The Charlatan

Well it has been a while sense I posted a new one of these, but here is another of my timed writing sessions

The Charlatan

"Step right up! Step right up! Ladies and Gentlemen!" The charlatan cried from the old wooden stage with his wagon behind. The sound of his cane, which he wore for fashion and a sense of prestige opposed to any physical need, could be heard rap tap rapping on the old wooden planks that creaked under his well shined black boots. The long tails of his coat flapped in the wind behind him, and a top hat was neatly placed on his head.

The crowd would gather round. Young and old alike, man, woman, and child each with their own aliments. Wheelchairs, bald heads, blind eyes, deaf ears, things not seen. "Come one and all" he cried, "I have something for everything." Pills upon pills scoured from all over the world, made from the most exotic ingredients. "What do you say? Don’t be shy! Who is first to give it a try?" As he speaks with great velocity, his cane thrust out pointing to shelves upon shelves of ancient placebo just through the wagon doors which stand open for all to see.

The wagons sides are brightly colored to attract and draw in spectators. Sparking curiosity, it is drawn by two old white mules who say not a thing. "Yes, that is right come around" All heads rise up and shouts and screams begin, hands rise, each wanting that miracle cure. He covers his eyes and points to the crowd with his cane blindly. Then stops to look where it is pointing. "You there!" He says to a woman holding a baby. She looks surprised and is filled with fear, relief, and anticipation.

"Yes you, come right up! Make way! Make way! Let her through!" She advanced forward and the crowd parts like the ocean. All eyes now fixed upon her and a collative breath is held. She begins to draw up the steps.

12:39 PM - 2/10/2007 - comments {0} - post comment

The Becoming

Yes here it is my timed writing segment for this week

The Becoming

Sabrina made her way across the kitchen floor. Her bare feet brushed softly against the tan colored tile. A long white cloth robe was draped over her from and rustled lightly around her legs as she walked. Her dark hair rested against her shoulders, and fell to the mid of her back.

She grasped the handle of the kettle that had been screaming at her and poured the hot water into a waiting mug. A tendril of smoke drifted up to her nostrils and the coffee scent filled her. Sabrina could almost taste it already while her hands curled around the mug and she felt the heat radiate against her skin.

Slowly Sabrina would start to left the mug up to her lips and take a sip when something stopped her. She heard a sound and turned her head to the window. Her eyes grew wide and she gave a small gasp. She would take a couple steps back and the mug slid from her hands and crashed to the floor with the sound of breaking glass. The hot black liquid ran across the floor and touched just the edge of her toes before she backed away from it.

It took her a few minutes to recover before she would pull a few paper towels from the roll and kneeled down. Sabrina began to wipe the coffee dry and the rose to stand again she walked over to the trash can and dropped the towels inside. She would then crouch down once more and began to pick up the larger pieces of glass dropping them one by one into her other hand which she held cupped.

9:06 PM - 1/26/2007 - comments {0} - post comment

The Dectective

This is from another 10 min. writing session I did. I really enjoy these, and I might try to make a habbit of doing one every friday.

The Detective

            Thoughts came fleetingly, they pass through the mind in butterfly kisses. So tantalizing and yet just hovering out of reach. When one makes a grasp their fingers slide away and they are left empty handed.

            Those were the words written in the book sitting on the table. It was opened about half-way through to page 162. What is the significance of that number? I did not know, only I thought it was worth mentioning. It reminded me of a dream I had once. There was a long dark hall way and at the end a door, painted on the door was a number. Was it that very same number? I do not quite think so.

            There was a woman with green eyes; it appeared almost as if she were watching me. She "sat" in a chair just across from the book. I had to wonder, was it her book? But there was no way to know for certain. It seems there can be no answers.

 It almost felt as if her ghost was in the room and my attention was drawn to the window. I could hear the sound of birds just outside as I watched the sunny day beyond this dreary scene, but still as if by some old instinct I could almost taste the rain that was to come.

Somewhere beyond monks prayed for the sound of church bells could be heard ringing outside the window, but here there was nothing left to be done. Witnesses had been questioned and no one saw the gun that delivered the final blow. Somewhere came a sound, and then voices began to surround me and I was brought back out of my thoughts to the present reality.

I found in my hand a cup of coffee, and I knew this was just another day for me, but at times I had to ask myself how much more of this could I take? I felt the pressure weigh me down and it felt for a moment like I couldn’t breath. That is when the smell of death and decay began to get to me and I had to leave.

5:16 PM - 1/19/2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Dream Prohecy

This was done as part of a writing exercise in which I sat down for 10 mins and just wrote without stopping or thinking, or pre planning, just whatever came to my mind. Then later I typed it up and did some small edidting to make it read a little better. Added puntuation and things of the like. This might become part of something more in the future, that is yet to be seen.

Dream Prophecy

            It was a blustering winters day. The wind spoke of wrath as it whipped sharply with a cool crisp chill that bit through my clothing and stung my skin like sharp dagger points. Howling its vengeance as if it were a great beast of yore. The leaves danced in bright colors, and appeared almost as flamboyant pixies as they dotted the sky in brief flashes of flaming color before being whisked away and out of sight.

            I stood on the bluff that day. The grass emerald green dancing furiously under my feet. In the air there was a distant melody faintly heard as it was carried across the stormy sea. The waters were in tumult and assaulted the rocks without mercy. In the distance beyond the horizon where the water and sky meld into one there was a darkness. It was starting to roll in. A great storm that would sweep over the land. I could only watch held transfixed, as if caught in some enchantment.

            I felt it was coming. The air quivered like a bow string drawn tight and ready for release, but then what would result? Chaos, I thought as the cold made my skin burn. My hands were shoved deep into my pockets.

            Somewhere behind me in the solid world I heard my name called and at last I was forced to look away. I stepped out of the dream into the clam world of reality.

4:44 PM - 1/12/2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Point of No Return (Conclusion)

Alleandra clung to her brother’s arm as she stood just behind him her eyes fixed upon the man before her. Her other hand still held the album securely. "They are humans just like us. You had no right to do that. You will not get away with this. They deserve to be helped, to have shelter, and food, like anyone else. Not to be cast out like animals. What happened to the, it is not their fault." She pleaded with conviction, but Welkin seemed unmoved.

            "You do not understand, we were trying to build a new future, the last thing they needed was to be confronted and reminded of the past, to let that taint in. What we have is beautiful and pure. It was for the greater good." He took an advancing step as he did so Jay backed up with his sister as Welkin came to speak again extending his hand. "Now give me the book, there is nowhere to go, you cannot run, do not make this hard on yourselves, if you just hand it over, we can forget all about this."

            "NO!" Jay shouted suddenly as he pushed his sister farther behind him protectively and took a step up. "You have no right to do this." Welkin was about to signal to the others to advance upon them when suddenly Alleandra began to scream at the top of her lungs. It had caught the others by surprise at first even Welkin looked momentarily stunned before he recovered himself and just laughed. "There is no one there to help you, no one to hear you." He then turned to his men. "Now get them. Do not let them get away, and give me that book."

            The men once more began to advance and surged forward toward Allendra and Jay when before they could even think about turning to run a figure rushed out from the brush, at first it was only a blind blur, and it charged dead ahead plowing directly into the man nearest to Jay and Alleandra and took him to the ground, then they could see it was covered in fur. It was one of the ape-men. Jay and Alleandra exchanged quick looks, as the other men were taken aback and jumped away in disbelief.

            Jay grabbed his sister’s hand and began to charge into the trees tugging her behind, she ran swiftly at his heels. The men behind began to recover themselves, as Welkin could be heard shouting. "Get them! Stop them! Now!" The armed men began to run into the trees after them. The lead man found his way suddenly blocked as another of the creatures stepped just in front of him, causing the man to nearly run right into him, and then others began to appear from the trees barring the way of the men.

            Alleandra and Jay could hear the sounds of shouting, yelling, and gunfire as they started to slow up and just leaned back against a tree huddling down in the foliage while they struggled to control their breath as they listened to the fighting though could see nothing of what was going on. Jay placed a protective arm around his sister and just held her close as she leaned against him and they sat there in silence. It seemed to last forever until the jungle would grow quiet again. Jay waited several movements into the silence when he was certain it was over and looked to his sister and motioned her to stay keeping his voice low as he spoke. "I am going to go see what is going on, you stay here, I will be right back."

            Alleandra was hesitant at first, but she saw the sense in this, and it would do no good for them both to get caught, and she nodded her head at last though a bit begrudgingly. Jay began to move as silently as possible through the trees to arrive back at the scene, and he could not believe what he saw. The soldiers were all slain, a few of the large hairy bodies could be seen lying dead upon the ground, but the ape-men had been victorious in the end. Jay slowly advanced out into the open and looked around. The others looked to him a few giving low grunts but none of them made any ward him. "We want to help" He said but he did not know if they would understand, it seemed they would not hurt him and he would call back. "Alleandra, it is safe, come out"

            She breathed a sigh of relief hearing her brother’s words and she rose to her feet and hurried through the brush to rejoin him, and as she first arrived, she was just as taken as he was. Her eyes swept over everything as she came to stand beside her brother still holding the album in her arms. "We want you to come back with us to the dome. You should not have to live this way. We want to tell everyone the truth of what was done to you."

            The ape-men gathered in a small group and seemed to be discussing something as Alleandra and Jay stood watching and waiting wondering what was going on. Until they broke away and it seemed a decision was made. Alleandra and Jay went back with the ape-men to return to their village and after making preparations and gathering everyone together, they would all begin to make the trek back to the dome together with Alleandra and Jay walking side by side. "Maybe this is all they wanted in the first place, for someone to listen, to understand, for the truth to be known." Alleandra said looking up to her brother, still carrying the album in her arms. Jay looked down to her words and kissed the top of her head, glad it was all over. "Yes, maybe."

2:46 PM - 1/11/2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Point of No Retun (Part 2)

He was about to protest, but he saw the logic behind her words, as long as she was within hearing distance at least then it should be fine. There was nothing he could do that she couldnt and so he would come to agree. "Alright, just dont get too far away incase anything happens." He would move a bit farther from the water and found a place to lower himself to sit upon a rock. He eyes had adjusted a bit to the dark so he could see at least fairly decently. After he had sat down he felt something against his hand, pricking lightly against his skin. He glanced down when he saw"¦.what was that? It was a creature like he had never seen before, but then he should be getting used to that. At first he thought it was a crab but then he thought it was a spider. He quickly jerked his hand back. "What the"¦?" Alleandra looked to him a bit startled with the rising of fear when she saw the creature crawl off across the cave floor and she could not help but to give a light laugh. "Oh, I forgot to tell you about those. They gave me quite the fright at first, but I dont think they will hurt you." Jay muttered a bit under his breath feeling a little foolish for being so startled especially after what he had just been though but he would give a slight grin as he looked up to his sister. "Yeah I am sure you just conveniently forgot" He said in a tease. She just rolled her eyes and shook her head as she reached up and ruffled his hair before stepping away "Well it is time to try and find a way out of here." She had no idea what she was looking for or where to begin she only hoped she would know it when she saw it.

            Alleandra began to make exploration within the cave, and found at first, to her disappointment, that it appeared there were no other passages, or tunnels, but this one room was it. Her heart sunk when she found they were closed it. Could this rally be it she thought to herself. Could they be trapped here with no way out? She knew even if they risked swimming back and took the chance of running into that monster again and they would not be able to get out from whence they fell in. It was too steep and slick to climb. She was about to give up as she wondered around the walls of the cave looking for anything, and feeling defeated when she stopped suddenly. Could it be? She looked around though she did not see any channels but she could have sworn she felt air. Fresh cool outside air. "Jay" She called in her excitement of mixed hope and fear, she wondered if perhaps her desperation caused her to imagine it.

            He looked up hearing his sister call and he could feel her anxiety and wondered what she had found. Slowly he pushed himself up to stand and began to walk to where she stood. Seeing nothing he was puzzled at first as he looked to her. "What is"¦." He was about to speak when his words were stopped dead as he felt it and he know. "Air, there must be a way out. It has to be up there somewhere" He said as he tilted his head up along the wall of the cave where things became lost in the darkness. "We will have to climb"

            Alleandra felt her heart clench as he said those words. She knew what that would mean. The walls were teaming with those spider like creatures; there would be no way around them. If they climbed up the rocks they would have to go right through them. The thought made her shudder as she could not imagine stepping upon them, having them crawl over her body. And what if they became aggressive if agitated? There seemed to be no other option, but could she do it? Could she really?

            Jay seemed to know what his sister was thinking as he looked over to her for a moment, he was not exactly looking forward to the idea either, but after everything else they have been through they could not just give up now. Not over something like this. "We could do this" He hoped he sounded more encouraging then he truly felt. He knew they had to do it, and he was prepared to, but that did not make it any easier, and deep down he knew even if they made it to the top, there was the chance that the source of the air might not be enough to permit them passage out, but it was all they had and he did not want to give their hopes up or crush her spirit or she might loose her will, though he wondered if she was not somewhere inside thinking the same thing. "We have to" She said, though it did not come out with the conviction she had hoped. "We have no choice, it is our only chance."

            They exchanged determined looks which were shaded with their equal unease before stepping forward to the wall. "Here goes" Jay said and would then reach out and placed his hand against the rocks. Feeling the spiders crawl around him and under his hand. Feeling one of them crush underhand and a stick warmth of its innards. He tried to block it out as he pulled up and placed his foot within a foot hold feeling the creatures swarming everywhere under his body, and now crawling along his arms and legs. He just pushed on. Hand over hand, foot over foot. It was sickening and nauseating, and his body still screamed in pain and exhaustion as he struggled to make his way up. Alleandra would come soon after him. She wanted to scream to brush them off to scratch and itch and wiggle, but she could do nothing but allow it. Each time she crushed one of them under foot or under hand it made her stomach turn over upon itself and it made her want to puke, but she could not allow that. She tried to focus upon Jay, and the air, and the idea of freedom as she pushed on uncomfortably. She could feel them crawling all over her, pinching and biting occasionally. It was the most horrible thing she has ever experienced.

            Jay just wanted this to be over with as soon as possible but he knew they could not rush it, if they were to misstep, or grab a loose rock then it they could go pummeling to the ground, and even if he survived that he did not think he would be able to boost himself up to do this a second time. This was their only chance and failing was not an option. It took every exertion of his will to press onward; every last drop of strength he still had in reserve was called upon now.

            "It is not so bad," Alleandra tried to tell herself as she chanted it over and over in her mind as a mantra to encourage her to push upward and onward. "I will get use to it, once I know what it feels like, it could be worse" She tried desperately to convince herself of this. She was all too thankful now for the darkness. If she could see she did not think she could do it, it would be far too much. She did not want to imagine what the juices from those crushed looked like; that would have pushed her over the edge. But in the dark it was easier to turn her thoughts aside; it was more like a dream like something that was not really happening. Jay pushed on for Alleandra. He knew after everything he put her though he could not let her down now. If he gave up then what would that mean for her? She was hanging in and pressing on. She was being unbelievably brave and so he had to suck it up and through the pain and discomfort keep going.

            It was long and rigorous going the spider-creatures would pinch and bite as they climbed over them, and through the mass of the creatures it was difficult to find where a proper hand or foot hold might be located. Their hands and clothes grew sticky with the dried guts of the ones which they had to crush and the smell was not the most pleasant in the world. It would take an hour or more before an end would come into sight. Jay felt his heart leap; he could breathe more readily in the fresh hair and saw above the crevice which led out of this cave. His heart pounding in his breast with the growing excitement. They were almost there. At last they would be free. This urged him to push onward all the more so, but he still had to be careful. All would be lost if in the sight of victory he allowed himself to get clumsy and slipped and fell.

            Alleandra felt a wave of relief wash over her body when she saw it was almost over, though she knew it was not quite over yet. They were close now, and it was real. She had not imagined it, there really was an escape. Her lungs sucked in the air which cooled against her face.

            The crevice was quite narrow and they would have to wiggle through on their stomachs, they would have to go in single file. As Jay came upon it now he would move aside along the wall and let Alleandra pass inside just ahead of him, after she began to wiggle through into the crevice he waited a moment, to make sure she was well enough in that he would not be in the way and he would begin to move through. It was tight and the rocks tore and scraped at their clothing and skin. At least the creatures were not in here and they did not have to deal with that any further.

            It was not a long way but it was exhausting, at last Alleandras head would come through the surface and she saw the lush green jungle around her. With a sigh of relief she pulled herself the rest of the way out and collapsed upon the ground in heaving breath. Her muscles screamed and ached now. Jay would be just on her heals and came to pull himself out and fell upon the ground not far from her. There clothing, or what remained of it after their ordeals as well as their hands and arms were covered in a black unidentifiable substance from the spider creatures. Jay was so elated that they had made it out that he began to laugh. He could not help himself. Alleandra glanced over to him to him and then a smile curved upon her lips and she began to laugh as well. She reached over and they clasped hands and just lay there looking to the tree tops laughing. They survived. Somewhere deep inside they knew their ordeal was far from over, but for now they were just glad to be alive.

            After Alleandra began to recover from the initial shock of what happened and realized they were not going to perish, at least not in that horrible place everything had begun to catch up with her. The stench from the slime of spider creatures, and the feel of it drying upon her skin, sticky and hard, almost like human blood but somehow more grotesque began to get to her and her stomach reeled. Pushing herself up upon her hands and knees she could not help it any longer and began to retch into the grass.

            Jay looked over to his sister with some concern but he could certainly understand how she felt. It was all a bit too much and his own stomach was a little queasy though he did his best to hold it back as he came to push himself up to sit and tried to just concentrate on the fresh cool air. After that experience, water was the last thing he expected to want to see again any time soon but he had to admit the idea of a bath was not all that displeasing just now. While he gave his sister the time she needed his mind began to turn to other things. With one danger escaped he knew they had simply stepped into another. All their supplies had been lost, and he had no idea where they were, what direction they went or how far. They needed to find a way to survive. He had no knowledge of what was in these jungles and what could and could not be safely eaten, nor did he have any tools. It did look all very bleak and the initial elation began to ware off. He did not wish to worry his sister but even if she did not come to the same realization on her own, he could not keep it from her. Not for long.

            After Alleandra recovered and her stomach settled a bit, she slowly began to push up to her feet. She staggered a moment before she was able to gain her balance, it still made her a bit queasy to be covered in the gunk but she was determined not to be sick anymore. Trying to block it out the best she could she could not stand it anymore and had to find away to get it off her skin. She wanted nothing more then to rip off her clothing but she could not do that for there was nothing else to ware. She reached over and grabbed a handful of the thick fat leaves of the fern like plants which grew along the forest floor and she began to use the foliage to rub off the gunk from her skin as best she could. Now and then she would toss aside used leaves and reach up to pick some more. It was not perfect but it was better then nothing and she discovered another effect. The smell of the plant juice which was somewhat acidic disguised that of the smell of the bug juice. Jay sat back and watched his sister in a cross between fascination and amusement. He was impressed with her resourcefulness and surprised by it. He did not think he would have ever considered the idea and it would not take long before he began to follow suit and do the same as she.

            After they had gotten themselves at least somewhat clean with an assortment of leaves scattered around their feet Jay knew it was time they start considering their predicament and figure out just what they were going to do. He knew even if he wanted to turn around and go back, he had not the slightest idea how to do that. He was taken out of his thoughts by the sound of his sisters voice. "What was that?" Those words made his heart sink. He was still sore and tired and in pain, what could possibly be wrong now? He tried not to over react just yet as he turned to his sister and struggled to get the words out. "What was what?" Alleandra turned to look over to her brother and the expression upon her face very much reflected his own thoughts. "I thought I saw something, some movement in the trees up ahead" She pointed in the direction in which she had indicated. When he looked he saw nothing and silently prayed that it was just paranoia and her eyes playing tricks upon her, though that idea would be vanquished all too soon.

            Once more those strange ape like creatures would appear coming out of the trees to circle around them. Allandra pressed up against her brother. There did not seem to be a place where they could break and run, and even if there was, she did not think, especially now that they would have any chance to out run them and escape. It seemed after everything all was lost. Jay reached back and clutched his sisters hand. "I do not think we can escape, maybe if we go with them, show them we do not mean any harm, they will let us go." Alleandra knew they did not have a choice right now and would agree but she could feel they both shared the same uneasiness and uncertainty, but what more could they do?

            The ape-men closed in on them and Alleandra and Jay offered no struggle this time but allowed the creatures to herd them off back through the trees toward their primitive dwellings once more. Though the journey was too long for Jay to make and eventually his body gave way and he stumbled and fell. Alleandra let out a scream as she turned to go to him when one of the ape-men pushed her head to keep her walking, another would come to pick up her brother and carry him the rest of the way through the jungle.

            It had been a long journey back to the primitive village inhibited by the ape-men and a hard one through the jungle, especially with the quick pace they pushed her to. Every muscle in Alleandras body ached and she was tired and hungry, and dispirited. Everything it seemed they went through now was for naught. She found herself slumped against the wall upon the floor within one of the simple little huts which made up the village. Her hands were bound behind her back and her ankles lashed together to prevent further attempts from escape, but she was left alone at least.

            The hut only had one circular room which was not very large, and it was quite dark within with a heavy musky unpleasant smell. Her wrists burned in pain, rubbed raw from her early attempts to try and pull her hands free which seemed an impossible task. It was a struggle to fight back the tears and keep the brimming of panic from taking over her, but she felt completely lost of hope. She had made several attempts to try to connect with Jay to send some message to him or to contact him, but she was too fatigued and her mind too clouded. She could not think clearly or concentrate. Where was he? Was he ok? What was going to happen to him? When they had brought her to this hut to keep her prisoner they had taken him somewhere else. She desperately needed him now. He would know what to do. He always did and she was despairingly worried about him. 

            Jay was barely conscious as he felt his mind fading in and out and struggled to stay aware and alert to what was going on, though eventually his weariness and injuries would get the better of him and he blacked out at some point during the journey. When he finally came to open his eyes he found himself in a strange room. He looked around frantically. His eyes searching for his sister. His lips parted to speak to call her name but it came out soundless. His lips were cracked and chapping and he passed his tongue over them. What was happening? It was dark and his head was still hazy. He blinked a few times to try and clear his vision. He tried to move, but everything still hurt so much and he found himself unable to. There was a resistance against his ability to move. He felt the rising of panic but drew in a deep breath to keep his calm. Things began to become clearer to him. He realized he had been bound and lay stretched out with his arms stretched behind his head and his wrists lashed down, and his legs stretched out spread eagle with his ankles lashed down. He became aware of the feeling of cold air, and a hard cold surface, which he was lying upon, it felt like stone, in direct contact with his skin, and did his best to lift his head and look down seeing he had been stripped naked. What was happening? What were they going to do to him, where was his sister? He needed to focus his mind. He was not alone he soon realized as he could hear sounds around him and slowly turned his head to look over watching as one of the ape-men moved around, with its back to him, so he could not see just what it was doing. He felt his heart beat quicken.

            The creature turned around and began to walk toward Jay. He tried to watch out of the corners of his eyes, feeling completely helpless now it was hard not to let the panic overtake him. The ape-man appeared to have something in its hands. What was it? He struggled against the binds but to no end he could not get himself free. He then froze suddenly and bit back a cry as he felt something warm against his skin, his mind was frantic. Was it blood, his blood? What were they doing? After he took the moment to take a breath and collect his thoughts he realized he was not in any pain and he glanced down to try and see what was going on. Water, it was just water he realized with a sight of relief, but he was still left confused. Were they bathing him? But why?

            In one hand the ape-man held a rather simple wooden bowl which was filled with water that had been heating over fire, and an old wadded cloth was held within its other hand as it went over Jays body washing away all the grime and the remains from the spider creatures in the caves. Taking particular attention to clean out the wounds and lacerations upon his body. When it had finished this process it turned back to set the bowl down along with the cloth before retuning to Jay once more, as it tentatively began to apply a salve made from herbs and plants to the wounds to help ward away infection and to aide the healing process.

            Jay flinched at the feel of sudden coldness upon his body as the salve was applied, wincing in the initial sting before a feeling of almost soothing numbness would wash over him and he felt the pain of wounds start to slip away and he began the relax more. He watched this all in awe as the creature tended to the wounds he had acquired, and he could not help but to wonder at this, why would these creatures go to such efforts to capture and kidnap them, only to heal him? And why had he been parted from his sister? Where was she? Thoughts of her and her unknown fate began to make him fidget in his binds though he tried to be rational. Why would they harm her if they did not him? But he felt his heart rate increase. If something had happened to her, he would know about it he told himself to try and calm his nerves. "Be Still!" The guttural strange voice of the ape-man cut through his thoughts as he became aware of the creature again and he would stop his movement as he just stared up at the creature. "You need to rest" The creature continued, was it possible that voice had softened? Jay blinked but it seemed there was little he could do but comply and senseless fighting would not get him anywhere.

            Once he had settled down the creature would amble away from him again going back to where it had first come from when he awakened, he heard the sound of things being moved around but could see nothing in the darkness past the creatures back, wondering what was happening now, before once more the creature would return to his side, holding what appeared to be some sort of crudely made mug. He pressed the mug to Jays lips forcing him to drink of the liquid, it was fowl tasting and thick but warm. He instantly revolted against it but the ape-man held one hand against his head, keeping it tilted back to force it down is throat and kept him from spitting it up.

            Once the mug was emptied the creature stepped back and appeared to be waiting for something, and it was shortly that a strange feeling would overcome Jay. It was like the room was starting to close in on him he felt as if he were spinning in circles, and the walls and ceiling was growing increasingly closer he gave a low moan, but found himself completely in unable to move. A great heaviness spread through all his limbs as if he were filled with lead and soon he found his will to resist slipping away and tiredness would creep upon him. He heard a voice, a low moan and realized it was him as he tried to resist but darkness was engulfing him until at last he slipped away and all went dark and he lost all consciousness.

            Alleandra looked up feeling a mix of both hope and fear as she saw a figure start to approach the entrance of the hut before the one of the creatures pushed back the thick hide that hung before the opening and stepped inside the small room. She feared what would happen to her now, what they planed to do to her, but at the same time the isolation and being left only with her thoughts was getting to her, and she had the faint hope of some news from Jay, maybe even to see him. For now she just sat there and waited as the figure began to walk toward her and stooped down hefting her up with one arm and setting her over its shoulder.

She let out a scream and began to kick her feet out of survival instinct and her fear getting the best of her, not even consciously aware of her actions, but listening to another part, a primal part of her mind now, but she was stilled by the voice of the creature that cut back into her rationality, as she was aware even if she did get away then what? Where could she go? She could not just abandon Jay, perhaps it would be better for now to just cooperate and buy her time. "Dont fight" She was stricken by a strange sense, of a faintly female tone within that animalistic and course tongue of the creature, as it was near to impossible by sight to tell apart to the sexes. She would lay limp in the creatures arms as she felt herself being carried out of the hut and into the open air through the small village as she looked around wondering where she was going.

            Jay slowly opened his eyes and found himself looking up toward the ceiling once more, at first he felt a few remaining effects of the dizziness and without thinking, he brought one of his hands up to rub his temples and it was then that it dawned upon him that he was no longer bond. He sat up quickly and looked around his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness, and he realized he was in the same place had been before in the small dark room. Still seated upon the stone table, but his hands and legs were free now, and he was alone this time.

            He slowly moved off the end of the stable and his bare feet came against the floor as he stood up. His body still sore for the physical exertion he had used today, but the cuts and injuries he acquired did not bother him as much anymore. He found upon the floor lying near the base of the slab of stone crudely made clothing from furs, appearing as if they had been left for him. What could be the meaning of this? He thought to himself as he would dress himself in the fur and then walked around exploring the small room. Looking for anything he could use as a tool or weapon perhaps. He was not altogether certain what he was looking for, but he did not want to do anything rash and he was off balance not knowing what to expect.

            Alleandra found herself plunged naked into warm water which was kept in a simple made wooden tub and heated by fire. Her first thought was that it reminded her of a large primitive cauldron and panic and fear raced through her. They are going to eat me, her mind screamed. She instantly began to kick and flail in the water for what she thought was dear life but was held firmly by the shoulders by the ape-man, or what she suspected may have been a woman. "You are going to hurt yourself." The voice came and she knew she was getting nowhere in this frantic fight and she calmed herself the best she could and sat still in the water. Once she had settled down she felt the creatures hands starting to run over her body, and of some grainy substance being rubbed against her skin and it suddenly dawned on her she was being bathed. The absurdity of it all, in addition to her initial thoughts of being cooked alive nearly made her laugh aloud. A part of her was irked at the feeling of being treated as if she were a child, but the warm water was relaxing to her body and she was all too happy to have the sticky gooey substance of those horrid bugs in the cave washed away from her skin.

            Jay felt a sudden sharp pain like a scream cut through his mind and he froze, feeling his heart skip a beat for a moment. Alleandra, he thought, and fear raced through him. What happened to her? Where was she? He no longer could think rationally, he had to get to his sister. He pushed passed the flap of animal hide and stepped out of the hut. His eyes scanned around the small village that was laid out before him. The ape like people mingled about, attending to their various tasks it seemed. Some looked up at him as he came out, but thus far none tried to stop him or stirred much. His eyes scanned for his sister. "Alleandra!" He called out as he did not see her or any sign of her. His gaze swept over the huts much like the one he had been kept in, and he wondered. Was she in one of those? He turned and ran to the nearest one throwing back the door flap as he looked inside, startling those that were within. His eyes searched not seeing his sister he drew away.

            Aware now of all eyes glued upon him, none yet moved to stop him still and so he would proceed until he found her. "Alleandra!" He called out again as he moved to the next hut to look within, again finding nothing, but it was when he would reach the third one that he was finally stopped. A strong hand clasped around his shoulder. No he thought and began to struggle against it, but he was still weak and fatigued, and the ape creatures were stronger and soon secured a better hold to keep him from getting away. "Where is she?" He shouted as he struggled to turn now to face the creature. "What have you done with her?" ALLEANDRA!" He called at the top of his lungs. Feeling the creature start to try and drag him back he struggled and fought what if they tied him up again? Or worse? He had to find a way. Working on pure adrenalin now he resisted with all he had.

            She gave a start as she thought she heard her name. She looked around, but could see nothing but the trees, the tub was tucked back a short distance from the village; it seemed these creatures did have some notion of privacy. Jay? She thought to herself, was that him? It was hard to concentrate with what she presumed to be an ape-woman scrubbing at her skin and pulling through her hair to try and wash it out. But she had to try and get a message to him. She closed her eyes as she sent her mind out with as much will as she could muster trying to reach out to him. He felt her touch his mind and hope leapt into him with renewed strength, he nearly twisted out of the grip as he lunged forward but was caught up again once more. Alleandra he thought. Is that really you? Are you ok? Where are you?

            She was relived when she heard his words echo through her mind. He was here, and he was alive, and ok she thought with new joy. It instantly made everything appear better. I am fine she thought to him. It is alright. I am here, and unharmed. Hearing her reassuring words at once calmed him and he felt all his strength flood out of him. His body sagged against the one that had hold of him now, allowing himself to be dragged off. Nothing else seemed to matter; only that she was ok

Alleandra once more sat upon the floor of the hut she had first been taken to, but at least this time her hands were unbound, and she was clean. She held the plate of food that had been given to her balanced on her knees as she eagerly began to gobble up. She had not until now realized just how hungry she was, and she could not remember the last time she had something to eat. It seemed she had not eaten since they first left the dome, and how long ago was that? She completely lost track of time. She had no idea what she was eating. The food set before her was nothing she recognized, but just now she did not care, and it did not taste half bad, at least not now in her starved state. Jay was similarly feasting on  the same meal his sister was. He was left a little bit surprised that there seemed to be no real consequences for his previous actions. He had not been bound, or beaten, but rather returned to the hut and left alone until one of the ape-men came to deliver the food and then left again, though he would not as ravenously gobble his food up as his sister. Not that he was not just as hungry, but he was too lost in thought at the moment. He had to find a way to try and get to his sister. A part of him could not help but to feel responsible for everything that happened to his sister, and so he had to be the one to try and fix it. He would pick at his food paying little head to what it was and barely even tasting it as he just went through the motions of chewing and swallowing.  

            As time would pass things would grow quiet for a long time, and either Alleandra or Jay would receive anymore visits from the ape-men. Alleandra sat quietly in thought now that she had been fed and was surprisingly feeling better, more so then she thought she would. She began to think that these creatures did not really mean to hurt them, though she did not understand what they wanted them for, and she was not completely eager to find out even if some of her fear had begun to pass. Her objective became to find her brother. Slowly she made her way toward the entrance of her hut as she peered out. By now it had grown dark, and the only light came from a fire that still burned in the middle of the little village. A few of the creatures sat still around the fire, but it appeared as if many by now had retreated back to their own huts. She could only make out a few shapes of the some of the huts from where she was. She knew Jay had to be in one but the trick would be to figure out which one without getting caught, she drew back and thought she would wait a while and see if the others around the fire would not leave as well before she took any real chances.

            Jay knew from his experience before that they ape creatures did not seem too concerned if he simply left the hut, he would just have to be careful not to cause a scene or do anything which could draw attention to himself or be construed as disruptive or hostile, though after his last episode they might be more wary about him, there was only one way to find out and he could not just sit around here and do nothing. Slowly he would start to venture out of the hut and stood for a moment just before the entrance as his eyes scanned the dimly lit darkness. It seemed most had retired for the night, only a few remained by the fire. He half wondered if they were there as guards of some sort to make sure they did not try to slip away in the night, but as of now they seemed oblivious to his presence outside the hut. Now, the question was how was he going to find his sister without drawing attention to himself. He could not do what he did before and just start looking in huts. Maybe if he was able to send a message to her, she could direct him to where she was, but even then he would have to take care, if they figured out what he was doing, or that he knew where she was they might try and intervene. If only he knew just why they were here and what these creatures wanted with them, he just shook that thought away from his mind as he would start to concentrate on calling out to her while he began to walk forward slowly and trying to look as nonchalant as possible as if he was just stretching his legs.

            Alleandra was growing inpatient with waiting, she did not know how much time had passed, though it felt like hours and she did not think she could stand to sit here any longer just thinking and worrying about her brother and not doing anything. She moved forward and pushed back the tent flap and peered out again. The figures by the fire looked the same; she wondered if they would stay there all night. Her eyes scanned carefully when she gave a start and had to cover her own mouth to keep from crying out as her gaze fell upon a figure that was distinctly human. It had to be him, she thought. But how to get his attention without alerting the others? She tried with all her will and effort to get his attention.

            He felt a sudden strange tug upon his mind and felt drawn to turn his head just to the left, and he slowly turned to look. It took his eyes a moment to try and adjust to the darkness before he made out the image that lie just beyond. Alleandra? He thought to himself. Could it be? He had to check himself before he took off running in her direction, but instead gave a glance around before he slowly started to walk forward in the direction he was certain he had seen his sister, though he tried to make it appear as if he had no destination in mind and was quite oblivious in case any of the others should happen to just glance over in his direction.

            It worked, she felt a flutter of hope come through her as she slowly ventured further out of the tent taking care not to make a noise as she did so until she came to stand just outside her tent as she waited anxiously, she was afraid if she tried to him of drawing attention to them. It not be long before he would come to reach her and without a word he took her hand as he gave a last look behind him to make sure no one was watching before looking back to her as he motioned to the woods and she nodded her head, they knew they could not risk speaking now they just had to get out of here. They ducked back out of sight as they turned to walk between her hut and the one next to it and then began to head into the trees taking great care not to make any noise, though it was intimidating and difficult at night. They could not see a thing and had no idea what they might run into. She kept a tight hold upon his hand as they made their way into the brush and further away from the camp. They had been walking for maybe ten to twenty minutes when Alleandra came to a stop and grabbed hold of Jays arm as she spoke still keeping her voice low. "There" she pointed to the left as she continued. "I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It looked like a building or something." Jay looked to her curiously then followed where she pointed but it was so hard to see, he thought maybe they could use it as a shelter for the night, and turned to start to make his way toward it as he did so he looked back to his sister. "If anything happens, or if I give the word, I want you to run, as fast and far as you can without looking back." Alleandra looked to him and was about to protest but thought better of it and just nodded her head. "I will, I promise." He nodded and proceeded forward keeping her just behind him protectively, not knowing what they might find now.

            It would not take long before the thing which had caught Allendras eye would come into his view, as they drew closer, and his eyes adjusted more to the darkness and he came to stop rather taken by surprise aware of his sister just beside him as they both stood and stared at it. It was a building from the old world, the world before the virus an old wooden structure that appeared to have been sitting here for sometime. Jay looked a moment to this sister and then back to the building. "Maybe we can take shelter there for the night" Alleandra said at last as she looked to her brother curiously. He was drawn out of his thoughts and wonder at her words and then nodded his head slowly, as it was better then treading through the jungles and unknown land, to encounter who knows what and he would start to draw near to the building with his sister. It appeared to be safe with no sign of anyone or anything for that matter around.

            Once they came to the front of the building Jay looked back to his sister and held out a hand to her still keeping his voice low as he spoke. "Stay here, just in case, while I go check the door and inside." He said, and after he had her nod of consent he walked up to the door. He noticed there was an old lock on it, but the wood itself appeared to be much rotted and warped, and with a few good kicks and a hard shove the door busted open and he stepped into the darkness. He ventured slowly farther inside as he tried to adapt his eyes. He would look back a moment to where his sister stood behind him and gave a nod of his head. "I think it is safe, just be careful, it is dark and I can barely see anything. Watch your step." Alleandra would venture in just behind him as he made room for her, and she would carefully edge her way around the structure as her hands felt along various unidentified objects. Her hands paused on something as she ran her hands over it. It was both familiar and yet strange to her as she lifted it up. "Its a lamp I think" she said as she held it up. Jay looked to her and reached over to take the lamp. It was an old lamp. He did not think such things even existed anymore. He held it up and shook it hearing oil slosh around inside he looked back to her. "I think it might still work, close the door just in case, I do not want anyone else to see the light" Alleandra did as she was asked pulling the broken door closed the best she could before looking back to her brother and nodding.

            With the door now closed Jay found the switch on the lamp and turned it, he heard it click but nothing happened at first. He would try again as he toggled the switch a few times until something caught at last and fire sprung to life safely in the glass and shed a yellow glow of over the darkness. His sister moved closer to him as he swung the light slowly around the old building, where many strange objects could be seen covered in dust, all things from the old world.

            Jay began to venture further into the building as he inspected some of the strange objects, which included everything from old tool to toys, and knick knacks, all one could imagine and then some, all things from the old world, some of which he had never even seen before nor knew what their function might have been. Alleandra began to explore her curious nature starting to overtake any past fears and anxieties she might have had with all that had happened, she began to dust things off as she investigated when something caught her eye and she reached over to lift the small simple made doll. There was something about the childs toy that struck her as somehow sad as she dusted it off carefully and then set it aside carefully when she saw something and reached up to draw what appeared to be an old album, leather bound, from the shelf. She used the sleeve of her arm to dust it off as she took a couple steps back to find an open place upon the floor where she could kneel down with it. "Set the lamp here" She implored to her brother. Jay had to admit he was as equally curious as his sister and found a place to put the lamp and  knelt beside her as she began to open the album.

            At first it appeared as any normal photo album, holding pictures of strange people they did not know, it appeared to be a family, there was a girl in the photos, and a man and a woman, along with a few others, perhaps other relatives of friends, or a mix of both. Alleandra could not help but to feel a fascination, all such artifacts and evidence of the old world and the people who lived before the virus did not exist within the dome, they thought it best to erase the past and focus only on the future.

"Oh my god" She gasped breathlessly as she had continued to flip through the album and Jay crowded in closer to her looking over her shoulder. He could not believe his eyes, his jaw dropped at what he had seen. He exchanged looks with his sister before looking back down to the picture before them. "It cannot be" He said at first too stunned to believe it, yet he knew just what he was looking at. "They"¦.they are people"¦just like us"¦but the virus, it mutated them." They both sat gaping at the photos, the family in the album had contracted the virus, and documented it, they survived in the end, but in those pictures they found themselves looking at the very same ape-men they had runaway from.

"How horrible" Alleandra  gasped as she turned another page in the album. "Why didnt they get help?" Her question would be answered, as if by some unknown force, for as she spoke, with the turning of the last page something slipped out from the back of the album and landed in her lap she jumped at first surprised and then looked down to the envelope. She studied it curiously before she began to open it up and pulled out the old pages she began to read. It was like a diary of some sort. Jay read over her shoulder. With the words that poured into the pages she felt her heart stop a moment and she just let the papers drop from her hands. "It cannot be" She looked to Jay, and his eyes met hers in a silent understanding before he turned away.

            "We have to do something" Alleandra pleaded. A part of him knew she was right, but he did not know what they could do or how. "They are people"¦.no different then us"¦.it is not their fault, and they were shut out of the dome left to live like animas. The people have to know the truth, what was done. We need to go back and tell them all." 

Jay sat quietly as he listened to her. She was right, but he did not know how in the world they could do that. Who would listen to them? "Alright, but for now we should get some rest. Tomorrow we can try and find our way back, and will take the album with us." Alleandra satisfied with the answer, and a part of him new despite all his doubts, ultimately there was nothing else they could do. He could not now go back and return to living his life knowing what he now knew.

            They slept long into the night and partially in the next morning upon the floor within the old shed. The sun would already be up and shining by the time either would stir or move. Alleandra stretched out slowly with a long yawn as her eye lids began to flutter before they would open her eyes and look around. It took her a moment to recall everything and remember where she was and she sat up quickly the movement rousing Jay beside her though he seemed perfectly content and ready to just sink back into sleep when the voice of his sister brought him into full alertness. "We have to tell them"¦..the ape people"¦we have to go back and tell them we know the truth and we should bring them back with us. We cannot leave them here a moment longer like this."

            Jay could say nothing at first as he looked up to her and slowly began to sit up. He could see by the look on her face that there would be little sense in arguing with her, but did she not realize the importability of what she proposed? "What if they do not understand? What if they take us prisoner again?" Alleandra looked over to him as he spoke but she would not be deterred. "I do not think they mean any harm. We will bring the album with us and tell them we want to help." Jay had his skepticism about this, but he knew when she got like this she was impossible. She would not take no for an answer. So there was nothing to do but agree and try and protect her the best he could. "Alright." He said defeated and slowly began to push himself up to stand, offering a hand to his sister to help pull her up. She grabbed the album and then rose by his side and they walked to the door together pushing it open they stepped out into the day and took a look around at the surroundings. In the light of day it really was a sight to behold, but they were soon yanked out of their thoughts, having gotten no further then three steps when another voice suddenly broke the silence. "Stop right there!"

            Jay spun around, his eyes widened in surprise as he protectively stepped just in front of his sister and his gaze fell upon Welkins, he was one of the head scientists that controlled the dome and helped design it. Behind him stood a handful of armed men dressed in protective gear. Before either of them could speak Welkins continued. "You were reported missing and the whole dome was searched, and then we found evidence in your room that you had packed as if to prepare to go somewhere, and Rolland reported his pass key missing, we knew there was only one place you could be. You do not think we can let your ruin everything we worked for do you?"

2:40 PM - 1/11/2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Point of No Return (Part 1)

Point of No Return

"Dont you ever wonder what is out there?" Jay asked Alleandra as they walked together within the gardens. It was quiet this time of the morning; most of the others were not yet awake. The path they walked along consisted of pristine white stones which floated upon the surface of the water that babbled through the gardens. The gardens were lush and green scattered with brightly colored flowers and tinged the air in a sweet fragrance. There was not a weed in sight, and they were kept trimmed to perfection. Alleandra paused a moment as if she did not hear Jay as she turned to a bright red flower and leaned forward to reach out and touch it lightly, though it reared away from her and she drew back. All of the flowers planted here were of the harmless variety but some were still a bit apprehensive she would then at last turn her attention to Jay. "It is best not to think about it. You know we cannot go out, and it is not safe, besides what could be out there that is better what we have here?" Jay would look up a moment to the blue sky seen through the glass of the dome in which they all lived. The dome had been built originally to keep them safe from the virus which had spread. Many believed that the virus was still in the air outside the dome. There was no record of anyone having tried to leave before. Everything a person could need was inside, yet somehow Jay could never be content. A part of him felt guilty about that, as if there was something wrong with him.

"I dont know" he said at first in a bit of despair about it as he began to walk forward once more though his attention was not really with the gardens now, his thoughts were wandering elsewhere. "It is not about better, just about something more, something different. I know everything is perfect here, but maybe that is the problem. I just feel there might be something more out there. Something new." Alleandra has had this conversation with her brother before; it seemed he was always dreaming about the outside. He always seemed to be searching for something, but he never knew what it was. She tried to understand but it was difficult for her, she had always been content here, but it was always like this when they were kids. He was always the one getting into trouble and looking for adventure. It amazed her that as twins they could be so different. He worried her sometimes with all this talk. Their parents were killed in the virus, he was all she had left she did not know what she would do without him. "Sometimes I wonder if you will ever by happy, even if you did manage to get out there somehow, it would not be enough. You would just keep going, always telling yourself there is something more over that hill, or across that lake."  Jay would ponder this a moment, what if she was right? Had he ever been content where he was? If he was destined to always seek more then wasnt just staying here as good as anything? "Maybe you are right, but I will never know if I do not try" He was left stunned by his own words, he had made the decision then in that moment without even knowing he intended to do so. "What do you mean?" Alleandra asked feeling a stirring of panic. "I am going out, I have to. I need to know." He answered her. She stood dumbfounded though a part of her had always feared this day would come, now that it was here she was lost. She could not bare the thought of loosing him. "How are you going to do that, there is no way out." She said in a last desperate intent. "I found a way, the water we use here, it comes from the outside, there is a special room it goes into to be treated just in case it is contaminated, but I can go out the same way the water comes in." She should have known he would have a plan, a part of her did, but she could not help but to be hopeful. She could say nothing; she knew nothing would convince him. "I am leaving tonight."

            Alleandra stepped into Jays room he was busy packing. His backpack was on the bed and clothes and supplies were scattered all over as he stuffed them in his bag. "I am coming with you." He looked up as she spoke and at first just stared and her awestruck but then he would shake his head to her. "No, you cannot, you belong here, you are happy here. And besides what if it is true what they say about the virus?" She swallowed a bit as he said this, though it had been in the back of her mind. She was unsure about all of this and she did not really want to leave, but how could she live parted from him? She had to go. "You think that might be true, but if it is that means"¦." She could not finish the rest of the sentence. "Yes I know," he said a bit mournfully, as much as he needed to do this, he did not want to leave her, but for her own safety he thought it best she not come with him. He stepped to her and placed a hand upon her shoulder. "I wont forget you, and I will try to comeback." A part of him did not believe that last part, but he thought she needed it. "You wont have to," she said with a determination surprising even her. "I already made up my mind, I am coming with you, I already packed. I cant let you go out there alone, what if something should happen and no one is there to help you?"

            Jay knew that she could be stubborn but he never had seen her quite like this before, and he did not know what to say. A selfish part of him wanted to just say yes, but another part of him told him he should discourage her for her own good, and prevent her from coming, but he had to admit she was not a child anymore then he was, and she was capable of making her own decisions and she would hate him if he did that to her, and as much as he had to leave, a part of him knew he needed her. "Alright, you can come." Though he gave in a bit begrudgingly he was aware of a small spark of joy that he would not be alone. Alleandra was not sure what to feel, she was scared, though she knew even if he had stood up to her she would not let him talk her out of going. A part of her was relived that he had given in so quickly so she would not have to fight him. A part of her feared that she might have weakened if he was too resistant, but she knew it would never be the same here if he was gone, not for her.

            They stood just before the glass doors which looked into the room that the water was purified in when it entered into the dome. Along the walls of the room there were air purifiers to cleanse the any air which might come in from the outside through the same cannel which allowed the water in, to prevent any possible remaining virus from getting into the dome and causing total annihilation of the last remaining people, or such was what they assumed not knowing of any other survivors. "How are we going to get in?" Alleandra asked, trying to hide the faintest hope that perhaps this would be it, the thing that foiled their plans, but her heart sunk just a little bit as Jay began to rummage through his pack before pulling out the pass key. "With this," he said grinning and walked over to slide the key through the slot and waited for it to scan before the doors opened and a voice spoke. "Welcome Rolland" Alleandra watched in dismay as she followed close behind so she did not get shut out. "How did you get that?" A part of her was not sure she wanted to know. He slipped the card away once they were inside and the door slid closed behind him and he gave a mischievous glance to his sister. "I found it one day when I was out walking, I figured someone had dropped it, I meant to give it back but then I forgot about it, or some part of me told myself I should hold onto it though I did not understand why." He gave shrug and began to walk toward where the water gained entrance. There was a cannel which flowed through the room and emptied out in a large vat where it was then treated and pumped throughout the dome. He followed the cannel to the far wall the only way out would be to get into the water and swim out through it. "This water has not been treated yet." Alleandra said with a bit of uncertainty as she could see what Jay was thinking. He looked to her and nodded not seeming as concerned as she was. "I know, but if the disease is still in the air then I guess it wont matter what is in the water right? And well if it is not true, if the virus died out there then the water should be fine shouldnt it?" Alleandra nodded her head as she supposed it made sense enough though she was not at all certain about this, and she did not like to see Jays hesitancy, could it be that underneath deep inside he was just as afraid as her of what they might find? She knew even if he was his mind was made up now and he would not turn back, and she was determined to stay with him, so as he began to ease into the waters she followed in right after him. He looked up to her a moment and then nodded his head as if in signal and dove down to swim under the gates which bared across the archway that led to the outside. She supposed the gates were there to keep anything that might be out there from coming in. That thought made her shudder, she did not like to think what might be out there, but she gave one last look around thinking briefly she still had a chance to turn back now if she wanted but she knew she couldnt so she dove down and swam just behind Jay.

It was a little while when they surfaced again and neither one of them could quite believe what they were seeing. It was like a jungle outside full of thick green vegetation. They could not even see the sky the canopy was so thick and kept everything cast in a cool shade. Jay began to swim for the shore and climbed out of the water taking in a deep breath as if to test the air he then reached down to take Alleandras hand and helped her out of the water along beside him. "Well everything seems fine." With all this life around them Alleandra did find it hard to believe that the virus could still be thriving, she half expected they would step out into some open barren land. "Yes, but we wont really know if we have the virus for a few days." Jay looked to her and gave a shake of his head. "Always the cheerful one" He began to make his way through the jungle, it was not easy going as he had to forge his own pathway through all the thick greenery. Alleandra followed just behind him, though she did not know why he was in such a hurry, it is not as if he knew where he was going. She hung back a bit, but did not let him get out of sight, as she was so fascinated with everything. She wanted a chance to study some of the plants.

She moved to take another step forward when she felt a tug backward and something tightened around her ankle she looked down and saw the thick green vine circled around her ankle and she gave a scream as she looked around when her eyes fell upon a flower that was larger then her, and that she was certain she did not see there before. She felt it trying to drag her back as she struggled to pull away and shake it off. Jay heard the scream and froze spinning around he saw his sister in trouble and sprinted back to her, as he ran to reach her he dug through his pack and pulled out a black baton looking device, he pointed it at the vine which held Alleandra and pushed the button along the side. A bolt of electricity shot out and severed the vine freeing Alleandra. The plant seemed to shriek as its broken limb flopped about upon the ground before the flower pulled back to retreat into the woods. Jay helped his sister up to her feet and tucked the device in his back pocket. "Are you alright?" She pressed close to him a bit shaky at first from the whole experience. "Yes I think so." As they began to walk again she was sure this time not to fall behind and stayed close to his side. They would walk now with greater care watching the things around them suspiciously for any unusual movement.

They would walk along together for sometime without further incident it would seem when Jay came to halt all of the sudden and gave a glance to Alleandra. "Did you hear that?" She felt a leap of fear in his words as her eyes scanned, though at first she saw nothing and then movement then came to her gaze through the trees. She could not make out what it was. She grabbed Jays arm and tugged in the direction as she pointed. "There I saw something." By the time he turned around it was gone. They stood puzzled a moment but then began to walk once more when all of the sudden a figure leapt out of the trees at them. Alleandras first thought was that it was a man, but there was something not quite right about it. It was wild and moved almost like an animal. What could it be?

Jay reached back and removed the baton and was about to point and fire when it was knocked out of his hand into the brush out of sight, before he had chance to think or react after that Alleandra screamed as another of the man-beast creatures grabbed her by the shoulders and as soon as Jay turned his head to look the one before him grabbed hold of him and began to drag them through the trees as much as they fought and struggled it was no use.

They were brought into what appeared to be a small colony of the strange creatures. They did look like people. Alleandra thought, only they were hairier, and though they walked on two legs they stayed hunched over slightly. She huddled close to Jay as they found themselves encircled by the beasts. When one of them drew close to them it spoke in a rasp. "You are from the inside." Jays heart froze, and he reached protectively for his sister. They knew about the dome, but what did they want? What did he get them into, how could he do this to Alleandra. He did not know what to say as he felt Alleandra tremble close to him. There was no where they could run.

The ape like man crouched close to them so that his face was nearly touching Jays as he tried his best to push Alleandra behind him more so to try and protect her ae best he could. His nose quivered as the hot pungent breath of the creature washed over his face. He swallowed hard; he still did not know what to say. His throat felt dry. The others were standing back in a circle just watching them, as if they were waiting for something to happen, or perhaps waiting for some sort of command. The one before them would speak again in that same rasp. "What are you doing outside?" Surprisingly it was Alleandra who mustered up the courage first to speak, though she could not keep her voice from shaking, and as she spoke her hands gripped tightly to Jay. Such that is was almost painful, but he gritted his teeth against it saying nothing. "We"¦j-just"¦.w-wanted..t"¦.t"¦to see"¦"¦w-what"¦..there was"¦out..h..h"¦here." The creatures considered this for a moment, as if pondering whether or not to believe them, and Jay thought he would do his best in persuading them that they were telling the truth. "It is true"¦..It was my idea"¦.I just wanted to explore"¦.we dont mean any harm"¦.we did not know you were." His voice was more steady then his sisters, but not for lack of fear, he was emboldened a bit by his desire to protect his sister.

The ape man would draw back from them and amble over to the others as they all huddled up together and seemed to be conferring with each other about something. They spoke in a strange language with grunts and clicks, and Jay could not make out what was being said, but he was not sure he wanted to wait around to find out. He turned to look to Alleandra; this was there chance, perhaps the only one they would have. He tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention, and placed a finger against his lips to tell her to be quite then he nodded to the woods and slowly began to stand up. Alleandra understood just what he meant to do and she would raise along side him, keeping her eyes upon the creatures. She knew one little mistake could be their ruin. They only had once chance. Slowly and quietly they began to back away toward the trees until they got close to the woods and turned breaking into a run. Behind them they heard a loud shriek and the pounding of feet upon the ground. His heart leapt in his throat as he clasped Alleandra by the hand and ran for all he was worth with her. He did note know where he was going, but he did not care now. He just needed to get away, but they were fast and more adapted to this terrain. It semed hopeless but he had to try.

She felt Jays hand holding hers tightly and painfully but she could not worry about that now as her legs pumped as fast as she could and her feet thudded against the ground while she ran just along side her brother. She had to resist the urge to look back, the last thing she needed was to not pay attention and trip, taking them both down. But they could not just keep running like this forever, and the others were catching up. Her eyes scanned looking for a way they could hide or get away somehow. Anything really. 

            Jay suddenly became aware that something was wrong, but at first he could not understand what was happening. The very ground seemed to be disappearing under them, falling away. Then before he knew it the two of them were suspended in air with nothing beneath their feet and falling downward. It all happened so fast, he did not understand. At first he thought it was some sort of trap, or maybe he had been dreaming all this and was now waking up. He struggled to keep hold of his sisters hand and was faintly aware of hearing her scream, but it was so terribly black he could not make out anything. He could feel a sudden coolness in the air. After a time which felt like an eternity, he was jolted by earth, it was soft like soil but not enough to really cushion the fall, and it was not their final stop. The fall did force his hand to slip away from Alleandras as they both began to tumble down what seemed to be some sort of slope.

            Alleandra felt the ground cave under her and she was falling into darkness, she could not help but to wonder if this was some sort of endless pit and she fought to keep the connection to her brother at least, but she could not see him, she could not see anything. A part of her wished she had never came, that she stayed behind, but no, she could not have left her brother go through this alone. She could not say how long the fall lasted before at least she felt ground at last, but it was jarring and painful and she could not catch her balance or footing but continued to tumble downward still. "Jay" She called out the moment she felt his hand yanked from her grasp and scrambled to regain hold but it was no use, he was out of her reach. Down and down they seemed to go before at last they were stopped with a splash as they landed into a pool of water below. It was shockingly cold, but at least the pain in her body seemed to numb a bit. She looked around, but still could not see a thing, the sky above, the hole they fell through was not visible from here, and it seemed some deep underground well. "Jay" She called out desperately, she thought she heard another splash somewhere near and looked around the best she could afraid to move.

            He was shocked by the water as he sunk down a moment taking in a mouthful then bobbed back up to the surface and began to sputter and spurt, coughing up the water. It was painfully cold and incredibly dark. Where were they? At least they seemed to have escaped, if this was any better. At least he hoped those things would not come down after them in here. He heard his name and felt sudden relief and began to ward it. "Alleandra? I am here, keeping talking. Just keep calling me." He moved through the water following the repeated sound of his sisters voice until he and reached out grabbing hold of her. The last thing he wanted was for them to be separated.

            Alleandra was relived when she felt her brother grab on to her and she wrapped her arms around him as she looked around in the darkness. Above them somewhere she could hear the sounds being carried down from the strange creatures, as they seemed to be hooting, hollering, and howling, probably in frustration. But what were they going to do now in this strange place? Was there way out? She had a mix of fear and relief. She was not sure which death would be better. Possibly being torn apart of even eaten by those things above or starving and freezing to death down here? She tried not to think so negatively. "Come on I am going to try and find a way out of here." Jay said as he reached over and took her hand in his own and then began through the waters. It was difficult to tell just how deep they were, but they were not very wide and they appeared to be surrounded on all sides by solid slick rock. The opening they fell through was a tunnel, sort of like a shoot too far up to reach from the water, and of course that would take them back to the beasts. "What are we going to do" Alleandra asked, trying not to sound like a scared little girl again. Jay thought a moment. "Maybe under water there is some sort of passage that can take us out. You stay right here, I am going to just swim down below and see what I find. Ok?" Alleandra did not like the thought of being left alone, but she liked even less the thought of going under these unknown waters and she nodded her head slowly. "Yes, ok, just be quick."  Jay smiled and kissed the top of her head and then dropped down into the water and out of sight.

            It was almost impossible to see under the water, it was so murkey and dark so he had to rely only on his sense of touch to try and navigate, he was surprised at first to realize just how deep the water was, and he wondered if it would even be possible without equipment for a person to swim down that far. He began to swim towrd one of the walls in search of some tunnel perhaps. His hand brushed against something slimy and cool to the touch and he drew back dismissing it as algae perhaps. Maybe it was a fish or a snake. He would shake it off and continue to look around. Feeling with his hands and fingers for some opening.

            It was not too long after Jay went down that Alleandra felt something brush against her legs. "That is not funny" She yelled out thinking Jay was just trying to be cute and she kicked her legs out hopping she might catch him but it seemed he had already moved out of the way. She would feel it again as it nudged against her body. "Cut it out I mean it." She said a bit louder as she lashed out again with her foot when she felt something cold and soft against her skin and she let out a scream as she tried not to panic. Something was in the water was all she could think about. She did not know what to do. She would stay perfectly still as her heart pounded in her chest.

            Jay had just found something which looked promising as his fingers worked around the edge of the rock. It was loose he could tell, but still heavy. Perhaps behind it there was a passage that could take them out of here. He swam down a bit slower and grabbed hold of the rock and tried to pull it free. He wiggled it back and forth and felt it moving but it would not yet come out. He looked up a moment when he thought he heard a muffled sound above him, and he was starting to run out of air. He thought he should go back up, maybe with Alleandras help they could get it out together. He swam up to the surface and would come up on the opposite side of the well as her. His eyes at least had somewhat adjusted to the dark and he could just make out her form. Something was wrong he could feel it.

He began to make his way toward her when he felt a ripple in the water and was thrown back by a sudden wave his eyes grew wide as the creature suddenly emerged shooting its head and neck straight up between him and his sister. That must have been what he felt he thought at first and then gulped at the idea that he had actually touched that thing. It was huge. And resembled a serpent of sorts, though he remembered to the touch it felt slimier then snakes did. It felt more like a fish, or an eel he thought. Could it be a giant eel? He was not sure he liked that idea. He did notice that unlike a snake it did not really have any scales.

The creature bellowed suddenly, it was an eerie sound, almost like a howl, but nothing like he had ever heard before. The noise seemed to vibrate throughout the space, as it did so a hood flared up around its face which made it look even more frightening. They had to get out of here he knew. But how? The only choice was to work that rock free and pray for the best, but he could not get to his sister. He would have to try to get around the creature to reach her.

He looked up to the creature as it to reread before him out of the water and he wondered how much of it was still coiled under the dark murky surface. He knew that if he attempted to go to Alleandra it would see him and what it would do he did not know. The only hope was for Alleandra to come to him, as the creatures back was to her. He thought as hard as he could hoping she would understand and know what he wanted, afraid if he called out the creature would turn to her. In the mean time he would try and distract it so it did not hear or feel her coming around to him. Let this work. He prayed to himself as he began to wave his arms up and down, almost like doing jumping jacks, just to keep the monster focused on him and maybe confused.

Alleandra saw something come up to the surface of the water and was thankful to see her brother again, especially after she had an encounter with something in the water. She was about to call out to him when the water broke again and the vile beast reared up before her dividing her from her brother. It was all she could do not to scream aloud. She pressed back against the stone wall her eyes glued on the beast. She almost felt sick knowing that thing had been touching her. Jay! She suddenly realized that is where it was looking. What was she going to do? She was too petrified to move until she felt something urge her, and she felt compelled to move forward. She heard her name called, but not aloud, it was in her mind. Jay, he was calling to her she knew suddenly. She had to get to him somehow. Slowly she moved forward through the water as she would start to inch around the creature. He must be distracting it for me, she thought as she moved slowly through the darkness. Her heart thundered against her chest but she pressed on and began to move around toward the front of the creature. Close as she was now she could make out Jays form as he flailed his arms to try and keep the thing focused on him, but as soon as she came around and began to make her way to her brother the creatures head whipped around to look down to her. She froze in place and felt the blood run out of her.

Jay saw its attention suddenly turn, and he knew before he looked that it was his sister. He was both relived and fearful, glad she got his message and that she came to him and they were together again, but now what? He did not have much time to think he saw the creature start to dive down, driving its head and its open mouth of pointed teeth toward his sister and he leapt forward in the water wrapping his arms around Alleandra he dove down into the water pulling her down with him as he did so. Giving her a slight push in front of him and pointing in the direction he wanted her to swim. He did not have time to spare as the creatures head broke surface in the water just behind him and he felt a sharp pain as it had caught hold of his leg. He spun around in the water and lounged forward as he hit as hard as he could with the waters resistance in the snout. That seemed to stun the creature just enough to cause it to release his leg and he kicked away from it.

Alleandra hoped he had found a way out and that was what he was coming up to tell her, she swam down eagerly with hopes of finding passage when she turned her head back and her eyes grew wide as she saw Jay struggle with the beast. A part of her wanted to go back and help him, but then what could she really do? She would continue to swim where he had directed her only to meet with disappointment when she came against only rock. Were they truly trapped? But then where was Jay sending her? Her hands felt around when she noticed it. A loose rock, but it was so heavy, maybe, if they could get it free they would find a way out. That must be what Jay was thinking. Alleandra gripped the rock as best she could and began to try and wiggle and push the rock free, though it moved a little in her hands she could not quite get it to budge open. She needed Jay to help her, but how was that possible with that thing after them? She looked back as she could see Jay was doing his best to keep it distracted and find a way to get free and join her. Let it be soon, she would not be able to hold her breath much longer.

Jay dove away from the creature, but he knew he could not get back to Alleandra not just yet. He had to first think of something to do about this monster, but what? It continued to charge after him and he swam past its coils making it double back on itself, he did not have a seconds time to think but an idea came to him that had to work surely. He swam as quickly as he could to the wall opposite where he sent his sister as it was just on his heels. He kicked back catching it on the snout with his foot, stinging it just enough to keep it from catching hold of him again and give him the spilt second head start he needed. He came against the stone of the wall and then turned around, it was coming at him fast, just what he hoped for, and just before it reached him he dove to the side, waiting for the last possible second. The giant eel was unable to stop itself in time and collided head on with the stone wall giving a loud shriek from the pain. It was just what Jay planned, but how long it would last he did not know. He was partly hoping the creature would be knocked out, he would not give it a moments chance to recover before he quickly doubled back to return to where he sent Alleandra, he only hoped they would have enough time. His lung burned with the need for air but he could not spare the time to go back up, he had to press on and only hoped he did not pass out and drown leaving his sister at the mercy of the beast.

He would reach his sister at last and would join her in trying to wiggle and pry the boulder free, it moved under their working hands and he could hear the rock scraping. It was starting to come out he just knew it. They exchanged hopeful looks and put all their effort and energy into working the rock out. It scraped forward inch by inch and became looser until at last it was removed and they swam back out of the way as it began to fall down to the endless depths below. They shared a knowing look and both began to swim up. They had no idea what lay in the passage or how long it was. They would need to take in as much air as they could before they swam through. Their heads broke surface at the same time as they gasped for air.

They both took in a deep breath and filled their lungs. Jay still did not know just how bad off he left the creature and how long it would take to recover. They had little time and so they both dove into the waters and began to swim back to the newly uncovered hole. Neither having any idea where it would lead, but it was the only thing they had. Jay gave a look around and did not see any sign of the creature around and thought just maybe he had scared it off but he would not wait around to find out.

When they reached the entrance of the passage he would urge Alleandra to go in ahead of him, it was too narrow for them to fit side by side, and this way he could keep a better eye upon her. After she was in he came right after her as they swam down the long dark tunnel. A part of him was aware they may find no way out and just run out of air and drown, but perhaps that would be better then staying to be eaten. He tried to keep those thoughts at bay. There was really no way to see ahead of them, and the only thing to do was follow where the tunnel led them.

Alleandra was hesitant to enter the dark unknown place after what they had just encountered but she could not spare the time to dill dally and would suck it up and slide within. She tried not to think about what other things in the darkness they might encounter here where there really was no room to run, and even if they could double back she knew what lay in wait. If something happened they would truly be trapped. She could not let herself think that way. She had to calm herself to help conserve precious air, and she had to keep a steady pace. She would only tire herself out and run out of breath if she let her fear egg her own to go faster.

Worry began to fill Jay, as they continued down the dark narrow passage without any change occurring. Would it ever end? He could feel the first stirrings of panic and tried to fight it off and take some relief in the fact that it did not seem the eel beast was chasing after them or surely it would have caught up by now. He did not know how much longer he could hold his breath. Both their lungs were already weakened from the earlier excretion. He could feel the burning and the desperate need for air starting to form when luck would prevail upon them and they would swim into an air pocket. It was a slightly widened area where they could come up to surface but it provided no escape from the water. Jay took a deep gasping breath filling his lungs as much as possible.

Alleandra would come upon the pocket first being just in front of Jay and gratefully surfaced as she gulped down the air then let her eyes scan around until she saw her brother come up shortly after her. He looked to be in about the same condition as her. From here she knew they had no way of knowing how much longer or father the tunnel would go and if there would be any other relief such as this offered. For now she took the opportunity she had to fill her lungs up.

Alleandra made her way to the side of the air pocket and braced herself against the rocks so she would not have to expend the extra energy in keeping herself afloat, in order to conserve more air. Jay just bobbed up and down in the water; neither of them spoke in order to save all the air they could for what they would have to face.

About 5 minutes had passed since they first arrived in the air pocket, and they were still there trying to store up extra air now that their hearts began to slow and what they had lost had been caught, when the water would begin to stir. Jay would notice it first as Alleandra was still up against the wall. He felt his heart sink as he looked around silently hoping he had imagined it but he felt something move under him.

Alleandra turned her attention to her brother seeing the change in his behavior; she then noticed the ripples just along the surface of the water. "No" she said to herself in a sharp inward breath. Jay caught his sisters eye and they exchanged worried looks and both looked to the water. It almost seemed as if it was waiting for them to panic and try to run so it would have them trapped where they had no escape. He could feel it circling under him.

He wondered how long it would wait before it came up after them, he looked back to his sister; he had to do something he knew. He had to get her out of here and away from that monster, but he couldnt let it go after her. He would have to keep it distracted, though how he would get away he did not know. It was better then just sitting here and waiting for their doom and he could not resign Alleandra to that fate. "I am going to distract it and I want you to get out of here."

Alleandra did not know what to do, but the last thing she wanted was to leave him here alone with that creature, but what could she do if she stayed? He would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to her she knew, and he blamed himself for all this, as if he could have stopped her from coming some how if he tried harder, so in the end she would agree as much as it pained her. She would wait, if she went too soon it might see her and go after her ruining his plan. She had to wait until she was sure he had its attention.

Jay knew that she would do as he asked, he saw it in her eyes and felt it, he could not delay any longer and he would dive down under the water after the beast. He had at least a split moment of surprise upon his side; it never expected them to come after it.. He came down just over its head and would grab onto whatever he could find and held tight digging his fingers in. The beast let out a loud shriek and thrashed its head up, but from where he was he was safe from the jaws, though the movement nearly threw him and he had to struggle to keep his hold. How long he could keep this up or what he was going to do he did not know. Eventually he would need air again, but surely it would nab him before he got to the surface. For now he tried not to think of that and only focused on keeping Alleandra safe.

He hooked his legs around it to try and help keep his hold as it was very slick and slippery, pain rocked through his body as it thrashed to the side and plowed him against the rocky cave walls, at least the water acted as resistance so the blow did not have its full force. With his legs around it his hands at least could be freed up and he reached down to jam his fingers into his eyes. The creature made an ear splitting sound and then shot up out of the water, it was even harder to keep hold when he found himself dangling from its head above the waters surface, but he would not let himself fall.

Alleandra knew if she was ever going to go, it had to be now, and she dove into the waters and shot down the tunnel to swim into the unknown, though in the back of her mind she knew she still should pace herself to help conserve air. She had no idea how long she would be going or if there would be another chance to get air again any time soon, but it was hard to conquer the desire to get as far away from that creature as she possibly could. How she longed for dry land above anything else.

Jay wrapped one of his arms just around the neck of the creature and locked as tight as he could on the slick smooth surface. Taking the beast in almost a head lock as he kept his legs locked around it and dug his heels into its soft body hoping to cause it some discomfort. With his other hand he began to repeatedly strike the creature about the head, nose and eyes. The creature thrashed in pain and anger back and forth as it tried to shake him off but he would not budge and it would thrust its head back and slammed him against the rock walls of the air pocket. Without the resistance of the water to cushion the blow this time pain rocked through his body and he cried out. Everything seemed to scream on fire but this was a matter of life and death and instead of letting go he only clung on more tightly. He was just lucky his head did not strike or that might have been the end of it. He continued his assault and the beast dove down into the water plunging him under the surface yet he still clung on tightly the effect of his blow would be softened now.

Once under the water the creature began to spiral in place, as its whole body just began to spin around and around with incredible speed. Jay had to wrap both his arms around the creature to try and hold on, but he could feel it starting to slip away from him as it twisted under his body, and his head began to spin making it difficult to concentrate. First his legs began to untangle and slip away and he only hung on by his arms, but he could feel that hold weakening, and he did not want to be rendered useless with sickness so he had no choice but to release and fall away from the beast. The giant eel whipped around and charged at him and it was only by a thin hair he was able to dive just out of the way and avoid the jaws and sharp teeth.

He knew he could not keep running away from it, he could not keep this up forever, eventually he would start to slow down and wear out and it would get him, and he did not know how much longer he could hold his breath. He needed to give himself some time as the creature rounded around to charge at him again, he would hold his ground, though he was nervous having no idea if this would work. It was the only chance he had. He waited and watched as it came at him, then instead of diving away he leapt toward it within the water and brought up his elbow and then drove it down against the top of the creatures head, just as it was about to try and take another bite from him. The creature shrieked and drew back shaking its head. It seemed stunned at least and Jay took this time to shoot up to the top and break surface to take in a gasp of air.

He looked around a moment as he began to get an idea and he reached up with one hand and grasped hold of one of the rocks that made up the wall of the air pocket and he began to pull himself up and scrambled with his feet to find foot holds to help brace himself as he pulled himself up out of the water fully, climbing along the rock wall. His body still screamed with every movement from being slammed against the rocks, and his heart thudded against his ribs. His breath was harsh and fast and his lungs burned but he had to do it, he pushed himself on. It was not easy going, everything was already sore and tired, not to mention wet and slippery. At on point his foot slipped and he felt himself falling. He cried out and scrambled to catch himself, a new flash of pain rocked though his body along with a sudden warm gush along his arm as he cut himself along the forearm along one of the rocks but managed to keep himself from falling back into the water. He would take a moment and just clung to the wall breathing deeply before he would start to push himself up higher once more. He would stop when he was right at the point where the wall began to curve into the ceiling and he was well out of the water. Looking back over his shoulder he would wait.

It would not be much longer when the creatures head burst up through the surface and swung back and forth looking around, though it could probably have leapt up enough to pick him right off the rocks, it appeared to be confused and did not realize where he had gone. Jay did not want to stall long for fear the creature would take off down the passage that Alleandra went and he waited until the creature looked away so it would not see him and then he pushed off the wall and dove down to collide against the beast wrapping his arms and legs around it quickly and tightly, though the momentum of his body caused him to slide down slightly before he stopped. The creature shirked in confused surprised and its body was pushed forward with the weight of Jay suddenly coming down upon it, and it was rammed against the rocks. The sharp edges pieced its skin and a strange dark substance leaked out from the wounds. The beast cried in pain and then dove back under the water, as it began to go down Jay leapt off it and splashed under water shortly before the beast completely submerged.

With the beast still dazed he swam swiftly down to grab hold of the end of the tail the beast spun its head around and darted toward him, he waited for as long as he could before he dodged just out of the way, still holding the end of the tail so he pulled it within the path of the beast and caused it to clamp down upon itself, the water turned dark with the same substance which leaked from the wounds, and the tail barely hung still attached. The beast yowled in pain and dove down into the water and began to swim back the way it had come. Jay heaved a sigh and floated up to the top and began to take a few deep breaths.

He was eager to return to his sister and he would wait until he thought his lungs were filled enough before he dove down into the water and swam through the passage, wondering where Alleandra was now, and how far along she had gotten, and if she found some exit, though worry also began to fill his mind, what if that eel monster was not the only creature within the waters and the cave. He could not afford to think of it at the time, but now he started wonder, could she have encountered something else? He tried not to let his imagination get away from him that would waste energy and he had to conserve air as much as possible.

Alleandra began to wonder if the passage would ever end as she continued to swim her way through it. She could hear the sounds muffled carrying in the water and wondered what was going on. She began to regret having left, she should have stayed with him, if they were doomed it would have been better at least that they died together. No, she had to stop herself from thinking like that, and concentrate on the task at hand, but she was growing tired and starting to strain more with her air running out. When she saw something suddenly ahead, it looked like an opening of some sort. Another air pocket perhaps? She pushed faster as the hope and need for air drove her on, and she could not have been more surprised by what she found as she surfaced and took a huge gulp of air she found herself within what appeared to be a full sized cave. Dry land at last she though with silent celebration and she quickly climbed out of the water onto the stone floor of the cave. It was dark and she moved toward one of the walls to try and feel her way around, wondering if she could find an exit to the outside. When she placed her hand upon the wall she felt something come under her hand, it did not feel like the rocks and she thought it moved, she gave a short cry and drew back quickly, straining to see. Her eyes would begin to adjust and she could just make it out crawling along the walls, it appeared to be a spider of sorts, but it almost resembled a crab in some ways. As she looked she began to realize there were more of them crawling along the walls and she felt momentarily faint as she backed farther away from the wall and finally resigned to sit down upon a rock after first doing her best to inspect it in the dark. She hoped Jay got here soon.

            Dejectedly she began to wonder, just how long should she wait for him before she assumed and accepted that the worst had happened, then what would she do? Where would she be without him? She was not as resourceful as he, she was not an adventure, and she would not know how to survive or where to go. She felt panic began to rise before she was able to calm herself. No, she would know if something happened to him, surely she would know. He must still be alive, he must be alright. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate focusing all her thoughts on him.

            Jay gave momentary pause and looked around, as much as he could within the passage, he heard his name, he was certain that he did. Alleandra he thought to himself, she must have found safety. His heart glimmered with a mix of hope, relief, and eagerness as her silent call pushed him onward, despite the weariness of his muscles, the shortness of his breath, and the pain that still throbbed through his body. For her he had to keep going. I am coming he thought, and it became a mantra that he repeated over and over to urge him to continue and to block everything else out. Alleandra nearly jumped to her feet and cried out aloud with joy as she heard the message her brother had sent her, she felt a new lightness wash over her, and a sense everything would be ok, he was alive, and he was on his way to her.

            It would be a moment longer before Jay came into view, entering the cave he looked around a moment and slowly began to climb out of the water and collapsed exhausted upon the ground breathing deeply. His body ached and he did not think that could move another muscle. His chest heaved as his lungs burned. He was just thankful to be safe and out of the water.

            Alleandra gave a small cry of job at first seeing her bother, though upon glancing at his condition worry filled her and she quickly made her way to his side and kneeled before him. "Are you alright?" She looked him over the best she could for any visible sign of injury. His clothing was torn and tattered, and she could see where he was bruised, and cut here and there, though she did not see anything that appearing serious or life threatening.

            Jay looked up to Alleandra and could not help but to give a small smile seeing her well and seeing her worry and fret over him. He would slowly start to push himself up to his feet with some effort and staggered a moment before catching himself. Alleandra had put a hand upon his shoulder to help for fear he would fall. He took a final heaving breath before finally he felt able to speak. "Its alright, its over now"¦.I will be fine"¦just need to rest."  She watched him as he began to rise staying close to him to make sure he would be ok. It appeared he would be fine and she felt relief wash over her, but she was still concerned about him. "Then sit down, dont push yourself. I am just glad to see you again. I did not know what I would do if anything happened to you. I should never have left you." Jay reached up one of his hands and placed his fingers just against her lips to silence her as he gave her a small grin and shook his head slowly. "No, you did the right thing, everything will be fine. Now, I say we get out of this abysmal place." Alleandra would not have argued with that for the world, how she longed for fresh air, but the question was how? Was there even a way out? With all that had happened she had completely forgotten about the others, the strange ape like people. "Just sit here and rest, I will explore and see if I can find any passage out. I wont stray far and I will call you if I find anything. But you should not waste your energy."

2:02 PM - 1/11/2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Three Wishes

Three Wishes

"What is it?" Jenny asked as she and her brother stood looking down to the strange object that lie in the sand at their feet. Rex shook his head slowly as he glanced back up to her before looking down again. "I do not know" He would then bend down and picked it up. "It looks like a funny teapot" Jenny said as she leaned in closer to get a better look at it. "It is all covered in sand" Rex replied and then reached up to begin to wipe the sand off with his sleeve to try and clean it off when he suddenly gave a shout and threw the object down jumping back his eyes widened. Jenny was startled as she watched him. "What is it? What happened?" She asked eagerly. At first Rex said nothing, as he could hardly believe it and wondered if he was just imagining things. "I thought"¦.I thought I felt it move." He would say at last. Jenny looked back to the object curiously for a moment. "It is probably just a crab that crawled inside." She offered reassuringly as she began to step closer to the object and was about to lean down to pick it up when she screamed and stumbled backward as it did move, it jumped upward and then fell back again to the sand.

            "What is that smell?" Rex complained and began to try and cover his nose with his shirt and Jenny was aware of a strange smell that had entered  the air and her nostrils twitched and she felt her eyes begin to water as the two started to walk backwards slowly, but still too fascinated to take their eyes away from the object. "LOOK!" Jenny cried as she reached over and tightly grabbed her brother’s arm. A strange and colorful mist began to rise up out of the spout of the strange object. They were too fixated by it all to move, and just stood there gaping, though Rex would cough a few times and tried to wave the mist away with his arm as it crept toward them.

It would all be over as quickly as it came with a sudden loud pop which caused them both to jump and Jenny to give a small cry the mist was gone and their eyes were transfixed upon the figure which now hovered just in front of them. It appeared almost to be made of the very mist as it had a strange translucentness to its form, but it was blue from head to toe and dressed in bright funny clothes with bells, and other various charms, reminding Jenny almost of some sort of clown. It looked down between the both of them with thick though wispy arms crossed over its wide chest, "Which one of you woke me from my sleep?" a loud voice boomed out. "Hedidshedid" they both said quickly and simultaneously, each one pointing to the other.

He looked between the two of them before giving the best interpretation of a bow, that one could give while floating in the air. "Very well then, My Lord, and My Lady, I am Shambhu Genie at your service young masters." Jenny was startled out of her fight as she stared in disbelief at what she had heard. "You mean a genie like from the stories?" Rex was feeling a bit emboldened and took a step forward. "You mean you can really grant us wishes?" The genie let out a loud laugh at this which shook his whole smoky body. "Of course I can, what kind of genie would I be if I couldn’t. You get three wishes, but because you both lay claim to me and my bottle, then you must agree on all three wishes and make them together. And no you cannot ask for more wishes." He would say before they even had the chance to ask as someone always did.

"Jenny! Rex!" They heard their names called out before they had a chance to do or say anything and looked behind them to see their mother waving them over before they looked back to the genie. Reading the question in their eyes he came to speak. "She cannot see me, no one can but the two of you." Jenny turned to start to head back across the beach, and Rex hesitated a moment until as a last impulse grabbed the bottle and started to head off after his sister.

"What is that?" Their mother asked when they made their way back to her and she saw the genie’s bottle within Rex’s hand, and she reached over to take hold of it to have a look at it curiously. "I don’t know, just something we found." Rex said with a shrug of his shoulders and then exchanged a quick knowing look to his sister who stood nervously near by, wondering what would happen if their mother woke the genie the way they had, but nothing happened, and she apparently decided it was harmless enough and handed it back to Rex. "Come on its time to get back home." She said and they began to follow her back to the car.

Once they were home Rex and Jenny sat together upon the bed in her room with the bottle between them as they discussed just what they should do. "I think we should each take one wish for ourselves, and then the last wish we will share between us." Rex said, as they tried to decide the best way to share the three wishes they had been given. Jenny thought about it a moment, but she supposed it really did make sense and she did not know how in the world the two of them would ever manage to agree completely on three wishes. "Ok" she spit in the palm of her hand and then held it out to him. "Lets make it a deal." Rex would do the same and they shook on it.

"So how do we decide who gets to go first?" Jenny would ask next. "We will play for it, rock, paper, scissor; best out of three gets their wish first." They played and Rex won the match. That would give Jenny some more time to really think about her wish, it felt like such a big responsibility to have only wish, and to be able to wish for anything. She did not want to make a mistake and wish for one thing and then realize she should have wished for another. She would have to go over this carefully. "Should we tell him what we decided?" Jenny asked as she looked toward the bottle. "He said we had to agree on everything and make each wish together, so maybe we should tell him we agreed to split the wishes." Rex would give a shrug of his shoulders and then looked to the bottle as he reached over and tried to peer into it. "Hey Mr. Genie?" He called wondering how to get him to come out again before giving the bottle a shake and trying to dump it upside down before Jenny snagged it out of his hands. "Not like that. Don’t you read the stories?" She scolded as she began to rub the bottle until she felt it shake in her hands and she dropped it on the bed. The room filled with smoke before the genie would once again appear. "Yes, have you decided upon your first wish?" He said looking to the two of them. "We are going to split the wishes" Rex responded. We agreed, I would go first, and then Jenny would have her wish and the last we would share" The genie made a bow "as you wish it young masters if you both agree, then so it shall be." And with that he was gone back into the bottle again.

The next day after giving it some careful thought, if not as critically as his sister, Rex knew what he wanted his wish to be. Rex and Jenny stood eagerly. She was filled with anticipation to see what would happen as Rex rubbed the lamp and they waited together until the genie would appear and Rex would come forward to make his wish filled with excitement. "I want to be like Superman!" Rex blurted out. The genie looked to them and without question he raised one of his hands and trace a trail of smoke in the air and soon Rex would bee engulfed in the mist. Jenny took a few steps back as she watched when there was a loud pop and the mist vanished and so did her brother. At first she just stared in shock at the empty space when something caught her eye. She leaned down and picked up the comic book which lay upon the floor where her brother had been standing and when she saw the cover she gave a cry and dropped the book spinning around to face the genie. "You"¦.you turned my brother into a comic book?" The genie looked to her expressionless his arms crossed over his chest as he spoke in even tones. "I granted his wish. He wished to be like Superman, and so now he is."

"I want my brother back" Jenny shrieked. "That is my wish, bring him back" The genie shook his head as he looked down to her. "I cannot do that, you cannot undo another’s wish. You had an agreement, he has made his wish. Now it is your turn." Filled with fear, anger, and deeply upset she blurted out the first thing which came to her mind. "I wish I never found you"

Jenny found herself upon the beach and a feeling of hope leapt within her. Everything would be alright now she thought. It was like it never happened to start, with, or maybe it was all a dream. She began to walk down the beach feeling the sand under her feet as she began to call out. "Rex! Rex! Rex!" She began to feel frantic. Where was he? She began to move more quickly down the beach. "Rex!" She called again when she was stopped in her tracks. "Jenny, what is it? What is wrong? Who is Rex?" She felt her breath stop as she looked to her mother in disbelief.

2:09 PM - 1/4/2007 - comments {0} - post comment

A New Chapter

10:06 PM - 1/2/2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Winter Writing Contest

Well it is nearing towrd the middle of the year, so this is one last reminder to everyone, and one more oppertuninity for any new commers to come on bored and join in. 

I have decided to try something new which will hopefully be fun for all of you writers out there. I am want to start hosting writing contests, and if this first one goes well I will continue to host more, but if this turns out to be a dud, then I might only give it one or two more tries.

So you might be wondering, if it is a contest, what do I get if I win? Well unfortunately I cannot offer cash prizes, sorry, if that is what you were hoping for, but maybe in the future I might be in a posistion to do so if this goes well and I continue to stick with it. Only time will tell, for now, what you will get is the satisfaction of knowing you were the best, and extra exposure and recgonition, I will feature the winning story on my blog, and if you have any websites, or anywhere else you display your work, send me the link with your story entry and I will post that as well so those who like your work can check out more of your stuff, so you might pick up a few more fans as well.

So what are the rules? Pretty simple really

Be as creative as possible, I am not looking to read the same stories retold, use this as the oppertunity to really express yourself. Give me as much orgininality as you can.

stories should be at least 5,000 words, there is really no max, but no novels please. Try to keep short story in mind.

All ages welcome to enter the contest and though this blog itself is of a mature nature, and thus you may make your stories R-rated if you wish, don't censor yourself, pornograpahy will not be accepted.

And I think that is about it for rules.

How to subtmit your story?

Email your story to WhimsicalWarrior@aol.com

Do not forget to inculde your name, or a pen name so I can give you cridit if you win, and any links you might want enculded as well.

So what to write about?

In the nature of this holidy season, I am looking for stories that are about Christmass, Yule/Winter Solistice, Hannakah, etc. of if you prefer just winter in genreal.

It may be any genre. Fantasy, Horrory, Sci-fi, drama, comdy, and so on.

You may start submiting entries now, and the contest will go all through Decemeber, it is my wish to have the winner posted and annoruanced by the last day of Decemeber.

Have fun!

Any questions? E-mail me or leave your comments on this post, or PM me if you like.

8:35 AM - 12/11/2006 - comments {0} - post comment

Winter Writing Contest

I just thought I would boost this back to the top for anyone who might be interested but did not get the chance to see it yet.

I have decided to try something new which will hopefully be fun for all of you writers out there. I am want to start hosting writing contests, and if this first one goes well I will continue to host more, but if this turns out to be a dud, then I might only give it one or two more tries.

So you might be wondering, if it is a contest, what do I get if I win? Well unfortunately I cannot offer cash prizes, sorry, if that is what you were hoping for, but maybe in the future I might be in a posistion to do so if this goes well and I continue to stick with it. Only time will tell, for now, what you will get is the satisfaction of knowing you were the best, and extra exposure and recgonition, I will feature the winning story on my blog, and if you have any websites, or anywhere else you display your work, send me the link with your story entry and I will post that as well so those who like your work can check out more of your stuff, so you might pick up a few more fans as well.

So what are the rules? Pretty simple really

Be as creative as possible, I am not looking to read the same stories retold, use this as the oppertunity to really express yourself. Give me as much orgininality as you can.

stories should be at least 5,000 words, there is really no max, but no novels please. Try to keep short story in mind.

All ages welcome to enter the contest and though this blog itself is of a mature nature, and thus you may make your stories R-rated if you wish, don't censor yourself, pornograpahy will not be accepted.

And I think that is about it for rules.

How to subtmit your story?

Email your story to WhimsicalWarrior@aol.com

Do not forget to inculde your name, or a pen name so I can give you cridit if you win, and any links you might want enculded as well.

So what to write about?

In the nature of this holidy season, I am looking for stories that are about Christmass, Yule/Winter Solistice, Hannakah, etc. of if you prefer just winter in genreal.

It may be any genre. Fantasy, Horrory, Sci-fi, drama, comdy, and so on.

You may start submiting entries now, and the contest will go all through Decemeber, it is my wish to have the winner posted and annoruanced by the last day of Decemeber.

Have fun!

Any questions? E-mail me or leave your comments on this post, or PM me if you like.

9:13 AM - 12/3/2006 - comments {0} - post comment

Death Cycle

Death Cycle

            It was not suppose to happen like this, but then again Shandra thought, wasn’t that what people always thought when something like this went wrong? That, that is not how it was suppose to happen.  She felt so lost, and she could tell by the look upon her friend’s faces, Erik, and Shawn that they were feeling the same thing. Kriss had always been a leader to them. They all looked up to him in one way or another, and now he was gone, who was prepared to step in and take his place? He had something special, something that could not be put into words, that they all lacked. What would happen with them now? Without Kriss, she felt they would all just drift away, float like astronauts in space with no gravity to pull them in.

            As she looked around at all the solemn faces, it seemed that just about the whole town was here. Not because they all necessarily loved Kriss, or even really knew him, though most of them knew his face and name, but because she knew they all felt their part in the guilt of what happened, the same as she did. There was no one to really point the finger at and blame, but they all felt their own weight of what happened, and she supposed each of them felt in some way more responsible then anyone else, at least that was how she felt, as if there was that one magic thing she could have done to stop it all, if only she had known, or been stronger or braver.

            People would tell her time and time again that it was not her fault, that there was nothing she could have done, that freak accidents like this just happened without rhyme or reason, and that in the end Kriss was the one who got the ball rolling and was solely responsible for his own actions. But would she really believe any of that? Would any of them?

            It had all started one sunny day in summer when school was out and the four of them, Kriss, Shandra, Erik, and Shawn were sitting around a tree in the park, passing a joint around and talking, when Kriss came up with this idea for some great experiment and true to his nature, as if by spell or enchantment, managed to captivate them all until they each agreed and were sucked in, seeing the same wonder in it as he did. Though later they would all have their own personal doubts, none of them dared to speak against Kriss not out of fear, but just because that sort of thing was not done, and they each had to admit even with their doubts, there was still an intrigue and a wanting to see it followed through.

            Kriss wanted to fake his own death, because he thought it would be a great experience, to live through his own funeral, he believed that was the best way to find out just what people thought of you, by who came and the things they said. He said it would be a rare opportunity that few people if any would ever have, but of course it had to look authentic and people had to believe it, because if they knew it was a stage they would not be nearly as honest, and so he was determined to make everyone believe he was dead.

It is not important just how he pulled off the technicalities of it, though it was quite a process, and perhaps none of it would have been made possible without the help of Steavy Hicks. Steavy went to school with them, and he his father was a mortician in town, a family business which dates back to the 1800s according to Steavy’s father. For the extra money Steavy would help out his dad. In part because of his father’s profession, and in part because of his general appearance and personality, or lack of one, he was a loner. Kriss and the others went to Steavy to enlist his help, though Kriss wanted to tell as few people as possible, to pull it all off they needed Steavy. At first he was reluctant to go in on it, he was worried about the ethics behind it and what would happen if they got caught, but he could not in the end, turn down the extra money Kriss offered to pay him, and perhaps even more enticing the chance to actually be a part of something and to be accepted in someway. It had turned out that Stevey’s dad had a convention to attend to and was leaving Steavy behind to run the mortuary.

We will begin our story with the funeral. Shandra, Erik, and Shawn were all seated together in the pew just across the aisle from Kriss’s parents. Shandra could not help but to steal a glance over to them now and then. They looked devastated and she did feel bad for them, though she knew it was not Kriss’s intent to hurt anyone, and she tried to reassure herself that it would only be temporary, it was still difficult to watch them. They were not bad people, and Kriss never had any real complaint against them. They had always been pleasant to the three of them, and to Shawn who knew Kriss the longest, and grew up with him they were like a second pair of parents. Shawn would scan around the church now and then, most of the people there he did not know a few he had seen now and then around the holidays. They were mainly cousins, aunts, uncles and other family that did not live around here, but came out of a sense of family obligation and to support Kriss’s parents. Kriss did not have any friends really beyond the three of them, but there were a few other people from school who would sometimes hang out in their group, and his teachers from this year.

Of course the three of them were each expected to speak, and they had to make it look authentic, but it felt strange to Shandra at least to stand up there in front of all those people and to speak such words of death when she knew the truth. She felt like a fraud, and a part of here wondered if it would not have been better to not know the truth, then to feel as if she was betraying something, and pulling the wool over all these people’s eyes. She barely even knew what she was saying it all was just a haze, and when she was done she was aware of people clapping as she gravitated toward her seat, and Shawn would go up next.

After everyone had spoken who had something to say, and the proceedings were over, people would get up and mill around, stopping by the coffin to pay their last respects. It was open casket, though Erik never had understood the point of having an open casket in general, and why anyone would want to visit a dead body, it was necessary for Kriss’s experiment in this case, for it was the only way it would work, for him to be a part of it. They waited until it was quieter before the three of them would approach. It was partly because it would have been expected of them and partly out of their own curiosity. It was strange Erik had to admit seeing him laying there all dressed up in a suit. "He really does look dead" Shawn said after making sure no one else was around and keeping his voice down.

After the ceremony was over and everyone had left to return to their homes, or hotels for those family members visiting form out of town, the plan was, that Kriss would slip out of the casket and lie low for a while giving people time for their emotions to settle down before he would make his reappearance and explain, and when it came time for the burial, the empty coffin would be buried with none the wiser. And that phase of the plan went just as it was intended to. It was the unexpected and unforeseen events that followed after that, which led to where we ended up and where things began to go wrong.

Shandra was awakened by the ringing of her phone. With a groan she opened her eyes and turned to look at the clock. 8o’clock, she had slept in but then she had no reason to wake up early with school out, so who could be calling now? She reached over and picked up the phone, "Hello" her groggy voice came and she was surprised to hear Shawn at the other end. "Hey, sorry if I woke you, but we have a problem." Shandra felt herself instantly become more alert as she pushed herself up to sit within the bed. Did something happen with Kriss? What could have gone wrong? "What do you mean? What happened?" There was a moment of silence before Shawn would come to speak again. "It is the Ganner’s. Mr. and Mrs. Ganner, now that they think Kriss is dead they decided to move in with some relatives that live in another state, the house is up for sale." Shandra sat in shock, she felt as if time froze around her for a moment. "Shit, ok, call Erik and we will meet at the park, we have to figure out something to do." After she heard Shawn’s consent she hung up and jumped out of bed and began to dress.  

It was not long before the three of them were gathered within the park in their usual meeting place. "We have no way to get in touch with Kriss, he did not tell us where he was going to be hiding out after the funeral was over" Shawn was talking. "But we have to do something. We cannot just let his parents move away to another state while he is gone." There would be momentary silence as they all just looked to one another; before Shandra would come to speak she knew what had to be done. "There is only one thing to do. We have to tell his parents. It is an emergency, and well he has already completed the experiment so it should not do any harm, and maybe it will be easier for him if they are already prepared when he comes back." Thoughtful silence fell among the group as they contemplated it, though none looked forward to the task of having to explain to Mr. and Mrs. Ganner; they had to take responsibility for their part in all this. "Alright let’s do it." Erik said, and they would make their way for the Ganner residence.

Shandra knocked upon the door and they stood and waited, it was not too long before Mrs. Ganner answered, she looked surprised at first to see them though not unhappy, she was always very kind to them. "I know you must be busy now, and this is probably not a good time, but there is something we have to tell you, it is important" Shandra would say. Mrs. Ganner looked confused and a bit concerned but she would nod her head slowly wondering what this was all about. "Alright, well please come in and make yourselves comfortable" She would step aside to let them in then close the door as they walked into the living room together and Shawn would take over now, as he knew them the longest he would take the initiative while Shandra and Erik took a seat upon the couch. "It would be best if Mr. Ganner was here as well, it is something you both should know, and it would be better if you both here it from us together. It is about Kriss." This would catch her attention as she wondered if they knew something about his death, Kriss had set it up to look like a suicide but his parents never understood what drove him to it, and she thought maybe they had an answer she would leave the room a moment before returning with her husband as they found a place to sit across from the others. "Yes what is it?" Mr. Ganner asked, though not unkindly. Shawn would take a breath as he had settled to sit between his friends now before he came to speak. "Kriss isn’t dead," and with that he explained to them everything that happened. "And when I saw that your house was for sale, we had to do something, we could not just let you leave and have Kriss come back to find you gone and so we agreed we needed to tell you." He finished and then just waited.

At first there was only silence and Mr. and Mrs. Ganner just sat there in stunned shock knowing not what to think or say. Shawn, Shandra, and Erik just gave them their time to absorb it and did not say anything, until Mrs. Ganner would be the first to break the spell and instantly erupted into hysterics, as her words all seemed to run together at once. What?Whereishe?Howcanhedothis?Whatwashethinking?Howdidhedoit?" She would then take a breath as she just fell silent when something seemed to suddenly dawn upon her, and she grained better control of her speech but her voice still fluctuated from high and low, it was clear despite her shock, that she was struggling between feelings of anger and relief. "It was that Hicks kid wasn’t it? That is how he did it. When I call that boys father and tell him what he had done"¦" Before she could finish Shandra would break in not wanting things to get too far. "Mrs. Garnner listen I know we are probably the last people you want to hear from just now, but just listen to me. I know you are upset, and you have every reason to be. It was a stupid thing we have done. But you cannot blame Steavy for it, it wasn’t his fault, he didn’t want to do it, but Kriss, and well all of us we pushed him into it, and Kriss offered to pay him, not to mention actually making him a part of something for once. Kriss did not mean to hurt anyone, he did not do it to fool anyone or as some hoax against you or anyone else, he did it for himself."

Mr. Ganner would give his wife a chance to cool down as he came to speak now, bearing this all more calmly perhaps out of need on account of his wife’s hysteria. "I respect and appreciate your honesty and taking responsibility for your part, and I am grateful you did come here and tell us, I am sure it must have been hard. But whatever Kriss meant to do or not do, we cannot just let it go. For his own good, he has to understand why it was wrong to do this, or what will he think up next that he wants to experience? This was dangerous enough, things could have gone wrong."

Shandra would fall silent now she knew that Mr. Ganner was right but she did not know what to do. It would be Erik who would speak next. "With all do respect, and I know this is probably none of our business or our right, but I don’t think just lecuturing him or punishing him will really change anything, I think if you want him to really understand we need to turn the tables around and give him a taste of his own medicine, but to do that everyone and I mean everyone will need to be in on it. But I think when he comes back, we should just all act as if he really were dead give him a chance to understand just what he did and how it feels." Mrs. Ganner by now seemed to have managed to calm herself down as she would come to speak once more. "As crazy as that sounds, I think it just might work. I will make a few calls"

And so it was done, Mrs. Ganner called around the neighborhood, luckily it was a small town and when she explained to everyone, they had all agreed to help out, having little reason to refuse, there was nothing left to do now but wait for Kriss to return.

It would not be long before Kriss would make his way back into town. He expected his parents to be surprised when they saw him, but he thought that after he explained to them everything, and they saw that no real harm had been done in the end it would not be a big deal really and he was still feeling pretty good about how well everything went. It was a great experience and would be worth any repercussions that might come to follow after it. His thoughts would be halted as he came near to his house and he saw the for sale sign staked in the front yard. His parents decided to leave it up as part of the effect in their plan to teach him his lesson. He had never imagined they would do anything as drastic as that, and he was starting to feel the first tinges of anxiety wondering of things would not go as smoothly as he planed. He was lucky he had not stayed away a moment longer he thought to himself and would start to walk more swiftly to the door. He paused before the door a moment, and wondered just how he should approach this. Should he just waltz in like any other day and say hey mom and dad guess what I am not really dead? Then again he did not know a subtle way to let them know and so he would take hold of the door knob and tried it, it was locked and so he would fish out his key from his pocket and unlocked the door then stepped into the house. Everything still looked the same at least he thought to himself. All the furniture was still in place, and it did not appear as if they had begun packing, so maybe that was a good sign that he had not come too late. He advanced further into the house and saw his mother sitting on the couch reading. He stood and watched a moment, wondering how he should approach.

She heard the door open and could not resist the initial urge to look up from her book and see who it was, when her gaze fell upon her son, it was with a great effort that she did not give a reaction to his presence but she was able to maintain herself and turned away without a word back to her book again. Kriss was left stunned at first, he had not been standing there long before his mother looked right at him, he was certain she did, and yet it was as if she did not see him standing there. That did not make sense; surely the sight of him would stir some reaction. Perhaps she had not seen him somehow he thought and he would start to walk forward into the living room coming closer to where she sat. "Hey mom, listen I know what you must be thinking, but I can explain." He waited for a response, but the only one that came was the sound of another page in the book turning. It was as if he was being given the silent treatment, but if that was so, then she must have been pre-warned already, it was not like her to be so calm, but how could she have found out? "Listen I know you are probably upset, but just let me explain to you. Everything worked out, if you would just try to understand you will see." Again there was nothing. He did not know what to do, but it seemed pointless to try and talk to her, he would come back later and see if he could reason with his father, for now he would try and figure out what happened and how she found out. What if they knew all along? That would have blown everything. "Steavy" he said to himself under his breath and turned to walk out the door, he must have cracked and spilled the truth, but did he do it before of after the funeral? He would pay the kid a visit.

After Kriss left Mrs. Ganner gave a sigh and closed her eyes a moment. That had not been easy. She had to use every ounce of her self-control not to turn to him, to take him in her arms, to give him a good piece of her mind for what he had done. Ignoring him was the hardest thing she could have done, but she tried to tell herself it would be worth it, if it kept him from doing something like this again.

Steavy’s father was still away at the convention and Steavy was at the mortuary sweeping up when Kriss arrived. Steavy glanced up at first upon hearing the door open and close again but upon seeing Kriss enter he looked away without a word and returned to sweeping. Kriss was starting to get frustrated with being ignored, but at first just thought Steavy was trying to avoid him because he knew he did something he should not have. "Hey I thought we had a deal" Kriss said as he began to walk closer to Steavy. "You told someone about what I was doing didn’t you?" As Kriss spoke Steavy continued to sweep up the floor without even bothering to look up again. Though Kriss was never one to use violence he was getting angry and stepped forward and grabbed his hand around Steavy’s shoulder. "Hey! I am talking to you, tell me, what happened? What is going on?" Steavy simply stepped away as if Kriss was not even there. At first he did not know what to do as he just stood there and watched in disbelief, but he saw there was no point in hanging around anymore, and he knew what he would have to do next, surely his friends would know what happened while he had been gone.

He walked around to the back of Shandra’s house where her bedroom window was, it was something they had started long ago when he wanted to visit her he would just slip into her room to avoid having to deal with her parents. Her father was an alcoholic and her mother a drug addict, they often fought and so Shandra usually just kept herself locked in her bedroom.

Kriss checked the window with his hand, and finding it was unlocked as always he pushed it open and then slipped inside pulling the window closed behind him. Shandra was currently sitting at her computer, she heard someone enter the room and glanced back when she saw Kriss it was very hard for her to look away and not acknowledge him. She wanted to go up to him to tell him everything, but for his own good, even if he did not understand she owed it to him to keep with the plan.

Kriss was already getting a bad feeling as Shandra had looked to him without so much of a greeting, but he tried to tell himself he was just being paranoid and he walked over to sit on the bed as he looked over to her though she did not look back up to him, he did not like how this was starting to look and feel, but he would not jump to any conclusions yet. "You have to tell me what is going on. What happened when I was gone? My mom wouldn’t even talk to me, she did not even look surprised or upset to see me and did not say a word or do anything, and then I went to Steavy, I figured he must have squealed, but he just completely ignored me." It gave Shandra a sense of strange relief to know that he had not come to her first, perhaps at least this way it would not appear as if she was turning her back to him, but he was already starting to figure out something strange was going on, but it was still difficult not to go to him and explain it all. She told herself that it would do not good if he did not learn his lesson, what if he did want to do something more dangerous because he thought he could get away with it?

When Shandra failed to give him any acknowledgment and did not look up from the computer or say a word he knew now that something had happened, something beyond him, in order to put the theory to final test he had to try and have interaction with someone who would be impartial who was not apart of any of this, someone who did not really know him. He turned and made his way back for the window as he slipped back out and closed the window behind him before he began to walk out across the yard once more, with a new purpose and an anxiety starting to stir in him that he could not control.

Kriss stepped into a local drugstore and grabbed a pack of cigarettes then made his way to the counter as he placed the pack on the counter top. He did not really need a new pack, but was doing this as part of his experiment to see what would happen. The clerk gave a glance up and recognized Kriss, though he did not really know the boy, he knew came in now and then for cigarettes and a few other things, but he would say nothing, nor did he make any ring Kriss up. Instead the next customer simply stepped passed him and put his items on the counter and waited as the clerk rung him up. Kriss just stood there and watched as this happened. It was like no one could see him, like he wasn’t there or did not exist. His mind began to race with the ideas that had already started to form and he turned and made his way out of the store leaving the pack behind on the counter, stepping outside he just stood there a moment. He needed time to think to try and figure things out. Could it be that he really was dead? That somehow in the process of faking his death and the funeral, something went wrong? He tried to think back to everything that happened as he started to walk down the street now without a direction in mind paying no heed to the few people he might have passed on the way. What if somehow in the act of faking his own death he had convinced himself he actually was dead to the point of making it a reality, like a self-fulfilled prophecy, was that even possible? But he did not seem as a ghost, at least not as far as he knew. He was pretty certain he could not walk through walls, and objects were still solid to him, he could still pick things up and open doors. Maybe that was because he did not know he was a ghost and had tricked himself into believing he was still a solid living being? He thought he should read up on the subject and discover what he could find out and he turned his course to the library.

When he arrived, at the library there were not many people there, he only spotted a few grazing the shelves here and there and so it was easy enough for him to find a table to sit himself with a few books he had collected on the paranormal. He began to scan through them though he had not been there long when the librarian walked up to his table and stopped there. He glanced up toward her wondering what would happen, perhaps this would crack his theory right now, and everything that happened before had been some sort of strange coincidence, but he could see she was not in fact looking at him nor doing anything to acknowledge his presence instead she exclaimed to herself. "That is strange, I do not remember seeing these books here before, maybe someone had come when I was not looking" She looked around as if searching for the one whom the books belonged to, but deciding there was no one she just began to gather them up and walked off to restock them.

For a moment he just sat there wondering what he should do, how was he going to find anything out this way? He certainly could not check the books out, when an idea began to form in his mind. He waited until the librarian had returned to her desk then he got up and walked down the aisle and began to pull out the same books once more, and tucked them under his arm then he made his way for the door, as he passed through the alarm system it began to beep and out curiosity he stopped and looked back wondering what would happen. He saw the librarian walk over as she had heard the alarm but then she stopped and looked perplexed as she glanced around a few times her gaze passed over to Kriss but it was like she did not really see him, and after a moment he simply continued to walk out to the doors, and she did not say a thing nor make any attempt to stop him.

Once he was outside and in the free and clear it seemed he stopped and looked back then glanced around, a new feeling began to rush over him and he laughed aloud. Besides the petty shoplifting now and then as a young child, mostly taking a piece of candy here and there when no one was looking, and smoking a joint now and then it had never really occurred to him to engage in criminal activity, but now that he had just gotten away with something, even if it was no more then borrowing a few books without checking them out, it gave him a feeling of excitement, as if he could do anything, and he began to wonder, what more could he do?

Though Kriss began to grow more interested now in further experimenting with his new found abilities, opposed to reading about it, he still thought there might be something useful in the books. By the time he would step back into his house, he noticed his father was home from work now sitting on the couch in the living room reading the paper, he looked around for his mother though did not see her, but figured she was around somewhere, he was about to just walk up to his room with the books when an idea stopped him. He thought for a moment before he walked over to the fireplace where there sat an old glass vase and he picked it up from the mantle and held it above his head then began to dance around the room with it, just to see what would happen. Mr. Ganner looked up from the paper as he watched the scene for a moment, before he would stand up as he called out. "Honey, you better get in here and see this."  It was not long before she would appear in the room and stop short at the sight of her son dancing around the room with a vase, shooting a glance to her husband before looking back to Kriss, she remembered to keep up the act, but half wondered what he was doing. Did he actually believe he was a ghost now? Or was he just trying to get attention in someway? "Oh my, what in the world, what is happening?" She was no actress but she did her best to sound authentic and hoped it did not come off too phony. Mr. Ganner shook his head slowly. "I don’t know." He said sounding bewildered but for him it was not completely all an act, though he knew what they had planned to do and agreed to it, it still all seemed so strange to him and this was a puzzling sight he had to admit. Slowly he would start to approach his son and then reached over snagging the vase from his hands and studied it a moment. "What do you think?" She walked up to her husband and looked down to the vase a moment then glanced back to him shaking her head. "I do not know, I never seen anything like it before." Kriss got a small chuckle out of watching them puzzle over the vase and just turned to make his way up to his room. The fun he could have he thought to himself.

After Kriss had disappeared into his room Mr. Ganner looked to his wife, keeping his voice low just in case so they would not be overheard. "Do you think this will really work?" He asked as he walked over to replace the vase back onto the mantle. Mrs. Ganner looked to him and thought a moment. "I really do not know, but I do not think we should give up just yet, it might seem fun for a little while, but how much longer, before being invisible and non-existent will get tiring? Especially if he doesn’t have his friends?" Mr. Ganner nodded his head a bit skeptically but if his wife wanted to follow through with it, he would support her, and he really had no better ideas as the best way to handle the boy for what he had done. "Yes, I suppose you are right."

Kriss dropped the books upon the desk in his room, but he really did not feel like just sitting around and reading now, he was a little psyched up and thought he would go out, though just what he would do he did not know yet, he stepped out of his room and made his way back out the front door. That was another new feeling he felt a certain freedom in, not being accountable to his parents, or anyone, but coming and going as he pleased.

He found himself standing just before the doors of the local supermarket as he watched the people pass in and out and he wondered if he really was going to do this. He did not know what brought him here; he had not been thinking anything specific when he left the house, when suddenly he got an idea. It had never occurred to him before to be a vandal, but he was driven by the thrill of excitement knowing he could just waltz right in and do whatever he wanted and walk out again. No one had ever really noticed him before; perhaps in a twist of irony, in his death he would get noticed. He stepped through the doors and strode into the store. He choose an aisle at random and began to walk down the row as he stretched out one of his arms and began sweeping items off the shelf and onto the floor, causing chaos in the store as the customers just gaped in disbelief and a few gave startled screams as they began to move out of the way. Not all of them there were acting, but just aghast at the sight of a man doing such a thing, and left bewildered by Kriss’s confidence and sense of self-assurance as he was certain that he walked cloaked in invisibility. He would not see the people pointing behind his back at him, or hear the whispers exchanged between people, which perhaps if he had noticed would have ended things right then and there, but he was too much in his own world to notice those around him clearly staring and gawking at him as he passed. He imagined that he was giving them quite the show and had to laugh to himself, and though he was giving a show it was not the one he had in mind. He envisioned the people watching the items sent flying off the shelves by some invisible force, just as he rounded the corner and began to walk now with a destination in mind the clerks had come down the aisle to see what the commotion was about and began to clean up and restock the shelves.

Kriss pulled open one of the large freezers and pulled out a cold drink unscrewing the cap he tipped it back and began to guzzle the refreshment down. He was aware of a woman with her child that happened to be in the same aisle just standing there watching him, or as he assumed the levitating bottle and he gave a small grin to himself as she lowered the bottle balancing it on the palm of his hand he moved it through the air before them and watched as the woman protectively pulled her child closer to her and turned to hurry away, catching the gleam of fear in her eyes, convinced it was on account of the unnatural phenomenon they were witnessing and not the fact that he looked like a lunatic.

Shortly after Kriss had left the store the phone at the Ganner's house would ring. Mrs. Ganner picked it up and listened somberly to the voice on the other end then said. "I understand, I am sorry," before hanging up and turning to her husband. "We made a mistake. We have to stop him." Mr. Ganner did not have to ask what she was talking about, she saw it all on her face, something had happened and he nodded his head. "Alright, what do you think we should do?" He asked, "I will call his friends and explain to them, maybe he will try to make contact with one of them or try and visit them, then we will go looking for him." Mr. Ganner nodded his head once more, as it was as good idea as any he thought and he got up and began to get ready to go while she made the calls.

It was not long after Mrs. Ganner finished calling Shawn, Shandra and Erik, that Kriss showed up at Shawn’s house, and the Ganner’s were in the car on their way to the supermarket to see what they could do there to make things right for what happened. Kriss tried the door and saw it was unlocked he stepped into the house and closed the door behind him, and was surprised when he was greeted by Shawn. "Man, there you are, we need to talk." Kriss had come with the intention of trying to get in touch with Shawn in someway, he figured if he could get through to anyone it would be him, but he never thought it would happen like this. He knew there were people reported to be sensitive to seeing sprits but Shawn never mentioned having had such experiences before. "You can see me? This is great; you are not going to believe what I have to tell you."

Shawn could see a change in Kriss, there was an excitement about him that had not been there before and a new light within his eyes. He was starting to become more concerned and he took a deep breath before beginning to explain. "Look, its not what you think, you are not"¦..well a ghost, or spirit, or whatever you think happened to you. It was all put on." Kriss stood aghast at his friend’s words, and for a moment he felt his world shake under him. He could not accept what he was being told; he would not let Shawn or anyone take away this new found freedom. "You do not know what you are talking about. How could you say that?" Shawn could only gape at Kriss’s words, was he serious? Did he genuinely believe he really had transported himself into some sort of other being? He was growing a little scared for his friend. "Kriss, come on, think about it. If you were a ghost we would not be standing her arguing about it, I could not do this," he stepped up to his friend and reached out and touched his shoulder. "Don’t you see, you are real, just as I am, you are alive, none of this really happened." Kriss brushed away Shawn’s hand and took an advancing step toward his friend, before just backing away and shaking his head, though is voice raised slightly as he came to speak again. "I thought I could trust you, you are just jealous of what I accomplished," and before Shawn could say another word Kriss took off out of the house slamming the door behind him.

Shawn had never seen his friend like this before and did not know what to do, he did not think it would do any good to go after him now, but he was worried Kriss might do something. He walked over to the phone and dialed Shandra’s number. He waited for the phone to ring several times before hanging up.. Shawn then dialed up Erik, luckily he answered. "Did you get the call?" he asked, and when Erik replied "Yes, what’s up?" Shawn said "Kriss was just here, I tried to explain to him and he flipped out, I think he really believes, or wants to so bad he is in denial, I tried Shandra but she must have went to look for Kriss on her own after she got the call. I need help" It was not like Shawn to be so worked up about something and Erik began to grow really concerned now. "Ok, sit tight I will be right over and then we will go and find him, and hopefully run into Shandra on the way." With that he hung up the phone and left the house.

Kriss walked down the street without any conscious destination, led by his sub-conscious mind as his thoughts reeled by everything he had heard. He could still hear Shawn’s words ringing in his mind and he went over everything else that had happened. How could it be fake? What about the library and what happened at the supermarket, and the drugstore? How could that all be put on. No! Shawn had to be wrong. It was real; he would prove it to all of them. He found himself standing before an old apartment building in town and without having to think about it, he knew by instinct what he was going to do. He leapt up to catch the first available rung of the fire escape and pulled himself up onto the ladder and would continue on up to the roof of the building, it was hard work and when he finally reached the top, if he was not so pumped up and had himself so convinced, he might have noticed his quickened heart rate and labored breath and stopped to think about that a moment, but he was in a zone which rendered him oblivious to it.

He walked to the edge of the building and glanced down a moment. "Nothing can touch me now." He said to himself as if it were a mantra. Shawn should be here to see this, or it won’t mean anything he told himself and he lowered himself to sit upon the roof and wait, if he knew his friend he would come looking for him, and it would only be a matter of time before he had to come here, so he would wait.

"So what do we do?" Erik asked Shawn as they stood in his house. Shawn did not know, but he had a very bad feeling he thought for a moment and a part of him wished he had immediately gone after Kriss and used force if necessary to keep him but he shook that from his mind, nothing could be done about it now. "We will take my car, I think he is going to do something, I do not know what. We can cruise by all the usual haunts, but I don’t think he will be there, but we might find Shandra and we can pick her up to come with us." Erik had never seen Shawn like this before, he was serious and somber almost, it made him antsy and he was eager now to find Kriss. "Ok let’s go."

"Do you think we should call the cops to find him" Mrs. Ganner asked her husband as they sat now inside the car still parked in the supermarket parking lot. Mr. Ganner behind the wheel. They had already smoothed things over with the store owner, and paid for any damages that might have been done. Mr. Ganner was quiet for a moment before shaking his head slowly with a sigh. "I really do not know. What would we tell them?" Mrs. Ganner sat silently for a moment before she gave a soft sigh to herself. "You are right, how would we explain? But we have to find him, I am worried." Mr. Ganner started the car and began to pull out of the parking lot. "He could not have gotten far, don’t worry, we will find him." He said trying to sound both assertive and reassuring and hide his own misgivings.

Kriss saw a familiar car pull up to the apartment building and slowly he began to stand up. So he was here at last he thought to himself. Erik was the first to spot Kriss on the roof and pointed out the window. "Look there!" Shandra and Shawn both looked up and Shawn was quick to stop the car as they all began to get out. Kriss was surprised to see all three of them together, and if he had not been past the point of reason, he might have noticed Erik pointing up at him, and Shandra attempting to call to him and get his attention. But he saw none of this. He stood with his feet just against the edge of the roof and spread out his arms.

They all knew what was coming, and for a brief moment time felt suspended, and then it happened. Kriss was falling through the air, and it was over. It did not happen in slow motion like it did in the movies. One moment he jumped, the next blood splattered across the pavement and the sound of bones shattering was heard with a loud pop. Shandra gave a sharp intake of breath and turned to Shawn burying her head against his shoulder. It was more then Erik could take, he keeled over and began to upchuck his lunch. Shawn limply draped an arm around Shandra not even aware of his doing it, as he stood in complete shock, paralyzed.

And that is how it all happened. They all shared their own piece in the blame, and each felt they had been given that one moment to stop it, to turn things around but instead, let it slip through their fingertips. Shawn, Erik, and Shandra walked up to the coffin, it was closed casket this time around. Each placed a hand upon the wood before turning to walk away in silence.

3:41 PM - 12/1/2006 - comments {0} - post comment

Winter Writing Contest

I have decided to try something new which will hopefully be fun for all of you writers out there. I am want to start hosting writing contests, and if this first one goes well I will continue to host more, but if this turns out to be a dud, then I might only give it one or two more tries.

So you might be wondering, if it is a contest, what do I get if I win? Well unfortunately I cannot offer cash prizes, sorry, if that is what you were hoping for, but maybe in the future I might be in a posistion to do so if this goes well and I continue to stick with it. Only time will tell, for now, what you will get is the satisfaction of knowing you were the best, and extra exposure and recgonition, I will feature the winning story on my blog, and if you have any websites, or anywhere else you display your work, send me the link with your story entry and I will post that as well so those who like your work can check out more of your stuff, so you might pick up a few more fans as well.

So what are the rules? Pretty simple really

Be as creative as possible, I am not looking to read the same stories retold, use this as the oppertunity to really express yourself. Give me as much orgininality as you can.

stories should be at least 5,000 words, there is really no max, but no novels please. Try to keep short story in mind.

All ages welcome to enter the contest and though this blog itself is of a mature nature, and thus you may make your stories R-rated if you wish, don't censor yourself, pornograpahy will not be accepted.

And I think that is about it for rules.

How to subtmit your story?

Email your story to WhimsicalWarrior@aol.com

Do not forget to inculde your name, or a pen name so I can give you cridit if you win, and any links you might want enculded as well.

So what to write about?

In the nature of this holidy season, I am looking for stories that are about Christmass, Yule/Winter Solistice, Hannakah, etc. of if you prefer just winter in genreal.

It may be any genre. Fantasy, Horrory, Sci-fi, drama, comdy, and so on.

You may start submiting entries now, and the contest will go all through Decemeber, it is my wish to have the winner posted and annoruanced by the last day of Decemeber.

Have fun!

Any questions? E-mail me or leave your comments on this post, or PM me if you like.

5:19 PM - 11/29/2006 - comments {6} - post comment

Offering my services as a Writer

10:23 AM - 9/19/2006 - comments {0} - post comment

Seeking Suggestions

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Bellspring Psychiatric Ward

Bellspring Psychiatric Ward

            The following documents I have collected and sent to you are the very last words we have of seven former patients of Bellspring Psychiatric Ward. I have read them all and I am fascinated by what I found, but I can offer you no answers to enlighten you on the subject. All I can tell you is that all seven of these patients came into the water within no more then a months time between them. From what I can see they have nothing in common, and nothing to link them together. Nothing to suggest that they could have had any contact with each other outside or inside the ward. They come from different backgrounds, different parts of the country, and they are varying ages. But somehow it seems they have all shared one similar experience that deeply affected their psyche, and they all left the ward under the same conditions, by suicide. Their deaths were only weeks apart.

There is no record of anything like this happening before. None of them were on any experimental drugs which could have affected their minds and psychology in the same way. In fact though they were all considered highly dangerous and kept isolated because of their crimes which brought them here, within the ward they were well behaved. They did not have files of disruptive behavior or of throwing uncontrollable fits and having to be sedated. The only thing they shared in common was the appearance of having nightmares relating to their crimes and what they claim they had seen, of which none of them can seem to describe in detail.

I can only hope you see something in these papers that I did not. If you could find some key or clue to get to the bottom of what happened here. Remember I am going through great lengths to get these to you, they are not supposed to be released under conditionality laws, but since they are all dead now, I do not see where it matters and I trust you to be responsible, but if my superiors were to discover this oversight, they would be displeased. If you do figure anything out please contact me ASAP.

Sincerely,

Paul Channler

Chief Director of Bellspring Psychiatric Ward

Room 207

Last Letters of Jacob Fields

You may not believe me but I tell you it is true, every word of it. Think what you will, it does not matter, do you think your doubts could touch me now? I did love her you know. I really did, more then I could love anyone. More then I have loved anyone. So you might ask then why did she have to die? Well that was a matter of circumstance. Sometimes these things cannot be helped. I did not want it to happen, I did not mean for it to happen, but here we are. 

You want to know why? Well I don't know if I can tell you that. I don't know if I know why. I remember after it had happened. Her body now cold and empty lay still before me. I was devastated, even after I scrubbed the blood off my hands I still saw it there, a permanent stain. Why did I do it? If I knew then it would not have happened. I was not angry with her, I had no reason to be. We did not even have a fight. In fact we were lying together perfectly happy in bed, and then....well that is when I saw it. What you might ask? I don't know, but it was something inside of her. It was not her. Not at that moment, but something vile. I remember I screamed as it looked at me with those horrid eyes. I thought I was having a nightmare, and maybe I was, only it is not ending. I still see it when I close my eyes. I only wanted to save her from it. I tried to dig it out, but well we know how that went don't we? Of course after it was too late, it was gone, and she lay there at my feet in a pool of blood. 

I tried to explain but no one would believe me. They thought I was mad but I am not. It was there I know it was. I am not a bad man, I never hurt a fly in my life. I have never been prone to violence, or to hallucinations. I never took any pills, not for depression, or schizophrenia, or any of that nonsense. And as far as I know it never ran in the family. My parents did not abuse me, I don't have deep scars. I had a job, I functioned in society, I never was written up by my boss and never had any complaints against my for inappropriate behavior. And I didn't smoke, take drugs, or even drink. Not that I mean to tell you I was a saint. Who is? But I tell you I was normal. Isn't that what we all strive to be? There is nothing extraordinary or interesting about me. 

You read a bout this sort of thing in the papers all the time, and it fascinates us because it seems so unnatural. Men killing their wives, wives killing their husbands and even their children, and everyone wants a reason why? They want it from me now. They look at me with accusing eyes as if I offend the very core of their being, they think it could never happen to them, that they are somehow better then me. But I was them once. I was not special, I got good grades in school. I did not torture small animals. No, and I loved her, we were happy together, I still mourn her. I never would have hurt a hair on her head. But you see, what choice did I have? What was I suppose to do? Just turn away and let that thing have her? Watch it twist her features and stare at me with those eyes? Those bone chilling eyes? No, I had to do something to bring her back. I never thought it would end like that. 

I cannot take this any more. I just hope when you read this you will understand I am not a mad man. I will end my misery because I still see the blood on my hands, and I still see it there beside me when I close my eyes, it followed me to this place you see. There is only one way to be rid of it. Then maybe I can be with her again. Oh I know they think I will go to hell for what I have done, but how can I? I am an innocent, I didn't hurt her...it was that thing.....I am free of guilt. 

Yours in Sincerity
Jacob Fields

 Room 110

Interview with Isabella Payton

Conducted by Dr. Stephan Ludwin

S.L. What happened?

I.P.   I dont really know. I dont remember killing them, I dont know why I would. But I guess I did, I was the only one left. I was standing there in all this blood. And they were there dead. I dont know what happened before that.

S.L. How was your relationship with your parents? Did you hold any resentment against them? Did you recently have a fight?

I.P. I guess our relationship was pretty normal. We got along alright. I mean we fought sometimes, but dont all teenagers? I guess we were not particularly close, I mean there was stuff we did not talk about, but it was not like I didnt like them, they werent mean. That night, we didnt have a fight. I wasnt angry at them for anything.

S.L. What sort of things did you not talk about with them?

I.P. I dont know, normal things I guess. Personal things, nothing really bad, but well I didnt talk to them about my friends at school, or guys that I liked. Or my feelings. Girl stuff, the kind of things you talk to your best friend about you dont tell your parents.

S.L. What were your friends like?

I.P. They were cool, we were not really the popular kids or the jocks or anything. I dont know what we were. We were not the stoners and the skaters, or the Goths, or the nerds, or anything like that. There was a group about five of us, we were pretty good for the most part I guess. We did not do drugs, we just sort of hung out. I guess we got in trouble sometimes but nothing really bad. We might have skipped a few classes.

S.L. I need you to be honest with me, if I am going to help you. You have to trust me. Try to be specific, what type of feelings did you have that you did not talk to your parents about?

I.P Well sometimes I would be stressed about school or feeling a little depressed, not like really bad, but teenage anxiety, I sort of had this boyfriend, and I wondered if we should you know, go all the way or not. There were some kids that teased, but that is normal really, everyone gets teased about something. Just things like that.

S.L. Did you boyfriend ever pressure?

I.P. No, not really.

S.L. You said some of the kids teased, what did they tease you about?

I.P. The way I look, mostly, sometimes the way I dressed, about my chest, I was slow to develop and they called me flat, and said I looked like a boy.

S.L. I need you to tell me in as much detail you can everything you remember about that night. The night of your parents death. Take your time and dont be rash. But I need to know everything that happened to you.

I.P. It was a normal day, nothing unusual had happened, the evening of the"¦..incident, I was up in my room doing my homework listening to the radio. When I needed a drink, I walked out of my room into the kitchen. I could hear the TV on in the living, that was nothing unusual, they always watched TV in the evening after dinner. I got a soda when I thought I heard my name. I dont know which one called me but I stepped into the living room and then"¦.that is all. They were dead and there was blood and the TV was all static all of the sudden.

S.L. You mean they were already dead when you found them?

I.P. I dont know"¦..I mean when I first walked into the room I thought they were alive, sitting in the couch watching TV but then after that they were dead.

S.L. Are you sure that is all? Think hard now, is there nothing else you can tell me? Even if you dont think it is important or significant I need you to tell me. You cant hold back on me if I am going to help you.

I.P. Well, I dont know"¦.I thought"¦well there was something in the TV. In the static, that is why I remember it. There was something in the static of the TV, I dont know"¦I thought I heard something"¦.a voice"¦maybe the one that called my name, but I dont know. It was gone in an instant. I think"¦.I saw it before my parents"¦..I mean before I knew they were dead. After it was gone"¦.then I looked down and I was covered in blood and there were their bodies.

S.L. What do you think it was? This thing you say in the TV?

I.P. I dont know, it wasnt like anything I have ever seen before, I dont know what it was. If it was anything, I mean if it was really there, but I dont think I could have made it up.

S.L. Do you believe in ghosts?

I.P. I never really gave it much thought one way or the other. I dont know if I believe in them or not. I guess I am not really skeptic. It is possible I suppose that there could be ghosts. I never had an experience, never been to a haunted house as far as I can tell, but I dont think people that have had experiences with ghosts are necessarily lying or making it up. So I dont know if I really believe in ghosts, or just the idea of them.

S.L. Do you think what you say could have been a ghost?

I.P. No, I think maybe if it was I would have known, but it was not that. It was something else. I just know it was.

S.L. Where your parents very religious?

I.P. I dont think so, I mean I guess they believed in God, or I just assumed they did, but we never talked about religion, they never went to church, my mom might have had a copy of the bible. I thought I saw it once, but as far as I know she never read it. I guess we were just normal. I dont think they were atheists, but they were not fanatics or zealots or anything like that either.

S.L. What about you? Do you have any beliefs?

I.P. I guess in a way you could call me agnostic, sure I believe in something, but is it God? Or some other force? I dont know. I am not really committed to any belief, but I dont have a like of belief really.

S.L. How do you feel about the Devil?

I.P. I dont really believe in the Devil, I think evil comes from human will, the Devil was a piece of lore made up by the Christians, to help control the people and put fear into them and to demonize other religions. The Devil is a myth.

S.L. You still believe that after what happened? After what you saw?

I.P. I think I do, you mean do I think it was the Devil, no it was not that either. It was something on its own.

S.L. You say evil is a human trait, how do you feel about what happened? Do you think you are evil?

I.P. No I dont I have no memory of what I did and I have no reason why I would have done it, I had no will to do it. I dont even really know if I did it, I only know that logically there isnt any other solution. I dont want to hurt people, and I never really did, at least not what was beyond normal, everyone has certain thoughts you know. But mine were never about death or anything violent. There were people I did not like and sure maybe I wouldnt mind if bad things happened to them, but I never really wanted anyone to die. And everyone has negative thoughts sometimes.

S.L. This thing you said you saw, have you ever seen it before?

I.P. Not since my parents died"¦.were killed"¦that was the first time I saw it or anything like it.

S.L. But not the last? You have seen it after?

I.P. I dont know, I mean I told you, sometimes it is like I see it still now, at night when I go to sleep, but am I really seeing it or just remembering? I dont know.

Room 85

Anthony Whites letters of apology

To Whoever my listen 

Room 127

Interview with Kevin Reeds

Conducted by Dr. Stephan Ludwin

S.L. Can you state your name please?

K. R. Kevin Reeds

S.L. How hold are you Kevin?

K.R. 8 years old

S.L. Can you tell me in your own words what happened?

K.R. I dont know, I cant remember anything. We were sitting and watching TV, she always let me stay up and watch scary movies my parents didnt let me. When I looked up and she looked different. She wasnt there anymore. Something else, like something from the movies we use to watch was sitting there. I remember a strange feeling, and then everything went all blurry, and I heard my mother screaming. I was standing there I think and she was laying in the floor. There was all this blood.

S.L. She? Can you tell me who she was?

K.R. My babysitter, her name was Carol

S.L. Did she baby sit you often?

K.R. Yes, all the time

S.L. Did you like her?

K.R. Yes we always got along, I would never hurt her. She let me eat ice cream when it was late, and stay up past my bed time. And watch movies with her.

S.L. Did she ever get mad at you, yell at you or punish you?

10:36 AM - 9/12/2006 - comments {0} - post comment

Bellspring Psychiatric Ward (count.)

K.R. Not really, sometimes she got angry when I did not do what she told me, or when I wanted to stay up later and she told me it was time to go to bed now.

S.L. Did this make you angry?

K.R. I guess it did at the time but usually I forgot about it. I never was really mean to her.

 S.L. Did you often have nightmares from the movies you watched with her?

K.R. Not that I really remember, it did not bother me that much, those movies weren’t all that scary really, I don’t know why my parents never let me watch. I might have had some bad dreams but I don’t really remember.

S.L. You said you saw something, before it happened, this thing that you saw, did it resemble any of the monsters in the movies you watched?

K.R. No, it did not look like anything I have seen before.

S.L. Can you describe just what it was?

K.R. I don’t know, I cannot quite remember it. I mean I remember seeing it but I can’t say what it was, or what it looked like.

Room 205

The last diary entry of Erika Gardner

I do not know how this could have happened to me. I cannot make sense of it. It all seems like some sort of bad dream, but it is one in which I can never wake up, and the worse part is that even when I go to sleep it still is not over. I still see it over and over. I know what the world must think of me now. But it is not true. I am not crazy I know I cannot be. Can I? It has all been too much for me. I cannot go on like this. Maybe whosever hands these writings fall in will understand when they read.

I use to keep a diary when I was a little girl, but it was just one of those things which I grew out of, but I started again I thought maybe it would bring me comfort or offer a way to make sense of things, but nothing will put my mind to rest, and so this will be the last thing I ever say here.

I should tell you about what happened, what started all of this, I haven’t been able to do so before, I could not bring myself to face it, but now it seems the time, and there is nothing left to loose, all is already lost. I had come into work as if it were any other day, and up to that point it was any other day. There was nothing out of place, I hadn’t suffered any nightmares or hallucinations or any other mental or even physical problems. I was not suspicious that anything might be different this day.

I took my seat next to Bob my co-anchor as I always do and I bid him Good Morning as I always do, I was busy arranging my notes and my head was done looking at the desk in front of me as we waited to go on air. Then I glanced up to look at him and I froze. What I saw, I cannot explain it, but it was something, something dreadful. Something unnatural and inhuman. It was not Bob. I was frozen. I felt the need to do something. I had to kill it, I had to destroy it. It was not right, it did not belong. No one else seemed to notice. They must have seen the look upon my face, I vaguest recall someone calling my name asking me something I think if I was alright. But I was dead to the world then and completely focused on that thing which was before me. It was something so horrible it was beyond description. I went after it. What did I use? My hands? Did I find some weapon of opportunity? I do not know, I cannot remember, I do not remember actually doing it. Everything went black and before I knew it the others were pulling me off of Bob’s still body. I screamed when I saw him. It could not be. I remember there was blood. I tried to explain but no one would listen to me.

Now, I cannot escape it, I see it everywhere. I relive what I did in my mind over and over. And still it dose not make sense, but I cannot continue to live this way any longer. I must part from this world

For though All are not able to write books, all conceive themselves able to judge them. ~The Monk

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