The Island Journal

Journal entry 1:

Hello, if you are reading this today is day three of being lost at sea. I decided to start writing in this journal because honestly even though it has only been three days of not knowing where we are I have already begun to lose hope and I fear that we might not be found. So even if we can't be found hopefully at least this journal can be and our last moments can be recorded.

I guess a little background is in order. My name is Kain McClaren, I am a senior in Cambridge along with my two roommates and best friends George Froglen and Fred Stoben. The three of us decided to go on a quick sailing trip up to the tip of Maine and back. It was only supposed to take a couple of days to reach Grand Manan Island where we would circle around and have the option to stop in port to get supplies if needed. But we never made it there, we believe that we reached the gulf of Maine and should have been able to see Grand Manan Island but suddenly out of no where a storm swelled up and knocked us off course. One of those huge whirlpools that you only see in movies suddenly appeared before us. We attempted to sail around it but the current was too strong and it pulled us in and pulled us all under water. When we woke up George was floating about 20 feet away from the boat on our large plastic cooler that was filled with beer before the storm but now lost in the sea. All of our supplies were lost during that storm. I can't even be sure for how long we were all out. I woke up to George shouting for help and I grabbed the life preserver that was still fastened to the railing and dove into the water to help George who was hanging onto that cooler with all is might. You see George can't swim and the only way we were able to get him to come on this trip was that we promised it would be short and he would not have to get in the water. The mast had snapped and had drifted away from the ship. After I got George back onto the boat I found Fred tangled in the ropes with wound on the side of his head. I patched Fred up the best I could but there is not much I can do for him here, he needs to go to the hospital and I believe he has a concussion so I will keep an eye on him for a while and keep him awake. I some how only sustained a few scrapes and bruises from being tossed around during the storm but I woke up right next to the boat's wheel. Since we woke up there has been no wind, no waves, I haven't even seen a fish swimming in the water. The sun is shining bright during the day with nothing in sight, no land, nothing, and we should have been close to Grand Manan Island or even West Port of Novascotia. At night there are no stars, only the moon in the deep, dark sky that blends in with the sea. The moonlight glistens off the water and if we weren't so confused and afraid this would be a beautiful and peaceful place. That's it for tonight , hopefully we can find some recognizable land mark in the morning. Tomorrow will have been day four since we woke up after the storm and have just been drifting aimlessly in the sea.

Journal Entry 2:

It has been a few days since I last written anything here in the journal but something amazing happened today so I felt I should make a note of it. The past few days we didn't move or do anything more then necessary because we are conserving our energy since we do not have any food or water. But today off in the distance we saw some fog surrounding what looked like land and as we drifted a little closer we were certain that it was land. We don't appear to be getting any closer to the land mass and if anything the boat appears to be drifting away from it. We made a tough decision tonight that we will swim to the island and Fred and I will pull George in the life preserver. It was very hard to convince George to go along with this plan but we all feel that it is best if we stick together and not split up. So tomorrow morning at first light we will start swimming towards the land mass. We are not sure how long this will take or if we will even make it there but I will be giving George the journal to hold onto while we swim.

Journal Entry 3:

Hello again, we survived the swim to the land mass. It took a lot longer than we thought it was going to. At one point we almost didn't make it but we pushed through and made it. It turns out that the land mass is some sort of island but I don't think it is Grand Manan Island and I did not know there was any other islands in the area so I do not know where we are. A thick fog surrounds the island about thirty feet out from the beach. We had to swim through the fog during the night and we could not see anything while we were swimming. We didn't think we were going to make it through the fog and I think the only reason we made it is because we caught in the waves in the middle of the fog area that dragged us, tossing and throwing us all the way to the beach. We arrived late last night, crawling out of the water and just crashing on the beach. George and Fred are still sleeping right now. When they wake up we are going to explore the island and try to find some food and water. Looks like George and Fred are waking up now so I will try to write again later and share what we find on the island.

Journal Entry 4:

It is night now, George and Fred have fallen asleep around the fire that we built on the beach. We wondered around the island for a majority of the day. We found some fruit growing on some trees in the forest and even a river to drink from. We carved in the sand SOS and HELP so hopefully someone will see it from the sky and can rescue us but I fear that the fog will block the view of our rescuers. We were able to explore most of the island and it is very small. There is a beach all around the island with a forest at the center. We found a series of caves near the very center of the island that we did not enter and actually really creeped us out as we stood at the different entrances looking in. No inhabitants have been found anywhere on the island yet. We haven't found any animals yet either and are going to explore the forest again tomorrow and maybe one of the caves and see what we can find and if it is a more suitable place for shelter than out in the open on the beach especially if there is a storm. I'm going to try and get some sleep before we do another day of exploring tomorrow. Hopefully out families are doing okay and not worrying about us too much. We are trying our best to return home to you all, hopefully you are able to find and read this journal that I have been using to keep an account of our last moments.

Journal Entry 5:

I wasn't going to write tonight but I decided that I must, you all need to know about the discovery we made on this island. This is going to be a longer entry than my others. George is not handling it well and I think he is starting to have a nervous breakdown of some kind but that is understandable because what we found is hard to comprehend. I don't understand it myself and I haven't really had a chance to think about it because Fred and I have been trying to keep George from hurting himself in his many failed escapes off the island. We went to the center cave and explored it and while we were trying to climb down one of the cliffs the vine that Fred was using snapped and he fell the rest of the way down. We were about three quarters of the way down and Fred must have fallen around fifteen to twenty feet and landed awkwardly in the dark and hurt his ankle. George and I got down the rest of the way as fast as we could and found Fred lying at the bottom clutching his ankle. George and I dragged Fred over to the wall so he could rest while we splinted his ankle with the vine we had and some sticks that we found. George and I then went on exploring the cave while Fred rested and what we found was insane and I still don't understand it, I am not sure that I ever will and it really freaked George out. About fifty or sixty feet into the cave we found a pile of burnt out torches that showed evidence that someone else had been there before. George and I looked around and we found piles of skeletons and decaying bodies on the other side of a small cliff about five feet down. George climbed down and was looking at the bodies and skeletons while I went over by the wall to check something out because something had caught my eye. What I found was a skeleton with his arms wrapped around a journal that looked identical to mine except that it was much older. It was hard to tell how old the journal or the skeletal remains were. George started yelling like I have never heard him before and he hasn't been the same since. I took the old journal and went over to George to see what he was yelling about and I found out what had him so freaked out. Lying in front of George amongst all the old skeletons and decaying bodies in different stages were three bodies that looked like they could have died just yesterday and I knew exactly who they were, I knew exactly who all of them were at that moment. It was us. I don't know how to explain it but it was us, all of the bodies and skeletons were Fred, George, and I dead. George took off running screaming the whole way back to where we had left Fred. I stayed a little longer to examine the bodies and skeletons a little bit and found that all of them appeared to have died in different ways and at different times. I quickly followed George and when I reached Fred George was already climbing up the side of the cliff on his way out. I called after George but he didn't listen and just left us there. I helped Fred climb up and back to our camp on the beach. George was not at the camp and when I finally found him he was by coconut tree digging at the ground with his bare hands. His fingers were bleeding as he dug at the ground and when I tried to stop him he just screamed at me and ran back to where he was digging. I had to drag him back to the beach and he curled up into the fetal position rocking back and forth as he cried. I went back to where George was digging and used a rock to dig deeper. I found a necklace that George has worn ever since he had joined the fraternity with Fred and I. I went back to camp and started going through the old journal and the more I read it the more everything made sense but at the same time the more I became confused and almost to my breaking point. From what I can tell the journal was written by me, but not me me but another me, another version of myself, either from a past life or some kind of other dimension. In the journal it explained why George was so freaked out and having a nervous break down. In the journal it said that the same thing happened to all of the other Georges. The journal said that I even killed him a few times because he became so unhinged and attacked Fred and I. In the journal they tried everything to get off the island and they felt that the key to escaping was the cave but I think it is actually the anchor that holds all the different dimensions there on the island. George is starting to move around again I have to go but I think I have an idea on how to get off the island but I don't know if I will be able to bring Fred and George with me. I will have to come back for them after I get help.

Journal Entry 6:

This might be the last entry for a while, maybe ever I am not really sure but if this works you'll know because I'll make another entry but if not...well I guess that will mean that I am dead and I did not make it. We had to chase George again and Fred's ankle is doing better. George ran back tot he cave and tried to jump off the cliff to where all of the dead other versions of us were. Fred and I agreed that it was for the best to tie George up for the remainder of our time on the island so that he doesn't hurt himself or either of them. In the other journal all of the other versions of us tried to escape through the cave but I think the only way off the island is the same way we arrived, by swimming through the big waves and the thick fog and that is exactly what I am about to do tomorrow morning. When I leave I am going to leave the journal behind under the coconut tree where I found George's necklace. I can't take it with me while I swim. Hopefully someone will find it and know our story but at the same time I hope that no one else will ever get stranded on this island. Goodbye and thank you for reading.

Journal Entry 7:

This is going to be very strange, even stranger than the other entry that I made about the other dimensions. The weirdest thing happened. Well first off I survived, I don't know how or how I ended up where I did but I made it and so did George and Fred too. I swam all day and night that day trying to get through the fog. I didn't think I made it because the last thing that I remember was swimming for all I had in the fog and not being able to see anything then as I grew too tired to swim anymore I began to sink and I thought I was going to drown and that was the last thing I remember as everything faded to black. Then the next thing I know I woke up in the hospital and my journal was on my night stand next to my bed. The nurse said that they found Fred, George, and I in out boat floating off of Grand Manan Island and I was clutching onto the journal and I would not let it go. The nurse said that when they found us our boat had been destroyed and was barely staying a float with the mast broken and dragging in the water and got caught on some rocks. After a couple of weeks I was able to be released. George and Fred were not so lucky though and they needed to stay in the hospital a lot longer than I did. Sadly George was not as lucky and was admitted to the hospital and not the nice kind of hospital either, it is the kind with all the padded walls with all the big scary guys in white that hold you down as they give you shots to put you to sleep. According to George's parent's he hasn't been the same since we have been back. Fred is not any better off, he is not going to be able to ever walk again without crutches. Turns out that during the wreck the mast must have fallen on Fred and crushed both his ankles beyond healing. Also there is something different about me as well since I have been back. It is like I don't have any emotions or don't have any empathy. According to everyone I talked to they all know nothing about the island and told me that I must have been hallucinating or seeing a mirage. I talked to Fred and he said that he did not remember anything about the island all he remembers is the storm and the mast crashing down into the water. I tried to talk to George but I could not understand what he was saying and it was like he was speaking gibberish. I read through the journal and it has everything that I wrote in it while I was on the island. I am so confused as to why I am the only one that remembers the island and why I have my journal that I left back on the island. When I was leaving the hospital I ran into an old man who said that he knew where I had been and asked me to meet him at his bar called the Old Mystic. later tonight.

I am outside the Old Mystic now, I am going to head inside and have a few drinks, and then meet with the old man after it closes. Tomorrow I will write an entry explaining what I find out about the island from the old man. I think he has a lot to say, that will clear up a lot of this confusion or at least help me make a little sense out of all of it.

Journal Entry 8:

This will be the last entry. This is not longer Kain writing, this is the old man who he met at the bar. Kain asked me to write this for him while he was away because h couldn't handle what I told him.

I was behind the bar serving drinks when Kain arrived. I asked him to wait until after everyone left and he agreed. I served him a couple of that he sipped on throughout the night. After midnight the last customer finally left and I cleaned up the bar and motioned for Kain to grab a booth in the back and I'd meet him there. I locked the door and turned off the open sign officially closing The Old Mystic for the night. I walked over and sat down across from Kain in the booth. I told him that I had gone out fishing with some friends and then there was a storm. The next thing we knew we were on that island and we were there for three years but when I woke up in my boat missing my arm. My friends never made it off of the island, only I survived and I have to live with that for the rest of my life. I told Kain that no body ever leaves the island without losing something, it is like the island keeps a part of you after you leave. I told Kain that I searched the whole island and even spent some time in the caves but I never saw anyone else. I told Kain that I did not know anything about any other versions of myself or my friends or other dimensions while I was there. I told Kain that I knew what he and his friends had lost when they escaped the island. George lost his sanity and Fred lost his ability to walk without assistance. I told Kain that he lost more than just his emotions or empathy, he actually lost his soul and that is why the island let him keep the journal. I explained to Kain that the other dimensions and other versions of themselves was just a way for his brain to cope with what he was actually doing while on the island and that is why he lost his soul. I told Kain that he was torturing Fred by breaking his ankles over and over again that is why he will never walk again. I told Kain that George went insane because Kain made him watch as he tortured Fred. Kain wanted to know how I knew about that and I told him it is because the same thing happened to him and his friends while they were on the island. I told Kain that is how I lost my arm. My friend was torturing my friend and I and he cut off my arm. I had to kill them both in order to escape so my arm was a small price to pay in order to get off the island. Kain took a big long drink from his mug of beer and then was about to leave when I stopped him and told him that he is not going anywhere. Kain had asked how I had known so much about what went on when he was on the island because it sounded to accurate to be just a guess and I finally told him the truth with big smile on my face. I stood up holding my knife in my hand. I said that I never intended to let him leave alive so I guess I could tell you the truth. I told Kain that he really did hurt his friends and was killing them and other versions of them and himself and dumping the bodies in the cove and that is how George went insane and Fred broke his ankles. I told Kain that he lost his soul the moment committed his first act of murder only to be followed by more murder and torture. I told Kain that I know because I am him, I am Kain from another dimension, another version of himself, a much older and crueler version of himself and he will never become the only one because that is always the truest desire of us all to be the greatest and only version of our true self and he was never going to reach it because he still had to go through me and I am the one that will become the last and only Kain, the greatest Kain there has ever been in every dimension and every universe. I then quickly and precisely cut Kain's throat spraying his blood everywhere as my knife sliced through his jugular. With the killing of that Kain by my calculations I only have roughly 2,567 more to go but who knows how many of us there really are. As I stood over Kain's body laughing in victory my arm slowly and painfully grew back and when I looked in the mirror over the bar I looked almost ten years younger. I feel so much better now, I didn't think that I would ever be able to go back and finish what I started after I lost my arm. That Kain was never supposed to get off the island but he decided to do something different then wonder the caves like the rest of them do and he tried to swim out to his boat just like I did all those years ago. That island is like the fountain of youth but immortality always comes at a cost and that is the cost of one's own self and that is what I give to the island as a sacrifice and will continue to give to the island until I am satisfied that I am the one and only Kain remaining. I am leaving now and this will be the last entry ever made in this journal. Let this journal serve as a warning for all to not venture out to sea and get swallowed up by the fog after a big storm. For if you find yourself unlucky enough to have landed on the island in the fog I will be waiting there for you. As you will have entered my eternal hunting ground known as the Island of Death.