My Friend At War by Faire Lucas (book recommendations website txt) 📕

It was such a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the birds were out and about, the sky was light blue and it was the last day of school. I ran up to John and gave him a small peck on the cheek.

“Hey John, today is really going to be a perfect day.”

John turned to face me and said,” Yeah I guess it is, Poppet.”

I looked over his shoulder to see who he was talking to and noticed Cole Phillip, John’s best friend, and a couple of other guys he usually hanged out with. I said hi to all of them then I walked back to my group of friends.

“…really I mean we should bring some jackets. I mean just in case it does rain over there.”

Yuki was talking about bringing jackets? I mean it just cannot rain today! Can it?

Breanne looked at Sarah then said,” Well ok but we really don’t need it at Army Island.”

I cut in the conversation and said,” Then everything is settled and we can go after school in my dad’s helicopter.”Lucky for me my parents were absolutely rich. That meant personal helicopters and personal people to take your there for a trip.

“Well, I think we should just forget about it for now. Later on we’ll discuss more and get ready to go.”

Scarlet was not a very cheerful person like everyone else in the group. She was actually very different then everybody I knew. That’s why she’s my best friend…more like a best sister. She was exact opposite of me too. She had black hair and icy blue eyes; she was quite tall and always professional. I’m blonde with brown eyes and medium heighted.

“Ok I guess…” Sarah said as she picked up her backpack and started heading for her next period of class.

After school was over we all met up at my house. My parents had gone out of town for business trips and I was left all alone in the mansion. Well I was all alone until I invited my friends over.

“So did you invite the boys to come tonight so they can be here in the morning for the trip?”

“Yeah, Scarlet, I told them to come tonight so there won’t be any people left behind” I said as I got into my pajamas.

Everyone else got in there’s too and we turned my widescreen on to watch reruns of our favorite shows. I was just about to get some food for us when I heard the bell ring. I walked over to the door and opened it up.

“So we’re not late right” John asked as he gestured all the boys in the group that were going on the trip tomorrow which included Killen, Michael and Trip.

“No you’re not late,” I said as I turned around to face the clock,” actually you’re right on time.”

I led the boys over to the girls in the living room and went to the kitchen to get the food.
I held the popcorn bags and walked into the living room. I handed two bags to the boys and two bags to the girls.

“So I think after the next episode on t.v. we should go to bed. That way we won’t be tired in the morning when we go to the island” I said as I stretched my arms and yawned.

Everyone nodded and soon we all went to sleep, the boys in the living room and the girls and me in my bedroom.

I woke up to Sarah laughing at Breanne doing an impression of Yuki when she was mad, which she was about now. Scarlett was still sleeping, she was so soft and gentle like a baby and I didn’t want to wake her up. For some reason she was very protective over me like and older sister because she was two years older than me. So at these times I protected her by letting her sleep.

“Come on you guys let’s go into the living room. I bet the boys are up and eating everything in my kitchen.”

We all left the room and I shut off the light, making sure I didn’t wake up Scarlett. Breanne started to say something when I heard footsteps behind me and I turned around. Scarlett was yawning but she looked thankful.

“Good morning miss sleepy head…we were going to wake you up right now but Poppy insisted that we leave you alone” Sarah said.

“Well thanks Poppet and you better watch out.”

We all looked at her with question marks on our faces. Scarlett smiled and turned to the bathroom door on our right and said,” Come out boys, we know you’re in there.”

Right then the boys all came out with beaten faces.

“That’s not fair, Scarlett, you know everything” Michael said. We all looked at her in a “you think you know everything” look.

“What, I heard you guys giggling and whispering because I have very good hearing.”

We all laughed and she smiled and we went into the kitchen. After eating and getting dressed, we headed outside. There we found the helicopter and the men who were supposed to fly us to the island. They were very nice on our way there but once we got off they were very glad to leave as early as they could.

“Well my dad told me the hotel is over there,” I said as I pointed east,” let’s get going.”

We finally reached the hotel in the woods and looked up at it. It looked old and yet beautiful. We all walked inside and were directed to our two hotel rooms, one for the girls and one for the boys. My parents made especially sure we wouldn’t have the same room.

“So after we get everything unpacked let’s go explore the forest guys” John said as he threw his baggage into the boys’ room and walked back into ours’.

“Well first I want to look at that old building over there. It looked like a chapel or something” Yuki said as she finished brushing her hair.

Everyone nodded and we left the hotel. Once we got to the old building it was actually no bigger than maybe two SUVs stacked on each other. We all looked at it and looked at each other. Scarlett was tracing something with her finger like she was reading. I went over by her side and looked.

“Mr. Noble thanks for everything you’ve done for us. We’ll never forget you.”

I looked at Scarlett and she quietly said,” Do you guys know the history of this island.”

We all shook our heads and Scarlett just nodded. She was about to say something when Trip said,” So tell us.”


Scarlett didn’t speak at first then finally started to speak,” I t is said that an army plane crashed her thirty years ago. The plane had a broken wing when it was hit with the enemy’s missiles. So everyone in the army had to stay on this island. That’s why they name this island Army Island. So the enemies decided they would take the fight here and since they knew it was only one plane they brought extra people here too. Then they slaughtered everyone and left back to their home. Now the people of this island and people who come here say that the ghosts that had fought here and died come back to play the war all over again and do you know when they come back?”

We all shook our heads and Scarlett smiled,” They say the ghosts come back on this specific day.”

I dropped my jaw and I could tell by the silence everyone else did too. I looked around and said,” Is that true.”

Scarlett looked at me and said,” When have I ever lied?”

It was true. She has never lied to anyone before. Not even if her life depended on it.

“Well, let’s go into the forest and see if we can catch us some ghosts” Killen said as he started to head off toward the forest backgrounds. I looked at everyone else and just shook my shoulders. Then we were all heading for the forest backgrounds with Killen in front.

We had been going for about an hour, just wandering around, when Sarah said,” I think I’m going to die.”

I looked at her and noticed my legs were killing me. I nodded and everyone agreed too. We had just started to turn back when we heard shooting over to the west and everyone stopped in the middle of their tracks. I looked around and whispered,” What was that?”

Everyone’s eyes were wide except Scarlett’s which never grew wide. I looked at each person and started to walk in that direction when John got in my way.
“Maybe we shouldn’t go, instead we should go see if the hotel staff can take care of it.”

I looked over his shoulder and saw Scarlett walking toward the shooting. I went around John and said,” I want to see if these ghosts are real.”

Everyone suddenly got an excited face on them and started to follow Scarlett and me. Finally John gave up and came too.

We were getting close now. The gun shots were not small but loud as lightning. Scarlett looked at us and said,” Do you guys want to see?”

I looked at everyone and they nodded. Scarlett nodded once and pushed back the tree branches that were the only cover between the shots and us. She pushed it back in an instant and I felt my knees go weak. I looked from person to person and saw they had felt the jolt of shock like me.

“That can’t be can it?”

I looked at John and then at Scarlett and said,” oh I think it is.”

Before us was a big swirl of men fighting. They were firing guns and shouting, not to mention doing a good job at it. The only thing that was different from them and us was we weren’t pale white and barely noticeable.

“Scarlett I want to go.”

Scarlett didn’t even look at me, she just kept staring and after about two minutes she turned to me and said,” Alright.”

We started to run to the hotel when five men jumped out in front of us. I hid behind Scarlett and the boys got in front of her. The men didn’t look anything like they were on our side at all. You could tell by the scowl on their faces. All of a sudden I heard shooting and I screamed. The next thing I knew I was laying on the ground because someone had pushed me down. I quickly opened my eyes and looked around. Everyone I knew was on the ground looking as bewildered as me.

“You kids safe?”

I looked up to the man who had just talked. He was tall and strong looking. He had a badge on him that said Mr. Noble.

“Yes, thanks.”

I got up and soon everyone else did too. John looked at Mr. Noble and said,” Are you one of the good guys?”

Mr. Noble laughed and shook his shoulders and said,” I sure hope so.” Then he turned to me and said,” You