100 Theme Challenge #3

Theme 75 – Shadows

I watched as Noishe closed the guest bedroom door behind him. “Goodnight to you, too.” I muttered. After closing my own bedroom door behind me, I looked at my hand. The hand that felt nothing. Completely nothing! I couldn’t help but slide down the door and pull my knees up to my chest. My hands were shaking… why were they shaking? “It’s almost like he’s dead…” My voice wavered. I violently shook my head and stood up. “No! No! No!” I yelled. Suddenly remembering I had a guest, I quickly lowered my voice as not to disturb him.

I decided it’d be best to forget it and get some rest. The silent dinner we had didn’t help my nerves calm down, so maybe sleep will. I quickly slipped into some pajama pants and one of my father’s shirts. When my head hit my pillow, I realized how tired I was. A small yawn escaped my throat. It was calm and quiet. I weakly pulled the covers up to my chin. “It’s… all just some mis…misunderstanding…” I mumbled, my eyes drooping closed. ‘Just stop thinking about it.’ I swooned in my head. I was just about to fall asleep until…

“GO BACK TO HELL FROM WHICH YOU CAME!” CRASH!!! “DIE!”

My eyes shot open. What. The. Heck?! Did that noise just come from the living room?! Without a second thought, I opened my bedside table drawer and grabbed the pistol inside of it. ‘I’ve been waiting for this moment!’ Anxiety burnt inside of me as I cocked the silver barrel. My light blue eyes sheened and a scowl was plastered on my face. They’ve come to get me. They may have taken my parents, but I was not going to let them take me again! Not today… not ever! They kicked me out, left me to die. I was going to show them real pain. How it felt to have your life screwed up!

I ran out of the room, yelling. I quickly dove behind the living room television then I furiously shot at the front door. After a few seconds I realized that there was no one there. I dropped the gun and stood up, scratching my head. I walked out from behind the television. This was all so confusing to me. So, they hadn’t come for me? “Damn scientists!” I huffed. “But still, I swear I heard--”

“STAY AWAY, DEMON!” THUNK!

… Damn it Noishe! I stomped to his room and slammed his door open. “Noishe! What the he… he--” My voice trailed off as I stared, open-mouthed, at the freak of nature. His back was facing me, but he managed to snap his head around. He had a look of shock on his face. I’m not sure why he was so surprised. I was the one who was staring at a single man holding a computer monitor above his head. He dropped the object, not caring where it landed, and turned so he was properly facing me.

I flinched when I heard the computer monitor hit the ground. “N-Noishe! What is going on?!” I screeched. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Not only was it the computer monitor, but a lamp, and the bedside table was thrown under the windowsill, both broken.

The black-eyed boy smiled at me and gave me a wink. “I killed it~!” he jeered happily. Without me having to ask what the hell he was talking about, he ran to the pile of broken possessions and moved them away to show… nothing. Absolutely nothing.

“Noishe, there’s nothing there.” I put a hand on my hip and honestly, I started to become irritated.

“Hashiri, please listen to me! It is a demon!” He pointed to the ground. “I need to protect you. I told you I’d keep you safe.” He pleaded. “Just look a little closer.”

Looking into his eyes, I realized that he was serious. So, just to satisfy his request, and so I could go back to bed, I looked at the spot where he was pointing. After a few seconds my eyes widened. “Noishe…” I placed a hand on his shoulder. Our eyes connected and I thunked his forehead. “That’s a shadow!” I groaned.

Noishe rubbed his head and huffed. “No it’s not! It’s a demon, not a shadow! … What’s a shadow?” He asked.

I pointed at the window. “The tree outside is casting one into your room.” I explained. When all I got back was a look of confusion, I grabbed his wrist and dragged him into my room. Quickly, I created a makeshift bed on the floor and pointed to it. “Sleep here. I need to make sure you don’t break anything else.”

The silver-haired boy just smiled. “That’s great! Now I can make sure your safe!” He sighed happily. I just stared at him like he was crazy and a curious thought ran through my mind. ‘Why is he acting so different? Ehh… maybe he’s just tired too. Whatever.’ I shrugged and hopped into bed. Within seconds, I fell asleep, warm in my covers.

There were several times when I randomly woke up, nothing uncommon for my sleeping habits. But the weird thing is every time I did that night, Noishe would either be watching my door or my window.

To be honest, I don’t think he slept a wink.

Theme 75 - Shadows

100 Theme Challenge #2

Theme 1 – Intro

I stared in my bathroom mirror. My black, wavy hair dripped to my lower back and it made my light blue eyes pop. A towel that I had grabbed for the silver-haired boy was lying lazily on my shoulder. I fixed my hair a bit and exited the bathroom. Quickly, I walked down the hall, thoughts rushing through my mind.  ‘Where’s his family? How did he become a Misfortuned? When did he eat last? Should I let him stay here? Will he hurt me?’

My mind was buzzing so much that I wasn’t paying attention and ran smack-dab into the television, falling on my butt. “Ow! Ow! Ow!” I grumbled, rubbing my head.

“Is this for me?” I heard the boy ask. I looked up and saw him holding the towel. His black eyes… why black? That’s not normal. Even so, I kept a smile on.

“Yes. Umm… My father has some clothes if you’d like to change.” I offered, seeing his wet clothes stick to him. All I got back was silence. “I-I’ve already set them out in the guest bedroom.” I continued, hoping he’d take up my offer.

“Alright.” He finally, responded, patting my head and walking to the only room with and open door.

I sighed and watched the door shut. Why did I trust him when I didn’t even know him? Was it the way he looked at me? Why was it that every time his eyes met mine, my stomach churned? I roughed up my hair and shook my head. ‘Stop psyching yourself out!’

I stood up and slowly made my way to the guest bedroom door. “Umm… sir, I’m not sure if you told me your name. Mine is Hashiri Toyazumi. I’m a sixteen-year-old student.”

No response.

I began to hesitate. Was he irritated by me? Was I being annoying? I leaned against the door, putting my ear up against it. I’m not sure what I was listening for… any kind of response… “S-Sir?” I questioned.

I was about to go back into the living room when the door opened. Since I as leaning against it, I fell right onto him. He didn’t budge and inch when I crash-landed. He just stayed standing with me leaning on him. I blushed and got up on my feet. “I-I’m sorry. Please forgi--”

“My name is Noishe. I’m seventeen. Thank you for your hospitality. When would you like me to leave?” He let the towel hang lazily off his head, his silver hair still slightly dripping. My fathers clothing fit nicely on him. A white tee and black sweatpants. They were slightly baggy, but still looked nice.

I smiled up at him. “Not quite yet. When’s the last time you ate?” The question just seemed to come out. Before he could give me an answer, I grabbed his hand and dragged him to the kitchen. As soon as we got to the kitchen, I let go of his hand. “It’s getting late, so you’re going to eat dinner me.”

Are you sure you’re human?” Noishe asked, his abnormal eyes looking me over. He took a step towards me.

I backed up. “W-What kind of a question is that?! Of course I’m human…” My heart began to throb. Why was he getting so close? “What else would I be? An angel? A demon?” I asked him sarcastically.

He lowered his voice to a whisper, his eyes sheened. “It’s possible…” He mumbled under his breath. Out of nowhere he shot out his hand and set it right on top of my left breast.

Immediately, almost out of reflex, I shoved him away. “Pervert! You pervert!” I screamed. He fell onto his back and looked at me in shock. “What the hell?! I offer you dinner, and you’re trying to get something that’s obviously not food!” I shot my hands to my head in frustration and glared at him. “Why?!”

He sat up, groaning as he did so, and looked at me. “Your heart beat.” He said. I must have made a look of confusion because he reached forward and grabbed my arm.

“What are you--” I stopped when he put my hand on his chest where his heart is. I waited a few seconds…

…I felt nothing.

Theme 1 - Intro

100 Theme Challenge #1

Theme 27 – Lost and Found

I had no choice but to go through the alley. It was going to rain soon and it was the shortcut home. I didn’t think I’d run into “him.” At the time, I was too worried about getting rained on rather than the monsters and demons who called themselves humans hiding in the shadows of the alley. I hesitantly ran a hand through my black hair and began my journey between the buildings. Sure enough, as soon as I got halfway through, men and women in rags and covered in mud came into view. “Money!” “Food!” “Money!” “Food!” They all mumbled the same thing.

I could feel my heart pound with nervousness. I had nothing to offer these Misfortuned. I kept my eyes forward and continued walking, in fear of some pervert creeping up from behind. I felt bad for the Misfortuned, a community of people that have to give an arm and leg to get what I could obtain with only a smile. I jumped as I heard a harsh growl come from behind one of the very many littered corners of the alleyway.

“Don’t be scared.” I heard a voice say softly. I couldn’t help but gasp and frantically turn to my left only to see a boy sitting against the alley wall. He had long, silver hair, down to his earlobes. He looked around the age of seventeen. I couldn’t seem to make out his eyes through the silver strands that hung in front of his face. His posture was lazy and his clothes were dirty and baggy. I felt pity for him. “We, the Misfortuned, won’t… excuse me… CAN’T hurt you. You’re a Lunar, right?” He asked. I didn’t know what to say. Lunars and Misfortuneds aren’t usually ones to communicate with each other. Such a difference in social classes, that it almost seems sinful.

He finally managed to make eye contact with me, his pitch black eyes connecting with my light blue ones. “You have money, friends…” He stood up, hovering several inches over me. “…And power. What do you want from us?” He walked towards me and put his hand on my head, as if to see if I were real.

I didn’t push him away, though. His movement was gentle. His silver hair was matted and very unkempt, not uncommon for his class. “You’re only a boy, my age. Why are you here with these people?” I asked quietly, ignoring his question. I gazed up at him, trying to make eye contact once more, but he denied my request.

“I fell.” He responded. “I strayed away and got lost. Fell and ended up here.” He looked down at me and gave me an obviously fake smile.

I made a pouty face. “Talking in metaphors is so confusing.” I huffed. I let out a small giggle, attempting to let him know that I was joking. He didn’t seem to find the humor. He removed his hand from my head and sighed. “It’s going to rain, isn’t it?” He mumbled. My eyes widened. THE RAIN! I hated the rain!

“I-I’m sorry, but I need to get home. The rain is--” One drop fell right onto my nose. “KYAAA!!!” I screamed. The liquid was cold and sudden, it shocked me. Slightly embarrassed by my outburst, I looked around to see if anyone was staring at me. The only one who was staring was the silver-haired boy. He had his head in his hand and he was smiling. My face heated up and I stomped my foot. “I-It’s not funny!” I growled.

He chuckled. “You Lunars are so dramatic.” He sighed and took off his jacket to drape it over my head so I wouldn’t get rained on. “Let me walk you home. It’s not safe for a young girl like you to be in the Misfortuned area on your own.” He wrapped a gentle, protective arm around me. “I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

It began to rain a decent amount as he walked me through the alleyway, keeping me by his side. He was getting drenched because I was terrified of the ice-cold liquid. “I’ll make it up to you.” I sighed.

He looked at me. “What?”

“I’ll make it up to you for helping me.” I smiled at the ground, wrapping the jacket tightly around myself. “After all, you did say you were lost.”

I looked up just in time to see him smile. “Well, I’m glad you found me.”

Theme 27 – Lost and Found

Cookie x Cream 2 (Fanfiction)

“IDIOT!” WHACK! One parasol swing to the head.

“Cream, stop it!”

“STUPID! STUPID! IDIOT COOKIE!” A punch in the gut.

“Cream, I’m sorry! Now stop.”

“YOU DUMBASS!” She raised her parasol for another hit. But as she brought it down, I reached up and grabbed it with one hand. She gasped loudly and gripped the parasol with both of hers. She began to frantically attempt to pull it away from me.

I made a stern look and aggressively pulled the parasol towards myself, bringing her dangerously close to my face. “I said I was sorry. Now stop hitting me!” I kept my voice low.

Cream let a small blush creep onto her face. She let go of the parasol. “Fine!” She huffed, trying to sound mad. But I knew. I knew she was embarrassed. I let the parasol fall to the ground as a shivering pain surged through my body. ‘That tambourine really messed me up…’

I looked at her. I reached out and held the rabbit girl’s hand, looking into her light blue eyes. I wanted to say something that would make her heart flutter. Make her face glow red. But I didn’t dare. I let go of her hand and looked at her door. “Cream, as soon as I get better, I promise we’ll go home.” I smiled at her and hopped out of the bed. My wounds throbbed and burned. But I kept a smile on and gave the girl a thumbs up.

Cream gave me a pleading look and placed her hand on my shoulder, causing my face to heat up. Her soft and tiny fingers felt cool against my feverish body. “Cookie…” She clenched my sleeve and looked down at her shoes, her bangs covering her face. “You’re an idiot…” She mumbled. I saw tears drop from her hidden eyes.

I wrapped an aching arm around her. “Geez, c’mere…” I gently pulled her trembling body into mine, allowing her to cry into my chest. I looked at her and snaked a hand under one of her bunny ears and lifted it to my mouth. Kissing, the soft pink of her fur, I felt my heart flutter. She was so close. So innocent. So… so mine!

I let my gaze drop to the floor as she sniffled and sobbed. Slowly, I lowered my head so my mouth was right next to her ear. “For you… I will get us home.” I whispered, entwining my fingers through her hair.

I could feel her warm tears soak through my shirt and I couldn’t help but sigh softly in her ear, raising my head to its natural height. My heart pounded as I slipped a hand under her chin and lifted her face so she had no choice but to look into my green eyes. My throat had a lump of nervousness in it, but I forcefully swallowed it down. ‘Do it!’

I connected her lips with mine, assuming that I planned to attend my own funeral. My stomach began to burn with pain and my legs shook from aching so badly. But I ignored it! I didn’t care! Cream gripped the front of my shirt tightly. After a few seconds she quickly pulled away. I chuckled as she raised her hands to cover her face.

“Aaawww, Cream~! Let me see your cute face.” I teased, gripping her wrists and moving them. She whined in protest, but how could I resist? The color of her cheeks almost matched her hair, considering how pink it was. ‘So cute! I just… Damn!’ “I just want to devour you~!” I didn’t mean to say it out loud, or have it sound as creepishly as it did. She stopped struggling to fight me off and shot daggers at me with her eyes. ‘Oh shit!’ She managed to knee me where no man ever wants to be kneed. I had no choice but to let go of her in order to clutch my aching manhood. Groveling in pain, I didn’t notice her pick up her parasol.

WHACK!

“Ow!”

“Stupid Cookie!”

~X~

Walking out of the hospital, I wrapped an arm around the bunny girl’s shoulders. “Ya know, Cream, since we’re going out now--”

“We are NOT going out!” Cream practically yelled, taking up her parasol.

I quickly jumped back, holding up my hands defensively. “Alright! Alright!” I put a goofy smile on my face and gave her a wink. “Besides, you obviously like me back. No point in denying it~!” I teased. “Your face goes red every time I say stuff like that.” I began to walk again, beside her.

Ignoring Cream’s rants, I stretched out my arms and ears. The warm feelings of the sun’s rays made my skin tingle and the fur of my ears poof. I couldn’t help but jump onto her in a hug.

“Cookie! What the hell?!”

“C’mon now, Cream! Hug me back!”

“Get off!”

“It’s a beautiful day! I want a hug!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Come on!”

“F…Fine!”

I released my death grip on her and backed up so she could properly position herself to give me a hug. She began to pat down her dress and fix her hair. To be honest, I was expecting a half-assed, no-good hug. But she crashed into me like no tomorrow, digging her head into my chest. I was in such a shock that I wasn’t sure how to react. My rabbit ears shot up in surprise. Slowly, but surely they relaxed. And so, I wrapped my arms around Cream. I could feel her heart pounding against me. I wanted to kiss her again, make her mine!

Just as soon as she hugged me, she pushed me away. “There, happy?” She grabbed one of the light brown bunny ears hanging in front of my face and lightly tugged on it. “Let’s go.” She walked on ahead, leaving me speechless and wanting more.

~X~

“Alright! LET’S DO THIS!” I yelled, punching the air. Cream and I were in front of the Music World gate. I could hear the blaring trumpets and pounding drums. The noises pissed me off. Clenching my fists, I looked over at Cream, who was on the other side of a weed-filled path. ‘I’m not giving up so easily this time!’ I growled to myself. “Cream!” I barked, causing her to snap her head towards me. Her eyes were filled with fear and doubts. I could see her legs trembling. “We got this!” I gave her a big smile and a thumbs up. Sadly, I didn’t get one back.

“Line up!” The woman’s voice overhead demanded. So we did as we were told. I stared into the gate, determination boiling inside of me. “Ready in three…”

I suddenly felt a kiss on my cheek.

“…Two…”

I looked to my right and saw Cream hopping back over to her side of the weeded path and getting into readied position.

“…One…”

She gave me a big smile and a thumbs up back.

“Begin!”

~FIN~

All About MSB (Break-in; Completely True)

(MSB is a friend of mine. He tells a lot of stories and they're all really true and usually really funny. I'm not ever going to mention his real name unless given the permission to do so. His stories will seem fake, but they are completely true. So, this starts off the first of his stories.)

This didn’t actually happen in my life. It happened to my brothers. My parents were divorced so at this time in my life I’m a sophomore in college. So my mom lives in this house in the middle of the woods and my brothers lived with her. My dad lived up in ----. The house in out I the middle of nowhere. So, the story is about someone breaking into this home… which in its own way is a little crazy cause it’s out in the middle of nowhere. So, it’s nine or so in the morning on a Saturday. I’m in school, my mom is grocery shopping, and my twin brothers (who at this time are seventeen) are up in their bedrooms at the house.

So they hear a knock at the door and they don’t do a thing. They assume that my mom’s going to answer it because they don’t know that she’s gone. The knock gets louder and a bit more forceful. The guys are thinking ‘Hey, what the heck is going on here?’ Then they hear a woman’s voice yelling from outside the door. So she knocks and she goes, “HELP! I NEED HELP!” Well, she’s more like screaming than yelling. And these jerk brothers of mine don’t do a darn thing to help this individual.

So this lady needs to be inside this house apparently. So she’s at the front door. Right beside her is a garden kind of area in front of these giant windows. So she takes a brick from the garden and launches it through the windows. The thing completely shatters. So my brothers are thinking ‘What in God’s name is going on?’ One of them runs into the other one’s room and they call 9-1-1 saying, “Someone just broke into our house.” So the rest of this happens in like a seven-ish minute window. It all goes by pretty fast.

So this lady throws a brick through the window. And as you know when you throw a brick through a window it causes a hole the size of a brick. Alright, not the size of a person. So she sticks on of her arms in the window and just kind of swipes it to the left, slashing down the glass. She does the same with the right arm and she eventually gets her feet in. And now she’s in. She is inside our home and she’s also bleeding head-to-toe. She cut herself about eighty million times doing that little move. Now, let me tell you a bit about her. She is on everything imaginable. She’s high, she’s drugged up, she’s alcoholed up, she’s only twenty-something. She’s just a loony person who has no idea where she’s at.  She’s just so gone….

Okay, so, brothers are in the room calling 9-1-1 and she is in the house bleeding all over the place. And, I don’t know if you guys have a home like this, we had a home with a living room that was really fancy. White room, white walls, white couches, fancy fireplace. Like, no one was allowed to go in there unless the queen showed up one day. So she starts walking around. She’s like, yelling and screaming obscenities and all kinds of weird crap. And then she starts to walk up the stairs. She walks down the hallway and she sees the door that’s shut and locked. So she starts yelling let me in, let me in, ya know. Then she yells, “I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE! AND I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” Dang it. Not today. I mean really? Really? Of all days. It’s a Saturday, I mean.. no homework… c’mon…

So they actually call the police back. I’m not sure how the conversation went, but it was probably like, “Hey, update: she doesn’t have presents or anything. She’s not very nice… she’s mean.” So she goes back down into the kitchen and she banging drawers and clanging things together. And making a whole bunch of noise from the kitchen. So, apparently she’s looking for her weapon of choice. And she found it. If you were in a kitchen going to take it out on a couple seventeen-year-olds, you would take up what? A kitchen knife, pretty sizable kitchen knife. She decides to take up a pair of dull scissors. She’s going to kill my brothers… with a pair of scissors.

So, she’s got this pair of dull scissors and starts back up the stairs. Then she begins to stab the door… with a pair of dull scissors…. This is going to be the way she breaks in. My brothers said this part was super scary. She starts getting tired, like wheezing, “I’m gonna kill you..” she’s just stabbing the door, making little dents. Making small slivers. And they told me that they were trying to look at her. Like open the door a crack. “What are you doing? Wanna talk about it? No? okay.” So she’s like doing this for maybe three minutes. Then, funny part is followed by scary part.

It goes from that to just silence. So she does that… then just nothing. So my brothers are like “Okay woah… what just happened?” They said that the whole thing was scary, but they knew where she was. Like she was in the kitchen, she was in the living room, in the hall. They always knew where she was. Now it’s just silence and they have no idea where this woman has gone. Is she just gonna ninja kick through the window or something? Who knows. So another minute or so goes by and suddenly, they hear the shreek of hell. Like, blood-curdling, agonizing scream from down the hall. So they’re thinking ‘what the heck?’ again and a few minutes later they hear a BOOM BOOM BOOM up the stairs. The police are there.

So the policemen just kinda lead them out of the room. And the also escort them outside, trying to get them somewhere safe. So they walk down this hallway and by the bathroom, where they look inside. That’s where the screech from hell came from. So they look in, and there’s just blood everywhere. All over the sink area, on the floor, up the walls and ceiling… just everywhere. And one of my brothers said, “What happened in there?!” Ya know. And the policeman tells them, as they’re walking out, that they found her, the crazy lady, naked in the bath tub stabbing herself with the scissors. Isn’t that super exciting?

So they take care of her, get and ambulence and everything. She’s alive and was dealt with. Then my mom comes into the story. Now my mom is a tough cookie, but a super awesome person too. So, she shows up as there’s seven cop cars in our driveway. So my brothers are in the front lawn, talking to some of these dudes when my mom shows up. She’s home from the grocery store. So instead of running to her children, she goes into the backseat and gets a couple of bags. She takes the bags, walks up to them, set down the bags, then said, “WHAT’D THEY DO?!”  And she wants to know what they did. Because clearly, they did something wrong and the police are here to solve it.

“Umm.. no ma’am.” They walk a ways away. “A woman came in and she did this and this…” And they kinda told her the story of what happened. And after he finished telling her, she turned around and said, “OHH MY BABIES!! OH NOOOO~!” Just now she breaks down into mom mode. Hugging them, and kissing them, ya know.

So, this happened on a Saturday… Tuesday, I get a phone call. My ma calls me and she sounds like the proudest mom in the world. She’s like screaming on the phone. I’m like “Hey mom, whatsup?” “YOU’RE BROTHERS WERE IN THE NEWSPAPER!!!” and I’m like, “Cool. Was it like sports, or something in school? Some good deed? Fill me in, this is exciting.” She goes, “Oh no. no. Saturday… some lady broke in and almost killed them. Like, wanted to kill your brothers.” I’m like “……” And she’s telling me the story all nonchalantly! And I’m just freaking out. So that's the story of how I found out my brothers were gonna get jacked by some crazy lady.

I'm The New One

I gulped. The classroom was only a few feet from me. My legs felt like jelly and my face got all warm. I could see kids moving around in the classroom. Kids my age. I violently shook my head, knowing I couldn’t do this, and ran down the hall, into the bathroom. As soon as I got there, I grabbed onto the sides of the sink. My arms trembled. Why was I so nervous?

C’mon! Get a hold of yourself! I shakily turned on the water. Cupping my hands and filling them with the ice-cold liquid, I splashed it on my face. I heard a gasp come from my own mouth. The water shouldn’t have felt that cold. I brushed that off and looked at myself in the mirror. Did I really belong to this body? I wish I could switch. Switch with the kids who knew they’ve made it in life. That way, I could be happy.

The water dropped off my chin and plopped into the sink. I looked into my own eyes, seeing my own pain. I swatted at the running water to the mirror, causing a large amount of droplets to blur out my face. “Pathetic!” I growled. I turned off the faucet, then turned my back on the mirror and looked at the door. I can’t go back out there. Out where I’m exposed. Able to be laughed at… bullied… tortured…

I slumped into a ball in the corner. The cool feeling of the tile floor slightly calmed my nerves. I closed my eyes and relaxed. Suddenly, past images and events ran through my mind. Being thrown up against a wall, the inability to move my arms, sparkling rubies dripping down my legs as he intrudes, and the evil whispers of, “Now you’ll never forget me, you fucking slut!” My pain gave him pleasure. Whore, Slut, Bitch, I couldn’t look away fast enough. Couldn’t run quick enough. They still got me, he still got me!

My body began to tremble on the bathroom floor. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I was reliving it. I kept my eyes wide open, shocked that all of these torturous memories would come parading through my mind. I wanted to forget! Why can’t I forget?! I saw droplets of water hit the ground. Soft taps on the tile floor. Wait, are those my tears? I wiped my eyes and whimpered lightly. I didn’t want to go through another school year like that. That’s exactly why I switched schools. But I don’t know these people. What if it happens again?!

Even so, no one can be as horrifying of a monster as him. He ruined me, tortured me… and it wasn’t only once, it was multiple times. Sometimes his friends would join in. Soon enough the whole school followed suite. I know that every time his green eyes caught mine in the hallway, I would turn and run only to get grabbed and jerked around. Like some toy! Those red gems flying into the air, his laugh ringing out like a hyena’s. Why didn’t I tell of him sooner?

I heard soft, female voices pass by the bathroom door. My first instinct was to run into a stall and hide. Instead I stood up and walked to the mirror, staring into my red and puffy eyes. “I’m not scared anymore!” I huffed, rubbing them. “You hear me?! I’m not scared anymore!” I looked into my eyes once more. My crystal blue eyes. “I’m safe now…” I fixed my hair and took in a deep breath. “You are safe.” I wanted to believe it. I really did… but my shaky legs and pounding heart made me believe it’d never be true.

Even so, I decided that I should probably get to my class. So I straightened myself out and timidly walked out of the bathroom. I looked around the hall. Still empty. That calmed me a bit, so I quickly went to the door I was at before. I stood on the outside, my hand gripping the handle. My legs felt like jello once again. My face was warm and my heart began to thud heavily against my chest. I could hear kids my age talking, laughing, and moving around. I took in a deep breath and opened the door.

The volume in the room died to a low whisper as I entered. Everyone’s eyes were on me! Everyone was staring at me! Studying me. I gripped the bottom of my sweatshirt and I could feel my legs start to tremble. Why were they all staring at me?! Stop it! Stop staring at me! But they didn’t. I was going to turn around and run back into the bathroom, but then the teacher spoke up.

“Class, this is our new student. Her name is…” I tuned her out. Well, only because a boy, with brown eyes, jumped off his desk and began to walk towards me.

My eyes widened and I backed up against the door. No! No! No! This cannot be happening! Not here! Don’t let him take me! My eyes began to water. I wanted to die. God, take me, please! Soon, he got close enough to touch me. No one else was paying attention. Why weren’t they seeing this?! They had all gone back to their conversations or whatever! But that didn’t matter! His hand slowly came towards me.

“Welcome~!” He laughed, smiling at me. His chocolate brown eyes sparkled as he smiled. His arm was outstretched  into a handshake. I was baffled and my body slightly relaxed. His smile had me trapped. Slowly, I reached out with a shaky hand, taking his in mine. His grip was gentle and warm. I didn’t speak to him though. I didn’t know what to say. He looked me over and let go of my hand. “You are the new student, right?” He asked. Me, giving him no response earlier, must have triggered that question.

His smile and warm eyes caused the corners of my lips to turn up cautiously. My first time smiling in so many years. “Yes.” I said, my voice having a slight amount of confidence in it. “I’m the new one.”

All About MSB (Mouthy Little Kid; Completely True)

(MSB is a friend of mine. He tells a lot of stories and they're all really true and usually really funny. I'm not ever going to mention his real name unless given the permission to do so. His stories will seem fake, but they are completely true.) 

My son. A little kid, got a big mouth on him. He’s a little personal, good wit, he’s a little mouthy. He gets it from his mom. So in this story he was about six or seven. We don’t live in a big house by any means, so we’re just in this little hallway. He and I share a bathroom. 

He’s running all around in the hallway. He’s going to his room, I’m going to mine. As he runs across, he steps on my toe. Like, BAM! Really hard! And I go, “DUDE! Chill out! Slow down, homie!” 

Right, one of my problems my wife says I have is that I talk to my kids like their eighteen. Like I say “homie” and “chill out” and “shut your face.” She goes “You can’t tell a two-year-old to shut his face.” And I say jokingly, “I just did, you shut your face.” 

So, he steps on my toe! I go “Dude! Dude! Slow down, homie. You... You about broke my toe!” 

And he… he did not miss a beat. He stood up to me. He goes, “Dad! You about broke my eyes!” I was like ‘No he did not! He did not just do that!’ He’s a little mouthy kid.

The Car Crash... (True story. Older sis is the one in the picture)

It all started when I invited my six-year-old cousin, Olivia, to come over to my house. I wanted to introduce her to my kittens, Lovey and Dovey. From my room where Olivia and I were playing with the cats, I could hear my mother’s phone ring. I was tempted to get up and get it because it had been ringing for a while, but I heard my mother pick it up. Knowing the phone situation was taken care of, I just tuned out and went back to playing with Olivia.

“Jazlin! Olivia! Get in the car… now!” My mother’s voice was urgent and sounded frightened. I barely ever heard my mother sound like that… so honestly, it frightened me. “Olivia! Jazlin! Right now! Hurry!” I quickly stood up and was about ready to walk out of the room when Olivia tugged on my shirt.

“Can we bring the kitties, please? I like to play with them.” She asked, ever so sweetly.

I nodded and picked up the bigger cat, so she wouldn’t have trouble carrying the tinier one. On the way out, I could see my mother frantically trying to call certain people and run out the door. As soon as we got into the car, I set down Dovey, the bigger cat, and helped Olivia get in, what with the smaller kitten in her arms.

As soon as my mother got into the car, she went speeding down the driveway like it was the end of the world and went zooming down the street. She kept on calling people even though she was already driving like a mad woman. Finally, she got a hold of somebody.

“Dara! Dara! Oh my goodness! Thank God you answered! Kiera’s been in a car accident! Her car rolled four times! She’s been life-flighted to the hospital!” My mother screamed into the phone. Right when I heard those words, my whole body froze up. Kiera, my older sister, was in a car accident? Her car rolled FOUR times? “And… And they’re calling in the preacher. Oh God, Dara, that means things aren’t going to be good! She might die, Dara!” Whoa! Whoa! Hold the phone! My older sister might die???

I looked over at Olivia, and she looked at me with the same scared facial expression. She dug her face into one of the cats’ fur coat. “Jazlin… Kiera’s going to die?” She asked, her eyes watering. I stayed silent. Then, Olivia did something I would’ve never expected from a six year old. She closed her eyes and hugged the cat really close, then started in on her talk with a certain someone. “Dear God…” She sighed. “Please don’t let Kiera die. She is my cousin and I love her.” She squeezed her eyes tighter. “Please, God, don’t let her die. Please God… Please God…” Tears started pouring down her face. “We all love her and want her to live!”

At this moment, I started crying too. The fact that a child that young would pray in a time like this surprised me. I hugged her and bawled like a baby right beside her.

As soon as we got to the hospital, Olivia and I jumped out, leaving the cats in the car, and ran into the hospital. We soon found a couple family members and gathered around the room my sister was in. A nurse told me to wait and went inside of the room. Soon she poked her head out and motioned for me to come in. I looked at everyone and followed the nurse.

“Look. You’re little sister is here to see you.” I heard the nurse say, as I walked in. I was so happy to see my sister alive even though she was connected to all of these tubes and cords. But my sister felt differently.

“NO! NO! GET OUT! NO! AAAAHHH!”

Immediately, I fell to my knees bawling my eyes out. My sister, my sister… she could die any second… and she didn’t even want to see me. I sat there crying as the doctors tried their best to calm her down. My sister meant so much to me, why would she react so harshly towards me? Why wouldn’t she at least… why wouldn’t she at least look at me? I exited the room in tears, feeling as though my heart had been mangled and destroyed, just like my sister’s car.

~X~

Turns out, my sister’s blood level was eight times over the legal limit and her car did roll four times. But surprisingly, everywhere… except the drivers seat… was completely bashed in. And not only that, but my sister came out with only scratches and bruises. She had been drinking and fell asleep at the wheel. The car went out of control and rolled. She was still extremely drunk by the time midnight rolled around. No alcohol poisoning, just drunk.

I went home, still in tears of how my sister spoke to me. Honestly, she was the only sister that I had that knew what I had gone through in the past year. She was always the one who told me that I would get through… that I could be strong. And when she spoke those words about not wanting to see me, my heart broke. And drunk or not, it still hurt. I never told her about that. About her saying that to me and how I felt. She barely remembers anything from that day. But I do know this, she’s the best sister in the world, and there’s no way in hell I’m ever going to tell her to “Go away” or “Get out” when I’m the one she wants to see most.

           

Oh also…. Turns out… Olivia was allergic to cats.

My aunt Dara was not happy….

                                                                                               

~FIN~

The Clown

I walked into the amusement park gates. The looks of all the mechanical rides where rusty and worn. I’ve heard of this place in town… but I decided to check it out for myself. No one knows why this place became abandoned… it just did. The leaves that have fallen off the tree covered the ground and crumpled under every step Shawnte, my giant black lab, and I took. I never liked old creepy places, but this place seemed more adventurous than creepy. “C’mon, Shawnte…. We have to hurry before Mama and Papa come back from their meeting. They told us we can’t be here…” I quickly walked towards the biggest ride.

On the top of the ride’s name there was an old, creepy-looking clown’s face. It had a black mouth with only two or three teeth. And not to mention his eyes had smudges over them and was covered in white make-up. But of course it was only a giant face. “I don’t like the looks of that.” Shawnte, my dog, stated, looking up at me with his big yellow eyes. “His smile is almost… sickening. Like he caused all this.”

I flicked one of my dog’s ears. “Shut up! That’s so creepy!!!” I looked at the clown. And I swear I saw one of his eyes move… just slightly. So I ran off to find another ride.

 I soon found one with weird buttons on the control panel. Shawnte followed at my feet, his tail between his legs. “I don’t like this place, Shayne. Let’s just go home.” His voiced whined high, like a four-year-old child. His eyes glistened, causing that puppy dog look. But me, knowing Shawnte since I was a baby, didn’t fall for that.

“Get in the cart. I wanna see if this works.” I pointed to what looked like a roller coaster cart. I knew Shawnte was scared of roller coasters, but I wanted to tease him a bit. Get his mind off of that creeped-up clown.

“Sh-Shayne! Are you crazy?!” He screeched, his tail coming back up. For a dog, he could make great facial expressions. Especially shocked ones. “If it does work, and I die… where are you gonna find another talking dog, huh? That’s right, you can’t! And you can’t tell you mom and dad either. They don’t know about my talking ability because YOU don’t have the courage to tell them!” He huffed and sat down in front of the cart. “I’m not doing it! I’m not. I’m not—“

“I’ll give you a belly rub if you do it.” I said, with no emotion in my voice.

“Oh really?” Shawnte looked at me suspiciously, his yellow eyes twinkling. “Alright I’ll do it~!” He jumped in the cart. “Besides, it’s so old… I doubt it’ll actually work!” He laughed it up.

I couldn’t help but smile. I pushed a couple of the buttons, then pulled a little lever. The creaking sound it made sent chills up my spine. But surprisingly enough the cart started to move.

“WAAAAH~! SHAYNE!” Shawnte screamed. The fur on his tail poofed out and he jumped off as quickly as possible. “Shayne! I was on that thing! ….how does it still work?” His ears slid back and his tail was once again in between his legs. “Whoever left did it in a hurry… didn’t even turn off the electricity…” His voice wavered.

I looked back at the clown. Has its smile gotten… bigger? Wider? “Shawnte?” I started, looking at the dog. “Why do you think everybody left so quickly? I mean, it’s still functional. All that we have to do is clean this place up a bit. We could make a fortune!”

“Shayne…”

“We have to tell mom and dad!”

“Shayne…”

“And also we could go on that vacation we always wanted!”

“SHAYNE!”

“What?!”

“The clown…”

I looked over to the clown again. “What about it?” I asked, staring at it.

“Was it always looking this way?” Indeed the clown was looking at us.

“What are you talking about? O-of course it h-has!” I stammered, trying my best not to be freaked out. To be honest… I had no idea. “Maybe we should check out the ride. Then we won’t be so scared.” I suggested, keeping my eyes on that hideous thing. I could hear Shawnte whimper beside me. I patted his head and walked up to the ride.

The name was partially faded out, but I could read “The World’s Coolest Ride” The clown’s face was in between the words “World’s” And “Coolest”. I looked at my dog and walked in with him at my heels.

As I entered the doorway, it became very dark and seemed as though the walls were closing in on us. For the world’s coolest ride, it was kinda freaky. “I don’t like this, I don’t like this…” Shawnte whimpered. I rolled my eyes and kept on walking. Soon we came up to a door, or at least, I thought it was a door. It was too dark to see. I pushed it open only to see a cart on a railroad looking thing. It seemed to only be able to go into one tunnel.

“Shawnte? What do you think is in the tunnel?” I asked my black lab. I looked at the tunnel but saw white. The light was too bright to even look into. I wasn’t sure whether or not to get into the cart.

“Get in the cart~!” a voice called. A voice that was high-pitched and… cracked. The demand was more aggressive than inviting.

I looked at my dog, and he looked back. He could see the frightened, yet excited look on my face. “No… no …. No! Shayne! What are you thinking?!” He cried, biting onto my pant leg, trying to drag me away from the cart.

“C’mon… the instructor told us to get into the cart.” I said, tying my dark purple hair into a nice ponytail. “It’ll be fun!” I cheered.

But then Shawnte said something to snap me back into reality. “What instructor…?” He asked, his own voice quiet and scared.

We sat there in silence

“Get in the cart.”

What?

“Get in the cart.”

What instructor?

 “Get in the cart now!”

Abandoned…

“I SAID GET IN THE CART!”

Nothing but….

“GET IN- -“

“No!”

I didn’t say it. I looked over to my trembling dog that had said those words. “W-We won’t…” He replied in a shaky voice. “Whoever you are… leave us alone!”

“Oh, but don’t you know where you are?” The mysterious voice asked, just above a harsh whisper.

I looked around. I saw some newspaper clippings on the walls that I hadn’t noticed before. I went up to one of them and read it out loud so Shawnte could hear. “The World’s Coolest Ride has been shut down for… mechanical problems…?” I looked at my dog and he just looked back at me in utter confusion. I started to read again. “Ever since this place was created this ride has excited many people. A fun ride full of cute little dolls that sing a song about it being the best ride, then you get to go on a little roller coaster. Candy drops on you and you get to see all of the hanging strings from the ceiling. If one falls on you, you get to pick out anything from the gift shop for free.” I looked at my dog. “If it’s so good… why is it shut down?” I questioned.

“Keep reading…” Shawnte demanded.

I sighed and looked at the paper. “Ugh.. okay. Umm…. So one day the ride broke down. In anger a kid vandalized the clowns face. Big mistake. The ride itself became more aggressive, more… evil….” I gulped. “But that was only after the ride was fixed by the clown’s creator… Who was then killed by his own hands?” Suddenly everything around me looked, darker…. Scarier. “Shawnte, let’s go!”

I ran for the door but it wouldn’t budge. I kept trying even after tears started to fill my eyes. My legs and arms trembled.

…No way out.

“Get in the cart. Let me take you for a ride~” The voice whispered in a taunting tone. “I make sure you have a… hell of a time. You’ll be… dying for more. Don’t worry, I won’t leave you… hanging! WAHAHAHAHA!” the laugh was sick and cracked.

“SHUTUP!” I screamed, falling to my knees. I had snapped. I was trapped. I couldn’t open the door, couldn’t get out!

Shawnte came up to me to help me. “C’mon… let’s just go on the ride.” He urged, trying to get out of this mess.

“I’ll kill you like the rest~” the voice sneered. “Want to know why this place is abandoned? Go on the ride~” He cheered.

I brushed myself off and looked at Shawnte. “Let’s go.” I sniffed, knowing I had no other choice. I patted him and got in the cart. My black lab… my best friend got in and lay down in my lap. “I love you Shayne…” He sighed.

I sniffed and kissed the top of his head. “I love you too, Shawnte.”

“How cute… Let’s go.” The voice growled, starting the cart with a jolt. And soon we got sucked into the bright light.

I could hear the singing. “Enjoy it while you can. Cuz if you don’t you’ll zzzzz…. And zzzzz…. And don’t forget if you zzzz…. Zzzzzzz….DIE!” The song went. Well… that’s how it went now from it being so old. Soon we got to see all the dolls. All of them looked deformed in some way. Either the doll had no eyes. No mouth. An extra body part that didn’t seem like it should have been placed there. Melted on, stapled on, sewed on…. Almost…. Realistic.

“Like my song?” The voiced hissed.

Ignoring it, we went on with the ride. Some slots in the ceiling opened and something was thrown down at us, causing my ponytail to become undone. As that happened the lights disappeared, so now it was blindingly dark. “C-Candy…?” Shawnte stammered.

I paused before answering him. I touched one of the “pieces of candy” and felt it squirming beneath my fingers.

“No.” The voice and I said at the same time.

I squirmed, but didn’t make a sound as I felt the creatures that were covering us bite me and dig into my skin. I couldn’t let this…this… thing know that I was freaked out. Apparently, it could only hear us. Shawnte tried his best to hold in his whimpers… but failed horribly.

Soon we were brought back into light… but the creatures were gone… the bite marks remained though. Shawnte licked my wounds, trying his best to keep me safe. I started to cry. “Shawnte… I want to go home. We should have listened to mama and papa!” I clung to my dogs fur and dug my face into his back.

“Sh-Shayne…” He said, looking upwards and completely ignoring what I had said. “I know why people went missing a few years back…” His voice wavered and shook, he sounded as if he were going to cry. So I looked up to see what he was so freaked out about. As soon as my eyes hit the ceiling, I screamed and cried and screamed some more.

There were several people hung by their necks, by the strings that would drop on people so they could get a prize. Several people... “OH MY GOD!” I screeched, my voice echoing throughout the tunnel. “THEY’RE ALL DEAD!!! MY GOD! MY GOD! AHHHH!!!” Tears ran down my face like crazy and I thought I was going insane. Shawnte nuzzled his head into my lap. “Oh my god… we’re going to die too. He’s going to kill us!” I grabbed Shawnte’s head and hugged him super tight.

“Shayne… I love you. I just want you to be safe!”

“I love you too Shawnte!”

"Shayne..." The dog said, still a small wavering tone in his voice.

I cuddled him. Next thing I knew a body of what I think was supposed to be a teenage boy snapped off the string and landed on top of us.

I covered in ears in a panic as I heard a high pitch scream pierce my ears, only a few seconds later did I realize the scream was coming from my own mouth. I quickly covered my mouth and stopped my cries of stress.

Shawnte grabbed the boy with his mouth and flung it off the cart. All I knew was that whatever was going to happen next, was going to be the end of us.

~X~

“The clown.”

I looked over to the clown again. “What about it?” I asked, staring at it.

“Was it always looking this way?” Indeed the clown was looking at us.

“What are you talking about? O-of course it h-has!” I stammered, trying my best not to be freaked out. To be honest… I had no idea. “Maybe we should check out the ride. Then we won’t be so scared.” I suggested, keeping my eyes on that hideous thing. I could hear Shawnte whimper beside me.

“Or…” I said, slowly turning away. “We can go home… forget everything that I said. This place was abandoned for a reason, right? Maybe we shouldn’t be messing with anything.” I laughed nervously and stared at the clown.

“Okay Shayne…. Let’s go make some hot chocolate and chase some squirrels.” Shawnte squealed, his tail wagging excitedly.

I looked at my dog and laughed, patting his head. Then I looked at the clown. But this time instead of a smile, he had a demented frown. I had a feeling that my thought process of what could have happened was a bit too extreme… but now, I see I was right on track. I walked to the gate, where my black lab was waiting excitedly. Heh, there’s not way in hell that I’m ever coming back here….

~FIN~