Black Numos Island by Maggie Morris, Alaina Fulkerson (best motivational books for students .TXT) 📕

“Mara! Cover your face!” When Chris turned to look at his wife, he realized that she had already done so. Just as another chair burst into flames, a second announcement came on. It seemed that the intercom was failing just as badly as the wings, as the passengers could only make out four terrifying words; "....engine broke.....deadly crash......"

When Chris and Mara heard the word "crash" they braced themselves, which may or may not have been one of Captain Steve's instructions. The other people just looked around frantically, as if trying find something nice and pretty to be their last image before a certain and painful doom.

But, Chris knew it was not at all a certain death. If only they weren’t screaming and running around, he thought. Unlike his normally quiet voice, Chris's low voice boomed over all the noise. "Everyone, brace yourselves." Of course everybody ignored him. They couldn’t just stay still for a few seconds. They had to run around they plane screaming like maniacs. Chris had tried to help, but now it really was a certain death for everyone else on the airplane.

“Sweetheart, you tried. Now it's just up to them," Mara said kindly, though her voice caught when she said it. She grabbed Chris’s hand, and he looked at her. Tears were streaming down her face.

“We might actually die, sugar,” she whispered. “I never gave the kids a proper goodbye.” Knowing that he hadn’t either, tears welled up in Chris’s eyes. Suddenly, the plane jolted for the last terrifying time, and spiraled to the ground with the deafening sound of screams fading away into the sky.

“I love you,” was all that the couple said.

On a small tropical island close to where the plane crashed a young girl was sitting on the beach playing with the sand. She had just placed the finishing touch on her castle, when a flaming velvet cushion crushed the sculpture. She suddenly realized that she heard screams from above, and yelling too. The girl looked up and saw an explosion in the air. The little girl screamed and began to cry, running to her family’s hut and flinging the small door open.

“Mama y Papa!” She shouted. A worried looking mother with tan skin ran to the door, holding a pot and a towel.

“Estás lastimado?” (Are you hurt?)

“No. Hay una emergencia!” (There is an emergency!)

Her mother quickly asked, “Que paso?” (What is it?) The girl hesitated for a few seconds before commenting.

“No lo se.” (I don’t know.)

“Ir! Decirle al pueblo! Voy a decirle a su hermano y Papá! (Go! Tell the village! I will tell your brother and Papa!) The mother cried.

She hurried out of the hut and went to each hut in the island saying the same thing. She also added:

“Prepárese usted mismo! Algo malo es sobre nosotros!” (Prepare yourselves! Something bad is upon us!)

When the village leader heard the news, he ordered everyone in the village to gather food and supplies. All of the people were very worried all day long. They continued gathering supplies for weeks, until they received a messenger bird. The note attached to its foot read:

Un avión se ha estrellado en la isla. No te preocupes. Si ves a alguien que no está separado de su pueblo, envíe un pájaro mensajero a nosotros y darles su hospitalidad. Gracias! (A plane has crashed on your island. Do not worry. If you see anybody who is not apart of your village, send a messenger bird to us and give them your hospitality. Thanks!)

As their chief read the note aloud, they relaxed. They had feared that their tribal myth about a monster had come true! But, it was still a tragic accident, and they prayed long and hard. A party was sent out in search of survivors. The party returned with somber looks on their faces. They had no idea that three people actually had survived.

Emily was startled by a racket coming from the room that Sam and Luke shared. She jumped out of her striped bed just in time to see Netty slam the front door. Emily followed her.

“Wait Netty, please don't go!” Netty didn't stop but seemed to walk even faster than she had been before.

“Netty, what happened?” Netty only jumped into her black car and drove away. Emily stormed into the twin's room.

“WHAT DID YOU DO, SAM?!” She shouted. Sam replied quickly,

“I didn't do anything!” Emily took a deep breath and calmly said,

“Did Netty just quit?” With a hint of fear in her voice she muttered something to herself that Sam couldn’t make out.

“Sam, tell the truth,” Luke butt in.

“Okay, I'm sorry Emily, I just pulled a prank and she got all mad...I really am sorry, Ems’!” Luke spoke up, “Well, the past is in the past now. But, we have a job for tomorrow: find a new nanny.” Emily turned around and nodded.

“That is exactly what we will do. And little Sammy here will be doing most of the work!” She glared at him and stalked off to her bedroom.

The next morning, Emily found her old MacBook and searched the Internet for nannies. Meanwhile Sam and Luke were going door to door also trying to find a nanny who would not have to be paid until after the sitting was over. After they had gone to all the houses in their neighborhood with no luck, they gave up and headed home.

When they arrived at the brown house they were greeted with a plump lady wearing a purple sweater and a large green skirt that looked horrible together. She had short, frizzy, hair that was the color of ketchup, and blue colored braces on her teeth. "Hi, I'm Ann" the lady said. "If you don't mind I need to speak to Emily, in private," Sam said to Ann.

Once they were alone, Sam shrieked, “How did you find her? She's hideous!” Emily shrugged. “I don't know, the profile picture was a tall, skinny woman with long black hair and her name was Sara. And, this so-called ‘Sara’ was the only one available for immediate ‘sitting.”

“What? That's like the total opposite of her though! People shouldn’t lie about themselves on the Internet,” Sam replied with panic in his voice.

“She better be nice!” Sam cried.

“Says the person who caused all of this to happen!” muttered Emily. She flipped her long, black hair over her shoulder and stalked off to her room, slamming the door. Then Sam heard a scream.

Mara trembled as she reached out a hand, grasping the smoldering seat in front of her. She gazed at her surroundings. Chris lay unconscious on the seat next to her, and limp bodies were strewn elsewhere. Mara knew she had also been unconscious, but didn't know for how long. Her entire body ached, and her ribs were definitely bruised if not broken. Mara knew she was lucky to be alive. The plane had gone dark, except for one small light up front, which was flashing wildly.

Knowing she had to move before the whole plane caught on fire, Mara stuck her arms under Chris's, and started to drag him down the beaten up aisle. Though she didn’t like being disrespectful to the dearly departed, she had to kick lots of limp bodies aside. As far as she was knew, there were no survivors except herself and her husband. Mara was heading out the side of the plane, still towing Chris.

Mara began to step out of the plane, but stopped short; where she was about to place her feet-or in this case, try to place her feet-was empty air. Apparently the plane had crashed into the branches of an enormous oak tree. The limbs were thick and sturdy, which explained how it was holding up the plane.

Mara was about to shake Chris into consciousness, when he opened one of his starry eyes.

"Hey, sweetheart. Where are we? Are you O.K.? Did the plane crash?" He said groggily. Mara gave him a hug.

“Slow down, hon’. First of all, I have no clue where we are. And as for those last two questions, the answer yes. I mean, look around. We obviously crashed.”

They began climbing down through the thick limbs.

“Oof!” Mara cried as her chest banged against a limb.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Chris asked worriedly, while Mara winced and rubbed her chest.

“Well, I may or may not have forgotten to tell you that I...bruised my ribs?”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve helped you! Too late now,” Chris grumbled. They climbed the rest of the way in silence.

“I wonder what the kids will do when they find out our plane crashed," Chris said when they had reached the ground, dusting himself off. He shook his head for a few seconds as if he was disappointed in himself.

“And I wonder what you will do when I tell you that we are the only survivors!" Mara replied.

"Wait. We are the only survivors?" Asked Chris.

"Correction. We are the only survivors!" A voice shouted from above. A familiar person had come out of the side of the plane. Chris grabbed Mara, and turned around, looking up.

"Steve?!!" They both said in unision.

Chris quickly put himself in front of his wife.

"Yeah, I'm Steve. The ticket master, the pilot, and now the survivor. I've toured this island before. I show you around when I reach you." He began to climb down through the dense branches of the tree. While they waited, Mara and Chris whispered to one another.

"How well do you think he knows this island?" Mara said quietly. "I dunno. Do you think we should follow him? He seems a little weird. Plus, he was the one who killed all these people because he crashed the plane," Chris responded.

"You realize I can hear you?" Chris and Mara spun around. Steve had already made it to the floor. "Plus, I didn't crash the plane. Well, technically I did, but still. The engine broke!I didn’t mean to!" Mara grabbed Chris’s hand and they walked a few steps away, where Steve couldn’t hear them. "He doesn't seem guilty or sad even though hundreds of people died because of him. But, he is our best hope. Let's follow him." The couple turned around and announced their decision.

“By the way I’m Mara, and this is Chris,” Mara said.

As they started walking, Mara cried out in pain.

“Darn high heels!” She screeched. Her ankle looked twisted, and was already swelling.

“Oh, sweetie. I’ll carry you the rest of the way.” Chris scooped her up and they continued journeying.

After a while, Chris asked, “Where exactly are