Waking Up the Dead

 The Hargraves had a very keen interest in traveling and exploring different places. Susan, their daughter, was in secondary school when they planned a trip to an island which was assumed to be one of the best tourist places to visit. However, this time Susan had to work hard since her exams were about to start. So, she insisted on her parents to go on the trip without her and said she would live with her granny till that time. It was a two-week holiday, and Mr. Hargrave had booked one of the finest hotels to live in. The destination was located in an isolated area in the Atlantic Seas. They arrived at the location by air and were very enthusiastic and eager to relax on that island. The island was full of tourists from different parts of the world. While looking for a tourist guide, they came across a man who seemed to have some special information about a stay at a cabin for 3 days. The cabin was a five-mile walk from their hotel. They enquired that guide about that cabin and arranged a 1-day stay there. The Hargraves were unaware of the fact that from that day there were never going to see the sunrise. 

  The Hargraves had the cabin to themselves for the whole day. They cooked their lunch and dinner together while they were all flirting with each other. They were a great example of true love. When they finished dinner they sat in front of the fireplace and called up Susan. She was really happy to hear from them. Suddenly the network was lost and that was the last time Susan ever heard their voice. No one knows what happened that night. The day after, Susan heard a piece of devastating news about a tsunami that had hit the island The Hargraves were on. Their family assumed they also died in that catastrophic event. Susan was miserable after her parents passed away. She tried her best to stay strong. Nevertheless, she overcame her depression over course of time. 2 years later, when she passed her secondary school, she heard about a tsunami again which had struck the same island in the Atlantic Seas. This event was repeated every two years. Many years later, Susan got a job in the finance department of some big company. It was peculiar that a catastrophe was happening in a pattern and at the very same place. Either it had some scientific explanation or it was set up.

 Susan started research on the island and found out that it started experiencing tsunamis after 1989. Something happened in that year that triggered this button. She spent one year collecting all the facts. She observed that a tsunami in that area was unusual since, that island was located in the middle of the ocean and not to mention it wasn’t a tsunami-prone area, as told by the scientists. Something was off. Susan wanted to check out what was happening. Susan convinced her friends Damon, Ash, and Blake to spend their holidays on that island. Susan booked the tickets for the same date on which her parents visited that island. They all were grateful to Susan for booking the best hotel on the island. Susan booked a week’s stay over there. Once they arrived on that island, she went to the hotel to relax and chill. Everybody had a different room. As soon as Susan reached her room, she started joining all the facts. She went to reception and asked the receptionist about the tsunami that hits the island every 2 years. The receptionist had no idea how it happened, but she told Susan that it would happen the next month, i.e, July since this pattern had been observed for years. Susan realized it was useless to ask about this from the hotel staff, so she decided she would ask some local people about it. 

  All of them didn’t know what Susan was up to. After a relaxing session of the spa, they went on to explore the local streets and stuff. Damon and Ash went on to buy some antique stuff, while Blake was finding a precious necklace for Susan, as her birthday was tomorrow. Meanwhile, Susan saw an old man sitting on the broken swing and she walked up to him to enquire about her case. Susan asked that man,” Sir, do you have any idea about the tsunami which occurs every year?”. The old man, with an astonished look on his face, replied,” I can give you all the answers you are looking for. Follow me.” Without any second thoughts, she followed the man. He took her to an old shack. “This story is set in the late 90s, there was once a beautiful young lady, Hailey, who was searching for her true love. She was fond of living with a man of her dreams. One day, a young gentleman, Tyler, who was a billionaire, saw Hailey selling flowers. Their eyes met in the market and they fell in love. They wanted to marry each other. But, Tyler’s mother was not happy that her son was marrying a poor girl. His mother warned him that if he didn’t kill Hailey, she would abandon him. Fearing his mother, he stabbed Hailey the night of their date and buried her near the cabin they had arranged their date in the cabin. Her soul didn’t leave the world. She takes one couple every two years and then washes the island with the tsunami. She cannot hurt us, the locals.”

 Being a modern lady, Susan didn’t believe the man but when he showed her the lady’s picture, it appeared to her that this explanation might be true. She appreciated the old man’s honesty and thanked him for letting her know about this piece of information. Everybody was waiting for Susan to come back since it was almost dinner time. They all sat together in the hotel’s restaurant which was decorated with seashells and they ordered noodles and special Thai food. “It was such a good idea to come here and refresh our minds!” said Ash with relief. After having dinner, they all went upstairs to Ash’s room. They all ordered extra mattresses since all of them planned on sleeping in the same room. Initially, they slept for very little time, as they were busy chatting with each other about their childhood. Susan was not happy since she was keeping her secret from her best friends. So, she decided to tell them about the case she was working on. She told them everything from her parent’s death to the old man’s talk. Hailey said,” If you want to go home and end this trip, you are most welcome to do that because I am the one who dragged you in.” Everybody didn’t even take a second to tell her that they are always there for Susan. The next morning, they go for the cabin hunt. They walk for approximately five miles and reach a beautiful isolated cabin. They see that everything was perfect or rather way too perfect over there. They decided to stay one night in that cabin. 

  It was Susan’s twenty-fifth birthday. Everybody got her gifts from the local market. Ash got a cute summer dress, yellow which would suit Susan. Blake gifted her a pendant with a precious stone embedded in it. Lastly, Damon, Susan’s closet friend, gave her a watch that had their picture in the background, a beautiful card, and a book called “Just One Sacrifice”. “I bought this book from a local person and Susan, it’s about the lady who died in this cabin and how to stop her.” Susan embraced Damon in her arms as she was really happy to see her best friend to support her. They cut the cake and had a few drinks. Everybody was very curious about that book so, Susan decided to read it out for them. The book was very small and only had three chapters; the first is based on the old man’s story. The second chapter explained that Hailey takes people who truly love each other and buries them inside the Earth, next to where she was buried. Hailey comes during midnight, disguised as the person’s friend, wife, or whoever he/she has come here with. Then she deceives that person, convincing him to go the graveyard and buries them one by one. The third chapter explained how to stop her. Susan was about to read the first page when they all heard somebody scream in the distance. Susan told them not to believe in such false hallucinations and stick together. 

  Blake felt like he wanted to use the restroom, so Ash went with him so that he is safe. While they both went to the restroom, Damon and Ash read the third chapter. It said that if we have to stop Hailey from killing people, one person has to sacrifice their life. If someone does so, all the dead people will come back and all this will remain a story that never happened. However, Susan didn’t tell Damon where the grave was. She told Damon that she was going to check on Blake and Ash, but she went towards the graveyard. Ash heard somebody, it was Damon. Damon came near her and told her to go with him. Ash, without any doubt, followed him. The truth is, that wasn’t Damon. That was Hailey. She led her to the graveyard, scratched her face with her nails, and buried her alive. Blake came out and saw the real Damon looking terrified, he told blake that Hailey took Ash and Susan. They hid under the bed and waited for the sun to rise. Susan reached the graveyard and started finding Hailey’s grave. When she found it, she dug it and saw that Hailey wasn’t there, it was empty. Damon heard Susan calling him out, he went to check on her. Once he saw reached there, he realised in a second that it wasn’t Susan. He had a dagger in his hand and he put it inside Hailey’s stomach. Then suddenly, the real Susan looks and Hailey is lying in her grave. 

 Susan buried herself with Hailey so that other people would wake up. Damon had read the last line and came looking for Susan. He dug up Hailey’s grave and found Susan there, lying in peace. Damon saw Ash, Susan’s parents, and many other people appearing from the deep woods. He was amused to see them. Everyone was back and everything went normal. Hailey’s story was just a story and the tsunamis were never real. This was the tale of “Waking Up the Dead”.