About two weeks ago, Me, my girlfriend Lily, my closest friend Luca, and his girlfriend Marissa all were sitting on the picnic table in the park, talking about what we want to do after high school. Since we all lived right on the outskirts of Emerald isle, North Carolina, there wasn’t much to do, especially because we didn’t have enough money to do anything we wanted to do. Yes we were poor, but honestly, that can make life more interesting. While we were talking, we all said that we wanted to buy an island and live on it. We all started laughing at the coincidence that all of us wanted to do the same thing.
We got up from the table and started to make our way to the beach. I love the beach, personally, because it is where I’ve lived my whole life. I haven’t had the greatest life though. At the age of 5, my Mom passed from cancer, and at the age of 13, my dad went on an “adventure,” as he called them, and never came back. He always loved to live life like he was in a superhero movie. You see, my dad didn’t really have a job. People always said that he was a little crazy, living in one of the richest places in North Carolina, without a job, but he had a good reason for it. He believed in the ancient myth of the Palace in the Sky. He eventually found a lot of evidence that it was floating high in the skies of sunny North Carolina, and, on his last adventure, He mysteriously disappeared, and his body was found deep underwater by a diver only a few weeks after he went missing. It’s Kind of surprising, to most people and even myself sometimes, that I’m still living here, but I’m living life to the fullest.
“Come on Jack, won’t wanna leave you behind by accident.” Lily yelled to me.“I’m coming!” I screamed back, while sprinting up to the group. We like to randomly go for walks on the beach sometimes. It calms us down, and it’s usually where we tend to open up and talk to each other the most. This experience was more unusual than our other times at the beach though. As we were walking down the beach, like we usually do, we saw a sign that said “Selling Island for $5!” Normally, people wouldn’t bother to look at it, because it sounded like an obvious scam, but there were not normally scammers on this beach. And since it was an island, we all wanted to check it out.
The man holding the sign seemed odd. He was an older man, probably in his 60’s. He was tall and skinny, and he had almost no hair. His eyes were a hazel color, and they were very mesmerizing. Almost as though he was hypnotizing us. “What’s up with the five dollar island?” Luca asked. “Simple. I am selling an island for five dollars.” “there's no catch?” I asked. “No catch.” We quickly searched our pockets. We had exactly enough. “Is five dollars in change ok?” Lily asked “Perfect.” he said. “Meet me right here tomorrow at this same spot at 8:00 A.M., with all the things you want to bring”
We were all a little sceptical about it all, except for me. Even Lily, who always wanted to get out of here and live a life away from this island, said she had “A bad feeling about it.” But we still grabbed all our stuff, and met him back there at exactly 8:00 in the morning. “Alright. Here are a few rules.” He started to say. “Rule one: a ferry will be there once a week to pick people up and drop anyone off, if asked to. Rule two: there are no rules on the island, but obviously if someone was to commit a crime, like murder, it should be reported to the ferry driver, a.k.a me, the next time he visits. Robbery and small things like it don't have to be reported, unless it was unknown who did it. Do you all understand?” he said. We all nodded our heads nervously. “Okay. please watch your step” he told us, pointing to the ferry boat.
The boat was huge, almost like a cruise ship. As we stepped on, he closed the door and directed us to a big room, almost like a bedroom. It had three beds, a walk-in closet, two dressers, and a full sized mirror. “The trip will take a while, so get comfortable.” he said. We were so much in awe that we forgot to ask him how long, so we put our stuff down and stared. Mainly because none of us have ever been on a cruise, or even ever really had a house that was nice. This was by far the nicest place we have ever stayed in. “Alright, enough staring into space. Who wants to go look around this place?” Marisa said “Sure, let’s go.” said Luca. he got off the bed, took her hand, and headed for the door. “Wait, before you guys leave, what's the sleeping situation?” said Lily. She always got right to the important stuff first. “Yeah she's right, there's only three beds and four of us.” said Luca “I'll sleep on the floor” I replied. “ Permission to look around the ship, madam?” said Luca jokingly to Lily. “yes, you may leave now, monsieur.” replied Lily. Luca and Marrisa left, and it was me and Lily in the room.
I looked around some more. On one of the dressers, there was a record player, and on the floor next to it there was an entire box filled with records. “Cool!” I said childishly. I walked over to it, and looked at the records. Lily followed. The records were in alphabetical order. I quickly searched through them. A, B, C, D. quickly flipping to I, and looking for It's Been a Long, Long, Time, by Harry James. “Yes!’ I said when I found the vinyl. “Look at that. Mint condition original Harry James, 1945. That's pretty cool!” I said, excitedly. My dad used to have a lot of old records, and so I've become very interested in them. Lily actually got me one for our 1 year.
I put the vinyl on the turntable. “If I remember correctly, I should just put this on, move the needle, and it should start playing.” I grabbed the needle, put it on the very end of the record, and it started playing. I heard the trumpet play. It sounded perfect. “I guess it is mint condition.” I whispered under my breath. I turned to Lily. “Cool.” She said. I put my hand out. “May I have this dance ma’am?” I asked “Of course you may.” she replied back, while taking my hand. I don't really remember what happened after that, but I do remember that while we were dancing, Luca and Marrisa walked in on us. We didn’t even realize that they did for a second. We only noticed them when Luca said “Are we interrupting something here?” We all laughed as I went to put away the record. “Guys there's a HUGE pool up on the deck.” Marissa said excitedly. “Let’s change and go up then!” I replied.
We all changed in different spots. Lily in the bedroom, Marissa in the hallway because there was no one else on the ship, Me in the Bathroom, and Luca around the corner in the hallway. We all gathered in the hallway, and Marissa led us up to the pool. It was gigantic. And I mean huge. It was a big circle, with another part rounding out of it, kind of like a deformed oval. We swam our hearts out. We were so tired after swimming, that we went right to bed when we got out of our showers. Luca, Marrisa. And Lily climbed into their beds, and I put a blanket down and laid on the floor. “Are you sure you don’t want my bed?” Lily asked me for the millionth time. I shook my head “No but thanks.”
Everyone fell asleep except for me. I looked at the clock. 12:37 A.M. I got up and used the bathroom. I must have fallen asleep in there somehow because when I got out the clock said 1:16 A.M. I laid back on the floor and couldn’t get comfortable, so I got up and went to Lily's bed, and tapped on her shoulder. She didn’t respond. I crawled into bed next to her, got under the covers, and put my arm around her. She grabbed my hand. “Hey.” she said softly.
“Hi.”
“Why are you up?”
“I can’t sleep.”
“It’s Probably because you're laying on the floor.”
“Maybe.”
“Try laying on the bed. It might help.”
“Okay.”
She turned and looked at me. I laid on my back, and she put her head on my chest. Next thing I know, I’m asleep.
The boat jerked as I woke up the next morning. I stood up and went to wake up the others because I thought we were sinking. We got up scared, and went to gather as much as we could. Marissa went to the window. “Uh, Jack?” She said. “Were not sinking, were flying.” We all quickly rushed to the window to see what she meant. “What the heck?” Lily said. I ran out the door as quick as I could, twisting and turning around the hallway corners, the same way Marissa brought us to the pool last night. I got to the pool, and went up the stairs to the Captains Quarters. I opened the door, and startled him. The boat shifted a little. “Where are we going?” I asked. “To the island that you bought, sir, now please leave. This is the hardest part of getting there. It's how the last person that tried to get there died.” I left the room, and went back to the bedroom. “Pack your bags, we're almost there!” the intercom shouted. We were almost above the clouds. “Where'd you go?” Luca asked me. “I went to ask where we were going.” I said in reply. “He just told me that we were going to the island that we bought.” I explained. Suddenly the flying boat jerked again. About one minute later the captain came to our room. “Follow me.” he told us. We grabbed our stuff, and followed him, the opposite way to the pool.
We got to a door that opened as soon as we got there, and there was a bridge on the other side leading to a huge castle . “Welcome,” he said “to the Palace in the Sky.”
We got up from the table and started to make our way to the beach. I love the beach, personally, because it is where I’ve lived my whole life. I haven’t had the greatest life though. At the age of 5, my Mom passed from cancer, and at the age of 13, my dad went on an “adventure,” as he called them, and never came back. He always loved to live life like he was in a superhero movie. You see, my dad didn’t really have a job. People always said that he was a little crazy, living in one of the richest places in North Carolina, without a job, but he had a good reason for it. He believed in the ancient myth of the Palace in the Sky. He eventually found a lot of evidence that it was floating high in the skies of sunny North Carolina, and, on his last adventure, He mysteriously disappeared, and his body was found deep underwater by a diver only a few weeks after he went missing. It’s Kind of surprising, to most people and even myself sometimes, that I’m still living here, but I’m living life to the fullest.
“Come on Jack, won’t wanna leave you behind by accident.” Lily yelled to me.“I’m coming!” I screamed back, while sprinting up to the group. We like to randomly go for walks on the beach sometimes. It calms us down, and it’s usually where we tend to open up and talk to each other the most. This experience was more unusual than our other times at the beach though. As we were walking down the beach, like we usually do, we saw a sign that said “Selling Island for $5!” Normally, people wouldn’t bother to look at it, because it sounded like an obvious scam, but there were not normally scammers on this beach. And since it was an island, we all wanted to check it out.
The man holding the sign seemed odd. He was an older man, probably in his 60’s. He was tall and skinny, and he had almost no hair. His eyes were a hazel color, and they were very mesmerizing. Almost as though he was hypnotizing us. “What’s up with the five dollar island?” Luca asked. “Simple. I am selling an island for five dollars.” “there's no catch?” I asked. “No catch.” We quickly searched our pockets. We had exactly enough. “Is five dollars in change ok?” Lily asked “Perfect.” he said. “Meet me right here tomorrow at this same spot at 8:00 A.M., with all the things you want to bring”
We were all a little sceptical about it all, except for me. Even Lily, who always wanted to get out of here and live a life away from this island, said she had “A bad feeling about it.” But we still grabbed all our stuff, and met him back there at exactly 8:00 in the morning. “Alright. Here are a few rules.” He started to say. “Rule one: a ferry will be there once a week to pick people up and drop anyone off, if asked to. Rule two: there are no rules on the island, but obviously if someone was to commit a crime, like murder, it should be reported to the ferry driver, a.k.a me, the next time he visits. Robbery and small things like it don't have to be reported, unless it was unknown who did it. Do you all understand?” he said. We all nodded our heads nervously. “Okay. please watch your step” he told us, pointing to the ferry boat.
The boat was huge, almost like a cruise ship. As we stepped on, he closed the door and directed us to a big room, almost like a bedroom. It had three beds, a walk-in closet, two dressers, and a full sized mirror. “The trip will take a while, so get comfortable.” he said. We were so much in awe that we forgot to ask him how long, so we put our stuff down and stared. Mainly because none of us have ever been on a cruise, or even ever really had a house that was nice. This was by far the nicest place we have ever stayed in. “Alright, enough staring into space. Who wants to go look around this place?” Marisa said “Sure, let’s go.” said Luca. he got off the bed, took her hand, and headed for the door. “Wait, before you guys leave, what's the sleeping situation?” said Lily. She always got right to the important stuff first. “Yeah she's right, there's only three beds and four of us.” said Luca “I'll sleep on the floor” I replied. “ Permission to look around the ship, madam?” said Luca jokingly to Lily. “yes, you may leave now, monsieur.” replied Lily. Luca and Marrisa left, and it was me and Lily in the room.
I looked around some more. On one of the dressers, there was a record player, and on the floor next to it there was an entire box filled with records. “Cool!” I said childishly. I walked over to it, and looked at the records. Lily followed. The records were in alphabetical order. I quickly searched through them. A, B, C, D. quickly flipping to I, and looking for It's Been a Long, Long, Time, by Harry James. “Yes!’ I said when I found the vinyl. “Look at that. Mint condition original Harry James, 1945. That's pretty cool!” I said, excitedly. My dad used to have a lot of old records, and so I've become very interested in them. Lily actually got me one for our 1 year.
I put the vinyl on the turntable. “If I remember correctly, I should just put this on, move the needle, and it should start playing.” I grabbed the needle, put it on the very end of the record, and it started playing. I heard the trumpet play. It sounded perfect. “I guess it is mint condition.” I whispered under my breath. I turned to Lily. “Cool.” She said. I put my hand out. “May I have this dance ma’am?” I asked “Of course you may.” she replied back, while taking my hand. I don't really remember what happened after that, but I do remember that while we were dancing, Luca and Marrisa walked in on us. We didn’t even realize that they did for a second. We only noticed them when Luca said “Are we interrupting something here?” We all laughed as I went to put away the record. “Guys there's a HUGE pool up on the deck.” Marissa said excitedly. “Let’s change and go up then!” I replied.
We all changed in different spots. Lily in the bedroom, Marissa in the hallway because there was no one else on the ship, Me in the Bathroom, and Luca around the corner in the hallway. We all gathered in the hallway, and Marissa led us up to the pool. It was gigantic. And I mean huge. It was a big circle, with another part rounding out of it, kind of like a deformed oval. We swam our hearts out. We were so tired after swimming, that we went right to bed when we got out of our showers. Luca, Marrisa. And Lily climbed into their beds, and I put a blanket down and laid on the floor. “Are you sure you don’t want my bed?” Lily asked me for the millionth time. I shook my head “No but thanks.”
Everyone fell asleep except for me. I looked at the clock. 12:37 A.M. I got up and used the bathroom. I must have fallen asleep in there somehow because when I got out the clock said 1:16 A.M. I laid back on the floor and couldn’t get comfortable, so I got up and went to Lily's bed, and tapped on her shoulder. She didn’t respond. I crawled into bed next to her, got under the covers, and put my arm around her. She grabbed my hand. “Hey.” she said softly.
“Hi.”
“Why are you up?”
“I can’t sleep.”
“It’s Probably because you're laying on the floor.”
“Maybe.”
“Try laying on the bed. It might help.”
“Okay.”
She turned and looked at me. I laid on my back, and she put her head on my chest. Next thing I know, I’m asleep.
The boat jerked as I woke up the next morning. I stood up and went to wake up the others because I thought we were sinking. We got up scared, and went to gather as much as we could. Marissa went to the window. “Uh, Jack?” She said. “Were not sinking, were flying.” We all quickly rushed to the window to see what she meant. “What the heck?” Lily said. I ran out the door as quick as I could, twisting and turning around the hallway corners, the same way Marissa brought us to the pool last night. I got to the pool, and went up the stairs to the Captains Quarters. I opened the door, and startled him. The boat shifted a little. “Where are we going?” I asked. “To the island that you bought, sir, now please leave. This is the hardest part of getting there. It's how the last person that tried to get there died.” I left the room, and went back to the bedroom. “Pack your bags, we're almost there!” the intercom shouted. We were almost above the clouds. “Where'd you go?” Luca asked me. “I went to ask where we were going.” I said in reply. “He just told me that we were going to the island that we bought.” I explained. Suddenly the flying boat jerked again. About one minute later the captain came to our room. “Follow me.” he told us. We grabbed our stuff, and followed him, the opposite way to the pool.
We got to a door that opened as soon as we got there, and there was a bridge on the other side leading to a huge castle . “Welcome,” he said “to the Palace in the Sky.”
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