Author's Note: So this is a short story I wrote for my English class, and I was hoping that at least someone would enjoy reading it. Hope you enjoy it!
- Kinsey
Seven friends received the navy blue envelope in the mail. Each one was identical, except for the elegant block lettering on the front indicating the intended recipient. Once opened, the card read:
“You are cordially invited to the 30th birthday of William Benji,
held on the 30th of October at 8:00 PM
on the deck of The Transitioner.
Please RSVP by next week if you wish to join William
in the celebration of his birth.”
The first person on the boat was Alex Benjamin, accompanied by his wife, Katelyn Brown. She had decided to not take his name because she was better known as Katelyn Brown, the famous astrologist. They were a prime couple as they both worked for NASA, her being an astrologist and him a scientist. They were greeted with the sight of a typical party, complete with balloons, streamers, and a nice swan ice sculpture sitting on top of the words “Happy 30th Birthday William”. Then the captain came out.
“Can I see your invitations please?” The captain said. Alex handed him his, explaining that Katelyn was his plus one. “You are the first ones to arrive, so please, make yourselves comfortable.” They sat down in two of the white chairs and began to wait.
“Where is William? Shouldn’t he be here greeting his guests?” Katelyn whispered to her husband.
“William will join us shortly. We have to pick him up on an island not far from here.” The captain had appeared behind Katelyn, speaking abruptly making her jump.
“Okay, thank you.” Katelyn patted her hand on Alex’s arm, as if to say ‘This guy is a little creepy’.
As the other guests started arriving, Alex started recognizing some familiar faces from his high school days. Among the arriving was the then-comedic genius, Mark Dress, and his sister Jenna, who Alex used to have a crush on but would never admit it. His entire clique from high school was there: Hailey Williams, Tanner Smith, Chuck Bolder, and Juliette Stratis. They all shared hugs and memories as they waited for the captain to begin their journey.
“Where’s William?” Juliette asked.
“We have to go pick him up off of an island, apparently.” Katelyn, with her naturally sweet personality, had easily won over Alex’s old friends.
“He’s probably having fun with the island ladies!” Mark, being the stereotypical comical guy, had changed the least since high school.
“Having fun? I hope so. Since everyone has arrived, let’s get going!” The captain smiled, showing all of his teeth.
The captain turned to return to the engine room and when he was out of earshot Jenna asked, “Does anyone else think that guy is kind of creepy?”
“Yes! I know exactly what you mean!” Katelyn said. They smiled at each other in recognition of their mutual understanding.
The conversation ceased as a loud rumbling coming from the bottom of the boat began. Hailey stumbled back as the boat lurched forward, but luckily Tanner was there to catch her.
The rest of the trip was uneventful and silent, as no one could carry a conversation over the engine noise. They were too busy enjoying the scenery, anyways.
Ten minutes into the trip an island came into view. Mark smiled, as the island reminded him of his favorite movie, Jurassic Park, volcano and all.
The boat shut off as they reached the island.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen, if you need to use the facilities, the time is now. I shall be fetching our birthday boy and we will be on our way.” The intercom crackled as the captain’s voice floated out of it.
As society dictates, the people standing on board were embarrassed to show weakness in front of others, so no one moved at first.
“Alright, well, I have to go.” Hailey was always immune to societal rules, as Alex recalled. “Tanner, will you help me find the restroom?”
“Uh, sure.” Tanner was confused as to why she didn’t take a girl, but then remembered Hailey didn’t have many girlfriends in high school.
Hailey and Tanner weren’t gone more than 5 minutes when the group heard a wailing scream.
There was a sense of worried urgency as everyone rushed to the origin of the noise.
“WHAT’S GOING ON? WHERE ARE YOU TWO?” Alex yelled.
“DOWN HERE!” Tanner replied.
The group heard another scream and ran towards the noise. Alex threw open the kitchen door and held it for the others. What greeted them was a terrible sight indeed. Hailey and Tanner were both pale and shaking. Hailey pointed towards a large cooler next to the huge kitchen fridge.
“Move out of the way! FBI!” Mark was no longer joking around as he pushed gently through the crowd, a look of determination set on his face. Jenna followed her brother.
Inside the cooler Mark found human remains, charred and burned beyond recognition. “Okay, Hailey, I want you to tell me exactly HOW you found this.”
“There’s more.” Alex called out, crouching over an object in the nearest corner. Jenna walked over to join him.
“What the… what the HELL is this?” Jenna rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. On the floor was skin. No bones, no organs, just a pile of skin.
“The captain’s.” Alex muttered, turning the floppy neck portion over to reveal a flat version of the captain.
“I’ve seen something like this before.” Alex said, louder, turning around. “I know that this might sound crazy, but…”
“Crazier than THIS!” Jenna interrupted, pointing to the pile of skin. “Explain. Now. Because in all of my time as a medical examiner for the FBI, I haven’t seen something this sick done to someone. And I worked on the Jeffrey Dahmer case.”
“It’s not someone we’re worried about right now.” Alex said, clutching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “It’s something. This information has never been disclosed before, but they’re called skinwalkers. They survive by taking the skin of a person and burning the body beyond recognition so that no one suspects. Once they’re done, they do this-” Alex pointed to the skin, “to, in a way, shed the skin.”
“Wait, but, if the skinwalker needs the skin to survive, why is it on the floor?” Tanner asked.
“That’s what I’m so worried about. Because the skinwalker also eats the brain of the person they are posing as, they inherit the feelings and memories of that person. There is literally NO WAY of knowing whether or not someone is the skinwalker.”
Everyone promptly panicked.
“Wait, how do you know so much? Maybe you’re the skinwalker!” Mark yelled, pulling a revolver out of his jacket pocket.
“Because you were with me the whole time!” Alex yelled, throwing his hands up, part frustration but mostly not wanting to get shot. “If I was the skinwalker, when would I have had time to change? You saw me the whole time! Think, Mark!”
Mark paused for a second, and then slowly lowered the gun, holstering it on his belt. “You’re right, man, I'm sorry.” I just got carried away, you know?” He shook Alex’s hand, the male equivalent of a hug.
“Alright, now that we got that over with, we need to get off this boat.” Alex said.
“Why?” Hailey finally woke up from her state of shock. “Why would we get off if that thing could be out there?”
“Because first, we need to go find William, and I don’t want us splitting up.” Alex said, frustrated.
“And it’s a lot easier to kill us off in a boat with a lot of dark corners,” Mark said, nodding his head in agreement.
“Okay, now let’s get off this boat.” Alex turned and opened the door, stepping out into the bright sun.
They stepped off the boat one-by-one, and despite the circumstances they all thought the island was beautiful. With lush tropical forests to the north, beginning at the edge of a small town at the front of the pier and stopping halfway up the volcano, the island was just one green dot on the map.
“The volcano is dormant,” Alex whispered to his wife. “The trees would never be able to grow on it if it wasn’t.” Katelyn looked at him, a curious look on her face.
They found William at the church, a big white building at the center of town with a cross on top.
“William?” Jenna called, holding the cross necklace around her neck.
“Back here!” A man, bent over, suddenly stood up.
“WILL!” Jenna screamed, running towards him. Jenna was always closest to Will, as they both dreamed of being astronauts in high school. Of course, things turned out different when they got out, but the bond was still there.
“Hey! What’s going on? You guys look like you’ve seen a ghost!” Will chuckled, happy to see all of his old friends. Alex spent the next 5 minutes explaining the events of the last 30 minutes.
“Oh my god it’s back.” William sat down in the nearest bench.
“What? What are you talking about? Will?” Alex sat down next to him.
“Alex, why do you think that you know so much about the skinwalker?” William asked, removing his head from his hands to look at Alex with a worried expression. “Why do you think that, even though you remember being a scientist, you don’t really know anything other than facts on the skinwalker?”
“What? No, I'm a scientist. I’ve been working at NASA in the astrophysics department with my wife for about 8 years. You don’t understand, I –” Alex put his head in his hands.
“Alex, think. You really think that this is a government-issued gun?” Mark pulled out the shiny revolver. “And Jenna wasn’t even in middle school when Jeffrey Dahmer killed people. We’ve been watching over you. Since your first walk down your first street to your first house. You really need to tell your parents to change those curtains, by the way.”
“Okay, lets see if I believe you. Because you just said that half of my life is real, but you said that my days as a scientist weren’t. Explain.” Alex said wearily.
“Okay. Fine. You are the only person who has seen the skinwalker’s true form. You saw it when you were 3, and we’ve been with you ever since, so when the right time comes, you can kill it.” Mark said.
“And because I can see its true form, I can kill it? How?” Alex asked.
William sighed. “This is where it gets… complicated. Basically, you need to make sure that the skinwalker takes you while you are thinking of his true form. The skinwalker’s weakness is seeing his true form.”
“Wait, stop. So you mean, since when the skinwalker eats the brain it inherits the memories and I have the true form in my mind, you want it to eat my brain? No way. No way in HELL.”
“Well, let me make this simple for you.” Mark pulled out the gun again and aimed it at his head. “Either you die right now, or you die later and save countless lives. Or, how about this-” Mark slowly rotated the barrel to rest against Katelyn’s temple. “You die, and she doesn’t. She was the only one that wasn’t a fraud in your life and I'm about to kill her if you don’t sacrifice yourself for the greater good.”
“Okay, okay!” Alex slowly lowered his hands, shaking badly. “I’ll do it. Just please, let her go.”
“Okay, if that’s what you want.” Mark snapped his fingers, and the others grabbed Katelyn and dragged her out the door.
“NO ALEX! NO-” Katelyn’s screams were cut off by the door slamming behind her.
“So, am I the only one who can kill the skinwalker? The ONLY one?” Alex asked.
“Yes. You are. No one else.” Mark started to say something else, but was rudely interrupted by the blade entering his heart.
“What the… OMIGOD! Will? What the heck?” Alex backed away slowly.
“Nope. Not anymore!” Will said in a singsong voice. “Will is back on the boat, hanging out at the barbeque with our friend the captain.”
“Well, if you're the skinwalker, then why did you wait so long to kill Mark?” Alex asked. He was no longer afraid, shocked beyond belief, beyond therapy. Of course, deep down, Alex knew that therapy would no longer be available to him soon.
“I wanted to make sure that you were the only one before I killed you.” For such a dark sentence, the skinwalker was ironically jubilant while saying it. He pulled out a revolver. The last thought in Alex’s mind before the bullet touched his forehead was, what a surprisingly normal way for such an extraordinary creature to kill.