The Island

It was just a normal day on the sea. The sun was shining, the waves were crashing against the ship, and activities abound. Then the storm came. It was far worse than they had predicted, and came upon us a lot faster than expected. And then it was all gone. The sea cares not about who you are or where you are from. 

I awoke sometime later on a beach. I must have been carried to shore by the tides. I had lost all sense of time and direction, and was alone as far as I could tell. My clothes were completely ruined, soaked as they were. 

I stood up and looked around. To either side the sand extended as far as I could see, black as the night sky. I had never seen or heard of any beaches of this type of sand before. In front of me stood a vast forest, with lush ground foliage, and trees taller than I had ever imagined. Not only that, but they were colored in ways that just shouldn’t be possible. Bright pinks and purples, neon yellows and greens. Some as clear as glass, others of the deepest black. 

Despite my reluctance, I had no choice but to press into these vast woods. I approached slowly, looking for any signs of danger. I could hear the sounds of animals, but none were visible. It seemed as if this place were alive and hospitable, and my eyes showed no signs of visible danger. Even with all of this, I knew deep inside that this was a dark and dangerous place that nobody should enter. 

As I creeped into the woods, I sensed that I was being watched. Looking around, I still saw no signs of any animals, despite all the sounds. Clearly SOMETHING lived here, even if I couldn’t see it. And then it happened. At first it was just a shadow, a rolling cloud of darkness in the distance. As I crept closer, it slowly turned into the outline of a person. He must have heard me moving, as he turned and looked right at me. He pointed to the left, and I turned to look. Seeing nothing there I turned back, only to find him gone. 

Might I have imagined it due to condition I was in? Might he have been another survivor of the boat? I decided to move in the direction he had pointed, hoping to catch another glimpse. Now I was more alert, stopping every so often to listen and look, aware of any changes around me. 

As I continued through the woods, I sensed it again. That feeling of dread, fear, and unwelcome. I was too far to turn back, so onward I pressed. After some time, I heard a distant sound. As I turned, there he was again. Dark. Ominous. He pointed, I blinked, and he was gone. Who or what was he?

Once again, I turned and followed his direction. Despite my growing sense of worry, he didn’t appear to want to hurt me. He wanted to lead me somewhere, and it wasn’t like I had a better destination in mind. The further into the woods I went, the more I noticed the changes. The ground cover was becoming less dense, the trees further between. The colors also dulled. What was once bright pink and purple became much darker shades. The neon colors disappeared almost entirely, replaced with various shades of red and brown. The translucent plants had become a cloudy gray, like a storm cloud. The deep black become more prevalent. 

Further in, the noises became more silent, as if they were hesitant to come this deep into the woods. The flags continued to be raised, and still I ignored them. For a third time, the shadowy figure appeared. This time rather than pointing, he simply began walking. I followed him, but as I rounded a tree larger than the others, he disappeared again. There was a path here, barely visible. I would have missed it had the figure not led me in this direction. Once again that sense of dread tried to warn me away. I didn’t listen.

Following the path, the darkness of the area continued to grow. The sounds of life became almost imperceptible. The flora lost all sense of color and light. Only the dark browns and blacks remained. It should have been clear at this point that there was no life here. This island contained nothing but darkness. And yet I continued to press on, as if being drawn to the center. It was too late to turn back. It would be impossible to reach the beach again, even if I had the energy.

As I delved deeper into the forest, the path became clearer. The trees had shrunk to almost the same height as me, and become further apart. All the color was gone, leaving only the black. There were no sounds. The feeling of darkness grew inside me, and yet I continued on. 

Just as I was about to give up, drained of all my energy, I saw it. A clearing. A sudden break in the ground cover and trees. I pressed forward with the last of my strength. There, in the very center, a building. Again the flags went up. Why would there be a building here, in the middle of this lifeless place? I had no choice but to approach. It my last chance at surviving this place.

The closer I got, the clearer it became. The cabin was the same impossible black as the other plants in this area. It didn’t look like wood at all. There were no windows, no sign of life. A single door stood in the middle, brown rather than black. I took one final look around, hoping to see the shadowy figure. There was nothing. Even the woods had begun to fade into the darkness. I was alone. I approached the door, and reached for the knob. And then I woke.

“Are you ready? It is time for us to leave if we are going to make it before the boat leaves!” my husband says from the other room. I was in my house. In my bed.  Today is the day we leave for our cruise. Was it all a dream, or something more?