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 Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 1:17 pm
So, here's a thread of a bunch of stories I had high hopes for...but I never finished. Odds aren't I won't pick up writing on these ever again...unless you guys show a ton of interest...
This is to give you something to read while I work on Cry of the Moon sweatdrop
Please feel free to comment in this thread 3nodding
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 1:19 pm
Title: Unnamed
Rating: PG to PG-13
Reason for Rating: Violence
Genre: Fantasy/ action/ science fiction/ romance/ horror
It was a brutally hot summer day. Steam rose off of the ground, and the phrase “it was so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk” didn’t even begin to describe the intensity of the heat. A frail wind tried to blow relief onto the land, but the high temperature affected even the wind. The sun smiled cruelly down upon the earth, and scorched even the dampest of sand. It was a blistering day.
Rebecca looked out upon the scene with dismay. Why must it be so hot, so sizzling on the water day? She looked to the water fountain. The refreshing liquid slowly dripped from the faucet, as if taunting her. At the sound of her baby sister crying, Rebecca cautiously climbed out of the hole, pulling a bucket out after her. As she stood up, she looked around. No one was in sight for miles. Rebecca darted to the nearest piece of equipment. It happened to be a slide. She quickly made her way across the desert like playground, darting between jungle gym pieces and swing sets. She finally arrived at a giant, metal tunnel, the last piece of “play” equipment before the water fountain. Rebecca viewed her surroundings. No more than ten yards away was the life-giving machine. She knew that it would take just a minute to fill the bucket, but if she were spotted, there would be dire consequences.
Rebecca took a deep breath, and ran for it. The second she reached the water fountain, her finger jammed the button, and cool, refreshing liquid poured from the faucet. She stuck the bucket under nozzle and water slowly filled it. Rebecca looked around nervously, filled with anxiety. What if someone saw her? Would she be caught? Would she be killed, just as her father had? Finally, the anticipated moment came, when a dripping sound told Rebecca that the bucket was full. She sealed it hurriedly, and ran among the playground equipment, until she made it back to the safety of her home.
Rebecca replaced the covering over the entrance, and then climbed down a short ladder. She walked through a familiar clay hallway, one she had known all of her life. She took a left turn, and entered the small kitchen. Her mother was preparing some bread, and her baby sister was crawling around the floor, amusing herself with Aero, the family cat.
Her mother looked up at the sound of Rebecca placing the bucket on the table. She smiled warmly at her daughter. “You got the water!”
“Yes, Mother”, answered Rebecca.
“And you are sure they didn’t see you?” her mother said, anxiously.
“Positive, I made sure to be careful” was Rebecca’s swift reply.
“Good girl”, her mother said, bending to kiss her daughter’s head. “Now, what would you like for dinner? It is your 15th birthday!”
Rebecca smiled weakly “I always liked those apple cinnamon cakes you and I bake together”.
“Say no more!” her mother said, smiling. “Let’s get started”.
Rebecca sorted through the spices, while her mother got out a large, ceramic bowl. As she came upon the jar marked cinnamon, and opened it, she let out a sigh of dismay. At the very bottom of the jar were the remnants of the cinnamon. “Looks like we won’t be able to make very many cakes”, Rebecca said, disappointed.
Mother came over and rested her arm around Rebecca’s shoulders. “That’s all right. We can run out to the Market after dinner. Besides, I have a surprise for you”.
Rebecca lit up at the mention of a surprise. Ever since Father passed away, gifts on any special occasions, let alone birthdays, were a rare thing. Rebecca spent the rest of the time preparing the cakes with much vigor, enjoying the company of her mother. They talked about life, cooking, stories, as if they were old friends, instead of mother and daughter. After the cakes, bread, and chicken were successfully cooking over the fire, Rebecca took a break. She entered into the small family room like area, lay down on the rug, with her favorite book, and started to read. Rebecca didn’t have very many books. Books were rare, and hard to get a hold of, so she often read and reread the few she had, so much that she was able to quote the books, word for word. This book in particular was a fantasy novel, consisting of heroes and heroines, swords and dragons, wizards and witches, and anything that makes up a good novel. Rebecca was deep in the book, when a soft mew interrupted her, only for a second. Aero curled up next to Rebecca, purring softly. Rebecca stroked the calico cat, eyes still fixed to the book as the suspense grew. Aero licked her hand. Rebecca turned, to look at the cat. It had been a little over a year since this feline has shown up at their doorstep. Aero had escaped from the School; the dreaded building that cast its shadow over every one’s heart. The School was the reason they all lived here, in hiding. The big, electric fences that enclosed miles and miles of sand, stone and misery circled the School, keeping the prisoners in, and any form of outside help out. Rebecca stared into the distance; mind elsewhere when her mother came into the room.
“Rebecca?” She snapped back to reality, and turned, looking at her mom. “Rebecca, dinner’s ready. Could you feed Aero before we start?”
Rebecca, putting the book back on its shelf, set out to look for the cat’s dish. She found it, on the kitchen floor. She filled it with bits of chopped fish sticks, and then set it back on the floor. Aero walked over to it, wrinkled her nose, and meowed a complaint.
“I know they’re not very good, but it’s all they serve at the School these days, Rebecca said to the cat. “I’m sure the Thieves will start bringing better food from the School soon, but right now they have to be careful, so that they are not caught”.
Aero mewed, as if agreeing with her, and then started eating. Rebecca got out a hand made clay saucer, dipped it into the bucket of water, then set it down next to her cat. Then, walking over to the table, she sat down to say the blessing. After they prayed, they started the meal. Delicious homemade bread, combined with roast chicken and apple cinnamon cakes, made up the meal tonight.
Setting aside her plate, Rebecca’s mother said, “Now, I do believe that, since it’s your birthday, Rebecca, you deserve a gift”. Placing her hand in her pocket, she produced a small, cloth bag, handing it to her daughter.
Rebecca opened the bag, and gasped. Inside sat two glass Versials, the currency used by the inhabitants of the School’s playground. Glass Versials were worth the most of all the coins in their monetary system. “How, how did you get a hold of these?” Rebecca asked, awed.
“I had to sew many quilts and shirts, for the last couple of years. I thought, since it’s been awhile since you got a few new books to read, you deserved some”, her mother smiled warmly at her.
Rebecca hugged her mother tightly, and whispered “Thank you!”
A sudden distant alarm sounded. A pounding of feet above told them that it was recess. Rebecca’s mother urged her daughter to the door. “The Market will be open. Go now, so you will have time to look through the selection of books before the Thieves go back in”.
Rebecca, thanked her mother again, then pushed open the latched door, and climbed out of their home and into the Market.
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~
Cameron, or more widely known as “Cam”, was spreading out his stolen goods on a table, under the jungle gym, out of sight from the School’s cameras. Today had been a good day for him. First, he had been able to swipe a good deal of pens and pencils, which were easy to steal, but an uncommon thing among these playground folk, or “Grounders”, as the Thieves used for slang. Then, during lunch, he had stolen a couple of bags of popcorn along with some fish sticks and a chicken. Finally, to top off his good day, he found somebody’s library card, and used it to check out ten books, with no intention of giving them back. The price on books these days were outrageous, and Cam would make good money off these paperback novels.
Of course, the Thieves, as they were known, did not only accept money. Cam and many of the other students who stole to help the playground inhabitants and themselves, had to meet the grade. Any one in a class who did not have an average grade above a C would be killed, to control School population. Many of the Thieves would have the Grounders write papers or do projects for them, and in return would give them what ever they needed that had been stolen. Today, after recess, Cam had a Science Essay due on the characteristics of psuedopods. He had told his customers a week ago, when the essay was assigned, that if someone had the essay for him, they would be rich. He, of course, had no doubt in his mind that they would have it for him. Just now he could see customers approaching his tented area, papers in hand.
“Hey Cam!” a customer yelled. “I got your report for ya right here”. The gristly, old man handed Cam a short, poorly written report.
“Sorry Al, I don’t think that’ll cut it”, Cam said, looking over the paper. He handed the report back to Al.
“Ahhh, come on Cam! You and I go way back. I’ve always been looking out for you buddy…can’t you take this paper?”
“I’m sorry, but it’s not good enough. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have business to attend to”. As Cam walked back to the table, Al swore, causing Cam to smirk. Ah, he’ll get over it, he thought. Besides, I have more customers, and only seven minutes until we’re called back into the School.
His tent was now crowded. Grounders surrounded his table, waving papers or money in the air, all yelling. A young lady thrust a paper into his hand. “Read it,” she said.
Cam scanned the pages. This was good stuff. Almost…too good. Just as the School killed anyone who had a bad average, they also picked out those who had too good of a grade. They are then taken out of the classroom, and no one ever sees them again. Cam handed the paper back to the lady.
“What! I spent a good amount of time on…”the woman shrieked, her voice fading into the roar of the crowd.
Another paper was shoved into his hands. As Cam read it, his eyes began to wander. They stopped a blonde girl, about his age, separate from the crowd, sorting through some books. There were not many teens that were free of the School’s immediate clutches. She must be a born Grounder, because once you are in the School system, it’s extremely hard to get out of.
Cam absent-mindedly paid the paper’s owner, and, still watching the girl, started heading towards her. Immedeatly the place started to clear out, now that someone’s report had been chosen, and the other customers had nothing else to bargain with. The Thief stopped in front of the blonde. Feeling his gaze on her, she suddenly looked up, her blue eyes meeting his brown ones.
“Lookin’ for any book in particular?” Cam asked, fingering one of the paperbacks.
“What books would you recommend?” she replied.
“I ain’t a reader. That stuff’s useless” Cam said, spitting on the ground. The blonde looked annoyed. She turned to leave the tent, when Cam grabbed her arm. “You ain’t buyin’ anything?” he asked, confused. No one had ever left his tent without one of his stolen goods in their hands.
The girl turned around. “You Thieves are all the same”, she said, disgusted, “You think you know everything, but you’re not even literate! What an idiot”. She ripped her arm from his grip, and went marching off.
Cam shook with rage. “What an impudent brat!” he said to himself. “Walkin’ into my tent, wastin’ my time, insultin’ me, and then walkin’ out, without even buying anything!” He grumbled as he turned around, then, suddenly, his foot hit something. He bent over, and picked up the two shiny objects that lay at his feet. “Two glass Versials”, he said, “This must be my lucky day”. As his hand moved to put the coins into his pocket, he stopped, and groaned inwardly. “I bet these are that blonde Grounder’s”, he thought. He looked at the Versials in his hand. They glittered in the afternoon sunlight. He sighed, and then pocketed the money. “I should return these to that girl…aw, what am I saying? She humiliated me, and wasted my recess! They’re mine now”.
A sudden rush of people passed Cam, frantically running toward the open school door. Cam checked one of the watches he had stolen, and then swore. The bell was going to ring any second now! He gathered all his goods, shoved them into his leather vest, and took off.
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~
Hope was desperate. She had been running for a while now, and she knew is she kept this up her lungs would burst. After rounding a corner, Hope stopped to catch her breath. A shout from nearby sent her on her way. “Just keep running”, her father had told her. “If you stop, they’ll find you”. Hope took off down a hall, weaving between lockers so her trail would be harder to follow. As she took off to the left, she froze. Two figures stood at the end of the hallway.
“There she is! It’s Chad’s kid! Get her!” The hallway monitors chased after her. Hope let a sigh of distress escape her. She had been on the run her whole life. Ever since she was born, it had always been moving from one hidden area to another, just barley dodging the School’s agents. In the last place, just a day ago, the agents had caught one of the refugees, and had tortured the location of the rebels out of him. They had then broken into the hideaway at night and attacked Hope and her friends. Though Hope and some others were able to take off, the majority of them had been captured, including her father, her only living relative.
As the officers drew nearer, Hope dodged between a couple of rows of lockers, then turned right. She was in the art hallway. After peering through the windows, she found an empty classroom and ducked into it. Hope surveyed the room. Not much to hide behind, she turned to leave the classroom, but found it was too late. Three armed monitors were heading straight for the room.
Hope prayed silently. “Oh, God, what am I to do? Are you truly watching me? Please, save me!” Tears dripped from her eyes as she stared up at the ceiling. Then, it hit her. The ceiling! The panels in this side of the building had always been loose. With no time to spare, Hope hopped onto a table, and plied one of the ceiling panels away. She boosted herself up, and, just as the monitors start pouring in the room, closed up the hole in the ceiling, and sat very still.
“Search the room”, a commanding voice barked. Hope heard some shuffling, then silence. “Well, where is she?” the voice broke in. “I don’t know. It’s like she disappeared into thin air”, another, calmer voice said. “I say we turn up the tiles on the floor, and rip out the ceiling panels”, a very deep voice commented.
Hope heard more movement, and then, suddenly, a loud gunshot rang through the air, and the panel 5 feet in front of her gave way. Terror gripped her as a number of panels around her fell as they were punctured by bullets. “Please don’t let this be it”, Hope thought in desperation. “After years of running, don’t let this be my final seconds of freedom”.
Hope heard the gun c**k. She heard the man balance himself, and raise the gun above him. She even swore she heard him pull the trigger, but she never heard the blast. Hope tensed up, then, after a few seconds, opened her eyes. Was she still alive? The cursing of the men below confirmed it.
“Darn it! I’m out of ammo!” the deep voiced man swore. “Well, don’t look at me, I don’t carry a gun”, the calm voiced one said. “I guess we’ll have to go get some more”. The three men left the room.
Hope let out a sigh of relief. They hadn’t gotten her yet! These were not her final seconds of freedom!
Pain and sadness shot through her chest as she realized the awful truth. Hope had always been on the run, being hunted down, and barley escaping. She was not free now, and she had never been free.
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~
As the bell rang to signal the start of class, Maria sat down in her seat. As she exhaled a sigh of pleasure, she scanned the classroom. This was art, her favorite class.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 1:30 pm
Title: Unnamed
Rating: PG to PG-13
Reason for Rating: Violence
Genre: Action/ science fiction/ romance
Danny Evergreen, dressed in his usual snowboarder clothes, sat down, alone, at his usual spot at the lunch table. His best (and, consequently only) friend, Kyle Erickson, was home sick with the flu (or so he told the school faculty. Danny was pretty sure he was just skipping school so he could get out of the end of quarter exams). Although he was a tad lonelier than usual, Kyle’s lack of attendance did not disturb Danny all that much. Though not quite the loner type, you could normally find him lost in thought: some one who may be here physically, but is always truly somewhere else, just out of one’s reach. As his physical being was eating a slice of pizza, Danny’s mind was racing down a mountain on his snowboard. Drinking a sip from his milkshake, he could feel the cool winter breeze on his face, the drifts of snow dusting his clothes. The sun shone brightly as an eagle cried overhead. This is where he belonged.
Still lost in a world of his own, others were watching him from nearby lunch tables. Not all at once, but every now and then a student would sneak a peak at the ever-thoughtful sixteen year old. They could tell by the clouded, but not vacant, look in his eyes that he was not currently with them. This was probably the number one reason why he had not been accepted into any of the cliques at Maple Grove High School. He was so different, so unique, that everyone knew, including himself, that he could never be one of them. He didn’t think with the masses; he didn’t follow the trend. When most of these students were told something, they took it without question or doubt, and permanently logged that “fact” into their brains. However, Danny didn’t take every piece of knowledge he was given. He didn’t agree with everything the teachers, the counselors, or even the media said. He was free to contemplate anything he was told, and for that reason, he was avoided.
Danny threw away the rest of his lunch as the bell rang. Dropping by his locker, he grabbed his math book, and still lost in thought, hurried to his class. In the room, there were a few minutes before class started. The preps up front talked about the upcoming dance, while the jocks boasted about their win against Pine Grove High last Saturday. Danny stared at a book, pretending to be reading, while he dashed down the mountain side, and boarded over jumps.
Nearby someone yelled “Heads up!” A math book clunked him in the side of the head. Immedeatly Danny snapped back to reality. As he shot a look at the thrower of the book, his usually sea blue, thoughtful eyes froze over to an ice blue, alerting people that he was with them once again. “Hey Danny, where’s your African friend Kyle? Bet he got bored hanging out with you, since you’re always daydreaming!” a random person yelled from the back of the room. A few people laughed, but those nearest to Danny only giggled nervously, aware that his fists were clenching and unclenching and his icy stare was scanning the room for the insulter. However, as more insults were thrown, more and more people became aware that Danny was actually with them, and they became bolder. He cringed under the pressure, and, upon seeing that, more people started yelling random things, since they knew he was the most vulnerable when he was completely locked into the cold, hard grip of reality.
A call at the front of the room brought the class to attention. Without them knowing it, the bell had rung and their teacher had stepped into the room. As the students calmed down, and the math teacher started droning on about postulates and theorems, Danny put his head in his hands and stared down at the his homework. As his sandy blonde strands of hair fell over his hands, a single tear landed on problem number twenty-seven. When Danny’s mind wasn’t elsewhere, he was not only more vulnerable to the students, but also to human emotions. Unable to drift back to the snowy mountain in the inner realm of his mind, Danny spent the rest of the day miserably.
Marie Buchanan, too, was sitting down to lunch. Surrounded by her friends Christina, Elaine, and Nicole, she appeared happy. Though she was a very close to the others, it was easy to distinguish her from the group. A tall, dirty blonde (and short) haired, skinny girl, she could usually be found wearing a red sweatershirt that said in big letters “Canada” on the front, along with a pair of tan pants. Though average looking on her own, around her peers you could tell that Marie had a mysterious side about her. Even in the midst of this happy company, she stared off to her left, slightly frowning, slightly smiling sadly. As Elaine chattered to her about an the upcoming church missions trip, Marie absent mindedly picked at her sandwich, and heard only about half of what was being said. The rest of her attention was focused on other matters. Suddenly, Marie randomly interrupted Elaine. “I don’t think I’m going to go to the winter dance”.
“What? Why?” demanded her friend. “I don’t know, I guess ‘cause I won’t have anyone to go with”, she replied.
“You can go with us!” Christina said, as though it were the obvious solution. “You have boyfriends, so you’ll be too busy to hang out with me”, Marie pointed out, staring at the floor.
“So? We’ll still hang out with you”. Marie sighed. “You don’t understand”.
Elaine shook her head. She, nor anyone else would ever understand Marie. Her Canadian friend was not only liked to complicate things, but also, well, Elaine didn’t want to say it, but was rather odd. Marie would randomly pull stuff out of thin air, going by her instinct rather than cold hard facts.
Marie could see the look in Elaine, as well as the others eyes. They would never understand. They only saw things in black and white. Sadly, Marie found herself caught in a world of many colors; many sides to every issue, and, more often than not, she found herself alone. Most people at Park High School didn’t find themselves in her position. She hated to say it like this, but they all had one-track minds. Everyone else seemed to have it perfectly. For Marie, everything was constantly changing: situations, life, opinions, and emotions. A lot of the times, such as now, as her friends laughed happily, Marie (though smiling on the outside), sat in a pit of depression, wondering why she couldn’t join them. Even as she mentally asked this question, she knew why. It’s because she knew too much to be so innocently happy. Marie had plenty of close friends, but no one who really understood what she was going through, or even who she really was.
As they left the lunchroom, Marie split from her friends, turning left to French class while they turned right for Spanish. Seating herself in the desk by the window, she contemplated a lot of things. Absent mindedly, she pulled out her notebook and started writing. Being a natural born writer, Marie was used to pouring out her thoughts into stories. Marie smiled at her pen and paper. Sometimes it seemed like they were the only ones who ever understood her. Well, she knew that God was there for her, but it was so hard sometimes to see Him in this world. Sixteen was a hard age, and Marie found herself in the middle of it. Though still throbbing with pain inside, Marie found temporary satisfaction in her writing. To sum it all up, Marie was lonely.
There was a knock on the door. “Come in!” Kyle called from his position, seated in front of the TV. The door opened, and Danny came in. Surveying his friend’s bedroom, Danny found Kyle slouched in a beanbag chair in front of his Nintendo. “So…you’ve been doing this all day?” Danny asked casually.
“Ya, and now that I’m past Level 18, all I need to do is defeat the zombie king, and…”. Kyle stopped. He knew that look that Danny gave him. “What can I say, I’m addicted to video games!” he said, shrugging. “What, you can’t tell me you’ve never played any!”
“I try to avoid them”. Danny shifted his weight. “I’m not comfortable sitting in front of them for hours, while you slowly get sucked into some fantasy that just doesn’t exist”.
“I’d think you of all people would like that, seeing as you never come out of your own little fantasy world”, Kyle muttered, then immedeatly regretted it. He saw Danny go rigid, eyes freezing over, then turn to leave, and, hopping out of the bean bag, he caught his friend’s arm. “Look man, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. It kind of came out the wrong way”.
Danny turned to look at his friend. He knew Kyle was truly sorry. “It’s all right”, he said, smiling.
Kyle relaxed, then, smiling back, said, “Cool”. He climbed back into his beanbag chair, and then pulled up one for Danny. “So”, he said, as his friend sat down, “ did I miss the end of quarter exams?”
Danny smiled at his friend. “Some one pulled the fire alarm third period, so they put off the tests until tomorrow”.
“Ah man, are you serious? I can’t play sick for one more day! My mom was starting to get suspicious today, and if I was suddenly ‘sick’ again tomorrow, she’d realize I was faking it the whole time!” Kyle threw his controller on the ground, and started muttering nonsense curses at the school.
“It’s all right, you’ll be more prepared then most people”, Danny said, grinning mischievously, “seeing as you were home today and therefore got plenty of time to study”. Danny braced himself as Kyle threw a pillow at him.
“Man, that is not funny! I’m gonna bomb this test!” Kyle ranted as he searched for his textbooks.
“You want to come snowboarding with me? I was just heading over to Powder Mountain”, Danny asked, picking up his snowboard stuff.
Pulling his Literature book out from under a pile of clothes, Kyle shook his head. “Nah, I can’t. I have a whole lot of studying to do. Have fun, though”.
“Thanks, I will”, Danny replied, leaving his friend’s bedroom. On his way to the slopes, Danny was deep in thought. Kyle played video games way too much, and it was starting to affect his friend. Could the games really be bad for him? And another thing; though Kyle said he was sorry, his comment still stung Danny. Is it true, he thought to himself, I do spend a lot of time lost in thought. Isn’t that different from Kyle being lost in a video game? Besides, aren’t we supposed to think for ourselves? Isn’t that what being an individual is all about?
Danny brushed his bangs out of eyes, and looked up in time to see the sign for Powder Mountain. Showing the employee his board pass, Danny entered the snowboard resort. Climbing onto a ski lift, he snapped his boots onto the board, and got ready to jump off. Looking around, Danny noticed how empty the slopes were, then, remembering the big football game against Wildcat High tonight, he decided he didn’t care. With barely anyone there, he would have the mountain to himself. Hopping off the ski lift, Danny made one final check on his board, and then he started. As the board picked up speed, the wintery wind lashed against his face. Darting among the pine trees, he felt the incline of the slope start to decrease, and started to break. Though the run had been refreshing, after today’s events, a blue square hill wasn’t going to cut it. Grabbing his board, he headed over to a black diamond hill, one he hadn’t been on yet.
From a distance, two men in black suits watched the blonde, skinny teen climb into the seat of the chair lift. Pulling out a file, one of them looked at a picture, then back at the chair lift. “It’s him alright”, he said in a low tone, stashing the folder back into his jacket. “Let’s go”, the other said, and their black limousine pulled out of the parking lot.
Upon reaching the top of the slope, Danny found it was much higher and steeper than he had anticipated. Taking a deep breath, he surged forward. Seconds later, he was stuck in deep snow. Frustrated, he crouched down to pick up speed, and immedeatly regretted it. Suddenly, the snow turned to ice, and the slope dropped sharply. Finding his balance in the nick of time, Danny entered a field of rocks. Sharp slabs of stone jutted out of the snow. Dodging a tree is easy, because you can see it sooner, and it’s thin, but you have to have a lot of skill (or be extremely lucky) to dodge a rock. And that’s exactly what Danny was: extremely lucky. After narrowly missing a boulder, his board skidded on a patch of gravel, then, picking up speed, he hurtled past a group of trees. Seeing the end of the run ahead, Danny threw all of his strength into breaking, and skidded to a halt right in front of the gate. It took him a moment to recover from the shock, but once he did, he let out whoop. Awesome! What an adrenaline rush! Danny would be reliving this moment months to come. It was then that the issue clouded his mind again. He shouldn’t be spending so much time off in his own little world, thinking about random things. Well, that’s what everyone was telling him. But is that really the truth?
Walking home, Danny noticed a couple of unusual things. After trying for ten minutes or so, he came to the conclusion that the more one tries to not think about anything, the more deep in thought one becomes. When checking his cell phone, he noticed he had received calls from both of his parents saying that they were going to be home late from work tonight. Finally, upon reaching his house, he saw a black limo drive away very quickly. Shrugging it off, Danny unlocked the front door and entered his house.
Dropping by her locker, Marie grabbed her backpack and coat, and got ready to leave, when Elaine stopped her.
“We have Jazz Band practice tonight”, she said, showing Marie her saxophone case.
“But today’s Thursday”, she replied. “We have practice on Tuesdays after school”.
“Not tonight”, Elaine said. “Ms. Williams called me down to the band room first period. She seemed a little shaken, but convinced me that she had already told us about the practice today”.
Marie wasn’t happy, but she didn’t say anything. The only reason she had stuck around in Jazz Band was that Elaine pushed her to join. After setting her backpack on the ground, Marie seated herself in front of the piano in the band room. Running her fingers over the ivory keys, this was the only other place (besides with pen and paper in hand) that Marie really felt at home. Having have taken piano lessons for just over eight years, her fingers could easily glide across the keys, producing melodic tunes. Once she had warmed herself up, Marie scanned the room for Elaine. Seeing her friend playing a happy little ditty on the saxophone, Marie turned her attention to their teacher, who had just entered the room. Appearing paler than usual, Ms. Williams informed the students that they would start off with some jazzed up Christmas song. Marie groaned inwardly. She hated playing those songs in jazz band, because they always featured solos by the trumpet players. As they started off “Deck the Halls”, the song immedeatly dipped into a solo by the first chair trumpet player. Marie watched in disgust as Elaine stared lovingly up at her boyfriend, Flash, as he was called. She didn’t know what Elaine saw in that show-off.
Once it was four o’clock, practice was over. As Elaine was packing up her saxophone, Marie came over and started talking.
“So”, she was saying, “my mom is on a business trip in San Diego, so I can’t give you a ride home from…” As she was talking, Charlie “Flash” Benson came over, and Elaine immedeatly turned to him and listened as he started talking. “…Jazz Band tonight”, Marie continued, annoyed. “But that wouldn’t matter anyway, because you’re not even listening to me. Why do I even bother to try to talk to you when he’s around”.
Flash stopped for a second, and Elaine turned around and asked innocently “I’m sorry, did you say something?”
“You know what, forget it”, Marie said, walking away. She stormed out of the school, and started heading home. The cool wind helped clear her mind, and after a few minutes, she had calmed down. Staring up at the sky, she was startled to see snow drifting down from the clouds. One lonely snowflake landed on her hand, and, bringing closer to her, she examined it. Supposedly every snowflake is unique; there are no two that are exactly the same. Also, supposedly, Marie thought, no two humans are exactly alike. So why then do I feel like I’m in a world of clones, where I’m so different, so alone?
Suddenly, Marie stiffened. She knew she was being watched, but couldn’t tell from where. Trying not to make it obvious, she casually glanced out of the corner of her eye. A black car of some sort, maybe a limo, was following her. She sped up her pace a little, and then made a sudden turn into a random street, trying to shake them off her trail. As the car rounded the corner, Marie turned right and onto a back street. Then, she took off full speed to her house.
Unable to follow her into the shortcut, the limo pulled to a stop. Rolling down the window, a man in a black suite dialed a number on his cell phone. “How’s it going over there?” he asked, checking his watch.
“Good”, came the reply, “we’re almost done. Did you find her?”
“Yup, it’s her alright. Hurry it up, though. She’s headed your way”. The man in the limo hung up the phone, then, pocketing it, sped off in the opposite direction.
Marie arrived at her house out of breath. Looking behind her, she wondered who that might have been, and if he had really been following her, or if it was her imagination. After taking a minute to catch her breath, and seeing no cars pull into the cul-de-sac, Marie laughed to herself. It was probably some random driver who just so happened to be heading the same way as her. She probably scared them by randomly darting off. The laughter died when she saw the note stuck on the front door.
The first thing Danny noticed as her entered his house was the draft. Someone must have left a window open, he said to himself. Grabbing a soda out of the fridge, Danny sat down on the coach. Grabbing the remote, he was about to flip on the TV when he noticed an odd black box sitting on the coffee table. Getting up, Danny examined the object. It wasn’t plugged into the wall, but had an odd antenna on top of it. However concerned he may have been at first, Danny laughed when he saw a video game controller plugged into it.
“Kyle, you’ve really done it this time”, he said out loud. “Buying me a game system won’t make me fall in love with video games. I’ll humor you, though”. And with that, he hit the power button on the box. Immedeatly, the TV flickered on, and started flashing. A character appeared on the screen, snowboarding down a mountain. Danny shuttered. The graphics were terrible; very scratchy, and every once in awhile the screen would blip to black for a nano second. As he sat, staring at the TV, maneuvering the character around trees, Danny started to sense something, nagging him in the back of his mind. Slowly, the feeling grew stronger. Mistaking the feeling for a headache, Danny tried to put the controller down, only to find that he was no longer controlling the game. His fingers moved involuntarily, pressing button and moving the joystick. Horrified, Danny tried to get up, but found he had lost feeling (and control) of his legs. Unable to move, he sat there, staring at the screen. The graphics slowly got worse, and eventually became just flashing colors on the screen. An odd tugging sensation was pulling Danny from inside. He felt as though he was falling backward, falling into a pit of sleep. Unable to struggle, Danny became suddenly drowsy, as though drugged by a tranquilizer. As his ears filled with a peculiar, static noise, Danny’s thoughts started to fade. His eyelids fluttered, then shut, as he fell into a comatose state.
Pulling the post-it off the screen door, Marie read it:
Marie-
Something urgent’s happened at work. I won’t be able to make it till Monday. Please let Mom know.
-Love, Dad
Crumpling up the paper, Marie muttered to herself “Mom’s on vacation, duh”. Then, as she entered the house, she stopped. “Wait, Mom’s away! I’ll be alone in this house over the weekend! Why can’t Dad make it home?”
Rushing to the phone, she dialed Dad’s work number, then cell phone number, and was out of luck both times. Annoyed, Marie slammed the phone down, then walked over to her TV. Suddenly, a big black object caught her eye. Walking over, she examined the strange looking machine. “I thought we had a Playstation and a Gamecube, but this looks like neither of them. Oh well”, she said, grabbing a controller, “after the rough day I’ve had, I need a break”. Hitting the power switch, Marie planted herself in a beanbag chair in front of the TV. Just as she got settled, a dancing game came up. Hmmm, she thought, this could be like Bust A Groove. But it wasn’t. The music was terrible, and the graphics even worse. Just watching it gave Marie a headache. Slowly, the pound of the beat from the song became more evident, and, madly clicking buttons on the controller, it took her over. Marie felt her heartbeat and thought process align with the beat. By now, it was loud and pounding, and shook her throughout her whole body. Unable to think clearly, Marie was fixated on the game. Trying to move, she found that she had become paralyzed, and do nothing but stare at the screen. The beat sped up, and, getting louder, it threatened to overtake her. As Marie felt the beat crush her farther back into the beanbag chair, she made one last attempt to fight back. Opening her mouth, she tried to scream, but no sound came out. Slipping into unconsciousness, Marie let out a sigh, and then her body went limp.
The first thing Danny saw was a bright, white light. Groaning, he sat up, opening his eyes. Rubbing his head, he scanned his surroundings. Danny was in some kind of room, with white walls, and very bright lights. Only something didn’t seem right. Looking down at his gloved hands, Danny came to the conclusion that this…place…didn’t seem, well, very real. Like when you are in a dream, and you know you are in a dream, but you can’t wake up. Movement nearby caused him to jump. A teen girl with midnight blue hair, dressed in a black t-shirt and bright pink jeans, came over. Looking at Danny, looked behind her and yelled back “Here’s another one”.
“Oh great”, was the reply. “As if we needed anyone else”. Another voice piped up. “When are we going to get out of here?” it said, anxiously. “Shut up”, came another voice.
“Where am I?” Danny asked. The girl helped him up. “Good question”, she said. “I’m not one hundred percent sure, but Mark over there says that wherever we are, it’s not mathematically possible to be here. By the way, my name is Tasha”.
Danny followed Tasha to a group of people sitting on metal chairs. Looking around, he noticed how different one person was from the next. On the far left, a shadowy guy sat, dressed completely in black, turned away from the group, staring at the white floor. Next to him, a nervous, Indian (from India, not Native American) girl sat, hands folded in her lap, wearing a modest, red, silk dress, and sandals on her feet. Between her and the next person, was an empty chair. Then, there was a short, cocky red head, wearing a T-shirt under his green shirt, and jeans. Seated next to him was a dark skinned kid, wearing glasses and a confused look, typing something into his laptop. As Tasha seated herself between the red head and the girl, Danny sat on the end, next to the laptop kid.
Looking over at Danny the guy smiled. “Hi, I’m Mark”, he said, giving Danny a high five. “Danny”, Danny said, returning the smile. “So, what are you doing?”
“I’m trying to figure out where on earth we are. Sadly, my global positioning unit has gone haywire, so I have to do it the hard way…”. Showing Danny his laptop screen covered completely in numbers and symbols, he finished his sentence “…mathematics”.
Remembering how mean the students in his math class could be, Danny said, “Math isn’t exactly my favorite subject”. Mark looked shocked. “Why not, what’s wrong with math?” “Well…”, Danny started, then looked over at the sound of a load thud, then a yelp.
Marie sat up, staring dizzily around a bright white room. She heard voices. Trying to balance herself, Marie managed to pull herself into the upright position before toppling over again. She looked up to see an African guy and , around her age, standing in front of her, with his hand extended out. “Hey”, he said, as she took his hand. He pulled her to her feet.
“What happened? Where am I? Who are you?”
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 6:22 pm
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 4:11 pm
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 7:39 pm
So I've read them and heres what I think.
Story 1.
I really like!! Too bad your not going to continue it. It was really interesting! I like the idea you had going.
Stroy 2
I'm not quite sure story wise about this one, but I really love the charater devolopment! you can really believe their real!
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 10:08 pm
RuinedBloodshed So I've read them and heres what I think. Story 1. I really like!! Too bad your not going to continue it. It was really interesting! I like the idea you had going. Stroy 2 I'm not quite sure story wise about this one, but I really love the charater devolopment! you can really believe their real! Thief.
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 6:09 am
RuinedBloodshed So I've read them and heres what I think. Story 1. I really like!! Too bad your not going to continue it. It was really interesting! I like the idea you had going. Stroy 2 I'm not quite sure story wise about this one, but I really love the charater devolopment! you can really believe their real! Ah, thank you so much!! I really liked my idea for the first story too. I could continue it possibly, but I haven't worked on it in three years, so I don't know how easily it will flow. As for the second story, yes, the plot isn't really evident that early on. I don't even know how much of a plot there was going to be. All of the characters are based off someone in my life (except Danny...he's based off a video game character xd )
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 6:12 am
Petaurista RuinedBloodshed So I've read them and heres what I think. Story 1. I really like!! Too bad your not going to continue it. It was really interesting! I like the idea you had going. Stroy 2 I'm not quite sure story wise about this one, but I really love the charater devolopment! you can really believe their real! Thief. *is confused*
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 5:16 pm
maple_chan Petaurista RuinedBloodshed So I've read them and heres what I think. Story 1. I really like!! Too bad your not going to continue it. It was really interesting! I like the idea you had going. Stroy 2 I'm not quite sure story wise about this one, but I really love the charater devolopment! you can really believe their real! Thief. *is confused* *is aslo confused*
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 7:10 pm
RuinedBloodshed maple_chan Petaurista RuinedBloodshed So I've read them and heres what I think. Story 1. I really like!! Too bad your not going to continue it. It was really interesting! I like the idea you had going. Stroy 2 I'm not quite sure story wise about this one, but I really love the charater devolopment! you can really believe their real! Thief. *is confused* *is also confused* HE STOLE MY OPINION! *points accusingly*
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 7:12 pm
Petaurista RuinedBloodshed maple_chan Petaurista RuinedBloodshed So I've read them and heres what I think. Story 1. I really like!! Too bad your not going to continue it. It was really interesting! I like the idea you had going. Stroy 2 I'm not quite sure story wise about this one, but I really love the charater devolopment! you can really believe their real! Thief. *is confused* *is also confused* HE STOLE MY OPINION! *points accusingly* She
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 7:25 pm
maple_chan Petaurista RuinedBloodshed maple_chan Petaurista RuinedBloodshed So I've read them and heres what I think. Story 1. I really like!! Too bad your not going to continue it. It was really interesting! I like the idea you had going. Stroy 2 I'm not quite sure story wise about this one, but I really love the charater devolopment! you can really believe their real! Thief. *is confused* *is also confused* HE STOLE MY OPINION! *points accusingly* She *twitches* She's the one with a guy avatar. *pouts* Do we even have any guys on here?
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 7:28 pm
Mike 3nodding Aka, aGUYwithTOES. He's a guy biggrin
Well, Eric's on here too...EBikeman...but I don't think he's even posted yet...stupid Eric stare
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 7:32 pm
Who's aGUYwithTOES? Do I know this person? ^_-
WE MUST CONVERT HIM TO THE GOOD SIDE!!
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