A/N: Originally written as a gift for someone who was a fan of Harper's Island. Quite possibly one of my least favorites.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or ideas created by Ari Schlossberg. I only borrowed them for the entertainment and amusement of my audience. I also don't own Aidan, but he is featured in the story with his own permission.

SUMMARY: The events of the massacre through the eyes of a Candlewick employee and longtime native of Harper's Island.

SPOILERS: This story does contain spoilers about the series, so do not read if you have not watched the entire show.

GENRE: Horror

RATING: PG-13

DEDICATION: To Aidan, who loves Harper's Island with such passion (especially Chloe), for Christmas 2009.

DATE COMPLETED: December 24, 2009

::~*~::

Day 1

So, my mom got me this stupid journal for my birthday. She said it would be good to write things down and keep a record of events in my life. Later on down the road, I may need to look back over it, to see how I've progressed through life. Really? I don't think I've ever heard such a load of bull in my life. I'm a guy. Guys don't write in journals. Man, if my friends ever found out... *shudder* ...it's too scary to even think about. BUT, the only reason (emphasize ONLY) that I am writing in this stupid thing is that I fancied myself a writer when I was a kid, so I thought "what the heck? I'll give it a try."

I had to go pick up the fish for the big dinner this evening. I really hate this dead end job I got wrangled into, but I really need the money, especially if I intend to get off this godforsaken island. I don't know why people think living on an island would be glamorous. It's really not. Islands harbor secrets, dark secrets. Secrets that could destroy it. This island has them; deep and dark. But, enough about that. When I was waiting at the warehouse where I picked up the fish, the water, strangely enough, caught my eye. There was something mysterious and forbidding about it, like it was trying to tell me that I was trapped here in some limbo on earth. That's crazy, right?

Anyways, Maggie has been harping all about this huge wedding party that came in today. She's been such a pain for the last couple of weeks, doing everything to get the Inn ready for them. It's times like those when I seriously wished I had an official job title. As it is, I'm supposed to help out anywhere and everywhere I'm needed.

The wedding party itself was pretty big, with lots of hot girls. Through some careful inquiries, I managed to find out that three of them were single...well, technically two of them are single and the other has a boyfriend, but who cares about such trivial points. She's the hottest. And she's flirty! Oops, my break just ended, gotta run!

Day 2

Not much is new to write about today, except I managed to talk to Lucy. She's one of the single bridesmaids. She would be so much more attractive if she wasn't so attached to that darn dog. I kid you not, that thing has spent twenty of the last twenty-four hours yapping. NON-STOP! I swear, I'm going to walk out of this place and not look back if Maggie even so much as looks to me for dog-walker. I will. I swear! No amount of money in the world is worth that.

Only a few of the guests were in the Inn today. The bride and groom had organized a scavenger hunt that took most of the guests away today. So, it was pretty quiet. Maggie sent me to the butcher shop to get 30 pounds of different pieces of meat. 30 pounds! I don't think the wedding party is that large, but whatever.

I found out the hot bridesmaid's name is Chloe. And her boyfriend, competition that he is, is Cal. What does she see in him anyways? Appearance-wise, he's nothing special. He definitely can't hold a candle to me, because I can assure you that I am ten times better looking. It must be the accent. Apparently he's from Britain and girls fall all over themselves for guys with accents. Maybe I should travel to Europe, then my accent will be the one that girls will chase after. Hmmm...

Day 3

There was a bonfire last night for the wedding group. I heard from somebody, who heard from somebody, who heard from somebody that the groom decked someone. That would have been awesome to see! I almost thought that a couple of someones had gotten into a fight over Chloe, because she has the looks that could start fights anywhere, but then he said that it was the groom, so I was like "too bad."

I chatted Beth up today. As I was talking with her, I realized that I hadn't heard Lucy's mangy dog yapping at all today. What a relief! That dog was seriously giving me a headache. I actually got Beth to agree to get a drink with me sometime this week, when she wasn't busy with wedding stuff. Apparently tomorrow is supposed to be the bachelor/bachelorette parties and the next day is the wedding rehearsal. She was thinking sometime between the rehearsal and the actual wedding. I may get lucky there, but my primary goal is Chloe. Just one night is all I'm asking! Is that too much? Yeah, yeah...I know I sound like a player, but you would, too, if you saw her.

I almost got run over by a guy rushing through the hall today. I don't even think he's a guest here. I remember Maggie saying that Mr. Wellington, the bride's father, had paid a pretty penny to book the entire Inn exclusively for the use of the wedding guests. And I swear that he wasn't present at the check-in. That's not to say he didn't come later; I think they were waiting for a cousin or something to come late.

Well, that's all for today. I'm almost done here at work and I was going to toss back a couple down at The Cannery, shoot some pool and then hit the hay. Nikki said she owed me for a favor I did for her a while back, so I think tonight is the night to collect. I sure could use a couple.

Day 4

I don't know how I didn't hear the news until last night. Kelly Seaver, one of the local girls affected personally by some tragic events a couple of years back (one of those deep, dark secrets this island harbors), offed herself two nights ago. The doctor ruled it a suicide by hanging. I know Kelly had been taking her mother's murder really hard and she even had a few attempts at suicide, but she seemed to be really turning her life around. Not to mention, I don't think she would hang herself. Doesn't seem her style...to go like that.

As I was walking home last night, I could have sworn I heard a gunshot. It came from out on the water. I didn't think much of it, though it did seem like a weird direction to hear a gunshot blast come from. Oh well. I know that some of the fisherman have a history of getting really drunk and going out onto the water to shoot at fish with their pistols.

Maggie is kicking me out of the Inn early tonight. She doesn't want me hassling the girls at their bachelorette party. As if I would do something that sinister. Of course, it may be the only time I get to talk to Chloe without her boyfriend hovering. I have got to figure out a plan to get her alone.

Day 5 A.M.

IT WORKED! I hung around at the Inn for as long as I could without Maggie seeing and booting me out and I managed to head off Chloe before she got to the bachelorette party. I played it real smooth and real cool. We flirted outrageously (SHE'S AWESOME AT IT!), but when I asked her if she wanted to get a drink (again, playing it real smooth), she declined. Can you believe it? Some sob story about how she had a boyfriend and she was totally happy with him. I almost punched a hole in the wall when she took off. I wasn't going to give up. I'd make her see how happy she could be with me, even if for one night.

I stopped off at The Cannery on my way home. I had gone there with the intention of spying on the guys. Lots of things happen at bachelor parties that are blackmailable. Not that I would stoop so low as to actually blackmail anyone, but seeing what there was to see might give me something to help my case with Chloe. It was all for naught anyways, as Nikki refused to grant me entrance. Never mind, I would just go drown my misery in a couple of bottles of beer at home.

A couple was quite the understatement which, in turn, ended up being the wrong idea as Maggie marched me out to the control box for the automatic pool cover the second I walked into work this morning. It seems that the cover malfunctioned and started closing on its own. That, according to Maggie, wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the bride herself happened to be taking a late-night, albeit, drunk, swim when it started closing. Oh, everything worked out all fine and dandy. She was rescued by her brother-in-law and everyone lived to see another day. So, in my semi-inebriated state, I poked and prodded the fuses and couldn't find a darn thing wrong. If you ask me, I think someone wanted to off the bride.

Day 5 P.M.

Something terrible has happened! Two more people (in addition to Kelly, if you remember) are dead. And not just dead; these have to be downright murders, because there was nothing natural about them. Parts of the Reverend's chopped up body were found in the lake by the sheriff and his deputy and Mr. Wellington (yes, the FOB!) had his head spliced open. In the middle of the rehearsal. In full view of his daughters and wife. Now that's brutal. They had all stumbled out of the church and Maggie, who heard the screaming all the way on the lawn of the Inn, sent me to investigate. Once there, the sheriff asked me to help shuttle people back to the Inn and get them comfortable in the lounge and he would be along to give and get any additional information.

It's days like this (not that they are common, quite the opposite) where I wonder if John Wakefield truly is dead. But the only proof the town has of that is the sheriff's word and an isolated grave. And right now, it's not looking so good.

The wedding party forewent the lounge and ended up congregating in the bride's suite. As I watched them all file by, I noticed that the group was a little smaller than it had been when they arrived. A groomsman and a bridesmaid were missing. There was also an older gentleman who had looked to have had more success at flirting with Chloe than I did. Chloe and Cal were also not present. The dark-haired, self-styled outcast guy (who I think is the groom's brother) was also absent. I saw the last three later in the day, so they were okay...for now. It would be such a bleak, depressing world if Chloe was taken out of it.

Things are getting way out of hand. I think I might cut my losses and hole up at home until this whole thing blows over. Hang on! Did I just write that? Am I really that much of a chicken? Ummm…yeah!

Day 10

I have no idea how to begin describing the events that took place a few days ago. I haven't been able to write as I had left my journal at the Candlewick in my hurry to get out, but I managed to collect it today.

Wakefield is alive…or at least he was. Things got so upside down and inside out. In the end, there were only two other survivors, besides myself. Let me see if I can go back to where I last left off.

Shortly after Mr. Wellington's death, the sheriff and his deputy came back to the Candlewick to start interviewing the guests. I overheard the guests start to make plans to leave the island. I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but Maggie was so shocked by everything that she didn't bat an eye when I offered to take refreshments to the group. A very interesting Wellington family secret came out. It appears that Richard Wellington was screwing around with Katherine Wellington. I have to say that I never saw that one coming. It's kind of disgusting in an almost incestual way. I know, I know, they weren't blood relations, but that still seemed so wrong.

Abby seemed determined to run her own investigation. I don't know about her, but her father was definitely hiding something.

After interviewing the guests, Sheriff Mills and Deputy Lillis wanted to search rooms. Maggie had asked me to stay behind in the kitchen while they did that. She didn't want me in the way and she didn't want me with the guests. She wouldn't voice her concerns to them, but I'm sure she blamed them for the murders starting up again. They didn't start until that wedding party arrived.

It seems after Mr. Wellington's death, the murders started increasing in frequency. Richard, Malcolm, JD, the deputy, Beth, the list just goes on, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Things started happening so fast soon after the searching of the rooms. The sheriff and the deputy went off to find JD, because it had appeared that all the evidence was pointing them in his direction. The rest of the wedding party ended up splitting up to search for members who kept disappearing, including Madison, this creepy little girl, and Beth.

When Madison was finally found, the sheriff mysteriously disappeared and Mrs. Wellington was murdered with hedge clippers. Of all possible instruments to use to kill somebody… Anyways, Maggie instructed me to help get everyone to the docks, once they had decided to leave the island.

As I helped them down to the marina, something had caught my eye by the side of the path. I tried to signal to the rest of them to hang on, but nobody heard. I couldn't blame them; they were too concerned with getting off the island in one piece. As I crouched down to get a better look at what had caught my eye, I heard yelling down at marina. Before I even had a chance to react, the marina exploded.

I ran down the path and came up behind them just as gunshots rang out. They were directed towards our small group. We ran for the only cover we could effectively guard ourselves in—The Cannery. If the guests had been struggling with conflict amongst themselves before, it was nothing compared to how they turned on each other then. It finally came to my ears that everyone believed Abby was the offspring of Wakefield. I was surprised. Something about that didn't ring true to me, and later I found out why.

Maggie seemed convinced that only the wedding guests were being targeted, so she left the bar, feeling she was safe because she was a local. I didn't follow, and somehow, I wasn't surprised when her body dropped from the roof later.

It was then discovered that there was a sailboat hiding on the other side of the island, something Cal had rented to take Chloe out in. Sully and Cal set out to get it and bring it around to the ruined marina, but gunshots erupted around them when they left. Chloe was finally away from Cal, but the fun little seduction I had been attempting days before held no interest for me anymore. There were more important things in life, like living.

Madison shouted out that "he" was here, and then Wakefield himself broke through the door. He stabbed Nikki without a second thought and Shane distracted Wakefield while ushering the girls out of the room. I had been behind the door when Wakefield kicked it down. As Shane had Wakefield distracted, he signaled subtly to me to leave. I slipped out the door and silently moved around the building to the rear where the girls should have been exiting, but they were nowhere to be found. I had been about to run around to the front again, when I passed by a window and saw Wakefield stringing a now dead Shane up into an elaborate display. No doubt, he had expected someone to come by to see the carnage. Seeing no point in sticking around, especially since the girls had disappeared, I retreated to a nearby store to wait out the rest of the night. As Wakefield had been busy with stringing Shane up, I knew the girls were safe wherever they were for the time being.

Something must have really knocked me out when I barricaded myself inside the store, because when I woke up next, two days had passed. It must have been the stress and adrenaline that finally left me exhausted beyond belief. When I did awake, I stumbled out of the store to find the church in flames. Hurrying around the area, I checked some of the nearby buildings. I found nothing, no one, anywhere. Not even any bodies. It was like everything disappeared. I did wonder, for a time, if it was a nightmare. A horrible nightmare that I couldn't escape from.

::~*~::

But, it wasn't a nightmare. It really happened. And, now I'm sitting in the Coast Guard office about to be interrogated by the Coast Guard and Seattle PD about what happened on Harper's Island. My story. The story I just related to you. I know I left out an awful lot of details, but I didn't have time to tell everything. Even as I conclude this entry, I can see the two officers gathering at the end of the hall, looking in my direction. A door has opened and Madison and her mother come out. They both glance at me and then turn away. I guess that means it's my turn. Before I go, I do have one more thing to write. When I heard that Chloe had died, I felt sad that something so beautiful and full of life was taken away. When I learned that she had died by committing suicide (something Madison's mother had relayed) and denying Wakefield the chance to kill her, I couldn't help but think…

'Atta girl!