The Writers' Block Anthology

Island VIII: The Glitch

The room was built from wood and was very sparse. Only a bed of blankets laid out at the center and a long window of waxed paper to the outside. Light filtered through the paper illuminating the room in warm gold. I sighed in relief, my heart hitting painfully against my chest, "I guess it worked."

I took a moment, staring at nothing in particular while my body regained composure. For now, I was safe. I still had to complete this quest but anything would be better than whatever Mark Antony had imagined for me. I opened the door to a long hallway with several other doors lining it. There was very little sound, even as I walked. Circe had mentioned that the people of this village are going mysteriously missing. The best way to get any type of hint as to what might be going on was to talk to the locals. I ended up in what I guess was a lobby. A middle-aged Asian woman was manning a front desk, assigning rooms to anyone who would pay. Circe must have transported me to an Inn. Hopefully, that included signing me up for the room.

I exited the Inn, to see that I was in the middle of a village. Everyone doing their work for the day along the dirt paths. Most of the people looked sullen as they walked, only looking up when they needed to. Those with children kept them close and always seemed in a hurry to get from one building to another. I walked up to one of the farmers leading their water buffalo.

"Hello," I greeted with a bow. "I heard people were mysteriously disappearing from this town. Could you tell me more about that?"

The farmer stared at me. He glanced around at the others walking before speaking. "I'd move on, traveler, you don't want to be stuck here. Once night falls, you won't be allowed to leave."

"Who's keeping you here?" I asked.

"No one," said the farmer. "No one keeps us, but no one is allowed to leave. Many have tried, but none have succeeded. We are prisoners to whatever force has decided to make its home here. We are cattle." He patted his water buffalo and then gave a nod. "I must be going now."

The man wasn't lying, not even confused. All of the locals I asked gave me the same answer as that man, but no one could give me a why. It didn't seem like anyone knew and they all had accepted their fate. It was sundown when I came back to the Inn. The lady at the desk graciously let me pass without any charge, saying I had already given her a very generous gift. I guess Circe came through for me. As I walked back to my room a door opened beside me. I stopped as an elderly woman peered out.

"Uh, hi?" I asked.

She brought her hand up to her lips and blew a powder into my eyes, quickly slamming the door before I could react.

"Ugh!" My hands flew up to my face, rubbing away the dust. "Ow, what the heck!" I groaned as I staggered back to my room, laying down on the bed of blankets. This was going to be a lot harder than I previously thought, but it didn't take me long to fall asleep.

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I woke to a haunting moan outside my window. I shot up in bed, listening carefully. The room was dark other than the moonlight streaming in. There was another moan and a crash from outside. I carefully moved to the window, peeling back the waxed paper to have a look. At first, I thought I just saw pools of moonlight but realized what I was seeing were ghosts. Most were just wandering aimlessly, moaning and rasping. Others were throwing, tearing, and destroying anything they could get their hands on.

I gently put the waxed paper back, digesting what my eyes had seen. I found myself quietly walking to the lobby and the Inn entrance. Everyone seemed to be still asleep, unaware of what was going on outside. I slipped past the Inn door and watched as hundreds of ghosts wandered the dirt road. Some were trying to get into houses, some causing havoc, and some standing still, but all were coming from a black vortex at the center of the village.

They didn't seem interested in me. They minded their own business as I walked toward the vortex. Even as new ghosts spawned, they went right past me as though I was a ghost myself. When I stepped to the edge of the vortex, I didn't notice anything unusual about the ground around it. Nothing to summon them, no weird symbols, no hints as to what was actually going on. Nothing. So, I did something stupid. I took a step. If the vortex was spawning ghosts, that means it was pushing stuff out, not pulling stuff in. At least, if nothing else, it was almost like a summoning circle. Or so I thought right before I fell through it.