The Island

Short Short Story - Maximum 2,000 words. Written for Middle Grade, Grades 4-7

 “Look!  There it is.”, thirteen-year old Carly squealed in delight.

It wasn’t big, but it was theirs.  Their very own island.  Carly felt like she had a thousand butterflies fluttering through her stomach.  Carly’s brother John searched the shore line as far as he could see.  He was hoping there was a buried treasure he could find over the summer.

Carly’s mom and dad, Melinda and Johnston, waved goodbye to the Captain, saying, “Thank you see you next week!”

Walking through the path from the beach to the house was magical.  The path curved around trees, and wild flowers grew everywhere.

When the wooded path ended, Carly saw the house.

“Mom!  That’s the house?”, she yelled, “It’s so tiny!”

“Carly…it’s a cottage.  We don’t need a big house, we have an island.”

“Carly, you’re so dramatic!  Geesh!”, John said.  He shoved Carly forward, and she almost fell.

“Mom!  Did you see that?  Make him stop!”

“Who’s ready for lunch?”, Melinda asked hoping to change the subject.

While Melinda made lunch, Carly and John raced to the stairs leading to the bedrooms.  Giving his sister a quick push at the bottom of the stairs, he took the lead over her.

“Hey!”, shouted Carly, “That’s not fair!”

John picked the back bedroom so he could see the woods leading to the rest of the island and perhaps a buried treasure. Carly got the room she wanted in the front, overlooking the yard.

After lunch, the family went on a hike to explore the island.  Most of the island was flat.  In some spots, the land rose to gentle knolls.  On one of the knolls, Carly noticed jagged rocks sticking out of the ground.  I wonder what those are, she thought.

Evening came quick, and the kids were ready to retreat to their rooms with their cell phones.  Settling into her bed, Carly heard loud tapping noise coming on her wall.

Running down the stairs, she whined “Mom! Dad!  There’s something banging on my bedroom walls.”

Annoyed, Melinda replied “Carly, it’s probably a branch hitting the side of the house.”

“Mom, Really!”, she yelled, exasperated at the lack of care from her parents.

Carly resettled herself in bed.  She still heard the noise, so she pretended it was a branch hitting the side of the house.

John stood at Carly’s door, “Carly! Stop throwing a ball against my wall!”

“I’m not! Go back to bed and leave me alone.”

Within in minutes, John was back at her door.  “Carly! If you don’t stop, I’m telling mom and dad.”

“Go ahead.  See if they care.”

Melinda and Johnston decided to head upstairs to bed when they heard the kids arguing.

Standing in the hallway between John and Carly’s doors, Melinda put her hands on her hips and said in a firm voice “Carly.  John.  Stop the nonsense!

The next morning, Johnston was busy cleaning the basement.  Over the years, the previous owners left a variety of items behind.  There was a bookshelf filled with ancient books.  Boxes and nick knacks were scattered everywhere.

Carly and John were busy cleaning their rooms.  Carly noticed there wasn’t a tree outside her window, so it couldn’t have been a branch.  Sighing, she tried to forget the noises she heard.

John was putting his stuff away in his closet when he realized this was the wall he heard the ball being thrown against.

“Carly!” he said, flopping on Carly’s bed.

“What!”  She was still mad at him for starting trouble with her last night.

“I know you didn’t bounce a ball on my wall last night.”

“No duhh”, she replied.

“No…listen…I swear I heard a ball being thrown against the wall in my room, but my closet is between our rooms.”

“That’s weird.  I heard banging on my wall last night, and there’s no tree outside my window…ya know, I saw something on our hike yesterday. It was up on one of the little hills.  Let’s finish cleaning and check it out.”

Finishing their rooms, they ran down the stairs and out the door to the knoll.

“Oh my God it’s a cemetery.  Look at all the stones.”

“Carly, do you see the dates…they’re over 300 years old.”

They searched the rest of the island for clues about who used to live on the island.

“John, do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“The voices…listen.” Carly replied.

They continued walking through the woods with quiet steps towards the cottage.  John tapped Carly on the shoulder.

Whispering, he said, “I hear footsteps, too.”

After dinner, the kids went to bed.  Carly was half awake when she saw lights flashing in her room.  At the end of her bed was a beautiful angel.  She wondered, am I really seeing this.

The angel at the foot of her bed smiled, “My name is Constantine.  Myself and the other angels live on the island.  We are all in danger.  We need your help.”

“Danger?”

“Demons live on the island too.  They are the ones banging your walls.”

“And the ones John and I heard in the woods today?”

“Yes, and they mean you harm.”

“But…how can I help?”, Carly asked.

“You need to find the golden cage that holds the crystal sphere.  Then, with the golden cage, and the spell book…”

“Whoaaaaa…Wait a minute.  I’m getting my brother.  You can explain this to both of us.”

John was irritated when Carly woke him up.  When he went into Carly’s room and saw the angels his irritation changed to fascination.

“Carly…what the…”

“Sit down and listen…this is Constantine.”

“You and your family are in danger.  What you experienced today will get worse.  There are demons on the island.  Find the golden cage with the crystal sphere, and the spell book.  They are in the basement.  Bring them to the cemetery tomorrow night when the moon is full, and recite the spell until the demons vanish.

“Why me?”

“You have a strong, spiritual nature.”

“What if I decide not to do this?”

“You and your family could die.  The head demon, Juneda, is wicked.”

“Oh.”, Carly said.

“Carly…we can do this!”

“Fair warning, it will get worse before it gets better.”

  “I’ll do it.”, she said reluctantly.

Getting to sleep was hard.  John had set his alarm for 6:30 so they could get an early start looking for the spell book and golden cage.

First thing in the morning, they started looking in the basement.

“This is creepy”, Carly said as she came down the last stair.

“I know!  Isn’t it cool?”

“Uhhh…not really.  You look on that bookshelf for the book of spells.  I’ll look for the cage.”

John pulled books off the shelf and thumbed through them.  Carly searched through shoe boxes of old cards, wooden boxes and other small items.

“Look!  Carly, I think this is it.”

Carly shone her flashlight on the book.  John wiped a thick layer of dust away revealing a dark purple cover with golden page edges.

“Yes!  That’s it.  Now, look for the spell.”

“eeeekkkkkk!”

John jumped dropping the book on the floor.  “Geesh Carly…what the heck!”

“You’d scream too if you walked through a spider web.”

“Uhh…Carly…I think I found the spell.”, John said in shock.

There it was!  ‘Cast Away Evil Spirits’.

              With a full moon, a young girl will

              With the power of her Spirit say:

              Where evil lurks, Angels will fly

              Cast away demons of the devil, Cast away!

             Your will no longer rules. The child spirit

              Holds the sphere of your fate

              Your battle is lost, take Flight! 

              Cast away, Cast away, Cast away All!

“I can remember this.”, Carly said.  “Now help me find the golden cage.”

They searched the foundation with their flashlights.  On one wall, there was a small spot near the ceiling with a hidden shelf.

Carly placed her hand on the shelf, feeling dirt and fuzzy things. “Ewww…this feels gross.  Clink, clink.

“I think I found it!”

Standing on her tippy toes, she stretched her fingers as far as she could.

“Got it!”

Rushing up the stairs, Carly and John made it to the kitchen as Melinda walked through the door.

“What are you two doing up so early?”

”We’re going to have a picnic and explore the island.”, Carly said.

Carly and John packed sandwiches, snacks and water bottles in their backpack with the spell book and cage.  They headed out the door and walked to the other side of the island.

Along the way they heard voices and snickering.  Constantine was right, the pranks got worse.  Rocks were thrown at their heads, and branches fell hitting them.  On the other side of the island, near the shore line, it stopped.

They spent several hours practicing the spell, taking breaks to walk along the edge of the water and skip stones.

They dodged the demon’s attacks as they headed back to the cottage.  At one point, Carly was shoved and fell to the ground.

When they walked through the kitchen door, their dad was sitting at the kitchen table with an ice pack covering his forehead.

“Dad!  What happened?”, Carly shrieked.

Johnston showed the kids the bruise on his forehead.

“It was strange.  The mug fell off the shelf and hit me in the head.”

Carly and John looked at each other as they realized it was getting worse by the hour.

After dinner Carly and John headed to John’s room.  Within minutes, the noises started.

“John, I’m going to sleep in here tonight.  Can you set your alarm for 11:30?”

Beep, Beep…Beep, Beep.

“Carly…it’s time.”

Spell book and golden cage in hand, the two snuck out the back door.

They reached the cemetery and chose a spot in a clearing of trees where the moon shone bright on them.

When John’s watch reached midnight, he nodded to Carly.  She began reciting the spell.  As she repeated the spell, her voice grew more confident.

The wind blew, tree limbs swayed, and bushes swooshed back and forth.

Back at the cottage, the wind was blowing strong, too.  Melinda and John were startled awake when a tree branch smashed into a window.

Johnston got up to see what window broke.  Melinda followed Johnston into John’s room.  A large branch had broken through the window and was lying on the floor.

“Johnston!  Where’s John?” 

Rushing into Carly’s room, she found it empty.

“Johnston!  They’re gone!”, she screamed.

Melinda and Johnston ran outside.

“Look”.  Johnston pointed, “The wind is stronger over there, and I hear voices.”

They ran along the path, stumbling along the way as the wind pushed against their back.  When they reached the knoll, they saw the moon shining down like a spot light on John and Carly.

“There they are!”

When they reached their children, John shouted above the raging wind.  “Carly has to recite the spell until the demons are cast off the island.”

The four of them held their arms around each other’s waist.  This bond strengthened the spell.

Over fifty demons came out of the woods, darting towards the family.  There was a field of protection around them, and the demons bounced away screeching blood-curdling screams.  Fear gripped the hearts of the family.

One of the demons wore a crown of sharp teeth.  One bounced around them with his sinister laugh.  One demon watched the bedlam from above.  He looked like a fat chimpanzee with scruffy hair, and drool dripped from his chin.

Carly closed her eyes and focused.  The spell roared from deep within her soul.

The demon’s attacks faded away.  The wind died down.  The demons disappeared.  Juneda was sucked up into the wind and taken away. They were gone!

Carly and her family cheered “We did It!”.

The angels in their colorful, iridescent gowns danced around the cemetery.  Constantine came down and hugged the family.

“It was the power of all of you joining together in spirit that won over the power of the demons.  Thank you!”

Author's Note