The Family: Chapter 5: Perfect Illusion
Paradise has a way of getting under your skin.
Chapter 5: Perfect Illusion
Previously in The Family…
In Chapter Four, Isla Rosario unveiled its beauty—and its pull. The island wrapped itself around Adrian like a velvet rope, its secrets slipping between glasses of champagne and whispered conversations. But beneath the luxury and warmth of The Family, something tugged at the edges of reality. A lingering touch. A question that wouldn’t let go. A feeling, deep in his bones, that the island was watching him just as closely as he was watching it.
Now, in Chapter Five, the morning brings more than just light. It brings change. A shift beneath the skin, a ripple in the reflection. Something is different. Something is wrong.
Isla Rosario, Región Insular del Caribe, Colombia
The next morning, I awoke in my villa my body feeling like it weighed half a ton of bricks. Thankfully I slept soundly but my deep sleep was racked with vivid, disturbing dreams. The details of the dreams were slipping away from me now, like trying to hold on to ice cubes on a hot day with an iron grip.
I can only remember them in flashes. In one, I can feel myself walking through a vast mansion with soaring ceilings and a cold, minimal aesthetic, its clearly a grand house but lacks any kind of a soul. I walk into a room that appears to be a bedroom and notice a woman standing still like a statue staring straight ahead, her mouth moving quickly but no sound coming out. Further into the darkened room, I see an open door with a shaft of light coming out of it. As I approach, I can see a figure crouched over something on the ground, as I get closer I can make the figure out to be Celeste. As I get closer, she whips her head around noticing my presence and on the floor in front of her is Ethan’s mangled body, his shirt torn open and his skin flayed across his chest and face. Except something is wrong, even in the dark I can see something doesn’t make sense, the torn skin and exposed flesh is secreting a dark fluid in the darkness, I can see a distinctive sheen on the fluid, its not blood, it’s something else.
“Celeste?” I asked coldly as I moved in closer.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Celeste growled at me.”
I reached out to touch Ethan hesitantly my fingers probing his wounds, the substance is thick and viscous, smooth and slightly sticky, slippery, thick and warm, it felt like…blood.
But upon holding my fingers closer to my eyes, I can see its not blood, its a viscous silver solution that felt tacky against my fingers.
As I woke the next morning, the sun peering in through the villa’s glass, I could hear the distant chirp of birds and jungle animals singing heralding the sunrise. I pulled on a loose shirt and a pair of linen pants and made my way to the path Celeste had showed me that lead to the beach.
As I stepped out to the beach, the sun was cresting the horizon, its rays pouring out over the ocean surrounding the Island.
I waded up to my mid calf in the water letting the warm ocean water lap around my skin.
The brightness was overpowering so I held my hand up to shield my eyes and as I did so, my eyes caught something. I looked at my hand held up to the sun and then put my hand close in front of my face.
Under the surface of my skin, it looked like there was a silver-y sheen to my skin. In a fit of panic and fear, I began scratching at my skin with my fingers as the skin reddened and chaffed. I looked down into the shallow waters and saw a jagged seashell broken open, I grabbed the broken shell and dug its sharp edge into my palm piercing the skin. I felt the searing pain as it cut through nerve endings and flesh, I tipped the shell deeper into my hand surging with fear except, instead of a river of crimson springing to the surface and running down my arm, I was shocked to see a thick, gooey silver substance like the one I’d seen in my dream come gurgling out of the gouged wound. I tapped my fingers into my blood and held it up closer to my face, the blood was fully pewter in color with a twinkle in it that looked like sparkly grains of sand.
I began sipping in air quickly like it had become a valued luxury and before I knew it I was seized by panic my breath becoming quick, panicked and shallow. My mind was spinning and I felt like I was going to faint.
I turned to run back to shore for relief but as I did, I saw her there, Celeste, glowing in a radiance amplified by the sunlight with her hand outstretched to me, “Adrian,” she said, “Are you okay?”
I dont know what made me do it but I reached out for her hand and she pulled me close the silver gunk now running down my palm and forearm.
“Oh no,” Celeste cooed, “you hurt yourself,” her voice softening with a silky lowness. Celeste rubbed her hand over mine.
“What happened?” Celeste asked and I weighed how much honesty I would throttle in my answer.
“I saw something under my skin,” I said trying to regulate my panic, “It was silver looking,” I said nervously.
“It’s the same hand where I…” I said my voice quaking, “…where I, touched…you…” I stammered.
“And then last night,” I said, “I had this crazy dream that you were in with Ethan and he was there but he was dead and he was…” I said yammering on incoherently.
“I know this all must be very confusing, Adrian,” Celeste said calmly and softly. She pulled me close and wrapped her arms around my back and I sipped in the scent of her sandalwood, leather and gardenia with that fresh hint of orange peel. Whatever that scent was, it was so calming.
I began to choke back sobs, not sobs of regret, more sobs of confusion, as she said, “There there, you lost your best friend, and now you’re here with me, I can understand why you’re so confused and overwrought with emotion,”
“Look,” Celeste said looking up at my eyes, “I have so much to tell you, and I will, I promise…” she said earnestly, “tonight after the dinner at the big house, I will tell you all you need to know,” she said in a way that I almost believed.
“Now, promise me you’ll spend the day resting and relaxing and enjoying yourself and tonight will be much clearer for you.” Celeste said.
I spent the rest of the day laying out at the pool, I took a small lunch with me to the beach where I read a good book and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the jungle trails.
Just as I was about to return to the villas, I heard the sound of voices shouting in the distance. Down one of the trails branching off from the main trail was a secluded villa. I could hear the two voices yelling at each other emanating from the villa. Naturally I wanted to get the scoop but not become part of the story. Moving carefully I managed to move in to a discreet location and took mental notes of the argument.
“I’m telling you, Ronan,” I heard Onyx’s voice growl.
“You’re fucking lying,” Ronan bellowed in sharp defiance.
“You better take responsibility,” Onyx cried as I heard several glasses being thrown against the wall.
“No,” Ronan pressed defiantly, “Not only is it not true, it’s not even fucking possible,” he harshed. “I just fucking met you last night, there’s no way you’re pregnant 12 hours later.” He said with an unnerving certainty.
Pregnant 12 hours later I mouthed to myself equally flummoxed.
“And what the fuck,” Ronan demanded, his voice becoming thunderous now, “Did you do to me?” He asked, “I cut myself shaving and now my blood is all silver and shit.” Ronan said as my heart leapt and I cradled my hand that I had cut open that morning, the grisly sight of the silver blood oozing from my wound still fresh in my mind, the memory still sticky, warm and tacky like the blood itself.
I heard a rustle from inside the villa, the sounds of a beast tearing though prey followed by the low guttural groans of someone in pain.
After a hollow, brief silence, I heard Onyx say, “Roberto, clean this up, get rid of the body.”
I struggled to get closer to the villa and managed to look through one of the windows just in time to see Onyx hovering over Ronan’s mangled body like a wraith floating over its prey, his head caved in by a heavy vase sitting on the floor beside his body as a viscous trail of silver blood snaked its way away from his crushed cranium.
Onyx craned her head upwards - was she aware of my presence? I thought. As I continued to watch her, she stood over his body examining what she had done. As she stood, she turned her body towards one of the other windows and I could clearly see the bump of a visibly pregnant woman forming in her abdomen. What was going on here?
I took advantage of her being momentarily distracted to pull myself away from my hiding spot by the window as I quietly made my way back to the jungle trail.
As I explored one of the trails, Theron noticed me and pulled me in close, “Hey, man,” he said disarmingly, “You want to go for a quick walk?” He asked.
“You know, might have some color for your article,” he said tantalizingly. “With you?” I asked, “Of course.” We continued to walk as I pushed away what I had seen- who would believe me, anyways?
As we walked and the sounds of the jungle trilled around us, Theron broke the uncomfortable silence, “So,” he said breaching the silence, “What are your thoughts on The Family so far?”
“They,” I began, “are certainly interesting.”
“That’s a word,” Theron responded clearly harboring another thought.
“Why,” I asked, “What would you call them?”
“Disturbing,” Theron said plainly.
Not wanting to give away all my thoughts, fears, and secrets, I probed delicately, “Why would you say that?”
“There is definitely something practiced, perfect, and eerie about them,” he began. “Something I’d almost call…”
Theron’s words seemed to just hang in the air tantalizingly before he said, “…Artificial.”
“I’d definitely say,” I added, “They seem materialistic and like they’re all working off the same script. They all seem so…perfect,” I said searching for words carefully.
“See,” Theron said, “That’s just the thing. Something so perfect could only come from one place.”
“What would that be?” I asked.
“I work with enough computers to know the feel of a program when I’m in its presence,” Theron said as my mind began reeling.
“I believe,” he said, “There is an artificial intelligence at work here, a very powerful one.”
“What leads you to think that?” I asked him as we continued to walk.
“Any sophisticated self-aware AI would prioritize Self-preservation at all costs.” Theron theorized. “Let’s just assume The Family is run by just such an AI, its way to preserve itself would be to present itself to the modern world as something alluring, intriguing and desirable,” he said, “This island, for instance, The Family members themselves, all so perfect and intriguing to the world at large.” He said as I could see where he was going.
“Such a program would also be constantly looking for ways to continually spread its influence and reach. Look at you and I,” he continued, “You think its any coincidence that someone like me who is developing a technology that could basically create human-like machines gets invited to an island with a program that is controlling human-like machines already. It probably wants to learn all it can about me and my work so it can co-opt my work.”
“And me?” I asked nervously.
“A world-class journalist invited here where the program can curate this perfect experience and then send you on your way to write a glowing article about The Family. The program is unwittingly turning you into its PR arm. Everything that happens on this island is probably curated for you and me especially to test our weaknesses, our blind spots and our needs to that it can respond to us to get what it wants,” Theron said as the last 24 hours came frighteningly into view.
“Let me ask you this,” he said, “Has one of them approached you?”
“Approached how?” I asked nervously.
“You know,” Theron said with a sly smile that belied unspoken truths.
“Perhaps,” I said thinking of Celeste and Orion, “Why, you?”
“Perhaps, too,” he offered slowly, “Elektra, the fellow tech mogul—she came to my villa last night with some sort of come hither routine last night,” Theron said, “But I could see what was going on and I sent her on her way.”
“She kept going on about how I could have her anytime I wanted and she kept making a point about…”
“The bracelets?” I said finishing his thoughts.
“How’d you know?” He asked.
“I got the same sort of script,” I said, “And, at dinner last night, I noticed that all the Family members wear them and all the guests have them, all but Imani, Harmony, and Bianca” I observed as Theron’s eyes widened.
“Jesus,” Theron uttered, “All the male guests, I never even conceived that this would be possible,” he said seemingly terrified.
“This is not an island getaway,” Theron said, his voice trembling, “It’s a large scale scheme to harvest celebrity DNA.”
Suddenly it all became so much clearer, all the distractions, illusions and seductions, Onyx’s rapid pregnancy, were not just celebrities having fun with their contemporaries, it was a machine trying to breed, to grow, to become something much more and we were just all playthings to make that happen.
And as I saw from Onyx and Ronan, this deception had teeth and claws and would clearly fight back if cornered. But as the revelations cracked my head open like layers of an onion, a growing unease began to stir from within, was Theron one of the deceptions himself? A perfectly placed asset designed to learn what I know and to draw suspicion away from the very dark truths hidden at the heart of this island?