The Island

Adam sighed deeply as he leaned over the balcony railing to stare at the setting sun over the ocean while he reflected upon the day. It had been ten years since he came to live on the island of Hollowhaven to be with his wife Iris, living here has been a sort of dream for Adam. After finishing medical school, Adam tried working in a few hospitals but the rules imposed were too strict for his tastes. Adam wanted to have the ability to relate to his patients, not just set their broken bones. Adam scrimped and saved to open his clinic, Iris contributed to the funds as much as possible too.

Adam met Iris at a party a mutual friend was having twelve years ago and they hit it off immediately. They started dating a few months later after they ran into each other more at random places like the grocery store. They were married a couple of years later while Adam was still an intern and have shared many laughs and tears since. The couple bought a small villa and the neighboring clinic on Hallowhaven in the small town of Fratmal last year and have bonded with the islanders well.

Adam had stumbled home from the clinic late this evening. It had been a rough day, full of strange events. The trouble began right when the clinic opened. First was Mrs. Whittaker, who came in for her appointment and calmly explained how her husband was a demon and needed to die. Adam discreetly notified the police who detained the widow, but Adam was a little unnerved. Mr. Gossler was a wreck during his exam, jumping at his shadow and murmuring to himself. Every patient he had seemed agitated, dissociated, disturbed, or violent in the case of Mr. Golrem. Taking one last deep breath, Adam recomposed himself and went inside to join Iris for dinner. As the couple ate their meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and asparagus and sipped their red wine, they shared stories from the day. Adam related the oddness of his day while keeping the names to himself.

“I must say, it was a strange and difficult day,” Adam said as he took another sip.

“The market was a bit of a zoo too, I saw Ms. Pettile and Miss Caroline fighting over a melon,” Iris recalled. “Maybe it has something to do with the full moon.”

“I have no idea, but it looked like it was going to storm when I was on the terrace earlier. I am going to bed. Are you going to join me?” Adam inquired.

With a sly smile, Iris rose and followed her husband to bed. The couple fell into a deep slumber until a soft voice rang out in Adam's dreams, rousing him from sleep. A sharp crack of thunder and the patter of rain against the window was all he heard until he noticed a shadow in the shape of a little girl with a ponytail creeping along the bedroom wall.

“Adam! A-a-dam! Beware, Adam!” The voice called out in a twinkling whisper. “They are coming for you!”

The shadow retraced its path back out of the bedroom as Adam carefully got out of bed so he wouldn't wake his sleeping wife and quickly found a baseball bat in the hall closet. Standing guard by the front door, Adam waited in the dark for what seemed like an eternity when the door swung open. Two snarling men crossed the threshold, sniffing the air. Adam quickly clocked the first one, causing the unknown assailant to drop to the floor and an object he was holding to clank against the floor in the darkness. The second one snarled in an animalistic fashion as he lunged forward to attack. Adam was able to dodge at the last moment but it caused him to be off-balance and he fell to the floor hard. Looking up in terror, Adam saw he had no chance of escaping his assailant and only had one solution to fall back on. The snarling man jumped and landed on Adam's feet as Adam had planned as the doctor launched the sick man through the terrace glass and sent him screaming over the edge to the cliffs below.

“What is going on? What's happening?” Iris stumbled from the bedroom, cinching her bathrobe closed as she came. Flipping on a light, she gasped in horror. “What is Bob doing here?!” Iris looked to her husband for answers as he climbed to his feet.

“I was awoken by a Moonlight Shadow, a messenger of death and misfortune. It warned me that someone was coming for me, but I didn't want to disturb you if I was wrong,” Adam sank into an armchair as he continued. “Bob came in first and I hit him with a bat. His friend attacked me, we got into a physical scuffle and he went over the balcony. I don't know what is going on, but I think Bob might be able to fill in some details.”

Adam went to the closet and produced a length of rope long enough to secure Bob's feet and hands to a chair. Once satisfied, Adam went to his bag and retrieved a small pouch of smelling salts. On his way back to where Bob was tied up, he spotted a bit of metal sticking out from under the couch. After retrieving it, he promptly waved the smelling salts under Bob's nose. The man stirred, disgust written on his face as he regained consciousness. “What's goin' on, then? Why am I tied to this chair?” Bob strained against the ropes and rocked the chair.

“You know why, Bob,” Adam growled. “I want to know why you broke into my house and who your friend was. Also, what is the deal with this horseshoe?” Adam tossed the U-shaped metal at Bob's feet.

Bob stopped struggling and stared at Adam. “What do ya mean, who my friend 'was'? What did you do to Frank?” The fear was growing in Bob's voice, he seemed suddenly concerned with his fate.

“Frank went over the balcony after he tried he kill me,” Adam sneered coldly. “Now answer me, dammit! What was your purpose here tonight?”

Bob fell silent, his face void of all emotion as he stared at the horseshoe. After a moment, he raised his head, a haunted look in his eyes. “The horseshoe is my lucky item, obviously didn't work as advertised. Why don't you ask your wife why we came?”

Adam looked at Bob in shock and turned to look at Iris in time to see her smash a vase against his head with a scream of rage. Stunned, Adam dodged and blocked the flurry of attacks that followed as best as he could and somehow managed to restrain her from behind. Spotting a roll of duct tape sitting on an end table, Adam grabbed it and quickly bound Iris' hands behind her back before pushing her to sit on the couch.

“Now, one of you had better start telling me what is going on here,” Adam huffed.

Iris glared at Adam and Bob, “Why the hell did you shift the attention to me Bob? I could have had him!” she snarled.

“What's it matter? Frank is dead!” Bob sobbed, the tears running down his face.

“ENOUGH!” Adam bellowed. “Tell me what is going on NOW!”

Iris turned to Adam, a strange smile on her face. “You were supposed to be part of our meal this evening. I carefully tended to you all this time,” her face distorted into rage and disgust as she spat “then you had to go and RUIN IT by waking up. The great Harvest only takes place once every ten years and you ruined it!”

Adam shook his head in disbelief. “Alright then, time to go.” Flipping Iris over his shoulder, he paused to stare at Bob. “You can stay here, I'm sure someone will be along eventually.” Adam went straight to his dark blue truck, put Iris in the passenger seat, and then climbed in behind the wheel.

“Where are we going, a nice cabin in the woods?” Iris snarked. “Or maybe a vacation to the far-off mountains on the mainland?

“We're going to Triblo, the hospital there has an MRI machine I can use to find out what is wrong with you.”

Iris smirked as she looked out the window. “Look dear, the neighbors are enjoying themselves. Are you sure you won't just surrender yourself to be part of the Harvest?”

“I'm not going to justify that with an answer,” Adam replied as they drove past four people tearing into someone who had tried to run. “What the hell is this 'Harvest' thing anyway?”

“The Harvest keeps us human. Legend tells us that our ancestors made a pact with some long-forgotten god, every ten years we must harvest people outside of our bloodlines and eat them. Refusing to do so turns our brains to mush and we become little more than animals, looking only to fill the void with flesh. Ten years to continue our bloodlines and to train the little ones to continue the Harvest. Ten years to gain the trust of our prey. We learned from the mistakes the Donnor Party made and learned to improve our trapping skills over time. I do not know if the origins are true, but the brain to mush thing is true. You saw Frank, did he seem to know what was happening? He opted out of the last hunt, he was fine for a week and then became more and more agitated. We had to lock him up and feed him scraps. This Harvest was hopefully going to redeem him,” Iris rolled her head to stare at Adam with venomous hatred. “You just had to mess it all up!”

“You're sicker than I thought. All of you, but we are almost there.” Adam turned into the parking lot of the hospital and quickly found a parking stall. Adam went inside the doors to grab a wheelchair and put Iris in the chair, pushing her inside to find a nurse. The waiting room was a zoo, people screaming and yelling like they were disgruntled inmates of a psychiatric hospital of the eighteen hundreds. Adam rushed forth to help an orderly calm a patient down and didn't notice Iris standing up. She rushed forward and sank her teeth into Adam's shoulder. He managed to twist around enough to push her away.

“It would have been easier if you had just stayed asleep,” Iris shrugged as Adam was tackled and buried under a mound of writhing bodies trying to get a taste of his flesh. Iris removed the tape from her wrists using a torn soda can and went to find a bite of someone to eat. She would need her strength and wits to set out into the world again to find another poor soul to toy with before they became dinner.