loss
885 Words
Dima was there…
Her blonde hair disheveled,
Laughing nervously as she said:
“This… this is a prank, right?”
But her voice echoed back empty—
No walls…
No city…
No exit.
Rose sat on the sand,
Pulling her knees to her chest,
Her eyes darting around.
She whispered:
“The voice…
Where did the voice go?”
Jawad stood a little farther away,
Turning in circles,
Trying to activate anything—
But there was no screen.
No notification.
No robot.
An island…
No houses…
No roads.
No trace of a previous life—
Only trees…
And a sea
Surrounding them from every direction.
They were one hundred people.
A hundred bodies scattered across the sand,
As if they had stepped out of the same dream—
But from different minds.
One of them burst into laughter—
Loud, broken,
A laugh of despair, not joy.
Another pinched his cheek hard,
Once… then again.
He said with a trembling voice:
“I’m definitely dreaming… right?”
But the pain was real.
Faces met faces.
Eyes examined unfamiliar eyes.
One question repeated in silence:
Who are these people?
And where are we?
No one had an answer.
Suddenly,
A man in his mid-forties stepped forward.
His long hair was tied back.
His beard neatly trimmed.
He wore a white shirt
And black linen pants.
He stood firm—
As if borrowing steadiness from himself.
Then he called out in a loud voice
That cut through the murmurs:
“For heaven’s sake…
Does anyone here know
Why we’re here?!”
A heavy silence settled.
Then it was broken
By a young man in his early twenties—
His features pale,
His voice fractured by fear:
“Why don’t we search the area?
Maybe we’ll understand what happened…”
He swallowed, then continued:
“I was asleep,
And I woke up here—
On the ground.
How?
And why?”
The murmurs began to rise.
Overlapping voices.
Rapid breaths.
Unsteady footsteps on the sand.
Fear was no longer individual.
It had become collective.
And in that moment,
The only thing that was certain—
Was that none of them
Had chosen to be here.
Suddenly,
A scream tore through everything.
“ENOOOOUGH!”
It was Dima.
She screamed through tears,
Her voice hoarse,
Her eyes shining with real terror:
“Stop!
We need to talk…
We need to understand what’s happening!”
Her echo rippled through the trees,
And the murmurs slowly began to fade.
The man with his hair tied back
Stepped forward.
His gaze was steady,
Despite the tension tightening his features.
He spoke in a voice
That tried to remain calm:
“She’s right.
Panic won’t help us…
Let’s sit down
And try to comprehend what’s happening here.”
Then he extended his hand toward her—
A gesture that carried more
Than words could say.
“I’m Qais.
And you?”
Dima hesitated for a moment,
Then reached out and shook his hand.
“Dima.
Nice to meet you.”
She smiled—
A faint, gentle smile…
But a false one.
The smile of someone
Trying to appear strong
While falling apart inside.
A little distance away,
Sam was sitting on the sand.
He didn’t scream.
He didn’t speak.
He didn’t stand.
His heart was pounding violently,
His mind crowded with questions
That had no answers.
He tried to remember
How he had fallen asleep…
And how he had woken up here.
He couldn’t understand what had happened,
Or why he was among them.
All he knew was this—
This time,
Fear was not a game.
It was real.
More real than he could endure.
Hours passed.
The warm sun climbed higher in the sky,
Its light spilling over the island
Without mercy…
And without compassion.
There was a girl standing away from the noise.
Her hair was short, slightly wavy.
Her movements sharp—almost masculine.
Her features carried both harshness
And innocence at the same time.
She was silently observing the sky.
This sun…
For the first time,
She was seeing it with her own eyes—
Not through glass,
Not through machines made by humans.
A real sun…
Warm…
Complete.
Rose approached her quietly
And said, as if finishing
A thought hanging in the air:
“You must be thinking
What I’m thinking.”
The girl turned to her,
Slightly surprised.
“Excuse me?”
Rose smiled—
A soft smile carrying a strange sense of longing.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen the sun like this…
Warm, whole—
And by the sea, too.”
The girl hesitated for a moment,
Then smiled—
A real smile this time.
“Lin,”
She said,
Extending her hand.
Rose shook it gently and replied:
“Call me Rose.”
Meanwhile,
The others had begun to search.
They spread across the island,
Looking for an exit,
For a person,
For any sign that they weren’t alone.
But they returned—
One by one—
To the starting point.
The seawater was salty.
No food.
No tools.
And no one had the slightest idea
Which plants were edible.
No plan.
No direction.
Only loss…
Disarray…
And confusion thickening in their chests
Until it became silent frustration.
And it was clear to everyone...
The island
Would not give them anything
Easily.
- Writer
