Page 90
Story: Our Last Echoes
NOVAK: No! Don’t. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you, just don’t hurt them.
She crouches down. She makes soothing noises, holding each girl’s arm gently. They calm slowly, though one is still crying softly, tears running down her cheeks.
NOVAK: Listen, loves. We can’t stay together. I know it’s scary, but it’s going to be all right.
She pushes up their sleeves. Her fingers run over the bruises on one girl’s arm—the bruises from Baker’s attack. This is the girl who came home out of the mist, the one who traveled to the headland on the boat. If she was replaced the day she got lost, this is the echo.
NOVAK: The day you were lost and heard the song, you’re the one who came home.
The girl nods. She seems the far calmer of the two; the other girl is still whimpering.
NOVAK: She’s the echo.
She turns toward the other girl, cups her cheek.
NOVAK: Hush. Stop crying now, little bird. It’s going to be okay. Come here.
She hugs Sophia close, stroking her hair.
NOVAK: Auntie Vanya and Uncle William are going to take you home, okay?
KAPOOR: What?
Novak stands.
NOVAK: I’m not leaving my daughter here alone.
HARDCASTLE: She isn’t your daughter.
NOVAK: I can’t leave her here, Will. I can’t. Just... get Sophie home safe, okay? Now give me a minute. I need to say goodbye.
The scene that follows holds nothing supernatural, only a raw and terrible grief. A child taken, screaming, from her weeping mother, her cries pure terror and desolation. There is nothing unreal in it, and yet it is the most unnatural, the most horrifying thing the video log has captured.
Time does not run properly in the mist, and it is both seconds and an eternity later that those who are leaving are on board the boat. The motor is running, Hardcastle tending the rudder; Sophia huddles against the side, her tears spent, only the occasional whimper left. Vanya sits at the prow of the boat, the camera on her lap.
HARDCASTLE: Look.
Vanya’s coat rustles as she twists in her seat; a moment latershe picks up the camera and trains it on the water ahead. There is an end to the mist. The rocky spit that connects the headland to the rest of the island pierces it, offering a guide, a path back to the world they came from. Not one curl of mist touches the mainland. If they can reach the shore to the other side of the yawning bay, they will be safe.
HARDCASTLE: That’s it. That’s the way out.
He cuts the motor.
KAPOOR: What are you doing?
HARDCASTLE: It’s good that Joy isn’t here. It’ll be easier.
KAPOOR: What will be easier, Will?
HARDCASTLE: We can’t be sure. She might have been switched weeks ago. Or it might have been while we were here. We just can’t know for certain.
KAPOOR: Joy was sure.
HARDCASTLE: Joy was guessing. This has to be done. Turn off the camera.
He moves forward. Hardcastle lunges forward, grabbing Sophia by the shoulder and hauling her back.
KAPOOR: Don’t you dare.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90 (Reading here)
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114