PURGATORY ISLAND | Lisanessa Chapter 1
Fanfic Introduction
The pain arrived before the darkness.
It wasn’t a blow. It wasn’t a bleeding wound. It was worse.
Vanessa felt something ripping her apart from the inside, as if invisible threads were pulling at every memory, every thought, every fragment of her identity. Charlotte hadn’t just taken her body—she had completely dismantled her. The girl’s voice echoed everywhere and nowhere at once, a cold, mechanical sound vibrating inside her skull.
She tried to scream. She couldn’t.She tried to hold on to something, but she failed.
There was only absolute darkness. Silent. Empty. Eternal.
...
Until the sea came.
The sound started as a distant whisper, then turned into a rhythmic breathing, and finally into waves gently breaking against the sand in a hypnotic pattern. Vanessa’s eyes snapped open, gasping as if she had been drowning.
“Ah...!”
Air rushed forcefully into her lungs. She sat up violently, white hot sand slipping between her fingers. Her eyes blinked against the intense sunlight, trying to process everything.
Sand. Palm trees. A sky that was almost too blue. Crystal-clear water sparkling in an almost dreamlike way.
For a second she thought it was a dream. Then the memories hit her: the restaurant, Michael, Mike telling her to fuck off, and Charlotte invading her until she tore her away from herself.
Her breathing quickened. Her heart hammered in her chest.
“What...?”
She looked around. A few meters away, sitting on the sand with her knees hugged to her chest, was a younger blonde girl. Her wavy, shiny hair fell well past her shoulders, and her large blue eyes watched her with a mix of relief and resignation. She was noticeably shorter. The girl let out a long sigh of relief.
“Thank God.”
Vanessa blinked, still disoriented.
“What?”
“I thought it would take you longer to wake up.”
“Who are you?” Vanessa asked, getting to her feet with difficulty. She shook the sand off her green t-shirt and the blue shirt she wore over it.
“Lisa,” the girl replied simply, standing up as well. Her voice was light, almost casual.
“Lisa what?”
“Just Lisa.” She shrugged with a crooked smile. “Is this an interrogation or something?”
Vanessa opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. She was definitely going to clash with this girl, she thought.
“...Vanessa.”
“Nice to meet you, Vanessa.”
The silence stretched for a moment, broken only by the waves. It felt somewhat awkward. Neither of them knew what you were supposed to say in a situation like this.
“Where are we?” Vanessa asked, looking out at the endless horizon.
Lisa paused. Her expression changed—it wasn’t exactly sadness, but the face of someone who had had far too much time to accept an unpleasant truth.
“Ah.”
“‘Ah’?”
“Yeah.”
“What does ‘ah’ mean?”
“That we’ve reached the complicated part.”
Vanessa frowned, crossing her arms. Her imposing stance made it clear her patience was running out.
“Where are we?”
Lisa gestured vaguely at the beach.
“Look, uh... We’re here.”
“I can see that.”
“Good.”
“Where is ‘here’?”
“I have no idea.”
Vanessa stared at her in disbelief, feeling frustration and despair rising in her chest. Couldn’t this girl answer something so simple?
“You have no idea?”
“Nope.”
“You don’t know where we are?”
“No.”
“And you’re this calm about it?”
Lisa let out a short, almost hysterical chuckle. She wouldn’t exactly call her state of mind calm—she was on the verge of losing it.
“I already had my existential crisis... three days ago? Months? I don’t know. I have no idea how much time has passed.”
Vanessa ran a hand over her face, still feeling sand stuck to her skin. A headache was coming on. She wanted to strangle her.
“I need answers.”
“I needed them too,” Lisa said, sitting back down on the sand.
“And?”
“I didn’t find any.”
“Fantastic.”
“Thanks.”
“That was sarcasm.”
“Ah.” Lisa smiled faintly, as if the situation struck her as absurdly funny. “Alright, grumpy.”
Vanessa was already starting to regret waking up. She walked along the shoreline, feeling the warm sand slip into her boots. Everything felt too real: the heat of the sun on her skin, the salty wind moving her hair.
“This doesn’t make sense...” she muttered.
Lisa watched her with curiosity.
“How did you die?”
Vanessa turned her head sharply.
“What?”
“I asked how you died.”
“I’m not dead,” Vanessa answered firmly, though her voice trembled slightly. Had she died? She refused to accept it.
Lisa stayed quiet for a moment, then made a face.
“Yeah, you are.”
“No.”
“Yes.”.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“We can keep this up for hours,” Lisa said, raising her hands, “years if you want, but you’re going to have to accept this… uh… reality?”
Vanessa clenched her teeth. The memory hit her like a chill.
“I’m alive.”
“Then explain how you got here.”
Vanessa opened her mouth… and froze. She had no answer. The last thing she remembered was Charlotte, the pain, the darkness. Nothing else.
Lisa stood up and approached her cautiously, ready in case Vanessa had a breakdown and threw a punch.
“I didn’t want to believe it either. But I couldn’t find a better explanation.”
The wind rustled the palm leaves. The waves broke softly. Everything was too perfect. Too fake.
“So… we’re dead?” Vanessa asked quietly.
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“Well, there’s no manual. I’ve been here for days—” she gestured with her hands “—and I’ve only eaten one thing the entire time. I mean, I still get hungry, but I haven’t ‘died’ again.”
“Great.”
“Yeah.”
Vanessa let out a shaky breath and sat down beside her. She noticed the coconut split in half next to Lisa. It was empty.
“What about that?”
Lisa pointed at her own head with a grimace.
“It fell on me. I asked for an exit… to heaven, I guess. It didn’t answer. It threw a coconut at me instead. It still hurts emotionally. I felt humiliated. I ate it anyway. It was the only thing I’ve eaten, by the way.”
Vanessa stared at her. For the first time since she “woke up,” a small, hoarse laugh escaped her lips, almost against her will.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Exactly” Lisa said, smiling. “But hey, I’d say it would’ve been great if it had killed me, but apparently you can’t die twice.”
Vanessa didn’t respond to that. She didn’t know how. From her perspective, the girl was crazy.
The hours (or what felt like hours) passed. The sun didn’t move. It stayed fixed in the sky like an eternal photograph. Vanessa explored the beach and part of the nearby forest, her mind searching for exits, clues, anything. But the island seemed both infinite and limited at the same time.
When she returned, Lisa was lying under a palm tree, staring at the sky.
“There’s nothing,” Vanessa said, sitting down beside her.
“I know.”
“Did you try?”
“Fourteen times. Fifteen if you count the raft I built. The tide brought it back three times.”
Vanessa raised an eyebrow, feeling a mix of frustration and a strange relief at not being alone.
“That sounds impossible. How did you have that much patience?”
“I didn’t. I just ended up accepting it.”
They fell silent, listening to the sea. Vanessa felt the weight in her chest: Mike’s rejection, how Michael had tried to kill them, the possession—everything. Her throat tightened.
Lisa noticed the change.
“You’re thinking about someone.”
“…Not exactly… Just complicated people.”
“Ah. Those are the worst.”
“And you?”
Lisa took a moment to answer.
“My friends.”
Her voice was softer, more vulnerable. Vanessa turned and saw genuine sadness in those blue eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
The silence returned, but it was no longer awkward. It was just shared.
The sound of the sea was constant. Not loud. Not annoying. It was simply there.
Vanessa sat on the warm sand with her knees slightly bent and her arms resting on them. She had no idea how long she’d been staring at the horizon. The sun remained completely still in the sky, always in the same spot, bathing everything in an eternal golden light. At first it had felt strange. Now it was starting to feel unsettling. Her mind needed rhythm, change, the certainty that time was moving forward. Here, nothing did.
“Do you think the sun is dead too?” Lisa asked beside her.
Vanessa barely turned her head. The younger girl was lying on her back on the sand, hands behind her head and her wavy blonde hair spread out like a bright halo. Her blue eyes stared at the sky with that mix of curiosity and resignation. Vanessa would have felt sorry for her if she weren’t in the exact same situation.
“What?” Vanessa muttered.
“The sun. It never moves.”
“I know.”
“So maybe it died too,” Lisa said casually.
Vanessa closed her eyes for a second, feeling the sun’s warmth on her face and the breeze moving her hair.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Neither does us being on an island after we died.”
“Fair point.”
“Thanks,” Lisa said, smiling with satisfaction—that bright smile that lit up her whole face, clearly proud of herself.
Vanessa looked back at the sea. A second later, her stomach growled. An uncomfortable, very real sensation hit her.
“I’m hungry.”
“What?” Lisa propped herself up on her elbows.
“I’m hungry,” Vanessa repeated, frowning.
Now that it had been mentioned, Lisa felt the emptiness in her own stomach too. She touched her abdomen with one hand.
“Aren’t we not supposed to need food?”
“Why?”
“Because we’re dead.”
“Ah.” Vanessa thought about it for a few seconds, her expression serious. “Then I have ghost hunger.”
Lisa blinked, then snorted.
“How do you know?”
“And how do you know it’s ghost hunger?”
“Because…” Vanessa stopped. She had no idea.
“Exactly,” Lisa said, smiling victoriously. “You don’t know.”
“You don’t either.”
“But I’m not making claims.”
Vanessa rubbed the bridge of her nose. The headache was already creeping in.
“You’re unbearable.”
“Thanks.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“I’ll take it as one.”
Vanessa was starting to realize that Lisa had a natural talent for ignoring sarcasm… or worse, throwing it right back.
The younger blonde jumped to her feet, brushing the sand off her clothes.
“Come on.”
“Where?”
“To find food.”
“Didn’t you just say we’re dead?”
“Yeah.”
“And you still want to eat?”
“Yep.”
Vanessa stared at her. Lisa just shrugged innocently.
“You’re contradicting yourself, but whatever.” Reluctantly, Vanessa stood up. They walked together through the island. The vegetation was too perfect: tall palm trees, bright flowers, but there were no insects, no birds, no other animals. Just the two of them. “Do you realize there’s no wildlife?” Vanessa asked.
Lisa looked around.
“Now that you mention it… that’s weird.”
“Maybe we’re the wildlife.”
“That’s depressing.”
“I know.”
They reached a denser area of palm trees. Lisa looked up.
“Well. Food.”
Vanessa followed her gaze. Dozens of coconuts hung from the tops.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not climbing a tree.”
“Me neither.”
“So…”
At that exact moment, a coconut fell onto the sand just a few inches from Lisa’s feet. Both of them froze, staring at it. Then they looked at each other. Then back at the coconut.
“…That was weird,” Vanessa said.
“Yeah.”
“Really weird.”
“Yeah.”
“Way too convenient.”
“Yeah…” Lisa crouched down, ignoring her, and picked up the coconut. It was already split perfectly in half, as if someone had prepared it.
Vanessa let out a short, incredulous laugh.
“You’re not even going to question it?”
“Nope.”
“Why?”
“Because I have ghost hunger.”
“Ah… Now you’re stealing my term.”
“And I’ll keep using it.”
They ate. Or at least pretended to. The white, sweet flesh had a perfect flavor—mildly sweet and refreshing. The hunger disappeared almost instantly, leaving a strange feeling of satisfaction in their “bodies,” as if the purgatory was mocking their human needs.
“I don’t understand this place” Vanessa murmured, staring into the empty coconut shell.
“Me neither” Lisa admitted.
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
Lisa thought about it longer than usual. Her smile faded a little. She looked down.
“Yeah. A lot.” Her answer was quiet. Honest. The wind moved a few strands of hair across her face. “But if I think about it too much, I get sad.”
Vanessa watched her in silence. For the first time, she saw past the facade. Behind the jokes and sarcasm was a girl who was also scared, who had also lost important things.
“Do you always do that?” Vanessa asked softly.
“Do what?”
“Run away from your emotions.”
“Most of the time,” Lisa replied with a sad smile. It felt strange admitting something she hadn’t even told her best friends.
Vanessa looked down.
“I don’t know how to do that. Pretend I’m okay.”
“Trust me. Nobody who’s actually okay says ‘I’m okay.’ It’s obvious how bitter you are from a mile away,” Lisa said with a small, teasing laugh.
“Shut up for a minute, will you?” It didn’t sound as firm as she wanted, and she couldn’t help smiling. Just a little. But Lisa noticed it immediately.
“I did it!”
“What?”
“I made you smile.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“It was a grimace.”
“Smile.”
“Grimace.”
“Smile.”
Vanessa finally let out another laugh, clearer and hoarser. Lisa raised both arms in victory.
“I win!”
“What exactly did you win?”
“I don’t know.”
“Thought so…”
“But it feels good. Winning.”
Vanessa shook her head, unable to hide the small smile that lingered on her lips. She felt the weight in her chest lighten just a little.
It didn’t disappear. But for those few minutes, while the sea breathed steadily and Lisa filled the silence with nonsense, the emptiness felt a little less infinite.
And in a place where time didn’t exist, those minutes meant a lot more than Vanessa was willing to admit.
Next chapter: "This is a Purgatory?"
