Ghost Island

The sun hasn't shown his face today. Clouds have covered the sky since sunrise. Light showers have fallen into the ground on and off throughout the morning. A day like today is one of those that is hard to be motivated to work in your house, but you also know you should get something done. With this in mind the young man, Tyson, leaves his home with only a book, a jacket, and an umbrella under his arm. He says goodbye to his parents and goes out into the rainy day.

He wanders for a while before deciding to cross a bridge to a small chunk of land. This chunk of land was so small then not even a house lay on its surface, nor is it labeled on any map. Tyson had nicknamed it "Ghost Island" because not many people came around this piece of land. The land had separated from the mainland from the river around it. The mighty River is split at the top of the chunk of land and went back into one at the end of it. "A work of mother nature," Tyson whispers as he sets foot on ghost Island. Just then, sprinkles of rain began to fall on his head.

He opens his umbrella and holds it over his head, walking to his favorite tree. The tree rests on a small bump in the land so it was just high enough to be a bit more chair-like than leaning against the other trees. The tree was otherwise no more or less grand than any other on the island.

Tyson takes a seat and rests his umbrella in such a way as so no sprinkles would dribble onto his book. He rests his back on the tree trunk and begins scanning the pages of the book and search of adventure, love, curses, and happily ever after.

Hours past with the rain sprinkling on his head; only stopping to take a breath, before starting again. He was so lost in his book that he hardly noticed, hardly cared.

He didn't notice that the clouds were growing darker. No thunder sounded, the wind did not even pick up.

Without warning, the skies opened up with pouring rains and lightning streaked onto the ground.

Boom!

Sizzle.

Crack!

Tyson's head pops up out of his world of wonder and into the storm that had now raged over him. He growled at himself for being so distracted and not noticing the storm. He puts his book in the back of his pants so it rested on his skin and under his shirt. He hurries to put on his jacket and then gets the umbrella over his head.

Lightning streaks across the sky and Tyson see his only escape, on fire

"No," he whispers to himself before running toward the bridge. The heat of the flames held him back, though. The old bridge, his only escape, on fire. He turns to the river. Even if he were to risk his book to jump in and swim across, he would also be risking his life to try to swim across the rapids.

He pushes his hair back with a frustrated side. It would become dangerous soon to keep this umbrella up, and the sun was already in its decline in the evening. It would be cold soon he could end up dying of hypothermia or...

No, he mustn't think of that. He needed a logical way out of here. But... How?

He takes a walk around Ghost Island and finds the spot where the river was the thinnest. Maybe he could swim it... He throws a twig in to get an idea of how vicious the waves were.

Yep! Still too dangerous to swim. Even though complex, he keeps looking.

Somewhere in the middle of the island, the rains had washed away leaves that were covering a circular, metal, a trapdoor in the ground.

Curious, he leans over and takes a look. A handle and a family crest were engraved into the door. He did not know who the crest belonged to, but, he tries the handle anyways. Inside is a ladder. With no other options, he's climbing down, closing the trap door over his head.

For a long while, he climbed down in pure darkness having to rely on estimation to find the next ladder rung.

His hand hits something on the ladder. He fiddles with it for a second before realizing, a light switch? He flicks it up and sure enough, a few dusty light bulbs flicker to life. Down here there is a stone room with some books and other miscellaneous items on a bookshelf, a chair, a table, and a yellowed mini-fridge.

Tyson chuckles to himself at his dead luck! A hidden bunker on a forgotten island in the middle of the largest river for miles? He's the luckiest guy on the planet!

On the wall, there is a door with the same symbol that was on the trap door.

He goes over and after some work, gets the door open. On the other side is a passageway. Liking the likelihood that this passage went under the river and opened on the other side, Tyson rummages the dusty shelves to find a flashlight. It's dim but working.

The door creeks when he shuts it. But then he takes off quickly down the tunnel. This whole ordeal was beginning to give him the creeps!

To his luck, he finds another ladder, that led to another trap door, that led him back into the storm. It's not long before he's able to figure out where he was and runs home to the safety of the indoors.

But still, the question remained:

Who would hide a bunker and then leave their research for scrap?