The inside of the cave was decorated from wall to wall with a random assortment of knickknacks. The first thing that drew Henry's attention was a large neon sign reading: Welcome to Paradise. The sign flickered or flashed at random intervals, complete with different colors. It was written in a tropical font with a palm tree forming the I and the T.

"Welcome to Paradise!" Stevey declared with an over-the-top gesture of his hands.

"Paradise?" Henry asked.

"A bit of a joke," Chelsey explained, "It's the only sign we could find. So the name stuck."

The rest of the room was filled with a variety of eclectic furniture. Three mismatched couches were smushed together around a large wooden table. Its surface was littered with all sorts of random objects. A pinball machine and a pool table were sandwiched together below the paradise sign.

On the couch, a woman who looked just like Chelsey was sprawled out. They would have been identical to each other had it not been for this one's shorter hair.

"Holy shit, he's real!" Chelsey's twin declared when she saw Henry, "I thought Stevey was full of shit."

"Do I look like the boy who cried Wolf?"

"Actually yeah. Pretty much exactly how I picture him. I thought he was lying too, Wendy. Imagine my surprise," Grace replied.

"Who got him?" Chelsey's twin asked suddenly.

A large smile was now plastered across her face.

"Undertow," Stevey answered as he leapt onto the couch next to her.

"He harpooned him?"

"Oh yeah, right through the chest. Drug him halfway down the block like a dog on a leash."

The second Chelsey threw her head back and laughed.

"Classic Undertow. It's always the Harpoon with that guy."

"I know, right," Stevey said.

Chelsey sighed loudly.

"Henry, this is Wendy. She can be a bit of a handful. Just try to ignore her," she said.

"Is she like your sister?"

"Oh no. No, no, no. She's, uh… well. No, she's not my sister."

Somehow, that answer was even more confusing than none at all.

"So what's your ghost story?" Wendy asked excitedly. She had leapt up from the couch and was in his face now.

"My what?"

"Honestly, Wendy, give him a break. He's new. Let him have a moment to settle in," Grace said.

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She pushed the woman away from him, which Henry was grateful for. Henry, tired of being confused, asked the first question that popped into his mind.

"Where are we?"

"This. This is Paradise," Stevey said with a gesture to the tropical neon sign.

"That's not what he meant," Chelsey said with a sigh, "The answer is, we don't know. We all came here the same way. We just woke up here after seeing a man with red eyes."

"The Dickhead," Stevey interjected.

"Ya, we call him the Dickhead. We guess he sent us here. We just don't know how or why."

"He wants us to suffer," Mark said.

"That's one theory," Chelsey replied.

Henry supposed she had one of her own by the tone of her voice.

"It's the one Wendy thinks is correct," Mark pressed.

I would know," Wendy said from the couch.

"I suppose so," Chelsey admitted.

"I think the Dickhead just really likes horror pictures. He burned through all the good ones. So now he's got to make his own. That makes us the stars," Stevey said with a wry smile.

"I think it doesn't matter why. We're trapped here, and we're not going anywhere. You're just making Henry more confused. Look at his face," Grace said.

Though Henry couldn't see his own face, it was, as you can imagine, the very picture of confusion.

"Right," Mark said, "Henry, what do you want to know?"

Henry took a seat on the checkered fabric couch. Again, he let the first question that came to his mind slip free.

"How long have y'all been here?"

"Mark's been here the longest… 27 years. But you, Henry, are the first person to come here in 19 years, give or take."

Henry felt his stomach drop. He turned toward Mark. The dark-haired teen met his eyes. He saw that same sadness in them that Henry couldn't place before. Now, that look seemed to make more sense.

"You've been here for 27 years?" Henry asked.

He nodded. Henry thought carefully about what his next question would be. He had a hundred questions. But, there was one thing he needed confirmed, even though he thought he would know the answer.

"So, there's really no way out."

"If there was, I would have left a long time ago. Believe me. Back then, this place was hell."

"When Mark first got here… Well, he was alone before I came. It was hard on him. But things here are better now. We've learned to survive," Grace added.

She took Mark's hand and squeezed it.

"The place does have a few perks. We get free food," Stevey added.

"But if you've been here so long, how do you look so-"

"Young?" Chelsey finished, "We stopped aging. All of us. If we die, we just wake up back in the center of the wheel, right at 12:01 on the dot."

"So we're immortal?"

"As far as we can tell, That's why we let you die," Mark explained, "If we didn't, it'd be hard for you to truly understand your situation. It's a rude awakening, but it works. We were hunted in the beginning. Barely surviving. We had to learn how to fight back against this place."

"We can teach you to. If you want," Grace offered.

"Trust me, Mate. You'll want to learn," Stevey added in a voice more serious than usual.

"This place can be hell or it can be heaven. It's all up to you," Chelsey said.

Henry was overwhelmed. They had been here for 27 years. Trapped like rats and hunted by monsters. That was his reality now. His life was over. His dreams were gone.

"This is all too much. Is the beach safe? I think I need some air."

"You shouldn't go out alone," Mark warned.

"What's the worst that could happen? If I die, I'll just come back, right," Henry said.

"He's got you there, Mark," Wendy said with a laugh.

Mark didn't respond. He only looked toward Henry with a concerned look on his face. Henry didn't care. He needed to be alone. He had to get his thoughts together. So Henry stood and made his way down the mouth of the cave. Soon, he had left the voices and lights behind him. He walked the beach back and forth, just trying to gather his thoughts. There had to be a way out of here. Nothing was impossible to escape even whatever this place was.

He heard footsteps approaching in the sand and turned with his fist raised. He expected to see the fisherman armed with his rusty harpoon. Instead, it was Chelsey. She put her hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she said.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Look, I know you probably think you want to be alone. But can I show you something? I think it'll help."

"Why not?" Henry answered with a sigh.