Lost

Chapter 25

The world of the past melted away and I was once again standing in the underwater cave, my friends standing around me, their faces pale.

"I suggest you say your goodbyes now," Damien smiled sadly, "I doubt you'll ever see each other again."

My stomach dropped.

"Wait, what do you mean?!" Kate cried, her eyes gone wild.

Irene grasped me in a tight hug, still hopping on her bad ankle.

"He's probably just trying to scare us." She whispered in my ear.

I wasn't so sure. There was something about Damien's face.

I hugged Alex next. I knew she wasn't much of a hugger, but this was different. The certainty was creeping coldly in the pit of my stomach. I was never going to see them again, was I? I turned to see Rachel, staring at Bradley, the color drained out of her face. She had remembered her life. And more importantly, her love.

"I-I'm so sorry." She stuttered before throwing herself into his open arms.

I turned away as they kissed. This was their moment, not mine. I hugged Nadia, burying my face in her shoulder for a moment before moving on. I hugged Bree, Jewel and Kate. I awkwardly shook hands with Drew, Isaac and Will. As I turned to Bradley, smiling sadly as everyone said goodbye behind me, I noticed how incredibly happy he looked. It was as if his whole world had been returned to him. He had his hand in Rachel's, a wide grin crinkling his eyes.

"Time is running out. Have you said your goodbyes?" Damien asked, pacing quietly in the corner.

I hurriedly reached out, embracing Rachel, leaning into her.

Then

All at once

She was gone

And I fell forward onto my knees

Grasping at nothing.

My clothes were repaired, the rips and tears disappeared. My tan faded to pale skin. The dirt and mud was washed away. My cuts and scrapes were suddenly gone.

But I was hurt even more than before I had found myself on the lost island. My heart hurt. Because now, not only my family was gone, but also the precious friends I had made on the island, were gone from my life forever. I was sitting in my backyard on a sunny afternoon, all alone, just like when I had disappeared. No time had passed. I felt empty. Was it all a dream? Was I going insane? No. It was real. My friend's faces flitted before my eyes. They were gone.

Then the tears fell hard and fast and a sob built up in my throat. And I cried. I cried harder than I ever had. The world went on around me as if nothing had happened. The sun shone. The birds sang in the tree above me. The sky was tantalizingly blue. But I sat there sobbing my heart out and wishing I had never left the lost island. The tears were foreign, dripping down my face. The sobs were strange, choked and strangled. I had just lost the dearest friends I had ever made in my whole life. The closest friends. The strongest. And I suddenly knew why it was called the lost island. Even if you weren't lost before you came there, you were certainly lost when you left.

***

(10 years later)

I was twenty three and on my last year of college to become a writer. I was packing up to go home for Christmas. I lived with my cousins in Canada. I wandered up to my desk and ran my hands over the faded pictures. They were sketches of my lost friends, as I liked to call them. My fingers rested on first Irene's then Alex's pictures, smiling a bitter sweet smile. I had spent most of those ten years trying to find them. I never did. It was as if they had just disappeared, taking the shards of my broken heart with them. And I wondered, what was the point of it all? Damien had said that it would make us feel better about our lives now that we weren't being chased by the monsters. In reality, it had just crushed me. My fingertips rested lightly on the sketch of the monsters, their mouths blood filled and dripping with saliva. I shook my head and looked at the other pictures. I traced Rachel's smile. I laughed at Will's goofy grin. I smiled at Nadia's soft face. I still missed them, but I had slowly healed. I had a loving family. I had a boyfriend of five years. I had a sneaking suspicion he would propose on Christmas Day and I knew for certain that I would say yes. I had a career as an author ahead of me. I had everything to live for. I stood up and swung my bag over my shoulder, leaving my dorm room, switching the lights off and closing the door quietly behind me. The beasts stared eerily into the dark, alone and forgotten.

***

There. That was my story. Like I said at the beginning, it really happened. It's your choice of you want to believe me or not. I wasn't the perfect character. I wasn't sassy or funny. I wasn't strong. I was the quiet observer. The silent thinker. It wasn't my romance. I guess I had a happily ever after, but it was tinged with confusion and sadness. It was open ended, the conclusion never discovered. What was the reason of the lost island? What was the reason for my sadness? Maybe...maybe I had been living in a book all the time, but the story never quite ended. You, my dear reader, have to finish the tale. Don't leave me hanging. If not in my mind, but in yours, I can achieve true happiness. What's my happily ever after?

The End.