"Do Not Enter"
I wake up in the middle of the night to the sounds of breaking glass. Or was it just my imagination?
No, I definitely hear footsteps downstairs. An intruder!
I race to put on my clothes, and search for a weapon. Hmm, nothing in sight. I guess a shoe will work.
Holding my shoe up ready to beat someone with it, I creep down the hallway and down the stairs. It's so dark I can hardly see, but I hear someone causing a racket in the kitchen.
Peeking around the corner I see two large men rummaging through the cupboards! Robbers!! I turn around and run to grab my cellphone, and stumble in the dark and trip over the coffeetable! "Ow!" I yelp in pain as I fall to the ground.
Suddenly, light blinds me from the kitchen. I look back and see the two flashlights pointing at me.
A gruff voice yells, "What the hell!? The owner is away on vacation! Who are you??"
"I'm a f-f-friend! House... uh... house-sitting!"
My eyes gradually adjust and I see the two men are wearing biker masks painted to look like skulls. I look over at my cellphone plugged into the wall. As I jump up and run to grab it, a gunshot rings out completely deafening me. I look back and see one of the men holding a smoking gun, and that they had shot my cellphone.
"My cellphone! Damn! You bastards. That costed me a months pay!"
"And it's about to cost you your life! Sit still. Our gang is coming, and if you're lucky, we will let you live."
I widen my eyes with fear, and try to think fast.
"You already broke a window and set off the silent alarm. Police will be here any minute."
"Oh? Is that so? Well, then disarm it!" The taller thug shakes his gun at me.
"Ok, ok. The control panel is near the front door."
"Lead the way."
We walk down the hallway through the living room to the front door.
"Hmm... I don't see the control panel. It must be by the front door on the porch." I open the door, slam it, open the porch door and run as fast as I can towards my car.
There was no alarm system... but thankfully my bluff had worked.
I hear the front door slam behind me as my pursuers chase after me. About 20 feet from my car, I hear the roar of motorcycles turn down the driveway. I'll never make it to my car in time! I veer right, and I run behind the house, then across the field and into some woods. I stop to catch my breath and listen if I'm being followed.
Sure enough, I hear yelling and footsteps chasing after me. I jump up and continue running through the woods. I'm not really familiar with this area and have no idea where I to go, so I just keep running.
I come to a clearing in the woods and find a run-down mansion with rotted out wooden steps. I carefully climb up the steps, walk through the broken front door and I hide around the corner and wait.
But they're still chasing me! By the sounds of it, the entire gang is on my trail now.
"He must have ran inside that house! Everyone circle around it so he doesn't escape, and two of us will go inside after him."
Shoot! Now I'm trapped! I look around the house for an escape.
The floorboards looked old and rotten just like the front steps, and the remnants of a stairway leading up to the second floor. I see the main zig-zag beams that held the stairs are still there, but the boards are gone. I figure the bikers would not expect me to make such a dangerous climb, so I carefully make my way up the beam, using the wall for balance until I reach the second floor.
At the top of the stairs is a large wooden door. It appears there are words carved on the door but are so worn I can barely make them out... "Do not enter." Strange. I push the door open and run through.
It's bright and noisy. My eyes struggle to adjust. I look around and discover I am on a busy street in broad daylight, and it smells awful. How can this be? I look back and see I just came out of a run-down building that looked nothing like the mansion I was just at. Where am I? I look around and see street vendors selling fruit, fish and other wares and dirty people in rags everywhere. Am I in another country? These people don't look American! I yell to a passerby and ask "Where am I?" They frown at me, and say something in a language I don't understand. So I walk down the street, hoping to find someone that speaks English.
I spot a sign written in English that says "Coffee." A coffeeshop! Perfect! Someone surely speaks English there! I walk through the door...
And I step into snow. Snow?
I look around, and I'm on a mountaintop! What in the world? This doesn't make any sense. I look back and see a hut behind me, with the door wide open. Inside I see a bed and a stove and it looks inviting, but it doesn't make sense. Where is the street market I just came from? A blast of cold wind hits me and I don't see any other buildings in sight, so I go back inside the hut for shelter...
Except inside was not a hut, but a construction yard! Men in hard hats are all around me working on a huge skyscraper. Cranes moving huge beams over my head and welding sparks raining down from high up above.
"Hey, you! What are you doing here??" A man in a white hard-hat comes running up, still yelling. At least he spoke English! "What are you doing here? Where is your hard-hat?"
"Um, I'm lost," I reply.
"This is a restricted area! Didn't you see the signs?"
"No... sorry. I just came out of..." I look back and see the door to the foreman's trailer behind me. The door! Before the man can say another word, I turn around and run through the door.
Suddenly, I'm overwhelmed with loud music. So loud, I can feel my bones rattling to the beat. It appears I am now in a dark club filled with dancing people silhouetted by strobe lights and laser beams. It smells of sweat and alcohol. I look behind me, and see the entrance to the club with a line of people at the door getting checked by the bouncers. At least the music was good!
I walk up to the bar and go to order a beer, but realize I don't have my wallet.. nor my cellphone... nor any keys! The three things I always carry on me. I was really in a bind. So, instead of a beer I ask for a glass of water and watch the people on the dance floor.
"Do you want to dance?"
I look over and see a tall beautiful brunette batting her big brown eyes at me.
"Why yes! A dance would be great. I've had a such horrible night."
She grabs my hand and drags me out onto the dance floor. "I'll make it better."
What luck! And what a dancer she was! I lurch around awkwardly in what I consider dancing, while she sways and floats around like a swan princess on a cloud of air. I pull her closer, her body continuing to wiggle against mine as we dance together. She's sexy, curvy and smells sweet like candy... completely overwhelming my senses. She begins grinding against me and kissing my ear, and then she whispers, "Want to come home with me?" I nod excitedly, and she leads me towards the exit. Arm in arm we walk out of the club.
And I find myself standing alone on a beach in broad daylight again. Looking around, I see that I am on a small island with nothing on it except a small lean-to made of drift wood and a single palm tree. The sun is hot and the water is endless. I must be somewhere in the Pacific Ocean!
I decide to sit down and rest a bit, still trying to process what was going on. I remembered being chased, running to the house and through the door that said "Do not enter." Ever since then, I have no idea what is going on. At least I am someplace nice, now. The sun feels good, the sand feels soft and I really didn't sleep much last night... and I drift off to sleep.
I dreamed of travelling, beautiful women and sunny beaches. I dreamed of places I had never been to, and people that I had never met. But then my dreams turned darker, and I dreamed of running in the dark, cold and wet. Rain beat down and lightning flashed overhead, and I could not find shelter. What a horrible dream! I ran and ran, but could find no escape from the rain...
And then I woke up to the sound of thunder.
The waves were crashing against the beach violently, and it really WAS raining. I look up at the palm tree and see it swaying in the wind. This tree wouldn't provide any cover.
I get up, wipe the sand off myself the best I can and walk towards the lean-to... but it was gone! The wind must have blown it away! I look around and see boards scattered across the beach, and some floating in the water. There truly was no place to hide from the storm!!
I decide to huddle up against the tree as best as I can, and I tuck my head inside of my shirt to hide from the wind and the rain, and at the same time warm myself with my breath. I was freezing!
And then it dawned on me... I'm trapped! There weren't any doors on this island! And most of the driftwood from the lean-to was gone so I couldn't build a door. I'm trapped on a deserted island. Well, I thought, there are worst places to be!
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