The writing prompt, titled one last wish, wanted you to write about a character that fulfills someone’s dying wish. I wanted to continue on with a story already featured. I again had to split this into two parts due to the length of the story. Come back next week for the rest of this story.
Edith had had a hard and lonely life. Claire was living with her for the last month caring for her aunt in her last days. Edith had gotten. Really sick fast. Every day for the last 50 years has revolved around taking care of her son. Claire had been helping for a few years to gather supplies for day trips to the privet island offshore. When Claire was younger the whole family used to go on small vacations there. Claire stopped going when she went to college but by then her cousin Michael had started living on the island full-time. Aunt Edith owned the island, and Michael was sick somehow that was better isolated.
This week Claire will be visiting Michael by herself. Edith was too weak, and Michael would need a restock on food. Michael and Edith had never spent more than a day together. There were plenty of spare rooms in the house, but Edith told Claire that Michael’s nights were too bad for anyone to be there. Claire really wanted to see Michael’s condition though. The days were completely normal, so she wasn’t sure how he was sick. She would be there at the end of the week and would talk to him about it.
That night Edith got worse. Her temperature spiked and she was in a lot of pain. It was clear to everyone that she would not last much longer. Claire was at Edith’s side when Edith woke up the next morning Edith’s words were weak but grateful. She thanked Claire for everything she had ever done. Edith had worked hard to care for Michael but without Claire’s help she may not have been able to keep her sanity. With every ounce of energy Edith had left she asked one last wish of Claire. Edith wanted Claire to save Michael from the nightmares that haunted him and got him off the island. Claire promised she would try. Then Edith closed her eyes and faded away.
Meanwhile on the island Michael is sitting on the beach near the old dock, his mother is due any day now and he wants to know how she has been feeling. He knew she was sick, but she still managed the short trip even last week. Though for the last month his cousin Claire had also been coming along. It had been so nice to see Claire again after all these years. She had almost made Michael forget why he was trapped here. But he always managed to remember in enough time to get her and his mother back on the boat out of here before the horrors of the island started.
Michael and his mother Edith had chosen to allow Michael to live out his days on island that Edith owned. Michael had had nightmares and anxiety attacks as a child but in his teens, everything had gotten so much worse. So, Michael stayed. And through the years he tried to figure out what caused his terror. Every day was spent walking the island, finding every nook and cranny that could be hiding a secret. Michael had never been successful. He felt like the more he looked the crazier he was becoming. But today at the dock he needed to be calm. He needed to hide the terror that plagued him last night, thoughts of his mother’s death. She would be here soon, and he didn’t want to alarm her.
However, when the boat docked it wasn’t his mother who disembarked. Claire was standing there in sturdy clothing wearing her mother’s pearls. Claire treasured these about all else and only wore them when she absolutely needed to be more aware of other feelings. That is what his aunt claimed anyway when she told them the story of how she had gotten them. Supposedly they came from a Geni after his aunt made three wishes for other people rather than herself. Whoever wore them would be more empathic to what others needed, she gave them to Claire when Claire had finished school. Claire would never have brought them with her without a good reason. Michael’s heart felt like it dropped in his stomach and stopped beathing.
Claire could see that Michael had jumped to the worst possible scenario already and she hadn’t made it off the dock yet. She hated that she had to be the one to tell him of Edith’s passing. But someone needed to do it and be there for him. The two cousins embraced, and Claire heartbreakingly broke the horrible news. They walked back to the house in silence. When they got back, they prepared and ate Edith’s favorite meal. After dinner Michael started to suggest Claire ready to depart soon, but Claire said they needed to have a deeper conversation.
Claire asked Michael about his illness. She said that she wanted to understand it so that she could help him now that his mother was gone.
Michale told her that nobody would be able to understand it because he didn’t understand it himself. He told her about the whispers that came every night. Explained that he couldn’t make out words, but they never got quiet. He told her about the fog that had developed a few years after he moved here. How dense and untouchable it was he told her of the red glow that developed about ten years ago. It looked like it came from the inside the island itself. The way he was trapped inside the house every night. Even when he tries to leave, he can’t. He wasn’t sure what was real anymore and what he might be making up. So, every day after the panic attack subsides, he wonders around trying to find a source, or an explanation, for what is happening. Yet he never finds anything and that just makes him question his own sanity more.
Claire sat silently through this explanation. She could tell that he hated what might be wrong with him and he was determined to prove he wasn’t crazy. Claire leaned forward and whispered, “I believe you.” Michael seemed to melt, like a wight had been lifted and he could relax. Claire wanted to stay so she could witness all of this herself too. Michael began to protest but Claire reminded him that no one would believe him since he had been isolated for so long. He needed her to stay. If his worst fear was true and he was crazy, then she would let him decide what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. Claire told him about Edith’s dying request to save him. So as reluctant as Michael was to subject anyone else to his nightly torture, he agreed to let her stay.
To be continued…
A Writer's Starting Line 
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