The Darkness Consumes

This piece was written for a contest on Wattpad where we were given a journal entry and asked to write a science fiction piece based off of the entry. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it and, as always, keep writing!

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Everything was extraordinarily black and the air felt damp and heavy in my chest. I could feel the beginnings of an anxiety attack creeping upon me, so I began to use the 'five senses' method my therapist had taught me. Locate five things with one sense, then four, three, and so on down to one and the attack should pass without coming to a head. Finding something I could see would be the daunting task, though, with the darkness surrounding me.

"Jonas, are you coming or not?" called out the professor. For being a man of science and holding such esteem within the community of his peers he really was a buffoon. To follow Gillian, a first year student of all people, going only off her word that she had the slightest clue what she was doing down here where we could be lost forever instead of waiting for a search party that was sure to be coming for us. Alas, that's how he gets when women are around.

"Yes, Father, I'm right behind you," I reply as I hurry to catch up to the pair leading the way toward our certain demise.

As we walked for what felt like an eternity down the same narrow path, I had the ominous feeling we were being followed. If I stopped walking, I could almost swear I heard something breathing behind me. Yet every time I turned around, there was only the darkness in my wake.

"Strange," I muttered. Oh but how worse things were going to get. For we soon reached a fork in our path. To the left we heard the rushing of water and to the right there was the smell of rotting flesh. Neither were good options, but Gillian directed us to the sound of rushing water, because apparently drowning is better than whatever the rotting flesh was.

Her theory would soon prove false, as we reached the water and found three enormous beasts loudly slurping from the running river. We had approached quietly, though, so they hadn't noticed us to our knowledge. These beasts, these cave dwellers as it were, had a mysterious glowing substance on themselves. My assumption is that was their way to see through the cave's paths. If they even possessed eyes of course, with their backs to us there was no way to know for sure what their faces looked like.

They were covered in thick, matted fur and had spikes running down their backs coming down to a pointed tail, possibly to be used for gauging their spatial radius when navigating the caves. It appeared that one stood larger than the other two, maybe a different gender or the alpha of the pack? Although this was a terrifying experience it was also one of wonder for the discovery of these creatures. Were they going to kill us upon our discovery, which was no doubt imminent, or would they be friendly? What were they? How long had they been here without anyone knowing? Or did someone know and not make it back to the surface to ever speak of it?

I have many questions that I fear may never be answered if we don't simply turn tail and get out of here before they take notice of our presence. Slowly I begin to retreat, moving backward and never taking my eyes off of the creatures still lapping at the water before them. Until suddenly, the larger of the three turns around and spies us! It roars a mighty, bellowing roar, with all of the hairs on my body standing on end we all begin to run as far and fast as we can. The three beasts begin their chase after us back through the way we came, this time we go through the tunnel with the smell of rotting flesh but it's a straight drop down into a cavernous pit.

To our dismay, the beasts follow us down, and the larger one swipes his mighty arm toward Gillian, slicing her throat open with ease. As the blood begins to pour down her body and she drops to her knees, the damn beasts laugh? Yes, they laugh!

"Why have you disturbed us, stupid beings?" mocks the larger beast.

They speak? What are these things?

"P-please, we're lost scientists trying to find our way to the surface. We mean you no quarrel and wish only to leave your home," pleads the professor to which they all laugh again. This time it's his throat they slice.

"Anything you wish to add, stupid mortal?"

"I beg your forgiveness and wish to know what you are before I die," I say hurriedly as the beast raises it's clawed hand again.

"Your wish shall be granted. We are known as Darkness. We have been on this planet well before your species walked and intend to stay here. That is why we kill and consume any that wander through. Shame really, I liked you," and with that he swiped his massive claw and that was the end.

If we don't cherish this life we're given it'll be over before we know it and we'll have accomplished nothing and leave no one who cared for us.

Here she stands. Alone in her tower. Looking out into the angry, hateful world. The world she's become secluded from. She's grown numb to the sting of rain and the warmth of sunshine upon her youthful face. She should be filled with hopes and dreams yet she finds only sorrow in thoughts of her future. So she stays alone, away from all the hurt and disappointment of the world. No ordinary soul can reach her within her walls of solace and solidarity. Until the day he arrives, and shows her kindness once again.

A simple "Hello" was all it took to shrink her mighty walls to mere pebbles in the sand. And as their friendship grew into something stronger, she left her ring of pebbles for the safety of his arms.

But he soon grew sick, and began to weaken and whither away before her eyes. And then, she was once again alone in the gruesome world she had walled herself away from so long ago. This time, she was bitter, full or anger and resentment. She had known love only for a short time before he had been taken from her and she didn't want to live in a world where such things existed, where others could be happy with their loved ones while hers rotted away in the earth.

So she quietly packed up the home they had shared, put on the white dress he had adored her in, and hung herself from the rafters in their bedroom. She left behind no note, as she had no friends or family who cared for her.

He was her life - and death.

I channeled my inner Eminem and wrote a rap. Please be kind to me, I know it’s awful in every way.

You silly little half-wit gonna get hit Straight in the mouth. I’m comin’ out here Ready to dance like Balboa and you got a dad bod Pushin’ that punk ass lawn mower. You can’t handle me, gender aside You can’t even hold a candle to me. I’ve got more pride in my fake cock than you do In that puny thing you call a knot. Bitch, spare me, it’s not! Otherwise why would all these wives be lined up For a taste of me and my tongue? That’s right. I’m fuckin’ ‘em. And when they’re screaming my name begging for more I slap their ass and call them whores. Your wife will probably be in my bed tonight But don’t be mad, bro’ All bitches got a gay side to be had.

My Cinderella Story

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Deirdre who lived in a town almost nobody knew of in a flat land called Kansas. She wasn't allowed to go to school because her wicked step-mother was afraid the boys would find her pretty instead of her daughters, Deana and Darlene, who grew to be ugly as sin. One day after a cruel tongue lashing from step-mother, Deirdre ran off to her room and put on a record so nobody would hear her as she planned her escape from the awful step-mother. She knew emancipation would take far too long and such a thing was unheard-of yet. She stopped to think and was horrified when the thought dawned on her: the best way for her to escape would be if she were dead. Deirdre didn't want to die, she may have wished it sometimes, but she truly didn't feel ready to leave the Earth. Soon she heard banging on her door and when she opened it there stood Deana and Darlene, they had come to tell her they were going to the Sadie-Hawkins dance at school and that if she was good they could find it in their hearts to ask step-mother if she could go too. Deirdre scrubbed stain after stain out of both ugly step-sisters dresses but to no avail, the stains appeared to be lipstick around the collars of their shirts. This struck Deirdre as odd and a little precarious, but she had learned not to ask questions about the oddities her step-sisters did for fear of being forced to do more chores that seemed impossible. One time they had gone so far as making her wash their disgusting feet before trying on all their shoes. Deirdre broke down and cried, as her tears fell onto the hideous dresses the lipstick started to fade until gone. She went to her step-sister's room but when she opened the door they were nowhere she could see. They had left without her! She began to cry again and sulked off to her room, where she found a note written on sparkling paper. Once she picked it up to read it a bunch of glitter fell to the floor. Deirdre hurriedly cleaned it up for fear that her step-mother would find it and beat her for making a mess, even though it was her own room. Finally, once she had cleaned all the glitter off the floor, she put on one of the dresses she had cleaned which magically turned into a beautiful gown that fit her like a glove. What luck! And off she went to the school for the dance. She was in luck again, for they only lived a block away from the school, so she was able to get there just as the doors were opening and never had she been so happy to see the macabre building; when suddenly she saw the most popular guy in school! She had never met him, but she had often heard the girls talking about how cute and nice he was, then he turned and their eyes met. He smiled at her, then began to make his way over to her. She turned to run because she'd never had any experience with boys before and felt that she was inadequate for a boy such as him. But just as she turned, she tripped, and lost her shoe! That wasn't enough to deter her from making a quick escape from what would surely be an embarrassing meet. She turned to see if he would be following her and saw him dip down to retrieve her lost shoe, but she kept running, using alleys in case he decided to hurry after her to return it. The next day, much to her dismay, the boy was knocking on Deirdre's door inquiring about a girl who had lost a shoe the night before! Both ugly step-sister's claimed that it was theirs, but when he went to put the shoe on the girls he noticed how atrocious and smelly their feet were and thought that surely these feet couldn't belong to the beautiful maiden from the night before. He decided to search the house until he found Deirdre and once she tried on the shoe, he announced that she was to be his girlfriend. From that day on, the step-sisters and step-mother were banished from the town and Deirdre and the boy lived happily ever after. The end.

-Hallie Miller

Other Worldly

Thinking about other worlds - or realms if you will - can be a scary thought to some. To others, like me, it's an entertaining idea and one the likes which keeps me up at night. This is what has lead me to you today: to tell my story of the day I discovered that Tim Burton had the right idea in 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'.

It all started as a regular night out with friends. Ann and I are driving through the park, minding our own business when out of nowhere we swore we saw Sally - not a person named Sally, but the actual rag doll from the movie - walking across the path looking like she was lost. I slammed on my brakes, and we looked at each other with a mirrored "What?" look on our faces.

"I'm not going out there!" Ann exclaimed as I was reaching for the door handle.

"Well, we have to know what that was," I said. I opened my door and called for Sally, not expecting an answer.

"H-hello? Can you help me? I'm looking for Jack and Zero," Sally stammered. She came out from behind the large tree she had been using as shelter from my car's high beams.

"Are you real?" Asked Ann from inside the car.

"I'm not Real," she said, "I'm Sally!" She had misunderstood Ann when she'd asked if she was real. She'd meant if she was a real thing, not if her name was real. All of a sudden Sally fell to the ground screaming.

"My head! It's on fire!" When Ann got out of the car, and we both approached her we discovered that her head was on fire.

"Holy shit we need water!" we both yelled in unison. Ann ran back to the car and grabbed her water bottle and I went to Sally and tried to calm her down, but it was too late. Sally was dead and her head had saved in where the fire had started. Ann came back and dropped to the ground next to Sally, careful not to touch her head as it was still aflame.

"What do we do now?" asked Ann in a low, mournful voice. I looked around hoping to find where she had come from, as I started to give up I noticed a tree that wasn't from this area. I stood up, walked over to it and felt a cold breeze.

"I bet it's through here!" I called back to Ann. When I turned around she had disappeared from sight and my car was missing. On a second look, I noticed the scenery wasn't the same as it had been minutes ago.

"Halloween Town or bust..." I said to myself with a cheerful chuckle.

That was the single interesting thing that happened. After I went through the tree I was stuck in Halloween Town Forest for an hour tops before the wind blew again, and I was back in the park with Ann.

With that, we were forced to give up, so we went home and tried to forget the strange event that night held.

-Hallie Miller

Rebirth

One year after the apocalypse of 2012, planet Earth was scarred by the creatures from Hell after the demons had killed the entire population. This created a shift in the balance of the solar system which was noticed by the Gods of Mars.

"What must we do now?" Asked the storm God, Polycenthus.

"I suggest we let the demons rule that world now," said the God of Hell, Animas. Animas and Polycenthus didn't get along most of the time and if they did, all of Mars knew something was wrong. While they were fighting that the archangel Marc made the decision for them. He decided to make the planet habitable again for more than demons and other creatures.

He drew a lake in the clouds above Earth and from there he took all the water he could build up and flooded the planet with it. Then he asked the archangel Julian to blow away all the water from the land. Julian sucked in as much air as he could, but he wasn't able to blow all the water away. This made rivers, lakes, and oceans. Marc wasn't mad at Julian for this though, because it was then that he remembered the humans needed water to sustain them and to grow their food.

After the water soaked into the ground, plants started to grow. Marc scooped up a bit of fresh mud with his enchanted bugle and handed it to Julian to blow through. This created the first animal - a bear. The bear buried under the dirt beneath a willow tree and from the roots of the tree came a man. A woman came from placing an apple seed into the root of the willow tree. The roots grew up and out of the dirt and soon the man was able to walk upright. Once the man saw the bear he used his hands to kill him for the fur as was intended by Marc. The fur warmed the man and woman, so they were then able to move freely and procreate.

And this was how Earth was to become reinhabited.

-Hallie Miller

Creative Writing: Six sentences with no repeating words.

There once was a man from Peru, who dreamed he ate his shoe. This guy hated leather so instead dined on heather. Then enjoyed enough diarrheas for two. After tasting the plant, sir ranted and said “No more!”. Next, an iguana dwelling in Tijuana that loved crickets. Ingesting those insects is decidedly better than sex.

-Hallie Miller

Writing Prompt 8/25/18

“If you fell down a rabbit hole, what do you think you’d find?” - Found in ‘400 WRITING PROMPTS’ published by Piccadilly (USA) Inc.

Common sense dictates there would be nothing extraordinary but if we were to step into the Land of Make Believe where anything is possible, suppose we don’t fall down the hole? What if we open an old mahogany door - painted a delicate lavender with white trim - and gingerly descend down carpeted stairs into a cozy sitting room? Perhaps we would find a lovely auburn rabbit stoking a healthy fire while his sable lover reads a romance novel on their white suede loveseat recliner. Covering the walls are framed photographs of their adventures, adopted children and wedding ceremony along with the certificate stating their partnership is recognized and legal in all 50 states.

Writing Prompt 8/24/18

“While at the beach you decide to write a message in a bottle. What would it say? Who would you like to find it?” - Found in ‘400 WRITING PROMPTS’ published by Piccadilly (USA) Inc.

I like to think I’d write as many words of encouragement as I could fit onto the page. Things such as “You’re worth it.”; “You can do anything with effort and practice.” and “I believe in you!” because I believe everybody needs to hear some positive things every now and again no matter how generic the statements may be. Hopefully the type of person that would find it, ideally, would be someone who needs to have that positivity in their life at that moment in time. An alternative to that would be someone who finds joy in spreading positivity.