• Dark Water and Red Lava:
    Dark water rushed swiftly past, not caring that so many people were standing there frowning at it.
    And yet, when these people had gotten here, we knew no one outside of our families. We had nothing in common except a spoken language and a mysterious letter.
    My family had been the first family to arrive. We automatically assumed that that meant we were the first ones to get the letter.
    The Letter that changed our lives drastically.

    Dear Family Smith,
    We appear to have ourselves quite a natural puzzle. There is a river in an old volcano of white stone not too far from our home. The volcano is not actually anywhere near the river, it is far under the island, but the White Canyon through which the river flows is right on the see, overlooking a fairly recent lava leak.
    This river is very deep and very strong. Yet it does not follow it's riverbed to the ocean. It meanders through White Canyon and goes to sea farther on down the seashore.
    We would like you to change the course of this river so that it follows its intended path. Do whatever it takes. You will have all the time in the world if necessary.
    That about covered it. The rest of the letter was how to get here, in the middle of nowhre.
    We'd had to sit together, blindfolded, while they knocked us out with some sort of gas. We woke up here.
    There was no way out. The other has just appeared whenever we weren't looking. Now there were hundreds of us. We had all climbed up and looked for a way out, a road, a trail, anything. There was nothing. Picturesque landscape forever. The one who dared wander off came back in a few days completely disoriented. I was one of the few who had done so and survived.
    It was horrible. I refuse to think of it.
    We all knew we couldn't leave until we had changed the course of the river. We soon lost track of time. No one knew how long we'd been there, but no one had aged noticeably.
    It felt like forever. I felt bad for the ill or pregnant. It felt like time had stopped, just for us here. Day, night, didn't matter. We weren't going anywhere.
    We used the longer cracks and crevices for shade during the day, and for sleeping areas at night. It never mattered who we were with-there was nothing to steal, and if someone hurt someone else, there was nowhere for them to run.
    Not that we all got along. There were some people who were rough, some who were rowdy. Along with these were people who could talk to them and influence them.
    I stared gloomily out across the ocean, lost in thought.
    A sharp yell jerked my attention back up by the river. One of the rowdier boys was red-faced, yelling and shaking his fists. Even as I started towards him, he and his 'gang' pushed over a big bouder, into the edge of the river. The river burst into the ancient riverbed and roared down towards the rest of us.
    The bang of the boulder on the stone of the river bank still reverbrated through the air.
    I watched in horrid fascination as the dark water rushed towards me in slow motion even as the side of the canyon cracked and gave way, sending a massive landslide to crush a majority of the people against the opposite wall.
    Many had already been swept up in the water, and the bang from the landslide set off another, closer to where I still stood, staring in shock and horror. Silently.
    People around me started to run for the ocean, but it wasn't until the wall to my left came loose and started chasing me.
    I started, then turned and fled. Thanking my coach and my team in my head, I sprinted for the ocean, following my dad. I'd already lost track of my mom and my little brother. I dared not turn to look for them.
    It wasn't until I was well out that I realized I was running on dried lava. I glanced down and shrugged. Since I was still alive, I figured it was safe.
    Until I saw flames. My dad had stopped and turned around and stared behind me. As I turned, the lava under my feet cracked, then split. I balanced for a few moments, then fell in.