My feet found their way to the shore, the waves lapping gently at the rocks nearby. The smell of salt was heavy in the air as I took a deep breath, trying to release the tension I felt as I exhaled slowly. Other people couldn't help but stare at me, whispering to each other about the scars that traced my skin. It was just human nature to comment on the strange or unusual. I understood that since I used to do the same thing.

Shaking off my thoughts, I wandered my way down to the docks, hoping to find a boat that could take me to some of the small islands nearby. After all, the islands were one of the biggest draws for me, what with so many legends having been created around the Greek islands.

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It had taken time, but I had been lucky. An older man, a retired fisherman if I had understood him right, had agreed to allow me the use of his boat while I was here. Sure, the price he asked was high, but it would be worth it to have the chance to explore without someone staring at me constantly and yet not having to sail the boat myself. He would sail his boat to any island I wanted and stay on the boat near the shore until I got back.

To ensure I wouldn't have to worry, he told me he wouldn't expect full payment until the end of each trip, allowing me to keep my valuables in my room at the hotel and just following me back each afternoon. All I had to do was bring a small amount of money with me so he could buy his food for the trip, ensuring he didn't go hungry while he waited for me to return.

It was the best deal I could hope for, even at more than double what the other sailors had offered.

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The moment I stepped onto that first island, all I could do for the first five minutes was stand there facing the grassy hillside it had and cry. Not tears of sadness, but of joy. For the first time since the accident, I actually felt at peace with the world. Stelios, the sailor I'd hired, had anchored his ship offshore a small distance, just far enough for me to feel that I had some level of privacy.

It wasn't a big island, easy enough to explore fully with time left over to just sit on the shore and let the water lap at my feet. After a few hours, I was rowing back to the boat in the small inflatable raft that Stelios had provided me to get to shore. Smiling at Stelios happily, I thanked him for bringing me here, ignoring the way his eyes flicked from one scar to the next before he smiled at me in return.

During the return trip, we made plans for which island would be my destination tomorrow, me offering to meet him at one of the small cafes for breakfast before we left in the morning. This time, the smile he gave me was real.

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By the third day of exploring islands, I had called my parents and told them I was staying longer than planned. When they asked just how long that would be, all I could tell them was "Until I've seen everything the islands here have to offer."

Stelios had become accustomed to my scars by the end of the fifth day, his eyes no longer wandering from one to another when we spoke. He still didn't join me on the islands, understanding that I needed that time away from people, even if he had yet to question why I sought the seclusion.

Sometimes, things didn't need to be said aloud for another person to understand.

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The seventh island was something I hadn't ever expected to see, Stelios making subtle hints that I shouldn't speak about coming here. With a few hushed words and some hand gestures, I quickly shut my mouth and stopped asking questions, understanding filling me with a mix of both dread and excitement.

The island was just shy of being forbidden to set foot upon, most sailors refusing to go there after so many people had vanished over the centuries. Sure, many in the distant past could be attributed to mere tales told to scare visitors or get children to behave, but even in the past few decades, there had been several tourists that had vanished.

The only reason that the island wasn't completely closed off even to the local population was the fact that the tourist trade in the area thought the idea of such an island might bring in more visitors. Of course, such things usually were more popular during the weeks before and after Halloween happened in the US, so I didn't really have to worry about another person coming along and interrupting me as I explored the island.

Even Stelios made it obvious that if he hadn't taken such a liking to me, letting me know I had begun to remind him of his sister, I wouldn't be here now. Seeing the look I had given him, he had explained he meant back when they had still been young and adventurous, seeking danger and excitement every chance they had before she had settled down with a husband. Otherwise, he would never have agreed to take me there, let alone offered the information about the island's existence.

If not for him, I doubt I would have known about it, either. It was not something they advertised outside of the fall season when such things were most popular and they could ask a lot of money for going there.

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Walking further into the trees that covered over half the island, the largest one we had gone to so far, I listened to the sound of the breeze sweeping through the leaves. Although being in a forest held some familiarity for me, having visited several while traveling around my home country with my family, the flora of this island also held the unfamiliar. There were trees and flowers that I had not seen before, with unusual vines that crept up trunks here and there.

The few signs of non-plant related life I saw were mostly in the form of spiders and insects that crept and flew away when I came too near. Of course, the spiders themselves I avoided, unsure of whether or not they were poisonous and unwilling to take the chance of getting bit so far from any form of hospital.

What shocked me most to find on the island, however, was not the life that flourished so well on the secluded island, but rather the statues I found. The first one that I saw nearly gave me a heart attack, the realism astounding to me even as I remembered having once seen the lifelike copy a museum had displayed of the statue of Venus. It had been of nearly the same quality as this weathered one before me, the eyes seeming to nearly pierce through you, but where Venus had looked tranquil and at ease, this one had nothing but terror and shock radiating from its form.

Creeped out a bit by the statue, I moved on further down the small path I had found, wondering where it would lead to and if I really wanted to find out. After all, what kind of place would I find if that was the first statue I ran into? Still, after realizing that this island seemed to potentially hold some kind of ruins for me to explore, I couldn't seem to hold myself back.

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Defeated, I finally sat down on one of the rocks that sporadically filled the small clearing. I had been searching for hours and knew that before long I would need to head back to the boat. If I failed to return in time, I knew that Stelios would hold to his word and leave me on the island overnight, leaving nothing but a small bag of food and a sleeping bag for me on the shore where he had dropped me off.

It wouldn't be the first time I had stayed too long on an island, but I had no desire to go through that again. Not after last time.

Leaning back, I tilted my head up to look at the sky, still amazed at how vividly blue it seemed in comparison to the muted blues and grays back home.

"You shouldn't be here," a voice whispered into my ear, the person's breath warm against my cheek.

Barely holding back the scream that wanted to tear out of my throat, I jumped to my feet and turned around, my arms in position to defend myself if needed. Standing before me, however, was nobody. I couldn't even make out the sound of someone having moved, the clearing before me empty of any sign of life other than myself.

Giving a shiver, all I could do was mumble a refusal to call the place haunted, instead simply admitting to myself that I had spent too much time running around the forest and was likely just suffering from exhaustion. It was definitely time to head back to shore. I could always come back tomorrow, after all.

Yes, tomorrow when I was refreshed from a good night's sleep and able to bring with me a more substantial meal than I had been bringing. Obviously, today's lunch had not been able to keep me going through this day's adventures.

Turning to leave, I barely caught sight of a serpent's tail entering the forest, a few leaves rustling as it left my vision. I had best ask Stilios if the snakes around here were venomous. If not, maybe I would try and capture a few pictures if I could find one of them tomorrow. It would be nice to have pictures of some of the animals around here as well as all the flowers, trees and statues I had found. Something other than spiders, flies, and butterflies I should say.

Besides, dad had a thing for snakes and it would make him happy, even if snakes still sort of creeped me out.