Connecting the Dots (Shane Madej x OC)

8- The Island of the Dolls

We sleep in the next morning, as we don't have to head to the Island of the Dolls for a few hours. Ryan wakes up first and I hear him showering, Shane rolls out of bed a while afterwards and bangs on the bathroom door.

"Hurry up." He yells, and then looks over at men "shit." He whispers thinking I'm still asleep, my eyes are closed but I've been awake i just don't want to get out of bed.

"I'm up." I mumble,

"Sorry." He says, I laugh,

"Its all good I'm awake." I say, sitting up and stretching. The shower in the bathroom turns of and a few minutes later Ryan walks out in a fresh set of clothes.

"Did you wanna shower before me?" Shane asks, pointing at the door.

"I'm good, I showered last night." I say, he nods,

"Right right," and then disappears into the bathroom and I hear the water start running again.

Ryan is over on the other side of the room getting his stuff together, he pulls a comb out and runs it through his wet hair.

"You ready for this?" I ask. I can tell he's a little nervous already but he nods.

"Yeah, yeah... you know just an island in the middle of nowhere filled with dolls and ghosts and shit. Should be fun." He says sarcastically, I laugh and start grabbing some clothes to change into once Shane gets out of the shower.

"This is probably the one I'm least excited about I'll be honest." I admit, we'd looked at some pictures online and the whole place looked kinda nasty.

"I thought you didn't believe in this stuff?" He asks, I can hear a little excitement in his voice at the idea I might actually believe in ghosts but I shake my head.

"I don't. I just think dolls that have been sitting out to rot are gross, and the place is probably infested with bugs and shit." I say. Ryan sighs, and nods.

"Hadn't thought about that. I guess I was too worried about the ghost dolls..." he says and I laugh again.

"Well now you've got something else thing to worry about!" I reply and he groans.

-

After a very perilous trolley ride to the docks we are finally ready to get on a boat and head over to the island. Shane and Ryan start rolling their cameras as we meet up with someone from buzzfeed unsolved Mexico, Pepe. I start rolling as the boat begins it's journey towards the Island of Dolls.

Ryan gives a quick overview of the location on the boat and I can feel his anxiety rising, especially when we realize the thunderstorm approaching overhead.

Just as we get to the island the rain begins. Soon enough the sun is setting and we start rolling for the episode.

Ryan, Shane and Pepe sit down in a covered shack to talk about the history of the island. Since the moment we stepped onto the island spiders have been tormenting us and even during the read through Ryan can hardly sit still.

Once we've finished the story behind the island we start exploring, I figure we'll splice exploration clips and jokes in between clips of the story kind of like we do for the episodes at the desk.

As we're exploring the various shacks and paths on the island we come across one that looks like it has a bed in it. I swing my camera towards the spot when Pepe asks if it's a guy.

Ryan freezes in fear and Pepe pipes up again,

"How about we poke it with a stick." He says, I try to stop my laughter, this is definitely the most tense we've been the whole trip and Pepe is cracking jokes like he has been all episode, I'm starting to think we should just =take him on the team because he's pretty funny and a good time to be around. Ryan on the other hand is still frozen in place, and does not seem as amused by Pepe's comment,

"How about you Shane, you poke it with a stick." He says, Shane rolls his eyes and starts towards the pile slowly, I follow close behind with the camera. He shines his flashlight at it and says

"There's no one there." Almost completely monotone, turning and looking at Ryan, "this a dream come true for you Ryan?" He asks.

"I can't say that." He says and Pepe and I laugh.

"Alright let's get going." I say, trying to keep us moving, the thunderstorm is still threatening overhead and even though I got a few awesome shots of it, I wouldn't want to get stuck in it.

Our next location is a shrine for the original doll, and the favorite dolls on the island. Ryan pulls out the doll he brought and we enter slowly.

"This is a fucking nightmare." Shane says, glancing around. We get to the original doll and Ryan goes to place his offering when something knocks around. He panics for a second and then Shane points out the huge ass spider coming out of one of the dolls.

"Fuck this" I whisper, knowing that because I don't have a mic it shouldn't get picked up if I'm quiet enough. I cannot stand the spiders though, and my skin feels like there is something crawling all over me.

"These are fucking huge let's go." Shane says, clearly over this location and it's abundance of creepy crawlies.

"This was also his favorite doll." Ryan points out, I try to get a quick shot of it but at this point everywhere I look there is another giant spider crawling around.

"Okay I don't care what his favorite dolls is, let's go." Shane says anxiously. We start on our way back to the dock but find it nearly impossible to navigate all the spiders and their webs. I barely give a shit about the dolls anymore I'm just worried I'll get bit by something poisonous.

"I like spiders I think spiders are good but.... fuck everything about that place." Shane says on the boat ride back. Shane and Ryan talk a bit more and then we finally get back to dry land. We thank Pepe for his help and head back to the hotel.

"I still feel itchy." I say, Shane nods.

"I hated that Ryan." He says, Ryan laughs,

"It's not my fault that place was fucking infested!" He says, Shane just shakes his head and I laugh.

"I call first shower." I say as we get back to the hotel. The boys groan but don't protest.

-

The next morning I'm feeling much better, I still occasionally imagine a spider is crawling up my arm or something but the feeling is much less intense than last night.

When we got back we had all taken turns showering and the climbed into bed. None of us could really sleep though, not from the idea of the creepy dolls or anything, but because every time we lied still we thought we felt a spider on us. We ended up staying up and talking until the early hours of the morning when Ryan finally fell asleep. Shane and I talked quietly for a little while but ended up sleeping pretty soon after as well.

The next morning we need to head to the airport to get to our next location, The Sallie House.