May 2024
The sky over the island went dark.
It wasn't an ordinary night — the darkness that cloaked the area had a depth none of them had ever seen before. The clouds were thick, almost black, moving unnaturally, as if they lived by their rhythm. Strange, vertical flashes lit up within them — without thunder, unexpected. And although the air was completely still, the trees bent in rhythmic spasms, as if something invisible was trying to break them from the inside out.
The ground began to tremble. At first gently, as if issuing a warning, and then more violently, forcing them to grab onto each other for balance. On the horizon, where the forest met the water, a pulsating glow appeared — greenish, sick, unreal.
That's when the ghosts appeared.
Not in their imagination. Not as hallucinations. They were real. Tangible. Everyone saw them. Faceless children holding hands and whispering incomprehensible words. Women with blood-soaked faces, endlessly repeating the same sentence: "Why did you let me die?" Men with empty eyes, arms outstretched, as if inviting them into death.
Jake froze, unable to move, his hands trembling. Betty collapsed and fainted onto the wet grass. Nancy watched it all with terror in her eyes.
Mason didn't move. There was no fear in his eyes. There was understanding. And calm. As if he had been waiting for this.
"They're not ghosts," he said quietly. "They're memories. They live here. The island keeps them. It feeds on them, and now... it's giving them back to us."
Nancy stared at him in horror, in disbelief.
"How do you know that?"
He didn't answer. He didn't have to. His face had changed. Slightly, but noticeably. A calm smile. A presence in his eyes that hadn't been there before.
It wasn't Mason anymore. It was Noah speaking.
They fled from the beach, stumbling over roots and stones, carrying the half-conscious Betty, clinging to each other. As they ran through the darkness, they heard something following close behind — not footsteps, but a heavy rustling, like something crawling across the ground. Finally, they reached the hotel. Old, abandoned, but now their only refuge.
Inside, the hotel was cold. Frost had formed on the windows from the inside, even though it wasn't freezing outside. Jake slammed the door shut, bolted every lock, and shoved a table under the handle. The group huddled together in the lobby, wrapped in silence.
"This isn't a normal storm," Jake said. "It's a reaction. Something is here that shouldn't be. Or... someone."
Jake stared at Mason, who sat with his head resting against the wall, eyes closed.
"He knew," Jake continued. "He said the island preserves the past. How could he know that, when none of us have heard anything about it?"
Nancy pressed her lips together. For a moment, she looked like she was fighting herself.
"Because... he's not speaking as Mason anymore," she said carefully. "He's speaking as Noah."
Silence. The walls creaked. The whole building groaned, as if something inside it had awakened. The light bulbs began to pulse with bright light, and then shattered one by one, plunging them into semi-darkness.
From the darkness came a single, drawn-out word, whispered from everywhere at once:
"You are alive."
The sound was inhuman. As if a man's and a woman's voice had been merged into a single throat. It sounded close. Far too close.
Jennifer, who had appeared out of nowhere, emerging from the shadows, still trembling, was clutching a kitchen knife. Jake ignored the whispered word and ran to her, pulling her into a bear hug. She dropped the knife, sobbing into his arms.
"I was so scared..." she whispered.
"I'm so glad you're safe. I was so worried about you. I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find you. Where were you? What happened to you, Jennifer?"
Betty, now conscious, leaned against the wall, crying quietly.
Nancy stepped forward.
"This is all because of him," she whispered. "Because of Noah. He... he never really left."
"No," Mason said, slowly getting to his feet. His voice was deeper. Calmer. "Not because of me. Because of you. Each of you is hiding something. You have dark souls."
Everyone turned to him. To Mason's face. And they understood that this was no longer just about survival.
The island was waking up. And with it — something that should have stayed dead.
Something that now demanded the truth.
The beginning of a story that no longer was theirs.
Because Mason wasn't just speaking.
He was commanding.
"What are you talking about, Nancy? Are you out of your mind?" Betty attacked her in fear. "Noah is gone, he died months ago! He's no longer among us! Don't bring back the painful past!"
By dawn, the sky was still dark. No sunrise came. The silence outside was unnatural, deaf, and sticky like the fog that hung around the hotel. There was no wind, the air was still, and yet the trees beyond the windows bent, as if pushed by invisible hands. The entire island seemed to breathe — heavily, uneasily, with effort.
Inside, there was an atmosphere of uncertainty — everyone sat close together, trying to make sense of what was happening. Time stretched. Minutes lasted like hours, and hours like whole days.
Jennifer walked to the window and stared into the darkness for several minutes, unable to pierce it with her gaze. The sky seemed endless. As if the world beyond the island had ceased to exist. She wiped the foggy windowpane with her hand, but saw nothing but a dark mass — still, shapeless, all-encompassing.
"This isn't just a storm," she said quietly. "It's... something more. It's alive."
Jake leaned against the wall, arms crossed. He looked at Mason as if he were some alien creature. Fear was in his eyes, but also a glimmer of recognition — as if everything were finally starting to fit together.
Mason sat quietly, eyes closed. Silent, as if listening to a voice no one else could hear. His body was tense, but his face — unmoved.
"This place..." he finally said, "…remembers death. It remembers the people who died here. Their pain. Their screams. But we're not here accidentally. The island knows me. It knows Jake."
"What do you mean?" Betty asked, her voice trembling. "The people who died because of your grandparents?"
"Not just that," he answered.
At that very moment, the light above them flickered out completely. For a split second, a cold glow flashed, and then everything was swallowed by darkness. A dull thud echoed from the stairs — as if something heavy had fallen onto the carpet, bounced, and fallen again.
"What was that?" Jake jumped up.
"Don't go there!" Jennifer warned, but he was already moving.
He descended the first step. The second. The third. Suddenly, he froze.
She appeared before him.
A girl. Maybe eight years old. In a white, dirty dress. Eyeless. Her skin was pale, almost translucent, and her hair was wet, plastered to her face. She stared at him with her hollow gaze, as if she knew who he was.
"Why did you leave Marie? Why did you let them hurt her? Why did you let her die?" she whispered. "Why did you let her grandson die? Daniel cannot find peace..."
Jake screamed and stumbled back, falling over. The girl was gone. Disappeared without a trace.
They all understood — the ghosts weren't just there to scare them. They knew their secrets. They were a part of them.
*
Late in the evening, Nancy quietly entered one of the rooms upstairs, where Mason sat. The room was dark, smelled of old dust and mold. Through a slightly open window, a cold breeze wafted in.
"I know it's you. Noah," she said in the half-light, her voice emotionless. He looked at her. He didn't deny it. "Why now? Why have you come back?"
"Because the island called me. Because Mason couldn't carry it alone anymore."
She slowly approached. Goosebumps rose on her arms.
"And now? Will you rule over us? Punish us for our sins?"
"No," he replied calmly. "The truth will punish you on its own. I'm just bringing it." He stood up. Took a step toward her. His presence was overwhelming, almost suffocating. "But before that happens, we need to go down to the basement."
She shivered.
"To the basement?"
"There used to be a hospital under this hotel. Psychiatry and... a cemetery. The people they kept there died without names, without graves. The island hasn't forgotten them. It absorbed them."
At that moment, a deep, low sound echoed beneath their feet. As if a stone had shifted under the foundations. As if something massive had stirred in the earth.
Nancy stared at him, wide-eyed.
"What's down there?"
Mason — or perhaps Noah — answered in a whisper:
"Something that wants to get out."
The island was waking up. And the truth was about to be spoken — but not all would live to hear it.