by Palvi Sharma
“Jennifer is dead.” Mark said dejectedly. “Her body was found buried in the grocery store. Her soul is trapped with them. We must free her.”
“Rafe said that Jennifer killed her sister. Accidentally.”
“If she prayed and asked for forgiveness then she too has redeemed herself.” Mark said. “The fact that the demons are holding her soul captive means that she hasn’t realized this yet.”
“Let me talk to her.” Melissa pleaded.
“Take her away Phil.” Mark ordered.
“What if you’re wrong?” Melissa yelled as Phil dragged her away. “What if you made a mistake?”
But Mark didn’t answer her and against her wishes she was made to sit inside a truck.
“Don’t worry.” Phil said as he started to engine. “They know what they’re doing.
Melissa felt her limbs go numb. “No they don’t.”
Epilogue
Eleven months later...
Melissa stared at her computer screen and rubbed her eyes. There was still no news about anything that had happened. She pushed up her glasses and started to type when her mother called from the doorway.
“Aren’t you asleep yet?” she asked.
Melissa forced a smile on her face. “I wasn’t sleepy.”
“It’s two in the morning.” Her mother said. “You need your rest.”
Melissa turned back to the computer screen and tapped her fingers on the keyboard before turning off her computer. “I need to know.”
Her mother walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “The police will find them all.”
Melissa turned to her mother and hugged her waist. “Nobody knows where all those people vanished.”
“The police will find them. They’ve been working on the case day and night.” Her mother said.
Melissa smiled to herself. The police weren’t really searching hard enough, were they? She couldn’t imagine what they had found that night and what they had decided to cover up. They had all been fooled and there was no way they were going to own up to it.
She looked at the baby in the cradle and smiled. Her daughter looked up at her with big sleepy eyes and Melissa picked her up. She had been so nervous when she had told her parents that she had gotten pregnant. Her parents had initially been disappointed but then surprised her by taking full responsibility of her daughter whom she had named Marcia.
“I need to go there.” Melissa said suddenly. “I have to.”
“Melissa, you have to think about Marcia.” her mother said.
“Please!” Melissa said. “I need to go there just once.”
Her mother hugged her and stroked her back. “Okay, but you’re not going alone.”
*****
Melissa paddled the small boat towards the islet and found herself wondering if her eyes were deceiving her. Something felt just out of place to her. As soon as she arrived, she got off the boat and stepped onto the islet.
She had been so glad when her mother had accompanied her here, but the last thing she wanted was for her mother to step into this islet. So she had done what she was supposed to: lie to her mother. As far as she knew, she was out getting groceries before heading back home tonight.
No one had any answers, the people in this city were overly friendly and she found it sickening. Yesterday evening she had spotted the couple she had met that night, who had lied to her and caused her to be trapped into the nightmare. The couple had walked as fast away as possible, and were almost hit by a car.
Melissa took a deep breath and looked all around her. There were still trees dotted all around the islet and somewhere hidden beneath them would be the five tombstones.
She walked over to where she had seen the tombstones and pulled away the branches from the nearby trees. There should have been five tombstones, but to her horror she spotted five more of them.
Her knees buckled then and she fell down, unable to divert her eyes from the tombstones.
“No!” she cried as she saw the unmarked graves. They couldn’t be dead, they just couldn’t!
She wiped her tears and got up, walking all around the graves for any sign that would tell her if they really did belong to who she thought they did.
Melissa covered her face and cried. How could this have happened? If only she had fought harder to stay, she would have been with Mark. What could have happened that night?
Her cell phone rang then and she pulled it out of her pocket, wiping away her tears.
“Mom?” she asked.
“Where are you?” her mother asked.
“I’ll be there soon.” She said and switched off her phone. She took a deep breath and was about to walk away when she noticed something from the corner of her eyes.
She walked over to one of the graves and knelt down, brushing off the dirt from the tombstones.
Sorry Melissa. He failed.
Couldn’t save himself or your friend.
---Rafe
Melissa felt a surge of rage rising within her and started to rub away at the inscription. When it didn’t come off, she burst into tears.
When she was finally able to gain control of herself, Melissa got up and walked towards the boat. Her anger still pulsed through her veins, but she knew there was nothing she could do.
As she paddled away from the shore, a thought suddenly occurred to her. She dropped her oar and turned back, her eyes widening.
Now she knew, why she had felt so weird as she had stepped into the islet. The islet had somehow gotten larger as if it had suddenly had life breathed into it. It lay there, challenging her, threatening her and mocking her.
Melissa turned back and started to paddle faster, trying to get as further as possible from the islet that called to her--- when she heard the roar of motorcycle engines.