Welcome to ‘Rattlesnake Island’, a web novel about a young working woman obsessed with collecting information to use against her co-workers. Could there be another darker, more sinister reason for her obsession? Something hidden, something unknown, something not quite right? Read on to find out more about Olana’s obsession.

There was a time when I was afraid of Eagles’ Caves. They seemed so dry, desolate, intimidating, lifeless. From my classroom, they appeared shallow and uninviting like watery oatmeal, not firm, not tasty, just boring and uninviting. Dry, desolate, lifeless.

I wonder now how I could’ve ever thought the caves holding up the plate-like land ever intimidated me. Maybe the unknown or possibly my state of mind was a hindrance to curiosity and a sense of fun. Maybe, maybe not. It’s agonizingly horrible to be gripped by crippling fear while classmates skip class and run up the trail. Feeling left out and shunned, they come back with stories and talk of huge vicious rattlesnakes, you know, how Lisa caught a little one, and David ran faster than the fastest one. To hear them talk, you’d think they were superheroes. It definitely didn’t make me feel any better or like I was a part of their little ‘rattlesnake’ club.

Then was then, now is now. I’ve gone through many minutes and hours of living life and in that experience of life, somehow the paralysis lifted and fears were vanquished. Completely. Maybe even miraculously. Because of this, I’ve begun to think about exploring what is inside of those caves. I want to see the rattlesnakes for myself and find out if the caves are shallow and boring. Maybe, just maybe there’s a place deep enough to hide my precious collection.

Lisa and David and all the others that left me behind are finally going to pay for their sins.

Setting out on a hot, sunny day, I knew the rattlesnakes would be basking on rocks, so I wore thick boots and long pants. Climbing to the caves was easy, being hot and sweaty was not so easy. I intensely dislike being hot and sweaty. It’s one of my many pet peeves.

As I climbed, I thought about all the words that rhymed with peeves, jeeves, meeves, leaves, steves, sneeze. Well, maybe not that last one but I could feel one ready to explode so it came to mind.

Speaking of mind…oops, not ready for that thought yet, onward and upward, concentrate on the climbing.

Finally, I was at the caves. Thankfully, I hadn’t met any rattlesnakes, but I couldn’t let down my guard here. After all, I had come alone with no phone. Kinda idiotic, I know, but I didn’t want anyone else to butt in on any of my discoveries today.

I had a plan. I’d been thinking about it for a long time and it was finally time to hide my collection. As I sat in front of the caves, I thought about all the times of ridicule, scorn, rejection, being left out. Just thinking about it made my blood boil and my body tingle.

Rage always started to build when I had these thoughts. Uncontrollable, violent, and volatile. Kinda like a volcano, violent and volatile. I like all those ‘v’s’. They help me focus on something besides the morons that I work with. Now, where was I?

Oh yes, I was just about to go into the caves. I remember noticing before how very shallow they looked. Of course, they looked really shallow from far away, almost like nothing, but I thought for sure there would be some depth once I got closer. I peered into the first cave I came to and saw a solid rock wall. Apparently, this one was completely shallow if I could see the complete back of it. Maybe there was something that I couldn’t see, more cave hidden away, invisible, invincible, isolated.

There I go again with the words. Words are my comfort and almost only solace in my life. So, I’m weirdly and eccentrically wordy. But back to the cave now…

Slowly, carefully placing my feet on the loose rocks, I stepped into the entrance of the cave. Flashlight in hand, I swept the light across the back wall, looking for a secret hole or entrance.

As I was methodically swinging the flashlight back and forth, there was an extremely startling loud noise from deeper inside the mountain. “That sounds like dwarves building a city, or goblins hitting something with a huge mallet.” I thought to myself, but in reality, there was some muttering under my breath going on. There it was again, “ah, definitely goblins.”

I figured with that, it was time to get down the mountain and go home. Not that I was scared of goblins, not at all, it was just that I was getting hungry and it was getting late and other things were pressing me for my time, like writing in my journal about this day. So, I packed up my flashlight into my backpack, sloppily, I admit, but not because I was scared or anything.

Walking down the mountain took a lot less time than walking up and by the time I got to my car, I counted 47 times that I looked back. That might be a world record.

But it’s not that I’m scared of goblins or anything. After all, I don’t believe in them or the rumors of their hiding under beds and eating children for dinner. I wonder where in the world I heard something like that.

It’s not that I’m afraid, I’m just very very careful.

MY JOURNAL
Date and Time — Today at 8pm

Whew! I’m home and sitting down writing in my journal, FINALLY! I don’t know what day it is or what time, but that’s OK because it really doesn’t matter to me. That trip to the caves was quite exhausting and stressful for me. I’m really depressed about the goblin noises that I heard. At least I think I heard them, my therapist says that I hear and see things that aren’t there. Seems real enough to me. I think my therapist is a bit off, anyway. I’ve thought so for a long time. But I keep going because it’s free and my work is requiring it. Speaking of work, I don’t really want to speak of work, it’s stressful and unfulfilling and BORING. A bunch of moronic bottom dwellers work there and I HATE it. I think my plan is starting to come together though. And then I can finally have some relief from all those IDIOTS and BULLIES. OK, enough about work, I feel better now that I got to write it down, again.

That’s it for tonight’s entry. Tomorrow, I have to go to work, and I have plans for dominating my co-workers. Good night faithful friend, my journal.

TO BE CONTINUED…