The room was overly white—an unsettling, muted white that made everything seem remote. Sounds became too heavy to carry; voices lost weight and faded into silence. The subtle buzz of equipment, the quiet scrape of nurses' shoes in the hallway, and the whisper of wind brushing across the open windows all felt far away, as if they were occurring to someone else entirely.
Jill lay motionless, a pale silhouette against the stiff linen sheets, her eyes barely open, caught between sleep and something darker. The metallic tang of IV drips hung to the back of her throat. A plastic wristband looped around her arm like a tag. She had seen bands like it before—the kind they give you when the world quietly decides you might not make it through the night.
Then the atmosphere shifted.
An unexpected breeze blew through the crevices around the windows. It ruffled Jill's hair and sent the corners of a medical chart fluttering. The overhead lights flickered only once, but she noticed.
She blinked.
A shadow moved near the foot of her bed.
"Who's there?" Her voice grew scratchy. Similar to how porcelain cracks.
The shadow moved closer, unravelling into shape. There were no footsteps. It was just the presence of Larry, who stood confidently beside her.
"Feeling better?" Larry asked, his tone too casual, as if they were two old lovers having a late-night drink.
Jill stared at him: pale complexion, eyes like wet glass.
"What do you want?" she asked, low.
Larry smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "Just Curious, That's all. I have been thinking... What are your buddies up to? Anna. Adex. Two little saints. I can't seem to get into their thoughts. "Isn't that odd?"
Jill frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Larry tilted his head like he could see through her. "But you do. They were here. I felt them."
She looked away. "I chased Adex away. I didn't even look him in the eye. "Why should I know what he's planning?"
"You're lying," Larry continued, his tone remaining calm and almost pleading. "He's plotting something for me. And I can't see it. He's hiding something, and I want to know what it is.
Jill's lips barely moved. "Why waste time worrying over things that aren't real?"
Larry's smile twitched. "Because Adex is real." And he's dangerous. I can feel it. And you've changed, Jill. You used to be mine. But now... You seem to have forgotten the Island."
She shut her eyes for a second. And there it was again—that place—the Island of Fools.
Larry was always there, messing with the reality, bending it like a wire.
A sky with no sun, water that moved all in the wrong direction, and laughter that didn't seem to come from anyone genuinely.
She remembered her moments with people she thought cared about her.
But somehow, Larry always ended up in their place.
She opened her eyes, which were blunt. "Go to hell, Larry."
He leaned closer to her, his breath like smoke on her cheek. "I am already there, darling." And I'm clawing my way out. Do you think this hospital bed will keep you safe? "Do you think Anna or Adex can hold me back? Think again, my dear."
"I hate you," she yelled, raising her voice and clenching her fists in the covers. She spat at Larry and didn't flinch when it missed.
"Don't be mad, Jill," he said softly. "It is what it is. You knew this wasn't over."
She sat up suddenly, her IV tugging tight. "Get out!"
She yelled at the top of her lungs, a stinging ache stirring in her stomach as she gently stroked her belly.
He didn't move. "You feel it, don't you? That small throbbing beneath your ribs, the flutter in your stomach—I'm growing stronger. "I won't be a whisper for much longer."
Her eyes expanded.
Larry's voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm coming back. Not as a ghost. Not like a dream. This time, it's bone and blood. Do you think what's going on with your body is a coincidence? "That little miracle inside you was never yours to begin with."
Jill froze. Her heartbeat thumped in her ears. Her hands found her tummy before her mind could catch up. Her fingernails pressed into the flimsy hospital robe.
"You're lying."
"Am I?" He began to retreat into the shadows again. "I would relax if I were you. You'll need your strength. I have a few errands to run. Let's see what your loving buddies have hidden."
"Larry!" she screamed.
But he was already gone.
No door opened, and no sound marked his exit. The lights steadied, the wind died, and the room slipped into its hospital hush.
But Jill was not the same.
She looked at the ceiling. Her breath was in quick rushes. Her arms trembled, and her body became cold and drenched with sweat. She carefully caressed her stomach again, almost as if it would respond.
She'd been alone for days. Her thoughts were like knots, too tight to untie.
Jill remembered Anna crying when she visited. They were real tears, thick with guilt. Jill had turned her face away.
Adex had stood quietly in the corner, his voice steady, asking if she needed anything. She'd said no. She didn't mean it. He left anyway.
She'd wanted him to stay. But part of her wanted him to run.
Now, Larry knew.
Larry knew the flutter she had kept hidden—the quiver beneath her ribs that was neither her heart nor hunger. Her spine had an unusual pull, as if something was reorganising her from the inside out.
And now he was coming back.
As something real.
Her thoughts stuttered over that. Larry had a heartbeat, skin, and a voice that could reach others.
She carefully leaned forward and lifted her legs off the bed, allowing her bare feet to touch the cool floor. Her body trembled from weakness and tiredness, yet panic flooded her head.
She needed to leave.
Find Anna and Adex, even if she had driven them away and spat truth and poison at them both.
She knew Larry wasn't lying; therefore, whatever was developing inside her had nothing to do with life and everything to do with returning.
She grabbed the bed's edge, her knuckles white and breathing shallow.
A nurse walked outside the room. Jill froze, attempting to appear composed. However, her reflection in the window destroyed the act—her hair was wild, her eyes were wide, and her cheeks were flushed with fear and rage.
She had to move fast.
She stood. Her kneecaps buckled. She swore under her breath before reaching for the IV pole and removing the needle from her arm. Blood welled up instantly. She shuffled toward the closet where she'd stored her belongings, pressing a tissue against the wound.
The room swirled.
She ignored it.
Larry wasn't just visiting now. He was planning the final return. And if she stayed, she'd be the vessel.
Fools' Island had never really gone away. It had just been waiting.
And this time, it wouldn't let her go so easily.