Thunder shook the earth, lightning lit up the sky, and one man seemed not to care. He was walking down to the beach in a t-shirt and shorts. When out of nowhere a bolt of lightning struck a tree barely twenty feet away from him. Most people would have ran back inside, but he didn't seem to notice.

As he stopped to rest, lightning came down and struck the tree he was leaning on and set it on fire. This time he did look up and acknowledge this, but he wasn’t afraid, for in fact he was the one causing all of it.

About four years ago he got struck by lightning and wherever he went it rained. This is one of the reasons that he now lived on a small island in an area that fishermen had nicknamed the Devil’s Sky.

Life was ‘ok’ on the island. Every morning he would go down to the beach and go fishing and he’d have his food for the day. Now when i say fishing i don't mean with a fishing rod and bait. He would just go stand in the water and wait for a lightning bolt to come down a ways out, which never took too long. This would scare all the fish towards shore where he could scoop them up in a bucket that he brought with him. Sometimes he’d get lucky and the lightning would electrocute the fish so he could just grab it.

After doing this he started to walk back up the hill with the pair of two foot bass that he caught. When he got to the top he looked down at the little log cabin that he lived in.

The roof was covered in wet leaves, mostly because they couldn't be dry, and also so it wouldn't catch on fire from the lightning bolts that occasionally struck it.

The inside contained a small bedroom with a bed, wardrobe and large bookshelf with over 200 books. The living room had a sofa and two chairs along with a fireplace that was barely ever lit since there was never any dry wood. Now the bathroom was a different story. Just let me say that if i told you, you'd wish I hadn't, and if you didn’t then you probably would never eat fish again.

Other than that his house was no bigger than a delivery truck. Oh, I also forgot to mention the seven hook towel rack right next to his front door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I'm telling you there is someone living on that island.”

“Sure there is Smith”

“I'm not lying Stan. I've seen him”

“You keep saying you've seen him,” Stan yelled, “but where is the proof? Huh?”

“I told you I'll take you to see him.”

“I'm not sailing under Devil’s Sky!” Stan told Smith.

“Yeah cause you're too scared!” Smith said back.

“And you'd be an idiot if you weren't!” Stan yelled and slammed his fist down onto the table so hard that his mug fell off and smashed on the floor. Smith glared at Stan, who just as equally matched his stare.

“If you bring back solid proof,”Stan said,“then I'll believe you.”

Then Stan got up to leave. “Oh, and you're paying.”

“I paid last time!”

“Until you bring me solid proof, you’re paying.” Stan told him, “unless you admit that no one lives there.”

With that he left the bar. Smith sank into his seat, he knew someone lived there; he just didn’t know how to prove it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In his log cabin he thought about the time when a fisherman's boat had crashed onto the shore. He partly regretted pushing it back out into the water, but it was the right thing to do.

Even though the man was unconscious he would probably tell people that someone saved his life. It was pretty obvious that no one would believe him and he’d become the ‘crazy old man’ of the town.

The other possibility however, was a lot worse. If he somehow managed to convince them or he got proof of his existence then people would go out looking for him.

Eventually people would figure out that he was the cause of the storm and panic. In that panic the word about what he was doing would spread and the government would get involved. If the government got involved then there was a high chance that he would be taken away and studied. Just thinking about the possibility was enough to give him goosebumps, and all if someone found proof.

“Then,” he said for the first time in three years, “i’ll have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Smith walked home he stopped at the bait and tackle shop and stood outside wondering if he should go in. He didn’t need to buy anything but the man that worked there might be able to help him.

The man in question was a guy named Phill that was believed to be crazy. He wasn’t that crazy, I mean he did talk into staplers but he was normal other than that. He also always told stories about aliens, time travel, creations beyond imagination and an intergalactic organization that seemed to specialize in the likes.

Smith didn’t know how Phill could help him but he was the only person likely to help him. He sighed, “I’m going to regret this.” He muttered. When he opened the door he saw Phill behind the counter talking into a stapler like it was a phone.

“Got to go, customer.”Phill said, then ‘hung up’ and put the stapler down. He then turned to Smith, “How can I help you today?”

“Well I was hoping that you could help me convince my friend that someone lives out in the Devil’s Sky.”

“Ok and how do you suppose we do that?”

“Well,” Smith said, “we could try to get a picture of them.”

“Ok, we’ll need a boat, camera and something to keep us dry,” Phill told him, “and possibly a stapler.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    

The boat rocked back and forth in the waves. Multiple lightning bolts struck the water barely fifty feet away from them.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”Smith asked.

“Relax,” Phil said, “I've experienced much worse than bad weather.”

“You know now is one of the times I'm really questioning your sanity.”

Phil laughed, “My sanity hasn’t been the same in years. I doubt that’s going to change any time soon.”

He began to hum a strange tune as he steered the boat through the walls of water.

“One question,” Smith said, “where did you learn to drive a boat.”

Phil looked at him, “My job requires me to know how to drive all types of vehicles. It also requires a ‘free’ mind.”

“Which means?”

Phil sighed, “I don’t try to make sense of things, I just accept them for what they are. For example if a rock sprouts wings and starts flying, I don't question how or why it sprouted wings. I just think to myself ‘that rock sprouted wings, I guess that's possible’.”

“So when i told you that there was someone on the island?”Smith asked.

“I thought to myself ‘strange place to live, but not the strangest’.” 

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just like any other morning, he was knee deep in the water with a bucket. This time however, when lightning hit the water it also illuminated a boat that was coming towards shore. He stood in shock and dropped his bucket into the water which scared away the fish.

He barely realized that he was slowly backing out of the water and getting ready to run. He was aware though, that he was thinking of an awful way of stopping the boat from reaching land. The terrible part of it was that he was mostly convinced that he wanted to do it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“We’re almost there.”Phil told Smith. Smith turned to look at the island and instead was blinded by the lightning bolt that struck the water in front of him.

He stumbled backwards and tripped over a couple of buckets. “Oh my g-” was all that he managed to say before being interrupted by a second and third lightning bolt within ten feet of the boat.

At the same time the waves got a lot more intense than they were just seconds before. The sky got even darker as well as menacing. 

“What do we do?”Smith asked, having to yell over the roar of thunder.

“Why would I know,” Phil said, “you're the fisherman!”

“Well you seem like the kind of person who would know what to do in a strange situation.”

“I understand that but this is just really bad weather, there’s not really anything strange about that.”

All of a sudden there were a dozen lightning bolts that struck down in almost perfect unison. Then it all stopped, the lightning, the waves, the clouds and even the boat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He fell over onto the shore. He was exhausted, and also drenched in sweat.

“Well then,” he said into the sky, “that was, different.”

Groaning and aching all over he stood up and looked into the ocean. There was no sign of the boat that was there just seconds before.

“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you get rid of a boat.”

With that he grabbed his bucket and walked back up the hill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Smith get up.” Phil said.

“Nope,” Smith said, “I’m staying behind this bucket until we reach land.”

Phil sighed, “Very well.” He then walked over to the dashboard and started to take the panels off.

Smith poked his head out from behind the bucket. “What are you doing to my boat?” Smith asked.

Phil continued to tamper with the wires and barely turned to register Smith. “I’m rewiring the boat.”

“To do what exactly?”

Instead of answering the question Phil just continued to tamper with the wires. The boat started up again but was noticeable quieter than before.

Phil turned to Smith, “That.” he said.

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several minutes had passed and yet no lightning struck down. As he finished off the fish he listened for thunder. To his disappointment nothing happened, there was still no lightning. Sadly he got up and started cleaning up his house since there wasn’t anything else to do.

After he finished he went to grab a book from his room. Since he had read all of them multiple times he grabbed a couple of books at random and sat down.

As he opened the first book he realized that something was wrong. Instead of it being filled with words it was filled with pictures.

He flipped through the pages and pages of birthday parties, christmas celebrations, family gatherings and tons of other things. As he looked through the pictures he realized that they all had one thing in common, he was in them.

He stopped near the end of the book, the pictures had gotten less bright and happy and started to be of him and someone in a hospital bed. She was hooked up to tons of machines and equipment. As the pictures continued she got worse and worse. Eventually they stopped, and the last one was of him standing back as the woman lay in the bed with a little girl clutching her hand.

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“He has a cabin?” Smith asked.

“Well yeah, where else would he live, a cave?” Phil said.

“Well I guess not,” Smith replied, “I was just busy trying to prove he exists that I didn't register that he is trying to survive out here on this island.” His face then morphed into one of concern.

“How likely is it that he lives here with someone else?” He asked.

“Almost zero.” Phil told him.

Smith let out a sigh of relief, “Good to know.”

“Yeah,” Phil said, “we probably shouldn’t ask about that.” He then walked out from behind the tree and headed for the cabin.

“Phil.”Smith hissed, “what are you doing?

Phil turned around to look at him, “Going to talk to him of course.”

“We only need a picture, not his life story.”

Phil rolled his eyes at Smith. “You do realize we need his consent for that.”

“So? As far as we know he could have lived on this island his entire life and not even be a legal citizen.”

“Whatever, I'm still talking to him.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Eric’s Photo Memories’ the cover said.

“Eric huh? Sounds familiar.”

There was a knock at the door. He was so unfamiliar with the sound that it didn’t register until the second time. When that happened however he was so shocked that he stayed frozen until the third time.

Slowly he got up off of the couch and walked to the door. When he opened it he was met by a man.

“Hello sir,” he said, “ we’re from the town just west of here. Do you mind if we take your picture. I’m Phil by the way.”

Eric stared at him, “Hi, I’m Eric.”he said, ignoring Phil’s outstretched hand.

“Well, Eric,”Phil said, “Do you mind if we take your picture.”

“Yes actually.” Eric told him.

“Ok, it’s just we’re trying to prove to Smith's friend that you exist.”

“Well as far as the world knows I don’t exist.” Eric said, “and i’d like to keep it that way.”

Phil gave him a hopeful smile, “Well I have a suggestion that might just solve both our problems.”