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It looked safe...
Crushing of sand, a strong river stream.
It should've been safe...
Shuffling of the sugar cane, a half written note on the ground.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," he looked at the trembling children at his side, holding on a lifeline to not pass out. "I'm so sorry, this island doesn't want us to live."
It was only mere seconds on how they fell, one by one, at the mercy of an invisible entity.
'Nightmare Stalker', name fit for what this seemed to be.
Unable to do much, Phil just came into terms of his own death, he wasn't worried about himself at all to begin with. The problem were the children.
He knew that they couldn't carelessly dying like him.
He knew that his son had only one life left.
He knew that he couldn't make it.
And that broke something inside of him.
By the time his granddaughter was about to give up, Phil gave her one last hug. He didn't judge at all the way his shoulder was getting damp where Tallulah's head was lying, he only hugged tighter until the little girl's body went completely limp. Completely lifeless.
He'd ask himself how he's gonna explain this one to Wil. But not right now, not now.
Chayanne started getting closer after seeing his niece pass on his father's arms. The look on his face showed how devastated he was after failing the one promise he made to Tallulah, to protect her from anything.
Phil reached an arm over, not getting apart from the girl's corpse, trying to hug his own son.
"Remember what I've said, some things are completely out of your control, okay? I don't want you to blame me yourself" The boy could only nod, tears on his eyes were beginning to fall off, marking the ground beneath them. He knew his own fate too. "I'm sorry Chayanne, I'm so sorry"
With both children on his arms, one already lifeless, the other still holding a bit more, he began to cry, he began to ramble a stream of 'I'm so sorry's. He truly was sorry, he felt like the one at blame.
With the last of his energy left, Chayanne tapped his father's arm to get his attention and sign him one last thing.
Index finger, pinky finger, thumb, all extended.
His body fell as his eyes closed, going completely limp on his father's shoulder.
Phil was not alright.
He cried out the last of the energy he had with both now dead children on his arms, looking at Tallulah's half written 'Abuelito', remembering the last thing Chayanne signed to him.
There was nothing left that could save him right now. So he closed his eyes and gave his last breath to the breeze as darkness pulled him away from the family in his grasp.
And then, he woke up.
He woke up inside the egg nursery on top of the wall, he could see outside the sun shining high and proud, the garden behind the wall and even the tortoise having a splash at his son's kiddie pool.
It was all just a nightmare.
But that didn't mean that there weren't any consequences.
He looked down after the initial shock that was having that awful dream, he saw Tallulah trying so hard to get his attention, crying, trying to sign something but only to be met with kind misunderstanding. Still, she kept pointing at his uncle, as if something has happened to him. This got Phil worried.
Without a word, he got out of his half empty bed and immediately checked on his child. He couldn't see anything wrong externally, he didn't see any wounds nor cuts. But then, he noticed that his chest wasn't moving at all either.
With a trembling hand, he put his palm on Chayanne's forehead. The child was cold, very cold.
His arm was grasped, pressing a thumb on his wrist, trying to sense something, a single beat from his small from.
Nothing. Phil was met with cold stillness.
He didn't noticed when tears started streaming down his face. He didn't notice his granddaughter looking at him with fear, watching every single emotion on his face to begin to start looking at his little uncle with unmeasurable sadness.
For a moment, the world seemed unfair for Phil.
But now, he had to think on what to do now, on how to explain this to his partner, how would he tell him that while he was away their son died thanks to an unfair creature that only visible feature was two very bright but small eyes with no soul in them.
How is he going to deal with the loss of his child.
He didn't know the answers to any of his questions, all he knew right now is that he needed to take care of Tallulah and that this island was not worth his time now.