January 25 - Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days at only 26 years old. Nathaniel writes to her.
February 18 - Nathaniel receives a reply from Nellie Bly, who tells him that her journey was inspired by Jules Verne's book, Around the World in Eighty Days. Nathaniel is inspired to use his life to explore and travel. He is also a little smitten with Miss Bly, as she evidently likes to read, like him, and is adventurous, as he aspires to be.
March 7 - Nathaniel buys a ticket to England on a steamer ship.
March 10 - Nathaniel boards the steamer to England.
March 12 - Nathaniel is seasick and worries about what this will mean for his career as an adventurer.
March 21 - Nathaniel arrives in England, finds it very cold and damp.
March 30 - Nathaniel is looking for work. Still cold and damp.
April 6 - Nathaniel is living off his savings from home and he's almost halfway through his funds.
April 10 - Nathaniel is getting extremely discouraged. Wonders if he should buy passage back home with what's left of his money.
April 12 - Nathaniel finds a job posting for a mailroom at Sharpe Enterprises, owned by Harold Sharpe, a ruthless businessman who married into money and an estate. Desperate for a job, he applies the same day.
April 14 - Nathaniel attends his interview at Sharpe Enterprises and meets the secretary, Miss Ethel Tibbs. The interviewer was jovial and encouraging and Miss Tibbs had nut-brown hair and eyes like sapphires.
April 21 - Nathaniel is called by Miss Tibbs to be told his application has been accepted.
April 22 - Nathaniel has his first day at Sharpe Enterprises.
June 3 - Nathaniel turns 23 years old. His mother makes a vanilla cake with chocolate icing.
July 23 - Nathaniel talks about reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde.
July 25 - Nathaniel brings the mail to Mr Sharpe's office and overhears a conversation between Sharpe and Victor Annesley about the expedition Sharpe is putting together. He hangs around and tries to talk Annesley into letting him come when Annesley leaves the office. Receives nothing but scorn in return.
July 26 - Nathaniel goes directly to Mr Sharpe and begs to be allowed to go. He is turned down.
July 27 - Nathaniel begs again. Is turned down.
August 1 - Nathaniel begs again. Sharpe finally agrees to let him go if he pays his own way.
August 10 - Irish-born poet John Boyle O'Reilly dies suddenly at age 46, massive outpouring of grief across the world. N is heartbroken.
August 12 - The ship leaves port, setting sail for South Africa.
August 14 - Nathaniel is sad to report that he still gets seasick.
August 30 - As we watched the boat sail off, a strange disturbance in the water caught my eye. I looked into the ocean, but all I saw was a shadow slithering away, following the coast. Thought I saw, I mean. I must be delirious to be actually believing in tricks of the light.
My attention was soon drawn to movement on the beach. There were these strange, large blue crabs like nothing I've ever seen before. Amazing! Could they be an undiscovered species?
I feel that I am finally becoming the explorer I've always dreamed I would be. And what a place to do it! I love this island! I could sit on the beach all day watching the little blue fellows crowded all together and moving in a wave hither-thither. In fact, that's exactly what I do as the sun sets.
August 31 - Preparations to explore the island were underway this morning. Took the entire morning. I almost died of boredom and wanted some excitement. As we gathered up the packs, I noticed Ruby walking along just by a small body of water. I nudged Thomas and he got the idea immediately. Thomas and I shouted suddenly, tackling her and knocking her into the tide pool. Ruby came up sputtering and cursing. We couldn't breathe for laughter. Then she shrieked and flopped out of the water, slapping at her shoulder. A slug was stuck to a rock in the tide pool, waving little pink tentacles around like a boxer brandishing his fists. Apparently he didn't like being sat on.
Danger struck out of nowhere. From another tidepool, something whipped out at us, wrapping around Thomas' ankle. He yelled as it jerked him off his feet, though it was no thicker than a cord of rope. Angeline recovered first, swinging at it with the machete. It scored in its flesh and the thing recoiled to the safety of the tide pool.
Peering down into the water, we saw a gray form undulate into its deepest recesses and vanish, pulling its wicked tentacles after it. Relieved, we helped Thomas and Ruby to their feet and entered into the jungle, following the river.
September 1 - Today was uneventful except for one thing. Angeline spotted IT again -- that tentacled creature -- watching us with cold malevolence from the safety of one the strange deep pools that riddle the island. Could it be the same one that attacked us before? Could it be stalking us, using the pools to follow us far from its usual hunting ground? My skin crawls at the thought.
September 2 - A fantastic find today! A tower, amazingly preserved. We broke open the doors to find what we all agreed could only be a classroom. Tables and benches all oriented toward some interesting tapestries at the front of the room. Upstairs there is one large chamber evidently for one person to sleep in, and above that a dormitory full of small beds with trunks for belongings at the foot, made to accommodate up to ten children, although one of the trunks is empty.
Ruby is feeling ill. She sways when she walks, and Angeline discovered a rash of tiny scarlet warts on her shoulder. We have decided to camp here for the night, the better to explore the tower while she recovers.
September 3 - Ruby's warts swelled from the size of pinheads to the size of pie weights. Today, she couldn't walk at all. By nightfall, she was dead. We buried her by the ruin and named the snails after her so that maybe she won't have died for nothing. None of us could stand to stay here tonight, so we moved camp, following another river west.
September 4 - Something attacked the camp. I didn't see it. I only heard screeching. Victor and Thomas and I were in our tent when it started. Angeline yelled for us to run. And we did. Like cowards. Screams and gunfire ringing behind us, we ran until we couldn't hear it anymore. Thomas ran in the same direction as me. Don't know which direction Victor took. When we finally mustered the nerve to venture back, all that was left of Angeline was the smear of her blood in the direction it had dragged her away. Poor Angeline. I feel dreadful for wondering, but what will become of us now?
September 5 - Our only hope is to return to the beach. The ship is meant to come back for us. I have to hope it will. Thomas and I talked about finding Victor. We searched for him at the ruin, but there was no sign of him. We must conclude that the island has taken him too. I never liked him, but I hate to think of the way he must have died.
September 6 - We begin the walk to the beach this morning. God help us. We may not even make it. But the thought of reaching home again keeps us from giving up.
Our first sight that filled our eyes as we crested the hill was the ship. A blessed silhouette in the distance. For a second we truly believed we were saved. Then the second thing our sight fell on: Victor. At first we couldn't believe it. Alive! And then it dawned on us what he was doing. From the top of the hill, we could see him pushing the rowboat back into the water. We raced through the trees as fast as our legs could carry us, branches whipping across our cheeks and our eyes. I couldn't see, but I kept running, screaming for him to wait. I have no idea if he heard me. By the time I broke through the tree line, Victor had rowed halfway to the boat. I staggered and fell, my mouth filling with sand. But he was gone. He left us. We were alone.
We are alone.
