May 13 • General discussion
A Walk Through Memory Lane ( The whole book )
Chapter 1 — Waking Up
The first thing I noticed was the sound of waves crashing against the shore.
Slowly, I opened my eyes. Bright sunlight burned my vision, forcing me to squint. My head pounded painfully, and warm sand clung to my arms and legs. My clothes were soaked, and every muscle in my body ached like I had been thrown around for hours.
I pushed myself up weakly.
“Where am I?” I whispered.
The beach stretched endlessly around me. Dark cliffs curved around the shoreline, and behind me stood a massive jungle thick with tangled vines and towering trees. The air was humid and heavy, carrying the smell of saltwater and rain.
That’s when I noticed I wasn’t alone.
A few feet away, three other teenagers were scattered across the sand.
A tall boy with messy dark brown hair groaned and rolled onto his side. He wore a soaked gray hoodie with the sleeves pushed halfway up his arms. Even covered in sand, he looked athletic, like maybe he played sports. There was a deep scrape across his forehead.
Beside him, a girl with long curly black hair sat up suddenly, coughing seawater onto the beach. She wore ripped jeans and a faded green jacket with tiny pins attached to the collar — stars, smiley faces, and one shaped like a camera.
The second boy stayed motionless long enough to make panic shoot through me before finally sitting up sharply. He had blond hair that fell into his eyes and a sharp, guarded expression. Unlike the others, he immediately looked around like he didn’t trust anything he saw.
Relief rushed through me.
They were alive.
But I had no idea who they were.
The dark-haired boy slowly stood up, wobbling slightly.
“You okay?” he asked, looking directly at me.
His voice sounded calm, even though he looked just as terrified as the rest of us.
I nodded automatically, even though I definitely was not okay.
The curly-haired girl hugged herself tightly. “Does anyone remember what happened?”
Silence.
I searched my mind desperately for something — a memory, a name, anything — but it felt like hitting a wall over and over again.
Nothing.
“I don’t even know my own name,” the girl admitted quietly.
“Same,” the blond boy muttered.
The dark-haired boy rubbed the back of his neck. “I feel like I should remember something, but I can’t.”
The four of us stood there awkwardly, staring at each other like strangers.
But somehow… they didn’t completely feel like strangers.
Something about the dark-haired boy felt familiar and safe. The girl kept looking at me like she already trusted me somehow. Even the blond boy’s annoyed expression felt weirdly recognizable.
Like we had known each other for a long time.
Then I noticed something half-buried in the sand nearby.
A backpack.
I hurried toward it and pulled it free. My hands shook as I unzipped it. Inside was a flashlight, a lighter, a cracked phone with no signal, and a small wallet.
I opened the wallet carefully.
Inside was a school ID card.
ALYSSANA CARTER.
I froze.
“Alyssana,” I whispered aloud.
The name echoed strangely in my head.
“That’s me.”
“At least one mystery solved,” the curly-haired girl said softly.
The dark-haired boy smiled slightly. “Alyssana suits you.”
Something about the way he said my name made my chest tighten slightly.
I quickly looked away.
“Maybe your names are somewhere too,” I said.
We started checking pockets and searching the beach for clues.
The curly-haired girl reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a tiny polaroid photograph. It showed her standing beside a wall covered in paintings and colorful graffiti, smiling at the camera while holding paint-covered brushes.
“Maybe I’m an artist?” she guessed quietly.
In another pocket, she found strawberry lip balm and a movie ticket stub folded in half.
The dark-haired boy searched through his hoodie pocket and found a silver chain bracelet and a keychain shaped like a basketball.
“Guess I play sports,” he said with a small shrug.
There was also a folded piece of paper in his pocket with my name written on it in messy handwriting.
Alyssana — remind me to call you tonight.
Neither of us knew what it meant.
The blond boy dug through his pockets more aggressively and found a fancy watch that had stopped working and a small pocket notebook filled with neat sketches of maps and random observations.
“You draw maps?” the girl asked.
“I guess,” he muttered.
Tucked inside the notebook was another photo — the four of us sitting around a campfire at night. The blond boy wasn’t smiling, but the rest of us were laughing about something.
We looked close.
Really close.
I checked my own pockets carefully and found a silver necklace with the letter A on it and a tiny seashell charm attached beside it. There was also a folded receipt from a gas station dated only three days ago.
Three days.
Whatever happened to us had happened recently.
Then I noticed one more item tangled in seaweed nearby.
A photograph ripped down the middle.
I picked it up carefully.
It showed the four of us smiling together on a boat.
The curly-haired girl was leaning against me.The blond boy was making a stupid face at the camera.And the dark-haired boy had his arm wrapped around my shoulders.
A strange feeling twisted in my chest.
We looked more than just friendly.
But someone’s face had been torn completely out of the picture.
The blond boy frowned. “Who was standing there?”
Nobody answered.
The waves crashed against the shore again as we stood silently on the beach, holding pieces of lives we couldn’t remember.
Chapter 2 — The Wreck
The next morning, I woke up to the sound of waves crashing against the shore.
For a few peaceful seconds, I forgot where I was.
Then I saw the jungle.
The remains of our fire glowed faintly in the sand, and the cold feeling in my stomach returned instantly.
The island.The missing memories.The photograph.
Everything came rushing back.
The curly-haired girl was still asleep beside the fire, curled under a pile of palm leaves. The blond boy sat near the shoreline drawing random lines in the sand with a stick. The dark-haired boy stood farther down the beach staring out at the ocean.
For some reason, seeing him there made me feel calmer.
I walked toward him slowly.
“You didn’t sleep?” I asked quietly.
He glanced at me before shrugging. “Not really.”
Dark circles sat under his eyes, and his hoodie was still damp from seawater.
“You okay?”
He let out a humorless laugh. “Do I look okay?”
I leaned against a rock beside him.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he pointed farther down the shoreline.
“What’s that?”
At first, all I saw were rocks and waves.
Then I noticed something large wedged between the cliffs near the edge of the water.
My stomach dropped.
The others noticed too and hurried over.
As we got closer, the shape became clearer.
A boat.
Or what was left of one.
The side had been ripped apart like paper, and the front was smashed violently into the rocks. One half leaned dangerously against the cliffside while the rest sat partly underwater.
The curly-haired girl covered her mouth. “Oh my god.”
The blond boy stepped forward carefully. “That’s where we came from.”
The sight made my chest tighten painfully.
We had crashed.
Actually crashed.
The dark-haired boy climbed across the rocks first before reaching back to help me up beside him. Again, the movement felt natural, automatic, like he had done it many times before.
The inside of the boat was destroyed.
Glass covered the floor.Seats were ripped apart.Water sloshed around near our feet.
But there were still signs that people had been here recently.
A sweatshirt tossed across a chair.Empty snack wrappers.A deck of playing cards scattered everywhere.
Pieces of our lives frozen in place.
The curly-haired girl pointed toward the side of the wreck suddenly.
“There.”
Faded white paint was barely visible across the damaged side of the boat.
MEMORY LANE.
I stared at the words.
A Walk Through Memory Lane.
Something about the name made a chill crawl up my spine.
“That’s creepy,” the blond boy muttered.
The dark-haired boy crouched near the broken steering wheel and picked something up carefully.
A shattered picture frame.
Most of the glass was broken, but the photograph inside remained mostly untouched.
He handed it to me.
It showed all four of us standing together again on the boat.
This time, nobody had been ripped out of the picture.
A fifth person stood beside us.
A girl with long blond hair and pale blue eyes.
All of us were wearing sunglasses, smiling into the bright sunlight like we didn’t have a care in the world. The curly-haired girl leaned against my shoulder while the blond boy grinned awkwardly at the camera. The dark-haired boy stood beside me with one arm loosely around my waist.
And beside him stood the blond girl.
Scarlett.
She wore heart-shaped sunglasses and smiled directly at the camera like she belonged there with us.
At the bottom of the frame, written in cursive handwriting, were the words:
Bon voyage! — Scarlett
The curly-haired girl frowned. “Who’s Scarlett?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
But something about the girl made me uneasy.
Like I should have remembered her.
The blond boy carefully took the frame from my hands. “If she was with us…” He looked around slowly. “Where is she now?”
Silence.
The ocean crashed loudly against the rocks below us.
Then the dark-haired boy suddenly froze near the back wall of the boat.
“Guys…”
Something in his voice made all of us look over immediately.
Carved into the inside wall of the wreck was a single word.
RUN.
The letters looked rushed and uneven, like whoever wrote them had been terrified.
The curly-haired girl immediately stepped backward. “Okay, I officially hate this island.”
The blond boy stared at the word carefully. “You think one of us wrote that?”
Nobody answered.
I turned the broken photograph frame over nervously in my hands.
That’s when I noticed writing on the back.
“Wait,” I whispered. “There’s something here.”
The others gathered around me immediately.
Written across the back in black marker were four names.
AlyssanaJackEmmaCharles
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then the curly-haired girl pointed toward her name. “Emma.”
The blond boy nodded slowly. “Charles.”
The dark-haired boy looked at the photograph again before quietly saying, “Jack.”
Finally, all three of them looked at me.
“Alyssana,” I whispered.
Seeing our names there made everything feel more real somehow.
We weren’t just strangers anymore.
We were connected.
Charles carefully studied the photograph again before frowning slightly.
“You can tell a lot from body language,” he muttered.
Emma raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Charles pointed toward the picture.
“You and Alyssana are leaning into each other. Probably best friends.” Then he pointed toward himself. “I’m standing farther away from everyone else.”
“You think that means something?” I asked.
“It usually does.”
Emma looked at the photograph again before smiling slightly. “Actually… he’s right.”
Then Charles pointed toward Jack.
“And he’s holding onto Alyssana like he doesn’t want her walking away.”
My face immediately grew hot.
Jack rolled his eyes slightly. “Okay, detective, calm down.”
Emma grinned. “No, wait, he’s totally right.”
I quickly looked away, but my eyes drifted back toward Jack’s arm around my waist in the photograph.
It looked natural.Comfortable.Close.
Like we had done it a hundred times before.
Jack rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before sitting down on part of the wreck beside me.
“I don’t remember dating you,” he admitted quietly. “But being around you feels familiar.”
Something about his voice made my chest tighten strangely.
“Yeah,” I admitted softly. “You do too.”
Emma smiled knowingly while Charles pretended not to notice.
But one thing still didn’t make sense.
I looked back down at the photograph.
Scarlett’s smiling face stared back at us from the corner of the frame, standing close beside Jack like she belonged there with us.
Yet none of us recognized her.
Not even a little.
And somehow, that scared me more than the island itself.
Chapter 3 — Rules to Survive
The first real problem was water.
Not memories.Not the island.Not even the terrifying word carved into the boat.
Water.
By midday, the heat had become unbearable. The sun burned against our skin, and the salty air made my throat feel dry no matter how much I swallowed.
“We need water before anything else,” Charles said.
The weird thing was how confident he sounded.
Emma noticed it too. “How do you know that?”
Charles frowned slightly. “I… don’t know.”
But he kept talking anyway, like the information was buried somewhere deep inside him.
“Food matters, but dehydration hits first. We need fresh water, shelter, and a safer place to stay before dark.”
Jack looked at him with raised eyebrows. “Since when are you survival expert guy?”
Charles crossed his arms. “Apparently now.”
For the first time since waking up on the island, we actually had a plan.
We started by taking supplies from the wrecked boat.
Jack climbed through the broken sections carefully while Emma and I waited below to catch anything useful he found.
Blankets.Rope.A waterproof tarp.Half a first aid kit.Three flashlights — though only one still worked.A metal cooking pot.Life jackets.Broken suitcases filled with soaked clothes.
Every small thing suddenly felt important.
At one point, Jack found a small blue cooler trapped beneath a broken seat.
“Please let there be food in there,” Emma begged.
Jack forced it open carefully.
Inside were melted ice packs, bottled drinks full of seawater, and a package of crackers that somehow stayed dry.
Emma nearly cried from happiness.
“Best day of my life.”
Charles laughed quietly. “Your standards dropped fast.”
By the time we carried everything back onto the beach, sweat soaked through my shirt and my arms ached.
“We should build the shelter farther from the shoreline,” Charles said while looking toward the jungle. “If the tide rises, we lose everything.”
Jack nodded. “Agreed.”
Together, we started building near the edge of the forest where the trees blocked some of the sun.
Jack carried huge branches like they weighed nothing while Charles tied rope carefully between trees to hold the tarp in place. Emma gathered palm leaves for bedding while I organized the supplies and tried helping wherever I could.
Slowly, the shelter started looking less terrible.
It wasn’t exactly a house.
But it was enough.
A roof made from the tarp stretched across thick branches while layers of leaves covered the ground beneath us. Pieces of wood from the wreck helped block the wind from one side.
Emma stepped back to admire it. “Honestly? I expected worse.”
Jack smirked slightly. “Survival architects.”
I laughed quietly for the first time since arriving on the island.
The sound felt strange.
Normal.
Then Charles suddenly froze near the tree line.
“What?” Emma asked immediately.
Charles pointed toward the muddy ground near the forest.
Footprints.
Fresh ones.
We all moved closer carefully.
They weren’t ours.
The print was smaller than mine and deeper at the heel, with sharp edges pressed into the mud.
“A boot,” Charles said quietly.
Emma looked confused. “How can you tell?”
“The shape.”
I stared at the footprint.
Not just a boot.
A woman’s boot.
Fear crept slowly into my chest.
Jack looked toward the jungle instantly. “So someone else is here.”
Nobody spoke.
The island suddenly felt much less empty.
Emma wrapped her arms around herself nervously. “Maybe it’s Scarlett.”
The name hung heavily in the air.
None of us answered.
Charles crouched beside the footprint carefully. “It’s fresh.”
“How fresh?” I asked.
He looked up slowly.
“Really fresh.”
A chill ran down my spine.
Jack immediately grabbed one of the sharpened sticks we had made earlier. “Okay. New rule. Nobody goes anywhere alone.”
Nobody argued.
The rest of the afternoon became quieter after that.
More careful.
More nervous.
Charles led us farther into the jungle searching for water. Somehow, he seemed to recognize certain plants instinctively.
“This one’s poisonous,” he said while pushing a leafy vine away from Emma.
“How do you know that?” she asked.
“I seriously don’t know.”
A little farther ahead, he stopped beside another plant with long green leaves.
“These are safe.”
Jack stared at him. “You’re either secretly a genius or a serial killer.”
Charles rolled his eyes. “Thanks.”
Despite the joke, we listened to him.
He found berries he claimed were edible, broad leaves that could hold water, and plants with thick stems full of drinkable liquid.
Then we heard running water.
Relief hit instantly.
We pushed through thick vines until we reached a narrow river winding through the jungle rocks.
Emma nearly cried. “Oh thank god.”
The water looked clear and cold as it rushed over smooth stones.
Jack knelt beside it first before looking back at us carefully. “Think it’s safe?”
Charles studied it for a moment before nodding slowly. “Moving water is usually safer than standing water.”
“Usually?” Emma repeated nervously.
But we were too thirsty to care.
The cold water tasted better than anything I had ever had in my life.
For a few minutes, things almost felt okay.
Until Emma spotted something half-hidden near the riverbank.
A backpack.
We froze instantly.
Jack grabbed it first while Charles looked around carefully.
The bag was soaked and covered in mud, but it definitely didn’t belong to any of us.
Inside were:
- a flashlight with dead batteries
- a torn map
- a water bottle
- matches wrapped carefully in plastic
- and a single women’s hiking boot
Emma stared at it. “That matches the footprint.”
I looked around the jungle uneasily.
Someone else had been here.
Recently.
Then Charles unfolded the torn map slowly.
Part of the island had been circled in red ink.
And beside the circle were two words written messily:
DON’T GO.
Silence fell over all of us again.
The jungle around us suddenly felt darker.
Watching us.
“We should head back,” Jack said finally.
Nobody disagreed.
Before leaving, we filled every container we had with river water.
The metal cooking pot.The empty bottles from the cooler.The water bottle from the backpack.
Charles even showed us how to fold large leaves into makeshift containers to carry extra water.
Again, none of us understood how he knew these things.
“You seriously don’t remember any of this?” I asked while helping him tie leaves together with vines.
He shook his head slowly. “No. It just feels automatic.”
Emma looked at him suspiciously. “If you suddenly start building fire out of two sticks, I’m officially scared of you.”
Charles smirked slightly. “Fair.”
The walk back to camp felt longer.
The jungle grew darker as the sun lowered through the trees, turning everything gold and shadowy. Every sound made me jump.
Branches snapping.Leaves rustling.Birds calling somewhere overhead.
At one point, Jack instinctively moved closer beside me when we heard something crash deeper in the forest.
“You heard that too, right?” Emma whispered.
“Yep,” Jack answered immediately.
Nobody stopped walking.
When we finally reached the beach again, relief hit me instantly.
The shelter still stood untouched near the trees, and the ocean waves sounded calmer than the jungle somehow.
Safe.
Or at least safer.
We set the water beside the shelter carefully while Emma organized the edible plants Charles had collected.
Jack managed to catch two small fish near the rocks using one of the sharpened sticks, and by the time darkness fell, the smell of cooked fish filled the air around our little campfire.
For the first time since waking up on the island, we actually had food, water, and shelter.
It almost felt like progress.
But even sitting around the fire together, I couldn’t stop thinking about the backpack.
The boot.The map.The warning.
DON’T GO.
Someone had written those words for a reason.
And somewhere out in the darkness beyond our camp, whoever left that backpack might still be there.
Chapter 4 — Voices in the Jungle
Night on the island felt different from daytime.
During the day, the jungle seemed alive.
At night, it felt like it was waiting.
The fire crackled softly in front of our shelter while waves rolled against the shore nearby. Shadows from the flames flickered across the trees, making the jungle look like it was constantly moving even when it wasn’t.
Emma was already asleep beneath the tarp, curled tightly under one of the blankets from the boat. Charles sat beside the fire sharpening one of the wooden spears silently while Jack stared out toward the dark ocean.
Nobody talked much anymore.
Not after the backpack.
Not after the warning written on the map.
DON’T GO.
The words kept replaying in my head no matter how hard I tried to ignore them.
“You should try sleeping,” Jack said quietly beside me.
I looked over at him.
The firelight made sharp shadows across his face, and his dark hair fell messily into his eyes. Somehow, even after only a few days together, sitting beside him already felt normal.
“I’m not tired,” I lied.
Jack gave me a look that clearly said he didn’t believe me.
“You’ve barely slept since we got here.”
“Neither have you.”
“Fair point.”
Charles finally stood up and stuck the sharpened spear into the sand beside the shelter.
“We should keep watch overnight,” he said. “Just in case.”
Emma groaned tiredly from under the blanket. “Can we not say creepy things right before bed?”
Charles ignored her. “We’ll take shifts.”
Jack nodded immediately. “I’ll go first.”
“I can stay up too,” I offered.
Jack looked like he wanted to argue but eventually sighed. “Fine.”
Emma sat up slightly. “Wake me up if you see murder footprints again.”
Charles actually smiled a little at that.
Within minutes, both Emma and Charles were asleep.
The beach became quiet except for the waves and crackling fire.
Jack sat beside me in the sand, holding one of the wooden spears loosely across his knees.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then he glanced at me carefully. “You okay?”
I stared into the fire. “Do you ever feel like we’re forgetting something important?”
“All the time.”
“No, I mean something bad.”
Jack went quiet.
The wind moved softly through the trees behind us.
“I think whatever happened before we crashed…” I hesitated. “I don’t think it was an accident.”
Jack looked down at the sand.
“Yeah,” he admitted quietly. “Me too.”
A cold feeling settled in my chest.
Before I could answer, Jack suddenly stood up.
“I’m going to check the shoreline.”
“You’re going alone?”
He gave me a small smile. “I’ll be thirty feet away, Alyssana. Relax.”
Hearing my name still felt strange sometimes.
Familiar in a way I couldn’t explain.
I watched him disappear farther down the beach while I stayed beside the fire.
The jungle behind me rustled softly in the wind.
At least, I thought it was the wind.
Then I heard it.
Singing.
I froze instantly.
It was faint.
Almost too faint to hear at all.
A soft voice drifting through the trees behind our shelter.
At first, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.
But then the voice became clearer.
A woman.
Singing quietly.
The melody sounded slow and uneven, like a lullaby someone would sing to a child.
And suddenly—
A flash.
A dark room.Warm blankets.Small hands clutching stuffed fabric.A woman’s voice humming softly beside me.
“Close your eyes, little star…”
My breath caught painfully in my throat.
The memory vanished instantly.
I grabbed the side of my head as dizziness slammed into me.
The singing in the jungle continued.
Soft.Whispery.Almost gentle.
But there was something horribly wrong about it.
I could only make out pieces of the words.
“…don’t go alone…”
“…deep below…”
“…they never leave…”
My heartbeat slammed painfully against my ribs.
“Jack,” I whispered sharply.
The singing stopped instantly.
Silence crashed over the beach.
Jack turned around farther down the shoreline. “What?”
I stood up quickly. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“The singing.”
Jack frowned. “What singing?”
I looked back toward the trees.
Nothing moved.
The jungle stood dark and still behind the shelter.
Emma shifted in her sleep quietly while Charles remained completely motionless under the tarp.
“I heard someone,” I whispered. “In the forest.”
Jack walked back toward me slowly. “Alyssana…”
“I’m serious.”
He studied my face carefully.
And somehow, that almost made it worse.
Because I could tell he didn’t know whether to believe me.
“I didn’t hear anything,” he admitted quietly.
“I know what I heard.”
Jack looked toward the jungle for a long moment before gripping the spear tighter.
Then, unexpectedly, he handed it to me.
“Okay,” he said softly. “Then we keep watch together.”
I looked at him in surprise.
“You believe me?”
“I believe that something on this island isn’t right.”
The fire crackled loudly between us.
Neither of us slept after that.
The next morning, Emma noticed immediately that something was wrong.
“You two look awful,” she said while rubbing sleep from her eyes.
Charles glanced between us suspiciously. “What happened?”
I hesitated.
Then I told them.
The whispering.The singing.The words I heard in the jungle.
And the memory.
By the time I finished, Emma looked pale.
“A memory?” she asked quietly.
I nodded slowly. “Someone used to sing that song to me when I was little. Or… part of it, at least.”
Charles frowned slightly. “You sure you weren’t dreaming?”
“I wasn’t asleep.”
“You’ve been stressed,” he pointed out carefully. “Lack of sleep can mess with your head.”
“I know what I heard.”
Emma shifted nervously beside the fire. “I mean… creepy island whispering feels pretty possible right now.”
Jack stayed quiet for a moment before finally speaking.
“I didn’t hear it myself,” he admitted. “But something scared her.”
Charles sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Either way, we shouldn’t leave camp alone anymore.”
Emma nodded immediately. “Definitely not.”
Jack looked toward the jungle again.
“Tonight,” he said quietly, “someone stays awake at all times.”
Nobody argued.
Chapter 5 — Memory Fragments
The next few days blurred together strangely.
Repeat.
It almost started feeling normal.
Almost.
But no matter how hard we tried pretending otherwise, something about the island felt wrong.
The whispering still haunted me.
Even during the daytime, I kept catching myself staring toward the jungle, half-expecting to hear the lullaby drifting through the trees again.
But I never did.
And somehow, that made it worse.
The others tried acting normal too.
Emma talked constantly whenever things got tense, filling the silence with random jokes and observations. Charles focused on survival like it was the only thing keeping him sane, studying plants and sketching maps of the island in his notebook. Jack stayed close to me almost constantly, always watching the jungle like he expected something to come out of it.
Sometimes I caught him staring at me strangely when he thought I wasn’t looking.
Like he was trying to remember something.
That afternoon, the four of us sat near the river eating berries Charles insisted were safe.
“Keyword insisted,” Emma muttered while examining one suspiciously.
Charles rolled his eyes. “You’re still alive, aren’t you?”
“Barely.”
Jack smirked slightly beside me while sharpening another spear against a rock.
The moment almost felt peaceful.
Then Emma screamed.
All of us jumped instantly.
She had dropped the berries into the dirt and pressed both hands against the sides of her head.
“Emma?” I grabbed her arm. “What’s wrong?”
Her breathing came fast and uneven.
“I saw something.”
Charles frowned. “Saw what?”
Emma stared blankly at the river for a moment before whispering:
“A boat.”
Silence.
Jack immediately looked up.
“What about it?”
Emma swallowed hard. “I—I remembered something.”
My stomach twisted instantly.
A memory.
Real memories.
Emma squeezed her eyes shut tightly. “There was yelling. People fighting.” Her voice shook slightly. “And then someone screamed.”
A cold feeling spread through my chest.
“Who screamed?” I asked quietly.
Emma looked at me helplessly. “I don’t know.”
Jack stood up suddenly, gripping the spear tighter.
“I remembered something too.”
The rest of us looked at him immediately.
His expression had gone pale.
“What?” Charles asked carefully.
Jack rubbed a hand over his face like he was trying to force the memory away.
“It was on the boat.” His voice sounded strained. “I remember Alyssana.”
I froze.
“What about me?”
Jack hesitated.
Then he looked directly at me.
“Your wrists were tied.”
Everything inside me seemed to stop.
“What?”
“I don’t know why,” he said quickly. “I just remember seeing rope around your wrists.”
Emma stared at him in horror. “Are you serious?”
Jack nodded slowly.
The river suddenly sounded too loud around us.
Charles frowned deeply. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“I know.”
But I could tell by Jack’s face that he wasn’t lying.
A sharp pain suddenly exploded behind my eyes.
I gasped and grabbed the side of my head.
“Alyssana?” Emma said nervously.
Then the memory hit me.
Flashing lights.Ocean waves crashing violently against the boat.Hands pulling painfully against rope around my wrists.
And Jack.
Standing across from me.
Watching me coldly.
Not scared.Not worried.
Cold.
Like he didn’t care what happened to me.
I stumbled backward so fast I nearly fell.
Jack immediately reached toward me. “Hey—”
I flinched away from him without thinking.
The hurt expression on his face lasted only a second before confusion replaced it.
“What happened?” he asked.
I could barely breathe.
“You…” My voice shook. “I remembered you.”
Jack froze.
“You were staring at me.”
Nobody moved.
“You looked…” I swallowed hard. “You looked like you hated me.”
Silence crashed over the group.
Jack looked genuinely horrified. “Alyssana, I would never—”
“You don’t know that.”
The words came out sharper than I meant them to.
Emma looked between both of us nervously. “Okay, maybe we should calm down—”
“No,” Charles interrupted quietly.
We all looked at him.
Charles had gone completely still.
“What?” Emma asked carefully.
“I remember something too.”
A chill ran down my spine.
Charles looked toward the river without blinking.
“There was blood on the deck.”
Nobody spoke.
“And Scarlett was there.”
The name felt heavy in the air now.
Dangerous somehow.
Charles frowned harder, like forcing the memory hurt physically.
“She was crying.”
Emma wrapped her arms around herself tightly. “What happened on that boat?”
Nobody answered.
Because none of us knew.
But for the first time since waking up on the island, I realized something horrifying.
Maybe the crash wasn’t the worst thing that happened out there.
Maybe something terrible had already started before we ever reached the island.
The walk back to camp felt completely different after that.
Nobody joked anymore.Nobody talked much.
And I couldn’t stop replaying the image in my head.
Jack staring at me coldly while my wrists were tied together.
Every time I looked at him now, part of me remembered that expression.
Even though another part of me still trusted him.
Which honestly terrified me more.
Chapter 6 — The Watcher
After the memories came back, everything changed.
Not completely.
But enough.
The air around camp felt heavier now, like every conversation had something unspoken sitting underneath it. None of us trusted our own memories anymore, and that made trusting each other harder too.
Especially Jack.
I hated admitting it to myself, but ever since the flash on the riverbank, I couldn’t stop thinking about the look on his face in my memory.
Cold.Empty.Almost cruel.
It didn’t match the person standing beside me on the island now.
The Jack I knew here carried extra firewood for Emma without being asked. He always walked closest to the jungle whenever we explored, like he wanted to protect the rest of us without making a big deal about it.
But memories didn’t just appear for no reason.
Something had happened on that boat.
And part of me was terrified of finding out what.
Dark clouds rolled over the island late that afternoon, turning the sky gray long before sunset. Wind moved hard through the trees, carrying the smell of rain and ocean salt across the beach.
Emma sat cross-legged near the fire trying to untangle fishing line from the boat supplies.
“I miss normal problems,” she muttered. “Like homework. And annoying teachers. And phones.”
Charles looked up from the map he’d been sketching in the sand. “You miss homework?”
Emma pointed toward the jungle dramatically. “There are glowing-eyed murder creatures out there, Charles.”
“Fair point.”
I smiled faintly despite myself.
For a few seconds, things almost felt normal again.
Then thunder rumbled somewhere far out across the ocean.
Jack stood near the shoreline staring toward the horizon. His hoodie moved slightly in the wind, and rain had already started dripping lightly into his dark hair.
He barely looked at me anymore.
Not since the memory.
And honestly, that hurt worse than if he’d gotten angry.
The distance between us felt strange and uncomfortable, like something important had cracked between us overnight.
I stood up quietly.
“We need more firewood before the storm hits.”
Charles immediately looked toward the sky. “He’s right. That rain’s going to kill the fire.”
“I’ll help,” Emma offered.
Jack shook his head before she could stand. “No. Stay here.”
Emma raised an eyebrow. “Bossy.”
“Nobody should go into the jungle alone,” Charles added without looking up from his map.
Jack glanced at me briefly. “I’ll go with her.”
The walk into the jungle felt different in the darkening weather.
The trees blocked most of the remaining sunlight, leaving the forest shadowy and dim. Wet leaves brushed against my arms while insects buzzed somewhere overhead.
The deeper we walked, the quieter the beach sounds became until all I could hear was the wind moving through branches above us.
Jack carried most of the larger branches under one arm while I gathered smaller pieces from the ground.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
The silence stretched painfully between us.
Finally, Jack stopped walking.
“You really think I’d hurt you?”
I froze.
Rain dripped softly through the leaves around us.
Jack looked down at the branches in his arms instead of at me.
“That memory,” he said quietly. “You looked terrified of me.”
I swallowed hard.
Because he was right.
“I don’t know what to think,” I admitted softly.
Jack nodded slowly like he expected that answer.
“I don’t remember tying you up,” he said. “I swear.”
Before I could answer, Jack suddenly grabbed the side of his head sharply.
He stumbled backward against a tree.
“Jack?”
His breathing became uneven.
Then his eyes widened.
“I remember something.”
The words came out strained.
Rain dripped steadily around us while he pressed a hand against his forehead.
“What do you remember?” I asked carefully.
Jack looked sick.
“It wasn’t me.”
“What?”
“The ropes.” He looked up at me quickly. “I remember who tied them.”
Every muscle in my body tensed.
“Who?”
Jack swallowed hard.
“Scarlett.”
The name hit like ice water.
“What?”
“She was tying all of us up.” His voice shook slightly now. “Our wrists. Mine too. Charles and Emma were already tied when I saw them.”
A cold chill crawled up my spine.
“Why would she do that?”
“I don’t know.”
Jack squeezed his eyes shut tighter.
Another memory flashed across his face.
“The boat was moving fast.” His breathing quickened. “Emma was crying. Charles kept yelling at Scarlett to stop.”
Thunder cracked loudly overhead.
Jack looked terrified now.
“And you…” He looked directly at me. “You kept trying to get free.”
A sharp pain exploded behind my eyes instantly.
Another flash of memory slammed into me.
The boat rocking violently beneath my feet.Rain pouring across the deck.Rope cutting painfully into my wrists.
Scarlett smiling.
Not normal smiling.
Wrong.
Cold.
And Jack shouting something I couldn’t hear over the storm.
I gasped and grabbed onto the nearest tree.
“Alyssana?”
“She was smiling,” I whispered.
Jack stared at me. “What?”
“Scarlett.” My voice shook violently now. “She looked happy.”
Lightning flashed overhead.
For one horrible second, another image flickered through my head.
Scarlett leaning close beside me.
Whispering something into my ear.
“You shouldn’t have trusted him.”
The memory vanished instantly.
I staggered backward.
Jack grabbed my arm automatically to steady me.
Before either of us could speak—
Crunch.
Both of us froze instantly.
The sound came from somewhere deeper in the jungle behind us.
Not leaves moving in the wind.
A footstep.
Heavy.
Slow.
Jack immediately stepped slightly in front of me without thinking.
The forest became completely silent.
Even the wind seemed to stop.
My heartbeat slammed painfully against my ribs.
“Did you hear that?” I whispered.
Jack nodded slowly without taking his eyes off the trees.
Another crunch echoed through the darkness.
Closer this time.
Rain dripped steadily from the branches overhead.
Then I saw them.
Eyes.
Two pale yellow eyes glowing deep between the trees.
My breath caught instantly.
They stared directly at us from the darkness without blinking.
Too high off the ground to belong to a small animal.
Too still.
Too human.
Jack went completely rigid beside me.
The eyes didn’t move.
Didn’t blink.
Just watched us silently from between the trees.
I could barely breathe.
Then lightning flashed somewhere overhead, briefly lighting up the forest.
For half a second, I saw more than just eyes.
A shape.
Tall.Thin.Standing unnaturally still between the trees.
And then darkness swallowed it again.
The eyes blinked once.
Slowly.
My stomach dropped.
Because whatever it was…
It knew we could see it.
Branches cracked violently somewhere deeper in the jungle.
The thing moved suddenly, fast enough that I barely caught the motion between the trees.
Jack grabbed my wrist instantly.
“Run.”
We ran blindly through the jungle.
Branches snapped beneath our feet while rain poured harder around us. My lungs burned painfully as we pushed through vines and wet undergrowth.
Behind us, I thought I heard movement.
Following us.
I didn’t dare look back.
By the time we burst out onto the beach near camp, I could barely breathe.
Emma jumped to her feet immediately. “What happened?”
Charles grabbed one of the spears beside the shelter. “What’s wrong?”
Jack turned sharply toward the jungle, chest rising and falling hard.
“There’s something out there.”
Rain poured harder now, soaking the beach and hissing against the fire.
Emma looked pale instantly. “What kind of something?”
Jack hesitated.
Then he looked at me.
“Eyes,” I whispered.
Charles frowned deeply. “Animal?”
“No,” Jack answered immediately.
The certainty in his voice terrified me more than the eyes themselves.
Emma stood slowly. “You’re serious.”
“We both saw it,” I said.
Charles looked toward the jungle carefully while gripping the knife tighter. “Could it have been another person?”
I thought about the footprint.The backpack.The whispering lullaby.
And now this.
And Scarlett.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
But deep down, I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer.
The storm fully hit after dark.
Rain hammered against the tarp while thunder shook the island hard enough to rattle the branches overhead. Wind tore through the jungle, making the trees creak and sway violently.
None of us slept.
Emma sat closest to the fire clutching a flashlight with both hands. Charles stayed near the edge of the shelter with the knife across his lap, constantly watching the tree line.
And Jack never stopped staring into the jungle.
At one point, lightning flashed brightly across the beach.
The entire forest lit up white for half a second.
And standing far between the trees—
A figure.
Tall.Still.Watching us.
Emma gasped sharply. “Did you guys see that?!”
Nobody answered immediately.
Because we all had.
Another flash of lightning lit up the jungle.
The figure was gone.
Chapter 7 — The Forgotten Village
The storm finally ended sometime before sunrise.
When I woke up, the island felt strangely quiet.
The air smelled fresh from the rain, and drops of water still clung to the leaves above our shelter. The fire had burned down to weak glowing embers while gray morning light spread slowly across the beach.
Nobody looked rested.
Emma sat near the shoreline hugging her knees while Charles quietly sharpened one of the spears again. Jack stood farther away staring toward the jungle with dark circles under his eyes.
None of us mentioned the figure we’d seen during the lightning storm.
But nobody forgot it either.
“We need more food,” Charles finally said.
Emma groaned dramatically. “Can’t we eat coconuts and pretend we’re on vacation?”
“We don’t even have coconuts.”
“Worst vacation ever.”
I smiled faintly while helping restack the damp firewood.
Charles unfolded the hand-drawn map from the backpack carefully. Some of the ink had smeared from the rain, but the circled area was still visible deeper inside the island.
DON’T GO.
The warning made my stomach twist again.
Jack noticed me staring at it.
“We still don’t know who wrote that,” he said quietly.
“Or why.”
Charles looked toward the jungle thoughtfully. “Which is exactly why we need to figure out what’s actually on this island.”
Emma immediately shook her head. “Absolutely not. That’s horror movie logic.”
“We also need supplies,” Charles pointed out.
He wasn’t wrong.
The crackers from the cooler were almost gone, and the fish near the beach were getting harder to catch.
Finally, we agreed to split up.
Charles and Emma would head toward the river for water and edible plants while Jack and I explored farther inland near the circled area on the map.
Emma looked nervous immediately. “We are definitely dying.”
“You’ll be fine,” Jack said.
Emma pointed toward the jungle. “People literally whisper in there.”
“That only happened once,” Charles muttered.
I crossed my arms. “Actually, I still don’t love the fact that nobody else heard it.”
Emma immediately pointed at me. “Thank you.”
Jack grabbed one of the flashlights before looking at me carefully.
“Ready?”
Honestly?
No.
But I nodded anyway.
The deeper we walked into the jungle, the stranger the island felt.
The storm had knocked branches across the forest floor, and muddy footprints covered parts of the path ahead. Sunlight barely reached through the thick canopy overhead, leaving everything green and shadowy.
Jack stayed close beside me while pushing vines out of the way.
“You okay?” he asked quietly after a while.
“Trying to be.”
He nodded slowly.
Neither of us mentioned Scarlett.
Or the ropes.
Or the memories.
But I could feel all of it sitting silently between us.
About an hour later, the jungle suddenly opened.
I stopped walking immediately.
“Oh my god.”
Jack froze beside me.
An old village sat hidden between the trees.
Or at least what was left of one.
Wooden huts leaned at broken angles beneath thick vines and moss. Some roofs had completely collapsed while others looked barely standing. Plants grew through cracked wooden floors, and faded cloth strips hung from trees nearby fluttering softly in the wind.
The entire place looked abandoned for years.
Yet somehow…
It didn’t feel empty.
Jack stepped slightly in front of me automatically. “Stay close.”
My heartbeat quickened as we moved deeper into the village carefully.
Every step made old wood creak beneath our feet.
One of the huts had strange symbols carved into the doorway, worn down by time and rain.
“Do you recognize those?” I whispered.
Jack shook his head slowly. “No.”
But he sounded uncertain.
We checked the first few huts carefully.
Most were empty except for broken furniture and mold-covered blankets.
Then I noticed something inside one of the larger buildings.
Books.
My stomach flipped.
I hurried toward them while Jack checked the corners of the room cautiously.
The books sat stacked inside a rotting wooden chest near the wall.
Journals.
Dozens of them.
Some looked newer than others, but many were old and water-damaged.
Jack crouched beside me while I carefully opened the top journal.
The pages smelled damp and dusty.
Most of the handwriting looked rushed and uneven.
June 14We should never have come here.
A chill crawled down my spine.
I turned another page.
The jungle watches us at night.
Another.
They hear the singing too.
My hands started shaking.
“Jack…”
He took the journal carefully from me.
Several pages farther in, the handwriting became messier.
Food is disappearing.People are fighting.Something is wrong with Scarlett.
Both of us froze.
Jack looked at me instantly.
“That’s impossible.”
I grabbed another journal quickly.
Different handwriting this time.
She keeps taking people into the jungle.Only some come back.
Fear slammed hard into my chest.
Jack flipped through more pages rapidly while I opened another notebook beside him.
Most entries were impossible to read from water damage.
But one sentence stood out clearly across an entire page.
DON’T FOLLOW THE VOICES.
The same messy handwriting from the map.
I suddenly remembered the lullaby whispering through the trees.
A cold shiver ran down my arms.
Jack slowly stood up while holding one of the journals tightly.
“We need to go.”
Before I could answer—
Creak.
Both of us froze instantly.
The sound came from outside the hut.
A slow footstep.
Jack grabbed my wrist immediately and shut off the flashlight.
Silence.
Then another creak.
Closer this time.
My breathing became painfully shallow.
Someone was outside.
Or something.
A shadow moved slowly past the cracked doorway.
Tall.Thin.
Watching.
I clutched Jack’s arm tightly without thinking.
The figure stopped moving.
For one horrible second, everything went completely still.
Then—
A whisper drifted softly through the village.
“…little star…”
My blood ran cold instantly.
The lullaby.
Jack looked at me in horror.
Because this time—
He heard it too.
Chapter 8 — The Missing Knife
Nobody spoke during the walk back to camp.
Not after the whisper.
Not after the figure outside the hut.
And definitely not after Jack heard the lullaby too.
The jungle suddenly felt alive around us.
Watching.
Every snapping branch made me jump, and I noticed Jack gripping the journals tighter beneath his arm the entire way back.
“You heard it, right?” I whispered quietly once we were far enough from the village.
Jack nodded immediately.
His voice sounded strained. “Yeah.”
The confirmation should have made me feel better.
Instead, it terrified me more.
Because now I knew I hadn’t imagined any of it.
The lullaby was real.
And somehow, it knew me.
By the time we reached camp, the sky had already started turning orange with sunset. Emma sat near the fire sorting edible plants into small piles while Charles filled bottles beside the cooking pot.
Both of them looked up immediately when they saw our faces.
“What happened?” Emma asked nervously.
Jack dropped the journals onto the sand.
“We found something.”
Charles stood quickly. “What is this?”
“An old village,” I said.
Emma blinked. “An actual village?”
I nodded slowly. “Hidden in the jungle.”
Jack opened one of the journals carefully while Charles and Emma moved closer beside the fire.
“The people who lived there wrote about Scarlett.”
The silence that followed felt immediate and heavy.
Emma frowned. “Scarlett from the photograph?”
“Yes.”
Jack handed her one of the journals.
Emma’s face slowly paled as she read.
“She keeps taking people into the jungle,” she read quietly.
Charles grabbed another notebook quickly.
“The jungle watches us at night,” he read aloud. “What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
Jack stared into the fire for a long moment before speaking again.
“We heard the whispering there too.”
Emma immediately looked up. “You heard it?”
Jack nodded once.
That changed something instantly.
Until now, the others weren’t fully sure if the whispering had been real.
Now they knew.
Emma wrapped her arms around herself tightly. “Okay. Great. Awesome. Haunted murder island.”
Charles kept flipping through the journals carefully.
Then his expression changed.
“What?” I asked.
Charles turned the page toward us slowly.
One sentence had been written over and over again across the paper.
SHE ISN’T WHO SHE PRETENDS TO BE.
Emma swallowed hard. “You think they mean Scarlett?”
Before anyone could answer, thunder rumbled faintly in the distance again.
The fire crackled between us while darkness slowly swallowed the beach.
Jack finally stood up. “We should organize supplies before it gets fully dark.”
Charles nodded distractedly and reached for the survival knife beside him—
Then froze.
The knife was gone.
At first, nobody moved.
Charles looked around the sand carefully. “Wait.”
Emma frowned. “What?”
“The knife.”
A cold feeling crept into my chest immediately.
“The survival knife?” I asked.
Charles stood up quickly now, scanning the camp.
“It was right here.”
Jack’s expression hardened instantly. “You lost it?”
“I didn’t lose it.”
Emma stood too. “Charles, that’s our only real weapon.”
“I know that.”
The tension rose immediately.
Charles started checking through blankets and bags while muttering under his breath.
“It has to be here somewhere.”
Jack looked furious now.
“How do you lose a giant knife?”
“I said I didn’t lose it!”
Emma rubbed her forehead anxiously. “Okay, everybody calm down.”
But nobody listened.
The survival knife wasn’t just important.
It was safety.
Protection.
Without it, the island suddenly felt even more dangerous.
Jack searched around the edge of camp before turning sharply toward Charles again.
“You were the last person holding it.”
Charles crossed his arms defensively. “So?”
“So where is it?”
“I don’t know!”
The words echoed louder than Charles probably intended.
Silence followed instantly.
Then Emma spoke quietly.
“You really don’t remember?”
Charles looked genuinely frustrated now. “No.”
Jack let out a harsh laugh. “That’s convenient.”
I looked at him sharply. “Jack—”
“No, seriously.” He pointed toward the jungle. “We have creepy villagers, whispering voices, glowing-eyed whatever-that-was, and now suddenly our only knife disappears?”
Charles stepped closer. “You think I took it?”
“I think someone did.”
Emma looked between both of them nervously. “Guys…”
Charles looked genuinely angry now for the first time since we’d crashed.
“You think I’m stupid enough to sabotage us?”
“I think none of us actually know each other,” Jack shot back.
That sentence hit harder than I think he realized.
Because it was true.
We still didn’t know who we were before the island.
And the memories we had recovered weren’t exactly comforting.
Emma stepped between them quickly. “Okay. Stop.”
Neither moved.
The fire crackled loudly in the silence.
Then I noticed something.
Footprints.
Fresh ones near the edge of camp leading toward the jungle.
My stomach dropped instantly.
“Guys.”
All three of them looked at me.
I pointed toward the sand.
The footprints looked narrow and deep at the heel.
A woman’s boot.
Emma’s face went pale immediately. “No way.”
Jack turned slowly toward the dark tree line.
“She was here.”
Nobody had to ask who he meant.
Scarlett.
A sudden gust of wind moved through the trees, making the jungle rustle loudly.
Then—
Very softly—
A woman laughed somewhere deep in the darkness.
Emma grabbed my arm hard enough to hurt.
“Tell me you heard that.”
“I heard it,” Charles whispered.
Jack stepped forward immediately, eyes locked on the trees.
The anger from earlier disappeared instantly.
Now all of us looked terrified.
The laughter came again.
Faint. Distant.
Almost playful.
And then it stopped.
The jungle became silent once more.
Charles looked toward the missing footprints again slowly.
“She took the knife.” His voice sounded hollow now.
Nobody argued.
Because deep down—
We all knew he was right.
Chapter 9 — Storm Night
The sky had been wrong all afternoon.
Not just dark—heavy. Like the air itself was sinking lower with every passing hour, pressing down on the island until even the trees looked bowed under it. The wind came in uneven bursts, rattling the broken branches around their shelter and whispering through the gaps in the old ruins they had taken refuge in.
Alyssana stood near the edge of the stone structure, watching the ocean.
It wasn’t calm anymore.
The water had turned a deep, restless gray, churning like something alive beneath the surface. Waves struck the shore harder than they should have, throwing up foam that disappeared almost instantly into the rising wind.
Behind her, Jack tightened a piece of fabric over a broken section of wall.
“We shouldn’t stay here,” he said again, for what felt like the tenth time.
Charles scoffed from the corner where he was trying to secure their supplies. “And go where? Into the jungle during a storm?”
Emma didn’t speak. She was watching Alyssana instead.
Alyssana didn’t turn around.
Something about the storm felt familiar in a way she couldn’t explain. Not like a memory she could hold—but like a bruise she didn’t remember getting.
A flash of lightning lit the ruins in white.
For a split second, everything changed.
The stone walls became polished white railings.
The wind became the roar of the ocean against metal.
And she wasn’t standing in ruins anymore.
She was on a boat.
Alyssana gasped and stumbled back, gripping her head.
“Alyssana?” Emma stepped forward. “What’s wrong?”
But Alyssana couldn’t answer.
The memory hit harder this time—sharp, unstable, like broken glass being forced into place.
A party on a boat.
Laughter too loud.
Music vibrating through the floor.
And then—
Shouting.
A fight.
Her own voice, raised in panic.
“Stop—just stop!”
Then Scarlett.
Scarlett standing too close.
Scarlett’s hand on her arm, gripping tightly, pulling her toward the edge of the deck.
“You’re overreacting,” Scarlett’s voice—calm, almost cold.
But Alyssana remembered fear.
Not vague fear.
The kind that makes your whole body go still.
The ocean below, black and endless.
The railing behind her digging into her back.
And Scarlett pushing.
Not hard enough to throw her completely—
But enough.
Enough that Alyssana had slipped.
Her stomach twisted as the memory fractured.
A scream.
Water rising.
Cold swallowing everything.
“Alyssana!”
Jack’s voice cut through it.
She blinked hard.
She was back in the ruins.
Rain had started to fall inside the broken roof, dripping onto stone and skin. Her breath came fast, uneven.
Jack was beside her now, steadying her shoulders.
“You were shaking,” he said quietly. “You just froze.”
“I—” Alyssana swallowed. Her throat felt raw. “I remember something.”
That got everyone’s attention.
Even Charles stopped moving.
Emma stepped closer. “What do you remember?”
Alyssana looked at them, but her eyes drifted slightly as if she wasn’t fully seeing the present.
“A boat,” she said slowly. “There was a fight. I fell—no… I was pushed.”
The word hung in the air.
Jack’s expression changed.
Not disbelief.
Recognition.
His jaw tightened like he was holding something back.
“You remember it too?” Emma asked him.
Jack hesitated.
Then nodded once.
A heavy silence settled.
“I saw it,” Jack admitted. “Not everything. But… I remember Scarlett being there. I remember her grabbing you.”
Charles frowned. “Scarlett? Your boyfriend’s friend?”
Alyssana shook her head slightly, struggling to piece it together. “I don’t know who she is… but I know she was there.”
The wind outside howled louder, as if reacting to the words.
Thunder cracked so loudly the ruins trembled.
A section of the roof collapsed somewhere deeper in the structure, sending a burst of cold rain into the space they were using for shelter.
“We need to move deeper in,” Emma said quickly. “Now.”
But Alyssana barely heard her.
Her mind was still stuck in the ocean.
Still stuck on Scarlett’s face.
Not angry.
Not panicked.
Just… certain.
Like pushing her overboard had been simple.
Too simple.
Jack stayed close to her as they moved, guiding her carefully through the dark corridors of broken stone.
“You shouldn’t force the memories,” he said under his breath. “They come back worse when the storm’s like this.”
“Why do you remember it?” Alyssana asked him suddenly.
Jack didn’t answer right away.
Lightning flashed again, lighting up the ruins like a snapshot.
He stopped walking.
“I think I remember it because I was closer than I should’ve been,” he said finally.
Alyssana turned toward him.
“What does that mean?”
But Jack didn’t respond.
Instead, he looked past her.
At something behind her shoulder.
His face went pale.
A shadow moved across the far wall.
Not from the storm.
Something inside the ruins.
Emma froze. Charles stepped back instinctively.
Alyssana turned—
But there was nothing there.
Just darkness and dripping stone.
Still, Jack didn’t look away.
And in that moment, as thunder rolled over the island again, Alyssana understood something she couldn’t explain yet.
The storm wasn’t just outside.
It was inside her memory too.
And something in it was watching them wake up.
Chapter 10 — Secrets
The storm didn’t stop.
It only shifted.
Now it sounded less like weather and more like something circling the island—moving around them, testing where the walls were weakest.
Inside the ruins, the group stayed close together, huddled in the driest corner they could find. The air smelled of wet stone and salt, and every sound seemed louder than it should have been: dripping water, shifting debris, distant cracks of thunder.
No one slept.
Not really.
Alyssana sat with her knees pulled close, staring at her hands. The memory from the storm still clung to her mind like a stain she couldn’t wash off.
Scarlett.
The boat.
The fall.
And Jack remembering too much.
She glanced at him.
He was sitting a little apart from the others, watching the entrance like he expected something to walk in at any moment.
Emma broke the silence first.
“We can’t keep pretending nothing’s wrong,” she said quietly. “We all remember pieces. We all know that.”
Charles let out a short laugh, but there was no humor in it. “Yeah? And what exactly do you remember, Emma?”
Emma hesitated.
Then she pulled something from her pocket.
A small, water-damaged bracelet.
Alyssana leaned forward slightly.
“I found this near the wreck,” Emma said. “I didn’t say anything before because I didn’t know what it meant. But I think it belonged to someone on the boat.”
Alyssana stared at it.
Something about it felt familiar.
Not clearly.
Like a word she almost remembered.
Jack finally spoke. “We were all on that boat. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Charles shook his head. “Or we washed up from different places. We don’t even know if we knew each other before this.”
“That’s not true,” Alyssana said suddenly.
All eyes turned to her.
She swallowed.
“I remember him,” she said, looking directly at Jack now. “Not just the storm. Not just the beach. I remember him before all this.”
Jack didn’t look surprised.
That bothered her more than anything else.
“You do,” he said quietly.
It wasn’t a question.
Alyssana frowned. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Silence.
Rain tapped harder against the broken roof.
Finally, Jack looked down.
“I didn’t want you to remember everything at once,” he said.
Emma straightened. “Jack—”
But he kept going.
“You weren’t just passengers,” he said. “None of us were.”
Alyssana’s stomach tightened.
“What do you mean?”
Jack hesitated again, then forced the words out.
“That trip… it wasn’t normal. It wasn’t just a vacation.”
Charles muttered, “Great. Here we go.”
But Jack ignored him.
“You were invited,” Jack said to Alyssana specifically. “By him.”
A pause.
Alyssana felt something cold spread through her chest.
“By who?” she asked.
Jack finally looked at her fully.
“Your boyfriend.”
The world seemed to narrow.
Alyssana’s breath slowed without her meaning it to.
“That doesn’t make sense,” she said. “Why would he—”
“I don’t know all of it,” Jack interrupted. “But I know he planned something on that boat. I know Scarlett wasn’t the only one involved.”
The name hit again.
Scarlett.
Alyssana pressed her fingers against her temple.
Fragments flickered behind her eyes.
A toast.
Her boyfriend smiling too wide.
Scarlett standing beside him.
Whispers she couldn’t quite hear.
Jack’s voice softened slightly. “And I think… something went wrong. Something none of us were supposed to survive.”
A long silence followed.
Emma looked unsettled. Charles looked angry.
Alyssana felt something else entirely.
Not just confusion.
But betrayal trying to take shape inside her mind.
She stood up abruptly.
“I need air,” she said.
“Alyssana—don’t go out there,” Emma warned.
But Alyssana was already moving.
The storm hit her immediately when she stepped outside.
Wind slammed into her like a physical force, pulling at her clothes, pushing rain into her eyes. The ocean was louder now—angrier, closer.
But she kept walking.
She didn’t know where.
Just away from the others.
Away from Jack’s voice still echoing in her head.
By him.
Her boyfriend.
The one she couldn’t fully picture anymore, even though she knew she should be able to.
A branch snapped somewhere nearby.
Alyssana froze.
For a second, she thought she saw someone between the trees.
Not moving.
Just watching.
She blinked—
And it was gone.
Her heart hammered.
“No,” she whispered to herself. “No, I’m not imagining it.”
But the island didn’t answer.
Only the storm did.
And somewhere deep in the jungle, something moved again—closer this time.
Chapter 11 — The Cave
Alyssana didn’t go back right away.
The storm had pushed her far enough from the ruins that turning back felt like walking into a thought she wasn’t ready to finish. The jungle pressed in on both sides, soaked leaves brushing against her arms, branches bending under the weight of rain.
Every few steps, she paused.
Listening.
Waiting.
The feeling of being watched didn’t leave. It just shifted—sometimes behind her, sometimes to the side, never directly in front where she could prove it.
Then she saw it.
At first, it looked like just another shadow between the trees. But the shape was too still, too clean against the chaos of the storm.
A break in the rock.
A narrow opening hidden behind hanging vines.
A cave.
Alyssana hesitated.
Something about it felt wrong immediately—like the island itself was trying not to show it to her.
Thunder rolled overhead again, louder than before.
She swallowed and stepped closer.
The entrance was small, but not natural in the way caves usually were. The edges of the stone looked worn—but uneven, almost shaped. Like something had been altered long ago.
Or recently.
She pushed the vines aside and slipped inside.
The moment she crossed the threshold, the storm changed.
Not stopped.
Just… quieter.
Like the cave was swallowing sound.
Alyssana took a careful step forward, letting her eyes adjust. The air inside was cooler, damp but still. Her flashlight flickered weakly as she turned it on—she didn’t remember picking it up, but she was glad she had it.
The beam cut through darkness.
And revealed supplies.
She froze.
Crates stacked against the wall.
Old metal containers.
A tarp hung deliberately from the ceiling, shielding a section of the cave floor.
This wasn’t empty.
Someone had been here.
Recently.
Alyssana moved slowly, her footsteps barely making sound on the damp stone. She approached one of the crates and hesitated before opening it.
Inside: canned food.
Unopened.
Organized.
Not abandoned.
Stored.
Her stomach tightened.
“No one just leaves this,” she whispered.
She turned, scanning the cave more carefully now.
That’s when she saw the symbols.
Carved into the stone walls.
Not random scratches—intentional markings. Repeated shapes. Lines crossing in patterns that didn’t belong to nature.
Some were fresh enough that the edges were still sharp.
Alyssana ran her fingers near one without touching it.
Her flashlight beam drifted lower.
And stopped.
A notebook.
Resting on a flat rock like it had been placed there on purpose.
Her breath caught.
She picked it up.
The cover was damp but intact.
No name.
Only a single mark scratched into the front:
A symbol matching the carvings on the wall.
Her hands shook slightly as she opened it.
The pages were filled with writing.
Not random notes.
Logs.
Dates.
Observations.
Alyssana scanned quickly, her eyes catching fragments:
“They’re still arriving.”“Do not trust the group that washed up.”“The island reacts when they remember.”“Keep the supplies hidden deeper.”
Her throat went dry.
She flipped another page.
A sketch.
Of the island.
With markings she didn’t recognize—but one location was circled repeatedly.
The ruins.
Their camp.
Her fingers tightened around the paper.
“They’re watching us,” she whispered.
A sound came from deeper in the cave.
Alyssana froze instantly.
Not thunder.
Not wind.
A shift.
Like something had just moved where she couldn’t see it.
Her flashlight beam jerked toward the darkness at the back of the cave.
Nothing.
Just rock.
But now she knew better.
This place wasn’t empty.
It was occupied.
Or had been—long enough for someone to prepare, record, and wait.
Alyssana slowly stepped backward, clutching the notebook to her chest.
Another sound.
Closer this time.
A soft scrape against stone.
Her heartbeat spiked.
“Hello?” she called, instantly regretting it.
Silence answered.
Then—
A flashlight beam suddenly flickered from the far end of the cave.
Not hers.
A different one.
Stronger.
Steady.
A silhouette formed behind it.
Alyssana couldn’t see the face.
Only the outline of someone standing very still, as if they had been waiting for her to notice them.
The storm outside roared again, muffled by stone.
And in that moment, Alyssana understood something that made her blood run cold:
She hadn’t discovered the cave.
She had been led to it.
Chapter 12 — Betrayal
Alyssana didn’t move.
The flashlight beam from the back of the cave stayed fixed on her like an eye that refused to blink. The figure holding it didn’t step forward, didn’t speak, didn’t react at all—just watched.
Her grip tightened around the notebook until the pages crumpled slightly.
“Who are you?” she called out, forcing her voice to stay steady.
Nothing.
Only the faint drip of water echoing somewhere deeper in the cave.
Then, slowly, the light shifted.
Not away.
To the side.
As if the person had just… turned their head.
Alyssana took one step back.
Then another.
And then she ran.
She burst out of the cave into the storm like she was escaping something that had already reached inside her mind. Rain slammed into her face immediately, blinding her, but she didn’t slow down.
Branches whipped past her. Mud pulled at her shoes. The jungle felt different now—less like nature and more like a corridor she wasn’t meant to be running through.
Behind her, she heard nothing.
Which was worse.
Because silence meant she wasn’t being chased.
It meant she had been let go.
When she finally saw the ruins again, her chest was burning.
She stumbled inside, nearly collapsing against the stone wall. Emma rushed toward her instantly.
“Alyssana! Where did you go? We thought—”
Alyssana held up the notebook.
Emma stopped.
Jack stood up slowly.
Charles narrowed his eyes. “What is that?”
Alyssana was breathing hard. “A cave. There’s a cave in the jungle. Someone’s been living there. Supplies, food, everything.”
Emma looked stunned. “Living there? Who—”
“I don’t know,” Alyssana cut in. “But I saw someone. Or they saw me.”
That silence hit harder than the storm.
Jack’s expression darkened.
“You shouldn’t have gone alone,” he said.
Alyssana snapped her head toward him. “That’s what you care about right now?”
Something in her tone made Emma step back slightly.
Jack didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, his eyes flicked to the notebook in her hands.
“That came from the cave?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He hesitated.
Just long enough for Alyssana to notice.
Too long.
“Jack,” she said slowly, “you knew about it.”
Charles laughed once, sharp and disbelieving. “Oh, come on.”
But Alyssana didn’t look away from him.
Jack’s jaw tightened.
“I didn’t know exactly,” he said carefully. “But I knew there were signs someone was on this island before us.”
“That’s not what I asked,” Alyssana said.
Emma looked between them, confused. “Wait—Jack, what are you not saying?”
The wind howled through the broken roof.
Jack finally exhaled.
“I’ve been here longer than you think,” he said quietly.
The words landed wrong in the space between them.
Alyssana frowned. “What does that mean?”
Jack looked at her directly now.
“I wasn’t just another survivor who washed up.”
A pause.
“I was part of the last group.”
Silence.
Even the storm seemed to dull for a second.
Charles went still. “Last group?”
Jack nodded once.
Alyssana felt something cold spread through her chest.
“There were others before us,” Jack continued. “More than one group. People kept arriving. And most of them… didn’t leave.”
Emma’s voice was barely above a whisper. “So why are you still here?”
Jack didn’t answer that.
Instead, he looked at Alyssana.
“I stayed because I thought I could stop it,” he said.
“Stop what?” she asked.
Jack’s gaze flicked toward the jungle.
Then back to her.
“Whatever is controlling what happens on this island.”
Alyssana’s fingers tightened around the notebook.
“That doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell us about the cave,” she said.
A beat of silence.
Then Jack said, “Because I didn’t want you to find it yet.”
That was all it took.
Alyssana stepped forward.
“You didn’t want me to find it?”
Emma put a hand up. “Alyssana, wait—”
But Alyssana shook her off.
“No,” she said, voice rising. “No more waiting. No more half answers.”
She turned the notebook toward Jack.
“You knew about this,” she said. “You knew about the supplies. The symbols. The cave. And you let me walk into it alone.”
Jack’s expression shifted—something almost like regret, but buried too deep to trust.
“I didn’t let you,” he said.
Alyssana stared at him.
And for the first time since waking up on the beach, something clicked inside her memory—not a full image, just a feeling.
The boat.
A voice telling her to trust him.
Always trust him.
She took a slow step back.
“You said you were part of the last group,” she said carefully.
Jack nodded.
Alyssana’s voice dropped. “Then tell me this.”
Her eyes locked onto his.
“Where is Scarlett?”
The name hit the room like a dropped blade.
Jack went still.
Emma frowned. “Who—”
But Jack interrupted her.
“I don’t know,” he said.
Alyssana didn’t believe him.
Not this time.
Because for the first time, she noticed something she hadn’t before.
Jack wasn’t just avoiding the truth.
He was protecting it.
And whatever had happened on the boat—
Whatever had pushed her into the ocean—
Jack had been closer to it than he was admitting.
Outside, the storm roared louder again.
As if reacting to the accusation.
And somewhere deep in the jungle, something moved—closer than before.
Chapter 13 — The Truth Comes Out
The island felt different after the caves.
Darker somehow.
Like whatever secrets it had been hiding were finally starting to surface.
None of us talked much the next morning.
Emma stayed close beside Charles while helping organize supplies near the fire. Jack sat farther down the beach sharpening one of the spears silently, barely looking at anyone.
Barely looking at me.
And honestly, I was starting to get tired of pretending everything was okay between us.
The memories kept getting worse.
Scarlett tying us up.The crash.The blood on the boat.
And now the caves.
The symbols on the walls.The strange drawings of people disappearing into the jungle.
Every answer only led to something worse.
I walked toward the shoreline where Jack sat alone.
“We need to talk.”
He looked up slowly. “About what?”
I crossed my arms. “Seriously?”
Jack sighed and stood up.
“Alyssana—”
“No.” My voice came out sharper than I meant it to. “You keep acting like nothing happened.”
His expression hardened slightly. “I already told you I don’t remember everything.”
“But you remember enough.”
Jack looked away toward the ocean.
That only made me angrier.
“You remembered Scarlett tying us up,” I continued. “You remembered the storm. You remembered me being tied there.”
“And?”
“And you still haven’t told me everything.”
Jack finally looked back at me then.
“There isn’t anything else.”
I stared at him.
And for some reason, I knew he was lying.
“Why do I feel like you’re hiding something?”
The silence between us lasted too long.
Jack rubbed a hand over his face tiredly. “Because maybe I am.”
My stomach dropped instantly.
“What does that mean?”
He didn’t answer right away.
Instead, he looked genuinely miserable.
“I’m trying to remember,” he muttered.
“That’s not an answer.”
“I know.”
The frustration building inside me finally snapped.
“You know what? I’m done doing this.”
Jack frowned. “Doing what?”
“Trusting you.”
The words hurt to say.
Probably because part of me didn’t mean them.
But another part absolutely did.
Jack’s face fell slightly.
“Alyssana—”
“No.” I stepped backward. “Every memory we get back makes things worse. Maybe there’s a reason I was scared of you.”
The second the words left my mouth, I regretted them.
Jack looked like I’d punched him.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he nodded once slowly.
“Maybe.”
And before I could say anything else, he turned and walked away down the shoreline.
I watched him disappear around the rocks near the far side of the beach.
A horrible feeling settled in my chest immediately.
But I was still too angry to stop him.
By late afternoon, Jack still hadn’t come back.
At first, nobody panicked.
Emma assumed he needed space after the argument.
Charles thought he was probably checking traps near the cliffs.
But when the sun started lowering and the beach remained empty—
Fear started creeping in.
“He would’ve come back by now,” Emma whispered.
I stared toward the shoreline anxiously.
The guilt inside me felt unbearable now.
“This is my fault.”
Charles grabbed one of the flashlights immediately. “We split up.”
“No,” Emma said quickly. “Nobody goes alone anymore.”
He nodded. “Right. Pairs.”
The jungle looked terrifying in the fading light.
Every shadow seemed deeper now.
Every sound sharper.
“Jack!” Emma shouted.
No answer.
We searched near the river first.
Then the cliffs.
Nothing.
By the time darkness fully settled across the island, panic had completely taken over.
“Jack!” I yelled again.
Only the waves answered.
Then Charles suddenly froze near the edge of the jungle.
“There.”
My heart stopped.
A piece of Jack’s hoodie lay caught on a broken branch.
Emma covered her mouth instantly. “Oh my god.”
I grabbed the torn fabric with shaking hands.
And that’s when I saw it.
Words carved into the tree beside it.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED.
Ice flooded my chest instantly.
Scarlett.
“She took him,” Emma whispered.
Charles looked around the jungle carefully. “Or he went willingly.”
I turned toward him sharply. “What?”
Charles hesitated.
Then slowly pulled something from his pocket.
A folded piece of paper.
“I found this earlier near the caves,” he admitted quietly.
Emma frowned. “What is that?”
Charles unfolded it carefully.
The handwriting was messy and rushed.
But the second I saw the name Scarlett, my stomach dropped.
Jack,
You owe me.
If you don’t do what I say, I’ll tell them the truth about the boat.
Remember what YOU did.
— Scarlett
The world seemed to tilt sideways.
“What truth?” Emma whispered.
Charles looked pale now.
“There’s more.”
He flipped the note over slowly.
And written across the back were four words that made my blood run cold.
You made the boat crash.
Silence.
Nobody moved.
Emma stared at the note in horror. “No.”
I couldn’t breathe.
The memories suddenly slammed into me again—
Jack screaming.Rain crashing against the deck.Scarlett grabbing the wheel.The boat turning violently sideways.
And Jack—
Reaching for someone.
Or pushing someone.
I couldn’t tell.
I stumbled backward.
Charles caught my arm quickly before I fell.
“Alyssana—”
“He knew,” I whispered.
My voice barely sounded human.
Emma looked terrified now. “You don’t know that.”
But deep down—
I did.
Another flash exploded through my head.
Scarlett standing beside Jack in the storm.Whispering something urgently.Jack shaking his head.
Then Scarlett saying:
“If you don’t do it, I will.”
I gasped sharply.
Charles looked at me immediately. “What did you remember?”
I looked toward the dark jungle.
And suddenly, I understood why Jack looked so guilty all the time.
“Scarlett threatened him,” I whispered.
Emma frowned. “Threatened him to do what?”
The answer came before I could stop it.
“To crash the boat.”
Nobody spoke.
The waves crashed violently against the shore nearby.
Emma shook her head immediately. “No. Jack wouldn’t—”
“He did,” I whispered.
But even saying the words hurt.
Because part of me still didn’t believe Jack meant to hurt us.
Another memory flashed—
Jack grabbing the wheel.Scarlett screaming at him.The boat spinning violently toward the rocks.
And then—
A scream.
Everything going black.
Emma slowly stepped backward, horrified.
“Oh my god.”
Charles looked toward the jungle grimly.
“And if Scarlett threatened him before…” His voice lowered. “Then maybe she took him now too.”
Fear crashed through me instantly.
Because suddenly I understood something even worse.
Jack hadn’t just disappeared.
Scarlett came back for him.
Chapter 14 — Into the Jungle
Nobody slept that night.
Not after the truth about the boat.
Not after Jack disappeared.
The fire burned low while the three of us sat silently beneath the tarp listening to the waves crash against the shore. Every shadow in the jungle looked wrong now, and every sound made my chest tighten.
Emma sat curled beneath one of the blankets staring blankly into the fire.
“So Jack crashed the boat,” she whispered eventually.
The words sounded strange spoken out loud.
Charles rubbed his forehead tiredly. “Not exactly.”
“He grabbed the wheel.”
“Because Scarlett threatened him.”
Emma looked up sharply. “Threatened him to do what?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Because none of us actually knew.
I kept replaying the memory in my head over and over again.
Scarlett screaming.Jack panicking.Rain crashing across the deck.
And underneath all of it—
Fear.
Not anger.
Fear.
“He didn’t want to do it,” I whispered quietly.
Charles looked at me carefully but didn’t argue.
Emma hugged her knees tighter. “Then why didn’t he tell us?”
The guilt in my stomach twisted harder.
Because I already knew the answer.
He thought we’d hate him.
And after the things I said earlier…
Maybe he was right.
By morning, we had made a decision.
We were going after him.
“No splitting up,” Charles said firmly while stuffing supplies into one of the backpacks. “No wandering off. No stupid horror movie decisions.”
Emma pointed at him tiredly. “You say that like one of us is going to run into the haunted jungle alone.”
Charles gave her a look.
Emma sighed. “Fair.”
I packed the flashlight, water bottles, and one of the journals from the abandoned village while trying not to think about what we might find.
Or who.
The jungle air felt heavy and wet as we crossed beneath the trees.
Everything looked darker than before.
The storm from the night before had knocked down branches and churned the ground into deep mud. Strange sounds echoed faintly through the forest, but none of us could tell where they came from.
Emma stayed close beside me.
“I hate this place,” she muttered quietly.
“You’ve mentioned that.”
“I want it officially documented.”
Charles led the way carefully while checking the ground for tracks.
Then he suddenly stopped.
“Footprints.”
I moved closer instantly.
Fresh boot prints pressed into the mud.
A woman’s.
Beside them were larger footprints.
Jack’s.
Relief and fear slammed into me at the same time.
“He’s alive,” I whispered.
“For now,” Charles muttered.
Emma shot him a glare. “Helpful.”
The tracks led deeper into the jungle than we’d ever gone before.
The trees grew thicker here, their roots twisting across the ground like giant snakes. Moss hung from branches overhead, blocking most of the sunlight until everything around us looked green and gray.
Then Emma froze suddenly.
“Wait.”
All of us stopped.
“Do you hear that?”
At first, I only heard the wind.
Then—
Whispering.
Faint.Soft.Almost impossible to understand.
Emma’s face drained of color instantly. “Nope.”
Charles looked around sharply. “Where’s it coming from?”
The voices drifted between the trees around us.
Too many voices.
Whispering over one another quietly.
“…don’t leave…”
“…he lied…”
“…too late…”
My heartbeat quickened painfully.
Then one voice became clearer than the others.
A woman’s voice.
“…little star…”
I froze.
The lullaby.
Emma grabbed my arm tightly. “Alyssana…”
But before I could answer—
A scream echoed somewhere deep in the jungle.
Jack.
All three of us reacted instantly.
We ran.
Branches tore against my arms while mud slipped beneath our shoes. The screaming stopped after only a second, but adrenaline pushed us forward anyway.
“Jack!” I yelled.
No response.
The jungle suddenly opened into a clearing.
And all of us stopped dead.
A building stood in the center of the clearing.
Not one of the old wooden huts from the abandoned village.
This looked newer.
Concrete walls.Broken windows.Rust spreading across metal doors.
Emma stared at it in horror. “What is that?”
Charles stepped forward slowly.
“There’s no way this was on the map.”
The building looked abandoned now, vines crawling up the sides and moss spreading across the roof.
But someone had been here recently.
The front door hung slightly open.
And scratched across the metal surface were the words:
WELCOME BACK.
A cold chill ran through me.
Then I noticed something lying near the doorway.
Jack’s flashlight.
I ran forward immediately and grabbed it from the dirt.
Still warm.
“He’s here,” I whispered.
Emma looked terrified now. “Alyssana, maybe we should think this through first—”
A loud metallic crash echoed from somewhere inside the building.
All three of us jumped.
Then came another sound.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Dragging slightly across the floor.
Charles tightened his grip on the spear. “Stay behind me.”
The dark doorway ahead seemed almost completely black inside.
Like the building was swallowing the light.
Then—
Very softly—
A familiar female voice drifted out from inside.
“You finally came.”
Chapter 15 — Scarlett
Nobody moved.
The voice echoed softly from inside the building, almost calm against the dripping jungle rain.
“You finally came.”
Emma grabbed my arm immediately. “Absolutely not.”
But I barely heard her.
Because I recognized the voice now.
Scarlett.
A cold feeling spread slowly through my chest.
Charles stepped carefully in front of us, spear raised slightly. “Jack?” he called loudly.
Silence answered.
The dark hallway beyond the doorway looked endless, shadows stretching deep into the building where the weak daylight couldn’t reach.
Then something moved inside.
A figure stepped slowly out of the darkness.
Emma gasped sharply beside me.
Scarlett.
For a second, she looked exactly like the girl from the photograph.
Long blond hair.Pale blue eyes.Thin smile.
But the closer she came, the more wrong she looked.
Her clothes were dirty and torn like she’d been living in the jungle for weeks. Mud stained her boots, and scratches covered her arms. One side of her face had a long faded cut running from her cheekbone toward her jaw.
But it was her eyes that scared me most.
They looked exhausted.
Unstable.
Like she hadn’t slept in days.
Scarlett stopped just outside the doorway.
Rain dripped softly from the trees overhead.
“You’re alive,” Emma whispered before she could stop herself.
Scarlett laughed quietly.
“Obviously.”
Charles didn’t lower the spear. “Where’s Jack?”
Scarlett tilted her head slightly.
“He’s safe.”
“Where is he?”
Her smile faded slowly. “That depends.”
Every alarm in my body went off instantly.
Emma stepped closer to me nervously. “Depends on what?”
Scarlett looked directly at me.
“On whether Alyssana remembers the truth yet.”
The jungle suddenly felt colder.
Charles frowned. “What truth?”
Scarlett ignored him completely.
Instead, she kept staring at me like she already knew something I didn’t.
“You really don’t remember?” she asked softly.
A sharp pain flickered behind my eyes.
Small flashes.
Rain.The boat.Someone screaming.
Then darkness again.
“I remember enough,” I whispered.
Scarlett smiled slightly.
“No,” she said quietly. “You don’t.”
Charles stepped forward immediately. “Stop speaking in riddles.”
Scarlett finally looked at him.
“You should be careful,” she said calmly. “This island likes half-truths.”
Emma looked ready to cry now. “Can somebody please explain literally anything?”
Scarlett sighed like she was tired.
“The boat crash wasn’t an accident.”
“We know that,” Charles snapped.
Scarlett nodded slowly. “Good. Then you also know Jack caused it.”
The words hit hard even though we already suspected it.
Emma crossed her arms tightly. “You threatened him.”
Something unreadable flashed across Scarlett’s face.
“I had to.”
Charles stared at her. “Why?”
For the first time, Scarlett hesitated.
Rain dripped steadily around us.
Then she looked back toward the dark hallway behind her.
“Because one of you was supposed to die.”
Silence.
My stomach dropped so hard it hurt.
Emma whispered, “What?”
Scarlett looked directly at me again.
“You were never supposed to survive the crash.”
The world tilted sideways.
Suddenly—
A flash of memory exploded through my head.
Scarlett yelling over the storm.Jack grabbing my wrists desperately.The boat spinning violently.
And Scarlett screaming:
“Do it now!”
I stumbled backward sharply.
Emma caught my arm before I fell.
“Alyssana?”
Another flash slammed into me instantly.
Scarlett shoving me toward the railing.Jack pulling me back.Charles yelling.Emma crying.
Then—
The boat crashing against rocks.
I gasped for air.
Scarlett watched me carefully. “There it is.”
Charles looked horrified now. “You tried to kill her?”
Scarlett laughed bitterly.
“You think this was about Alyssana?”
“What does that mean?” Emma demanded.
Scarlett’s expression suddenly changed.
Not angry.
Scared.
“You don’t understand what this island is.”
A strange sound echoed somewhere deep inside the building behind her.
Metal scraping against concrete.
Scarlett immediately looked back toward the hallway.
Fear crossed her face instantly.
Real fear.
Charles noticed too. “What was that?”
Scarlett ignored him.
Instead, she stepped toward us suddenly.
“You need to leave.”
Nobody moved.
Emma blinked. “Excuse me?”
Scarlett looked panicked now.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
Another metallic crash echoed through the building.
Closer this time.
Then—
A scream.
Jack.
I ran toward the doorway instantly.
“Alyssana, wait!” Charles shouted.
But I was already inside.
The hallway smelled damp and rotten, like mold and rust. Water dripped somewhere deeper in the building while weak emergency lights flickered faintly overhead.
“Jack!” I yelled.
My voice echoed endlessly through the darkness.
Footsteps pounded behind me as Charles and Emma followed.
Then I saw him.
Jack sat tied to a metal chair near the end of the hallway, blood running down one side of his forehead. His wrists were tied tightly with rope, and panic crossed his face the second he saw me.
“Alyssana, get out of here!”
I ran toward him immediately.
“What happened?!”
Jack looked terrified.
“Scarlett wasn’t lying,” he said quickly. “There’s something else here.”
The lights overhead flickered violently.
Then went out completely.
Darkness swallowed the hallway.
Emma screamed somewhere behind me.
And from deep inside the building—
Something growled.
Chapter 16 — Beneath the Building
The growl didn’t sound human.
It echoed through the darkness low and deep, vibrating through the concrete walls beneath us.
Every muscle in my body locked instantly.
Emma grabbed onto Charles somewhere behind me. “What was that?”
Nobody answered.
Because none of us knew.
The hallway remained completely black except for the weak flashlight trembling in my hand. Its beam shook across peeling walls and rusted pipes overhead while water dripped steadily somewhere deeper inside the building.
Jack pulled hard against the ropes around his wrists.
“Alyssana,” he said sharply. “Untie me. Now.”
That snapped me back into motion.
I dropped beside the chair and started fumbling with the knots while Charles moved protectively in front of us with the spear raised.
“Scarlett,” he called into the darkness, “what the hell is down here?”
No answer.
The only sound was dripping water.
And breathing.
Not ours.
Something else was breathing in the dark.
Slow.Heavy.
Emma heard it too because her voice cracked instantly.
“Oh my god.”
The flashlight beam swept shakily toward the far end of the hallway.
Nothing.
Just darkness stretching deeper underground.
Then—
Movement.
Fast.
A shadow disappeared around the corner before I could fully see it.
Emma screamed.
Jack cursed under his breath. “Hurry!”
My hands shook violently while trying to loosen the wet rope around his wrists.
“What is it?” I whispered.
Jack looked pale. “I don’t know.”
“That thing dragged me down here after Scarlett locked me in the room.”
The rope finally loosened enough for him to pull one hand free.
Then suddenly—
The emergency lights flickered back on.
Dim red light flooded the hallway.
And for one horrible second, we saw it.
Standing at the far end of the corridor.
Tall.Thin.Wrong.
Its arms looked too long for its body, hanging almost to the floor. Pale skin stretched tightly across sharp bones, and its glowing yellow eyes reflected brightly in the red emergency lights.
Emma made a terrified choking sound.
The creature tilted its head slowly.
Watching us.
Then the lights flickered again—
And it was gone.
Jack ripped the remaining rope free instantly.
“Move!”
Nobody argued.
We ran.
Our footsteps thundered across the concrete floors while flashing emergency lights painted the hallway red, then black, then red again.
Behind us—
Fast footsteps followed.
Too fast.
Charles shoved open a metal door beside the hallway and practically threw all of us inside before slamming it shut.
The room looked like some kind of old storage area.
Rusty shelves lined the walls, and broken filing cabinets sat overturned across the floor. Dust and mold covered almost everything.
Jack immediately pushed a heavy metal shelf against the door while Charles helped him.
A second later—
SLAM.
Something hit the other side hard enough to shake the entire room.
Emma screamed again.
“Hold it!” Charles yelled.
Another slam hit the door.
Harder.
The metal bent inward slightly.
My chest tightened painfully.
Whatever was outside—
It was strong.
Jack stepped backward slowly, breathing hard.
“What is that thing?”
Nobody answered.
Because none of us had an explanation anymore.
This wasn’t just some abandoned island.
Something was living here.
Another crash shook the room violently.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
Emma backed farther away from the door, tears running down her face now. “We’re going to die here.”
“No, we’re not,” Jack said immediately.
But even he sounded unsure.
Charles suddenly noticed something sitting on one of the shelves near the wall.
Files.
Dozens of old files stacked inside dusty boxes.
“What is this place?” he muttered.
Another slam hit the door.
I grabbed one of the folders quickly while Jack and Charles kept holding the shelf in place.
The papers inside looked old and yellowed.
Most were ruined from water damage.
But one word stood out immediately across the top page.
MEMORY PROJECT.
A cold chill spread through me.
“Guys…”
Emma grabbed another file nearby.
“This one has names.”
She flipped through the pages quickly before freezing.
“Oh my god.”
“What?” Jack asked.
Emma looked up slowly.
“Our names are in here.”
Silence.
I grabbed the folder from her hands.
ALYSSANA CARTERJACK HARPEREMMA VALECHARLES EVANS
Typed neatly across official-looking documents.
Beneath the names were words that made my stomach drop.
SUBJECTS SUCCESSFULLY TRANSPORTED.
“What does that mean?” Emma whispered.
Charles grabbed another paper.
His face slowly drained of color.
“This island…” He swallowed hard. “It’s not abandoned.”
The room suddenly felt freezing cold.
Jack looked toward the door again. “Then what is it?”
Charles stared at the papers silently for a moment before answering.
“A research facility.”
Another violent crash slammed against the door.
Metal screamed loudly.
The creature was breaking through.
Then I noticed another line written across the bottom of the file.
Phase Two: Memory Removal Trial.
A sharp ringing filled my ears.
Suddenly—
Another flash of memory exploded through my head.
Bright white rooms.Doctors.Needles.Scarlett screaming at someone.
And a voice saying:
“If the memories return, terminate the subjects immediately.”
I gasped sharply and nearly dropped the folder.
Jack grabbed my arm. “Alyssana?”
I looked up at him in horror.
“We were brought here on purpose.”
Chapter 17 — The Experiments
The room went completely silent.
Even the crashing against the door seemed farther away now.
All I could hear was my own heartbeat pounding inside my head.
“We were brought here on purpose.”
The words hung in the air like poison.
Emma stared at me blankly. “No.”
I could barely breathe.
The flashes in my head were getting stronger now, memories slamming into me so quickly they almost hurt.
White walls.Bright lights.Voices speaking over one another.
Subjects responding well to memory suppression.
A needle pressing into my arm.
I staggered backward against one of the shelves.
Jack immediately grabbed my shoulders. “Hey. Stay with me.”
His voice sounded far away.
“This wasn’t an accident,” I whispered.
Charles looked pale while flipping through more files rapidly.
“It says there were trials before us.”
Emma shook her head violently. “No. No way.”
Charles held up one of the papers with shaking hands.
SUBJECT GROUP 4 — TERMINATED.
My stomach twisted.
“How many people were here?” Emma whispered.
“Nine groups,” Charles answered quietly.
Silence crashed over us.
Another violent slam hit the metal door.
The shelf scraped backward slightly across the floor.
Jack cursed under his breath. “We need another exit.”
Charles immediately started searching the room while Emma and I grabbed more flashlights and supplies from the shelves.
The deeper I looked through the files, the worse everything became.
Behavioral Observation Reports.Memory Recovery Monitoring.Psychological Breakdown Predictions.
And Scarlett’s name appeared everywhere.
SUBJECT S-1: Resistant to treatment.SUBJECT S-1: Increasing aggression.SUBJECT S-1: Unstable.
“She was part of this too,” I whispered.
Jack looked over immediately. “What?”
I handed him the file.
His expression darkened as he read it.
“They experimented on her.”
Emma frowned. “Then why is she helping them?”
Before anyone could answer—
The door bent inward violently.
Something shrieked outside.
Not human.
My blood ran cold instantly.
“We are out of time,” Charles snapped.
He shoved another cabinet against the door while scanning the room desperately.
“There!”
A narrow staircase sat half-hidden behind broken shelves at the back of the storage room.
Jack grabbed my wrist immediately. “Move.”
We ran for the staircase just as another massive crash echoed behind us.
Metal screamed.
The creature was getting through.
The staircase spiraled upward through darkness, our footsteps echoing loudly off the concrete walls. Weak emergency lights flickered overhead while rust dripped down the railings beside us.
Emma looked close to panicking.
“What even was that thing?!”
“I don’t know!” Charles shouted back.
But deep down—
I think all of us already suspected the answer.
Another experiment.
Another subject.
Something that survived.
Halfway up the stairs, the lights suddenly flickered again.
Then died completely.
Darkness swallowed us.
Emma screamed instantly.
“Flashlights!” Jack barked.
I fumbled for mine with shaking hands.
Click.
Weak light flooded the staircase again.
And for one horrifying second—
Someone stood above us.
Scarlett.
She stared down at us from the top landing, breathing heavily.
“Hurry,” she whispered.
Jack frowned instantly. “Where are you taking us?”
Scarlett looked terrified.
“They woke it up.”
A distant screech echoed somewhere below us.
Closer now.
Emma looked ready to cry again. “Scarlett, WHAT is that thing?”
Scarlett’s face twisted painfully.
“It used to be human.”
Nobody moved.
The flashlight trembled in my hand.
“What?” Charles whispered.
Scarlett swallowed hard.
“Group Four.”
A cold chill swept through me instantly.
The terminated group.
“They didn’t die,” Scarlett whispered. “Not completely.”
Another screech exploded through the stairwell below us.
Much closer.
Scarlett immediately spun around. “Come on!”
This time, we followed.
At the top of the stairs sat another hallway, cleaner than the lower level but somehow even creepier. White walls stretched ahead beneath flickering fluorescent lights, and faded signs pointed toward different sections of the facility.
MEDICAL WING.OBSERVATION ROOMS.TESTING LABS.
My stomach turned violently.
I remembered this place.
Not clearly.
But enough.
Flashes hit me again as we ran.
Emma crying in a chair.Charles yelling at someone in a lab coat.Jack trying to break open a locked door.
And Scarlett—
Watching everything.
“We were here before the boat,” I whispered suddenly.
Jack looked at me sharply. “What?”
“The facility.” My voice shook. “They brought us here before the crash.”
Charles froze briefly. “You remember that?”
I nodded slowly.
Bits and pieces kept coming back now.
Doctors talking.Tests.Questions.
Then Scarlett screaming:
“You can’t keep them here forever!”
The memory vanished instantly.
We reached a locked security door at the end of the hallway.
Scarlett slammed her hand against the keypad beside it repeatedly.
“Hurry…”
Behind us—
Something slammed into the stairwell door below.
The entire hallway shook.
Emma covered her mouth in terror.
Jack stepped protectively in front of us again while gripping the spear tighter.
“What happens if it catches us?”
Scarlett finally looked at him.
And for the first time since meeting her—
She looked genuinely guilty.
“It won’t kill you immediately,” she whispered.
The keypad flashed green.
The security door slowly slid open.
Inside sat a large control room filled with broken monitors and flickering computer screens.
And across the far wall—
Photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Pictures of us.
Before the island.
Before the crash.
Before our memories disappeared.
Chapter 18 — Before the Island
Nobody spoke as we entered the control room.
The door slid shut behind us with a heavy metallic sound, sealing off the hallway outside. Rain hammered faintly somewhere above the facility while broken computer monitors flickered weakly around the room.
But none of us were looking at the screens.
We were staring at the wall.
Hundreds of photographs covered it from top to bottom.
Pictures of us.
Not just on the island.
Before it.
Emma slowly stepped forward first.
“Oh my god…”
My chest tightened painfully as I looked closer.
There were photos of us sitting in classrooms.Walking through hallways at school.Eating together at restaurants.
Living normal lives.
One picture showed Emma laughing so hard she nearly spilled a drink across the table while Charles sat beside her rolling his eyes.
Another showed Jack standing behind me with his arms around my shoulders while I smiled at the camera.
My stomach twisted.
Because we looked happy.
Real happy.
Charles grabbed one of the photographs from the wall carefully.
“This was before the boat.”
Scarlett nodded silently from near the control panels.
Emma turned toward her sharply. “Then why were they watching us?”
Scarlett hesitated.
The lights flickered overhead.
Finally, she answered quietly.
“Because they chose you.”
Fear crawled slowly up my spine.
“What does that mean?” Jack asked.
Scarlett looked exhausted now, like she was carrying years of guilt all at once.
“The facility wasn’t random.” Her voice shook slightly. “They studied people with strong emotional connections.”
Emma frowned. “What?”
Scarlett gestured weakly toward the wall of photos.
“Friends. Couples. Families.” She swallowed hard. “They wanted to see what happened when memories disappeared.”
Silence.
I stared back at the photos again.
“They erased us on purpose,” I whispered.
Scarlett nodded once.
Charles looked furious now. “Who did?”
Scarlett glanced toward the dark hallway outside the control room.
“The people running the project.”
Jack crossed his arms tightly. “Where are they now?”
Scarlett’s expression darkened instantly.
“Gone.”
A cold chill spread through the room.
Emma frowned. “Gone where?”
Scarlett didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she walked slowly toward one of the flickering computer monitors and pressed a few keys. Static flashed across the screen before security footage suddenly appeared.
Old footage.
The date in the corner read:October 14 — Three Weeks Earlier
The room in the video looked exactly like the facility around us now.
Only it was alive.
Then chaos erupted.
Alarms flashed red across the screen.
One scientist ran past the camera screaming something.
And behind him—
A pale figure lunged out of the darkness.
Emma screamed softly and stepped backward.
The footage cut to another hallway.
Blood covered the walls.
Lights flickered violently.
People were running.
Then another creature appeared.
Then another.
Charles stared at the screen in horror. “There was more than one.”
Scarlett nodded shakily.
“They tested memory removal too far.” Her voice cracked slightly. “Something went wrong.”
Jack looked toward her sharply. “You knew.”
“I tried to stop them!”
The sudden anger in Scarlett’s voice shocked all of us into silence.
Tears filled her eyes instantly.
“They wouldn’t listen.”
The room fell quiet except for the static humming from the monitors.
Then Scarlett looked at me.
“They picked you because of your father.”
The words hit me like ice water.
“My… father?”
Another sharp flash exploded through my head.
A man in a lab coat kneeling beside me when I was younger.
“You’re safe here, Alyssana.”
I stumbled backward slightly.
Jack caught my arm quickly. “What is it?”
“I remember him.”
Scarlett nodded slowly.
“Dr. Carter.”
The name made my chest tighten painfully.
“He helped build the project.”
“No,” I whispered immediately.
But deep down—
I knew it was true.
More memories crashed into me.
My father arguing with scientists.Saying the project was dangerous.Someone yelling back:“We’re too close to success!”
Then—
Security dragging him away.
I pressed a shaking hand against my forehead.
“He tried to shut it down,” I whispered.
Scarlett looked surprised. “You remember that?”
I nodded slowly.
Emma stared at me in shock. “Your dad worked here?”
“I think so.”
Charles looked back at the photographs uneasily. “Then why bring us here?”
Scarlett looked away.
“Because your father disappeared.”
Silence.
Jack frowned. “Disappeared?”
Scarlett nodded once.
“They thought Alyssana knew something.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
Scarlett pointed toward one of the desks near the back wall.
“We were supposed to help them get answers.”
Emma looked horrified. “By erasing our memories?!”
“They told us it would be temporary,” Scarlett whispered.
Charles laughed bitterly. “Clearly.”
Suddenly—
A loud crash echoed from outside the control room.
Everyone froze.
Another crash followed immediately after.
Closer.
The creature.
Jack grabbed the spear tightly again.
Scarlett looked terrified. “It found us.”
The lights overhead flickered violently.
Then one of the computer screens suddenly turned on by itself.
Static filled the monitor.
Then words slowly appeared across the screen.
PHASE THREE ACTIVATED
My blood ran cold instantly.
Emma whispered, “What does that mean?”
Before anyone could answer—
Every door in the facility locked automatically with a loud metallic slam.
Red emergency lights flooded the control room.
And a voice crackled through the speakers overhead.
“Subjects located
Chapter 19 — Dr. Carter
Red emergency lights flooded the control room.
“Subjects located.”
The robotic voice echoed through the speakers again and again while alarms blared somewhere deep inside the facility.
Emma covered her ears instantly. “Okay, I officially hate that voice.”
Charles ran toward the control panels, frantically pressing buttons. “The doors are locked.”
Jack tightened his grip on the spear while staring toward the hallway.
“It’s coming.”
Almost on cue—
A distant screech echoed through the building.
Closer than before.
Scarlett looked pale. “We need to move now.”
“But where?” Emma snapped.
Nobody answered.
Because there was nowhere left to go.
The control room suddenly felt too small, the flashing red lights making everything look unreal. The photographs on the wall flickered in and out of shadow while alarms screamed overhead.
Then—
A new voice crackled through the speakers.
Not robotic this time.
Human.
“Alyssana?”
I froze instantly.
The voice sounded distorted through static, but I still recognized it somehow.
My chest tightened painfully.
“…Dad?”
Emma looked at me sharply. “What?”
Static crackled loudly again.
“Alyssana, listen carefully,” the voice said urgently. “You need to get to the north exit immediately.”
Tears instantly burned behind my eyes.
The memories hit me all at once—
A man helping me ride a bike.Late-night science books spread across a kitchen table.Him smiling and saying:“You’re smarter than you think, little star.”
Little star.
The nickname from the lullaby.
My knees nearly gave out.
“That’s him,” I whispered shakily.
Jack grabbed my arm gently. “Your father?”
Before I could answer, Scarlett suddenly looked horrified.
“He’s alive?”
The speakers crackled again.
“There isn’t much time,” my father said quickly. “The containment systems are failing.”
A loud metallic bang echoed somewhere outside the room.
Emma jumped violently.
Charles turned toward Scarlett sharply. “What’s containment?”
Scarlett’s face went pale.
“The creatures.”
Another screech echoed through the hall.
Closer.
Much closer.
My father’s voice came through again urgently.
“Alyssana, if you can hear me, you need to trust me.”
Something about hearing those words broke the last wall in my memory.
Suddenly—
Everything came back.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
And Scarlett.
Scarlett helping the scientists at first because they promised they could erase painful memories.
But then the experiments changed people.
Turned them violent.
Unstable.
Monsters.
And when my father tried shutting the project down—
The scientists locked him inside the lower levels.
“Oh my god,” I whispered.
Jack looked at me carefully. “What do you remember?”
I looked up slowly.
“My dad didn’t disappear.”
Scarlett stared at me in shock.
“He was trapped here.”
Another massive crash slammed against the hallway outside.
The metal door bent inward slightly.
Emma screamed.
“We can do trauma explanations later!”
The speakers crackled violently again.
“There’s a maintenance tunnel behind the west wall,” my father said quickly. “It leads outside the facility.”
Charles immediately started searching the walls.
“West wall, west wall—”
“There!” Emma pointed toward a metal cabinet.
Jack and Charles shoved it aside together, revealing a hidden door underneath layers of dust and rust.
Another screech exploded directly outside the control room.
The door shook violently.
Something slammed against it hard enough to crack the glass panel beside it.
And through the broken glass—
Yellow glowing eyes stared at us.
Emma let out a terrified cry.
“OPEN THE DOOR!”
Charles yanked the hidden tunnel open just as the control room door started bending inward.
“GO!”
We rushed into the tunnel one after another while Jack slammed the hatch shut behind us.
A second later—
Something crashed against the other side.
The tunnel shook violently.
The space around us was narrow and dark, forcing us to move quickly in a crouch. Rusted pipes lined the walls while cold air rushed through the passageway ahead.
Emma was crying openly now.
“I want to go home.”
“We will,” Jack said firmly.
But I could hear the fear in his voice too.
The tunnel stretched upward for what felt like forever before finally ending at a metal ladder.
Charles climbed first and shoved hard against the hatch above us.
Moonlight flooded into the tunnel.
Fresh air hit my face instantly.
We climbed out onto the jungle floor behind the facility.
Rain had started falling again.
The building loomed behind us beneath flashing red emergency lights, alarms still echoing faintly through the night.
Then movement appeared near the tree line ahead.
A person stepped out of the jungle holding a flashlight.
I stopped breathing.
He looked older than my memories.
Thinner.
Exhausted.
But I recognized him immediately.
Dad.
“Alyssana.”
The flashlight shook slightly in his hand as he stared at me like he couldn’t believe I was real.
Tears filled my eyes instantly.
Before I even realized what I was doing, I ran toward him.
He caught me tightly in his arms.
For a moment, everything else disappeared.
The island.The monsters.The fear.
“You’re alive,” I whispered.
My father held onto me like he never wanted to let go again.
“I’m so sorry,” he said shakily.
Behind me, the others stood frozen in shock.
Emma whispered softly, “This is insane.”
Jack looked almost relieved for the first time since the crash.
Then suddenly—
A horrifying screech exploded from inside the facility.
The ground beneath us trembled slightly.
My father’s expression changed instantly.
“We have to leave. Now.”
Charles frowned. “Leave how?”
My father looked toward the ocean beyond the trees.
“There’s a rescue boat hidden on the north shore.”
Hope slammed into my chest so hard it hurt.
But then my father added quietly:
“If we can reach it before the facility fully collapses.”
Chapter 20 — Rescue
Rain poured through the jungle as we ran.
Branches whipped against my arms while mud slipped beneath our shoes, but nobody slowed down. Behind us, alarms screamed from inside the facility, echoing across the island like warning sirens.
My father led the way with a flashlight clenched tightly in one hand.
“We’re almost there!” he shouted over the storm.
Another explosion thundered behind us.
The ground shook violently.
Emma screamed as rocks tumbled somewhere near the cliffs.
“What is happening?!” she yelled.
“The generators are failing!” my father called back. “If the containment systems collapse completely, the whole facility goes with it!”
Jack grabbed my arm before I slipped in the mud.
“You okay?”
I nodded breathlessly.
But honestly, I wasn’t.
Everything still felt unreal.
Just days ago, we had woken up on a beach with no memories.
Now we were running through a storm while monsters escaped from an underground laboratory hidden beneath an abandoned island.
Lightning flashed overhead.
For half a second, I saw movement between the trees behind us.
The creature.
“Keep moving!” Charles shouted.
We burst out of the jungle onto a rocky shoreline at the north side of the island.
Huge waves crashed violently against the cliffs below while rain hammered the rocks around us.
And sitting hidden beneath part of the cliff—
A small rescue boat.
Emma laughed in disbelief. “There’s actually a boat.”
My father hurried toward it quickly.
“We can radio for help once we get far enough from the island.”
Jack suddenly froze beside me.
“Wait.”
Something was wrong.
I followed his gaze toward the beach behind us.
Scarlett stood near the edge of the jungle.
Rain soaked her hair and clothes while lightning flashed overhead behind her.
She looked completely alone.
Emma stepped forward slightly. “Scarlett—”
“You need to leave,” Scarlett interrupted quietly.
Charles frowned. “Come with us.”
Scarlett looked toward the island behind her.
Toward the burning facility hidden beyond the trees.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?” I asked.
Scarlett smiled sadly.
“Because this place was my fault too.”
Another explosion rumbled through the island.
The ground trembled again.
My father looked panicked now. “We have to go.”
But I couldn’t stop staring at Scarlett.
For all the fear and chaos she caused…
She also warned us.Helped us escape.Saved Jack.
“You don’t have to stay here,” I whispered.
Scarlett’s eyes filled with tears instantly.
“You still don’t understand, Alyssana.”
Lightning flashed again.
And suddenly, I remembered one final piece.
Scarlett in one of the labs crying while scientists dragged someone away.
Me hugging her.Telling her:“We’ll fix this together.”
We had been friends once.
Real friends.
Not enemies.
The realization hit painfully hard.
Scarlett must have seen it on my face because she smiled weakly.
“There you are,” she whispered.
A loud screech suddenly echoed from the jungle behind her.
Closer than ever.
Scarlett turned sharply toward the trees.
Fear crossed her face instantly.
“Go,” she whispered.
The creature burst from the jungle.
Emma screamed.
It moved unnaturally fast across the rocks, glowing eyes locked directly onto us.
Jack shoved me toward the boat immediately. “MOVE!”
Charles grabbed Emma’s arm while my father started the engine frantically.
The creature lunged—
And Scarlett stepped directly in front of it.
“RUN!” she screamed.
The creature slammed into her hard enough to knock both of them against the rocks.
I cried out instinctively.
“Scarlett!”
But Jack pulled me toward the boat.
“Alyssana, we have to go!”
The engine roared to life just as another explosion tore through the island behind us.
Flames burst upward into the stormy sky.
The boat pulled away from shore rapidly while the island shook violently behind us.
And standing near the cliffs through the rain—
Scarlett watched us leave.
Then smoke and darkness swallowed her completely.
None of us spoke for a long time.
The island slowly disappeared behind the storm while waves crashed against the boat.
Emma sat wrapped in a blanket silently crying.
Charles stared at the ocean with an exhausted, hollow expression.
Jack sat beside me quietly, his shoulder pressed against mine.
And my father steered the boat through the rain with trembling hands.
Hours later, just before sunrise, we heard it.
A helicopter.
Emma looked up so fast she nearly fell over.
“Oh my god.”
Bright searchlights swept across the ocean above us.
The helicopter circled once before lowering closer.
RESCUE printed across the side.
I think all of us stopped breathing.
“They found us,” Charles whispered.
For the first time since waking up on the beach—
Hope felt real.
The helicopter lowered rescue lines onto the boat while voices shouted instructions over the storm.
One by one, we were lifted into the air.
Emma cried the entire way up.
Charles looked like he might too even though he kept pretending otherwise.
When it was finally my turn, I looked down one last time at the island below us.
The jungle.The cliffs.The burning facility hidden beneath it all.
So many secrets buried there.
And somewhere inside the smoke and darkness—
Scarlett.
Jack sat beside me inside the helicopter once we were safely aboard.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then quietly, he looked at me and asked:
“Do you think it’s really over?”
I looked back toward the island disappearing into the storm below.
And for the first time in days—
I honestly didn’t know.
Epilogue — Memory Lane
Three months later.
People kept calling us lucky.
Lucky to be alive. Lucky to have survived the island. Lucky to have escaped.
But nobody understood what it was really like.
Nobody understood the nightmares.
I stood by my bedroom window watching rain slide slowly down the glass while distant thunder rolled outside.
Storms still made my chest tighten.
Sometimes I woke up convinced I could still hear the lullaby whispering through the jungle.
“…little star…”
The doctors said trauma could do that.
But deep down, I wasn’t completely sure.
Life was supposed to feel normal again after the rescue.
Instead, everything felt slightly different.
Like I had left part of myself back on the island.
My memories had mostly returned now.
Not perfectly. Not all at once.
But enough.
I remembered school with Emma and Charles. Movie nights with Jack. Late-night conversations with Scarlett before everything went wrong.
And my father.
He sat downstairs now, rebuilding pieces of his life after exposing the facility and the experiments publicly. The news called it one of the biggest scientific crimes in decades.
Most of the researchers involved disappeared before authorities reached the island.
The official reports claimed the facility was destroyed completely in the explosion.
But sometimes…
I wondered.
A soft knock interrupted my thoughts.
“Come in,” I called.
Jack stepped into the room holding two cups of hot chocolate carefully.
“You’re doing the dramatic staring-out-the-window thing again,” he said.
I smiled faintly.
“Maybe.”
He handed me one of the mugs before sitting beside me near the window.
Things between us still felt complicated sometimes.
The truth about the boat hadn’t magically disappeared after the rescue.
But now I understand what really happened.
Jack didn’t try to hurt us.
He panicked.
Scarlett threatened him after the experiments spiraled out of control, and in the middle of the storm, everything went wrong.
None of us left the island unchanged.
Emma started sleeping with lights on. Charles became quieter. Jack blamed himself for things that weren’t fully his fault.
And me?
Part of me still felt connected to the island somehow.
Like it never fully let me go.
Jack glanced toward the rain outside.
“You thinking about her again?”
I nodded slowly.
Scarlett.
Nobody ever found her body.
Search teams claimed the fire and explosions destroyed most of the northern side of the island.
But every time I thought about Scarlett, I remembered the way she looked standing on the cliffs in the storm.
Not evil.
Just broken.
“I wish things had been different,” I whispered.
Jack nodded quietly.
“Me too.”
For a while, we sat there listening to the rain.
Then my phone buzzed suddenly on the desk beside me.
Unknown Number.
A strange chill ran down my spine instantly.
“Who is it?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know.”
Slowly, I picked up the phone and opened the message.
Only three words appeared on the screen.
Do you remember?
Attached beneath the message was a photograph.
My blood went ice cold.
It showed the island.
Taken recently.
And standing near the jungle tree line—
A blond girl smiling at the camera.
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A Walk Through Memory Lane ( The whole book )
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