Hidden Messages (Started!)

So, you live in a normal town or city or farm or whatever on a normal earth. Of course everything is relative, and maybe you aren't "just like everybody else", but things aren't strange, at least not really.

And then, out of nowhere, you find this notebook. It doesn't matter where you found it, or what it looks like, but you found it. The pages might be lined or squared or blank, but in any case there's nothing written inside. Not sure what else to do, you keep the notebook, and occasionally open it, just in case the inside may have changed.

You think checking so consistently is silly, but then one day you find a single sentence written in fancy letters across the first page.

You are the chosen.

Basic Plot:

Spoiler

A few people have found these mysterious notebooks and received the curious announcement. After a day, or maybe a week, the notebook gives another message; instructions to go to a specific place. The place is different for each person, but always a solitary place in the middle of the night.
At that place, the notebook directs its reader to an object (each object changed to fit the person's personality and past). When the reader takes that object, the world is transformed and they find themselves sitting in a train, on the way to an unknown world that lives entirely on words.

(I will be giving more details and information as the SB develops. So don't worry, it won't come to an end as soon as the characters get on a train. I have more planned, but it's a secret.)

Rules:

Spoiler

Same old rules you've heard in every SB.
Although I don't really want cussing, and no R rated scenes (though I don't mind violence.)
Also, PLEASE use good spelling and grammar.
And don't join if you're only going to post once and then never participate again. That drives me crazy.
Anything else? I can't think of anything.
Although, I am the SB "director" so if I notice something, I will point it out.
And please make all posts in first person.

Character Slots:

Spoiler

1. Nick Grey (20)
2.Jason Stone (19)
3.Kellie Davies (19)
4.Jade Quillan (18)
5. Riley Harris (18
6.Jaxon Gray (18)
7. Jordan Stradlin (17)
8. Anica Sandler (16)
9. Eva Hallows (15)
10. Cassidy Hodgins (14)
11. Cassandra Crown (12)

Character Profile:

Spoiler

Name:
Nickname: (If you have one)
Age: (Anywhere between 10 and 30)
Appearance: (I like pictures, but a description works too)
Notebook: (Again, pictures work best. Also mention what the inside is like)
Object: (What was used to transport you from Earth to the train)
History: (Including where they lived)
Brief Personality:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Other:

I think this'll be super fun, so you should join.
And here is the link for the Discussion Thread: http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=200&t=98349

Extra side note: Don't follow my bad example. Please post your profile in the Create a Character Link instead of posting it in the SB. Yeah? Cool. Yay for new technology and buttons that I didn't know where there.

So, just a side note:
When you post a profile, please be sure to check in at the DT as well, so that you'll know all the details and behind the scenes stuff for one, and for two, so that I'll know you joined.

Jade Quillan

I left the building with my arms laden with books. I hated the French teacher more than anything, and it was the one class in school that I could not stand. As I usually did after French, I moved as quickly as I could away from the buildings and out to the small garden at the back of the academy. After hurrying past the flowers and plants growing all along the path, I stopped at my bench. So, maybe it wasn't actually mine, but I'd come to think of it as so because I sat on it all the time, and no one else ever did.

However, today something was odd. I wasn't sure what it was at first, but after checking the garden for a sign of another visitor, I realized that there was something stuck between the bars on the bench. I leaned over to pull it out, and found a small notebook. I opened it, quickly scanning the empty pages. They were a dull ivory color, with no lines and no ink spots. Nothing, just an empty notebook. I flipped through the pages again, but still could not find anything written.

Without stopping to watch the garden as I usually did, I set down my other books and ran back to the school yard. I found my way back to my dormitory, and set the notebook on the bed. A small part of me knew that the proper thing to do was to go and ask if anyone had lost a notebook, and perhaps report it to some official or other. Instead, I let the other part have its way. The part that wanted to keep the notebook. After all, why would someone own something this beautiful and not even use it? And then leave it abandoned on my bench?

Obviously the notebook did not belong to anyone. Except to me.

I opened it to the first page, already thrilled to have a journal of my own. I would begin, I decided, by telling the story of how I found it. I grabbed my favorite pen and glanced down at the notebook, debating the best way to start. And then, before I could finish writing the first word, the letters vanished. I reached for another pen and tried again, but the same thing happened. It was as if the notebook was devouring my words. I tried with a pencil, a crayon, a marker. Nothing worked. Frustrated, I closed the book and tossed it under my pillow, not entirely willing to throw it away.

After all, there was more than simple annoyance in my frustration. Something unusual had happened, for most notebooks do not eat the writer's words. Not in that way, at least. The word magic kept appearing in the back of my mind, but even to me the idea was preposterous, too ridiculous to even think. I'd read stories about Irish fairies and leprechauns and all those other silly tales, but that's all they were, tales. Magic didn't really exist. Not in this world at least.

"Jade?" My roommate walked in, flipping her curly brown hair out of her face. "What are you doing? I went to look for you out in the garden, but only found your books." She had all my things in her arm, and a curious smile on her face. "Is everything all right?"

"Of course," I answered too quickly. I pushed the pillow to make sure the notebook was completely covered. "Everything is fine. Just tired of that stupid French class..."

Spoiler

Okay, so now we get to make our introduction posts. If you want you can go all the way up to finding your object, but don't get on the train yet, okay?

Riley Harris

My arms were weighed down with bags as my best friend and I made our way out of the store and to my little blue car. Haley had decided that since her boyfriend's birthday party was only a couple days away, we absolutely had to find outfits to wear out to the club. I was still debating whether or not I even wanted to go, but Haley had promised me that if I didn't go, she would disown me as her best friend.

I was tossing my bags in the back seat when something under the car caught my eye. As I got closer, I realized that it was a small book. Crawling on my hands and knees, I managed to grab it, pulling it close to me in an attempt to hide it from anyone who might be watching. For some reason, I got the feeling that whatever was inside was meant for my eyes only.

I unwrapped the leather string from around the tan cover, opening it slowly and flipping through the pages. The pages were a smooth, line-less, cream color, but nothing more. It was blank.

"Seriously? That's--"

"Riles, what in heaven's name are you doing down there?" Haley asked, causing me to jump and shove the journal into the open back door of the car. "Come on, I want to get home and work on my tan."

"Alright," I said, feeling shaken. Closing the back door, I climbed in the front, starting the car and driving off with an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach.

The time passed slowly before the party, but I checked the journal every day with no luck. I had finally decided that this book would be mine, and inside it, I would write my story. I just had to decide what to write first. Pretty soon the party had arrived and everyone was packed into my house, the noise level way too high for a regular get together.

The house was throbbing with music, the lights flickering in different colors. All of my friends were around me, smiling and dancing and drinking, but I still couldn't shake the hazy feeling I was in. My head was throbbing to a different beat than the music, and all I really wanted to do was lay down.

Pulling my short silver dress down for the hundredth time tonight, I made my way through the thrashing bodies and up the stairs to my room. The only reason I had agreed to even have the party at my place was because they had promised not to trash it--that and my dad was out of town for the weekend.

I pushed my door open, moving to lay on the bed. Before I plopped down, I scooped the old journal out of my way and opened it once more. I nearly had a heart attack right there in my room, because the previously blank pages had a dark calligraphy of words across them.

You are the chosen.

I closed the book and opened it again, my heart rate picking up at the next words.

Go outside.

A chill shook my small frame, but I stood immediately, trading my heels for a pair of Vans. I made my way through the house in a daze, hardly noticing the people that had been driving me crazy moments before. I slid the back door open and stepped out into the cold night air. Goose bumps rose on my exposed skin, but I looked back to the journal, awaiting instruction.

Swing.

Taking a deep breath, I rolled my shoulders back and tried to picture the worst thing that could happen. My back yard was fenced in, it wasn't like anyone was going to get in here unless they came through the house. So with that in mind, I found the determination to walk to the wing, pausing long enough to look back at the book, but it was blank again. I snapped it closed and looked around, freezing when my eyes caught a small, shiny object dangling from the swing.

My mom's necklace, I thought, reaching out to grab it. There was a bright light and the world shifted, pressing in on me and knocking me to the ground...

Spoiler

I'll post Jaxon's in a little while.

Ashaki/Eva Hallows - U.S Home

I sit on the carpeted floor in an empty room in my Chicago house as I stare at the ceiling, light poured though my window as the damn notebook sat in the middle of the room. It had just suddenly appeared one mourning on my writing desk, where I did all my writing, no words, no names, just blank pages that wouldn't hold any words whatsoever. I've tried writing with what was ever near by. But nothing, I finally resorted to just throwing the notebook in the middle of the empty room and just sitting on the floor against the wall and looking at the ceiling, living alone here for two years sucked.

One word continued to appear in my head every time I tried to write in it. Magic. I didn't believe in magic, I believed in taking a gun and making someone die, or another weapon like a knife or an RPG would do just as well. But no matter what, that word continued to appear in my head and every time it did I would check the notebook expecting, something. Something different about the book, like I was expecting it to communicate or something to me.

When the word "Magic" appeared one last time in my head I opened the book again and see the newly written words on the paper. "You are Chosen." I read the words repeatedly again and again as if I couldn't get enough of it, eventually I did and I closed it one last time. I pick up the notebook and leave the empty room and return to my own which was right next door, it was a big room: flat screen TV, king sized bed, brand new computer which could run just about anything, and finally a writing desk where I did all my writing. I threw the notebook onto the desk and climbed in bed, a place a swore to myself that I would never bring a man to. A place I considered my sanctuary or Heaven.

That night, I awoke with a start, my eyes already scanning the room as they finally rest on the writing desk, where the notebook was. I make my way out of my bed and to my writing desk, I open the notebook to the same page as before and see new words written under the first set.

"Out into the night you go, to the near by park it rests there. Find the weapon of familiarity," that what was written in the notebook.

I closed the notebook and moved quickly, changing out of my clothes and into a skin-hugging black jeans, tank top, and jacket that showed off my feminine features well. My shoes on, I make my way out the back door and into the alleyway, I sprint down the alleyway towards the park and see the lights out there. It didn't take me long before I made it to the park, all the impulses I've been having, all the split second decisions I've had to make. Running away from a bugged home didn't sit well with the guys who I made a deal with.

I arrived at the park and looked around, where would I find it in such a huge place? It was somewhere here, I looked at the notebook and open the pages again, finding the words there, but nothing new written. I read over what it said, maybe rested was a clue? I had no clue, but it was the only one I had to go with. I checked under all the park benches, finding nothing, I then make my way behind the field house to the metal stands of the baseball diamond for little leagues. I find nothing there either, I was breathing heavy now from all the running, but I had one last place to check. Way out in the field there was a resting place where all couple teens would go to rest and make out. I make my way out there, half running, half walking.

When I had finally reached the location, I knew in my heart that I was in the right place, I went further, checking the very corner. There it was, a gun, a Desert Eagle, and two clips of ammo. Against all instincts, against all logic, I outstretched my hand, and reached for it.

Cassandra Crown


My hair brushes my face as the wind blows it while I sit on a bench in front of my school. I'm hunched over a book and just about to turn the page when I hear a voice call my name. It's stinks so bad that I can smell it from where I'm sitting. It must be the biggest jerk in seventh grade, Leo Baln. "Hey shortie! Whatcha got there? Huh? Another nerd book of yours?" He says, his breath making me want to gag. "Oh just shove it Leo. You know that your better off trying to make your breath smell better than bullying me." I say while getting ready to leave for home. As I swing my backpack over my shoulder is hits Leo right in the gut. He falls down and his face is full of pain, he holds his stomach tightly. "Oops. My bad." I say. This always happens to me but I don't really care. Words do not hurt me. I start to walk toward my house and decide to take the short cut.

The short cut is this passage through the woods that I like to take. Today is the perfect day to take the short cut. It's not to hot and it's not to cold. It's just right. I start to daydream and accidentally trip on something. I fall onto the ground with a loud thump. As I start to get up I realize I tripped on some kind of notebook. I pick it up and dust some dirt off it. It's made of leather and it seems to be closed by a strap that wraps around it. I start to quickly look through the pages and find it to be empty except a drawing of a beautiful flower in the corner. It looks exactly like the one I always wear on my head. It was a clip my mother gave to me before she died. It means a lot to me. I close the notebook and realize the same flower is on corner of the cover. "Hmm. I didn't know that was there before. Guess I wasn't looking hard enough." I say to myself. I put the notebook in my bag and pick up some other things that fell out when I tripped.

When I arrive home my dad isn't there as usual. I'm home alone, again, in my humongous mansion because my dad is too busy to stay home one day with his daughter. I slump down on a chair and take out the notebook I found. It seems strange that it was just lying there on the ground. I take out my favorite pen from my bag and try to write on it. The minute I write something it disappears. "That's weird." I say. I try using a pencil and the same thing happens again. "What's the use of a notebook if it doesn't even work?!" I say frustrated.

The next morning after school I take the short cut again. By the time I reach home I realize my hair clip is missing. I frantically search everywhere and when I finally give up I'm devastated. This was worse than not having a book to read, this was worse than Leo's breath. My hair clip was the only connection to my mother. I start to cry silently in my hands. Suddenly, my notebook flutters open and on one page the words, Follow me are there. I rub my eyes and look at the page again. How in the worlds did that get there? I decide to follow the mysterious notebook because I have nothing else to do. An arrow appears and it points to the door and I walk out. It goes on like this for a few minutes and I find myself in the same place where I tripped. I look all a around and see nothing. "What do I do now magic notebook?" I ask, feeling silly talking to a notebook. Wait, is all it says. So I do wait and finally I see something shimmer. I walk toward the light and I find my hair clip!

I crouch down to grab when suddenly there is a flash of light.

Jordan Stradlin

I sighed as I checked for texts on my phone. Nothing. It seemed everyone had stopped caring about me, even my little brother had stopped sending me texts about how I was doing. He was definitely the one who seemed most upset about me leaving home- he cried for days apparently. I was surprised that my mum wasn't as upset as him, you'd think the woman who put up with me for 16 years before I decided to move on would even shed a tear, but no.

It was the first day of my carpentry apprenticeship and I didn't realise that they'd get straight in with giving me loads of work. I hated every second of it. Every time my boss would shout in my face I felt like punching his head in, but that doesn't really give off a very good impression, does it? The only thing I wanted was to come home to someone who actually cared about me, and for them to listen while I ramble on about how sucky my day had been. Is that too much to ask for?

The worst part was the train home from work took an hour, and all I wanted to do was sleep. I looked around the train and noticed a girl looking back at me. I smiled awkwardly before turning around to find that she wasn't staring at me, but what seemed her big brooding boyfriend. Just my lucky. A girl like her would never go for a guy like me. That much was obvious.

I Iooked around the train again, trying to look like I didn't just care about her and something caught my attention. A few seats down from me there was a beautiful notebook just lying there, with no one next to it. Immediately, I got up from my seat and went to pick it up. I looked around expecting people to give me weird looks, but then I realised nobody actually cared.

I quickly flicked through it to realise it was blank. I quickly put it in my bag before getting off at my stop. Walking down my road, I couldn't help but think about the notebook that was in my bag. My mum always used to tell me it's good to document my thoughts, so in all honesty I just couldn't wait to write in it.

As soon as i got home, I dropped my bag in the hallway and ran to the kitchen to make a cuppa. I had been dying for one all day, and even at work they wouldn't let me make one. Afterwards, I proceeded to get my bag from the hallway and sat down by the tv to open up the notebook again. Grabbing a pen from nearby, I opened up the notebook on the first page to find the words: You are the chosen.

Jaxon Grey

The sun was just setting and a slight drizzle had picked up as Jaxon made his way down town. There were a few people on the sidewalk, but they were all going in the opposite direction as him. Jaxon pulled his hood up over his head, burying his hands deep in his pockets.

Somewhere in the distance sirens rang out, and in his mind he could picture someone breaking into a store, or some poor soul being mugged. It was nothing new--it happened every day in the city and Jaxon had grown used to the sounds of sirens in his neighborhood. That didn't stop the chill that ran down his spine though. It also didn't keep Jaxon from feeling that something was off about this night.

Cutting through an alleyway, he walked silently, keeping his head down as he passed by a sleeping old man. He watched the grungy man take a deep breath and then let it out slowly. He turned away, his feet tripping over something his eyes couldn't see.

When Jaxon looked down, a black leather book lay at his feet. Bending down, he picked it up, assuming that the old man must have dropped it earlier in the day. Upon opening it, Jaxon was confused to find it blank. He glanced back at the sleeping man before sliding it in his hoodie pocket and jogging away.

The book fell off the side of his bed the next morning as Jaxon rolled over. He cursed and fumbled for it, blinking sleep from his eyes as he stared down at the four words scrawled onto the page.

You are the chosen.

He dropped the book again, his heart racing as he swiftly climbed out of bed and pulled a shirt over his head. Still feeling confused, he scooped his beanie off the floor, and just as he was pulling it over his scruffy black hair, the world turned sideways and everything changed.

Jace Stone | NYC at his home/Shop

"Jace!" a voice I knew all too well boomed from the other room.

"Yeah, Dad?" I replied sitting on the couch flipping through channels, it was a Friday and my only day of real 'chill time'. I got to lazy around and do absolutely nothing, and of course it was my favorite day of the week. "What is it?" I asked again, annoyed there wasn't anything good on TV.

"Could you take the trash out?!" He boomed back. I nodded even though he couldn't see me. There was always something for me to do on these days of rests for me though, odd jobs my father gave me, on this particular day though, I was actually glad to be out of the house. It was one of those days where there was nothing good on TV, I had no friends who were free, and the rest of my family, meaning my mother and sister, were off somewhere on a 'girls day out' and I did not want to stay in the house only with my Dad, we didn't have a bad relationship, but we like very different things. I stood and was about to walk out our apartment door, when I called out,

"I'll take the trash out and then I'll stop by the store and see if I can get some extra hours." I hated saying that, but I didn't really have any 'chilling' plans for the day anyways. He didn't respond but I knew he heard me. Anyways, there was a light that had went out in the storage room of the store, and I had been wanting to fix it, but had too much to do, now I could actually get it done. I left the house, by our door was the big bag of trash, I took it.

Jogging down the stairs I carefully looked around me. We were in a new apartment building due to the new bundle of cash that came the with antique store, apparently people pay a lot of money for pretty old things. It was good to know. And actually I really liked old things, but I'd never buy anything from my shop. I chuckled at the thought.

Except maybe the lamp in the corner. I reached the outside and felt a cool breeze on my face as I turned to the alleyway a few feet from our 'doorsteps' and quickly dumped the trash. I was about to leave when I took a quick look around. You never know what people leave out here. I had found many, many good antiques just by digging through rich people's trash, okay, not digging through literally but more like scuffling and looking intensely. I wasn't planning on doing any of that today though, but instinct just told me to look around a little. Let my eyes show me something.

I did notice something out of place, there was something under a cardboard box on the ground next to the dumpster. It was slightly showing and it was blue. I took off the cardboard box and found myself staring at a notebook. Not any old notebook, but one that almost looked handmade. It looked beautiful. I picked it up and flipped it over patting off the dirt and dust that had accumulated over the how many years it might have been there. Probably not under the cardboard box but somewhere hidden underground and then construction on this new building brought it up.

I didn't know what brought it there, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to sell it. Even though this one would be worth so much money? I struggled with that back-thought for a while. It's true, it would be worth a lot. But I deserved to keep something right? I mean there were a lot of stuff that I had wanted to have but couldn't from my shop. Why not take just one? After all it hasn't been put in the shop yet and it's age has yet to be calculated. I shrugged and decided to keep it. I didn't even bother going back home to put it down. I just started to the shop.

It was a bustling day on the streets, people were walking and talking and doing their own thing. The usual. I noticed some people and tried to figure out what went right or wrong with their day, but eventually gave up when they were out of my view. I was getting restless, this was the day I was suppose to not do anything and here I was walking down the streets like I actually had something to do. If there was anything that bothered me more than missing out on any real relaxing it was going somewhere for no reason. I sighed and made my turn to the street of the shop. As I got to the front I noticed Marvin standing outside smoking I was about to turn away but he saw me.

"Hey man! Hey, Jace! What's up?"

"I was just taking a walk, and wanted to check on the shop, what's up with you?" this was said nonchalantly, even though I wanted the guy to leave. Marvin was a twenty year old smoke addict who came by the shop every single day to ask me for money, talk me into crap or to harass my customers, especially if they were girls. This happened because this guy was trying to act like a punk when he really was actually quite brilliant and he had a future. He was just too busy trying to act cool. The worst part about all this was that he was actually my friend. We had went to high school together. "Did you re-apply to that night-school you were thinking about going to?"

"Oh you mean the night classes? I dunno man, it sounds like a lot of work." I dug through my pockets for my keys, and brought them out.

"A lot of work? This is coming from the guy who got all A's in his senior year!" I laughed, opening the shop, he of course followed me in.

"Stop bringing that up, alright. Things are different now." He took another puff, then releasing the awful air in the shop. I pointed to the 'No Smoking' sign arcoss the room on the wall and he laughed. "What, I smoke in here all the time." he continued.

"When are you gonna take things seriously man?" I asked, getting behind the long glass desk divider between the owner's space and the customer's. It also displayed various different smaller antique pieces people could pick and take. I set the notebook on top of it.

"I do take things seriously! You on the other hand, you need to take things less seriously." He told me still smoking in my presence. I went to the storage and brought out the ladder leaving the storage door open.

"Hey, come here and hold the ladder for me." he did so, and I started to change the lights.

"I mean look at how much you care for this freaking place, buying things from your own money to put into this, what do you get out of it? Nothing. You should come by the club tonight."

"The day I come by that club's the day you'll go back to school." I said climbing down. He laughed.

"Up to you, you'll stay in this shack-hole your whole life then. No more dreaming of being Mr.Prince charming for any Cinderella." He smirked at me. I tried to ignore him. "And why you keep talking to me about school anyways, not like you're going to college." He was right. I wasn't but I had a real reason, a good one, this shop. It took a lot of convincing my mom who wanted me to continue my education, but eventually, she caved. I wanted to give my full attention to the shop. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but for now it was perfect for me, and I didn't want to miss the chance to really help it grow into even more of a successful business. I shook my head. Maybe he was right for once, maybe I was getting too serious.

"Whatever man." I told him, trying out the light. It worked. I turned it off and almost groaned, now what the heck was I going to do? I turned to him. "What you up to, today? No clubs." I asked him. He smiled.

"Now we're talking! I was thinking we go crash a party, you up?" I laughed. This guy was such a joke. Crash a party?! Was I an idiot? I shook my head.

"Nah, I don't wanna crash a party! That's dumb, man." He didn't respond, he was looking at the notebook on the table.

"What's this?" He asked, his eyes were wide, and he looked seriously interested. I shrugged.

"Just this book I found on the ground by the dumpster, where I find most of my gold." I told him, taking it from him.

"It looks cool man." He said still staring at it. I nodded.

"Yeah I know. I'm thinking it's really old, or someone lost something seriously cherish-able." I told him. He was still in awe. I put it under my shirt and waved at him. "Hey! Stop looking at it like that." I laughed and he did as well. His smoke was at it's end and he took it out of his mouth.

"Alright man, I'm going to go." he said sounding strange.

"Hey! Wait up, what is it?" He shook his head and my eyes narrowed. "What is it?" I asked him seriously this time. "Tell me."

"I dunno man, I saw your name on it." He sounded shaky.

"What do you mean?"

"For a second, I saw your name on it, it said 'For Jason's Knowledge' on it when I picked it up. When you took it away from me, the words were gone." My eyes widened, he looked so serious I had to believe him.

"Wait, how'd it say that? Where did it say that?" I asked.

"On the cover. See." he took the notebook from my hand. Once it touched his hands, words were stitched onto the cover it seemed. 'For Jason's Knowledge Only' My mouth hung open slightly, and my friend was still shaky. I took the notebook from him and the words were gone. Unsure of what just occurred the two of us stood in complete silence, thoughts running through our heads. Whatever this was, I was the only one who was suppose to know.

"I don't think I found this thing." I said softly.

"It found you." He finished it for me.

Please ignore this. Deleted character. Sorry.

Cassidy Hodgins

I sat up, groaning, and pulled the covers off my face in an attempt to untangle myself from my bed. I had forgotten to tie back my hair last night, and now it was all over the place, most notably in my eyes. With a sigh, I brushed it back, took a deep breath, and hauled myself off of the mattress, trudging to my closet. It was going to be a long day.

When I had readied myself as much as I could, purple hair un-frizzy, breakfast eaten, teeth brushed and backpack packed, I shouted a goodbye up to my dad and whisked myself out the door. I had an important presentation to do today in my first class, and I couldn't be late.

I arrived at the school with more than five minutes to spare before the bell even rang. Relaxed now, I ambled over to my locker and opened the lock, humming to myself. Setting my pack down, I opened the door and grabbed the history textbook and notebook that were set out next to each other on the inside. After shoving those in my bag, I reached up once more to get my pencil case- and instead found a small, simple black notebook hanging on the locker door, next to the pencils. I frowned in confusion. I hadn't had any such thing, much less put it in my locker...but never mind. It was beautiful, in a basic way, and I loved having notebooks. I felt they all had this...power. A lot of my notebooks I hadn't even written in, but I loved them anyways. I shrugged, and for some reason, took the notebook and placed it in my backpack as well. I closed the locker door, and was on my way to class.

At lunch, I finally had time to open the book. The pages were unornamented, but of a thick, stiff white paper. The notebook was blank; it couldn't have been someone else's, and it looked completely new. I flipped back through the pages to the first one, and gave a start. I could have sworn it was blank when I first looked...but now there were words written on it in fancy, curled script: You are the chosen.

That seemed a bit freaky. Me? Did it mean me? Or...was it just some cheap joke, some trick to make people think they're special. That's probably what it is, I told myself. In fact,-

"Hey Cassidy, what's up?" My friend Maddie came over and sat by me with a cheery smile on her face. She noticed the notebook in my hands.

"What's that?" she asked, peering over at the page. I snapped the book shut. She gave me a hurt look. "What was that for?"

I sighed. "Nothing. I...don't know, it's just that- it said something weird and I didn't want you to see." Now it was her turn to sigh. "Well can I at least touch it? I promise I won't look."

"I guess so." I handed the book over, carefully. Instantly, she cried out in shock, and dropped it. It landed on the ground. Angrily, I snatched it up.

"Be careful, will you?" She stared at me, a fearful look on her face.

"What, what is it?" I asked, puzzled. She shook her head, looking at the blank, black cover. "There were words on it. I swear. Your name." I was taken aback.

"Show me!" Looking at me doubtfully, she tentatively picked it up again, nodded, and showed me the cover. Sure enough, the words "For Cassidy's Knowledge Only" were embossed in fancy, silver script on the previously empty cover. I covered my mouth in shock, and gently pulled the notebook away from her. The letters disappeared. We shared a look. Then, silently, I stowed it back in my bag and we both hurried off to class.

After school, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to look at the book again. As soon as the bell rang, I was outside and taking the notebook out once again. Holding my breath, I opened it to the first page- and there were more words. Excitedly, I read them: Take the shortcut home." Interesting...

I finally decided to follow the book's advice and walk the shorter way home, though it involved going through a part of town I wouldn't normally want to go through. After a few blocks, something caught my eye, a glint of light from the gutter. Curious, I went to investigate. It was a small piece of quartz, pure white. But how did that get in the middle of the city? It would be a common enough sight up in the mountains, but here? In the gutter, of all places?

It was so beautiful, though, so I picked it up, wiping away some dirt from the outside. And suddenly, before I even had a chance to bring it close to my face, a bright light burst out from somewhere unseen, and when I put my hands up to shield by eyes, I was no longer in the street.

Anica "Annie" Sandler

Ding ding ding! went her alarm before Annie reached over and pushed the darn thing back to silence.

"Mmffrn," Annie mumbled shifting over to her side. As much as she liked the experience of being in school, she absolutely hated to get up for it. It was the hardest part of the day, like, ever.

Five minutes. She'll just close her eyes for five...minutes...

...

"Annie!" a garbled up voice of her mom said deep in the sea of her consciousness. "Breakfast is on the table!"

...Man. that was a great—what! Ten minutes left before the bus comes?!

Suddenly the grogginess went away, and the girl found herself bolted upright, her eyes full of alarm as her body found the strength to get out of her comfy bed and run towards the dresser. As quick as a lightening flash, she was already dressed—no time for a shower!—and ready to go.

"Annie, what are you—"

"I'm coming!" she interrupted her mom, racing down the stairs before glancing at the clock. Oh no. The bus should be here any minute now.

As if her mom was used to her always being late, she glanced at her daughter putting on her shoes. "Do you have you swim bag?"

"Yes," Annie said without even looking, but her mom gave her a long stare. Sighing, she felt for her back expecting the bag to be there, and look at that, it wasn't there. "Ugh!" she moaned.

Time continued to tick on, and finally, finally, she had her stuff together just in time for the bus to come into the distance.

She had just said her goodbyes to her parents with a mouthful of oatmeal in her mouth, but then something caught her attention. It was a glint of light that got caught in her eyes, and it was near the stream off to her left. And the stream—was it a little more noisy and alive than it has been other days? A little pull seemed to edge her there. Go, the wind seemed to cry in her ear. Investigate.

Creepy.

But it was like something tugged her to go there—an invisible force, an unknown pull. She went over to the stream and bent down to see what it was, and there, there sitting on the edge of the little stream, sat a notebook. It was an old leather notebook, but the cover had some kind of copper and so it glinted against the morning sun. There was a design of a fish coming out of the water. Water, swimming, Annie—it was like it was meant for her.

There was a creak and cry of the bus as it pulled over a couple houses down.

Hurrying up, Annie broke out of her trance and shoved the notebook in her book bag before running over to the bus.

"Running late?" Nate, her good friend and swimming buddy, called over once she barely reached the bus in time. He was sitting in their usual spot, and he scooched over once he saw her coming over.

"Just a little," she replied back, sitting next to him.

In the next few hours, however, she couldn't get the notebook out of her mind. It was always in the back of her head, tempting her to read whatever was inside of it.

Eventually, math class rolled around, and Annie slid the book out in front of her desk and, very carefully, opened it and—

Blank..? But how could it be blank?

Annie felt a ltitle disappointed, but at the same time...excited. She did like to write stories, and she does secretly call herself a meek little writer sometimes, so it seemed even better if it was blank. Here she found a pretty notebook that promised excellent stories of journeys and adventure, and it was all hers!

But when she tried to scrawl out a sentence in the notebook, the letters seemed to sink into the pages, and it would disappear.

Literally. Disappear.
What was wrong with this notebook?! That couldn't be normal. For a long time, Annie tried again and again at first fascinated that the notebook ate up her words, but after a while, became really irritated that her notebook ate up her words!

She stuffed the notebook back in her bag and didn't see it again until she got home that night from swim practice.

"I know you're hungry, dear, but I don't have time to cook, and your dad is still at work. Can you make something yourself?" her mom said once she entered the house.

"Sure," Annie answered back, opening the fridge and taking out a few snacks—well, okay, maybe not a few, but a box of them—before making her way up to her room.

It was a normal evening then. Annie was snacking as she did her homework, texted some of her friends only to discover that they were all busy, and even surfed the web. But in the end, the thought of the notebook still staggered in her mind like a big blown up lumpy balloon. She had it placed on her desk neatly, but as much as she tried to write in it, the words would not show up.

Zzzt, zzzt, zzzt.

What was that? Sudden curiosity flashed across Annie's eyes as she looked for the source of the sound, the noise becoming louder and louder by the second, until—

Plip.

Something brushed against her foot.

And Annie only had time to look down and notice that it was a wind-up toy turtle making its way across her floor before everything went bright, bright white, then dark, deep dark.

Jade Quillan

I was obsessed with the notebook, carrying it with me constantly and checking through the pages as often as I dared to see if anything I wrote would stay on the page. Nothing worked, and the notebook remained stubbornly empty. My roommate began worrying about me, asking me constantly if she could see the notebook and telling my other friends that something was wrong. I ignored everyone, and clutched the book more tightly against my stomach when I walked through the hallways to keep obnoxious gossipers from taking it away to see what I kept so well hidden. Nothing. I wasn't hiding anything because there was nothing for me to hide.

The night after I found the notebook I also had my first nightmare. I was standing on abandoned train tracks staring down at the notebook. Except, as I stood the tracks began rearranging, fitting themselves together and fixing the broken wood and metal. As I stood, a horn sounded in the distance, and when I looked up I saw a beam of light shining into my face. The train was moving faster than I could keep track off, and I couldn't move off the tracks. I just stood there staring at the light and waiting for it to hit...

"You've got to get rid of that thing," my roommate, Elizabeth, said as I woke from yet another nightmare. At least a week had gone by since I found the notebook, and the nightmares had come faithfully every single night. "Let me see it!"

Elizabeth took the notebook from my hands (I'd gotten into the habit of sleeping with it between my arms) and snorted disdainfully. "Really? For Jade Quillan's knowledge only? What the heck!"

"What?" I grabbed the notebook back and checked the cover for the words Elizabeth had said, nothing. I checked the first page, and flipped through all the rest. Sighing, I returned to the first page and gasped as spidery letters began dancing their way across the page.

You are the Chosen.

"What?" Elizabeth kept trying to read over the top of the notebook, but I ignored her. "Are you kidding me? The pages are blank? You've been obsessing over nothing?!"

I ignored her, because whether she saw them or not, there were words on the page. As I watched, dumbfounded, more letters appeared.

Go to the garden.

I did, not even stopping to think about what I was doing, following a notebook. Magic, I told myself. It had to be magic.

Pick up your necklace.

I reached for my neck, where a golden chain held a tiny golden key that my mother had given me before my father died. I always wore it around my neck, but today it was missing. I almost started crying, but when I looked at the ground beside the bench where I had found my notebook, a faint shine revealed the necklace. I must have lost it somehow during the chaos of finding the notebook.

The Oak tree.

I knew immediately which Oak, and made my way there as quickly as I could. It stood in the furthest corner of the garden, almost completely hidden by overgrown bushes and plants. I knew where it was though, and I had always considered it the most beautiful tree I'd ever seen. I shoved my way through the bushes and stood beside the tree, suddenly feeling a wave of sadness. Sighing, I leaned back against the tree, and felt my body falling, falling, falling...

As I fell I closed my eyes and screamed, but I didn't hit the ground as I had expected to. Instead, I kept falling, and after a few seconds I risked opening my eyes. The fall should not have gone on for so long. When I opened my eyes, I saw a beam of light piercing the darkness that surrounded me. I started breathing more heavily, terrified that I had fallen straight into my nightmare. Except, I couldn't wake up, and the train was moving closer with every second.

I could see the front of the train, the details of the metal. I could hear the chug of the wheels turning, and the faint hiss of the engine. I was still falling. I realized, in that split second, that I would land on the tracks just as the train arrived, and I wondered vaguely if I would be killed by the fall or by the train.

Instead, the metal squealed and curved and opened, and the train sped up so that I fell through the opening as the train rolled on. I had closed my eyes again, bracing for the impact, and when, after several minutes, I realized that I was no longer falling, I opened my eyes.

Heaven was not a train, I knew that much. Therefore, I could not be dead. The smooth red seats felt real enough, after all, and the wooden floor was cold. Too cold, and I realized that I was not wearing shoes. I folded my feat up under my legs to hide them, and felt more thankful than ever that I had fallen to sleep in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt that night because I'd been so exhausted.

I glanced around the train, shivering even though the air inside was fairly warm. I couldn't see anyone behind me, but when I turned my face forward I saw a head bobbing up and down a few rows forward. I unfolded my legs and tried to stand up, but as I did the train lunged forward and I threw myself on the ground, curling into a ball in the corner. I hated trains. This was my nightmare, even if I was in the train instead of in front of it. It didn't matter; it was just as bad. I was going to die. The train would crash and I would die. Just like my father had.

"Help!" I whispered, trying harder than ever to hold back tears. "Please!"

Spoiler

Alright! We are on the train! Anyone can take the first arriver in the train, and anyone can arrive. Feel free to try and help Jade out before she has too bad of a panic attack. Also, you don't have to arrive in the same way as Jade. Be creative!

Cassandra Crown

After the flash of light all I remember is that I become unconscious.

I wake up in a strange place. I seem to be in a train, but going where? I have so many questions to ask. How did I get here? What happened? Why me?

I'm lying on a comfy couch in a train. I don't know why there's a couch. I get up up and rub my head. I have a humongous headache right now. Next to me on the couch is my hair clip and the notebook. I suddenly remember that the notebook seemed to talk to me. I open it up to find that it's blank again. It can't be, I think. I take the hair clip and put it back on me. Then, I take the notebook and I start to examine the train. There are no regular seats, there are couches though. I seem to be alone in here. On the walls of the trains are numbers above each couch in golden, little plaques. My number was 4.

While examining more, I hear a voice. "Help!", a girl's voice calls. I quickly go toward one of the doors at the end of the train. When I open the door I find a girl on the ground. The seats are different on the other side of the door. Actually everything is different. I help up the girl and bring her to one of the red seats. "Thank god someone else is here. I'm Jade, who are you?" she says. "I'm Cassandra, Cassie for short. I though I was the only one here." I say back to her. "Yah, me too. How did we get here. All I remember is.." she says stopping after the word remember. I shrug like I don't know.

Suddenly her eyes widen, "You have a notebook too?!" she says excitedly. I nod and show it to her. "I found it while walking home. The weird thing is, is that I can't write in it." I tell her. "I have the same problem too whenever I write in my notebook."

"Huh. This is weird. Too weird. Do you want to come to my part of the train? It's more roomier."

Spoiler

@Cailey can you start yours off with you replying?

~Nala Powers~

Spoiler

Hi guys!! Please forgive my writing. I just got back from an extended time period away, and am a bit rusty.

"His excellency has requested your presence immediately," One of Rashiid's personal staff snapped.

He was never a big fan of me. From the moment I stepped foot into this house, he never trusted me. His instincts were spot, though he didn't know it. He had no way of knowing what I had planned. I'd finally managed to track down the prick who'd taken my family from me, and I wasn't leaving until his life was extinguished from the planet. It wasn't even that hard really. I just put on a wig with contacts and was hired on as a maid.

"I wonder whatever he could possibly want," I ponder thoughtfully just to piss him off.

He forced me back against the Giant Marble Island that was dead center of the kitchen and leaned forward, meeting my eyes. "I'm watching you."

"Get off of me," I spit.

His hand wraps around my as he presses me into the Island. "The moment you screw up, i'll be there to catch you."

Before he realized what happened, I had a knife to his neck. He had the sense to take a step back. I moved forward lean closer. The blade pressed against his skin, a single drop of blood began to trickle down.

"You might want to watch yourself," my voice comes out deathly calm. "Wouldn't wanna cut yourself and bleed all over the place. God forbid anything like that happen. It would be a shame."

I let the cool steel of the blade slide up the side of his cheek, my eyes following every move. The furious look in his eyes and flare of his nostrils made me want to laugh, though he said nothing.

"God forbid," I murmured as I set the knife down. "It sure would be a shame."

There was a moment of silence before I smile coldly at him as I walk by. "Well, off to see what his excellency could possibly want. I really enjoyed our talk. We should do if again sometime."



"I was told you requested to see me, your excellency." I knock.

"You may enter." The door swung open.

I step inside, my eyes instantly fixing on the man laying on the four poster hand carved mahogany bed with mesquite netting draped over it, partially open. There were two females sitting in bed, one holding a bowl of Grapes, the other a cup. It made me think of a king sitting up high on a balcony watching two Gladiators fight to the death in an arena while thousands of people cheered on the blood shed. How barbaric.

Just looking at him, laying in bed like there wasn't a care in the world, like he wasn't ruining people's lives, made my blood boil. the thought of snapping his neck right this second made me palms tingle and my heart race. He was going to pay for what he'd done to my family.

I pasted on a fake smile. "You called?"

"Leave us," Rashiid motioned towards the door and the two females exited the room, along with another female that most likely opened the door.

Just as the audible click of the door made it's way to my ears, Rashiid slid to the foot of the bed through the opening in the mesquite netting, and stood. It seemed as if almost nothing about the man had changed from that day, looking at him so close up. Still big enough to block out the Sun with his shoulders. Still had the same eyes I'd stared into as he murdered my parents. Cruel and disgusting. He made every hair on my body stand on end, and it took everything I had not to break down as I had the last time i'd seen this man.

He looked me over head to toe, his eyes assessing me. "You're new here, aren't you?"

"Yes, your excellency," I nod. "I've been here for about two weeks now."

He looked me over again before stepping closer. "I've noticed you around."

He sat back down on the edge of his bed, keeping his eyes on mine, not saying anything. Alarms were ringing in the back of my head, and I turn toward a tray with an array of liquors on it and busy myself with making him a glass.

"You always seem to catch my eye when i'm around," his voice rumbles.

I drop a few cubes of ice into a glass and grab a container filled with honey color liquid as slowly as possible.

"Why is that?" he came from behind me.

It took everything I had not to smash something over his head and watch him bleed to death on the plush carpet. "I don't know what to tell you."

He lightly touched my shoulders, and couldn't help the shudder of revulsion that slid down my spine. His hands were on my body. I pulled out a small vial and slipped the contents into his drink before turning around. "Drink, your excellency?"

He was so close I had to back up against the dresser to make room. Rashiid took a sip of his drink as he looked me over once more. My heart began to beat furiously, my fingertips itching in anticipation. I smile crept onto my face.

"Why so happy all of a sudden?" he moved even closer, but I place both hands on his chest and begin to push him towards his bed.

"Because things are about to get fun," I whisper in his ear as he fall back.

"Oh really?" an expectant smile played on his lips as he licked them. "What kind?"

I push him onto his back and lean down to whisper in his Ear, "The kind of fun where I watch you die a slow and painful death."

He laughs for a moment, but the smile fades, his lips beginning to turn blue. They parted slightly as he tried to draw in a breath, and I smiled as I watched to color drain from his skin. He clutched at his chest like it would help anything, and I almost laugh.

"Did you enjoy your drink, your excellency?" I trail his lips with my finger. "It's was special made for you, if you hadn't noticed."

He stared in wide eyed fear at me, wheezing, gasping for air.

"Shhh," I put a finger to my lips and smile down on him like an Angel of Death.

The hand still holding his drink spilled onto the bed and the glass rolled onto the floor.

"Aw. You lost your drink." I say in fake dismay.

His mouth begins to form what I can only assume is a question. I took a guess as to what his question was.

"I bet you're wondering why i'm doing this, yes?" I get up and begin slowly pacing around the room.

"I guess you don't remember me? No? I'm not surprised." I pull out my contacts and off comes the wig I'd been wearing, shaking my hair out and letting it fall down to my knees before walking over to the bed. "Remember me now?"

He was floundering around like a fish out of water, staring at me with those same wide eyes, but recognition dawned on him then, and I nod my head and keep pacing. "It's been about what, a decade? That seems about right. Yea. My parents were poor, and we had no food. I can't remember for the life of me what it was I stole, but as it seems, you couldn't spare one little scrap of food."

I'd moved over to the tray and poured myself a drink, not caring what it was. Tilting the glass to my lips, the dark liquid burned the entire way down. I let the drink swirl in the glass as I continue.

"You must have been starving for days like we were. No? Really? Didn't think so."

I took another sip and are quiet for a moment, watching him suffer. Leaning against the table, I drape one arm over my ribs, and cross one ankle over the other before continuing. "I bet you're wondering what's happening right now. What I have spreading through your body. Yes? No? I'll tell you anyway. Conium, Aconitum. Hemlock and Wolfsbane."

His chest began heaving as he squeaked out air.

"Wanna know what they do?" I crawled back into bed and sat on his abdomen.

"Hemlock is death in the form of paralysis, your mind is wide awake, but your body doesn't respond and eventually the respiratory system shuts down. And Wolfsbane," I trail a finger above the spot where his heart is. "causes arrhythmic heart function which leads to suffocation. Nasty little bugger when mixed together, wouldn't you say?"

This time I do laugh. I laugh so hard I almost fall out of the bed, but I reign back in my control. I top off the drink I have and throw the glass to the floor, watching it shatter into tiny pieces. I grab his face and pull him closer, my voice coming out low and filled with hatred and anger.

"My parents were great people. Loving parents who deserved so much more than what they got. You took them from me. Took the only family I had ever known while I watched. Now I get to watch you die."

Just then, someone began beating on the door. "Open up in there!"

"We're a little busy at the moment!" I call back before hopping off the bed.

The door handle jiggles repeatedly, the door shaking. "Open the door immediately!!"

A loud thud, and the door trembles. I watch as his body convulses for a moment, his eyes never leaving me as I pulled on my wig and fixed my contacts. Then I reach under his desk and pull a bag out that held clothes for me to change into. A pair of jeans, and deep purple tank top, and leather jacket. More thuds began at the door as someone tried to break it down.

"You deserve so much more then you're getting, so be thankful I didn't torture you."

I watch as his body convulses once more, then he stops moving. I walk over and feel for his pulse. Nothing. boom boom boom. As I head for the window, I stop something catches my eye. A notebook that hadn't been there earlier was sitting on the night stand. Snatching it up, I kick the window open and hop onto the seal. The notebook falls open and I look down.

YOU ARE CHOSEN.

A frown forms on my face. Chosen for what? I hop out of the window seal and onto the waiting tree branch and stop for a moment. Something else catches my eye, Something wound around another branch nearby. I reach over to grab it yanking my hand back as it cut into my palm. The notebook begins to shimmer, falling open once more.

TAKE IT AND JUMP.

Just as I reach for the other branch, the door bursts off it's hinges as several men come into the room weapons at the ready. They see me and open fire. Without another thought, I reach forward, yanking whatever it is off the branch, and jump. Orbs of light begin to swirl everywhere (think Star Trek when they're being teleported), and then nothing but a chasm of darkness.



I barely catch myself as I touch the ground, falling to one knee and looking around. A train station? How in the world did I get here? Standing, The sound of an Iron whistle reaches my ears and I see a giant plume of black smoke as a train come screeching by, slowing, then coming to a halt. I drop what's in my hand and rip a piece of my shirt to wrap it. Finally I look down notice and see what I actually had. A whip. No, three. Two short white bull whips and one long black braided whip. I'd never seen anything like them. Nothing like the whips in my village I handled. I covered my hands with my jacket and wrapped the white whips, placing one on each hip, then wrapping the other around my waist.

"What the hell is going on?" I murmur.

"In need of assistance?" comes a voice from behind me.