The Lost Colony in the Nebula

It was supposed to be an adventure. My friends and I had always dreamed of escaping the drudgery of high school and exploring the universe. When we found the old spacecraft buried in the woods behind Millfield High, it felt like destiny. We fixed it up with every scrap we could find, and soon we were blasting off into the unknown, fueled by excitement and a few too many energy drinks.

The stars twinkled like diamonds as we traveled through the cosmos, the ship humming with life. I still remember how giddy we felt, drifting through the endless black. We laughed and shouted as we passed by planets with swirling clouds and rings made of ice. But it was in the depths of the Nebula, a swirling mass of colors that seemed to pull at our minds, that our journey took a dark turn.

As we plunged into the heart of the Nebula, the ship began to shudder. "What's happening?" Lisa yelled, clutching her seat. "We're losing control!" The controls flickered, and the lights dimmed. I could barely see the panic on my friends’ faces, but I could hear their frantic breathing. It felt like the ship was alive, as if the Nebula itself was trying to swallow us whole.

Then, in a blinding flash, we crashed. The impact sent us tumbling, and I blacked out.

When I came to, I found myself lying on the cold, damp ground. The air was thick and heavy, and a greenish mist swirled around me. I sat up, groaning, and looked for my friends. “Guys? Lisa? Mark?” My voice echoed eerily in the silence.

I staggered to my feet, my heart racing. The wreckage of our ship was strewn around like the remains of a shattered dream. I could see Lisa in the distance, stumbling towards a dark forest that loomed ominously against the nebula-lit sky. “Lisa!” I shouted, but she didn’t turn back. Panic surged through me, and I ran after her.

The trees were gnarled and twisted, their branches reaching out like skeletal fingers. The mist thickened, wrapping around me like a suffocating blanket. I could barely see, but I pushed forward, following Lisa’s silhouette deeper into the woods.

“Lisa, wait!” I called out again, but she only quickened her pace, disappearing into the shadows. I felt a growing sense of dread; something wasn’t right. The silence pressed down on me, heavy and unnatural.

I stumbled into a small clearing and froze. In the center stood a crumbling stone monument, covered in strange carvings that pulsed with a faint glow. A chill ran down my spine as I recognized the symbols—my heart raced. They looked like the drawings from our ancient history book about the lost colony that vanished a hundred years ago.

Suddenly, a low growl echoed from behind me. I spun around, heart pounding, and there stood Mark, his eyes wide and vacant. “What happened to you?” I asked, stepping back.

He didn’t respond. Instead, he pointed toward the trees. Following his gaze, I saw movement. Figures emerged from the mist—hollow-eyed and gaunt, their bodies twisted in unnatural ways. They wore tattered clothes, and I recognized them from the history books too—the last survivors of the colony, forever cursed to wander this place.

“Run!” I screamed, but it was too late. The figures closed in, their mouths moving silently as if trying to say something, their outstretched hands grasping for me. I dashed back toward the monument, my mind racing with thoughts of escape.

As I reached the stone structure, I could feel the energy radiating from it. The carvings pulsed in time with my heartbeat, and suddenly, I understood. The monument was a gateway. But a gateway to where?

I reached out and touched the cold stone. A jolt of energy coursed through me, and I felt myself being pulled away from the shadows. I closed my eyes against the brightness and was engulfed in a surge of sound—screams, whispers, laughter. It felt like a lifetime, but then, just as suddenly, I was back on the ship.

The controls flickered back to life, and I gasped, taking in my friends around me, just as we had been before. They blinked at me in confusion, as if waking from a deep slumber. "What just happened?" Lisa asked, brushing her hair back from her face.

I looked out at the swirling colors of the Nebula, my heart racing. I wanted to tell them about the lost colony, the figures in the woods, the monument. But as I opened my mouth, I felt something strange—an unfamiliar sensation bubbling up inside me. I looked at my friends, their faces now serene, their smiles bright, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something had changed.

Then I noticed it: a flicker of the monument's symbols on their skin, glowing faintly beneath their flesh. My breath caught in my throat. They hadn’t returned the same. The Nebula hadn’t just swallowed our ship; it had taken something deeper.

As realization sank in, I understood the truth. We weren’t the explorers anymore; we were the lost. The colony hadn’t vanished; it had simply changed its form, and now we were part of its legacy—an endless cycle of lost souls forever trapped within the Nebula, waiting for the next group of adventurers to stumble upon our fate.

The ship shuddered again, the colors of the Nebula swirling outside like a twisted carnival. I stared at my friends, at their innocent smiles, knowing deep down that we had only just begun to unravel the horror that lay ahead.