A Search for Paradise (On Hold)

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“What are two kids doing in a ghost town?” one of the men asked another in a scratchy voice. My heart stammered but I wasn’t scared for me. It was Mae I was scared for. “Especially a baby!”

A phrase he sent caught my attention. Ghost town. Anya was not a ghost town! People inhabited this island as much as anywhere else.

Mae tilted her head up to the men. One of them waved and smiled slightly, but Mae, realising she didn’t know them, burst into tears. She kicked me and scratched at my arms, trying to make me let her go. She wanted Mila, but I couldn’t let her go without the men following her.

The men took a step back as Tristan and flanked me, each placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Got anyone else to protect you girls?” the men asked jokingly.

I shook my head, ignoring his joking tone. “What are you doing here?” I asked. I heard the fear flooding every section of my voice. I hope the men took that as a hint we didn’t want them here. Surely it wasn’t that difficult to work out.

“We’ve just come to investigate,” the bigger of the men answered, shrugging is broad shoulders.

The smaller man seemed to look to the other one for approval to say something, and when the bigger one nodded, he launching into a story. “We’ve been monitoring this island for years. Just keeping an eye on it and making sure everything is running smoothly. Don’t worry, though,” he assured when Tristan, Jayce and I exchanged frenzied glances. “We have kept it quiet from the government, and therefore, nobody really knows about it. We’re from the Air force,” he added, gesturing to himself and the bigger man. “A few days ago we saw smoke and all of the huts burnt down, on both sides of the island. We thought there mush have been a war or something and everyone had died.” So that was why they had thought Anya was a ghost town. They thought it had just recently become that.

“I don’t believe you,” I stated honestly. “What proof do you have?”

The men looked at each other and started laughing. “My, my, aren’t you a funny one!” I frowned. I hadn’t meant that to be a joke.

The larger man dug his hand in his pocket and pulled out strips of something. Curiosity got the better of me, and I peered over, gasping when I caught sight of what he was holding.

“They’re photographs,” one explained, realising I had no idea what they were. We didn’t have them on Anya.

“Photographs,” I tested the word out. It felt strange on my lips. The men laughed at me.

He handed the photographs over to me and my mouth involuntarily fell open. I flicked through them and over and over I saw the same subject. Me.

There were photographs of me, Tristan and Jayce paddling over to STJ Island, laughter etched into our frozen faces. There were photographs of me with baskets, collecting fruit and vegetables. There were some with me paddling in the shallow water with Vera. Basically, the photographs captured my every day life. And even weirder, the photographs were in a sequence from when I was a small toddler, happily picking flowers, to me now as an adult.

“Where did you get these from?” I breathed.

The men shuffled their feet guiltily. “We took a great interest in you. You seemed to be the only child we ever saw on a daily basis. It was easy to get an idea of your everyday life. It was also good for… research.”

I tugged Tristan’s arm. “We should go,” I said cautiously. I felt very intimidated by these men. They had all sorts of advanced technology, who knew what they wanted with me.

“Don’t you want to know more, Serenity?” the smaller man taunted. He was no longer the kind man, but instead he was abusing his power of the situation.

I bit my lip. I really did want to know more about them. I was so curious it was painful. They came from a land so foreign to me, but it was a land I had dreamed about my whole life. A land where adventure was acceptable and not frowned upon.

The men noticed my hesitation. “At least stay until the morning,” one insisted. “We have an aquaplane arriving then. I doubt you’ve seen one of them before.”

The men sure did know my weakness. They were using my thirst for knowledge and adventure against me and I hated how they were doing that. But I couldn’t deny my curiosity any longer.

“Fine, I’ll stay,” I sighed. Tristan and Jayce tensed up.

“No Sara,” Jayce whispered. “We can’t trust them!”

I shook my head. “I know,” I admitted. “But you guys don’t have to stay with me. Actually, could you take Mae to Mila?”

They shook their heads and Tristan clicked his tongue. “You aren’t stupid, Sar,” he said. “You should know we would never abandon you. Especially with men you don’t know!”

I smiled gratefully and we sat on the sand with the men. I prepared myself for a long night.