The Lost Key

Broom, broom, broom, broom.

"Yes." Mark was young and he was wearing his office clothes. He was celebrating because he had finally managed to turn his floatplane on. Mark was sitting on the pilot's seat and had his laptop settled on the seat beside him. The plane lifted off and soon Mark was observing the sea from above. About an hour after he'd lifted off from the harbour, he got to his island near the coast of California.

Once he got there, he noticed it was very sunny. He parked his floatplane in the dock and got his bag out while picking up his laptop. He stepped into the shallow, crystal water and noticed it was warm and delicious. There was a light and delicious breeze too. He felt like in paradise! The first thing Mark wanted to do once he got there was to go to his beach house, leave his bag there, grab some Coke, chips, a chair, and a couple of magazines, come to the beach again, and finally, relax. Mark reached to his pocket and searched for the keys for his beach house but he couldn't find them. He looked in the other pocket and he couldn't find the keys either! He was getting more desperate each minute that passed.

Suddenly, he noticed it was almost 3 o' clock because of the position of the sun. The strange thing was that he hadn't found his keys since he got there, about two hours ago. He was very desperate by now. He headed to search between the trees. Maybe he had dropped them by accident or maybe a bird had picked them up and dropped them in a nest. So he went and looked through the trees but he couldn't find them. Suddenly he felt little insects were biting him. There were hungry mosquitoes in the tree! He started running deeper in the jungle, jumping and crouching to dodge branches and animals. He got to a clear in the forest and he stopped to rest. After some minutes of resting, he noticed he didn't know where he was. He was lost.


Mark couldn't believe he was in this difficult situation. He was lost in a tropical jungle, on an island miles off the coast of San Francisco or even the safety of his office, he had no food, no way of communicating, and there was a whole colony of mosquitoes after him. He wished he was in his apartment. With air conditioner, in his laptop, chatting with his friends on MSN, talking in the phone, or watching TV. He wanted to be in a place that was miles away from this jungle. All the mosquitoe bites he had got previously were giving him lots of pain. He also noticed something worse than the bites. He didn't have any food or fresh water near him. Mark just had one thing left to do. He had to explore the island and maybe he'd find fruits or fresh water.

Mark got up and picked some brown and red leaves so as he walked he left them behind. The leaves started making a little trail so Mark would know were to go if he didn't find anything. After walking for about half an hour, he sat down on a rock. After a while of resting on the rock, he decided he had to keep walking if he wanted to get somewhere. He walked for what seemed like five hours. He was full of sweat and there were leaves and twigs in his hair. His feet had mud.

"Yuk!" He said as he accidentally stepped over a pile of mud and slipped.

Suddenly, between some palm trees, he spotted a small house. At first, he thought it was an oasis or he was getting crazy. As he got nearer the hut though, he touched and concluded it was solid and wasn't an oasis. He was overjoyed by seeing this. He thought of delicious food, someone to talk to, and a warm bed to rest in, not a rock.

Mark inmediatly knocked on the small door. He knocked around ten more times but still, no one opened the door. He decided to open the door a little bit since it was unlocked. He entered the house quietly. It was a very simple home. It just had a small bed, a table, and two seats. On top of the table there were some bananas, apples, and oranges. Mark grabbed one of them but after registering the house, he concluded it was empty. Hopeless, he got out and started following the trail of red and brown leaves.

"I think I should keep walking, maybe I'll get to the end of the jungle." he said to himself. He kept walking and walking and walking until at last, he finally found a great place to rest, or at least have a little nap. The place was surrounded by fruit trees, it had some palm leaves spread in the floor that were warm and comfortable to be in, and there was a little pond with clean water. The first thing he did was drink from the pond. He knew maybe it could have germs and he could get sick with all the diseases that are in the jungle, but he only cared of the thirst he had. Suddenly, a couple of thunders announced a storm was coming. The sky started to get dark with all the rain clouds. He even saw some lightning in the distance.

"Oh no! Not a storm!" Mark said. He was very cold because he was sweaty and there was a fresh breeze.

Mark was thinking of comfortable San Francisco and the civilization again, when he heard some footsteps splashing in the mud.

"I must be crazy, it's the middle of the jungle, no one is here!" he shouted.

Still, the footstep and mud sound continued, this time faster. It seemed as if the person or the thing creating it was following Mark's voice. "Who is it?!?" he screamed, thinking that he was crazy. No one answered, but the sound didn't vanish. Mark finally sat down and started eating the orange he'd found in the house. Suddenly, he spotted a shadow between the trees. The shadow came closer. Until finally, the sun rays fell in the person's face. It was a guy, around 17 years old, he was tanned, and he had light hair.

"What are you doing here?" he said, speaking perfect English.

"Well, this is my island. What are you doing here?" Mark replied, looking at the guy.

"My name is Makalu, and I live in this island, in the house you saw earlier. I was picking up some berries, so that's why you didn't see me. When I got home, I noticed a fruit was missing, and then I came to investigate. I followed the red leaves and the your footsteps. So now, who are you?" Makalu asked.

"My name is Mark and I work in a tourism company. I'm the owner. I can find you the perfect vacations. Anyway, I bought this island two years ago and came here to spend vacations." Mark replied.

"Ohh...right. So, you're the owner of the house after the forest? Then, what are you doing here in the middle of the jungle?" Makalu asked.

"Well, I got lost, isn't that obvious? I wouldn't come to this jungle for fun, would I? Mark replied.

"Okay. How come you got lost?" Makalu asked once again.

"I lost my house's keys and I couldn't enter so I tried searching between the trees for them and got lost." Mark answered.

"Hmm...so those keys are this guy's." Makalu said to himself.

"You got the keys?" Mark asked, hopefull.

"Yes." Makalu said. He handed Mark the keys. He was so thankfull he said something that made Makalu even happier.

"You know, you've helped me a lot. So, what if you move out of your house and move onto mine and live on it while I'm not here? I'll come more often, I promise, to visit you." Mark suggested.

"What? Sure!" Makalu answered.

The two of them picked up Makalu's things and they both got out of the forest. They got to Mark's house and started celebrating. From that day on, they became great friends and Mark visited his island more oftenly while Makalu cared for the house and both friends made great parties on the island.