ISOLATED

Giselle opened her eyes slowly as she stretched out her limbs, immediately shivering at the feel of the cold tiled floor. The mat she was lying on could only go so far. Giselle looked around the room, her hope immediately crushed. Every day, she had to wake up and realize this was her reality, not a nightmare. The claw marks on the wall, the faint but pungent smell of ash and blood. It was all real.

She got up and walked over to the window. It reminded her of when she and Edith stood there, holding hands tightly as they silently watched their father burying Luke, their brother. Nobody shed a tear that day, but the sorrow was palpable. At that moment, the only thing holding her together was the warmth of her sister beside her. Now Edith was gone, they all were. There were far more comfortable rooms to use, but those were upstairs. Anywhere else in the house terrified her, especially the hallway. That was where Edith was ‘taken’ after all. The only person who had truly loved had disappeared to protect her. Now, occasionally, she could hear Edith’s low, terrified screams whenever she came close to the stairs.

Giselle left the window and walked towards the door. Slowly, she tiptoed into the living room. As usual, there was no sign of Ciaran. He stayed with her at night and then vanished in the morning. Before, he was only her ghost friend who appeared to play with her and Edith, but now, he was her guardian. The only person she could rely on to protect her from the monster haunting them. Suddenly, she heard a faint hissing sound that kept getting louder and louder. Loud thuds echoed on the floor, growing closer with each heartbeat. Terrified, Giselle rushed to the front door, practically leaping into the snow.

“What are you doing?” Ciaran asked as he approached Giselle, with wood in one hand and a dead rabbit in the other. She couldn’t help but notice the blood on his face and arms; she shivered. “I-I heard that sound a-again.” She stammered, trying to gulp down the sudden lump in her throat. Ciaran frowned down at her, clearly unimpressed. Ciaran was fifteen, two years older than her. Yet, despite their friendship, his name and age were the only details he had shared about himself. He sighed, then dropped the wood by the fireplace a few feet away from them.

Ciaran lit up the fireplace, then walked over and helped her up. “You’ll freeze to death if you just sit in the snow like that.” Giselle watched him cook the rabbit in silence and glanced at the snow-covered trees and grass. After her father died, the forest was left in winter all year round. Ciaran already told her it was impossible to leave. Not that she would go even if that had been possible.

Her father left the city to live her in isolation ever since Giselle’s mother died. Now, what had once been a haven for his family had become an inescapable prison that tortured them endlessly. It was all still a mystery to her, but she knew one thing. There was something in that house, a presence that made those claw marks and hissing sounds. A monster that murdered her father and brother and took her sister. And something that was after her as well. Ciaran always said he would protect her from it, but that always led her to question, ’Why did Ciaran know what ‘it’ was.’

He knew it took Edith and killed the rest of her family, but how? “Eat,” Ciaran said as he held a piece of the roasted meat before her. She took small bites of it and stared at the misty, dark sky. Electricity in the house had stopped working, so this was all they could use to cook. “Ciaran, do you think I’ll ever be able to save Edith?” Giselle asked, and she turned to her.

It wasn’t the first time she had asked this question, but it definitely wouldn’t be the last. “I’m not sure, but I can tell you she’s still alive.” That was his standard response, but it never reassured her. Being alive didn’t mean Edith was safe. Ciaran warned her that if she tried to save Edith, she too would be captured. That would only trap both of them, not save her sister. Her life before this wasn’t exactly perfect, but it was far better compared to this.

The Past

Giselle’s mom had died two days after she was born. Her father and brother instantly hated her for that. After her death, they moved away from the city, from everyone to an isolated house in the forest. Her father, depressed and lonely, started driving his car to the city often to drink and sleep with strangers. One year later, Edith was born from a one-night stand, abandoned by her biological mother. Giselle’s father took responsibility for her and raised her fondly.

Luke, her brother, always told Giselle spitefully that their father hated her because she looked exactly like their mother, with her silver hair and golden-brown eyes. Her family either ignored her or treated her like a pest. They often neglected to feed her and would leave her locked up in the attic. Only Edith came to stay with her and would bring her food. A few years passed, and their father became more obsessed with his research. He only left the house to search for strange artifacts and unusual chemicals. Luke was sent off to school and behaved more and more volatile each time he returned.

All Giselle and Edith could do was be there for each other. One day, their father returned home from a long business trip, and the girls merely watched him from the attic window, not bothering to go down and welcome him. At times, he didn’t even remember they existed. Those were the times Giselle enjoyed the most. At least then, he wasn’t hurling abusive words at her or shoving her to the ground. That day, in the attic, they met a golden-haired boy named Ciaran, his obsidian eyes staring blankly at them. Initially confused, they soon became excited about having a new friend. They welcomed him and promised not to tell their father. But that decision turned out to be a mistake.

Edith became ill soon after that, and their father had to take her to a hospital. Months passed, and she was better, but then she suddenly fainted. Ciaran was nowhere to be seen, and Giselle quietly wandered downstairs to find some food when she got hungry. Unfortunately, Luke caught her, grabbed her arm, and dragged her to his room, ignoring her kicking and screaming. It was clear that he was high and drunk. Luke shoved her onto his bed and climbed over her. When she tried to escape, he slapped her hard, yelling into her face that she was a murderer, that she had cursed their family by being born, and that he would get rid of her.

When Luke squeezed her throat hard with his hands, Ciaran suddenly rushed over and punched him, knocking him out. Giselle squirmed away from Luke’s unconscious body, crying as Ciaran tried to comfort her. Still shaken by the incident, Ciaran carried Giselle back to the attic. Terrified that Luke would wake up and come after, Giselle barely got any sleep. Edith returned early in the morning, horrified by Giselle’s agitated state. Giselle was too scared to tell her father and refused to even when a furious Edith insisted.

Their father confused that Luke hadn’t come out all day, went to his room that evening. He found Luke dead on his bed, his heart ripped out from his chest and his eyes from his skull. He buried Luke that same day. While Giselle and Edith felt only a slight sadness for the loss of their brother, overwhelming fear consumed them regarding who or what had killed him. A week passed, and Giselle caught her father packing his bags when she snuck past his room to get to the kitchen. Where was he going now? That night, Giselle heard loud screeching and clawing sounds and hid themselves, terrified.

In the morning, when it was quiet, Edith went out of the attic, against Giselle’s wishes, and screamed when she found their father in the hallway. He had claw marks all over his lifeless body, and deep piercings adorned his hands, legs, and the middle of his forehead. Beside him was a strange box that she had never seen before. Soon, she heard those screeching noises again and rushed back to the attic. Edith told Ciaran and Giselle what she had seen, wailing. They heard something scratch at the attic door and quickly locked it, pushing an old cupboard over it.

The electricity suddenly went out soon, and Ciaran found an old candle and lit it up. Giselle suggested they stay there until they figured out their next move, and Ciaran offered to get them food when needed. The next strange thing was that it began to snow even though it was March. Edith got ill, and Ciaran got her medicine from her father’s bedroom. Their actions provided a brief sense of safety, but that would not last.

One morning, Giselle woke up abruptly with Edith still asleep beside her. Ciaran was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, she heard her father’s voice calling her from below her. It was oddly mesmerizing. She unlocked the attic door and walked down the hallway, drawn by an unseen force. It was dim, but she could vaguely see claw marks and blood stains all over the walls. She flinched as she began to hear a low hissing sound.

Before she could run away, a slimy tentacle wrapped tightly around her arm, and sudden pain shot through her arm, sharp and searing, as though her flesh had caught fire; more tentacles reached out from the darkness and grabbed her leg and torso, dragging her across the floor. Edith called Giselle’s name and rushed to her, horrified. She grabbed Giselle’s other arm and pulled her back while kicking the tentacles. Finally, the tentacles’ grip on her loosened, and Giselle tumbled onto Edith, groaning in pain. Her limbs and torso were scorched black, the tentacles burning straight through her clothes. Edith moved away and tried to help Giselle up when a tentacle wrapped around Edith’s neck, choking her.

Giselle weakly got up, grabbing one of Edith’s arms, but Edith shockingly pushed her away. More tentacles appeared, coiling around Edith before yanking her further down the hallway into pitch darkness. All Giselle could do was listen to Edith’s screams as they faded into horrific silence. She heard a faint hissing sound and rushed to the attic, trying to climb the ladder with her one good arm and leg. Giselle missed a step and tumbled off the ladder, landing on the ground. Pain exploded in her body for a few seconds before she lost consciousness. When she woke up, she was in the attic again, and her wounds had disappeared. Hope bloomed in her heart, a quiet belief that it might have been a nightmare. Perhaps the headache she had was just because she hadn’t slept. But then, she saw only Ciaran beside her. When she asked where Edith was, he shook his head, his expression still blank.

In an instant, her hope crumbled to dust. It was real. It was all real. The last of her family was gone. Edith had saved her but at the expense of her own life. “She’s still alive,” Ciaran said after a long time. “But she’s not safe, is she?” That question got no response. It didn’t need one because she already knew the answer. Giselle stared down at her arm, remembering the burning feeling when those tentacles grabbed her. That was what Edith was experiencing right now. “We can save her, can’t we? We have to save her!” If the monster didn’t kill her first, that illness Edith was suffering from would. Ciaran nodded slightly, and hope returned—not as fierce or vibrant as before, but still resilient.

That was a year ago. To survive, all Giselle did was follow Ciaran’s rules. Never go upstairs and always call out for him if she was ever in danger. It was simple but infuriating. Ciaran never told her anything. He never explained how this happened or how it could end. Was there no way out of this hell? Would she ever even see Edith again?