The Island Trip.

Chapter 4

Sophia was .. well 'shocked' would be an understatement.

She didn't know what to think of it, her feelings were all over the places. With distracted mind she returned to her friends who were looking at other food stalls. Sean was the first one to realize that Sophia was zone out half of the time, " hey, what are you thinking?" he waved his hand in-front of her to grab her attention. " huh.. oh sorry i zoned out didn't i?, that lady from the first stall said something which is just so bizarre it's just got stuck in my mind ", she told him the whole conversation that happened with the lady, "she looked so serious, it was hard to not believe her".

Sean frowned in confusion and was just so speechless, as he realized and he shake his had and opened his mouth to speak-

" you look like you have seen ghost or something, was that burger you're eating that bad? tsk tsk i told you to order pizza over burger. What a waste of money" snickered Annie, other two also joined and laughed at the comment Annie passed.

NO Reply

When they didn't get any replies they get confused and get concerned. The awkward silence was making everyone jumpy.

"what? what happened, just say something ", Annie voice was draped with concern and tension.

"Sophia, you tell them" Sean said. Everyone suddenly focused their attention on her.

Sophia with shaky voice started and with help of Sean told the whole conversation and took out the charms that she had stuffed it inside her jean's pocket.

Charms were still looking beautiful, otherworldly yet felt heavy and dark in her hands.

"Wha- what to do now?,history of castle-", "come on people, time for the tour, gather around!". As Dean was going to ask about the castle their guide came and was walking in their way, they all become silent and everybody shoved the charms they all took in the pockets.

As the guide moved forward and had his back at them they all looked at each other "no one is gonna discuss about this conversation to anyone till we find the solution, okay?" he whispered. Everybody nodded to the plan Dean proposed.

They didn't have any other option.

All were scared, confused, dumb-founded but also felt exhilarated, curious about the unknown mystery. Everybody fell into silence as they were walking toward the gathering.

Dean stopped them and said " we need to know what is with all the castle mystery, am going to ask locals and lastly guide when the right time comes", he could see how everybody was feeling about the situation fell upon them.

He needed to do something, wanted to do something,

"okay Dean, just be careful" worried Sean. With a big sigh he nodded.

Tour had gone smoothly, guide took them to several religious places, monuments and also took to the places where they could shop. They were taking a small break at the area where all the festivities would be happening the next day.

But Dean felt frustrated. Plan was still not on the road.

They didn't visit the castle.

Not even close.

How is he going to ask something about it when they don't even came a little close?

How can he ask about the history without looking suspicious?

But by now he had figured out at-least one thing.

Castle's a mystery.

People don't even like to talk about it. Locals ignored the topic like a plaque, one even scolded " we don't talk about it, no one with the right mind would talk about it".

If that's the thing, then why did that lady talked about it to Sophia with so much enthusiasm and wanted us to go there, wondered Dean.

" let's talk to the guide, he look friendly enough I guess", shrugged Sean.They formulated a simple plan. Talk but with discretion.

As he was the only option left, they can't fail.

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They all took drinks in their hands and approached him. As casually as they can do, they came around and pretended that they didn't saw him sitting there before.

"oh, hello sir we didn't realize this seat was occupied", said Sean.

The guide looked up to them and recognize them as tourists. "It's okay, i am not disturbed. You all can sit here besides, it's too big to sit alone." He laughed.

Taking it as a positive reply they all sat while saying a soft thank you.

They started talking about different topics and what not. At first they were not talking about anything related to island, just casual stuff.

About hour or so, they subtly tried to know things related to the inner side of islands. They all were sitting, bringing more and more of drinks to have loose and friendly atmosphere.

So it was safe to say that some were more than tipsy, including the guide.

" When are we going to visit that huge castle? i want to take a picture on top of that building!", Annie exclaimed a little louder than required.

She was not that tipsy but a little acting can't hurt anyone, right?

Everybody laughed little to make it look more casual, glancing at the guide who looked liked he was little zoned out.

Silence

" Castle is out of limits."

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Gloom was slowly surrounding them. Mixture of emotions like disappointment and curiosity were painted all over their faces.

Whole group was silent and their attention was on him as he looked like after listening to word 'castle' he was more present then ever as in he came out of his 'zoned out' period.

"People have told me to put as much distance as possible between tourists and the castle, i wish i was not that big of a chicken and had visited that place by myself," he laughed, a little too drunkenly.

"History of it is quite dark, some say it's cursed, some say it's all a hoax to create a little mystery to entertain people."

"People Can and they Were getting lost in there quite easily.

Sometimes screams and shrill voices could be heard from it"

And then he said something which had made them all get chills.

Chills all over the bodies and it had nothing to do with chilly, windy evening.

"Something lies there, nobody have seen it and if someone had seen it, they don't survive to describe it and tell tale"