Thursday Morning (reeeally early) – Aboard the Happy-Go-Lucky – Mood: So...tired...

The sun is rising and.... Yawwwwwn... I've been up all night fixing the Happy-Go-Lucky. Abraham helped a bit too, but I soon found him lying on the deck, curled around the central mast and fast asleep. He gets points for trying. It took quite a few wooden planks to fix the hole in the hull of the ship, some iron bars to help strengthen the what? And I've just spent a long time patching up the sail with other blocks of wool from my sheep. It might be a bit more colorful now, but that doesn't matter too much, right? I think it looks better.

I'm taking a break now. I've just got to finish the ship's wheel with a few wooden sticks, and then I should be done. Cat hasn't left her Captain's Quarters all night to check on me, so I assume she is asleep too. When she wakes up, she is definitely going to say 'yes Alex, you are so great and smart and amazing and pretty, I will obviously help you on your quest just like we agreed because you are so smart and - did I say pretty? Well, I shall say it again because it is so true. I have never met anyone else who is as perfect as you.'

Or something like that.

Abraham would agree with me if he was awake. Probably.

Did you know he sleeps with his eyes open? It's weird. He is snoring though, and no matter how much I wave a hand in front of his face, he doesn't react. Weird.

Thursday Morning – Aboard the Happy-Go-Lucky – Mood: Angry!

No matter how much I knock on her door, Cat isn't answering. To make things worse, when I went off the ship to get breakfast and came back, the rest of her crew must have returned from whatever they were up to last night. There are three of them, all men. The biggest of the three seems to be the size of a mountain, his head shaven and his face in a severe frown. The other two are twins, although one is dressed in black and the other is dressed in white. Apart from that, they are identical right down to the small wispy red beard that sticks out of their chins.

All three of them have gathered on the deck of the ship and have fallen asleep as well! I have tried nudging them, yelling at them and kicking them, but none of them seem to react to anything I do. Probably due to years of having to sleep on rainy and rough seas, they have gained the ability to sleep through anything.

They are all worse than Abraham! At least he woke up when I waved some freshly baked bread in front of his nose (he really likes bread, like, to an insane amount).

But nope, Cat and the rest of her crew are all fast asleep, ignoring the hard work I have done and delaying the quest! I need to get going as soon as possible! With every minute I am standing here, Scotty gets further and further away and I am closer and closer to being forever stuck with Abraham and his constant spraying of crumbs everywhere when he talks. I keep telling him to speak after he has swallowed his bread, but then he gets all grumpy and refuses to talk until he has picked every single crumb out of his beard.

Wow, I do sound like a mom, don't I?

What am I going to do?

Thursday Morning – Aboard the Happy-Go-Lucky – Mood: Sad :(

It's almost afternoon now, and it doesn't look like Cat and her crew are ever going to wake up. I've tried yelling at them, I've tried poking them with sticks, I've tried everything. They only grumbled a bit in their sleep, and now one of them has taken my stick and is hugging it like a teddy bear.

I've decided to give up. Quest over. I'll just wait here until Scotty gets back.

I guess now I know why I wasn't chosen to save the world.

Thursday Morning – Still on the ship – Mood: Plotting

I know I just said that I was giving up, but something happened. I was staring out into the sea, sure that there was nothing left to do but wait for Scotty to come back from his adventure, when Abraham sat down next to me, his old bones cracking and clicking. He took in a deep breath.

“Ahh, that fresh ocean air,” he said. “Good for the lungs. For the hair too.” He nodded knowledgeably.

We both sat and stared for a while. Then, after a pause, Abraham said, “So are we going after Scotty?”

I sighed. It was like he didn't pay attention to anything around him.

“We can't go anywhere,” I said. “The crew is still asleep.”

Abraham looked at the sleeping crew. “So?”

“So?” I frowned at him. “What do you mean by so?”

“Well,” Abraham raised a hairy eyebrow thoughtfully. “We have a ship, fully repaired and ready to go, why don't we just get going?”

“Because the crew is asleep,” I said again.

“And?” Abraham said. “Let them sleep. We can do the first bit.”

My eyes widened as I suddenly realised what he was suggesting. He wanted us to steal the ship while the crew were still asleep. I thought about it. I don't really know how to pilot a ship, but surely the idea was just to point it in the right direction and let the ship do the rest? I mean, it'll be just like riding a horse, right? A big, wooden, floaty horse that doesn't need feeding. It might even be easier than riding a horse.

Anyway, I've decided that Abraham's idea is the best. We just need to get the ship out into the open sea and then we can wake the crew up (somehow) and be like, 'Hey, you promised to help us if we fixed your ship, well here it is, let's go!'

They won't be too angry, right?

Thursday Afternoon – Locked up in the Happy-Go-Lucky Brig – Mood: Embarrassed

Soooo...er...sailing a ship is a little harder than I thought. Also, turns out the ship's crew were angry. Oh boy were they angry. They do not like it when you sail their ship without them knowing.

I think they were over-reacting a bit.

Just a little.

Alright, maybe I didn't think this plan through completely.

Oh yeah, and I'm now locked up in the 'brig' under the deck of the ship with Abraham. It's basically a cell. It has thick iron bars that extend from the ceiling to the floor, so we aren't going anywhere any time soon. I should know, I tested the door to see if it would open. It wouldn’t.

It's a bit annoying.

It was all going so well at first. I managed to sneak past the sleeping crew, get off the ship and untie it from the dock. It took a few tries to figure out the complex knot they had used, but I got there eventually. Next, I just had to get the sails were unfurled and make sure everything about our plan was going smoothly. It was simple stuff, and the crew didn’t even twitch. The only problem was, once we were ready to go, the ship just kind of... sat there in the water. I turned the ship's wheel, I tried saying 'go, ship, go!', I even tried getting off the ship and pushing it, but no matter what, it wouldn't move. It was like the ship was being stubborn, refusing to go anywhere without its Captain's permission.

Abraham just kind of stared at me as I tried everything. He's always so helpful.

“What's the matter?” he asked as I tried running from one side of the ship to the other to make it move.

“It...isn't...moving...that's...the...matter!” I said, giving up on running. “I don't know how we are going to find Scotty at this rate.”

“Oh,” said Abraham. “Running from side to side of the ship isn't helpful.”

“Well, if you know how to move a ship, be my guest!” I said. Little did I know these were the words that would kick Abraham into action.

“Oh, I can move a ship. Easy,” he nodded. “I am a wizard after all.”

I blinked. “You can?”

“Oh yes.” He escorted me over to the wheel of the ship and said: “Hold onto that please.”

He took up a position in the centre of the deck and raised his arms above his head. Abraham then lowered his arms, to scratch his chin and cleared his throat. “Hang on, let me just remember the magic words,” he frowned.

I was sure that he was just going to yell nonsense, leaving us stuck in the same situation, but then he smiled.

“Ahh yes, a standard weather spell.” He raised his arms again and said, in a booming voice that seemed to shake the very air around me:

I think that is how it's spelled anyway. It might have had a few more ¥'s in it.

That was when I realized that Abraham was a real wizard! He wasn't just some crazy old man who had turned up at my door and made a bunch of impossible claims. He was a real, actual magical person (who just happened to be a crazy old man as well)!

As soon as he had finished yelling his magical word, the wind suddenly picked up and started blowing furiously from behind us. My hair was whipped forward in front of me and for a while, I wasn't sure what was going on. Then I noticed that the ship was moving!

The wind was catching in the sail above us and blowing the ship out of the dock, towards the big, blue sea! I had to try and guide the ship as best I could, navigating around other ships and fishermen, but I was too busy laughing to hear the sounds of their screams and insulting words because we were on our way! We were going an on adventure to find Scotty!

By the time we reached the open ocean, I was really happy. I mean, it had worked. I never thought in a thousand years that it would actually work, and yet here we were on a ship, sailing in the sea.

As you have probably guessed already, that was where it all kind of fell apart. I shouted down at Abraham: “It worked! You're fantastic!” only to find that he had passed out on the ship deck and was now curled up like a little mouse, sucking his thumb and sleeping. I guess doing magic took a lot out of the guy.

To make things even worse (because it couldn't all go to plan, could it?) Nooooo. I felt the tip of a metallic blade touch lightly against my neck. I didn't turn to see who it was, because I could hear Cat Danger breathing angrily behind me.

“You stole my ship? My ship?” she snapped.

“Ow!” I said, flinching away from the sword. “I didn't steal your ship, I just got us started on our quest. You were busy sleeping and I....”

“You took my ship without permission!” she interrupted me. I'll admit, when she said it like that, it did sound a little like stealing. “There wasn't meant to be a journey! My ship isn't sea worthy!”

I turned to her, avoiding the tip of her sword. “It is sea worthy! Look around you!”

Cat looked around with narrowed eyes. The ship was floating quite happily on the sea. She frowned and then shook her head.

“We had an agreement,” I said, trying to convince her.

“We had nothing! You just shook my hand!” she waved her sword in front of my face, in a limp, less convincing manner. I was getting to her.

“That's how you make an agreement,” I said. “And now we are going to find Scotty.”

“Who is Scotty?” she sneered. “Where are we even going? Do we have supplies? Food? Weapons?”

“Scotty left on the Angry Mermaid yesterday and....”

Cat threw back her head and laughed. “The Angry Mermaid? That ship that was going to explore the mysterious island on the far coast? That crew couldn't sail a rowboat. They are probably already lost.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but Cat continued.

“...if we are at sea for weeks without food, we'll all die. Did you think of that?” Cat groaned. “You know what? No. I can tell you didn't. Sally, could you put her in the brig please? We have to turn this ship around and go back.”

“No, you can't,” I began, but then I felt Sally's huge arms wrap around me and lift me off my feet. This must have been the mountain of a crew member I saw earlier, sleeping on the deck.

“Sorry about this,” he said in a surprisingly soft voice.

I wriggled and struggled, but Sally had a grip like iron. He also smelled like lavender, a surprising combination. He carried me and Abraham below deck and threw us in here, the ship's brig. He then apologized for being so rough and patted Abraham on the head with a big, meaty hand.

As he closed the metallic door to the cell, I looked him in the eye. “So you're the ship's muscle? The big, strong and scary guy?”

Sally shrugged. “I'm actually the cook. If you're ever out of here, I'll make you a mushroom stew that will fill your belly for hours!” He smiled widely and gave us both a thumbs-up.

“Er... thanks?” I said, as he clambered back up onto the deck. That was weird.

All I know is that it smells really bad down here. It's dark too! I can barely see anything. There are a few streams of light coming in from the trapdoor in the deck and I am using that to write this. But I can tell you one thing, the ship hasn't turned around yet. I don't know why, but we are still on the same course we set off on this morning.

Abraham is fast asleep. He is currently hugging a bucket and mumbling something about cheese. Come to think of it, I am a little bit hungry. I wonder if Cat does have any food on her ship? Surely she does. Who doesn't keep food on their ship?

I wonder if I can persuade her to bring me some.

Maybe if I ask really, really nicely?

Bored – Bored – Mood: Bored

I’m so bored.

This is boring.

I am bored.

Boooooooooored

Thursday Afternoon – Still locked up – Mood: Rhymes with 'floored'

Abraham has woken up. He decided the best way to pass the time would be to tell a story called ‘The Man Who Dug Too Deep’.

It went a bit like this:

There once was a man who had a pickaxe and he thought it would be really smart to dig directly downwards to see how far he could go. He dug deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and-

I decided to interrupt at this point. “Deeper?”

“Don't interrupt!” Abraham snapped, then he lulled back into his 'storytelling mode'. “And deeper and deeper and...” he frowned. “I forgot where I was.”

I sighed. Being in the brig was super boring, but listening to his stories was somehow making it even worse. “He was digging deeper?” I said.

“Yes!” Abraham's eyes widened. He looked at me suspiciously. “Have you heard this story before?”

“No, I just guessed.”

“He dug deeper and deeper and it got darker and darker and darker until it was pitch black. Blacker than coal and even the darkest of nights. Then he realized....”

Abraham paused for effect (or maybe he just forgot for a second what he was talking about again, it could be either).

“-That he couldn't dig any deeper.”

I blinked. “What, he dug through to the other side of the world?”

“No,” Abraham frowned. “He reached bed rock. You can't dig through that without some very powerful magic, and even then it is not advisable.”

I rolled my eyes. “He couldn't dig any further, so what? What happened next?”

Abraham shrugged. “Oh, he died horribly. The End.”

“You can't just end a story like that!” I said. “That's awful!”

He shrugged. “And yet I did. And the morale of the story is: Never dig directly down or you will die horribly.”

“You could have just told me that,” I sighed, leaning against the wall.

Note to self: Don't let Abraham tell stories anymore.

Thursday Afternoon – Battering down the hatches – Mood: Scared

OK, I'm beginning to think that perhaps stealing a ship I didn't know how to control, then powering it by magic and hoping everything would work out, wasn’t the best idea. A little while ago, the ship started swaying and rocking a lot more than your standard 'floating on water' sway. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about the fact that my stomach was swaying and rocking too.

I think I started turning a little green.

“You!” Cat threw open the hatch from above deck and stumbled down the stairs, pointing at me accusingly. “What have you done?”

“Urk...me?” I burped. I swallowed and tried to speak again. “I haven't done any...urk...thing!”

“Then why can't we turn this ship around?” she pressed her face against the bars of our cell.

I blinked at her. “Urk,” I replied. “I mean...what?” I turned towards Abraham. “Did your magic have any urk to do with this?” I closed my eyes again. Why wouldn't the ship stop rocking?

Cat looked at me suspiciously. “What do you mean' magic?'”

I pointed at Abraham. “He used magic to get the ship moving. He's a...urk...wizard.”

Abraham's thick, hairy eyebrows lowered. “I am not an 'Urk' Wizard! They are no more powerful than a party magician! I am a full Wizard! I command the power of the elements in my pinky toe!”

Cat looked down at the old man sitting on the floor. “Really? You don't look like a Wizard.”

Abraham looked very offended. “How dare you!” he said, standing up with the help of his staff. “I am the most wizardly wizard you'll ever know! You don't look like a Captain to me!”

Cat drew her sword. “You want to say that to my face, old man?”

Abraham laughed. “You wouldn't last a second in a fight against me! My magic is all-powerful! It will turn you into a-”

“Guys!” I shouted, then took a deep breath as my stomach growled unhappily. “This isn't the time to argue.” I turned to Abraham. “Why can't she turn the ship around?”

Abraham spluttered and mumbled and said: “I don't know, I mean, it could be...perhaps...I'm not sure...I may have used a slightly too strong incantation and the wind might still be guiding us a little. It should die down soon and you will regain full control, I am sure. I think I said too many '¥'s.”

“Well, it had better stop very soon!” Cat snapped. “Because we are heading right into the worst storm I have ever seen!”

“Urk!” I said, shocked.

She wasn't joking. Cat finally let us out so we could come back up onto the deck and see the damage we had done.

It was bad.

In the distance ahead of us was a large, black cloud, sparks of lightning reaching down to the water, and the rumble of distant thunder. I instantly wanted to be back below deck.

“That doesn't look good,” I said.

“And I knew it was there,” said Cat. “If we had waited just a few more hours, we could have avoided it completely, but here we are floating straight towards it because someone was too impatient.”

She knew that there was a storm heading towards Heredock and had decided to stay inside a bit longer. It was my fault that we were heading towards it now and I had no idea what to do, so I did the only thing I could think of, I got angry.

“Well, maybe if someone wasn't so lazy, and busy trying to trick me into fixing her ship, we would have known! You know how many times I tried to wake you up?”

Abraham leaned over. “Probably not, she was fast asleep.”

“Not helping, Abraham!” I shouted at him.

Cat leaned in close, her teeth bared in anger. She looked like she was about to explode, but then she took a breath and stepped back. “Well, we haven't got a choice now. We've got to prepare.”

She turned towards the man dressed in white who stood at the wheel of the ship. “Bob!” she shouted. “I need you on full alert. Be ready for when those waves get too big. Try to slow us down as much as you can.” Bob nodded. “Other Bob!” Cat turned to a man in black who was standing on the other side of the ship. “I need you to put the sails away. Start tying everything you can down to the deck. We don't want anything flying around when the wind starts blowing. You got that?”

The man dressed in black, also called Bob, apparently, nodded in almost the exact same way and then began to climb up the mast in the center of the ship. “Wizard,” she said. “If your magic is so great, surely you can just blow this storm away?”

Abraham blushed. “Well, usually, yes, but after the spell I just cast, I still need to recharge and....”

Cat waved a hand at him. “Never mind. I'm going to need you to help out during the storm. Both of you.” She looked at me now. “I don't know how much the Happy-Go-Lucky can take. If I give you an order, you will follow it immediately, without question, understood?”

Abraham and I looked at each other and gulped. We nodded silently and Cat went back to barking orders at her crew. Her face was set into a hard, determined line and it began to hit me how much danger we were in.

I think I would have preferred for her to shout at me.

What have we got ourselves into?

It's starting to rain now. The storm is beginning.

Wish us luck.

Friday? Morning? Afternoon?– Drying out... somewhere – Mood: Completely Lost

The storm wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Oh no.

It was much, much worse!

How much worse? Well, imagine the worst storm you can think of. Got it in your mind? Great, now multiply it by a Gazillion and add one.

Yeah. That bad.

It wasn't so bad to begin with. Sure, it was wet, each raindrop feeling like a little icy dagger against my face, and my hair got stuck to my face and kept going in my eyes, but it wasn't bad.

Cat shouted things like 'Batten down the hatches' and 'secure that rigging' and tons of other sea captain stuff that I didn't understand. Luckily though, her crew knew exactly what she meant, and if they needed help pulling on a rope, or tying a knot or fixing some wood, I was there to help out as best as I could. In fact, for a while, I even thought we had made it through the storm and it was clearing up. I was wrong. So, so wrong.

The ship started to wobble around in the water like an unsupervised toddler.

The waves started getting bigger.

The wind became so strong that even Cat's shouts were blown away into the sky.

The ship was soon a tiny blip surrounded by white, churning water that bombarded us from every side. I could taste the salt inside my mouth and it washed up my nose every time I tried to breathe in. Soon, I found myself just holding onto the side, sprayed with water from every angle and just screaming, hoping that the storm would end soon.

But it didn't. In fact, it got worse!

The wind was whipping at my hair and soon all everyone could do was just hold on. Cat grabbed onto my waist and shouted: “Secure yourself to the deck!” and handed me a rope. She then slid across the deck and out of sight.

“CAT!” I screamed after her, but it was fine. She managed to hold on to the mast with her hands and I saw her giving me a thumbs-up just as the next wave crashed down onto our heads.

All I needed to do now was hold on. Hold on and pray that this wasn't the end of our journey. I don't think I was praying hard enough. I used a gap between the waves to attach the lead to a nearby wooden post, but I couldn't finish in time. I looped the rope and was about to tie myself down when water crashed down on my head and the rope slipped from my hands!

That's when I realized the deck was rushing away beneath me, faster than anything I could possibly hope to hold on to. I saw Abraham holding onto the side, his old hand extended out for mine as I zoomed past like a bullet. He shouted something that was lost in the wind and chaos, and that's when I realized that I was overboard.

For a second, the world was dark and cold and deadly quiet. There was a strange peace under the water.

I saw a black squid swim harmlessly by, as if there wasn't the storm to end all storms battling over its head. I gave him an angry glare, but I don't think he noticed. He carried on his journey, ignoring me completely.

I began kicking and fighting against the water, trying to mimic the squid, but there was no way I was going to get to the surface. In fact, the more I fought, the deeper the water seemed to pull me. Soon the Happy-go-Lucky was nothing more than a speck against flashes of lightning in the distance. My lungs were burning and I knew if I didn't do something drastic soon, I would be in big trouble.

I kicked and I fought some more until finally, it took all my strength, but I burst out of the water. I took in a deep, deeeeep lungful of breath and let out a cheer, until I looked up.

The biggest, wildest-looking wave towered above me, and I knew that I was in trouble. I needed to figure out something to do.

But my mind could only think of one thing: “I hope Scotty is OK.”

Then the water crashed down on my head and everything went black.

Of course, that isn't the end of the story. I'm not writing this journal as a ghost (although that would be awesome. I would definitely haunt Scotty).

Actually, I hope Scotty never reads this and finds out that my possible last thought was about him. He would get a really big head and start pretending like he is 'really important to me' or something.

He isn't, if you were wondering.

The thought just appeared in my head. A random thought. It could have just as easily been something like 'the cake is a lie' or 'I like cheese'. So Scotty, if you are reading this (but you shouldn't be, so put my journal down right now!) the thought was nothing. Totally random.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yes, everything went black.

What happened next? I haven't got any idea, but it must have involved me floating a lot.

Then I woke up here.

Where is here?

No idea!

I opened my eyes, coughed up a lungful of water, and looked around to find that I was on a golden, sandy beach! It was so sunny and warm, as if storms had never been invented. When my eyes adjusted to the sunlight, I realized I was on some kind of tropical paradise! I found myself laughing out loud. I had survived!

At the top of the beach was a forest. It wasn't a normal forest like I was used to, back at home. The trees here made the trees from home look like babies in comparison. These trees rose high up into the air, reaching into the sky at heights I never thought possible. Their trunks were covered in thick, green vines, which, if the mood took me, I could probably climb up (looking at the sky and how it is turning orange, I may have to. Who knows what comes out here at night.) This wasn't an ordinary forest, oh no. This was a jungle.

I walked up to it and the air slowly grew heavy and thick around me. It was like someone had wrapped me in a thick blanket on a hot day. A layer of sweat began forming instantly, so I decided to stay on the beach.

That's where I am now! Sitting on the beach, taking in the remaining sun of the day, and trying not to think too hard about the fact that I am stranded on a jungle island with little to no chance of rescue.

I mean, I wanted an adventure, right?

Yay adventure!

If someone finds this journal next to my skeleton on the beach, know that I, Alex, lived an awesome life to the absolute max.

I miss my chickens a little.

Probably Friday, definitely night time – On top of a very high tree, trying not to look down – Mood: Wishing I hadn't sunbathed for so long!

I should have built a shelter. That's like Survival 101, and I completely forgot about it. Of course, it only occurs to me now that I am in incredible, horrifying danger! But next time I'm stranded on a desert island, I will definitely remember. Cross my heart.

It wasn't long before the sun set behind the clouds and the sounds of bird song from the jungle changed to the low, angry moan of zombies coming out of the trees and heading towards me! The green, rotting monsters stumbled down the beach, arms extended in the air in front of them, reaching out. I only had moments to escape.

I didn't waste my time. I went with my original plan: I ran towards the nearest tree and began climbing up the vines towards the top. I pulled myself up, hoping that they would hold my weight and, surprise surprise, they did! I began to climb and climb, pausing only briefly to turn and stick my tongue out at the zombies below. “Ner Ner!” I shouted at them. “You can't get me!”

There was no way they were going to climb up after me! Ha ha!

So now that is where I am. Sitting in the branches of a very high tree, in the dark, hoping that nothing is going to climb up here after me. I can hear the moans and groans of zombies below (there is a lot of them), but I think I'm safe.

I'm pretty sure.

I haven't really got any plans of becoming a zombie's dinner at this point. Actually, I don't think I ever will.

I'm going to use this time wisely and make a list of things I need to do to survive this island. You never know, I might be really good at this survival thing.

Survival list of Survival:

Find food! There must be some fruit or something around here somewhere. (Watermelon?) Maybe fishing?

Build a house. Mud hut will do at first, but then wooden house. Then castle if possible (Who doesn't like a castle? Optional: Inside pool?)

Make a flag. I might as well claim this island as my own while I am here. I will put stars on it or something, and I will call the island Alexonia. Or Alexville. Or maybe Alexton. Hmmm.

Come up with a cool name for the island. Those first three names were lame.

Find some way of signalling for help. A giant fire? Bottle with a message in it? Build a boat?

Write about my adventure, get a book deal and earn millions. Live a life of luxury.

Yeah, I think that is a good enough survival list. I think I can do it. You never know, I might not want to leave. Who cares about Scotty and his stupid adventure? He can go and have fun. I will have fun right here, thank you very much.

What was that?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Mood: Not good

Ok someone is firing arrows at me! I thought I was safe in this tree but I’m not! agh! I need to move right now!

It's dark – A cold and damp cave – Mood: Being very very quiet

I tried to jump from the tree I was in onto a nearby one, like a monkey, to try and confuse whoever was firing arrows at me. Unfortunately there were two problems with this:

1. I was very loud and they could easily hear me.

2. I am not a monkey.

Long story short: I didn't make it to the other tree. The branch I was aiming for was just out of my reach and I quickly tumbled back down to the ground. Luckily, I wasn't that high up, so I think I just got bruised a little. It still really hurt!

I didn't get to rest, because I had to start running again from all the zombies and, guess what, skeletons, armed with bows and arrows and spears!

This island is a pile of never ending fun and surprise. My plan for survival was quickly reduced to a 'crazy run for my life through the dark forest'. I soon learned that I am bad at running as well. Every rock, twig and root that I could possibly trip on I did, and it wasn't long before the monsters were catching up.

That's when I saw the cave I am currently hiding in.

I know, a creepy, dark cave isn't much of an improvement on a creepy, dark forest, but I think I've managed to lose the monsters by hiding behind a large rock. If I can stay quiet enough, they might just leave me alone.

I'm going to peek over the rock.

Yes, I can see them now. They are looking for me, but they don't know where I am. Ha! I am a stealth master.

I could be a ninja. When I get off this island, I'm going make some cool ninja swords as a present to myself for being so awesome.

Yes, I've changed my mind. I don't want to stay on this island if it is filled with monsters! Sure, my home was infested with monsters too, but at least I had a comfy bed back there that I could sleep in while the monsters were prowling around - not a smelly cave that hurts my knees. This place is the worst. And I think I just stepped in something. Eww.

As soon as morning comes, I am going to gather as much wood and food as I can, build a boat, and just row myself out into the sea. I don't care what is out there. Storms? Sea Monsters? Bring it on.

Wait...can you hear something?

It sounds like a kind of hissing.

Reminds me a bit of a....

Oh no!

Still night time – Back on the beach - Mood: Lonely.

Today is not my day.

Scotty made up a stupid rhyme once. It went like this: A creeper's no fun, you've got to run.

For once, he was right about something (it doesn't happen very often, although the rhyme is rubbish). When I heard the sound in that cave, I knew that it wasn't going to be any fun. It sounded like this:

The classic hissing sound of a creeper. I barely managed to dive behind the rock I had used to hide from the other monsters before it exploded, blowing my hiding place sky high!

Creepers just ruin everything. The explosion made my ears ring as if I was trapped inside a bell. I just kept my head down, closed my eyes, and hoped that in the hot air that blasted all around me, my hair wasn't singed off.

What? My hair is very important.

When I finally returned to my senses, I knew I had to get moving. Instead of the comforting (ish) shelter of the cave, I could now see the silvery sparkle of moonlight from the sky above me. The creeper had blown the roof clean off!

That noise would have drawn every monster in the forest towards me. I decided that I had had enough of the forest. I was going to go back to the beach. If worst came to worst, I could swim out to sea and wait in the water until morning. Maybe that would be enough to hold them back.

I couldn't go back the way I had come, though. It was filled with monsters. Zombies, skeletons, spiders, creepers, you name it, they were all closing in on my position. I was terrified. I turned and I began to run as fast as I could deeper into the island. If I could find a cave or something to help me hide or climb up and out of their reach, I would be happy.

 

Uuuuuugh

Zombies weren't just behind me. They were all around me as well!

For the briefest of seconds, I was sure that this was the end. I was unprepared, I had no weapons, no food. In fact the only thing I could say I had was a tan from lying in the sun earlier, and that would probably turn into a sunburn. I was doomed. Doooooomed!

At least I still had my hair.

Luckily, however, the island wasn't as deserted as I thought I was.

It began as a rustling above me. I turned, scared that a monster was about to fall on my head (even more so when a black figure jumped out of the trees, landing nearby). But, as my eyes adjusted in the darkness, I realized the dark figure wore a three-pointed hat and was holding a sword in front of her. Two more figures leaped down beside her, one dressed in black, one as large as a mountain. They all had swords.

“Ah ha!” Cat said. “We found you!”

“Cat!” I cried. “How did you....”

“The explosion,” Cat grinned. “Only you could cause chaos like that. Oh, watch out!”

She swiped her sword down next to me and knocked back a zombie that had gotten too close. My chances of escaping alive suddenly skyrocketed.

“Stay behind me,” Sally smiled, rubbing my hair with a huge hand.

My saviours surrounded me in a protective triangle, swiping and stabbing at anything that got too close. Slowly, we began to move through the forest in what I assumed to be the direction of the beach and the Happy-Go-Lucky. But then I heard it again.

Another one?

Cat shoved me into the trees shouting: “Run, as fast as you can!”

So I ran. The explosion shook the forest around me a few seconds later, and I turned back. All I could see was rubble and smoke... and then monsters. Lots of monsters.

I remembered Cat's orders and began to run again, blinking the tears from my eyes. There was a feeling in my chest, a constricting feeling of panic, a feeling that told me that if I stopped running, I was doomed. So I ran and I ran, and even when I felt tired, I kept on running.

I leaped over roots, I ducked under branches and I shoved my way through anything that stood between me and the ship. I was running on blind terror and I thought I would be running forever.

And what about Cat, Bob and Sally? Had they managed to get away from the explosion? Had they spent their last moments saving me, useless Alex who couldn't even survive one night in the forest?

I wanted to turn around and fight the monsters. Fight my way back to the clearing where Cat and her crew fought for me, find out what happened.

Find out if I was alone again.

I didn't want to be alone.

But I couldn't. I was too scared, and my legs kept running and running until the forest opened up onto a white, sandy beach with the sea reaching out into the horizon.

With one final glance back into the forest I finally began to slow. I was all alone on the beach.

I didn't stop until I was sure that the monsters weren't chasing after me any more. I sat down on a rock and I haven't moved since. I think I can see the sky turning orange in the distance now, the sun rising for another day.

At least that means an end to the monsters. For the moment.

I guess I need to find the ship.

Morning– Walking along the beach – Mood: Really wish I had something for breakfast.

I've found a ship! I can see it in the distance. I have been walking for a long time, so I'm taking a break before I get there.

I guess I am delaying having to tell Other Bob and Abraham that we are the only ones left. That is, assuming they didn't get lost on the island as well.

I don't want to think about it. The ship looks damaged. Like, really damaged. I guess that storm took a chunk out of it! Everything I fixed on the dock looks like it needs fixing again. I hope I can find enough materials to do it. We definitely have plenty of wood. I think...

Actually, that doesn't look like the Happy-Go-Lucky at all, now that I think about it.

What ship is that?