Young Writers Society

Washi

Washi sat at the desk and took in her surroundings, looking for any exits in case she had to run. The office had a black and white color scheme and a small window.

"What is your name?" The woman who had brought her in asked. Washi paused for a moment trying to contain the headache that was rising. Not now she thought as the headache became increasingly more painful.

"W-Washi." She was finally able to stammer out, wincing and touched her fingertips lightly to her forehead. The woman asked her a few more questions, like how she got so banged up. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and another face peeked in. Washi instantly jumped up, ready to be on guard. It was just the girl standing at the door when Washi had made her dramatic entrance.

Now that Washi wasn't fighting for her life, she assessed this stranger. She had long brown hair and large eyes that darted to multiple places at once. She seemed timid to Washi, so she assumed that if it ever came to a life or death situation between her and the other girl it would be an easy win.

Slowly Washi let her guard down, but still eyes the girl suspiciously. "Hello, Mrs. Willow?" She said, "I'm Blight Hottle and I tried to talk to you before." So that was the girls name Blight. Washi tried it out, but it sounded foreign on her tongue. The only words she was accustomed to were "get off me!" and "let me go!" That happenes after 16 years of being locked up in a lab.

"Bonjour Madame Hottle." Washi said. "I'm terribly sorry if I frightened you earlier, I'm afraid it wasn't the best of times for me. My name is Washi." The girl, Blight , jumped a little when Washi spoke then managed a nervous smile.

~Nero Sapienti~

"Alright." He got to his feet to throw out the crusts to his pizza - he had quickly decided he didn't like the taste of them - and almost immediately felt an aching headache. He could feel the warmth rushing to his face; he immediately recognized the feeling. It always brought dread with it. Getting sick when you were trying to survive out on the streets was never a good thing. "I'm feeling warm too," he said. "I think we're both coming down with something...Since there's an infirmary, maybe we should go there instead of our rooms?"

~Briar Cooper~

"Hi," he said with what he hoped was a warm smile. He concentrated incredibly hard for a second and tried to make his fangs less noticeable. The effort left him feeling tired as he continued talking to them, but he felt like it was worth it. Anything to make him appear more human and more amicable was a good enough cause to cast an illusion.

"I, um, realized that it was you in the cafeteria, and in the hallway. I wasn't sure if you wanted anyone else to know, so I thought I would come to you..." He found himself distracted by a far too familiar smell; he had long ago grown to recognize it. Alix smelled like it and so did the trash can near the door.

Hoping it wasn't obvious that he was trying to sneak inside the room and investigate the trash, Briar nervously entered. He wasn't sure why the smell would be lingering in the room - his mind immediately jumped to the worst conclusions. With a gulp, he made his way over to the trash and casually leaned against the wall it was against. "So I just wanted to know if you were alright with other people knowing about it, and to ask you if you have specific pronouns you want to be called by." He glanced down.

There was a razor in the trash, its blade covered in blood.

He looked up. Alix's wrists were covered in bandages; his stomach lurched when he realized what they were hiding. He almost instinctively glanced down at his own arms as memories of his past resurfaced.

"Um...I'm sorry to bring this up, but I see the razor in your trashcan..." He didn't meet their eyes. He knew it was a difficult subject to bring up. "...I used to cut myself too, so please don't feel like you have to hide it."

Blight Hottle

Blight smiled timidly and walked in, taking a seat next to the little girl. As she glanced over at her, there was some blood on her dress and she seemed to be pale, prehaps from a sort of pain?

She looked around at the black and white room, and then at Miss Willow. She had been quite shocked when the wolfhounds had attacked the girl, and now she was really curious as to wether this place was safe or not. She had been looking for a safe place to stay for a little over a week now, scavenging and hiking until she had finally found this school. Ever since her...'episode' in kindergarten, she hadn't ever really found any friends and even her parents thought she was strange. She wondered if she could actually fit in here.

María Romero

María hesitated. She herself had wondered if she should go to the infirmary, but she felt that she couldn't handle being under so much scrutiny in one day, even if it was going to be from a friendly person with a charming brogue.

She coughed, and she could feel a headache coming on too. Nero's expression grew more serious.

"I think it'll really help. And it would be great to, um, go together."

María nodded, not paying close attention to what he said. Slowly, she stood and followed Nero out of the cafeteria, feeling weak-legged as they left.

Es normal, she told herself. Every now and then, she had felt rather ill sometime after she had lost her parents and her uncles and aunts had taken everything and 'cared' for her while keeping track of a debt. It was not that María was unable to adapt to doing hard labor or minding screaming, crying cousins; but it wore down on her, as though she was running and couldn't stop.

After receiving countless looks of pity and contempt at her new school--public, as her relatives refused to pay the high tuition of her private school--and beginning to have failing grades for the first time in her life because of how busy she was working, she had finally given up the facade of optimism and positivity as well as stopped hiding her power. She admitted to herself that this was how life was going to always be. Then she had quickly begun to fall ill.

She had often stood at the very edge of the top floor of her apartment building, staring down at the street far below, and wondered just how far it was to fall from there.

That was how she felt now, light and falling, falling--

Blinking, she found herself on her knees in the hallway.

Alix
Alix's eyes widened slightly but he smiled none the less.

"Cutting?" he tried to play it off, "What do you mean?" Briar strode over to the trashcan and pulled the razor blade out from the trash can.

"Cutting," he said quietly holding up the razor. Alix stared at it, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for it. Finally, he came up with nothing. He transformed back into a she and sank to the floor. The poorly wrapped bandages fell off and it exposed the freshly made cuts on her wrist. The blood was still flowing from her wrists and it trickled off her fingers and onto the floor. Briar came over and put a hand on her shoulder. Alix put her blood soaked hands to her face and started to cry.

Her facade of happiness faded and a side came out of her that no one had seen. A broken side, a hurt side, a lonely side and despite all of the things she did, there was no healing. Not for her.

Briar tried to calm her down but that only made her cry more.

"Shh," he said gently.

"I-I-" she tried to choke them out but the words wouldn't come. Briar covered her mouth.

"Don't try," he said, "We need to get you help." Alix shook her head.

"No," she said, "No, don't tell a soul. Do not tell a soul about this."

~Briar Cooper~

"Alright," he finally said. He sat down next to them. He didn't try comforting them by touch because he was unsure if they would be comfortable with it. "I understand. I won't tell anyone." Nat had found out after she had been hurt; he had felt so guilty about being so useless that he had returned to what usually distracted him - the pain of some sharp object. When he recalled the memory, he clearly remembered her knocking the small knife out of his hands and telling him not to do it.

She didn't understand. She could never understand how much it helped him get through the years prior to their meeting. Without the distraction, he would have never survived half of his time on Earth. Humans could be cruel, and were happy to make him do the cruel things they didn't want to dirty their hands with.

He hadn't cut himself in several years. There had been no need to, seeing that Nat was so kind to him. The only times when he felt the urge was when he failed her; up until they found the Miss Willow's Home for Peculiar Children, he had been tempted to.

The best solution was to the problem was to show Alix kindness, and show them that things would get better - it was something he had learned thanks to his time with Nat. "If you want to," he quietly suggested, "you can tell me why you hurt so much..." He still didn't meet their eyes. "I understand if you don't want to. We barely even know each other, but I think it helps to get it out sometimes instead of bottling it up." Which was an incredibly ironic statement to him, seeing that he had never once (despite her constant questioning) told Nat about his past.

~Arthur Faye~

Singing out a song but for who and why?
Suddenly a clinic under wood and pine
Reach into your heart, show me every part
Tell me who you really are
Come and open wide, lemme see inside
Piercing through the vein and cutting through just right
Wrapping you around, medical in melody
Wrapping you around, medical in melody.

He studied the paper lying on his desk with an intense look on his face, his pick no longer dancing over the strings of his guitar. The thought of performing the song to them made his face grow hot, but he still put his guitar in its case and slung its black strap over his shoulder.

He traced his fingers along the familiar walls as he made his way down the hallway. He tried to ignore the butterflies flying around in his stomach, but it was impossible; even if he had a net, he wouldn't have been able to catch them all.

He slowed to a halt when he reached the door. The sound of talking reached his ears; Alix didn't appear to be alone. He almost turned away to leave, but he quickly realized that he recognized the other voice. He peeked into the room.

A name resurfaced from the depths of his childhood memories as he saw the boy with the cat-eared hoodie.

Briar?!

He had met Briar and his younger sister Natalie six years when he was ten. Nat was only eight, and Briar was twice her age at sixteen. They had never exchanged last names, and they had only met in a soup kitchen and started talking while waiting in line. He had ended up at Miss Willow's Home for Forgotten and Abandoned Children not long afterwards.

What disturbed him was the fact that Briar, despite the new hoodie, hadn't aged a day since they had met.

And what disturbed him even more was that Briar was talking with Alix, and had an unsettling pair of fangs. He knew it was wrong to jump to conclusions, but he lived in a world of magic. There had to be at least one vampire, and Briar seemed to fit the bill with his appearance and how cold and distant he had been when they first met.

He hesitantly knocked on the door.

The two spun around. Alix was crying; why was she crying? And why did Briar have such a kind and understanding look in his eyes, when back then he had barely even acknowledged Arthur's or his sister's presences?

Jake Harrison

No one had said a word during the six hour drive. They stopped only once for gas and restroom breaks and even then no one said a word. Jake had given up asking where they were going and was content to just stare out the window at the passing country side.

It was peaceful.

For the first time in years, there wasn't any yelling. There was just the silence and them. As much as Jake wanted to enjoy the time in the car with them, his gut was telling him that something was wrong.

His father, a strong man with a curly brown beard kept his eyes on the road. His head only turning periodically to check his mirrors. Jake's father had always had a stoic face. Little to no expression, save for the times that he found out about something else that Jake had burned by accident.

His mother was normally the more vocal one, usually trying to keep an eye on Jake to make sure that he wasn't about to ignite something else. But in that car she had her eyes forward. She hadn't looked at him once since they had started this little expedition. Not even when he tried to get her to look out the window to see the horses in the pasture. It was her lack of emotion, or even humoring him, that had Jake nervous.

By the time they arrived at the building, it was dark and the rain had started. The wipers swishing water this way and that as it went. The house made his stomach do flips. He didn't like being here.

The house itself wasn't what was making him uneasy. It was how his parents seemed to get even more tense as they got closer.

Have to be good. Have to be good, he thought to himself, trying to keep his nerves from causing yet another accident.

The car pulled up to the front of the house, a single light illuminating the steps as his father stopped and put the car in park. Mother and Father got out first, their expressions sullen as the father moved to the trunk and the mother moved to Jake's door. She quickly ushered him out and stood him in front of the steps before he turned to face her and the car.

"You'll be staying here," his father said as he set the suitcase of Jake's clothes down beside him. He immediately turned and got back into the car, waiting.

His mother held out a letter to Jake, who took it without question before he looked up to his mother. "When do I come back home?" Jake asked in a small voice. The rain soaking into his hoodie as he stood beyond the cover.

"This is your home now," his mother said with a strained voice.

Jake was heart broken as he learned what all this was. They were sending him away. They were done with the accidents and the injuries. She turned on her heel back to the car and opened the door.

"Mama," Jake said quickly in a frightened voice. She paused and turned to him, her eyes cold and tired. Jake slowly held his arms up, silently begging to be held.

"Please," he said in a whisper so faint that even he had to strain to hear it.

His mother's expression, for a brief moment, softened. Her eyes seeing the little boy that loved to play and would run to her when he was hurt or upset.

But she couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to give Jake his last request.

She got back into the car and his father drove away. The tail lights of the car glowing in the dark as they slowly got smaller and smaller.

Jake didn't run after them. He didn't beg them to take him back.

He stood there in the rain. Staring after them as the rain drops hid the tears that were pouring down his cheeks. His hands trembling. Not from the cold, but from the pain of never being able to have his parent's approval. They had given him the ultimate rejection and it hurt worse than every other combined.

There he stood staring off into the dark. The tail lights having disappeared minutes ago. Steam rising up from his body as his clothes began to dry, even in the down pour.

He didn't turn when the door behind him opened, casting him in the warm glow of the inside. His eyes remained focused on that spot where the two dots of red had vanished. Hoping...praying...that his parents would come back for him.

Raven
Raven was still sitting by Ollie the tree when Nero and María came into the room. They both looked a little pale, like her, and they eyes were slightly glassy.

"What-" María tried to say but almost toppled over in the process.

"Don't ask," interrupted Raven. She turned back to Ollie the tree and asked;

"Will you have the energy for two more?" Raven could feel Ollie thinking, keeping her well being and the girl she was currently healing's well being in mind.

I may have enough energy for two more to heal them temporarily unless I let this girl go. Bring them too me. Raven motioned for Nero and María to come forward.

"Stand in front of the tree," she ordered. They did as she commanded and Ollie reached out her branches to embrace them. María tried to struggle but Raven told her;

"Don't struggle. It'll make Ollie's job harder." María stopped, but sh was obviously still terrified. Raven watched as the two joined the girl who'd shown up earlier. They all looked so peaceful and Raven wished they were always like that. She knew she wasn't easily likable, but it would be nice, for just one of them to act like an older sibling. Maybe for a day, but it would be nice. Ollie acted that way for quite some time, but she had too big of a heart to only be hers. She knew it was selfish, but Raven wanted someone to love her and only her like family.

Stop it, she thought to herself, snapping herself out of her daydream, you are an unlovable, tough as bone death child who scares everyone for no reason. Raven started to turn away, but then something started to happen to Ollie.

"Ollie?" she said, turning back around. Ollie was panting and the leaves on the tree were dying.

Did-did I do this? Raven thought in horror, stumbling back, but then Ollie's weak voice from the back of her mind stopped her.

This wasn't you Raven, she said, The sickness in these two combined with the injuries form this other girl is too much. I must tell you something, Raven. I trapped myself in a tree to prevent this thing from getting out. I don't know what it is, but I sense it is powerful.

"Is it an force?" asked Raven, "A magic force?"

No, replied Ollie with difficulty, More of... virus... don't let it... escpae... could... harm... Suddenly, Ollie's eyes opened in her wooden encasing. They were black and glowing and Raven scrambled back.

BOOM!

The tree exploded and when Raven opened her eyes again, she saw the three patients all sitting up and groaning and Ollie, laying in the middle. There was steam rising from her clothes and she wasn't moving.

"What-?" asked Nero, rubbing his head. Raven rushed forward and knelt beside Ollie.

"No," she said, emotion filling her voice for the first time in years, "no, no, no!" She turned to Nero and in a pain stricken voice said;

"Why?"

~Natalie Cooper~

Nat could barely comprehend the events that had just occurred; there had been a girl inside of the tree, and she was lying motionless on the ground. She rushed to her feet. After a moment of staring at the girl, she noticed that her chest was rising and falling. It was barely noticeable, but it was there all the same. "Let me through," she told the other children gathered around the girl. All of them had looks of horror on their face as they stepped aside.

She didn't have much time, but she still had to study the girl's injuries in order to take them on. She guessed the girl had something else going on, but she was unsure of what that something was. All she knew from certain was that she was injured with second degree burns from the explosion.

I'm sorry, Briar.

She grabbed the girl up into her arms and pulled her close. The magic began to flow between the two of them as some of the girl's injuries transferred to Nat's skin; she grit her teeth together to prevent herself from screaming out in pain. She knew she couldn't take all of the injuries, or she would end up in the same state the girl was in.

Skin blistering, Nat leaned back. She winced in pain, but didn't complain about how much it hurt. She had taken half of the burns away; now each of them possessed first degree burns rather than second.

~Briar Cooper~

There was someone at the door that Briar felt he should recognize, but before he could even start to think about their identity, pain began to race across his skin. Surprised, he found his legs go weak with the pain and he came crashing to the ground. He rushed to stand up. A cursory glanced at his hand proved that he was uninjured. "Oh Lucifer," he managed to get out.

He somehow managed to get to the doorway. Alix and the boy with the guitar watched him as he made his way down the maze of hallways. It hurt, but he had long ago grown used to pain. He didn't know exactly where the infirmary was in relation to Alix's room, but he was able to tell where she was. He let their connection be his guide in the unfamiliar building as he navigated corridor after corridor.

He finally ended up in the infirmary.

He scanned the surroundings for her. She was resting on one of the few beds in the infirmary, eyes focused on the girl on the floor. Both of them possessed first degree burns. No one seemed to notice as he entered the room. "N-Nat," he said, his voice shaking. He was trying not to cry. Crying would just draw more attention to himself, which was something he didn't need.

She finally looked up. "I'm sorry, Briar. I couldn't tell you and she was dying. I had to do something-"

He ran over and pulled her into embrace (a small burst of pain was shared between the two of them, but neither of them brought it up). "I wa-was really scared." Tears streamed down his face as he cried into her shoulder. "I thought something bad had happened to you."

Pulling him closer, she rubbed his back to comfort him. "Sh...It's alright, Briar. I'm okay now. Everything is alright."

Ollie
Ollie was floating in a dark abyss. There seemed no light, but she could see herself as clear as day. She looked around, scared. Where in heavens name am I? Then, she had a more pressing thought. Who in heavens name am I? Ollie couldn't remember a thing, other than being trapped in an encasing of wood. Was I dead? No, it wasn't a coffin. The wood seemed more natural and then she remembered a face. A pale face framed in black hair. The face belonged to someone young, possibly nine or ten.

Ollie wake up... Ollie heard a voice in the black.

"Hello?" she called out, "Is anyone there? Is my name Ollie? Where are you?" Suddenly, she saw a little bit of light in the distance. Ollie tried to float towards it, but she wouldn't move. The light just kept on getting bigger until her world turned white.

"Ollie?" a young voice.

"Are you okay?" a male one now. Ollie opened her eyes to see a bunch of strange faces hovering over her. But she recognized one. The little black haired girl. She was the closest. Ollie reached up and touched her.

"Ollie?" the girl asked, "Are you okay?"

"I-I don't know," she said. She turned to a boy, he had black hair and he was next to a hispanic looking girl.

"Ollie?" he asked looking confused. Ollie's gaze travelled to the girl.

"W-where am I?" she asked.

"You're in Miss Willow's remember?" said the girl. She had an accent that Ollie couldn't put her finger on.

"No," Ollie said, "I-I don't remember. I don't remember anything." She looked at the faces.

"Who are ye?" she asked, panic growing in her voice, "Who-who am I?" Worried whispers were exchanged.

"YOu don't remember anything?" asked the black haired girl. Ollie shook her head.

"Can you get up?" asked the accented girl. Ollie tried but her legs wouldn't move.

"No," she said, "I can't feel my legs. I-I can't feel my legs!" Ollie began to panic. She had too many questions.

"I can't feel my legs!" she shouted. The stress of everything was too much for her. Ollie blacked out once more and found herself back in the void.

Washi

Washi could sense that something was wrong, the wind was trying to tell her something. "I sense there's something on the wind that tells that tragedy's at hand." She muttered. "But what?" She closed her eyes briefly and searched deep inside her, urging Yami to come forward. She knew that in real life they would see her as half and half, half albino with long white hair and half dark skinned with long black hair but none of that mattered. She also knew that they would also be hearing their entire conversation, now that worried her a bit.
"Yami, come." She said, peering into the darkness. Yami shimmered into view, with her inky black hair and deep golden eyes, she could be easily classified as a demon in the real world.
"What do you want?" Yami asked, her voice hoarse, as if it hasn't been used in a long time. "I suppose it must be important if you have summoned me during daylight hours so get on with it."
"What have you done this time?" Washi asked, her red eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Or, what have your minions done this time?" She clarified, sealing any loopholes that Yami could use as a way out.
"Now we get more specific." Yami replied, smirking at me. "I assure you, I am not causing this to happen. Although, I almost wish I was. Since that was all you have come to see me for, I suppose that I'll leave now. Goodbye!" Yami disappeared into the darkness and since Wahi knew better than to summon her again she just sighed and open ed her eyes.

~Briar Cooper~

To his horror, Nat suddenly collapsed onto his lap. "Nat!" he cried out. He tried to shake her, but she remained unconscious. The others only watched; he wished someone would help, though he knew the majority of them were injured and lacked the ability to do so. There had to be some reason for her sudden passing out. He wasn't feeling any pain, which could only mean one thing - Nat was now unconscious in his lap because of some sickness. She had only had a cold before. It couldn't have been that. So what was it?

He pressed a hand to her forehead. He was terrified to realize that she was burning up. "Someone please help her," he begged, but no one stepped forward. He held her close. He was getting a horrible feeling about whatever Nat had, and he was struck by the equally horrible fear that what she had would prove to be fatal.

There was the sound of two people entering the room. He looked up to see Alix and the boy who had been standing in the doorway to Alix's room. He knew that something about the boy was familiar, but with his mind distracted by Nat's sickness, he couldn't figure what. "Oh my God," the boy said as his gaze swept across the room. "There's so many sick people here. I'll-I'll go get Miss Willow."

The boy rushed out of the infirmary. Briar heard him running down the hallway, shouting the name of the establishment's owner as Briar continued to hold Nat close to him.