The monster in me

May 2024

Before he opened his eyes, he felt a terrible headache. It was so intense that it was almost throbbing. He massaged his forehead and opened his eyelids, feeling as if he were still in a dream, or maybe more like a nightmare?

He didn't know this place. Furthermore, he didn't know where he was.

He felt sick as he sat up. He carefully looked around the interior of the room he was in. On the walls were patterned wallpapers that were fashionable centuries ago, in the corner of the room, right on a wooden chest of drawers, stood a small TV — the same one Manson had seen in movies from the nineties. Everything in this place was old-fashioned, as if he had gone back in time...

Despite the terrible headache, he got out of bed and looked at himself in the mirror. His dark hair was a mess, he was wearing a white shirt that was dirty in every place and black fabric pants with silver chains on the side.

The last memory was a party he had organized. All his friends were there, as well as people he had studied with. What happened next?

He walked up to the door and pressed the handle, looking out uncertainly. The corridor looked like an old hotel: narrow, the walls painted green, and the floor was decorated with an outdated carpet.

With each passing moment, Mason was more and more terrified. He didn't know how he had ended up here. Was there anyone else here? Was the party so crazy that they had all ended up in this strange place?

He tugged on the handles of other doors, but they were locked. So how had he woken up in that room?

Were they kidnapped? Were they in danger?

A loud bang made Mason put his hand to his chest and look back, noticing a light bulb flickering at the end of the corridor. This made him even more worried, especially when he saw the outline of a figure there.

- Who are you? - he asked in a trembling voice.

He felt like something was wrong, especially when he didn't get any answer and someone was still moving around in that place. He quickly ran away, heading down the stairs.

Panic took hold of his body as he began to realize that he didn't really know where he was or what had happened last night during the party...

Breathing heavily, he looked around as he ran down to the first floor. His attention was drawn to the reception, which was out of order. He walked over there and frowned when he realized that the broken computers looked like those from the nineties. Everything was old-fashioned, and this place looked abandoned...

He froze with fear when a door slammed close to him. He looked in that direction with wide eyes, feeling his hands shaking.

There was definitely something wrong with this place...

He ran out of the hotel through the main exit, but when he got outside, his legs felt like jelly. The building was located on a hill that was surrounded by a dense forest. There was only one path straight ahead that led to the beach.

Panicked, Mason looked first to the left side, then to the right and realized that he could see the ocean all around him.

Was he somewhere on an abandoned island?

He couldn't remember anything, as if someone had erased his memory with an eraser. Could anything much worse happen to a person than waking up on an abandoned island, not knowing how they got there?

He tried to stay strong, but tears welled up in his eyes as he began to run down the path, following the forest. Breathing heavily, he didn't look around at the time, because it seemed to him that he was being watched. He looked ahead, wanting to get to the beach as quickly as possible.

He had the impression that darkness was enveloping the island when he managed to run out of the forest and helplessly fall onto the sand.

- Mason! - Hearing a familiar voice, he looked to the side and saw Betty running towards him. The redhead held Noah's hand, and then a weight lifted from his heart.

His younger brother was safe. Nothing happened to him...

- What are we doing here? What is this place? - asked the blond boy, looking at Mason with a frightened look. - We don't remember anything, we don't know how we got here.

- Something's wrong. My last memory is a party at your place... how did we get here, Mason? - The redhead girl combed her hair back, looking at the brunette with concern in her eyes. - Did someone play a trick on us?

- The question is, is there no one else on this island besides us?

Betty walked away a bit further, looking around. Mason put his hand on his brother's shoulder, looking at him with a caring look.

- Are you okay, Noah?

- Yes, although I'm scared. I don't understand what's going on here.

- Me too.

The girl called out, wanting to check if there were any other people nearby. Imagine their surprise when they heard a scream in response. The three of them ran closer to the ocean, spotting three people lying by the water. Jennifer was pale as a corpse, as was Jake, Will was holding on a little better.

- What the fuck is going on here?

- Where are we? - the boy asked, rubbing his forehead.

Jennifer hugged Jake's arm, who was closest to her, trembling. She looked petrified.

- Are we on some deserted island?

- I don't see any yacht, so how did we end up here? - Jake watched the rest of his friends carefully, searching for help with the question that was troubling him.

Noah rubbed his forehead, looking worried.

- The strange thing is that none of us remember what happened last night...

- Do you think someone played a prank on us? - Betty asked.

- It doesn't look like a prank. We have no way to get home - Will answered her. - It looks more like someone is planning to kill us here.

- Your sense of humor sucks. - Mason snorted under his breath. - If you become a journalist, you'll be taken discontinued faster than you'll appear on it.

Noah would have laughed at his brother's words if they weren't currently in a critical situation.

Each of them checked their phones, but it was to be expected that no one would have a signal to call and ask for help.

- It's all because of these fucking drugs and alcohol - Betty muttered under her breath as she helplessly fell onto the sand. - Do you think if they start looking for us, they'll find this place? I don't want to die here. I've become a popular influencer, people love me.

- You talk like you're still high - Mason started to be sarcastic after he found himself in a larger group. He felt safer that he wasn't alone here.

- Let's think about how we could have ended up here..

- You have the most enemies, dude, and since we're friends with you, it's normal that people don't like us either. Someone clearly wants to get rid of us - Jake stated, glaring at Mason.

- You three have the most enemies, since you've been creating a student gossip page all through college - his friend attacked him, pointing his finger at him, Will, and Jennifer.

- We all have something behind our ears. People hate us - Will announced. - Betty is a crazy influencer, focused on her ass. Girls only pretend to like her to get ahead.

The girl snorted under her breath, looking at the red hybrid on her nails, which was destroyed.

- Only my brother is innocent - Mason stated, smiling under his breath. - Everyone else has monsters inside them.

- I have a monster inside me too. I'm no different from you - the blond boy replied. - I'm here with you for a reason.

Each of them looked at each other, trying to understand and remember what had happened. For now, they didn't think about the fact that the situation could force them to live in this place and wait for rescue.

The worst thing, however, was that this place was not ordinary. Strange things were happening here, and this hotel and island were not abandoned because the owner went bankrupt. There was an entirely different truth hidden here, a dark and terrifying... blood-curdling story, and now these young people had to experience it firsthand...

One thing was certain: they were all in danger.

***

September 2023

Being popular in high school or college was what many young people dreamed of. Mason and Noah had it easy from childhood, because the brothers came from one of the wealthiest families in the United States, were handsome and charismatic. They didn't have to do much to make themselves famous. All they had to do was show up at a given facility. They always surrounded themselves with people similar to themselves. Mason couldn't imagine being friends with an ordinary guy. His group had to belong to the elite. Noah, on the other hand, was different in this respect. He didn't care who the person was, what mattered to him was the soul, but he adjusted to his brother, who always had the most power, so he stuck with the people he chose.

However, everything changed when their group decided to start a drama club. They wanted to direct a film that told the true story, acquired by Jake and Will — student journalists. It was supposed to be a surprise for people who had the nerve to mess with them.

They only had two actors — Noah and Jennifer, and they needed one more guy, so one day they organized an audition. Only one of them was good, but Mason didn't like him because he came from a poor family and, according to him, he had no presence.

- Let's give him a chance. He just has to appear as an actor. No one is asking you to be friends with us. - Noah looked at his brother, when the whole group sat in an empty room, which they obtained with the consent of the rector.

- He's handsome, he looks perfect on screen. - Jennifer declared, smiling under her breath. - Plus, he's a born actor. Let's give him a chance.

- What? You already have a crush on him - Jake attacked her, not realizing that he looked like a jealous guy at that moment, even though they were nothing more than friends.

- And you're interested in that because..

- He's into you, but he won't admit it. - Will replied dispassionately.

- Speak for yourself if you're flying at her. - Jake muttered, looking somewhere to the side.

Noah watched them with a smile on his lips. He didn't understand why they were both ashamed of it. They had had chemistry for a long time, and visually they matched each other perfectly.

- Flying? What kind of term is that? - Betty asked, snorting under her breath.

- Just as hopeless as the term "flying" - Jake answered her.

- Noah? - The blond looked at Betty with a raised eyebrow. - Flying at you - she added, acting charming.

He gave her a friendly but awkward smile and looked to the side, where his brother was sitting. He liked Betty as a friend, but nothing more. However, the girl couldn't understand it and for a long time, she had tried everything to win him over. She was stubborn and wasn't going to let it go, especially since the word "failure" wasn't in her vocabulary.

However, he was nice enough not to be able to tell her that directly, and that's how he had been struggling with her persistent seduction for a very long time.

- Alright, let's give this Daniel guy a chance. Let him prove himself - Mason said, closing his laptop. Everyone looked surprised that he had finally given in.

- I'm proud of you, bro - Noah said, walking up to him. He stood behind him and put his hands on his shoulders, looking happy. - Now that everything's ready, we can contact him and start recording tomorrow.

- Relax, man - Will said. - You forgot, unless Nancy has to finish the script. She's not even here, so we don't know what stage she's at.

- I just want this to go smoothly. We have to show this movie for Halloween.

- And make everyone happy. I want to see those miserable faces already. The main characters on whom this story is based. And at the end, that beautiful inscription... based on true events. People will be excited. - Mason announced, closing his eyes and smiling maliciously.

- Brother, if you keep being such a mean scoundrel, someone will eventually get their revenge on you - Noah said, tugging on his shoulders. The brunette threw his head back and when he opened his eyes, he stared at his brother.

- No one would dare to do that... ever.