Sadly, I could not participate in it this year, because I only found about about it 2 days ago. Next year however I intend to do this right!
Oh and here is my first story that I did in English and in Word, rather than just write it down. I happened to be a fanfiction of sorts, if only because I used a character and setting from a game ( Tohuou ).
Waking up. Eyes open to a world of red. I come to terms with the fact that I am having another nightmare. Hell, as if my life was not a heap of trash as it is. I look around me, and see a huge hall, painted red, with huge, old looking curtains hanging everywhere. There are shadows everywhere, and the entire place looks as a stomach of a huge beast.
I get up from the floor laughing at the absurd place I found myself in. After I stop the distorted echo sounds like dozens of madmen are laughing back at me. There are books strewn around the place, and even some toys. There are children in here? Only a madman would leave a kid in here to play. I realize I am in my clothes.
“Bah, fell asleep like a slob again.”
I kick a nearby book, hoping to vent out some of the feeling of rage and inadequacy I feel towards myself often these days. My entire life took a turn for the worst, and it was my fault.
I didn’t get into college, and I’m living with my parents and doing nothing. An utter failure, noting but a dead weight to all I know.
“I’m living the bloody dream, aren’t I?”
I kick another book, as if that’s going to help me. Suddenly, I get hit on the head with something small. As I turn around to scold whatever brat thinks it’s funny to throw things at people, I am surprised to see that it’s a girl anywhere from 10 to 13 years old, looking pissed off. Wearing a dress that’s mostly red, she fits right in with this odd place. I was half expecting to see baby dolls with kitchen knives actually. Maybe this won’t be a nightmare after all.
With my best offended face I complain to her.
“What was that for?”
“Don’t kick my stuff.”
She picks up a wooden pellet. Since I do not want to be a target for her, I quickly apologize.
“I’m sorry , I should not have done that. Now if you could tell me how to get out of this place? I just woke up here…”
“ I don’t accept your apologies. You don’t have the right to touch anything in my room! How are you going to make up for this then?”
I know I have nothing. So I pull out my pockets to show that, and I get a pellet to the forehead as my reward. Well, not too bad for now, I think it’s a lot better than the crap I usually dream about. Somehow, I manage to catch the next pellet flying towards me. This seemed to put my “host” in a good mood.
“Well, if you can’t give me anything, I guess you have to work for the damage! How about if we play three games? I wouldn’t be happy with that little otherwise, but I’m bored half to death in here.”
I nod in approval. It’s better than to piss off her parents or something. While I wait for her to shuffle trough her mental list of games she could bore me with, I see that she is wearing some old style dress, with lots of lace and a red hat. Wow, this dream is odd. Dreaming of a loli in a red castle… I’m getting more messed up by the day. Suddenly she lets out a giggle and disappears into the shadows.
“We will be playing hide and seek now! Try and find me!”
Just the echo of that last word was enough for me to realize that I will have to work up a sweat looking for her. With a sigh, I go and move further into the perpetual dusk. As my eyes grow more accustomed to the red tones the place is consisted of, I am able to see drawings. They are everywhere. Papers taped to walls, under the furniture, on it as well, and sometimes even on the walls. It’s just what a little girl would draw most of the time…They are tad immature for someone her age in my opinion. However, I see that some papers are just empty, with a single streak of color, or bizarre symbols that my head hurts from watching.
Then I notice her. Hidden behind a curtain, the white lace of her dress shows where she is. She probably does not have many friends. Rich kids are like that. As i approach her, I trip over a doll of all things. I somehow manage to scrape my knee when i fell. I get up and I’m too pissed off to care for the game right now.
“I see you behind that curtain. You really suck at this game, you know!”
The curtain forcefully moves, almost getting ripped. I can’t make out her face from where I stand, but I guess she is pretty much pissed off right now. Maybe she is going to kick me out of her “room”. That would make this a lot easier.
“You are not a kind person are you? I don’t play games much, but that’s no reason to…”
Her voice breaks off and she starts crying. I utter a quiet curse word at myself. Quite the man I am, not even being able to talk to someone normally in a dream. I act like a bastard in the real world, at least I can try and be a kind person when I’m asleep. I stand up, and I can feel the blood staining my jeans.
“Look, I did not mean that. I hurt myself, I have no idea where I am and… And I am sorry. That is all I can say. Now, what do you want to do next?”
She calms down a little, but still stays too far for me to make out anything. Suddenly, I get more of those little wooden balls thrown at me. I just stand there and get hit around a dozen times. I did have that coming. She looks immature, and no little kid takes to bullying kindly. I guess I should know, I’m just like that. I smile.
“ I deserved that. Now, two more games, or did you want more? “
“No, we had a deal, and that’s that. You can stay if you want, after we are done playing!”
“I’ll think about it. Now what’s next?”
I hear her giggling, and as another pellet goes flying towards me, I hear one word:
“Tag!”
I can barely see anything now. Just running, everything is in a blur. Like hypnotized, I run trough the red and black, following the image laced in white. I scream for her to slow down, that it’s dangerous, but all I get in return is laughter. And just as I get close to her, I notice something. On her back, there are two horrid appendages. Like dry branches, they stretch out, covered in crystals. I never noticed them when she was talking to me, and now I realize, that I was right. I am again in a nightmare. I fall down, my legs shaking. I want to wake up but I can’t. She turns around and seems worried.
“Are you okay?”
That just breaks me. I start crying, cursing this place, this dream, and myself, my whole misbegotten life that has me not able to let me sleep for one night without being haunted by monsters of my own fascinations and failures. I remember it now. I remember this place, I remember this girl. A work of fiction, one of the many I enjoyed back when I thought that the world was just waiting for me to claim it. I forgot her name, but I know this, she is a vampire. The most horrid monster I can think of.
“ I know you. I know this place. Please, let me out of your room while you still can.”
She pouts. While i try and get my own emotions under control, remember that this is all a dream, she approaches me, with her hands on her hips and a serious look on her face.
” You just want to win this game. And I will not let you leave until we are done!”
Then she turns around and starts running again. I get up and go after her. I still have time before she goes mad. I can still escape this nightmare. I see her trying to go down a long stairway, and I run after her. Suddenly, she loses her balance and starts to fall. As she screams, I am just barely able to grab her by the hand and stop her from falling down to her death, or at least I think she would have died… As I hold her, she cries into my shirt. She mumbles something about me winning. I calm down and ask for her the last game. She just looks at me and smiles.
“ Okay, follow me. “
I feverishly run after her, praying that I am able to run away before she goes mad. I have no idea what her other side would do to me, but I do not want to wake up in cold sweat, with my head pounding. I have not once died in any of my accursed dreams, and i do not intend to. Suddenly, she stops, staring at something on the floor. I see it, the stain that was left after I fell. Crimson on a scarlet carpet, the blood clearly stand out.
“Red… What is that red thing? It smells…Sweet.”
My knees start to shake as the crystals light up. When she turns her face to me, I see a smile of insanity, colored in by all the lights of a rainbow, drowning in red. I start to move back, but it is too late. The nightmare has won. I stare into her red eyes, and I can’t move anymore. I remember her name suddenly. I lift my hand up, in an attempt to keep her away.
“Flandre.”
She approaches me and puts her hands around my neck.
“You are nice. You helped me. Why do you cry? One more game, and you can go.”
Tears just fall silently. I am on my knees, and I realized that this is not a nightmare. I will not wake up. I knew this all along I guess, but I fooled myself. So I weep. Cry silently for this worthless, fragile life that I hate, yet I want to keep it. My voice is but a whisper, but I manage to beg for my life.
“Please…Don’t.”
She puts her finger over my lips, preventing me from talking. Her sharp nail cuts me, and she starts laughing madly, looking at the red drop on the tip of her finger. She then runs off into the dark, and I can hear the clang of metal everywhere around me. The echoing lasts for something that seems like an hour. Then, I see a flash, and it bursts trough my reality. I can just see a blade and a handle in my shoulder, most of the knife cutting into flesh. I scream, and when I can’t scream anymore I fall down, my last image that of a girl, a monster dancing in a world of red, her fingers blades of silver.
I open my mouth to let all the pent up agony come out. I see her again, standing in the middle of the room, covered in blood, clutching a dagger in her hand. My shoulder is bleeding, and my vision becomes hazy.
‘This is the final game. You will dance with me, and then you can go, or you can stay here, and play with us forever.”
She effortlessly picks me up, and we caries me off onto the middle of the room. There are daggers everywhere. She dances around the room barefoot, carrying me around like a toy. Some of the blades are not made out of metal, and soon she is losing even more blood than me. The metallic smell becomes unbearable and my vision begins to darken again…Before I can lose consciousness, she starts talking.
“I live in this room all alone you know. My big sis won’t let me play outside, and all the maids are just mean. Everyone is always so busy, and I have been alone for so long. I had no one. Only books and my toys, but toys and books can’t be your friends, right? So I became my own friend! The two of us were here all alone, bored and sad, but then you came! We both had a wonderful time. You came here and you talked to me, you played with me and saved me too! I love you, and I want you to stay here with me!”
She kisses my cheek, just like a little girl. For some reason I smile. The kiss of death is this innocent then? I find my back against the wall, as the dances to the middle of the room by herself. My lifeless legs can’t hold me and i fall against the wall, sitting and waiting for my life to end. I see Flandre gently pick up some of the bloodied daggers as she turns slowly. A spin, a flash or red and silver and I feel agony beyond describing.
It sears away every feeling, and soon even pain is gone, while I see myself, like a twisted pincushion, red covered with silver. I can see her approaching me, but I can’t say anything. Soon, the red haze falls, and then it’s devoured by darkness. My last thought is that silver looks so beautiful when draped in red.
Waking up. I open my eyes to a sea of white. I find myself on a bed, with a little girl next to me. She has odd wings on her back, but I no longer care. With a bitter taste in my mouth, I look upon my bloodied body, all the daggers still embedded in me. I lift up my hand, and it is red. I bite my lip, and I start laughing like mad.
It tastes sweet.
