The Forgotten Day

 As I wake up this morning I feel different, but I shake it off. I look into the mirror while picking out an outfit but something is weird with my mirror every time I put an outfit up to it the mirror makes it darker. As I walk closer to the mirror I can feel it pulling me in and suddenly I am sucked through to the other side. This is strange I thought this was my room but darker and more punk. I try to go back through the mirror but I can’t. I must be stuck this is my worst nightmare. Everything in this room is nothing like me but then this woman that looks like my mom comes upstairs. “Addy it's time for school you better hurry up before you are late,” she says. So I quickly put on these random clothes that I found neatly packed in drawers and hustled out the door only to find that my car wasn’t there. “Mom where’s my car?” “You don’t have a car silly you ride the bus. Are you feeling okay? Do you wanna skip?” I look at this woman with a confused look on my face, there is no way she just offered to let me skip school. “No I’m fine mom I’ll just get on the bus.” 

    When I get to the school everyone looks different than usual. I walk up to Myah but she seems different too. Instead of being her fun self and being friends with everyone she is like this emo kid who hates everyone vocally. When I walk up to her she just stares at me confused “What are you looking at creep!” She yells. I just turn around frightened. I decided that to get through the school day I would just leave everyone alone and keep to myself. Going through each class the teachers are different when I got to Ms. Olson’s class she wasn’t the kind lovable teacher that everyone knew. She seems to be more aggressive and nothing gets past her. “Is your homework done? She yells in people’s faces. I check my homework quickly, shuffling through papers when I see that the homework is not done. “Ms. Olson, I don’t have my homework done.” “Well, guess who’s getting a zero then and will probably fail the class. Everyone look at me! Addyson happened to not get her homework done so you will all get zero’s on the homework. Have fun trying to get your grades back up.” After she was done yelling I felt absolutely terrible and couldn’t believe that she just did that. 

After the most horrible day at school, I arrive back at the house after getting off the bus. When I get home I notice that my whole family is home and the mirror from this morning is in the living room. “Addy what was this doing in your room. We know it isn’t for getting ready in the morning because you don’t care about your appearance. Also, we got a call from the school that you were different today like you tried talking to people that is not like you.” As I was trying to explain everything about getting sucked into the mirror and that I don’t belong here they all looked at me like they knew exactly what happened. “We know what happened all you need to do is wish that you want to go back to your normal life and walk through the mirror.” the woman explained. So that is what I did and as I was getting closer to the mirror I could feel the pull again and when I opened my eyes I was back to the morning that I woke up. It was like nothing even happened at all.

-Marae

Something Across the Water - Horror Short Story

 Two-Sentence Horror Story: Returning from my vacation I heard a “How was it?” from the corner of my apartment. I live alone.

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Warning: THE FOLLOWING STORY CONTAINS ONE MINOR GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF VIOLENCE, AS WELL AS SOME (Censored on School Version) PROFANITY AT THE END.  MINOR DRUG + ALCOHOL REFERENCES AT THE BEGINNING.

Funny Bit: I started this story with the name Nathan already chosen. Parents are going to see Nathan Bargatze perform standup in a couple weeks, and I subconsciously added his last name (misspelt) as Bargetzi, as I felt the “main” character needed a last name for the interrogation scene and the ending. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

*CLICK*

Wed. Nov 1 (10:34 p.m.):

SUBJECT 18: Nathan Bargetzi. For your information, this session IS being recorded. Can you tell us what happened?

I-I don’t really know. Me, Toby, and Josh were just out on the lake, listening to music, and having a few drinks. I’m not g-gonna lie, Toby might’ve had a few too many to drink. He, well, he wasn’t acting quite right. But not drunk, really, m-more so, I don’t know, floaty? He wasn’t really with us, and, well, we hadn’t smoked anything that night. I mean, it was there, but we hadn’t lit any of it up.

Okay, continue. Did Toby have anything earlier in the day?

No, no, Toby, I mean, he wasn’t ever really into, well, smoking. Like, he would have it when he was with us, but he…he never had any when he was by himself, just as a, uh, a social thing. And either way, he was talking to us just fine, laughing and such, then, all of a sudden, he just stood up and looked across the lake.

Tues. Oct 31 (11:36 p.m)

Toby: “He-ey, do you, *cough*, do you guys see that over there?”

Nathan: “No Tobes, what’re you seeing?”

Toby: “Oh, just that girl over there. She’s, uhm, she’s pretty.”

Josh: “What girl, Toby? Is your imaginary girlfriend back again?” *chuckles*

Toby: “No, uh, no Josh, she’s not, and anyway, that was back in the …the 4th-grade man, *cough*, we’re 17 now, I-I ain’t pretended that for years now. Nate, you see her? Across the lake?”

Nathan: “Naw, I don’t, uh, really see anyone. H-ll, I can hardly see across the lake, what’re you seeing?”

Toby: “I already, I already told you both what I’m seeing. You, you should get your d-mn hearing checked Nate. Just, look at her. She’s, so, so pretty.” *steps towards lake*

Nathan: “Tobes, where are you going there bud? We’ve all *hic*, had a bit much to drink, you, you should back away from that pier.”

Josh: “Yeah, it, it ain’t funny no more. And ‘sides that, you, you can’t swim Toby. ‘Member that time I pushed ya in the pool this summer?” *nervous laugh*

Toby: “NO! That’s not, *cough*, that’s not what she’s telling me. She’s telling me to come to ’er *slurring*. And, her, her voice, it’s so beautiful. But her singing, it, it won’t get out of my head. I gotta… I gotta meet her Nate. Why can’t you see her Nate? SHE’S RIGHT THERE D-MN IT!”

Nathan: “TOBY! Get off the f----ing pier! It, it ain’t funny anymore!”

Josh: “Toby, don’t–” *chuckle* “Don’t make me get my g-n out the truuu…ck.” *slumps off*

Nathan: “Josh! Wake up! This ain’t the time to fall asleep!”

Toby: “Josh’ll be fine, Nate, she’s already come to talk, *cough*, talk with him. But, I, I gotta swim to her. She says she’ll guide me. She’ll keep me safe. My god, her voice, it’s, it’s so pretty. Everything about her is so d-mn pretty…”

Wed. Nov 1 (10:42 p.m.)

Nathan! Come back to us, please.

I’m sorry, I-I was just thinking back a bit more. Sorry. I’m here now.

Can you tell us anything about the person you say Toby saw? What did they look like?

I-I’ll try. I don’t remember much, other t-than she, I mean, it. It wasn’t human. There’s no d-mn way that thing was human. I-I remember Toby said she was…

Tues Oct 31 (11:44 p.m.)

Toby: “… she’s got light blonde hair, and those blue, *cough*, blue eyes. They’re, they’re shining, Nate. I g-gotta meet her, I just gotta.”

Nathan: *glances toward the water* “Toby! What the f--k is that? Get the h-ll away from the water. That’s not a p-person, I don’t know what it is, but you gotta get away from it. I-I’m gonna get Josh’s g-n!”

Josh: “Mmm? Don’t, no, Nate. It’sss MY g-n.” *slumps, hard*

Nathan: “Josh! Wake up! T-this ain’t the time to play games. WAKE UP! I’m getting the g-g-n. TOBY, GET BACK FROM THE WATER! It’s gonna grab you!”

Toby: “Nate? What, uh, what am I doing here? *hand grabs his ankle* Sh-t! Help me, Nate! HELP!

Wed. Nov 1 (10:47 p.m.)

What happened then, Nathan?

I dunno really. I ran to grab the g-n from Josh’s truck, and the door wouldn’t open. It never does on that d-mn truck. When I finally jammed it open and turned around Josh, he was, he was dead… throat s-slashed right the f--k open. And then I saw it again. Receding into the water like a f----ing coward. A COWARD, I TELL YOU! It k-lled Josh and Toby, and it just slithered away.

Nathan! We’re going to have to ask you to calm down. We know it’s hard, but just try, please.

Okay. o-okay. I-I’ll try. I grabbed the g-n, and I started shooting at the thing. It didn’t even flinch. It just looked at me, and I saw it. Its reptilian face started to meld into this beautiful girl. Amber eyes, brown hair. I, I looked away, and just got in the truck and drove off. I didn’t know what to do, I mean… Josh was dead, and Toby was dead or dying. I couldn’t do anything about it.

Okay, Nathan. I think you’ve given us all we need. Officer Di’marco will escort you out. We’ll be in touch.

O-okay. Thanks? I guess?

*BANG!*

SUBJECT 18: Nathan Bargetzi. Witness terminated, please retain feedback. 10-4?

10-4. Nathan Bargetzi is terminated. Please correspond.

Okay. Di’marco. Get Units 17-21 out to the lake. Dispose of SUBJECT 18 at the following location…

*CLICK*

Something Across the Water - a short story composed in around an hour. If you don’t know what the profanity is, well, too bad. Thanks for reading.

Work of Schrodinger's Katze

Made On: Monday, Oct 30 - Tuesday, Oct 31 

Final Version + Censored: Nov 1

2023

Interactive Story

 https://vtgrvb22.play.borogove.io/

-Myk

Re-stolen Book and Family Bonding

 Hello! Dear readers, humans, whatever you are, this is my final blog, I have returned for my final act- and I think it's a good one! I am sad there is so much I could talk about right now, but I have settled onto an idea that was given to me/requested to me by my dear friend, Melody. Buutttt... Before I do start my little rambling rampage of stories I want to say I just took this vacation to Disney World with my family it was amazing, I loved it, I got this super cool jacket, and now I'm back to making up two weeks worth of school work with five days left in the semester. It's fine, we're fine, I'm fine. Anywho continuing on I hope you enjoy my (I believe) final post on our blog. 

Idea: The son of a famous author and psychiatrist goes to Barnes and Noble, accidentally steals one of his mother's book copies, and then has a moral dilemma about what to do. (Accidentally not "Accidentally")

"Now, before you say anything- and I mean anything, let me explain. I didn't mean to, I promise. I got home and it was just there, in our book bag. I don't know how alarms didn't sound- but take it. Take it back! It haunts me! Get it away, it taunts me with its knowledge! I don't want it." Miles said as he thrust the book at his mothers and waited for one of them to reprove him for not mentioning the discovery earlier. He closed his eyes waiting to hear if there was a punishment involved with stealing from their favorite bookstore, what if they got banned for life when they returned it? What if his moms wouldn't take him anymore? What if they gossiped over it with their friends at tea? What if they sent him to Juvie for steal- wait... Why were they laughing? 

.    .    .    

    Miles was ecstatic for the weekend, or the rest of the weekend he thought as he slipped on a pair of jeans and wriggled his away into a sweatshirt early Saturday morning. Today was a day like any other weekend, but that's why he loved it. His moms would always ask the night before what he had planned for Saturday and depending on his answer, and theirs, they would all figure out what to do the next day. For a while, he had been embarrassed to admit to his friends that he would rather spend his weekends hanging with his moms than going to some random classmate's party. Until he was informed one day by his closest friends that his mothers were, in fact, awesome. ( So, suck it, Terrance) Last night had continued as usual. Mom had picked him up from school after she had gotten done with a meeting at her publishers, then once they had arrived home he gave a quick hello to Mama, before he swiftly ran upstairs, did some of his homework, and played videogames before supper. Ahh, what a life. Upon arrival at the table, normal conversations were had. 

    How was school, what'd you learn today, how was work, who did you help today, what did you accomplish at the publishers, make any new enemies, see anyone cute, and so on so forth with their regular family banter. Until they got to the weekly conversation about what they wanted to do Saturday. To which Mom quickly responded with the idea of stopping somewhere to get drinks, hanging out at Barnes and Noble for a few hours, maybe less maybe more, they'd see, then just kinda doing whatever for the rest of the day. Whether that be to head home and chillax or to shop around downtown some more to look for mystic doors and secret passageways, aka going to the mall to stare at videogames and looking into random thrift stores for no particular reason. Mama quickly agreed to the idea and they both looked at Miles waiting for his response. 

    "Sure, sounds fun! Like always. " He replied with a smile then they happily continued their dinner in peace. 

    So on this joyous morning Miles' biggest problem was trying to figure out what he wanted as his Starbucks order, he decided to give up on trying to find something new and settled on his usual; An iced chocolate frappuccino with whipped cream and one shot of espresso.  He already knew what his moms would get, Mama would get a honey oat milk frappuccino, and Mom would order a vanilla bean frappuccino. (They were a frappuccino family.) He snatched his satchel from the floor of his closet and bounded down the stairs so he could go find his shoes along with the mess of books, boots, coats, and projects in their entryway. 

    Five minutes later he was standing in the entryway with mom patiently waiting for mama. Eventually, she showed herself and they all walked out to their Ford together. They stopped at Starbuck's and ordered their drinks as previously planned then continued on their merry way to Barnes and Nobles. 

While there they saw the usual. Books upon books with fantastical tales told by creative minds alike in wonder. The three of them loved it and while his mom's were bickering over which ones were the best Miles passed by the table of his mother's books. Each one stacked neatly with one propped on top mocking him that he couldn't read it yet. He stopped, looked around for his mothers, then yoinked the book into his bag to read later, in the corner, while his mother's were off being lovey-dovey, or something like that. He would just start it, not tell them and deposit the book back before tey left-none the wiser. They would not have a reapeat of what happened when he was eight, never again... He continued on his way finding more books to read on their morning's escapade.

Half an hour later he deposited his satchel to Mama while he went to use the restroom. Upon return to his parents his satchel was returned back to him and told they had checked out and gotten what they wanted and they were heading back home. Miles none the wiser walked out with his mother's forgetting about the forbidden book in his bag. 

They returned home and Miles parted ways from his mothers to his room. He threw his satchel on the floor and gasped when he saw the green covered book slide out of his bag, mocking him for it happening again. 

    How in the everloving crap did it happen again!? He was going to cry. He was a fourteen year old, and he was going to ball his eyes out, because it happened again. He stole his mom's book. Again!! That was the moment he was reminded of when he was eight. When he was younger, stupider, and had no clue what anything was. He had grabbed the book without thinking, knowing that it was mom's book. Thinking that's her book why is it here? And cradling it into his arms until they left, until he had gotten home and realized the book he was clinging to was not his beloved Pinkalicious, but mom's book. One that he was not supposed to have, nor read, for years to come. It was for teenagers, and even then there were warnings of reading it. Of content for older teens, a bit more mature, but not explicit. When he was younger he'd run downstairs crying his eyes out, begging for his mom's to not send him away for taking it. Saying he didn't mean to and they can have it back, he didn't want it. They did not laugh when it happened. Thye just smiled, and said it was okay, accidents happen and he didn't know any better. Besides they could return it and explain the situation, problem solved. That night had ended with them cuddled up on the couch watching movies together to calm him down. It was one of the scariest experiences of his childhood, anxiety at it's finest. 

He grabbed the book and slowly trudged his way downstairs to where his moms were talking in the kitchen. The did not turn to greet him when he arrived, but continued their conversation over which anime characters were amazingly powerful but overly stupid. He was not surrprised with thic conversation one bit. He spoke up. 

"Mom, Mama, um... can we talk for a sec?" Both women turned their chairs to look at their son, slightly concerned with his quiet voice. 

"Yeah hun, what's up?" Mom said sweetly.

.    .    .    

And that's where they were now. Miles was standing in the kitchen worried once more in his not even decade and a half of living if he would be sent to juvie for stealing the same book. Why was it this book? Stupid Marcus, and his stupid story. He pouted. 

Eventually his mothers stopped laughing with a smile, taking the book back and flipping through the pages.

"Oh hunny, we're sorry. You didn't take the book, don't worry." Mama said letting out one fianl chuckle. 

"Yeah, sorry we thought we put that in our bag, not back in your satchel. It was a bit of a surprise." Mom said wiping tears out of her eyes. " When you left for the bathroom we checked out adn checked your satchel like always. Cause we didn't want a repeat of when you were eight. It's been six years it's not heppening again on our watch. Anyways, mama oppened your satchel and saw it and we decided you were old enough, you can read it now.

     Now, I know what you're thinking." Mom stopped maing a funny voice. "We literally own the book series, you have so many copies, why would you buy this one when you could give me one from the house?" Ahe stopped with the voice. "We thought you grabbed it to read it today, you picked it, why not just give you this one for the memories, not just a randpm one off of my endless shelves of extras? Tha's why. We emant to put it back into our bag and give it to you later, but i guess we forgot in our scramble to go." She laughed at their mistake. "We're sorry, please don't be too upset."

"Yes, please don't be too upset, bud. We thought you'd be excited since you'd already grabbed the book! We didn't mean to worry you again. So just breathe it's all good, okay?" Mama smiled at him. 

"It-it's mine? I- I can read it? Are you sure?" He asked suspiciously. 

"Yep, we'll see how this one goes- after that one the series takes some turns, so we're seeing how you handle this one, then we'll go from there. Okay? So for now enjoy your book, tell me if you like it, you know I love to hear tyour reviews little one." Mom smiled at ruffled his hair up then walked out of their kitchen, disappearing down the hallway. 

"If you need to talk afterwards, we can. It's a bit much at some points, okay? I love you, son." Mama gave hima quick hug and followed her wife out of the kitchen.

    Half an hour later Miles was abck in his room pacing back and forth whether he wanted to wait for the perfect moment to start the book. Was there a feeling he would just have? So he knew it was time? What if he didn't like it and everything happened for nothing? What would he tell mom? OH my gsoh his mom would despise hi- no. No. It would be fine. He loved all of his mom's books. It would be fine.  So finally after 14 years of waiting he sat on his bed in his room, curled up with balnkets and hot apple cider, and opened up the book. 

He whispered to himself, " The story of MLN. Chapter one; In Which We're Thrown Into the Story." He laughed and continued on excited for the wonders ahead. 

Well, there you have it! Thank-you for sticking with me through all of my randomness this semester! I hope you've enjoyed my ramblings and my wonders and my magic. ;) I will miss writing here, who knows maybe one day I'll infiltrate the wbsite and write again! mwa hahahaha *cue evil laughter* Anyways thanks again for letting me share my thoughts and stories here! Now I must go before my computer dies, but ,as always, stay MAGICAL!

~Ms. Magic~

P.S I definetely didn't almost name this Oops I did it again, no not at all. Okay bye! :)

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

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~