Chapter 2

I literally "landed" on a huge island.

The first thing I noticed was the strange shape of the trees; the cliff and the landscape intrigued me: it was all strictly precise and proportionate in size.

I happened to be in a beautiful place, on top of a hill from which the surrounding landscape could be observed.

Behind me was the real protagonist of the scene, the Ocean, which was strangely serene, of a color between blue and cyan, its waves were hardly noticeable, they were so thin and insignificant.

They served only as an ornament to what, without them, would have been a large sheet of water and ice, they embellished it in the best possible way, giving it a depth and an atmosphere all of her own, almost imperceptible.

It was just wonderful.

To my right, there was a dense forest of oaks and birches and some yellow flowers, the common ones that pop up almost everywhere, very pretty too.

Proceeding to the left, you came across a small pond with algae, water lilies, and tropical fish of all shapes and colors.

One, in particular, caught my attention.

It was a little blue fish with golden fins.

The light that filtered through the water made it clear, it stood out because it shone.

With admiration, I looked around, continuing with the exploration.

In front of me was an imposing rock face.

The sun was rising: it was morning.

I had only one thought in my head.

Fixed, incessant.

Everything I observed slowly led me back to it, leaving me with a vacuous feeling of emptiness, which assailed me and haunted me, I was desperate.

I didn't want to be aware that I was alone on a remote island, but I didn't want to be aware of the presence of other entities either.

"Loneliness can be a terrible sentence or a wonderful conquest," Bertolucci said.

I looked at myself minutely, without neglecting any detail.

I had changed my appearance.

I had kept my height, and that was a good thing. My limbs had turned into terrible parallelepipeds: with repugnance, I noticed that I no longer had fingers. Otherwise, I was fine with that too, only two blocks high and with pixel graphics.

Wandering around the island, I realized that I was by no means alone.

Fate can't do worse, I thought.

I caught a glimpse of three other figures in the distance and hoping with all my heart that they were people too, I waited for any signal to be able to identify them in the best possible way.

I hid behind an oak tree so as not to be seen and watched them.

They were two girls and a boy, looking at each other dazed and confused as if they had just woken up and did not recognize each other.

I read the nicknames written in white above their heads:

Samucava2005, GaiaTae04, JaneSoldier3856.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

They were some of my classmates.

So I decided to get out of my supposed hiding place and "introduce myself" again to those people who already knew me, to reassure them.

"Hi, guys! I'm Francis, front row, by the door, "I said.

I strongly hated that place.

"I'm Joy, the one in the back row, by the window. And you?" asked the girl with the long brown hair.

"I Samuele, back row, third place from the left," the boy Samuel admitted enthusiastically.

«And I Jasmine, also in the last row, between Gaia and Samuele. You can call me Jane if you want. "

They are all in the last row ...

Jane suggested that I stay close to them as soon as we got back to school, and I accepted.

I was willing to do anything to change places.

" Yes Perfect. As soon as we get back to school. Who knows if they will consider us missing ...

I have the presentiment that to get out of here, we have to finish the game »Vallefra1058.

"And who can tell us it will work?" Gaiaguida 04

«Nobody, we might as well get involved and try» Samucava2005

"I'll tell you, let's make an effort: if we give our best we'll do it for sure." JaneSoldier3856.

A few hours later ...

Francis

"And now here we are," I said, quite calmly.

"Light years away from home."

"Years" figuratively, since I didn't know exactly if and when we would return to our respective lives.

For this reason, I used this expression.

I couldn't find a definite number, like nine hundred ninety-nine point nine or a thousand and one or a thousand.

Perhaps to believe that we would have walked a path, or to convince me that, from our lives, we had not strayed.

"We are in a place unknown to us."

"Do you think that one day we will be able to fully explore it?" the ambitious Samuel asked.

I didn't know I was wondering the same thing.

I felt a shiver run down my spine and, at that very moment, I was afraid of how I might answer. So I related my gloomy thought:

"I do not think so. Every second that passes, the island expands. I noticed it when you arrived ».

Although it was a harsh truth, I maintained certain diplomacy in saying it, so as not to further discourage my poor companion, who among other things was in the same situation as me. Unfortunately, however, it was true: every second, the world expanded, grew more and more.

It was impossible, therefore, to hope that one day this process would stop permanently, and it was a horrible thing, as we had to find a way out of that world, which was becoming cruel and less and less fun.

There was a way back home ... No! It was not possible! We would have had to fight Death for an uncertain future. What am I thinking?

We were all in constant danger, day and night. Lack of tools and food were the major problems.

There was no point in risking his life

I looked at the sea. He was far too calm.

He already knew the answers.

A female voice brought me back to reality.

"So it's not possible, guys."

To affirm what I said earlier, Joy thought about it: a cold girl, of few words, intelligent and quite bizarre.

On one thing - at least - we agreed.

"I propose to start from this area." She pointed to an area on her map by making circles around an extremely close and interesting point. We started walking until, at a certain point, I felt that something was missing, or rather, someone.

«Wait! Where is Jane? " Joy cried, looking around.

Here is who was missing! Honestly, I haven't seen her in a while, more or less since I noticed she was with us, right at the beginning, when we looked and recognized each other. She was weird too, more than Joy, smart and not too serious.

"We have no idea where she might be," Samuele and I said, almost in unison, starting to look for her.

Suddenly I saw a silhouette in the middle of the forest. I was sure it was her. I walked over in her direction.