The Seasons of Life

Things are changing as quickly as the leaves

Crashing down around me as they fall of the trees

I’ve never been a big fan of change

Neither has tom, the neighborhoods stray black cat

Before they die I pick a flower

The pages will turn but i will stay, in the pile of leaves I lay

Rolling in the golden crunchy pile tom lays

His joy will remain in the leaves

I pick up the petals of a once alive flower

The wind takes it away to the top of a tree

Appearing in the trees is the mad hatters hat and the cheshire cat

Day turns to night and the moon hangs in the sky as the seasons change

My sadness isn’t apparent until the seasons once again change

On the leaves the powdered snow begins to lay

Wipe your shoes on the mat and warm up with the inside cat

Soggy and brow, the snow again changes the leaves

The white cold dust weighs down our trees

And sure enough to be gone is the pretty purple flower

The snow begins to melt and gasping for sunshine is the flower

The warmth of the sun is a much needed change

Creating mud, snow drips down the branches and off the trees

Watering the grass, sinking into the ground it starts to lay

Once again turning green, and the bright luscious leaves

And returning to my porch for shelter is the stray black cat

As he lays on the porch, the black cat

I watch him smell the fresh spring air and in the breeze,soil from the flowers.

Still soggy from last year, drying in the sun are last years leaves

My winter clothes are put away because I’m excited for the change

I join the cat, on the porch we lay

Whispering us a calming melody is the gentle droopy trees

Now it’s summer and turning bright are the trees

Basking in the sun are all the neighborhoods cats

At the pool while the kids are playing mothers sit in the warmth and lay

Blooming everywhere are bright colorful flowers

Caterpillars curl up and start to change

Sitting in the trees just me and my peace I pick and tear a few green leaves

Into shorts and tank tops I change

To cool of I brush the black cat

For him to smell I pick a flower

His eyes quint, his nose starts to scrunch and he sits in my arms, his final place to lay

I can feel his heart stop but I know he’ll be safe with the dead leaves

Always returning next year in the big oak tree

-olive

The History of Magic/ Strolling With the Moon

 HELLO to ALL

I HAVE RETURNED~~

Sorry for the once again lateness I was yet again traveling the world to wonders never before seen by teh human eyes- aka I got to go on a road trip to see one of my close relatives. :) 

So anyways since I have already used my short time limit up, I want to get this up a bit fast. Hopefully next time I can take the time to write one more story before my blogging days come to an end. It has been great to story with whomever, whoever, or whatever reads my rambles. So without further ado let me tell you about the history of magic, and things you must know when strolling with the moon...

The (short) History of Magic

A hopefully short-ish history of magic (A

Read again and again through stories told and re-told (B

Forevermore learning beyond knowledge unknown (C

To men and women across the world (D

As tales are woven into curious minds (E

Slowly gaining more aspect of dichotomous perceptions of reflections (F

Peculiar minds sparking questions of stories unknown C

Soon to be spread to beings across the world D

Tipping barriers between fictional and real, factual and magic A

Continuously questioning true intentions of rulers reflections F

As slowly yet surely each perspective changes from mind to mind E

Opening possibilities as each new story will soon be foretold B

As beings realize the truth behind their knowledge, no-one minds- E

Accepting the new advancements of the soon to be less unknown C

Working through wonders never familiar to the world D

Hoping wholeheartedly throughout the word would be re-told B

So it reached each new person with never seen before reflections F

Bursting and bubbling with each new understanding of beautiful magic A

Time continues on and more understand what is at stake for the world D

Realizing without the wonders no stories could be told B

Imaginations would be bleak, minds- E

Put to rest- upon altars of monotonous, stone reflections F

So each person forgets the weird and wonderful, mystic and magic A

Until finally our history becomes unknown C

Then up from the depths sprouts a seed, crammed with knowledge to be re-told (B

Though, no being realizes this knowledge form the old world (D

It’s been gone so long the stories have become unknown (C

So at last we grasp onto innocent, old reflections( F

Thinking this fact we talk about is just a fantasy- just magic (A

So we hire incredible storytellers to break this knowledge into the starving minds (E

Years fly by and people start to see truer reflections (F

Even if they are weary of these tellers intentions- as each being sorts their way through minds (E

Listening wildly as tales are told (B

People once again start to question the absolutely unknown (C

Continuously finding a new world (D

This world is false- in one’s imaginations but at least it's stayed unfaded-magic (A

Soon enough only young minds choose to see the purest reflections (EF

Of what was truly real- as parents tell stories of mystical creatures unknown (BC

Listening, with wondrous belief about their own “fantasy world” until one day society dims their belief of

miraculous magic (DA

Strolling with the moon

Mindless melding magic’s moons

Singing sweet so silence swoons

Dancing daintily down dunes

Bellowing bouquets of boon

Jumping joyously in June 

Knowing needs near never’s noons

Finding fixtures for fawned fools

Peculiar placed pools plead “poons”

Bouquets- an expression of approval or compliment

Boon- a thing that is helpful or beneficial

Poon- a person who is simple and foolish

Well, I hope you enjoyed this shortish- yet slightly confusing bit of wonder. I quite liked writing these this year and I hope down the line I can look back and smile at these tidbits of fascination! Well, my time has come to once again leave! So as always, dear readers(who have stuck around until the end notes) , stay magical!!

~Ms. Magic~

The Kitchen

Sweet tunes are heard from birds, maybe pigeons.

The frilly rug of blue in front of the sink,

Where cows can be seen outside of the window, sometimes they stink!

The oven creates aromas of freshly baked zucchini bread,

And momma never lets anyone go unfed.

The green mini broom and dustpan hang on the wall

And catches all the food that might fall.

Dead houseplants line the window sill

That my mom accidentally kills.

Our Keurig makes sure our caffeine needs are met

Thus, countless mugs fill our cabinets.

Worldly

 

The people sat idly for unity  

Their hopes buried in our dear mother earth

Awaken the sun forever, be blue 

Bask in what is the endless majesty  

Of those whose hopes lie in patriotism

Till when we shall return heroically  

 Those who believe will die, heroically 

 Not getting the chance to see unity 

We remember how ¨she¨ is our patriotism 

Reaping the spoils of our toil from earth 

Her spirit lives in us, our majesty 

If her hope goes away, many will be blue 

 We look up at the sky, oh how it's blue 

Standing alone,  it's done heroically 

 You will become your own majesty 

Together we will stand in unity 

Work tirelessly for tyrants- till the earth 

Until the descent of the golden, eagle of patriotism

But what really is our patriotism

How Can the sky really stand being so rightfully blue 

If so, why do the spirits fall below the earth

Standing-sitting- forever alone in unity 

There is no one here to save them heroically 

In death, some assume to find some majesty 

 

For when the callers come calling, your majesty 

They will entrust their ideals of patriotism 

In you, they shall seek to find their unity 

Under the stars and stripes that wave- blue 

Remembering those who have served you heroically 

Who laid their lives down into the earth

Out sprouts the seeds of promise from the earth 

For what is the wonder and awe of majesty 

That may hold the world up heroically

Soaring over the world, singing songs of patriotism

Touching the big, bright, sky of blue 

The atmosphere and land in a permanent state of unity 

We must be able to have unity for our earth 

Whether it be under the blue sky or above in its majesty 

Those who die are wrapped in patriotism, forever remembered heroically.

~Per Aspera Ad Astra~

The Cellar (Remastered)

 “Hazel, why are we going into the cellar?” seventeen-year-old Jared Lohst asked tentatively, looking down into the old, murky cellar and then back at the dark-haired girl in front of him. Hazel turned around, a wide smile stretched across her face. Her silvery gray eyes seemed to shine with excitement. “I need to show you what I’ve been working on! You’re gonna love it!” she squealed, pushing the smaller boy down the cracked stone steps. Jared placed his hands on the icy walls, trying to regain his balance. He watched Hazel step in front of him, patiently waiting. “I swear to God Hazel if you show me more dead animals you stitched together I’m going to kill you,” Jared mumbled, following Hazel deeper into the sunless cellar. Hazel looked back at him, making sure he was following. “I can assure you it isn’t another stitched-up animal,” Hazel replied, humming a familiar tune. Jared had heard that tune so many times, for almost 12 years now, but still didn’t know what song his friend was humming. Hazel would always hum that same tune, mostly while she worked on whatever new horrific experiment she would consider her newest masterpiece. 

Jared had gotten used to all the disturbing things Hazel has done and created. It didn’t scare him anymore- in fact, it never did, and he had no idea why. He guessed it was because Hazel was his first-ever friend and the first person he’s ever interacted with besides his family. Being 2 years older than him, Jared just assumed that Hazel knew what she was doing. For so many years, he thought that the unsettling things Hazel did were normal. It wasn’t until almost 10 years later, when he met Noah, that he realized that was far from true. She constantly tortured anything that moved, performing “experiments” on them. These experiments mainly consisted of removing limbs, tearing out organs, locking them in freezers or trash bags, burning them, feeding them poisonous objects, and stitching up two or even more creatures together, sometimes even alive, and seeing how long the forced fusion could live for. Jared never took part in doing the twisted experiments, but he did watch them, sometimes even forced to be Hazel’s assistant. 

The brunette continued walking, trying to focus on better memories. He smiled to himself, remembering that in a couple of months, he’d get to see Noah again. Noah was the complete opposite of Hazel. Jared considered him as a “normal” human being. Unlike Hazel, Noah had lots of friends, almost perfect grades, and had a huge soft spot for animals. He knew a little bit about almost everything and was highly curious as well, as he would come up with questions and topics that Jared had never thought of, and those were only some of the things that Jared admired about him. It had been almost 5 months since they’d seen each other since Noah had just recently graduated and was now busy with college. They did, however, stay in touch and would write emails to each other every so often. 

Eventually, the two teens reached the bottom of the stairs and were now in the large underground room. A musty, old smell floated around them. Jared coughed, reaching into the pocket of his jeans, and pulled out his inhaler, using it quickly. Hazel turned around once again. “You ok?” she questioned, a hint of worry in her voice. Jared nodded, clearing his throat. Hazel smiled and gestured to him to keep following. They kept walking, stopping once they reached a rusted metal door. Hazel paused in front of it and turned to Jared. “I want to show you something, Jared. I’ve been working on it for quite a long time, and I wanted you to be the first one to see it!” she smiled at Jared again and he awkwardly smiled back, wondering what kind of horror would be behind the door. A present? He watched Hazel push open the door, allowing him to walk inside. Jared looked around, staring down the dark tunnels. He didn’t hear Hazel lock the door behind them.

“Wow,” Jared whispered, squinting his eyes. “It’s really dark down here.” Hazel stepped beside him. “Well, of course! It has to be! It’s so we don’t disturb them.” Hazel grabbed Jared’s arm, leading him down one of the tunnels. “Now let’s go!” Jared hesitantly followed, letting Hazel lead the way. “Disturb.. who?” he asked, staring at the girl in front of him. Hazel didn’t answer, continuing to drag him down into the dusky underpass. The musty smell in the air slowly faded, being replaced by something smelling even more unpleasant. The further and further they walked, the stronger the putrid smell became. Jared gagged, covering his nose. The smell was almost unbearable. “Hey!” Jared snapped. “You told me you weren’t going to show me a dead ani-” a fit of coughs cut him off and he reached for his inhaler again, desperately trying not to breathe in the pungent odor. He shoved his inhaler back into his pocket, feeling Hazel let go of his arm. She had stopped.

Hazel turned around, her deep silver eyes glowed in the darkness. Jared tried closing his eyes, not wanting to look at the other pair, but felt unable to escape their command. Hazel looked away, her eyes now focusing on an object at the end of the tunnel. Jared walked closer to her, trying not to look at the object, but curiosity got the best of him and he slowly lifted his eyes off the ground, feeling as if his head was being titled up by a nonexistent force. Once his eyes focused on the object in front of him, he froze, falling to his knees in disbelief. Hazel sat down beside him, putting an arm around him comfortingly. “I know you two were very close. That’s why I wanted you to be the first to see it!” Jared felt his heart break into a million little pieces. “No..” he trembled, his whole body paralyzed with fear. “N-Noah..?”

The blonde-haired boy didn’t answer as he stared lifelessly at Jared, his left eye being nothing but an empty socket. There was a look of terror and indescribable agony written across his once lively face. Noah was so pale that his skin was almost see-through, little worms and other tiny insects visible underneath the skin. His back was bent at an impossible angle, his ribs tearing out from his sides. Burn marks were scattered all over his body, worms, and maggots crawling out of the charred patches of skin. His mouth was opened slightly, hundreds of blisters lining his cheeks, throat, and tongue. Streaks of blood and pus were leaking from his nose and mouth, leaving trails of red and yellow. Hazel clapped her hands in excitement. “Isn’t this wonderful! The little ones have hatched!” She then focused her eyes on Noah, pouting. “He sadly didn’t make it throughout college after all, but hey, it was a perfect explanation for his disappearance, and it made it easier for me to send those emails to you!” 

Jared’s breath grew heavier as he remembered the emails. He remembered everything, how excited Noah was to start college, how he remembered being so proud of him, how Noah told him that Hazel invited him over the day before he left, and the promise that they’d see each other again- it was all too much. Jared felt the hot tears fall down the sides of his face and he looked back at Noah, whose arm now seemed to twitch. Jared stared at it for a second and reached for it. As he did, parts of the skin tore open, unspecified bugs flying out and onto the ceiling, burying themselves deep in the alcoves above. 

Jared let out a small scream, his breath quickening. He stumbled back, frantically trying to wipe his eyes. Despite his vision being blurred with tears, he stood up and ran, knowing if he could just escape the cellar he’d be free, and able to tell everyone what had happened, he’d save Noah, he’d at least do.. something. He continued running, having no idea where he was going. He briefly considered hiding, looking around for any spots Hazel might overlook. He suddenly yelped, feeling a sharp pain in his lower back. He turned around, seeing a shadowy figure with a long, emptied syringe in its hands. Adrenaline filled his body as he flung himself at the figure, pushing it down. He turned around, running as fast as his legs could carry him. His vision blurred once again, and every footstep felt heavy, like he was sinking into the ground. Jared reached the rusted door once again. Everything was spinning. He felt around for the door handle, for his vision was nearly gone by now. He could feel the figure behind him, looming closer and closer by every second. The last thing Jared remembered was falling hard, face-first, right onto the cold, damp cellar floor. 

Jared awoke, his eyes fluttering as he tried to focus on his surroundings, allowing them to adjust to the dim light. He gasped for air, struggling to breathe. There was a sharp pain that started in his head, before splitting throughout his entire body. A large cut lined the middle of his forehead, stretching all the way down to his brow. Warm blood leaked down his face at an alarming rate. He shut his eyes, groaning. His head felt like it was slowly being torn open. Jared felt nothing but pain at this point. He felt something being placed on his forehead, eventually hearing Hazel’s voice from the side of him. The cool cloth soothed his head pain for a couple of seconds but the intolerable aching soon returned. Hazel then came into view, a small scalpel and an unidentifiable object in her hands. 

A wave of panic rushed over Jared as he struggled, realizing he couldn’t feel anything below his ribcage. He looked at his legs, trying to sit up, but there was absolutely no response. No feeling. Hazel gave him an apologetic look. “This isn’t normally how I perform this, but I couldn’t have you running away again. But hey, at least you can still feel your upper body.” She paused, gently placing her hand on his forehead. “The whole cracking your head open thing wasn’t supposed to happen either, but I think I can make it work. I think it’s for the better. Now I can see how long they can live in a human head! I was originally only gonna put them in your intestines and lungs, but now I have a third option! Isn’t this exciting!” her smile grew even wider, eyes practically shining through the darkness. 

Jared’s voice broke, more tears streaming down his face. “Now..” Hazel spoke, setting down the scalpel and placing the object down on the middle of Jared’s stomach. The object was now within Jared’s field of vision and he could see that the item was some sort of metal cube. He moved his eyes towards Hazel as she continued speaking. “This procedure seems to work the best when the ribs are broken.” And just as those words escaped her lips, the metallic cube twitched slightly. Three metal rods began poking out of each side, each of them having a sharp chain at the end. Before Jared could process what was happening, the rods hummed with life, spinning around in opposite directions, twisting themselves tightly around their victim. He let out a blood-curdling scream that was followed by a sickening crunching noise. The chains untwisted, the rods retreating into their block-shaped home. His screams faded into a quiet, slow rattle of breaths. Jared’s eyes glazed over once more, the tears now falling freely, mixing with the crimson blood that now almost covered the entirety of his face. 

Hazel slowly placed the scalpel down on his stomach. She looked up at him, taking his staring as a question. “Alright, on to step two! I’m now going to be placing some of the eggs in your intestines,” she answered, frowning at the look on Jared’s face. “Hey, chill out, okay? It’s not like you’re gonna be able to feel anything. When I did this to Noah, he was fully awake! Sure, I had to break his spine for him to stay still, but he didn’t completely give up like you are! It’s kind of pathetic.” She smiled again, grabbing a small bucket filled with an unknown substance and setting it beside her. “..Hazel..?” Jared croaked, trying his best to look up. “Yes?” She answered, not looking at Jared, for her eyes were fixed on the scalpel, as she was carefully checking the blade. “I wanna... I wanna go home..” Hazel returned the sharp object back to Jared’s stomach once again, and nodded. “I get that. Sometimes I feel that way too. Sometimes I just want to forget about my responsibilities and go home.’’ She made eye contact with the boy once again. “But we can’t always get what we want. Can we?” Jared squirmed, watching as Hazel slowly pressed the blade down, seeing it effortlessly cut through his skin and flesh. He couldn’t feel a thing. He tried looking away, but it was like the invisible force was back, holding his head in place, making him watch as Hazel successfully opened his stomach, his bloody organs fully visible now. Hazel continued cutting. She had done this an innumerable amount of times, she knew exactly how and where to cut. Jared felt himself passing out, his vision growing foggy. Hazel reached into his stomach, feeling the warm bloody innards, finding the perfect spot to place the eggs. The last thing Jared heard before completely blacking out was that same tune he had listened to countless times. Hazel continued humming, smiling to herself as she stitched the green-eyed boy back up, getting ready to continue to step three.

Deadweight. That’s what Jared’s body felt like as his mind fell back into consciousness. He slowly opened his eyes, desperately hoping he had just woken up from a nightmare. Every inch of his body rived in agony. He took a breath, immediately wincing as intense pain radiated through his left side. His lungs felt as if they had been ripped apart, the pain worsening with every breath. His throat stung horribly from all the screaming and crying. He coughed, striving to get rid of the feeling of bugs crawling up and around his throat. The familiar suffocating smell hit his nostrils once again. He felt his stomach turn, and he violently threw up all over himself, seeing small black dots crawling through the vomit. His back laid against the stone wall, he stared at his legs as they sat helplessly on the dark stone floor. There was, once again, no response.

 He felt the insects crawling in and out of the cut on his forehead, for his head was now the only part of his body that wasn’t completely numb. The throbbing pain in his forehead started once again, but this time, he kept his eyes open. It was dark, but across the tunnel from him, he could make out Noah’s rotting body. The body was nothing but a living colony of crawling larvae now. He couldn’t watch. Jared coughed again, looking down at the lines of messy stitches covering his stomach and chest. He could feel them crawling inside of him, burying themselves deeper into his gut. Jared returned his gaze back to the decaying body of Noah and sniffled, crying silently in the dark, trying to cling to the hope of them seeing each other again. “I’m sorry,” he sobbed, voice breaking. ‘I’m so sorry that I didn’t… that I never had the chance to warn you..” 

-Allitini

Spring morning

 March the favorite month thy cold spring  morning smelling the rain 

Green begins to peek through melting snowdrifts 

Showers to bring about new flowers next month 

roses,lilies,tulips you name it 

Blood drips from the flowers, Nothing is on it seems 

the intoxicating small traps you in a lucid trance 

hallucination sets in and you start seeing things

Did that rabbit just jump down the tree trunk 

how magical+, mysterious  

so mysterious

ALICE WAKE UP! (Alice in wonderland)

~Good H2O~  

Evil Twin

 Evil Twin

I woke up groggily, groaning as I opened my phone, looking at the time, 4 AM. I open it, pulling up Discord into a groupchat to nothing, sighing I get up lazily opening my door to a shadow figure. I stepped back in surprise, staring at it, it began twisting, molding to a figure, I heard the sickening crunching and twisting of bone as it took a new form, me, but with obvious differences. My- Its eyes were bright blue, almost glowing in the dark, and its hair dark brown, it held itself with more confidence and pride. “Hello, I am your… Alter self.” was all he said, after a brief moment of silence, his voice soothing and cool. “What in the h- '' I was about to respond before I was interrupted “Now now. Watch yourself.” I grumbled under my breath in response as I watched him warily “What do you want? ‘Cause I’m sure I didn’t sell my soul.” I simply said a few moments passed and he responded. “You know why I’m here, Jayce. You need my help. Am I off?” “Ye-” I tried to say again. “Wrong. I’m you. You can’t lie to yourself…” I gave a sigh as a response, looking down in silence. “I can help you, just shake a man's hand and you will see your life change.” I watched his hand warily, slowly raising my hand, before I firmly grabbed his hand. Suddenly  he broke apart into shadow, I felt it embrace me, swallowing me in the darkness, the cold, unforgiving void. All I could hear was the muffled sounds of voices and an image of the world that I could just barely see. I heard his voice surround me. “Thanks for the body. I needed it.” and with that he left and i was forced to sit in this void, and listen to him unable to tell them that it wasn’t me. All I could do was cry.

The lost sense

                                                                     The cars are honking

Strangers arguing

Gunshots of hunters in the woods behind my home

This one girl’s loud obnoxious voice that booms and echoes no matter the environment

The cringey sound of trays banging on the side of trash cans

My family's footsteps coming from upstairs waking me up

Crickets in my room keeping me from falling asleep at night

The sound of my phone going off and having to resist the temptation of picking it up

Oh all of the things I will never miss 

For now my mind is in a silent state of bliss

However my baby cousins laughter is pure joy

The crack of the bat when my sister hits a home run sets in a sense of pride

My dogs nails happily doing a “tippy tap tippy tap” as he makes his way down to my room gives me a surge of excitement

The boys’ in my class have a united sense of humor and contagious happiness that I would miss dearly

The sound of birds frollicking and chirping under parked vehicles

And even the happy, soothing rattle or Mr. Sup’s keys swinging in the hallway

Oh all of the things I’d miss

Because sometimes the state of bliss, is even louder than the noise

-olive

Go Away

Raindrops are always sad too

Falling would make you feel blue 

If you could leave a review  

On days you could not construe 

Would you? Think of what to do

Sun rises in her debut

On her way to the valleys

Don’t dilly-dally,  rescue.

~Per Aspera Ad Astra~

Everlasting Rock

My head nods to Bon Jovi

It’s good for the soul of thee

Rock on, “cause I’m T.N.T.”

Super rad, eternally

Singing Paradise City

Unmatched electricity.

Rockstars know it’s not a phase

They’ll leave a Blaze of Glory

-Squid

A Tune Of Fascination

You know sometimes I get so mad at my brain, and so annoyed that I can't stop thinking of the thing I'm thinking about. Does that make sense? So this week, not even this week, it's only been like two days. I'm trying to find a song that went with this story I told for this character I have. So I have this problem of never writing things down, I keep everything in the filing cabinet of my mind so there's no proof. (You can't pin nothin' on me!) The problem is though is that this leads me to not remember stuff when its drug back up to the surface taunting me. Long story short I've decided next time I'm somewhere with paper, I'm getting yet another tiny notebook to write things down in. That was off-topic, but oh well. Anyways...

Hello! I've returned from the great beyond, that's actually just the rabbit-hole of my mind, to deliver you another, hopefully, lovely story. I almost typed lasagna there for some reason...don't ask why. Well, I guess now that I've explained my recent plight I'll give you the story, enjoy!

Okay so... 

“Glowing green eyes appear in your sight

Seemingly cutting through the pitch black of night

Running through the woods on foot

Crashing through the twisted root

The moon appears above giving you paths

As you try to escape your soon to be bloodbath

Stars shine down like dead faces watching over

Scrambling past the groves of poison clover

Breathing shallowly as the eyes become closer

Figures appear from behind your cover

Swiftly re-lighting your doubt

As the moonshine blacks out

Death is swift for this one

As the green eyes appear at the front of your vision”

As Jeremiah finishes his story we all laugh nervously at the legend surrounding our town. We sit around a campfire in the middle of September, holding our companions close while our friends do their best to frighten each other. As we go to move on to the next story we see eyes appear from behind Jeremiah, eyes with a radioactive green glow. Before we know it Jeremiah screams as a figure launches from the forest and tackles him off of his lawn chair. We all rush to help when we realize the blood-curdling screaming had turned to hysterical laughter. 

The Halloween mask was then lifted up to reveal our other friend who supposedly was not able to make it to the campfire tonight. Her name was Christian, we had become close after that last month and a half of school. She has just moved here from New Jersey, but we all felt like we’d known her forever. Along with the new addition of Christian there were seven of us now sitting around the campfire. 

There was Jeremiah who had just finished the last of our spooky stories. Next were Rachel and Vic cuddled up together while sharing a fluffy blue blanket, then we have Denzel who was trying his hardest to scroll through his phone nonchalantly to show he was not in fact a wimp, and after him we had Nova who was eating up all of our panic and matching it with her own. Lastly, was me sitting across the fire from Jeremiah, laughing my ass off as he combed pieces of leaves out of his hair. 

Christian was sitting in front of the fire now putting her hands near the flame to warm them from the September chill. She continued to giggle at her attack on Jeremiah as we all shook our nerves off. By the end of the night we were all in pleasant moods after the last week of constant classes and homework. 

On Monday we returned to classes rejuvenated and ready for the week ahead. I met up with Vic and Denzel in the gym who greeted me with quick hellos before turning back to their phone screens. 

“Rude,” I say as I grab their phones out of their hands and stick my tongue out, “ I know you two are the most chivalrous, but come on I want more attention than that.”

“Not right now Autumn there are more important things than your attention-hog-tendencies.”

“Oh, like what?”

“Valerie Clideson was found murdered last night, you are not the center of attention right now!” Vic snaps and I freeze. It’s uncommon that he ever yells, but by the way he tries to snatch his phone back is reason enough for me to believe him. 

“What?” I say breathless. 

“Yeah, murdered, stabbed in the back of the head, then cut open with her face carved off. She was found on her parents' doorstep apparently. The police are about to give their report so we’re trying to find out about it.”

I swiftly give the boys their phones back and squeeze in between them with morbid fascination as the chief of police starts to give his testimony about our classmate. I don’t understand why anyone would hurt Valerie. She was one of the sweetest, prettiest girls I had ever known. She would never harm a fly, and I would know I had once watched her trap one in a cup then let it outside at a sleepover. The policeman continued his report talking about the facts of the case, then they told the viewers about the note. She was left on the doorstep with a note that said, ‘Sorry just wanted to try on that beautiful face, but then I figured you’d want it back.’ That alone sent shivers down my spine, then I heard humming form behind me as fingers wrapped around my waist and I let out a yelp of fear. 

“Jeeze, I’m sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you Autumn.” Christian laughed as she gave me a good morning hug. I shrugged her off as I realized I was in fact not the only one who had not been informed about the newest murder in our town. Maybe that’s why we were all curious about this gruesome tragedy, it had happened a month before to a fellow senior.

His name was Jasper. He had near the exact same fate as Valerie, except he was found out on the football field behind the school. The whole town had been on edge since then and this would not help anyone's nerves. It was honestly a miracle our parents had even let us out to the bonfire last weekend after the rumors of the figure with the vintage steampunk mask. What had happened to our small town?

. . .

Over the next week the whole school was off, including our group of friends. Everyone did their best to be brave through all of the terrible happenings around town. No one tried harder to mask their worry than Christian. No matter what she just continued to throw herself into our studies. She had always been a good student, always curious and asking questions in all classes of the day. Always bringing up facts about Davinci’s painting advancements, facts about what would happen when you dissect a frog in biology, quoting famous books about workings of the world, and hitting perfect pitches in choir. She continued to work through all the bad and rub off on our friend group.

Then by the next week we had all come back to school sad, but calm. All of us thinking nothing could ever happen to us, we weren’t that unlucky. Vic, Christian and I were sitting in our science class when we first found out what had happened. Chrsitian was whizzing through questions at a mile a minute answering, with seemingly no hesitation, which part of the body did what, what that part looked like, and where it was located. Vic and I sat watching with amazement as our brilliant friend hummed her little tune and finished all twenty questions in less than five minutes. I was doing my best to follow along with Christian as she explained all of her answers to me, while Vic was furiously texting Rachel asking why she wasn’t at school today. They had been dating since Freshman year, so it was no wonder he was worried. They always texted back and forth when one of them was sick, making jokes about how the other was stuck at school and the other got to stay at home and watch cartoons. Christian was just explaining to me as to why she knew that a human’s highest blood flow was in the kidneys when Vic screamed and dropped his phone. Everyone in class immediately turned towards him to see his ghostly white face stare at his fallen phone. Our teacher, Ms. Trenidy, hustled over to see what was wrong, but the only thing Vic did was continue to stare at his phone. Ms. Trenidy walked over to the phone and picked it up slowly. She turned it over in her hand to stare at the unlocked screen, let out a gasp, promptly called the school office, and left with Vic in tow. From where I was spying I saw a picture of Rachel’s face flopped over a glowing green-eyed, steampunk mask. Half an hour later students were let out of school with the strict rule to not leave their homes. We were back at school on Thursday, her funeral was held the next Tuesday- closed casket. 

Weeks passed by and more and more sightings had been reported about a figure walking around the woods late at night. Those brave enough to go out had sent final messages about the figure being a young woman strolling through the forest humming a tune, wearing a short vintage dress, a pair of balck flared gloves, and a black, rubber knee-length apron. That’s how they got the first blurry image of who was thought to be the mad murderer. Once that image was sent though, the sender was never seen again, or at least not alive. Four more bodies were found just like the others, faces carved off, chests torn open in wide x’s. Displaying organs that had been cut up, removed, twisted, fused, and picked apart. Organs stretched out around the outside of the body like a belt, foreign objects stuffed into the throat, hearts carved onto the skull where skin used to be.

Then as soon as it started it seemed to stop. No bodies had been discovered for nearly a month, and no students had gone missing. The figure hadn’t been seen either. The town had finally deemed it safe to leave homes at night, with very much caution. That week everyone in highschool was impatiently awaiting the weekend so they could go do something crazy while it was seemingly safe. Wednesday morning Christian came into the commons area humming her familiar tune as she sat beside me at our table. The six of us all stared at each other, each wondering what we should do this weekend, or if we should even do anything. Christian broke the silence eagerly, suggesting to go to an old haunted house a few miles out of town. All of us looked at each other worriedly thinking if what we really needed right now was more horror. Christian saw our looks of worry and simply said, 

“ Wouldn’t it be more fun to be scared of some old kook's fake legend than a mad scientist? Don’t you guys want to have another adventure after this month of constant organ eating worry?” she tilted her head to the side staring into each of our faces trying to convince us. “Besides we’ll be together, so nothing bad can happen, we’ll take my nice car, buy snacks, get gas, drive out around nine, and be back before eleven-thirty. Come-on~ it will be a blast! And if the boys are scared of being wimps we have three strong independent women to protect them!”

By Friday morning we had all agreed to go and that we would meet Saturday night instead of Friday, because Nova had a dance competition and Jeremiah had a sports evening of some kind. So Saturday evening when we all happily climbed into Christian’s car we were excited for the evening ahead. Christian hummed happily as we drove around town before starting our official adventure. It was drizzling out, and the forecast told us it wouldn’t storm until around 10:30, so tonight would have the perfect atmosphere to explore eerie old lodges. We were all excited to try and put some of the torture from the last month behind us. As we drove we snacked on Pringles, gummy worms, and other various heart-attack inducing food while we played car games. We asked each other questions about homework, new influencers we enjoyed, and anything in between.

At some point Denzel asked Christian about the legend of the house we were going to.  She responded nonchalantly that a group of old geezers were rumored to have been killed there, but then the old house was torn down and remade into a small lodge. The problem was though, that whoever stayed there heard wailing, coughing, scratching, stumbling, and many other types of weird noises. All of which led to whoever stayed to promptly leave in the middle of the night, as they drove their cars of scared tourists down the long fenced driveway. Once Christian was done with her story Jeremiah made a joke of not having to worry about blood stains or spiderwebs if tourists still used the lodge. This made Denzel laugh, slowing his nervous shivering from the front seat. Well, at least one of us wasn’t stubborn enough to hide their fear. 

At ten before nine we were driving down the long fenced-off driveway that led to the lodge. Each of us bouncing with nerves and excitement to get out of the car and explore. Once we parked we each slowly got out and stretched while staring at the mysterious house. After a few minutes of staring we all slowly walked up the front steps, and for some unknown reason knocked on the door. Of course, no one answered, but at least we were being courteous to the ghosts that apparently lived inside. 

We walked in cautiously as Christian felt around for the light switch, she joyously shouted ‘found it!’, and we all heard a click before the floors moved and our group was shifted in all different directions. The next thing I knew I was on the ground next to Nova as swirls of dust danced around us. Nova called out asking if everyone was all right, and we soon found that our group had been split up into three small gangs. The first one was Nova, Vic, and I, the second was just Jeremiah, and the final was Christian and Denzel. So much for not splitting up in the creepy old lodge. I grabbed my phone out and turned the flashlight on scanning the room around me. Apparently, the housekeeper of the lodge only knows how to clean the upper floors, not the basement. We all decided to go on our own little ways and meet back up near the entrance in two hours. Our gang slowly made their way through the basement jumping at the smallest of noises hoping to all things good there was nothing dead down here. Vic stayed behind us guarding our moves with his tall stature. When Nova and I stopped half an hour later we realized he was gone. How had we missed that?? We started to yell, and frantically search for the tall boy. Looking through rooms we had previously been to chicken to peer into to find our missing friend. Nova called out after a few minutes of searching, “VIC! This better not be a joke or I swear! I’ll beat the ever-loving crap out of you myself!” That’s when we heard a door close behind us and swift running up the stairs. 

“VIC, YOU LITTLE FU-” Nova screamed as she threw open the door and ran after the steps. Before she could go up though she tripped over an object that had been thrown on the ground. We looked down to see a single flared black glove, we looked at eachother, thinking of the figure. Previous plans thrown aside we tried to text our friends about our discovery. There was no signal anywhere in the basement. Maybe we were wrong and just paranoid about the horrific figure being trapped in the house with us. We ran upstairs extra careful to look around every corner. Once upstairs we yelled out waiting to hear a response from one of our other friends, someone should be able to hear us now, so when we yelled out and heard nothing we each gave each other a look of terror. We stopped yelling as we searched through the house looking for our fellow friends. No noises were heard other than the occasional creaking floorboard and whistle of wind from outside. The storm had gotten heavier and sounds of thunder and hard-hitting rain eventually drowned out any alarming noises from within the house. We reached the second floor and continued our search there, both of us hoping we wouldn’t have to continue into the attic. Nova opened the first door on her right and gasped. A terrible, pungent scent hit our noses and we both gagged. Nova looked back into the room frantically turning her phone light on and scanning the room. The windowless room had walls painted a deep gray with two sets of old shackles on each. The smell had become unbearable by this point, but we ignored it and continued on our frantic search, closing the door behind us. We heard a noise near the end of the hallway and went to investigate. We were met with a bolted, iron door with a rectangular window set in the right side of it. We watched as a figure appeared within the room, wearing a knee-length white dress, black rubber apron, a green-eyed steampunk mask, and one flared rubber glove. Neither of us knew what to do. Should we run out to not get murdered or find our other friends? What was the smart thing to do? We needed to find Christian she had the car keys, and what about Jeremiah he was walking around on his own, where was Vic, could he be in on this? Too many questions flowed through my mind and I got lost in a rabbit-hole of panic before I was suddenly brought back by a jab to my ribcage. Nova’s eyes were the size of saucers as she stared into the dimly lit room. Then the lights turned on and three figures appeared within the room. Only two were moving. 

The masked girl walked over to two steel lab tables as they moved up to a higher level. Strapped to one was a lifeless, motionless Jeremiah, the other had Vic strapped down with chains, with duct tape covering his mouth. He was frantically looking around squirming to get free of his metal restraints. The figure was humming a familiar tune as Vic started to panic more and more. The song became louder and Nova and I stood watching with morbid fascination. I was trying to figure out where I’d heard the tune before, it was familiar and sweet.

It hit me, this was Christian’s song, but instead of just a mild mumble the tune was accompanied with words. The figure was Christian. 

She stepped out of view for a moment and came back with a syringe of murky black liquid. 

“What did you do to Denzel!?” Vic yelled “Where is he? What did you do? Don’t come near me! I said DON’T COME NEAR ME!” 

“He’s fine, calm down.” She cooed, “He’s in the holding cell, he’ll have his turn later.” Christain held Vic’s head still and inserted the syringe into his skull. Vic strived and struggled to break free of his captor before going completely still. The words of the song become louder than ever. 

“Running through the darkness” Vic’s toe was broken into odd angles. 

“Pleading with the moon above” Jeremiah’s hand was swiftly cut off, and she examined the movement of each finger. 

“Hoping whole-heartly, I won’t find you~” Vic’s head was pulled back so she could examine the structure of his face. 

“ Hunting down the place you hide, finding you in the shadows” Christian grabbed a scalpel from the tray in between the two tables. She quickly worked Jeremiah’s shirt off as she sang. She went between both of them finiicking with a purple marker. Marking here and there along the bodies, figuring where to cut first. Then once she was satisfied she started. 

“Open your secrets to my my dear, open your secrets to me” She made a small incision over Jeremiah’s left shoulder, then once she was happy with the placement dragged the scalpel down to his right hip. It was like watching a very putrid version of cutting wrapping paper. When your scissors glide effortlessly through the thin, decorative material. She then made another incision from his right shoulder to left hip. She took the bloody knife and used it to start cutting skin from tissue. Muscle memories caused the tissue to squirm and constrict when it was cut off. Blood was dripping everywhere onto the table, the floor, and Chrisitan’s already stained dress. 

“Open your mind, open your veins, open your secrets to me my dear~ la dada da dada da” She continued to cut and pick at both of their bodies. Taking our organs to cut them open, stuffing them with foreign objects, filling them with unknown chemicals, squishing them around in her palms, seeing how they reacted to ice water, burning them, and much more. It was horrific and neither me nor Nova seemed able to move. 

“A strange fascination, a curious fixation, ginormous obsession, but- hey! I’m answering questions, I’m finding solutions, figuring paths in the darkness of minds- knowing the ways of the world.'' She half-hazardly stitched the bodies back-up, not caring if the organs were in the right place, back in the bodies, or if they were even in the right body. Then finally once they were sewn up looking like modern day Frankensteins she grabbed for a new scalpel. 

“So open your secrets my dear, open them to me, open them to meeee...” She finished singing finally, her song dying off as she took her clean tool, started on Vic’s forehead, and started to slice around his forehead, trailing around the temple, down the cheek, and over the jaw-line. Until his face looked like it was a mask laying over his head and not the sweet boy I’d seen everyday since the third grade. She then started to pull at the top of the face and slowly separated the skin from bone.

I looked away, unable to watch any longer. How long had it been since we’d started watching the grand finale of all horror shows? Minutes, hours, the whole night? I couldn’t tell. I went to grab Nova’s arm, and due to the shock she let out a small gasp before realizing it was me. But, that was our fatal mistake, Christian looked up at the small noise and we locked eyes. I grabbed Nova’s arm and ran. We were unsteady, frightened, and chillingly surprised as we stumbled through the alien territory of the lodge. We scrambled down both flights of stairs as fast as we could, not looking back as we burst out the front doors. 

We stood for a split second as the doors closed, breathing in the stormy air, and doing our best to not cry. I made a move to the car before Nova grabbed my arm. 

“Autumn, we can’t leave, what about Denzel?... What about the car?” She trailed off as she looked towards the silver minivan parked near the lodge entrance. 

I then realized the flaw of our plans tonight. Christian had driven us, she had the keys, and there was no way in heaven she would give us her keys. Besides, even if we didn’t drive it would take forever to run down the driveway in the pouring rain. Even longer if we were stupid enough to run back ina dn find Denzel, and that was if he was even still...alive. 

“Doesn’t matter, we need to go, run, something! We need to get far enough out to have service so we can call the cops or something!” I yanked Nova down the stairs to hide under the porch so we could figure what to do. Seconds after we were hunkered down, I heard the front doors open. 

“Now where did my friends go? I sure hope they didn’t get scared off, that won’t do!” She let out a laugh as she started to sing. 

“Pleading with the moon, that I won’t… find… you…” It stopped. I held my breath waiting for the sounds of doors to open and footsteps to fade. Once I heard both I yanked Nova out from the porch with me so we could make our great escape. It hurt to leave Denzel, but we had to inform the authorities! Before we made a full four steps though we heard a small psychotic laugh. 

“I got you~” Christian whispered in our ears before I felt a sharp pain in my back. I watched Nova fall to the ground beside me. I was held up for a moment as Christian lifted her mask over her head. “Please Autumn, tell me your secrets, I’d love to know more about you, my, dearest, friend~” I dropped to the ground. I felt a prick on the side of my body before blacking out. The last thing I heard was the familiar hum of the masked figure.

Well, that wasn't my preferred word-vomit, but it's a story I wrote for my writing class that I quite enjoyed! It's different from my general style, but I think it turned out very nice! Anywho I hope you enjoyed it if you stuck around, and as always have a MAGICAL rest of your day!

~Ms. Magic~