Insomnia Horror Collection

Maidens Point

6:17 pm: that's when it finally stopped snowing long enough for the services to continue. Everyone had been waiting inside of the old church for Travis Walker's final respects. I wish they had picked a different spot, but, in reality, I know this is all we have here. The old fisherman's chapel in Maidens Point was renovated in the sixties into a slightly more roomy church. It's hard for a lot of them to be in here on such an occasion.

For some of the older fixtures of Maidens Point, this place has been the spot of marriages, countless Sunday services, and now, because of the snow, another funeral. I would normally be sitting front row; Travis was, however, my best friend and business partner. Today though, seeing how everyone turns their noses up at me, looks away, or flat out ignores me makes me feel like my spot in the back is appropriate.

Everyone gets up and begins to pour out of the aging church and towards Maidens Point Cemetery a couple of streets over. Some get into their cars while the others simply walk the short distance. We all arrive around the cryptic looking rectangular hole dug for Travis. The keepers and cemetery had done the best they could to make it look like more than it really was, but it's useless. In the end, the maroon fabrics and silver bracings do little to disguise the inevitable truth that this is just a hole; a grave we will lower Travis' coffin in and cover with dirt.

There, everyone gathers around and sits. Those too upset or elderly to take the strain of bending knees stand and words are spoken. Travis' sister, mother, and wife speak their shaky last words for and to Travis. Over the silent weeping and sniveling I couldn't ignore that I was never asked to say any words. I had spent my entire life here with Travis but still, even now, I understood.

The fact that we were best friends doesn't give me any leeway— it does nothing to alleviate guilt or blame. In fact, it is the opposite; it makes it all the more worse. So yes, even now I accept the cold shoulder and harsh treatment from lifelong friends.

Two Days Prior

Travis and I were on the boat together on a routine outing following a massive school of Halibut. The damn things kept drifting out further and further. Travis wanted to head back since a storm was coming in towards us as we headed out, but I insisted.

It had been weeks since we had pulled in a haul not half this size and I let money fill the void in my mind where sense should have been. Against his nagging, I pressed on. I got my fish only to lose them right back to the sea when the storm sat on us.

The twenty-six foot dual four-stroke boat couldn't do much against the storm and it wasn't long before we found ourselves with one stalled engine and taking on water. The end result of this storm found our boat capsized and our catch lost back to the sea. The last thing I remembered before losing consciousness was being in the cold Alaskan waters. I could see my life's work and my father's before me sinking with the Twilight, my boat.

I awoke inside of a small room inside of our town's hospital. I was still cold, but the sounds of voices took my attention. It was Roberta and James, Travis' mother and father. They were talking to someone about Travis, but crying as well. I got up slowly and walked to my cracked hospital room door and peeked out. As I pressed my face through the narrow space nervously, filled with a sickness inside my stomach, I could see a person blur past me.

"Travis! Travis, oh my God is that Travis!" the woman screamed through tears as she ran towards the room.

James, Travis' father grabbed and held her tight as she cried into his shoulder. It was Natalie, Travis' wife. She sobbed uncontrollably and it was then, through the door, I could see it all too clear. The doctor exited the room and, as the door opened and closed behind him, I could see Travis lying on the hospital bed. They said he had been dead for awhile now and they just needed family to identify the body, even though they all knew who it was. Hell, some of the nurses even went to school with Travis and me.