Emily dug into her bag for her keys and stepped up to the front door. “Mom? Dad?”, she called out as she entered the silent house. No reply. She flicked on lights as she checked each room. Kitchen – empty. Living room – empty. Bedrooms – all empty. Emily’s breath caught in her throat. They were gone.
She pulled out her phone on instinct before remembering it was dead. As she fumbled to find the charger, the emptiness of the house pressed down on her. Just this morning, it had been bustling with life – her dad cooking breakfast, her mom hurrying to get ready for work. Now it was empty, with the people closest to her nowhere to be found.
As Emily paced anxiously around the empty house, a memory suddenly surfaced. Her sister! Earlier today, her sister Sophia had left for a sleepover at her friend’s house just a few blocks away. In the chaos of everything, Emily had totally forgotten. She let out a cry of relief. If anyone could help her make sense of this nightmare, it was her little sister. Sophia was the rational one, the problem-solver of the family.
Emily grabbed her phone and keys and rushed out the door, not even bothering to lock up. She hurried down the street towards Sophia’s friend’s house, nearly sprinting in her desperation. Would she finally get some answers? As the house came into view, Emily felt the first glimmer of hope she’d had all day. The warm glow of lights shone from inside. People had to be home.
Emily bounded up the front steps and rang the bell over and over. “Come on, open up!”, she impatiently mumbled. After what felt like an eternity, footsteps approached and the door slowly creaked open. Emily cried out, “Sophia, I’ve been looking everywh-“
She stopped abruptly. It wasn’t Sophia standing there, but her friend’s mom, whom Emily vaguely recognized. The woman wore a dazed, confused expression, but there was something else—perhaps disgust? As Emily examined her more closely, she noticed the woman’s unease. She even took a step back and wrinkled her nose, as if she had seen something very unpleasant.
Determined not to be deterred, Emily decided that this might be her only chance. “Um, hi, is my sister Sophia here? She was supposed to have a sleepover,” Emily stammered. The woman simply stared blankly for a moment before finally opening her mouth. “SophiaAA!” she bellowed: “Someone’s at the door looking for you!”.
Emily let out a sigh of relief. Ah, she was here! Finally, something good was happening. After what felt like an eternity, Emily could hear footsteps bounding down the stairs inside. Her sister’s voice called out: “Who is it?”. Before the woman could reply, Sophia appeared in the doorway.
“Sophia!”, Emily exclaimed. “Oh my god, you won’t believe the day I’ve had. I need your help figuring this out!”. But Sophia did not look happy to see her sister. As her eyes landed on Emily, she let out a blood-curdling scream. “GET AWAY FROM ME!” Sophia shrieked, her face distorting in horror. “WHAT HAVE THEY DONE WITH YOU?!”
“Sophia, what are you doing? It’s me!”, Emily pleaded, utterly confused. But Sophia only screamed louder: “You’re not my sister! Get away from us, don’t come any closer!”. With that, Sophia threw her whole weight against the door, slamming it forcefully in Emily’s face. Emily staggered back, utterly bewildered. Why was her own sister repulsed by her? First the old woman, then the man on the street and now even Sophia.
Emily stood frozen on the doorstep, with Sophia’s screams still echoing in her ears. Tears welled up in her eyes. She had never felt so utterly alone and rejected. Even her own sister couldn’t bear to look at her. But what did she see? What was going on? And what had happened at the beach? She wiped her tears away and glanced at the closed door in front of her. Then, finally, she saw it…
An icy shiver of horror coursed through Emily as she caught sight of her reflection in the window beside the door. “What the…”, she stammered. A stranger stared back at her—a grotesque caricature, with blistered skin and swollen features. This shocking sight rattled Emily’s understanding, making it hard for her to believe what she was seeing. “No wonder everybody is disgusted by me…”, she mumbled.
Emily stepped back, feeling scared and confused by her own reflection. Just then, the front door creaked open again. Sophia peeked out hesitantly, tears welling up in her eyes. “Oh Emily… I’m so sorry for yelling at you like that”, she whispered. “It’s just… you… uh…”, she began to stutter.
“You know, I could hardly recognize you anymore”, she finally said. “You almost look like an alien”. Emily gasped but couldn’t help but chuckle at the same time. “I can’t blame you, little sis”, she said lovingly as she ruffled her hair. “I must look like a freak too”, she murmured, a sense of awkwardness crossing her face as she glanced at her reflection again.
Sophia squeezed her hand reassuringly: “Let’s call mom and dad. They’ve been so worried about you. They were out in the car looking for you all night”. Emily smiled. “What?” Sophia asked suspiciously. “Ah, nothing. It’s just that I thought our whole family was wiped out when I arrived in an empty house”, Emily said. “I was slowly losing my mind..”, she took a short pause and then continued: “But maybe things aren’t as bad as I thought they were. We just need to find an explanation for what happened to me after I went to the beach.”
Emily and Sophia hurried back to Emily’s house, eager to reunite with their parents. As they walked up the driveway, the front door flew open. Their mom and dad came rushing out, faces etched with worry. “Emily! Oh my god, Emily is that you?”, her mom cried as she ran towards them. But then suddenly she stopped, confusion replacing fear.
“It’s me, Mom!”, Emily said. Her dad stared in shock, struggling to recognize his daughter’s distorted face. Emily’s mom reached out a tentative hand to touch her cheek. “What happened to you?”, she whispered. Sophia quickly explained finding Emily like this after her day at the beach.
Their dad’s face grew pale. “But that was over eight hours ago! Where have you been all this time?”, he asked. Emily shook her head in bewilderment. The hours after the beach were a complete blank. “I only remember being on the beach this afternoon, it was crowded and sunny. And the next thing I knew, I was there all alone in the dark, confused, and feeling this strange pain all over my body”, she explained.
Her parents exchanged anxious glances. “Let’s call the police. They can help us get medical treatment, figure out what caused this”, her dad declared, wrapping a protective arm around Emily as they hurried inside. As they looked at her changed appearance, Emily could see the fear in their eyes. They were just as perplexed by this nightmare as she was. However, Emily knew that they would uncover the truth behind what had happened to her after she had fallen asleep on the beach. They were determined to get to the bottom of this, and Emily was certain of that.
Emily sat nervously in the backseat as her parents sped towards the police station. She couldn’t shake the dread that something sinister had happened to her at the beach. Her mother’s face, etched with worry, intermittently glanced back at her through the rear-view mirror. Her father’s grip on the steering wheel was firm, betraying an anxiety he tried to mask.
At the station, the officers’ eyes went wide when they saw Emily’s distorted face. They exchanged grave looks with her parents. “We need to get her to a hospital right away”, one said urgently. “What’s going on?!”, panic surged in Emily’s voice, but nobody answered. In the tense silence, worried glances were exchanged, filling the air with an unspoken dread.
In minutes Emily found herself being whisked through the emergency room doors. Doctors and nurses gawked at her in dismay before hustling her away for tests. “Wait, what are you looking for?”, Emily asked in confusion. But no one would meet her eyes or explain what was going on.
Test after test was run on Emily – blood samples and CT scans. She cooperated willingly, hoping for answers. However, the doctors didn’t provide any, speaking in medical jargon she couldn’t grasp. Frustrated, Emily pleaded, “Please, can someone explain what’s going on?”.
A doctor took her hand, his expression full of sympathy. “We’re not sure yet. But we’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise. Try to rest now”. Emily sank back, more scared than ever. The medical staff clearly suspected something alarming had happened to her. But what? She studied her warped hands, feeling like she was trapped in a nightmare. At least she was surrounded by people now, instead of that cold empty beach. But never had she felt more alone and terrified about what the coming days might reveal.
After a while a doctor came into her room. “Emily, we looked at the data from your smartwatch. You were asleep for almost seven hours on the beach,” he said, his voice steady yet laced with concern. Emily’s heart skipped a beat. The silence in the room was thick, and every second that ticked by felt heavy and ominous. The doctor cleared his throat before continuing: “It means whatever – or whoever – did this to you, did it while you were asleep.”
A chill ran down Emily’s spine. The tranquil scenes of the beach, the gentle lapping waves, the warmth of the sun – Now, everything appeared threatening, and every memory carried an unnoticed sense of danger. What had happened to her in those vulnerable moments on the beach? Or as the doctor suggested, who had happened to her?!
The next morning, Emily awoke to a burning pain coursing through her face. She stumbled to the mirror and gasped – her skin was an angry red, badly swollen and dotted with oozing blisters. She could barely open her crusted eyes. Just then, there was a knock at her hospital door. The doctor entered, holding a chart, his expression grim.
“I’m afraid we’ve discovered the cause of your symptoms, Emily”, he paused for a moment before he continued speaking. The next couple of minutes felt like a blur to Emily. She could see the doctor’s lips moving but the words didn’t exactly come through. She heard them and she understood them but her mind was distracted. She thought back about those hours on the beach. Those hours that were a complete blur to her but now made complete sense.
After a few minutes the doctor finally finished explaining his findings to Emily. She sat in stunned silence, struggling to process what he had just told her. How could she have been so stupid? Falling asleep on a crowded beach, full of potential dangers around her. Looking back now, she couldn’t believe how she could have been so ignorant. She should have known what would happen…
Later, when her parents arrived, Emily recounted the doctor’s revelation. Her mother’s hand flew to her mouth, and her father blinked back tears. The three held each other tightly, overcome with emotion. ‘A severe reaction to sun exposure. An extremely dangerous sun allergy,’ her dad repeated the doctor’s words. It was as if he didn’t believe it yet and needed to say it out loud to make sense of it.
When the doctor had told her what was going on, she shook her head in confusion. “But I’ve never had any reaction before. I always wear sunscreen at the beach.” Emily still didn’t believe it and thought something else, maybe even more sinister was going on. However, the doctor was 100% sure about it.
“This allergy must have developed recently”, the doctor explained. “Going unprotected for those 7 hours caused an unprecedented reaction. Your amnesia indicates you lost consciousness from the pain and shock early on.”
Emily was stunned. “Will the damage be permanent?” she croaked. “With proper treatment, you should heal”, he reassured. “But you must be vigilant about sun protection going forward. Even a few minutes of exposure could be life-threatening now”, he looked at her sternly when he said that.
Emily let out a shaky breath. The past day’s horrors had a rational cause after all. As relief washed over her, she vowed to herself that the sun would never steal her memories and identity again. From now on, she would greet each new day with gratitude, no matter what precautions it required. Her life had been given back to her.
Over the next few days, Emily continued her recovery, following the doctor’s treatment plan diligently. One week after her ordeal, Emily was cleared to go home. Her parents, taking no chances, had stocked up on sunscreens to ensure she was always protected. When she walked through the front door, her parents enveloped her in a warm embrace, their eyes filled with tears of relief and joy.
Emily later learned why the diagnosis had brought such immense shock to her loved ones. In the terrifying uncertainty of those first days, they had feared something far more sinister had caused Emily’s affliction. But it was just a severe allergy after all. Their daughter had been spared from the unthinkable fate that had haunted their imaginations. Now they could focus on protecting her future, not unraveling mysteries of the past.
Though challenges lay ahead, Emily was grateful for this second chance. Her trust in the world around her had been shaken, but not broken. Each new sunrise would be a gift, not taken for granted. As long as she had her family’s love, she could handle anything life threw at her, even a sun allergy.
