The World of Myth Magazine

Of course, Loretta would choose this place. Coconut cocktails and cabana boys that cater to your every need, and I mean, every need.

I don't swing that way. My dear Loretta doesn't know that about me; she only sees another single woman available to take a vacation at a moment's notice because I am retired. I came here as her best friend to help her get over her husband Clarence, ex-husband, rather. The divorce was finalized a week ago when Loretta promptly went out and bought tickets to this tropical paradise only God knows where. We arrived by seaplane. It is hot and sticky. I pray the resort is air-conditioned, for I won't survive this humidity with my asthma.

"Gloria, isn't this marvelous?" Loretta's chubby hand with the white line on her left ring finger screams newly single. I laugh at her enthusiasm. A week ago, she was ready to jump off the penthouse balcony until her costly attorney found a loophole in Clarence Dunworthy's prenup. If only Clarence had hired an equally competent lawyer.

A young man came through the crowd with a sign as he called out, "Loretta Dunworthy? Paging, Loretta Dunworthy."

Loretta's hand shot up, flagging the young man down. "Here I am," she called as she grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd. I couldn't help but notice we were the oldest people on the dock.

"My name is Helix; I am your guide for the week." Loretta smiled broadly, hefting her suitcase at him. He escorted us to a bicycle cab, his arms loaded with our suitcases. Cars were forbidden on the island, save for emergency vehicles.

Helix stacked our luggage on a rack at the bike's back, assisting us into the passenger seat.

"Welcome to Ahtoglog." His eyes were a beautiful brown color with golden flecks that gave him an ethereal air.

"Helix, how old are you?" Loretta flirted.

"Twenty-one."

"Ah, so you are legal." Loretta tittered. I was embarrassed for my friend, who I felt was being foolish. Why would a boy want a corpulent mature woman when he could have his pick of any young woman on the island?

Helix pedaled the cab along limestone paved roads. The afternoon sun shining on the three-story buildings of Ahtoglog Island made it seem a city of gold. Tropical plantings tastefully landscaped the beautiful buildings, contrasting the yellow stone.

"This is lovely, simply lovely." Loretta's double chin wobbled deliciously. She did not know the power she held over me.

The hotel towered above the village, gleaming like the beacon of an offshore lighthouse. All-inclusive resort gates opened when we arrived, allowing us into the safety of its compound.

At the orientation, we were advised not to leave the hotel without a native guide, the person who picked us up at the airport. So, Helix was our host, and we were hostage to him.

"Loretta, you did not tell me the dangers of Ahtoglog when you invited me."

"Nonsense Gloria, why do you think it's all-inclusive? We are safe here." We took our rules and regulation pamphlets to our ground floor oceanside suite. Loretta spared no expense. Helix threw open the doors to a fresh ocean breeze that wafted through the room with a sitting area, small kitchenette, and two king-sized beds. The view was breathtaking.

"This is lovely," Loretta tipped Helix handsomely. "Would you bring us some fresh cocktails and some fruit?" Helix bowed low, kissing Loretta's hand. She giggled coquettishly as he closed the door behind him.

"Isn't he delicious?" I smiled at my friend. She didn't understand what a fool she was making of herself. Helix was paid to pay attention to her. The tips she put into his hand made him more attentive to Loretta's needs, not desire.

Helix returned with our drinks and a lovely platter of fresh fruit. "What time would you like to dine tonight, madame."

"Please, call me Loretta."

"Miss Loretta, we are forbidden to use first names as an air of respect for our guests.

"Oh, then fine. Miss Loretta will have to do. This is Miss Gloria," she waved her hand at me. Helix nodded to my half-hearted wave.

"I think seven would be a fine time to dine, Helix." He nodded to us, stepping out of the room. We took our drinks out on the veranda. The sun was setting behind the building, the worst heat of the day behind us.

"Cheers." Loretta held out her glass, and I said "Skohl" as we toasted the day. We dressed for dinner promptly at seven. Helix escorted us to our table in the main dining room, elegantly posh. Loretta wore a plunging neckline on her dress, thirty years too young. I was embarrassed again for her. Loretta had no idea the effect on our fellow guests who snickered behind her back. They were considerably younger than us.

How dare they? They did not know what my friend had gone through and what she'd had to survive to make it this far.

Helix introduced us to Christo, who would be our server tonight. Our escort bowed, leaving us to Christo's attentive service.

"I'll have the spicy conch soup with the side salad." I handed my menu to Christo, Loretta ordered lobster thermidor and cocktails for both of us. I didn't want another cocktail, but Loretta doesn't like to drink alone.

"So, tomorrow Helix is taking me on a boat to the caves. They are crypts; would you like to come?" I got seasick and almost didn't make it out of the plane this morning. So, this adventure did not appeal to me.

"I think I will read a delightful book at poolside." Loretta seemed relieved that I would let her go with Helix, unaccompanied.

The conch soup was divine, and the cocktail did me in. I felt lightheaded. "Loretta, I am done in, and I need to go lie down."

"So sorry," she flagged Christo down. "My friend needs to go back to our room, suite 100, please."

"As you wish." Christo helped me up from the chair, escorting me back to our room. I shouldn't have had that final cocktail because I can't handle my liquor. That was obvious.

"Helix turned down your beds before he retired for the evening," Christo took me to my bed, taking off my shoes. He covered me and left the room, locking the door behind him.

I slept until awakened by the sound of strong winds and crashing waves–a turbulent storm was brewing.

"Loretta, I think we might be in a hurricane." I looked over, finding Loretta's bed hadn't been slept in. Looking around, I saw shadows pass the veranda doors. Was Loretta out in this wind? There was no rain yet.

It was after midnight. Slipping on my sneakers, I crossed the sand beach, searching for my friend. The wind howled; waves crashed on the shore when I saw Helix with a young woman. Maybe he would help me find Loretta.

"Helix!" I called, but he couldn't hear me over the wind. He was too busy kissing the woman whose head he cradled in his hands, and oh what a kiss. He nearly sucked the life out of her. For a moment, I thought it was Loretta, for she was wearing the same dress, but she was half Loretta's size and age, and her dress looked appropriate. And then, I saw the strangest thing. Helix walked this woman into the crashing waves of water. How could they remain standing without being washed into the ocean? The woman followed him without hesitancy, as if in a trance. Helix gently placed her in the water, her face submerged. I waited, but she never came up.

"Oh, My God!" I gasped, holding in my scream. I didn't want our guide to know what I'd just seen. Running back to our room, I had already decided to get Loretta and leave this place.

In the interior hall of the hotel, I found myself standing outside the restaurant, which was now closed. A chaperon guide asked me if I were hungry? I almost blurted out that I saw Helix drown a woman when I noticed he had the same gold flecking in his eyes that Helix did.

"No, no, thank you, I was looking for my friend, is all," I hurried back to our room and barred the doors. I stayed awake so that I could remove the barricade from the door when Loretta returned. I wondered if she had found solace in Christo? Helix was preoccupied this evening.

A sharp rap at the door the following day.

"Loretta!" I opened to Helix standing there with the morning menu.

"Helix, Loretta is missing. She did not return from dinner last night. I am concerned for her safety." He assured me she was safe and went to the catacombs with a different chaperone this morning. As soon as he left, I dressed and went down to the bay, where I could see the caves in the distance. I would not hire a boat to take me there. I opted instead for a bicycle taxi and the long way around.

"I'd like to go to the catacomb caves." The taxi cyclist accepted the generous payment I offered despite telling me they weren't open yet. I didn't care. I wanted to find my friend.

We arrived on the other side of the bay. I ran and walked down the beach entering the catacombs, seeing many caution signs in several languages.

"Caution. Guided tours only. Do not enter without a licensed guide." It was too early in the morning to hire anyone. Where had Loretta's guide taken her? Out to breakfast first? Walking further into the opening, I searched for the switch to turn on the lighted attraction but soon discovered the lights in the cave required a special key to turn them on. I had a flashlight, as I always carried one in my suitcase when I traveled. Shining the beam up and down the walls, I followed the signs pointing the way to the catacombs. What a maze this place was, steeped in superstition and old traditions, no doubt. I'd read the tourist pamphlets, and there were thousands of people buried on this island entombed in this seaside crypt. Some of the cave was formed naturally, carved out by the tides and the waves, but ancient locals spent their entire lifetimes carving paths into these limestone cliffs in a maze-like catacomb. Some of the areas were open to the public, but many branches were not.

Rows of skulls stacked on femur bones lined the rooms, floor to ceiling. It was eerie, and my breath caught flashing the light around. So macabre, the entire chamber was filled with skeletons arranged perfectly. Because the island was nothing more than a stone outcropping in the ocean, few places buried the dead. Any area that could be used for growing crops was precious and used in that manner. The caves proved to be the most logical option to dispose of their deceased.

I could hear water dripping. Would I find a stalactite? I turned in that direction, entering a vast opening, awed by the stone structure that hung from the ceiling, nearly touching the floor. It resembled a melted candle with different colors of wax. It was beautiful. I walked around the chamber and realized there were no tourist signs or lights on the ceiling. Somehow, I allowed myself to get lost in the maze.

What the hell did I think as I called out, was anybody there? The sound bounced in several directions echoing off the stone columns. It was too early for the tourists. I sat down near what I felt was where I'd come into this chamber. I would wait for the tourists and stop wandering. I was making my situation worse. Why hadn't I left things from my purse at each intersection I'd taken? I found a stick of gum and put it in my mouth. I had a cell phone which turned on but being in a foreign country. The phone had no signal; we'd already tried that yesterday. I had been here less than twenty-four hours, and I had been ill, lost my dearest friend, felt I had been drugged, walked into a hurricane, watched our host drown a woman, and now, lost in a death maze. This vacation was not high on my list of favorite places.

Somehow, I managed to fall asleep, waking when I heard pitiful cries. I sat up, seeing torches of fire coming into the cavern I was resting in. Their presence frightened me as the walkers chanted some evil-sounding ditty. It was as if they were participating in a ceremony. I decided to hide from them. They marched a blindfolded woman who cried to be released.

Two men, each holding an arm, escorted her to the center of the chamber. Helix or someone who looked like him stepped up to the woman cradling her face. His mouth hung open, appearing like a catfish's mouth. He latched onto the woman drawing her life essence that glowed in the dark. After the first draw, she went with him willingly to a pool of water. He drew more life from her. She became a child. Helix picked up the child, laying her in the water. I hid closer to the column as steam rose in the light of the torches.

A few minutes later, the chanters picked her bones from the water. I followed the procession at a distance, watching as they placed her bones on a carved shelf. The femurs were crossed, and the rest of her bones were stacked until her skull was placed on top. I thought about the woman last night on the beach. Was that Loretta? She wore the same dress, perhaps the older you are, the less you shrink from whatever it was they were doing.

Soul eating came to mind. Is that why no one seemed to be old on this island? One taste, you were young, two tastes you were dead?

I followed through the catacombs safely, seeing fresher bones here than in the public viewing area. It led me to believe this was an ancient burial ground, but only the public sections were ancient. The chanters took me places I knew I hadn't gone before, and I prayed they would take me out of this never-ending maze.

When they reached the end of a tunnel, they took off their bright costumes and extinguished their torches–one by one, disappearing through a wall. I waited until the last person left the cave. I knew this was the only way I could leave.

I reached out to feel the wall, amazed when my arm disappeared into the rock. I held my breath and stepped through, suddenly finding myself underwater. I panicked until I could see the light above and swam to the surface.

I came out of the water, in front of the hotel. The very spot I'd seen Helix submerge the woman, no, it was Loretta. I am confident of that now. I swam off to the side and further away from the people on the beach, coming out in front of our room. I dragged my purse onshore and sat in the sand, panting as the water dripped off my body. Grateful to be alive, to have found the way out, but I was getting out of here right now. I debated whether I should even get my baggage. I had my passport in my purse, wet but intact. I flagged down a cycle taxi.

"Air landing dock," the cyclist moved. The further I got from the hotel, the better I felt with my decision not to clean out my room and gather my things. The taxi dropped me off at the dock. I walked down the pier.

"When is your next flight?"

"You're in luck. We're leaving in a few moments." He swiped my credit card on his phone. I felt chilled in the warm sun as my clothes dried out until I spied Helix coming up the dock.

"I need to get on the plane, now!" I shouted to the pilot. Helix approached, taking my arm. He cradled my head and kissed me.

I felt my soul exiting my body and knew I needed to fight him. I was not drawn to him in that way and was able to push back, mashing my hand in his face. I saw my reflection in his mirrored sunglasses, amazed to know that I was half my age. Young and beautiful again.

I pulled myself away, getting on the plane taking my seat. The pilot locked the door crossing the bay on pontoons. I was queasy but more afraid of staying on that island than getting seasick. The plane lifted, circling the island as we flew over the catacombs. I hadn't noticed before, but the burial site shaped like a skull from the air. The name Golgotha came to my mind, realizing this was Ahtoglog, backward. The place of Christ's crucifixion, meaning skull.

I arrived at the main airport and used all the credit on my card to purchase a ticket to New York, the next flight out. Hurrying to the washroom, I used the facilities and washed my hands, amazed at my reflection in the mirror.

I was a young woman who barely looked like my driver's license anymore. Splashing cold water on my face, I couldn't help but admire the gold flecks that shone in my eyes. Oh, dear God, I had become one of them.

-