The morning revealed itself to the quiet island to no fanfare or excitement, despite it now being summer. Summer was the most important part of the year, but also the hardest. Everyone shuffled out of their houses like slugs to begin preparation for the impending storm of tourists. Asher worked on preparing the boats for his family’s tour business. In the past, his parents made their money through other jobs. Soon enough the business boomed and became more than just a side project. Neither him or his older sister enjoyed it, but their parents forced them to help lead. That all started ten years ago. With the death of his father, and now his mother over the past year, it all became blurred.

The Halliday’s, his sister’s family with her new husband, ran the business with relative ease. With the decline of their mother’s health, they took it over last summer to increased success. They began to phase him out of the business despite that being what he wanted all along. No matter, he thought, I’d be free to do whatever I wanted. In reality, I never really had anything better to do. Nonetheless, it was an opportunity, and one I intend to take.

Walking out to the coast, the sounds of the construction filled his ears. He began imagining the past years of work with his father. They would walk down the dock and examine each boat together and, if he was lucky, his father let him take one out. His sister, of course, refused to come and prefered to stay with their mother at the store arranging the decor. Asher  only wanted to explore, but out here there was only water for miles and miles. The closest major city happened to be Seattle, and he often traveled out to the borders of the city to watch the lights shine in the distance. One day, possibly, that would be his home. One day.

A man walked over the dock and revealed himself to be his uncle, Joey. “Wanna grab a wrench, maybe help? We could use the help.”

“Maybe later,” Asher told him. His uncle approached him and promptly swiped at the sand under him. For working in construction, Joey detested dirtiness with a passion.

“Well, maybe we can grab a bite later, ya know? It’s been about a year since Lucy died, and I feel you two never talk about it. What if I wanna talk about it?” Joey explained.

Joey was only eighteen when I was born, and fourteen with my sister. My grandparents never expected to have another son, especially after my mom had been gone for eighteen years herself. Yet, Joey, the surprise that he always is, was born thirty-four years ago to a surprise couple getting ready to retire. His birth caused chaos in the family with my grandma never recovering from the birth and eventually succumbing to the effects. My grandpa, on the other hand, sprouted a hatred for Joey that could never be resolved. To him, Joey killed his first and only love in life. Now, grandpa lived in a hospital with alzheimer’s. And Joey lived with the pain and regret from his life of blame.

They now work together on occasion to make an extra buck when needed. For the past year without his mother, Asher’s been distant with him in an attempt to forget her. Joey, however, is likely the most resilient person he’s met.

“All right, fine.” Asher gave in with a sigh. “Where to?”

Joey let out an air pump in a victorious stance. “We’re over by the old forest, let’s go.”

“You, fool!” Joey’s boss, Michael, yelled back at them. “Where have you been? You’re the only one on this damned island that knows how to operate the crane, and you decide now is the best time to go missing?

Joey stared off into the distance trying to hide his contempt. It was obvious that he hated his job, and Michael, but he was good at it. His personality combatted that of many others and often caused him to butt heads with those he shouldn’t be.

“I know, but I brought Asher!” Joey exclaimed. “Now we can make up what I missed in half the time!”

“No, Joey that’s not exactly how it works,” Michael sighed. “Asher is going to come with me and survey the rest of the land.”

Joey looked almost estranged. “He’s my nephew!” he declared. “I think he should be with me.”

“No, it was fine when he was a boy, but now he’s a man who doesn’t need or want to sit on his damn uncle’s lap.” Michael told Joey with a stern look.

“Well, I don’t think I plan on leaving him by himself out in those woods. We all know what happened in there just a year ago. He’s the last one I have.” Joey stammered.

“You think I’m some idiot over here twiddling my thumbs all day? I know you have a niece,” Michael barked back at him. “Lucky for you, if you want to waste your time in the woods you can.”

“Why don’t I believe you?” Joey countered.

“Maybe because you’re the idiot of the story, eh?” Michael chuckled. “Anyhow, only an hour left here then onto to normal repairs along the coast for the season. This whole forest has been a pain in my ass, not to mention all these entitled store owners believing they should have priority over the safety of the island! Ha! Typical.”

Michael went off grumbling nonsense to himself. The old man always had something to be enormously angry about in the compact little town. Joey was just another tool for him to pass his anger on, but it worked for both ends in their endless streaks of madness. Joey’s madness kept him in a stable job, however, and gave him a fearless personality that could be desirable. The woods are supposedly haunted by a couple, the Fairchilds, who lost their way only a year ago. The authorities could never find their bodies, but that didn’t stop them from aggressively pursuing the case. It led to an eventual arrest that still didn’t lay rest to the claims and myths surrounding their deaths.

The path ahead of them obscured most of anything beyond, yet most of the men on the construction site made the hike daily.  Trees engulfed the forest in a sea of nothingness that would suck you in if you let it. They say that’s what happened to the Fairchilds. But, what do I know? It’d be hard to think about anything worse than going off path after all the stories you hear as a child. In fact, you’d have to be mentally insane.

“Asher!” Joey yelled from somewhere in the woods. “Over here!”

That’s right, mentally insane.

“Joey!” Asher screamed back.

By now, Joey was already beginning to descend into the woods. Asher chased after him with one eye on the path they left behind. The wind brushed against the trees and created a unique sound that came crashing down on him in the darkness the trees formed around him. Joey would have been lost to him if it wasn’t for the lone tree that brought the light back down to him. The tree had a certain aura to it that illuminated only its part of the forest and gave life to the decimated nature left behind.  “Joey?” Asher asked around the tree.

As he went around it, Joey was not to be found. Asher dashed around the forest looking for any sight of him. There was an old cabin out there that perhaps Joey had gone to, but it was closer to the entrance of the woods than this. He looked around while screaming his lungs out for thirty minutes before deciding to head back and see Michael about it. As he was sprinting out of the woods, three figures appeared. One in front of the others walked up to him to reveal his face. It was the Sheriff.

He extended his hand down to him with the two deputies following behind them. He simply asked in his signature hoarse voice, “What happened?”

“He’s gone,” Joey said panting.

“Dammit, I know that, boy,” the Sheriff boomed back. “What exactly happened?”

Asher began to recount their journey into the woods. The whole day flashed before his eyes before he could truly comprehend what just happened. What did happen, he thought. They only went out into the woods and seconds later Joey’s gone. The trees blocked any hopes of looking too deep into the woods and also the smell of pine blocked any effort to attempt to sniff out his distinguishable smell of various car freshners. All he could do was talk.

The Sheriff walked him out of the forest and sat him down at the nearest diner. He stared at him with his dead, cold eyes for five minutes before he got up to talk the waitress. I watched him in my curiosity of what would happen next. It wasn’t every day the Sheriff came around. In fact, he mostly stayed to himself over the years. He’s one of the few descendants of the natives still left on the island. Unlike the others, however, he didn’t care about his past and instead devoured himself into his work.

“So, you’re telling me he just disappeared?” the Sheriff said.

“Yes.” I responded.

“We’re both talking about Joey Winters here, right?” he asked. “I seem to remember many nights with Joey in the back of my Victoria after an apparent string of disappearances. In fact, your mother would often call him in, or sometimes even whoever tended the bar. Why is this different?”

I asked myself the same question: is this just another one of Joey’s antics or was it more serious than that.

“It’s different. I just know it.” I protested.

“Just different, huh?” he chuckled. “How different? I’m a police officer, son, I deal in differences. Was he acting different, was he looking different, did he sound different? Perhaps you can enlighten me.”

“Perhaps you can understand that I. don’t. Know.” I answered belligerently.

“I think I see what’s going on here,” he replied. “You’ve been through a lot today and clearly have-”

“Don’t say it.” I whispered back.

“Trauma. I was going, and will, say trauma. Now, if you’d like to refute that you can come to the station and explain this s***show to me, hm?” he sternly told me.

Before he left, the Sheriff slowly picked through his wallet and put down the exact amount for the coffee. After, he disappeared into the morning mist.

Asher rushed home to tell his sister, Evangeline, what had happened. As he charged into the little town house, he met Alexander, his brother-in-law.

“G’morning, Asher,” he yawned back at me.
 
“Uh, good morning to you too,” Asher blurted out before realizing that Alexander was too far to hear him. He was trying to make an effort to be nicer to him despite the fact that Alexander only wanted one thing in life: him out of the house. Guess today wasn’t a new day.

Upon entering the house, Asher couldn’t help but notice the alluring smell of Evan’s cooking. Knowing that’s likely where she was, and would be for the rest of the day, Asher knocked on the kitchen door to excitedly announce his presence.

“You know you live here now too, right?” she teased. “We all know you’re here, especially with your cries for attention.”

“It’s not a cry of affection!” I argued knowing it basically was.

“Then stop doing it.” she responded.

“Maybe I will.” I warned.

“Then maybe you will, what do I know?” she said.

“Not much.” I conceded while letting out a laugh.

“Guess that’s why you’re living in my house, huh?” she laughed back at me.

“Now that’s just plain rude after everything that’s happened.” I said a bit reminiscent of the past. They were still both getting over the loss of their mother, but Evan already started a new family while I was still looking for one. A bit sad, huh? Evan had always been a great sister, but was unlike their mother in every sense of the word. Joey was the only one comparable to her and now he was missing. That reminded him to tell Evan what happened.

“Joey’s gone.” I whispered.
“What?” Evan asked a little confused.

“I was with Joey in the woods, you know, where he works at?” I mumbled. “Before I knew it, he was, uh, he was gone. The sheriff picked me up and told me to come back. They’re launching an official investigation.”

“What are you talking about?” Evan said with a confused gaze in her eyes. “Joey’s in the hospital. Been in the hospital for the past month since he had his stroke. Don’t you remember?”
 
At this point, Asher couldn’t understand what he just heard. Joey in the hospital? I mean, of course, the stroke happened, but he got better. Right? He always told him never to bring up so he did as he was told. It couldn’t be true.

“I’ll be back soon. Love you.” Asher said as he rushed out the door.

The hospital sat on top of the only hill on the island, which, ironically, made it hard to get to. Asher didn’t have a car, so he walked just about everywhere. He hadn’t even been to the hospital since his mother’s death, but even then it was a nice drive, not a walk. By the time he got up to the front entrance, Asher had had ample time to consider every scenario. He just wasn’t sure which one was more crazy.

As he walked through the doors, the nurses immediately recognised him and sent him to a waiting room. They said to wait there until visiting hours started up again. Asher looked around at the happy decor until he passed out from exhaustion.

“Mr. Winters?” someone yelled out in front of him. “Mr. Winters!’

I jumped from surprise after being rudely awaken from my fascinating daydream. “Uh, yes?”

“You are here to see Joey Fitzpatrick, correct?” the attendant snapped back.

Instead of getting into another war of words, I just walked back in silence. When we reached the room, I immediately recognized Joey. He lay in the bed without any movement or emotion. The records on the side of his bed said it all. Maybe he was crazy. Maybe he was just imagining Joey the whole time. But why did the Sheriff play along when his sister was straightforward? He was the Sheriff, he must know that his uncle wasn’t actually with him in the forest. Time to go pay someone a visit.

The Sheriff’s office wasn’t as hard to get to as the hospital, but when they relocated years back he made sure it was virtually in the middle of nowhere. Surely he basked in the loneliness, but it discouraged others to join the force. I still remember being signed up for a junior officer program with the sheriff’s office. It consisted of the Sheriff handing us off to the deputies to watch them on patrol. Fun, right?

Before he even walked onto the porch, the door opened to the lovely sight of the Sheriff staring him down. “G’day, son,” he said.

“Heya, Sheriff,” I said in an unenthusiastic tone. “Do you, uh, have any more information about the whole Joey situation?”

The Sheriff looked confused for a moment, and potentially blew his cover. “Ah, yes, of course. Well, I mean, no, you did just come to us about this only hours ago.”

“I recall you coming to me about it,” I responded.

He smirked, possibly realizing his slip-up. “Boy, do you think I’m hiding something from you?”

“It was awfully convenient that you managed to find us in the woods when no one even called it in,” I said.

“I’m a trained detective, so I better know what goes on my town.” he hissed back.

“Well, I think you’re bad at your job.”

Now that triggered something in the Sheriff. He pushed his chair back and grabbed Asher. “Boy, I’ve lived more, seen more, been more than you will in a lifetime. You don’t know what I’ve had to do to honor this badge! I’ve had to betray my family, my people, my values! All for s***! You dare say I’m in the wrong with all I’ve done for you and your family!”

“I’m, uh, I’m sorry.” Asher tried to say, too surprised to say any more.

“Sorry? Sorry, haha. I’ve heard that word too many times for it to have any meaning, son. You don’t understand what it means. Don’t wear it out for your sake.” the Sheriff said.

The Sheriff began to walk back inside before Asher could gather enough words to say anything. “W-w-wait! Just tell me what’s the truth!”

He turned around to look at Asher with a surprised gaze. “There’s always two sides to every truth, son. Two sides.”

I walked down the dirt road to the beachfront not knowing what came next. What did the Sheriff even mean? Asher didn’t know, but he had to find out. A storm was brewing in the distance. Asher began looking for somewhere to stay during the storm. The police station was too far from his house, and he didn’t have a phone. He thought about going back to ask to make a call, but it wasn’t the best idea after the fight. Asher remembered that there was that cabin in the woods near where he was with Joey. Or at least who he thought was Joey. Not the best place to go, but there weren’t many other options.

As he entered the forest, Asher started to regret his decision. Why did he come here in the first place, he thought. For some reason, he felt as if he was being drawn there. The path towards the building looked worse than before. Various trees and brush blocked the way. It was like something was trying to stop him from getting there. The storm began to quickly devour him. Asher could almost just see the cabin and elected to sprint towards it then wait any longer. Before he entered, he heard a noise coming from inside. His first thought was it had to be whoever he lost in the forest, possibly the real Joey or his Joey. So, without thinking, he swung the door open to reveal what’s inside. It wasn’t Joey.

Standing there in the back of the cabin was a man whose likeness wasn’t distinguishable in the dark. Asher called out to him. “Who are you?”

“It’s Joey.” the figure simply said.

“That’s impossible, he’s in a coma. I saw it with my own eyes.” I responded.

He came into the light to finally expose himself: it was Joey. He thought he was going insane. “That’s impossible.”

“It is, because I’m not real,” he said. “I’m simply a figment of your imagination.”

“You’re just in my head?” Asher squealed back, confused.

Before he could respond, Joey walked off to the corner muttering to himself. He quickly snapped back to him. “Listen, Asher, we’re the same. We understand each other, right?”

“What’s going on?” Asher responded.

Joey appeared notably distressed at that. He kept walking back and forth before being able to formulate words. “Look, what if I told you your thoughts aren’t yours? That they’re being manipulated.”

Right as Joey said that the door banged open to reveal the Sheriff. He let out a little laugh and walked right up to Joey. Asher, confused, just stood in the corner in silence.

“What do we have here?” the Sheriff said.

“Nothing, sir.” Joey said. “Asher here just came out to find me! Can you believe it? Always was my favorite.”

“I - I thought you were just in my head.” Asher asked.

“He told you that?” the Sheriff chuckled. “Your uncle’s drunk again, son. Can’t trust anything that comes out of that mouth.”

“Damn liar, I’ll kill you!” Joey yelled. He lunged at the Sheriff, but it was to no avail. The Sheriff quickly knocked him out and threw him to the floor.

“Ha! You fool!” the Sheriff laughed. “I always knew you were never meant for this job.”

Asher, unsure of what to do, tackled the Sheriff. In the moment, he had to believe what one side was saying, and he believed Joey. They both tugged at each other to the ground trying to best each other. The Sheriff, however, was decades older and more experienced than him. The Sheriff pulled out his cuffs, but the door slammed open another time. It was Evangeline.

“Evan,” Asher gasped. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to help you, silly.” she said while helping him up. The Sheriff oddly just sat there content.

“But, how did you know I was here?” Asher stuttered out. “How did any of you know I was here? I just want answers! Please!”
“I’m just as confused as you are, Ash, but I need you to calm down for a minute, okay?” she said in her signature calm voice.

“No!” he shouted. “I need answers now! You’re all making me go insane!”

“It’s an implant!” Joey yelled, now awake. “They’re changing your thoughts!” The Sheriff got up and kicked him straight in the stomach.

“Son, don’t listen to him.” The sheriff responded. “He’s delusional.”

Joey looked up at him, near unconsciousness, pointing at his head.and a nearby rock. Asher got up and lunged for the rock. The Sheriff immediately took notice and tried to stop him. He knew what he was going to do, but it was too late. Asher took the rock and slammed it into his temple.

When I woke up, I saw Evan and the Sheriff stare down at me with flashlights shining in my eyes. It took me a second to realize they thought I was still out. Although I knew something was going wrong, I realized that I don’t care. I was finally free. No more voices. Only me.

“Well, that’s it ain’t it?” the Sheriff said.

“What?” Evan asked.

“We’ll have to extract him,” the Sheriff responded. “His microchip is broken. No thanks to you.”

“Oh, let’s bring blame into this, huh?” Evan smirked. “You should’ve let it play out according to protocol.”

“Who gives a s*** anymore?” the Sheriff exclaimed. “He’s figured us out. It’s not like I had any other option.” The Sheriff looked back down at me for a minute before realizing I was awake. “Look down there, Sarah, he’s awake.”

“Don’t call me that!” Evan, or Sarah, yelled. “We’re still in this!”

The Sheriff walked up to me and looked me straight in the eyes with his ice cold glaze. “You wanna know the truth, son?” I nodded back to him. “Well, then, you see? The man deserves to know.” he said looking at Evan. The murders. The murders of the Fairchilds. It was you. This isn’t real, none of it. Well, real for you, of course.”

Evan stepped in. “Stop it!”

What? You care about this murderous bastard now?” he snapped back at her. “This is a job! And it’s gone to s***. By tomorrow, he’ll be reset and everything will be back to normal. Especially without little Joey here.”

Evan looked away, and I knew to just close my eyes. There was nothing I could do at this point but hope I didn’t get in the Sheriff’s wrath.

“How about we fix the chip ourselves if you care so much about this one, huh?” he said grabbing my head. “Let’s fix it, huh? Yeah! Great idea!”
The Sheriff squeezed at his head with so much force that he thought he might burst. I could only scream. There was only so much I could do. My life should’ve flashed before my eyes but I couldn’t remember anything. The fact that I’m a murderer should’ve affected me, but it didn’t. From the moment I learned of this reality, I knew that everything else didn’t matter. This wasn’t real.

“Almost there, son,” the Sheriff said. “Don’t move an in-” The Sheriff was stopped short. I looked up and saw Evan with a branch in her hand. She helped me up and stared at me with tears in her eyes.

“Go,” she cried. “Just go.”

I left the cabin and ran for the water. Yes, I would sail out of here! Go and discover new land and countries! I had no idea of where I was, but anywhere was better. I got to the docks and went for our family boat. I had my suspicions only confirmed. The ships were all fakes. Fortunately, a sailboat was docked at the end. I hadn’t sailed since my dad taught me years and years ago, though now wasn’t the time to contemplate it. I set sail feeling the best I had ever felt. I would soon be --.

Minutes after I left, I hit something with my boat. It didn’t take long to realize it was a wall. I was trapped here. This wasn’t an island, but a dome. My prison. Immediately, every light turned on and motorboats surrounded me. My only other option was clear: kill myself. Dark, yes, but this was all clearly a mistake. Who knows how many times I’ve been through this before. I began to reach for a rod only to find a hand grab mine. Not only was I surrounded by boats, but men climbed down on lines from the sky. I looked up to see a camera and I watched. I watched it the whole way back. I felt contempt, anger, every emotion I could ever feel. I was their guinea pig to do with how they wished. And all I could do was watch.

“Are you kidding me?” the man in black said. “How did we manage to mess that up in only one day?”

“Sir, I think it was a critical error in the beginning of the experiment.”

No s***, remind me not to hire actors off the street again,” he said. “Fire whoever played Joey. Absolutely terrible job.”

The man locked his eyes on the screen for a minute before walking down the aisle. “Carmichael, walk with me.”

“Yes, sir,” he stuttered back.

The two walked down the winding corridors. Nothing was said between the two until they arrived to his office, “I would like you, Carmichael, to write a report up of what happened today.”

“Should I wipe his memories, as well?” he asked.

The man pondered this before his final answer. “No, we need to analyze his current mindset some more before we launch him again.”

Carmichael began walking out before the man called out to him again. “Oh, and Carmichael, I need new actors. I can’t keep going like this. HBO’s starting to take us over with their new crime show. They have a cannibal! A cannibal! Those are hard to get! And somehow they convinced Joaquin Phoenix to star along with him! Just insanity the times we live in, huh?”

“Yes, sir, I can try to get Matt LeBlanc as Joey. The audience might find it, uh, amusing.” he snickered back.

“No, don’t do that. We need someone fresh who can elevate his work without being the complete star. Oh, and someone who won’t lose their damn script in the middle of a forest.” he sighed.

“Perhaps we should take out the chip that reads his thoughts?” he said. “He surely figured that one out rather fast.”
“No,” the man snapped back. “We need it for the transcripts. Anyways, you’re free to go.”

“Yes, sir, I’ll get on it.” Carmichael responded back. After their conversation, Carmichael walked back to the command center where he directed the beginning of the new test.

“All actors, attention all actors,” he said into the microphone. On the screen, you could see every actor assemble in the middle of the town for the announcement. They all looked up in curiosity, some in anger. “Yes, today was a failure, but tomorrow is a new day! I expect everyone to be at their post tomorrow for filming!”

You could hear the grunts coming from the mass crowd almost immediately, but they all still left without another word. Carmichael looked up and saw the man in black entering again. “Hello, sir, everything is set for the next trial.”

“Good,” he muttered. “I’ve found a short-term replacement actor for Joey as well, let’s get him all set for tomorrow’s show.”

“Yes, sir, of course,” Carmichael said with a sense of anxiousness. “Might I add that, in my opinion, we should push the Joey storyline back a day. It triggers his sense of helplessness far too early.”

“Yes, I agree,” the man said. “However, the Fairchilds’ living relatives will be coming to watch next week, so we’ll need to leave it for the time being. You know, give them some excitement.”

“I quite agree, sir.” Carmichael responded. “A good show, indeed.”

The two walked towards the front of the command center and the man called attention to everyone at their stations. “Everyone, it’s time!”

Everyone began clicking away for minutes before looking up with smiles crossing their faces. “We’re making history here, folks,” the man said in response. “Now, let’s not f*** it up.”

The screen flickered on and the sight of Asher waking up came up. The members in the control center cheered and popped open their champagne. It would be televised nationwide to millions of people who wait to watch the famous reenactment of the Fairchilds’ murder by the villainous Asher Winters.