The Island in the Lake

It was a sunny day when James came to the Island in the Lake. James’ family had moved to a small town the previous month and he had been frantically searching for a way to escape the madness that is the countryside. He thought that a trip to the Island in the Lake might be an adventure. The locals told him that the island was cursed, but James didn’t believe them.<br><br>James hired a boat and carefully made his way across the water. The boat cut through the waves with ease, sending little ripples of water crashing to the side. James had never been much of a sailor, but he reckoned that he could handle himself. He had been sailing for nearly an hour when a chill ran down his spine. James looked back and saw that he was halfway across the lake. He turned back to the front, and his heart sank.<br><br>The lake in front of him was empty. There was no island. Confused, James looked back to see that the town he had left was no longer there. Upset and scared, James started to frantically look around. The lake was empty in all directions. There was no sign of land in sight. James sat down in the boat in a daze. Took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He had been sailing for an hour, so in that case he would sail for an hour in the opposite direction. He turned the boat around and started sailing again.<br><br>Fifteen minutes passed. James was starting to get worried. He should have seen land by now. Starting to get scared again, he decided that the best course of action was to stay where he was and wait until morning. He stopped the boat and sat down to wait out the night. The sun was starting to set, and James was starting to get cold. He knew that there were extra clothes in the boat, but he was too tired to look for them. James was starting to drift off to sleep when he heard something moving in the water. He sat up and looked around, but he couldn’t see anything. The noise stopped, and James laid back down to sleep.<br><br>James woke up to the sound of lapping water. The boat was stationary. He opened his eyes to see that the boat had been secured to a small dock on an island in the middle of the lake. James slowly got out of the boat and made his way up the small path leading to a house. Upset and confused, James knocked on the door. An old man answered and welcomed James into his home. The old man was called Louis. James asked Louis how he had gotten to the island. Louis smiled and said that he had been sailing for two hours when his engine cut out. When he woke up the next morning, he was on the island.<br><br>James was confused. He asked Louis how long he had been on the island. Louis smiled and said four years. James was horrified. He had to leave the island, but when he looked out of the window he saw that there was no lake. Instead there was a sea of sand dunes and oasises. James asked Louis where they were. Louis smiled and said they were in the Desert in the Sea. There was no lake. There were no hills. They were a thousand miles from the nearest town. James sat down on the couch, took a deep breath and sighed. He looked at Louis and asked him what they were going to do. Louis smiled and said that they would have to wait.<br><br>James stayed on the island for several weeks. James and Louis became good friends as they waited for rescue that never came. As the weeks turned into months, James started to get used to life on the island. But James never forgot that he had to escape. Every day he would go out onto the sand and look out at the dunes. He would walk out into the sand, searching desperately for any sign of land. James searched the Desert in the Sea for a month before he decided that it was futile. When he returned to the house that day, he found Louis sitting on the couch, crying.<br><br>James asked Louis what was wrong. Louis looked at him and sobbed. When he finally calmed down, he told James that he had been out on the sand that morning. He had walked for hours and finally found the lake. James’ eyes widened in shock. He rushed to pack his bag as Louis told him that he hadn’t brought the boat back with him. James thought that they could use Louis’ car and drive across the sand. But when he went out to look for the car, he found that it wasn’t there. For a moment James thought that Louis had been lying to him, but then he remembered that he had left his car in town. James looked up at Louis and told him that they would have to walk.<br><br>The walk across the sand took hours. James and Louis walked in silence across the endless dunes. They walked for hours as the sand got hotter and hotter. James was starting to lose hope when they finally reached the lake. They walked through the water, heading towards the small boat that bobbed gently in the water. James felt a rush of excitement as he finally saw a way off the island. He rushed across the water, jumping into the boat. James heard Louis groan in pain and turned around. He saw that Louis had been cut by the sharp rocks that lined the lake. He turned back to see that blood was flooding into the water.<br><br>James panicked. The water was filling with blood and he knew that he had to get out of there before something bad happened. He quickly untied the boat and started the engine. He looked back to see Louis sinking into the water. james quickly turned around and sailed away. He didn’t look back as the island disappeared into the distance. James looked around but he was alone. The lake was empty in all directions. He turned off the engine and sat back. He was lost again. He would just have to wait until morning and then try to find land.<br><br>James sat down in the boat, took a deep breath and sighed. He looked out across the water, Took another deep breath and waited. The sun slowly set and James fell asleep. The water lapped gently against the boat as it drifted across the lake. James woke up to the sound of the boat hitting something. He sat up with a start and looked around. The boat had been secured to a small dock on an island in the middle of the lake. He slowly got out of the boat and made his way up the small path leading to a house. Upset and confused, James knocked on the door. An old man answered and welcomed James into his home. James knew that he had been in this situation before. He decided that this time he wasn’t going to wait. When the old man turned around, James hit him with a pipe. The old man fell to the ground and James quickly tied him up. He sat the old man up and asked him who he was. The old man told him that his name was James.<br><br>James was confused. He asked the old man what he was talking about. The old man smiled and said that he was James. James had been to the island many times before. Every time he arrived, he would get angry and attack whoever was in the house. The old man told James that he had been to the island hundreds of times. He would sail across the lake, attack whoever was on the island and then he would sail off again. But he would never leave the lake. James never left the lake. James never left the island. James was doomed to stay on the island forever. James was the Island in the Lake.<br><br>James’ eyes widened in shock as the old man started to laugh maniacally. Everything went black. When James came to, he was in the boat, sailing across the lake. James looked around, confused. The lake was empty in all directions. There was no sign of land anywhere. James started to panic. He thought back to his last few weeks on the island. The old man had called him James. Was James the imposter, or had the old man been lying? James thought back to all the things that he could remember. His family moving to the countryside. The locals warning him not to go to the lake. The water had been cold as he jumped into the boat. Everything seemed so real, but was it? James’ eyes widened in confusion as he thought back to all the things that he knew. Had James been on the island before? Was everything that he could remember a lie? James thought back to the old man. Had he been telling the truth? James looked around at the lake. Everything seemed so real. Had James been to the island before?<br><br>James sat back in the boat and sighed. He took a deep breath and waited. The water lapped gently against the boat as it drifted across the lake.