Fault

-O_/

It… It was a stupid mistake. No one's fault. At least that's what I thought. To this day, I don't even know what really went down, what actually happened. But I guess I can tell you what I do know… It was 5 years ago. My friends and I decided to go on a vacation down south towards the Caribbean. It was around the beginning of June and we were 4 in total all 18 or 19 years old. It's clear that we didn't know everything there was to know. But either way, we decided to have an experience and see what we were capable of doing. We took a plane from Montreal to Costa Rica and then we took a boat and headed towards my friend’s private island… Yeah, he was rich. Anyways, we were all so anxious to get there, so, to bide our time we decided to have a couple of drinks. We said we'd only have around 2 or 3 but… Well… That didn't happen. Not long after, we realized we finished all 32 beers we had… I honestly don't know how that even happened. Anyway, we were fucked up! Really fucked up. But finally, we got to the island. My friend said he had more beer and stuff so that was good. Oh, by the way, my friend's name is Carl.

As we all got off of the boat, Carl noticed something weird. Really weird and abnormal. Never has he ever seen this on the island. The entire island was covered in a dense black fog except for a small encirclement around the house and a small path towards the front door… We all wondered what the hell was going on. Steven, another friend of mine, suggested that we shouldn't stay on the island, but the rest of us thought the fog was going to pass, so we just ignored his suggestion.<br>Which was a stupid idea. Anyway, we all began walking towards the house. Carl was shiting his pants since the atmosphere was so… so dark. We finally reached the house which was very cabin-like, it had nice, thick, dark wooden beams supporting the roof and it had an intricate stone chimney to the side. I didn’t notice too much about the house though since what we all primarily realized was that everything was dying. It's like the black fog was a fog of death! And our assumptions weren't far off. We all discussed what the hell is going on and how there is a black fog and what's causing it. The unfortunate part is that we weren't really able to think! Whatever we did come up with was either bull shit stupid or just super obvious. So, we decided to look around the house instead to see if there was any of that fog inside, and gladly, there wasn't.

We decided to stay in the house since, well, it was safer. As time passed, we started to get hungry. Of course, there was a lot of food readily accessible in the storage room which is connected to the house. We ended up actually forgetting about the fog by cooking and well, drinking more. What a smart idea that was, right? See, this is where stuff really gets fucked up. Carl, as stupid as he gets when drunk, decided that he’ll go outside to pee… I mean, there was a fully functional bathroom in the house. In the safety, and don’t get me wrong! Of course, we tried to stop him, but he was fucking persistent. At one point I guess we just gave up. We kind of figured he would see the fog outside and change his mind. He didn’t. He rushed right out there directly into the fog! At first, nothing happened. He even walked back into the house like nothing was wrong. It was kind of weird since the entire surrounding area inside the fog was dead. It was just very strange in general. Was it some kind of disease that takes effect a while after exposure? I mean, it had to be right? If it wasn’t like that then Carl would be dead for sure! I of course mentioned this to the group. They thought I was just overreacting and that it wasn’t a disease. But, what the hell else could it be? What the fuck else would black fog be? A kind gentle “mist” that just caresses your body and soul? Whatever at this point it doesn’t even matter. Carl was already exposed to it and nothing has happened so far which is good. At the time I decided to just keep an eye on him and make sure my suspicions were wrong. I mean usually, I am, so this time it would be quite helpful. But, of course, out of all the other times, I could be right, it just happens to be now. Just as I thought, it did take effect after exposure. What made me certain was how Carl was acting. He was sweating a lot, and not because the house was hot or anything. It in fact was quite chilly. In all honesty, I have no idea why he was sweating so much. Everyone else was kind of getting worried at this point too. “Maybe it is a slow-acting disease” and “Maybe you were right in the end”. About fucking time, but still too late, and honestly even if they agree with me, what purpose does that serve again? Oh, right! It served no purpose at all. It started with excessive sweating, and then it proceeded into a shivering and convulsing state. This stage lasted the longest, it was as though he was possessed, it was… Horrifying! The worst part was that there wasn’t a single thing we could do. We didn’t know what to do!

This lasted for 6h straight. At that point, you’d think he’d be dead due to the amount of water loss and energy put into flipping all over the place. Well, it turns out that he was dead. For some time that is. Once he stopped convulsing, black liquid came out of his eyes, mouth, ears, nose, and skin. A thick, black, liquid. His eyes weren’t there. The pupil that is. It was just… White. We didn’t dare touch the liquid of course. We did, however, use other objects to see what would happen when it came into contact with the liquid. We noticed that nothing happened to objects that were made up of metal, wood, or fibers like towels and all. But things like a leaf, or a spider that we caught… Instantly decayed. The weird thing is that Carl’s body wasn’t decaying at<br>the same rate as the leaf or the spider. It wasn’t decaying at all really, or it was, but at a normal rate for a human body… Whatever that would be. This made us think as to why he wasn’t decaying fast. And it clicked. It was because he was already dead. Anything that is dead won’t decay. Anything alive on the other hand… Well, I’m sure you can figure out what will happen right? Oh, and the other weird thing is that none of us felt anything… Like, no emotion towards his death, or to the gory scene that unfolded before us. We only felt, excitement and curiosity! Was it the alcohol? Were we somehow also affected by the fog? Or whatever it is… Disease?

We don’t know, we don’t know what is wrong with us. But we do know that we had to get off of this island as fast as possible. At this point, we decided to really think, properly think, of a way off of this forsaken land. Our first ideas were impossible. How are we supposed to escape this island when the fog literally covers everywhere except this house? That’s when it clicked. Why was the fog not in the house? What sets this house apart from the rest of the island? Was it because the fog can’t pass through the windows and vents? No, it didn’t make sense. We saw the fog maneuver all over the place with ease. It should be able to enter the house without trouble. So, why didn’t it? We weren’t able to figure it out without testing things. So, to figure out why we opened a window. As stupid as that may seem, it was all we can really do that would help us answer our questions, and guess what, it did! Initially, the fog started to creep up towards the window. But then it suddenly stopped. It wasn’t even an abnormal, uneven stop. More like something hitting a sudden, invisible wall. The fog crept up in the air as though it was hitting an invisible forcefield.

How does this help us? Well, after observing the area a bit more, with flashlights since it was so dark out, we noticed a small layer of white powder. Like, salt or baking powder. We weren’t really sure. What we did know, however, was that this fog won’t be entering the house any time soon. This helped us relax a bit, somewhat. We still had to figure out what that powder was, how it got there, who put it there, and if we can somehow use it to get out of this fucking place. However, those were questions for the morning. For now, it was time for us to rest up, and well, further sober up. I guess with all the shit that’s happening around us, the only really funny part is that we were all fucking drunk idiots. I don’t even understand how we deduced what we did while drunk, should that be in the Guinness book of world records, or whatever it’s called? Who knows!

It’s morning now, and it’s time to figure shit out. First, what is that white powder? We didn’t really want to go outside, but it was the only way to identify it. Greg decided to act and be the first to leave the house. We all followed after, but even with Greg’s initial push. We just stood there, looking at the black fog curl up in the air, right before our eyes. I think at that moment it hit us, everything that happened the night before suddenly slapped us across the face. Steven vomited in the sudden realization that Carl is dead and that we’re stuck surrounded by a veil of death… Even the path we came from is somehow covered in the fog now. Still, despite this sudden awareness, we pushed on. I decided to be the one to act this time, I walked up towards the invisible wall, bent down, and took a closer look at the powder. I was quite shocked when I realized what it was. Quite shocked and disgusted at the same time. The other two were wondering what exactly it was and why I haven’t said anything for about 5 minutes now. So, they came to see for themselves, cringing in response to what the “powder” was. Steven obviously didn’t believe it, but the proof was right in front of his eyes. The “powder” was ground-up bones. The reason why we could tell is that they weren’t really ground up all too well. In fact, we saw the mandible of the skull. Just the thought of grinding up human bones is repulsive, actually, how did these bones get like this in the first place? Another question to add to the book I suppose. One that was never answered. Actually, most of our questions weren’t answered. What was answered though, was that we now know what the powder is, and we know that the fog can’t pass it for some reason, except for the powder that was on the path we came from. We don’t know how the fog got past that…

Anyhow, thanks to this unpleasant but pleasant discovery, we were able to make our way off the island. Slowly but surely, we took Carl’s bones and ground them up. It probably took several months to finally grind it all. I’m not too sure though. Our phones stopped working once we were on the island so we lost sense of time, none of us figured out the reason why they stopped. They just did, none of the phones even turned on, even when they were plugged in to charge. Where was I? Oh right, we tried to look all over the house for something more effective than a hammer. But there wasn’t anything. Only one hammer. So, one person grinding at a time.<br>Imagine how long it takes to crush the tibia? or the skull? The easiest ones were the phalanges or whatever was small. Don’t get me started on the smell though. We all barfed at the beginning. Let’s leave it at that!

Anyways, it’s finally time, the fog by the way never moved an inch from the bone encirclement around the house. That was a huge relief, the only real problem was food. We just barely had enough by then end! But it’s time. Time to leave. We stepped out of the front door and began walking towards the path we came from. Our strategy was to layer the ground with the crushed bones, move quickly, and hope for the best. Let me tell you, it went better than expected. I mean, I am alive, right? I am alive. Only me. Steven and Greg didn’t make it. It happened while we were laying the bones. At first, the fog was pushed away and things were swell. But then, it seemed like the fog was adapting? After some time, we needed to lay thicker layers in order to push away the fog, and that of course isn’t good. It’s not like we had an unlimited supply of powdered bones at our disposal. We were running out fast! And not to mention, the fog behind us started to close in. As though the measly amount of bones on the ground was no longer enough to repel the fog’s hunger to consume all that is living. But, by this time we were near the shore, near freedom. It’s within our grasp. Honestly, if it weren’t for Steven and Greg. I would be dead too. they sacrificed themselves so that I can escape. Just as we were about to reach the sand, the fog closed in. Greg tossed all the remaining bones in front of us towards the sand, but the fog had already infected him. It was only Steven and I in the end. We rushed towards the only clear spot. But we had no more bones, was that it? I thought. Am I really going to die like this? Like how Carl died so many months ago?

Just as my hopes began to fade, Steven throws a shirt full of the bones from the ground in front of us and then pushes me into the newly made clearing. Only, he didn’t make it. The number of bones within the shirt wasn’t enough to keep the fog from closing in. The last thing I see on his face is a smile. And the last thing I hear is “run”. And so, I did, I ran, and ran, and ran. Until I reached the boat. I started the engines as fast as possible and set sail. I didn’t want to look behind me, for all I know, the fog may have been right there. To this day, I still don’t know if it was following me or not, and I still don’t know if it’s still on the island. All my unanswered questions will remain unanswered, and all my fear and sorrow will remain with me till I too, join my friends in the afterlife.