part0032

Rather than offering a haven of safety, the empty building instead filled the girls with dread. They had no torch, no light of any kind. There could be anything in there.

Ana arrived, collapsing into an embrace with her sister. She looked back, checking for the creatures, the rain stinging her eyes.

‘Come on, let’s go,’ she rasped.

‘Yeah,’ agreed Rachel uneasily. ‘Okay.’

Hand in hand they shuffled into the gloom of the corridor, past a reception desk and several doors until they reached a wall and went left, leaving behind the last of the moonlight. From here on, it was like walking blindfolded.

‘Stairs,’ warned Rachel as the floor disappeared beneath her. She pointed her foot like a ballerina to find the next step down, her toes dipping into shallow water. ‘I think it’s flooded. Be careful. ’

Ana followed, descending the stairs until she joined Rachel in stagnant water that rose to her waist. They waded onwards, hands out, feeling for potential obstructions, trying their best to ignore the rank odour that permeated the building.

Rachel shook her head. ‘Beats me. Should we keep going?’

‘We can’t go back out there. There’s too many of those things.’

‘What are they?’

‘I don’t know, Rach. It’s like they’re almost human, but not quite.’

‘Or maybe they used to be?’ said Rachel, sending a shiver down both their spines. Liquid drizzled from the ceiling. The room smelled like an old well, Ana wrinkling her nose in disgust. Something brushed past her leg and she jumped.

‘What is it?’ asked Rachel again.

‘Rach…I don’t think we’re alone.’

A heavy silence fell, broken only by the drip-drip of the water.

‘You’re being paranoid,’ Rachel whispered.

‘Something touched my leg.’

‘Bollocks. Come on, let’s get out of here.’

‘Wait a second.’

‘Just wait!’ snapped Ana. They stood in silence for several seconds.

‘Okay, we can go now,’ announced Ana .

‘Did you just pee?’ asked Rachel.

Ana thought for a moment, deciding whether to tell the truth.

‘Yeah,’ she said. This was no time for lies.

‘In the water that I’m standing in?’

‘That’s disgusting.’

Ana almost laughed. ‘You’ve gotta be joking.’

‘I’m just saying, you could have warned me,’ sulked Rachel.

‘I thought we had bigger fish to fry.’

They went on, deeper into the bowels of the building. It was like a sensory deprivation experiment. But wasn’t that supposed to relax you and eliminate anxiety? Ana had once had a dream in which she was walking through a morgue to identify her mother’s body, but as she walked the lights went out one-by-one. Then, in the darkness, the corridor had narrowed, gradually drawing in on her until she could barely squeeze herself round the corners. She remembered that dream as they slipped further into the abandoned apartments. At least this time she wasn’t alone.

‘Why did you do it?’ asked Rachel after a while, her voice echoing through the enclosed space.

‘Try to kill yourself.’

‘You know why,’ said Ana. ‘I was depressed. I had depression.’

‘That’s what you said at the time, and I didn’t believe you then either.’

Ana stopped, the water sloshing around her naval.

‘You really wanna talk about this now?’

‘You got something better to do? This might be our last chance,’ said Rachel in a small voice. Ana was all out of reassurances.

‘Shit, Rach, I can’t explain it. I don’t even understand it myself. None of it makes any sense. Remember the nightmares I used to have?’

‘Yeah, you’d wake up screaming and dad would get real pissed that you’d wet the bed.’

‘Yeah. By the way, thanks for telling the whole school about that.’

‘Oh yeah. Sorry.’

‘Doesn’t matter. Anyway…I think I used to dream about what happened.’

‘About killing yourself?’

‘Yeah. I used to hear voices too, and see things, like nightmares, but while I was awake.’

Rachel took Ana’s hand and squeezed it.

‘What did the voices say?’

‘I don’t know. I didn’t understand them, but in a way I think I did. Subconsciously or something. Listen, I told you it didn’t make sense.’

‘Jesus. So the voices told you to slit your wrists?’

‘I’m not sure. Look, admittedly I was fucking hammered that night, but all I know is this; when I cut my wrists, it felt like…like I was fulfilling my destiny or something. Y’know, a prophecy or shit like that. It felt like what I was born to do. In that moment, I knew I was absolutely doing the right thing. I just didn’t understand why. And then you saved me.’

‘You make it sound like I messed things up.’

Ana shook her head, a gesture lost in the darkness. ‘No, that’s not it. Rach, I saw things too.’ She waited for Rachel to laugh. When no laughter was forthcoming, she continued. ‘I used to see mum. Only not her, like a weird version of her.’

‘You mean like a ghost? ’

‘Something like that. But I saw her — it — while mum was still alive. She looked like she did the day she…the day she passed away.’

Rachel was silent for a long time. When she spoke, it was in a voice both reassuring and dismissive. ‘There’s no such thing as ghosts, Ana. We both know that.’

‘I’m not saying she was a ghost. I just told you that mum was still alive. Hell, she wasn’t even diagnosed yet. It was more like a vision or something. A premonition.’

‘So now you’re psychic?’

Ana could tell Rachel was struggling to control her tone.

‘I’m just saying I saw her. She used to call out to me. Ask me for help. I didn’t know what to do. I thought I was losing my mind. The doctors convinced me it was stress related, and I even started to believe it myself. But ever since we arrived here Rach, I’ve been hearing the voices again. I’ve been seeing things. Awful things. But it’s not mum anymore.’

Rachel let go of her sister. ‘Okay, stop it, you’re freaking me out.’

‘It’s you, Rach. I’ve been seeing your ghost. You asked me for help, and I don’t know how.’

Rachel wept. Was she to be the last sane one standing?

‘Oh Ana,’ she said, hugging her sister, burying her face in Ana’s neck. Ana held her. She stroked Rachel’s filthy, matted hair.

‘Rach,’ she cooed, ‘Listen to me. I’m not mental, okay?’

‘You are,’ blubbered Rachel. ‘You’re seeing my ghost, but I’m right here in front of you. Can’t you understand that?’

‘I just need to get you off this island. You were right, I wasn’t able to save mum. I knew she was going to die, but there was nothing I could do about it. But you…you I can he lp. I think if I can get us out of here, I can put an end to this.’

‘You’re insane,’ said Rachel sadly. ‘Everyone on this island is fucking insane.’

‘Rach, seriously, I need you to stop crying and listen to me. Something bad is about to happen.’

‘It’s too late. My boyfriend isn’t coming and my sister sees fucking ghosts. It can’t get any worse.’

Ana wrapped her arms around Rachel. ‘Rach, you have to be strong.’

‘Why? Why bother?’

‘Because they’re in here with us.’

Rachel pulled away. ‘Where? I can’t see anything?’ She raised her head.

‘Ana…the ceiling’s moving.’

Ana nodded. ‘Yeah. Yeah it is.’

The creatures swarmed over the roof like maggots on a week-old corpse, covering it, clambering over each other, a writhing, twitching mass of limbs. One jumped down and splashed into the water nearby, then another.