Young Writers Society

Schadel Kueper:

When she awoke, it was to a clear blue sky and leaves swaying in the cool breeze.

She stared up at the sky in confusion. Her last memory had been being chased into a corner of the abandoned meeting house. She should have been there. There was no gateways in that building - she had been studying their locations for years.

As she tried to sit up, pain shot up her left arm. She glanced at it. By now, the long gash in it should have healed. But it stubbornly remained for reasons she couldn't comprehend.

Trying to ignore the pain, she got to her feet. She was in a forest. However, that was only a tiny bit of the information needed for her to figure out where she was and what had happened. There wasn't anything more for her here, so she would have to try exploring the forest.

There was a somewhat scary Victorian building in the distance, so she would most likely have to check there for people. But for now, she would continue forward.

A few minutes passed. Voices reached her ears. Both were male, and both were unfamiliar. As she approached the garden cottage appearing before her, she made sure to remain in shadows.

A glance through a window later, she had seen that the two were human. She retreated back several feet and closed her eyes. She would have to change her form in order for them to see her; though it pained her, it was the only way to get answers.

She opened her eyes. Something was wrong. When she glanced down at her hand, it wasn't the flesh-covered hand of a human. It was her own.

What could be the cause of her inability to heal and change her form? It was if she was frozen as she had been before she had ended up here.

The answer suddenly hit her. It was a terrifying answer, but the only one that made sense. Her magic had been frozen.

Which also meant she couldn't create Skel. That thought made her extremely upset. She had trained so hard, and practiced so much just to create the scythe, and had taken another year to master it.

She quickly came to another realization. Without magic, the two humans would be able to see her. That made things a hundred times more difficult. If they saw her, chances were they would either attack her or be terrified of her.

She would have to remain in the shadows. With her luck, if she left, they would see her through the window.

"Hello," she hesitantly said from the cover of the trees. "My name is Schadel Kueper. I have no idea how I ended up here, or where here even is. I would really appreciate it if you could tell me." She then added, "And please don't try to see what I look like. I'm...horribly disfigured."

"Hmm... I woke up in the middle of a glade. I really don't know how long I was there. But right after I woke up, I heard you calling out for someone. I managed to find this tent thanks to that." I said in a confused tone. "That's pretty much it actually."
I knew told him the truth, but something deep inside me just kept on bugging me that I didn't tell the truth. What's wrong with me?

"Hmm... I woke up in the middle of a glade. I really don't know how long I was there. But right after I woke up, I heard you calling out for someone. I managed to find this tent thanks to that." I said in a confused tone. "That's pretty much it actually."
I knew told him the truth, but something deep inside me just kept on bugging me that I didn't tell the truth. What's wrong with me?

"I woke up in the forest not far from here. I don't know if it will do any good but I would like to go see both places. There might be some answers there."

Joe and Mick were walking out when a voice called from the trees.

The voice sounded like a young woman's. Something about the voice made the hair on Micka's neck stand up. She said her name was Schadel Kueper, and it sounded like she was in the same predicament as them, but why was she hiding?

"Please don't look at me," she said, "I'm horribly disfigured!"

Disfigured? Micka came closer to her, his instincts were telling him this was no ordinary person.

"Do not be afraid. We are lost too, but it's going to be difficult for us to work together if you don't come out." He paused in thought, "As a boy I learned under the healer of my tribe. I'm not new to terrible injuries, I've seen many in my life. Please do not feel that you have to hide yourself because of something like that."

(Sorry it took so long for me to reply, life got in the way.)

Schadel Kueper:

She pressed her back against the tree as the two approached her hiding spot. "You really wouldn't want to see me," she tried to convince the one who had spoken.

The two seemed to be just as confused as she was, which, like the healer, was something she hadn't wanted. She needed answers, and her lie had to work.

"My face was melted by an accident with acid," she added. She had seen pictures of that before - it certainly didn't look pleasant.

Joe Collins
A chill ran up my spine as she said 'accident with acid'. The Myth was filled with Mongolian death worms who spit acid at their prey. Last summer, a few of my friends got severe burns after battling with those creatures. So I kind of knew what acids can do to human skin.

Schadel Kueper was still refusing to come out from her hiding spot. I felt kind of eager to properly meet this new person.
"Hey, it's okay Schadel!" I tried to sound friendly. "I think Micka can help you if you're injured. Besides, I've seen plenty of people who are attacked by acids and other deadly chemicals, so don't be afraid to show yourself." I took another step towards her hiding spot, hoping that she'd come out.

Schadel Kueper:

What was she supposed to do?! The two of them seemed unfazed by her lies! She couldn't let them see what she looked like!

The Victorian building she had seen earlier resurfaced from the depths of her memory. The two seemed just s confused as she was, and though she wanted to help them return to where they had come from, she couldn't risk discovery.

Without offering a word of explanation, Schadel went running towards the creepy Gothic building. She didn't have the time to find a path there - she had to make her own. Branches cut her bare skin, and she nearly tripped several times.

But she eventually reached her destination. She threw open the surprisingly unlocked doors and rushed inside.

Joe Collins
Without a word, Schadel ran away from us.
Um, did I say something wrong? Maybe walking towards her wasn't the best idea.
"Hey! Wait up!" I cried, but she kept on running towards an old looking two storied building which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. "Micka! Come on!" I urged, "I think we scared her! "
Then again, I'm just a small kid, I don't think that I'm scary. Maybe she must've thought that we were demons in disguise.
I started to run after her, "Wait up! We don't want to hurt you!"

Knightare:

There was no way someone could be living in a deserted, dusty building like this. So why had he just heard the door to the Victorian mansion slam shut? Nervously stuffing his most recent diary into the bag, he slung the strap over his shoulder. He took a deep breath and crept out of the abandoned bedroom.

Ghost didn't exist, right? He was hearing things-Actually, he had pretty decent hearing. He always had possessed it, if his memories were right (his body was still pretty foreign to him after being stuck as an amnesiac suit of armor for the past couple of centuries).

Still, that didn't mean it was ghosts! It could just be someone else who had stumbled upon the creepy mansion and decided to check it out. Yeah, that had to be it. He wasn't dealing with ghosts. He wasn't going to die like in one of the horror stories he had stupidly read multiple times when he was the only one awake!

A nervous laugh escaped his lips. Eyes widening in horror, he slapped his hand over his mouth. The noises of someone stumbling around in the dark - it was only a matter of time before the eyes of whatever it was grew used to the lack of light - remained, so he doubted he had been heard.

He crawled out of the room on all fours. If the intruder happened to look up, it wouldn't be able to see him as he made his way over to the stairway that lead to the first floor.

But then he placed his hand down on an area where they weren't any stairs.

He yelped in surprise as he tumbled down the staircase. Rolling into the pile of furniture and clothes at the bottom, a sheet covered him as he heared the intruder make its way over to where he awkwardly was sprawled across the floor. "Hello?" a female voice called out. It was young, and had a strange accent to it. "Is anyone there?"

From underneath the sheet, he was horrified to find himself staring at a monster made completely out of darkness.

Joe Collins
Micka nodded and followed me, the two of us managed to reach the building after running through the thick bushes and getting our clothes torn by sharp thrones and small twigs.
"You do the talking next time Micka..." I said catching my breath, "I'm really bad at talking to new people..."
Micka didn't say anything but stared at the old, large building in front of them. "Should we go inside?"

"The girl went in there." I said as I straightened myself, "So...we might as well check it out."
The two of us stepped in, the old wooden floor creaked below our feet and the dusty smell invaded our nostrils,

Knightare:

There was no doubting it: he had to get out of the mansion, and fast. He was powerless without his magic, and was stuck in his human form as an extra effect of not having magic. There was no way he could fight the monster. Even if he had a sword, he doubted he could defeat it. He hadn't wielded a sword in centuries. He was bound to be more than a little rusty.

He waited for the monster to pass before beginning to crawl over to the exit. He didn't dare to take the sheet off - he didn't want to create too much unnecessary movement, and it was a quick hiding spot if the thing returned.

He finally reached the entrance. He got to his feet, prepared to open the doors and going racing out before the monster could get him. But instead of staring at the large doors, he found himself staring at two seemingly human boys.

A startled yelp escaped his lips. As he tried to back away from the two (He was guessing they had to be ghosts. Why else would they be in there?), he tripped on the bottom of the sheet and fell to the floor.

From underneath the sheet, he stared up at the two with golden eyes wide with fear. All of the different scenarios he had read about came flooding back; all from horror books he had foolishly read when he was the only one awake in the castle.

"Please don't kill me because you want someone to play with you for eternity or because I've trespassed into your home or because I should have died centuries ago or because you're ghosts and it's in your nature to do something like that or because you guys need a replacement so you can move on or become living again!"

Joe Collins
"Uh...calm down pal!" I said forcing a smile, did this guy really think that we are ghosts? Well, but the looks of his face, it really seems like he did. I glanced at Micka, hoping that he'd say something.

"Don't worry, we're not ghosts!" Micka said after an awkward silence.

The man still looked terrified. His face was pale and his golden eyes were wide open with fear. I can't help but feel sorry for the poor guy.

I reached out my hand to help him to get up, "Also, this isn't our house... we were chasing this girl..."
That was seriously wrong to say. The man looked even more terrified and gave me a susipcious look.
"Uh...what I mean is, Micka and I met this strange girl in the middle of the woods," I paused, wondering how to explain this without scaring the poor. "She ran away from us because she was too afraid to show herslef. So we chased after her,"
Micka faceplamed and let out a sigh.

"Enough about that," I said quickly to change the subject, "I'm Joe Collins, and this is Micka. What's your name?"

I was still reaching out my hand and and it was starting to get a little awkward.
So, for the second time this day, I established the fact that I wasn't good at talking to people whom I didn't know very well.

Knightare:

Still remaining underneath the sheet (he was worried that the thing from before would return), he replied, "I'm Knightare." He crossed his legs and stared up at the two. "I haven't seen any girl in here...Wait, what do you mean she was too afraid to show herself?"

"She said her face was burnt by acid," Joe explained.

After a moment of silence, Micka added, "She kept hiding from us. When we started asking her too many questions, she ran off."

Knightare glanced in the direction the thing had gone off towards. Now that he thought about it, the monster had seemed to be in a rush.

And its voice was feminine.

Eyes widening in realization, he shot to his feet and threw the sheet off of him. He quickly tried to neaten his long hair, which had become somewhat messy after being under the sheet.

"You're not looking for a human," he said. "You're looking for something that's way taller than all of us, and seems to be made out of living shadow." He pointed towards the room it must have gone into - the kitchen. "I saw it go that way."

Micka lost some of his nerve at the, "made of living shadow" part. He touched Joe's shoulder. "It isn't wise to chase a bear into his cave." Inwardly he winced, talking in metaphors was something old people did. Both of them were staring at him, "What I mean is, a creature of shadows would be at home in such a dark place, and it would be like swimming after a fish...what I mean is, It would probably be wiser to wait outside."

Micka sighed, he had never been good at talking when he was nervous. His words had sounded wiser in his head, out in the air they sounded cowardly at best. At least he hadn't stuttered like a child.

Joe Collins

I nodded, "Yeah, I think it's best to stay outside...like Micka said, it's not wise to chase a fish into its cave....uh, bear into the sea uh... you get the idea."

My face felt hot, I always mess up metaphors. I tried to change the subject to make things less awkward. "But I don't think that shadow..uh, person will cause us any harm." Micka and Knightare gave me a confused look.

"She didn't hurt us even though we asked too many questions and chased after her." I explained, "She was simply trying to avoid us. Maybe she's harmless. We just need to convince her that we don't want to cause any harm either."

I know, I know. I'm just starting to get contradictory. I wanted to stay outside where it's safe. But for some reason, I also wanted to help the shadow person. She seemed to need our help although she denied it earlier.