becoming the last survivor of a possible shipwreck! I groaned loudly.

“Where the heck am I?! What’s happening, please tell me I am dreaming-‘

“Oh, I see you’re up, we all were waiting for you”

I turn around to see a man in his late twenties, his light chocolate curls almost covering his grey eyes that had a stark resemblance to the crystal marbles that my grandma had given to me on my 9th birthday, a cute smile with dimples popping on each side, a white tank top covering his tanned skin, with black sweatpants and sneakers that made him look younger, not that he looked old or anything-

“Wait wait wait, ‘we’? Are there more people here? And who are you? And how did I get here? And what-“

“Woah, hold your horses there love” he slightly chucked, letting his curls fall into his eyes, before continuing, “Come along, we’re all clueless here though, so I doubt your questions are going to get answered, and oh, about your presentation with the board, I don’t think that’ll be possible” He ends his sentence by vaguely gesturing towards our current situation. I look at him with my eyes wide.

“And just how do you know about my presentation? Did you bring me here- ARE YOU MY KIDNAPPER?!” I start throwing punches, him getting startled a bit at first but easily dodging all of them

“Here! Take this!” I put my terrible kicking skills into action. Suddenly I felt myself being lifted up into the air, a hand being put over my mouth, god I should have really should have gone for those self defense classes!

“Please, stop! I’m not your kidnapper lady! You talk in your sleep, you listed out your entire day’s plan, THRICE, that’s how I knew about your presentation” I suddenly felt ashamed, okay, so maybe I had been too fast to judge him, but can you blame me?

“And would you please stop hitting my balls! That’s not appreciated one bit”

Oops- I didn’t realise I was still kicking him. He let me go, and I instantly started apologizing

“I’m so so sorry, I just didn’t realise that I-“ He cut me midway by holding my hand and sighing real loud

“That’s okay love, just spare my balls, I want to have kids you know” I slightly chuckled, and looked at our intertwined hands. He noticed my stare and coughed slightly

“It’s so you know, you don’t get lost and all, big place really”

I noticed that he had a rather weird accent, a mix I would say, hot, but weird, but I decided to remain shut and not comment on it, I had met the guy like 5 minutes ago

“So uhm, where is the rest of the ‘we’?” I asked, trying to hide my obvious fear of the new place.

“Just around the corner, come on, I’ll take you there, oh, I’m David by the way”

“Oh right, the introduction, yeah uhm, I’m Ashley, Ash for short”

“Yeah, I’ve always wanted that sorta name” He said as he shook his foot to get the sand out of his shoe.

“What? Ashley? That’s the name you wanted?” I look at him curiously, noticing a weird looking crab doing whatever it is that crabs do out of the corner of my eye. He slightly chuckled, before answering.

“No silly, not Ashley, oh hey, watch your footing there, you’ll fall if you aren’t careful, yeah, so as I was saying, not the name Ashely, just something I could shorten to something cool, like ‘Hey! I’m Ashton, Ash for short’, or ‘Hey! I’m Danny, Dan for short’, something like that”

“Well for what it’s worth, I think your name is pretty cool”

I saw his cheeks redden a bit, and silently chuckled

“Thanks, I mean that’ very sweet, oh, here we are!”

I didn’t realize we had walked quite a bit. In front of me I saw quite a sight.

A large grey cave, with moss covering it, the clouds becoming dark, a thunderstorm approaching. A bird of a species that I had never seen before gave a cry, as if it were preparing for battle, as it soared high above us. The wind was blowing hard, making the palm trees sway, but it ended up looking as they were bowing down to the three people in the middle. One girl, who looked roughly about my age, maybe a year younger, wearing a pink tank top with white jeans, that looked extremely dirty, with dirty blonde hair that had been tied with a hot pink rubber band, one guy who had dark black hair with brown eyes and a rather pale complexion was wearing a dark blue button up shirt with faded blue jeans and shoes, something that you could walk comfortably in, and the girl next to him, who had dark but short brown hair tied in a ponytail was wearing something similar, a dark blue top with jeans, and from the look of it, they were both in the police force, the badge on their jeans helping me come to this conclusion.

“This is the ‘we’.” David said as he motioned them to come closer.

“Hey! I’m Emma and this is Brian” The girl in the blue shirt said.

“I could have introduced myself just right Emma, thank you, I’m Brian, and here’s a tip, stay away from Emma, she’s kind of a psycho”

Emma gave a rather scary glare to Brian as she proceeded to introduce the blonde girl, whose name I got to know was Elenour, El for short. I noticed a little pout on David’s face when the nickname came up, but decided to stay shut and not embarrass him.

Emma gave me a small brief as to what had happened, which wasn’t rather useful, for they didn’t know what had gotten them here and what they would have to do to get out, but I figured we would be able to get out soon, considering we had two detectives on our team, but that obviously wasn’t our case, for we had been stuck here for an entire month. I tried to hold it together, I really did, but one night I just lost it.

I sat on the shore, the waves lapping at my feet, the dark night having no stars, but the full moon that was radiating more light than the stars ever could have made up for it. I felt my tears fall and get mixed with the ocean, my body slightly quivering because of the chilly night. I was about to wipe my tears and go back when I felt someone put a jacket on me and press a slight kiss to my forehead.

“Want to talk about it love?” David asked as he sat beside me, legs crossed.

I mumbled a small no and hugged him tight instead. He said nothing and just embraced me as I cried softly into his chest.

“Do you know what scares me the most?” He suddenly asked, his ocean green eyes staring into mine, but instead of answering, all I could do was stare back. He kept looking into my eyes, as if searching for something, but quickly shook his and said something that for some reason made me feel better

“Everyone is scared of something. Emma, she’s scared of love, Brian, he’s scared of dead ends, El, she’s scared of being alone, and I, I’m scared of being tied down, I’m scared of dying with regrets, I’m scared of not being able to do it all, but the one thing that this island has taught me is that maybe I don’t need to go on a new adventure every day, maybe it’s nice to do the same thing once in a while, and yes, I’m still scared of it, but I’m overcoming my fear every day, so Ash, you aren’t alone, we’re all scared, but we’ll get through this together.”

He smiled softly at me, and looked into my eyes, as if silently asking me for permission. He leaned his face closer, eyes fluttering shut, and so did I. Our lips were barely a centimeter away from each other, so close that if any of us moved, we would be kissing, when we suddenly heard a happy scream.

“I did it! I did it! Finally! Yes!” We instantly sprung apart, David rubbing his neck awkwardly.

Apparently El had gotten over her fear of being alone, it was something about her exploring the cave alone while Emma and Brian were bickering like usual I don’t know exactly what happened, I was barely paying attention, too busy focusing on our almost kiss. Did he want to kiss me? Did he like me? Did he-

“Come on Ash, let’s go back” David held out his hand, obviously still flustered. I took it and got up, silently thanking god he wasn’t pretending like it never happened, I mean, that had to be a good sign, right? We went back to our spot to find Emma and Brian arguing over pineapple on pizza like a bunch of teenagers. I groaned at their idiocy, secretly rooting for Emma to win the argument.

Emma noticed us and cleared her throat.

"Yes we were uhm just, yes we were, yes that" she stuttered and looked all flustered, fidgeting with her black 'metallica' ring, probably too embarrassed to accept that they were fighting over pizza. Brian however instantly covered for her by making some lie about 'detective' stuff. Yeah right, like we were going to believe them.

While they were explaining themselves, I stole a glance at him, and saw that he was fidgeting with the black bracelet on his wrist. How I wished I could go and hug him right now. Everyone said their goodnights, successfully ending my day dreaming, and lay down to sleep, but I kept tossing and turning, until I felt David’s hand hold me close.

“Is there something you wish to say love?”

He whispered softly in my ear.

“Uncertainty, that’s what scares me the most. Waking up and not knowing how the day is going to turn out, but with you, it’s like I enjoy the uncertainty, I enjoy the rush of adrenaline, I enjoy it all. It’s like you gave me a life, you helped me overcome my greatest fear, you give me happiness David, and I for some reason don’t want this to end”

I felt his grip on me tighten, a small smile gracing his face.

“Then let’s pray it never ends”

9 hours later

“Doctor, doctor she’s moving, she’s awake!”

“Everyone please move out! Ashley, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes? Yes, good good”

I see a white blinding light, white walls, white everything. Where was I?

“I-“

“It’s okay, don’t try to talk, have water first” A doctor with a white coat and a bald head said.

“Ashely, oh my god Ashely, we were so worried, we’re so happy you’re okay”

My sister came running in, sort of jumping into my bed and hugging me tight. I heard the doctor chuckle slightly as he went out of the room.

“What happened, where am I?”

She grimaced slightly, as if thinking of terrible memories, and answered

“We don’t know what happened Ash, all we know is that you ended up missing and showed up near a store a few hours ago, we’re-“

I zoned out while she kept talking, when my eye caught a book kept on my bedside next to a glass of water with a sketch of a large grey cave with moss covering it.

I interrupted her in between and asked her what book it was. She looked genuinely confused, but answered anyway.

“Yeah, that’s a book I was reading to get my mind off all that was happening. It’s called ‘The island of fears’. It’s about an island that keeps you trapped, and the only way you can leave it is by overcoming your fear. The description of the island is very detailed to be honest. It talks about a large grey cave, with moss covering it, the clouds always being so dark that it looked like a thunderstorm was on its way anytime. These vivid descriptions of birds that don't exist are also mentioned in the book. He talks about how the first time when he came the wind was blowing so hard-"

"That it looked like the palm tress were bowing down to the people in the middle" I finished for her. She looked at me with her eyes wide, like I had grown a second head, before continuing

"Well you must have read it before somewhere, but i bet you don't know this. The guy who wrote it says he was actually trapped in that island, and that the book is based on true experiences, what a load of crap though. Anyway sweetie, do you need anything-“

“A walk alone would be nice” saying this I left the room, feeling more scared than shocked. If my dream about the island, about David, if it all was real, if I really had been trapped in the 'island of fears', then the only way I came out was by overcoming my fears, but what about David? Did he get out? Did he overcome his fear? Does he know I managed to escape? What about the others? Did Emma and Brian manage to overcome their fears? A hundred questions were swarming through my head, but I had answers to none. I sat on one of the chairs in the corridor, shook to the core, and was about to start crying, when I heard a deep voice in front of me.

“You okay there love? You look like you’re about to cry”

I look up to see ocean green eyes staring back at me.

“David” I breathed out………..

THE END