She looked side to side as she clutched her teeth and made a grab with her shaking fingers for her freezing shoulder blades. The light breeze hadn’t helped her cool body conserve heat, from the long swim she had just endured. She got lost in her train of thought; all Allison remembered was her lengthy swim to shore.
“Where am I?” she had wondered, but without further thought she took hold of a nearby rock and made an attempt to stand up. Her legs wobbled in the effort to withstand her body weight, she was worn from the swim she had just taken. With a slight hesitation the feeling in her numb legs came back to her, but chills still entered her body.
She felt out of place, by the looks of it where she had landed was nowhere close to her old lake house in South Dakota. Allison knew she would not last long if she stood by the beach where the ocean waves rippled and sent cool sprits of water in all directions. She had decided she must venture onward and see what the mysterious island had to offer in resources and supplies to help her survive. From the looks of it, it seemed as though she wouldn’t have a prayer of leaving this island anytime soon, so she mounted the rocks and started traveling towards the impeccable forest. Within seconds she had made her way to the opening crevice which led to the obscure forest. With darkness engulfing the night sky Allison had a difficult time regarding her surroundings. As she pushed her way through the bulky branches of trees and tripped over various roots and unidentifiable plants within the forest barriers, Allison took into realization that her journey was going to be an arduous one, during which she will have to face the unexpected.
With a kink in her neck from her extensive swim, weary eyes and over exhausted, limp body, Allison collapsed onto the damp forest floor, in the hopes to rest for a couple of hours before twilight hit and the strange creatures would begin to creep out of hiding. She closed her eyes and prayed for survival and assistance as she slowly dozed off.
She awakened what seemed to be a couple hours later from the sun beams rising over the horizon of the quiet ocean. As the brightness blinded her eyes for a split second, Allison’s stomach began to rumble, “I need to get some food in me.” Allison convinced herself. Allison shot up so fast her sight went black for a minute while she regained focus. She looked down at her still seeping wet clothes that were now covered in dirt and sighed, “Story of my life.” She went onward through the forests hidden pathways and openings searching for any sign of people or resources and supplies. She walked for an hour or two before coming across something really peculiar, what looked to be a temple.
“Could this mean that people actually live on this island and I’m not alone?” Allison reassured herself. She curiously scurried down the curvy, dirt path to the temples golden arch doors, “Wow, this is beautiful!” Allison complimented as she ran her fingers down the line of jewels attached to the golden arch. With security she wrapped her hand around the jewel crested door handle and gave a slight tug. Without much force the heavy golden door squeaked open and Allison slid inside, shutting the door behind her in silence. She began to peer around the temple in amazement. Everywhere she looked was either gold or engraved with all sorts of jewels from rubies, to diamonds, to sapphires and more, but what really caught her attention were the three dark passageways at the end of the room. All three were so dark that you couldn’t have seen what the halls contained if you went onward. Allison being the curious person she was, decided to go looking around and see what the hall was hiding.
“Which to choose?” she thought. There was a hall leading straight that was wide and in the middle, another hall to the left that was narrow and curved outward and a hall to the right that curved outward the other direction, but was normal width. Her heart had raced and as she second guessed herself the whole way, Allison walked slowly down the middle hallway that went straight.
Allison reached the dark, esoteric, hallway and her pace began to seem as if she were more cautious, she was at a slower pace than she was before, with her fingers slightly shaking from her nerves. “What’s going to be down this hall?” Allison wondered. She now was considering how hungry she was, while her stomach rumbled as she moved forward down the dusky path. After a minute of squinting her eyes to see where she was walking and running her hand along the cold, damp walls of what seemed to be more like a tunnel instead of a hall, she had come to an abrupt stop.
“Hello?” She shouted, as she hoped someone might be down the hall somewhere. Her voice echoed and once she couldn’t hear it anymore she established she was hopeless. The sound of dripping water from the ceilings jagged bricks began to alarm Allison as her speed had increased. She heard splashes and hurried steps coming from behind her. She felt as though she were being followed, but when she inspected the walkway behind her, no one was there.
“Calm down Allison, it’s probably just your footsteps your hearing. Just Relax.” Allison tried convincing herself. She stopped to take a break, her heart was rapidly beating and her breath was heavy. She felt the wall and leaned against it, when all of a sudden she felt warm, humongous hands wrap around her little arms and snatch her from her position on the ground.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” Allison had screamed as a feeling came to her that she had never felt before, the feeling of pure fright, the kind that makes your heart stop completely. She shook and tried wiggling her way out of the hands of the grasper. All her effort was used to make an attempt to escape, but Allison could now feel something cool on her face covering her mouth and nose making her incapable of breathing. This substance smelled sweet and strong and before Allison knew it she was out of it, completely passed out.
Allison woke up what seemed to be an hour later in a room lighted with torches, she was attached to a metal chair with her arms free, but legs bound. Her heart raced as she looked around her, when she felt something slide between her roped legs. It was a key with an attached note. The note had read…
“Dear girl, I am so happy that you found this island. My name is Carson McCarthy and I need your help. You see my mother and father believed it would be a wonderful idea to own an island and set it up to be a tourist’s paradise, so they bought this island and decided to build this temple for touring while here. I was raised on this island by my father. Sadly my mother died while giving birth to me. It was last year, when my father went missing. I went to our condo on the upper left edge of the island at 8:00 p.m. for dinner like I normally do and my father wasn’t there. I thought that he was working overtime figuring out the exact measurements and supplies he wanted to use for the temple, but by the time I woke up he wasn’t home. I came to the temple and searched for my father all day for weeks, when I finally came across his glasses, broken, lying on the floor in front of the left hallway, along with a key. I searched that hallway a million times and still couldn’t find my father. I know he’s in this temple somewhere, I just don’t know where. From what he told me he made a secret room down the left hall, but I couldn’t find it. I don’t know what it looks like or what it’s for, but the key on your lap opens it, that’s all I know. I need you to go and find that room and see if my father’s body is in there. I need to know what happened to him and the truth lies within the room. You’re probably thinking why would I help you? The answer is that I can give you a ride back to your hometown. I saw you fall off the cruise ship you were on, when you were looking over the railing. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. It must be hard not being with your family and so that’s why you should help me. Help me find my father’s body and I’ll fly you home on my father’s helicopter. I would start searching now the day goes by fast.
Sincerely,
Carson McCarthy
P.S. I left food on the table and a lantern so you can get some food and the lantern is so you can see down the hallway. My father never got to the lighting in there. Be care and Good Luck.

Allison was terrified, even more than before. “Me, have to find a person who is most likely dead?” She spoke with clear astonishment, “Have to find someone in a single day?” To her this seemed impossible, but she knew she had to try and find Carson’s father or she would eventually die too.
She quickly unbound her legs from the thick splintery rope and grabbed the smooth silver key and note and stuffed it into the inside of her jean pocket. She looked over at a square, wooden table that was covered with food. She scurried over to the table pondering about how delicious it would taste and took a glance at all her options. There was so much food she didn’t know what to eat first. There was food from cheeseburgers, hamburgers, hot dogs, wraps, French fries, potato chips, pasta salad to cupcakes, cookies, pie, plus pop and water to drink. Allison had first taken a cheeseburger, which already had ketchup and mustard on it and ate it so fast she nearly choked.
“Wow this is delicious, just what I needed,” determined Allison as she washed it down with Sprite flavored pop.
“It must be noon, I must start looking, I don’t have much time!” With that Allison took the black curved lantern handle and put the slim, silver key in her pocket and pushed the wall, which swung open without effort needed. The lantern helped Allison tremendously. She could finally see everything she needed to, every single corner, pebble and mark. It was almost as if she was more scared with the bright lantern than without. The walls of the temples hallway had marks all over them as if someone or something had scraped their nails or a sharp object along the wall. The ceilings of the hallway were dripping with what seemed to be stalagmites. Allison felt as if she were in a cave, instead of a temple. She used the lantern to get back to the main area of the temple where the three hallways branched off. She took out the note Carson had written her and skimmed through it trying to remember which hallway she needed to go down in order to find the secret room.
“Left,” Allison remembered as she took a quick glance at the ground, before beginning her journey. Allison held a tight grip on the lantern and moved forward towards the left hall, this one was creepier than the middle hallway. There were many pivots and curves to follow in such a narrow hallway and their seemed to be even more scratches all over the walls. Allison slowed her pace in order to have the eye range to see everything from the walls, floor to the ceiling. She was walking and searching for what seemed to be many hours, when she noticed an indent in the stone floor right next to the wall. She gasped “This must be it. This must be the way to find the room.” Allison picked out the outer lining of what looked like a button. With caution she reached out and pushed it. For a couple seconds nothing happened, but then Allison heard a huge bang and she looked over to the middle of the hallway floor.
It was a trap door. Allison started to get excited. “I’m going to be able to go home, back to my family!” She walked over to the trap door and looked down it was dark, but she could make out a staircase. She began to descend downward, further in the ground. The lower she got the colder the temperature was. Shivers began to flood her body. She couldn’t tell where she was going all she could tell is that it was not a good place.
There was a musty, old smell and she could feel cob webs brushing her shoulders as she went down further. She reached the bottom of the stairs and felt a gush of wind hit her face. Before she knew it her lantern light blew out.
“Oh no,” Allison whimpered now she was nervous. She was now in a cold basement, unable to see anything over a foot away from her. She slowly crawled searching for a key hole, which would lead to the room she was looking for. Her heart pounded as she began to lose hope. She kept close to the ground and used her hands to feel her way around.
Then she saw it, the locked room door. It was right across from where she was. There was a slight glow intruding out from beneath the locked door. Allison did it, she had found the room. Her pace on the floor quickened as she made her way towards the light. She wasn’t looking where she was going she just smiled and crawled thinking, “I did it.”
It was so close. She could almost touch it. She caught the damp, musty scent coming off the door. Every line in the ornate handle became clear. There was a small hole right beneath the handle that would fit the key perfectly. With a joyous smile on her face Allison reached out to touch the door just to make sure that it was real. In the moment that she touched the door handle an arrow shot out of the ceiling. Paralyzed in fear Allison just sat there with a dumbstruck expression on her face while she watched death come to her. With a sharp jab it entered her head. She sat there dead. In her head two words would echo for the rest of eternity. So close, so close, so close…