Poveglia Island (GAC Story)

Four

They drove most of the way to the airport in silence, only a couple words here and there as they pulled into the parking lot. Zak, of course, was still unsure about this, considering what happened. Pulling into a parking spot, they grabbed their stuff, making sure they had everything before heading inside the airport. It was crowded with people, some waiting for flights in the seats, some heading on their flight. Planes flew in and out, taking passengers to their destinations.

"What gate is it?" Aaron asked, looking over to Nick.

"I believe gate C." Nick said. "Not that far from here."

They found it a few seconds later, noticing the plane was already there. Scanning the tickets, they walked on. They sat towards the middle, setting their stuff in the spaces above the seats. Lily sat in the window seat behind Aaron, Zak sitting next to her. Jackie and Nick we're behind them. After waiting around for about five minutes, the flight attendant asked everyone to strap themselves in for takeoff. Waiting for the instructions to be over, since they've seen it a million times, the plane finally started to move to the runway. Zak suddenly started to feel uncomfortable.

"You okay?" Lily asked.

He shook his head. "No...just having second thoughts about this.."

"Zak, you kinda can't change your mind now." Aaron said, looking back at him. "We keep telling you it'll be fine, don't worry about it."

"Yeah, I know..I just have a feeling I'm gonna regret it later."

"You won't." Jackie said. "Just trust us on this."

Leaving it at that, they reached the runway when the plane started picking up speed. Once it started taking off, everyone was against their seats until they were up in the air. When the seat belt light turned off after another few minutes, they took them off.

"How long of a flight is it?" Jackie asked.

"It's a long one." Aaron said. "I think it was a day and a half or something like that."

"Sounds about right." Nick said. "So get comfy."

She chuckled, lounging in her seat. About five minutes later, she drifted off to sleep.

***

She stood in a field, nothing but grass and trees stretching all around her. It was a little foggy, haze creeping across her feet. She walked along the field, glancing around her surroundings. Squinting her eyes through the fog, she can see other people as well..but they were walking slower than her, as if in a trance of some sort. Stopping, she looked at them, everyone walking the same, not even realizing she was there. They were heading straight, and she tried to get to the front of the crowd to see where they're going.

But when she got closer, the fog lifted away like a veil, revealing a wooden dock, bobbing up and down in the water. She noticed a couple boats sitting there, waiting to take whoever is going.

She felt hands tightly squeeze her shoulders, making her screech in surprise. "You have to get out of here." The person hissed in her ear. She whirled around, noticing it was someone she knew, all white with big blotches on their skin, their eyes red.

Her heart was pounding against her chest. "What're you talking about? What's going on?"

"Join us..you won't suffer anymore." They said, forcing her to walk forward.

"What do you mean??" She asked, beginning to freak out.

They grabbed her by the arm, the reds of their eyes staring right at her. "Join us..you won't..suffer anymore."

She felt them drag her forward, trying to get out of their grip, but it was no use. She suddenly started to feel dizzy, feeling like the world is spinning around her. As they neared the boats, she got worse, bending over, throwing up whatever came out of her mouth.

"What is happening?" She breathed, throwing up again. Getting no reply, she looked down at her dangling arm.

And saw the same blotches on her skin. Reaching the boats, she felt them toss her in one. Looking through her blurry vision, she could smell smoke, mixed with something she didn't recognize.

"We're here to help you.." Someone in front of her said. "Soon enough, you won't suffer anymore."

She was completely confused, feeling the boat rock as more people were dumped onto it. She could hear them moaning in pain, the hairs on her neck standing on end. It sounded like a haunting song. She fell to the floor of the boat, looking up to see a white mask that almost looked like a birds face without it's eyes. The sight sent chills down her spine, forgetting how much time has passed until they reached whatever destination they headed to.

When it stopped by another dock that was slightly taller than the last one, more masked people stood there, wearing hooded black robes, covering their entire body, the fabric blowing in the breeze. Some people were begging to live as they dragged them off the boats, some screaming. She watched as they were being forcefully to move along, the people right on their heels. She was suddenly forced on her feet, up onto the dock. She noticed smoke in the distance, and she suddenly knew where she was going.

"Join us..you won't suffer anymore." Zak said again, walking past her. Feeling hands on her arms, she kicked and screamed the whole way there, standing in a line that had at least three people in front of her. Horrified, she watched as people were thrown into a huge fire. She heard them beg for mercy, telling the masked people to let them go, but they didn't listen. Being suddenly shoved forward, the people carried her over to the fire. She screamed in fear, feeling them let go of her, tossing her into the flames. She couldn't move, feeling it burn through her skin. Her screams became softer, until the world shut out of her eyes, and she stopped struggling.

***

Waking up with a start, she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her jump, shooing it away.

"Whoa, Jackie, settle down!" Nick said. "It's me!"

Taking a few deep breaths, she slowly turned to look at him. "Sorry...bad dream."

"Well whatever it was, we could hear you talking in your sleep." Lily said, looking back at her. "What happened?"

Another deep breath, she willed herself to tell what happened. "I was in a field..and people were around me, walking over to a dock area..they were loaded on a couple boats, taken to Poveglia. And..I was one of the diseased people." She started feeling uncomfortable. "But I wasn't the only one, I knew somebody else that was too.."

"Who?" Aaron asked.

It took her a few seconds to tell who it was. "It was Zak..."

Their eyes widened, Zak running a hand through his hair.

"What else?" He asked, trying not to flip out just yet.

Jackie shook her head. "You kept saying something...but...I don't remember for some reason."

"Well..it was just a bad dream." Nick said. "Doesn't mean it won't really happen."

"I hope not." Zak said seriously. "I don't want to be another victim of that damn disease."

"Zak, that was over 100 years ago!" Lily said. "It's not even around anymore!"

"You don't know that.." He said. "Anything can happen there.."

She gave him a serious look. "Well I know that the Bubonic Plague doesn't exist anymore..quit worrying about something that isn't there!"

"Okaayy, that's enough." Aaron said, giving them a serious look. "We don't need to argue about it anymore. When we get to the island, we'll just wait and see what happens."

"Well, if Zak would stop freaking out over something that happened way before we were around, this wouldn't happen right now.." Lily said, glaring at Zak before turning her gaze away.

"Lily, just drop it!" Nick snapped. "We don't need more of this bullshit! Like Aaron said, we'll wait and see what happens once we get there!"

Leaving it at that, everyone stayed silent for a long time.