Young Writers Society

Lauryn

The colours are pretty; a dizzying spiral of golds and silvers. Dizzy, dizzy. I'd laugh at the pretty lights if I could find my mouth, my mouth and ears and nose make a face...faces like the ones outlined in the coloured sparkles. I can reach out and touch them, whoops, didn't realise my hand was so heavy. No, the colours are fading, I scared them away. my hand's too heavy to grab the lights, to make them stay...The faces are left, but I still have the dizziness. Dizzy, dizzy, dizzy Skizzy. Skizzy...His face is there, it's funny, it's close and upside-down and it's almost too close, he looks worried.

No, I don't like it, it's too close now. And there's Lucy's. And Realn's, and Olivia's and Ali's. They're strange...why are they above me? Why am I on the floor? The pretty lights are all gone now and there's just the numb feeling in my head; it feels like the time I OD'd on painkillers.

I struggle past the numbness and try to form words.
"Where're we? Was'n th' pavmennnt...wass this plaayyce?"

Richard:

The alarming sound disturbed Richard from his relaxation. His eyes were wide open to the doors that revealed some hospital staffs running along the corridors in terror. He didn't know what was happening. He breathed in the cold air, suspecting any burnt smell for confirmation if there was a fire or any accident. He slipped in his feet to the sneaker in front of him and his heart was thumping fast when he stepped out of the room. His worried eyes wandered throughout the hallway, and nobody seemed to force him back inside.

"All patients, please report back to your rooms immediately. This is not an option!"

Turning his head from side to side, the ringing still continued. His right hand still gripped the frame of the door and he could feel his stomach lurching.

"Richard, this is the time of our freedom," a sudden whisper went to his ear. He angled his face to locate the source and saw an old man. Without letting him to speak, the man grabbed his hand. "Keep your head low," he ordered and Richard obeyed. They started to walk fast and fortunately, no one has still noticed them.

"Where are you taking me?" Richard was in total confusion. The old man before him didn't answer and continued walking until they reached in front of a staff room. The man looked back at him and said, "Go inside, grab the nearest janitor uniform you can see and wear it. You only have half a minute to dress up, boy."

"Why?"

"Escape. There's not much time for a chit-chat now. You have to get inside. Move!"

Richard felt a strong force from the back of his body that led him to the staff room. Closing the door, Richard could feel the stranger against the wooden door. Reminding him of the time, he found a uniform that hung from the wall. He unclothed himself fast and started to wear the green polo first then the black denim. Before he could turn the doorknob, he took a floor map and went outside.

Lowering his head, Richard closed the door behind him and noticed that the old man was gone. Angling up a bit, he could see now some patients trying to force their way out from the security guard's strong arms. He could even see some patients who got injected by the doctors and some nurses. As he was walking with his disguised uniform, he looked everywhere in search for the old man but still, there was even not a slight presence of him.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" An arm grasped Richard's shoulder that made him jump a bit. He turned back and looked the the guard. His eyes gave a serious stare that resulted Richard to look down, avoiding his gaze.

"I--uh... something... I... should---" Richard started to stutter, feeling the icky cold sweat against his exhausted body.

"You should clean and perhaps check out every room later to see if any patients have escaped and left some evidences." The harsh voice surrounded the atmosphere that gave Richard a slight chill. Before leaving Richard, the guard patted his shoulder and left him.

Because of his anxiety, Richard's knuckle was white as he clutched the the floor map.

This is going to be a very long night, Richard thought.

The old man... Who was he? And why was he trying to help Richard escape?

Lucy:

Opening my eyes, I saw shadows lurking in the corner. Where am I? Why am I here? I don't know this place!

Something's in the corner Lucy. It's going to hurt you. Skizzy brought you here to get rid of you. Lucy, you're gonna have to kill them all.

"No" I whispered quietly

Lucy, you have to! You must save yourself! Get rid of them Lucy. NOW!

"Get.out.of.my.head!" I screamed.

I felt my nails scrap the skin off of my arms and something warm started flowing down my arms.

Lucy, stop! I'm your friend, they're the enemy!

"Get out!" I screamed, thrashing around.

My hands threw to my throat and began gouging the skin from it. The warm blood began dripping down my neck and pooled behind my head.

I felt someone grab my hands and yell "Lucy, no! Stop it, you're just hurting yourself. Please stop Lucy, please!"

"Lucy, stop!" I screamed, shaking her harshly. Tears streaming down my face, welled down to her blood stained neck. It was dark. Still night time, and we were still in the cold empty house when Lucy woke up screaming at herself, scratching her neck so hard, blood began to drown all over both Olivia and myself.

"Lucy, stop! You're going to kill yourself! Stop, please!" I screamed even louder now so that my throat felt as if it were bleeding as well. Olivia soon joined in the fight against Lucy and herself. We screamed and pleaded her to stop, but she couldn't hear us and neither could anyone else.

I looked around the room, but all I could see was the darkness hovering over us as it prepared to eat us one by one.

Ali

The screams of Realyn and Olivia woke me from my sleep, tiredly I made myself get up and see what was going on.
"Lucy, Lucy stop!" Realyn and Olivia's voices echoed through the building. What if someone heard them screaming?
My feet made loud echoing noises as I found what looked like Lucy, screaming at imagined voices and tearing at her skin, making crimson fluid run down to the floor boards staining them a dark red.
"Realyn! Olivia!" I screamed at them snatching their hands away from Lucy, I knew from their faces they weren't pleased.
"Lucy, Lucy please stop," I took her hand, " Those voices aren't real they are pretend, they are imagined" For a moment I thought I saw her hands slow but them the screaming continued louder than ever as the rest of us runaways filled the room.

Skizzy

The house had literally gone to hell. Everything was fine for the first few hours, as the sun slowly started to rise only to fall again. It was evening when the first big thing happened, Lauryn woke up. She was confused and lost but, soon enough, she understood what was happeneing and wasn't that bad at all. Man, she was so skinny, so frail. I never realized how bad it was until I really looked at her, I mean really looked. She was too pretty to be so insecure. It was a shame.

Everyone settled around, doing nothing. The sun sunk lower in the sky and, out of boredom, I grabbed the money Ali swiped and went out to find a store so we could get some food, I also bought a bottle of weight loss pills and vitamins. While walking "home", I dumped out the weight loss pills and filled them with the vitamin pills. I know it was wrong, even mean, but I couldn't let her just go that way. I knew she'd find them, sooner or later, better sooner than later. I couldn't let her stay that way.

Sighing, I pushed open the door, my arms filled with groceries, a lamp or two, some batteries, and even a few pieces of candy. That lady was loaded, and we still had money left over. I'd have to take Ali on a trip through the city again sometime, she was good at what she did.

"I'm back, and I have-"

"Lucy! Lucy please stop!" I dropped the bags and ran towards the sound of Ali's screaming voice. She was trying to pry Lucy's hands away from her face and neck. There was blood everywhere. Lauryn was sitting in a corner crying and Derrick was trying to comfort Oliva and Realyn. Hannah, no Kate, was just watching, yelling that she was scaring Cindy. I ran over as quickly as I could and pushed Ali away, grabbing Lucy's arms and pinning them to her sides, leaving her to thrash and scream. Good thing I bought bandages.

"Lucy, stop this!"

"No, you're going to kill-"

"I won't hurt you! Nobody will! We're your friends! Nobody is out to hurt you. Please, you're scaring Oliva and Realyn. Stop, you're scaring them!" I shook her slightly and soon, her protest died and she fefll limp, sleeping. I sighed and laid her back down. "Kate," I looked over and sighed, "Hannah, bring me those bags." She nodded and quickly drug all the plastic bags over. I smiled gratefully at her and ruffled her hair and quickly dug through one for the bandages I bought. I made a quick job of wrapping her neck and, when I was done, wiped my hands on my jeans.

"I leave for a few hours and this happens?" Like you can blame them, they're all crazy. You're crazy. This is what happens when a bunch of your kind get together without meds or guidance. They were right. "I think it's time for everyone to go to bed. If you're hungry, there's food in the bag." I resisted the urge to look at Lauryn while saying this. I know she hated that. Everyone slowly got up and went to the bags, I slipped the pill bottle in my pocket before walking away.

When I found a good enough spot, I put the pills there and went back to where everyone was. I grabbed some bread and grape jelly and made a quick sandwich.

"Man, what a day."

Lauryn

I'm still cold, but feeling better now I've rested. Skizzy explained everything to me; I guess we're in this house for as long as it's empty. No one's really talked to me, which is good, it leaves me free to doze. I'm feeling more comfortable than I have for ages, no pressure to eat or anything. Though, I will admit to feeling that aching in my stomach that the force-feeding sessions had muted...
Lauryn, you've only been away for a few hours, and already you're thinking of food! What a pig. Don't you remember why you're doing this!? Remember Luke? Remember your boyfriend? Even he was disgusted with you. He picked Her, didn't he? He picked Meg-

My scream's drowned out by Lucy's. She's scratching at her face and throat as if she's trying to rip away the skin. No, please don't scream! It's too much in my head, like I have a fever - why is no one else holding their hands to their ears in pain? I don't like it Lucy, stop!
"Stop it Lucy! Shut up, shut up!" I scream, tears of panicky desperation escaping. There's nowhere to hide, her voice penetrates everything.

I curl in the corner like I used to do, to escape the world before I discovered the numbing power of a shining blade - that's it, I need one, I need something to make it all go away. My hands still crushing my ears, I start to stand, only to have my legs buckle under me - they've gone to sleep under my weight. Fat pig, the voice says viciously in my head, and I collapse in tears.

That's how Skizzy finds us when he pushes through the door, laden with bags which he immediately drops, rushing over to Lucy. I shed fresh tears in relief. Skizzy can always calm Lucy down, as he does now, soothing her to sleep.
When he's done, he invites us to food from his bags. Oh, god. I flinch, leaving the room as soon as I can, the voice picking at me all the way.
Ahh, I bet you wanted to stay, didn't you Lauryn? You're weak, think how huge you'd be if you didn't have me? I'm here to help you get pretty Lauryn, nice and thin. You want that?
I nod.
Then all you have to do is this, just listen to what I say, stop eating, Lauryn. Everyone's out to get you, to make you fatter, they're in league with Her. But we can change that, can't we?
I smile - sometimes, when the voice gets angry with me, I start to wonder if it's really trying to help. But at times like these, I know it really cares, it wants to help me make it all better.

I stay upstairs, alone, until I judge everyone's finished eating. I'm on my way back down to the main room when I notice it - a small bottle. It looks familiar...yes! Yes, they're weight loss pills! Finally something's looking my way. I look around to make sure no one's watching, then pick up the bottle. It's full. Opening the bottle, I quickly take two, relishing the taste of something I'm allowed to eat. Placing the bottle back in my pocket, I return to the main room.

Skizzy's Safe, so I go up to where he's lounging on a sofa. He's sort of become the leader of our group already, so I turn to him for the answers to the questions that have been nagging at me since I found out where we were staying.
"Skizzy, how long can we stay here? Won't the owners of the house come back soon? Where'll we go?"

Lucy:

Someone was holding down my arms and yelling at me, but I couldn't here them, the screams wouldn't stop.

"You're scaring Raelyn and Olivia!" the person yelled.

I slowly began calming down, and the next thing I knew I was sleeping.

When I woke up, it felt as if my neck was set on fire.

They did this to you Lucy. It's their fault you're hurt.

What had the person said to me? That the voice wasn't realy? My imagination.

Hahaha. They're lying to you Lucy. Just trying to hurt you.

"You hurt me. It was your fault." I accused curtly.

[i]No Lucy, no! I'm helping you Lucy, I promise. I'm trying to keep you safe. Everyone else is trying to hurt you, not me![i]

"YOU DID THIS TO ME!" I yelled, my throat feeling as if someone took a knife and slit it open, tears running down my cheeks from pain and from betrayal of the voice.

"Lucy!" I heard someone yell.

Wraith
I was sitting downstairs when I heard someone scream then I was up the stairs along with everyone else. Everyone was standing around screaming while Ali and Skizzy were close to Lucy trying to calm her down. I knelt beside her and started to talk to her my voice only raised enough for it to be heard above her screams "Lucy please calm down we're your friends were not going to hurt you." I kept my voice calm as I said mostly the same thing until Skizzy was actually the one who calmed her down by saying that she was scaring Realyn and Olivia then she went to sleep. I sat back on my heels and sighed rubbing my cheeks. "I think it's time for everyone to go to bed. If you're hungry, there's food in the bag." Skizzy said calmly. I flicked my eyes over as Lauryn left the room. I walked over to the bags and made an extremely quick peanut butter sandwich. I walked downstairs and ate the sandwich humming under my breath as I did so once I was finished I took out the Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate bar that Nurse Joselyn had given me then I unwrapped it and broke off a small piece. I rewrapped it and put the small piece in my mouth sitting back as it melted. I closed my eyes and sighed hoping that I could get some sleep if not... I fingered my razor blade feeling the coldness of the metal soak into my fingers if not I was prepared.