The Island's Secret - Prologue. School's Out

I handed my essay in, quickly checking it over again before dropping it on the teacher’s desk. I was confident that it was good, but I was nervous about being one of the first to finish. One person had finished and left already, but he had been an idiot who had no chance of passing anyway. I’ve always been a fast worker, but my English teacher was a stickler for details and I didn’t want to give her any excuse to lower my mark. It looked OK, so I dropped it on her desk and turned towards the door.

“OK, goodbye Ben! Have a nice summer!”

She seemed to think that if she was nice now, during the last five minutes of school, we’d all like her more.

Bitch.

I grunted, acknowledging her without having to give a sickeningly polite response, and left.

Finally free, I thought, heading for my locker. Technically we weren’t supposed to walk through the halls while exams were on, but the teacher on patrol was my chemistry teacher, and she knew I wouldn’t be loud. I grabbed the last of the stuff from my locker, making sure it was totally clean for its next owner, and left. I walked to the front hall, pulling out my phone and taking it off airplane mode, checking to see if it was on vibrate first. It was, and I felt it buzz in my hand as the texts came in now. I read the list of texts. There were two from my friends, asking how I’d done, and one from my mom. I looked at the ones from my friends, responding while I thought about why my mom would text me during an exam. Finally, I looked at the text from my mom, worried.

Hey sweetie, it read. My mom never understood that she didn’t have to put that every time. She wrote each text like an email.

Don’t go to a friend’s house. Come home ASAP. We have a surprise for you!

I sighed in relief, seeing it wasn’t an emergency, and walked into the front hall where all my friends had congregated to talk about their exams. I waved to them, not slowing, and walked out of the school, beginning the half hour walk home. I was supposed to ride on a bus, but it took longer because of how many stops we had to make, so I’d always walked, even during winter. It was much more pleasant now, however, because it was the beginning of summer. I thought about the surprise as I walked, wondering what it was. My sixteenth birthday was the next day, so it was odd that my parents would have a surprise the day before. When I reached my driveway, I noticed a really nice car parked across the street from our house. I looked at it for a few seconds, wondering if it was who I thought it was, before running inside. I ran into the living room, grinning wildly, and saw my uncle Tommy. He didn’t look like he’d changed much from last time I’d seen him, a year ago. He was still fit, with wide shoulders and narrow hips like everyone else in the family. He had blonde hair, and he still kept it in a short ponytail at all times. He’d finally given up on his beard, which was good because nobody in our family could grow any amount of facial hair. He was six feet tall, and it seemed like I’d finally caught up to him in height. Most importantly, though, he was still Uncle Tommy, adventurous and slightly crazy.

“Ben!” He laughed, getting up to hug me. “I thought you’d have finished your exam faster! You’re losing your edge!”

I grinned. “I had to write a three page essay,” I told him. “I couldn’t finish it in an hour and still do a good job.”

He crossed his arms, shaking his head at me. “You’re fifteen minutes late. I don’t think you’ve earned your birthday present.”

I laughed, trying, and failing, to control my grin. “You got me a present?” I asked, excited.

Tommy grinned at me. “You don’t think I’d miss your sixteenth birthday, do you?” he asked, offended.

I laughed at the look on his face. “For the stuff you usually do? Hell, I’d miss my sixteenth birthday!”

My uncle was young and rich. Really rich. He had made his own construction company, and he had worked hard, beating out the competition to become one of the top companies. Now, he spent his time travelling around, going on whatever crazy adventure crossed his mind. I hadn’t seen him since my last birthday, when he’d stopped in for a few minutes to wish me a good one and give me a present before catching a plane off somewhere else.

“I’m not going to travel much anymore,” he told me, grinning. “I decided I want to see you guys more often, so I bought a cottage half an hour from here. It’s in Muskoka, and I’ll be there all summer as long as work permits it.”

“Wow, really!?” I asked, ecstatic. “Can I come to visit?”

He grinned. “That’s what I was just asking. If you want to, then you’ll be spending all summer at my cottage. There’s a small village a kilometer away, and there’re a few kids your age there so you won’t be lonely. The cottage itself is really secluded. It’s half a kilometer away from our nearest neighbors, and they’re the only other ones crazy enough to live out there.

“It’s still a work in progress, but it’s liveable. I’ve got a lot of land, and even a small island on Lake Rosseau. I’d love it if you’d come down with me. I could use the advice on what to buy for it.”

I gaped at my uncle, not quite believing what he was offering. I turned to my parents, too speechless to ask, but they knew what I meant.

“Sure,” my dad said. “It’d be great if you spent more time with Uncle Tommy, and you’re old enough to leave for a summer if that’s what you want.”

“Besides,” My mom added on. “We could use the alone time.” She kissed my dad, and Tommy and I made retching noises. We all laughed, and then I hugged my parents.

“Thank you guys,” I said fervently. “This summer’s going to be awesome!”

Uncle Tommy grinned at me, and I smiled back, excited. The rest of the day passed in a blur, until I was lying in bed, unable to sleep. I was too excited, thinking about my birthday tomorrow, but mostly about going to Tommy’s cottage. I knew Muskoka was supposed to be beautiful, but I’d never been. I thought of all the pictures I could take, and I lay awake until two in the morning, grinning to myself. I was never really aware of falling asleep, but at some point I did.