Young Writers Society

*This story is underneath my folder titled “The Laurence family’s deepest woes”. Gacha Club character designs are under my forum titled “My character designs <33”. Enjoy!*

Chapter One-Race cars and a crash

They were your average suburban family until they weren’t. They were living fine together until they weren’t. Asher was a happy child until he wasn’t. Everything was good until it wasn’t.

Seven year old Asher Laurence was playing video games with his friends, Ryan and James. His family just moved to a new town and they were having something called: “A housewarming party.” He didn’t really care. The important thing was that his friend’s families let them visit him in his new home, so they could hang out together.

They were playing a race car video game which they had forgotten the name of. The only thing that mattered was that it had cars that sped by fast, and which blocked out the noises of the party downstairs perfectly.

“I’m almost there!” Asher exclaimed with joy, the excitement inching ever so closer.

“Hey! You can’t win, you won last time!” James yelled, rather disappointed at what was to come.

“I want to win! Why can’t I win? You’re so good at this game!” Ryan whined, joining James in his dismay.

Asher felt bile begin to rise within him. Every time they played, his friends got mad at him for always winning. They would forget about it later, but he still thought about it days after they played.

He didn’t mean to make them upset. Somehow, he felt responsible for their actions, like it was his fault that they were never happy with the game. He should have just given up and let them win so that they would be happy.

But no. Asher loved the game. Mommy got him the game for his fifth birthday. His fingers would not stop moving, even though his friends might have wanted him to.

Just as the game congratulated him for crossing the finish line, there was a loud crash downstairs.

All three of the boys froze. The people downstairs began to talk amongst themselves. Somehow, they felt that something bad had happened.

Asher got up, hands slick with sweat video games and fear, and walked towards the door, curiosity screaming persistently in his ear.

Chapter Two-Down the stairs

Asher and his friends walked down the carpeted stairs, careful not to let a word out of their lips. They didn’t want the adults to notice them. It was one of those moments where it felt like it was the wrong time for them to be seen by the adults.

Asher walked further…further down…

Asher stopped, holding back a sob. James and Ryan were still a few steps behind him. He had to stop them before they saw it.

The TV was on the ground, but underneath the TV was…was…was Mommy, blood spilling out around her body.

Asher ran up the stairs, pushing the boys up with him.

Mommy…Mommy…please be okay… Asher thought.

He had a feeling that she wouldn’t be alright, but it was good to hope.

Chapter Three-Long games and deep thoughts

It was three days since the funeral. Three days since Mommy was buried. Asher didn’t even get to see her face. At the hospital, he overheard the doctors saying that Mommy’s face was smashed in pretty badly.

He sat on his bean bag chair, playing the race car game. His friends weren’t around, there was no party. It was just him, his teenage older sister, Rosalyn, and Daddy.

He knew that Rosalyn was watching TV in her room, but Daddy? He didn’t know what Daddy was doing, exactly. He knew that Daddy was outside, but had no exact idea of what was happening.

Daddy was always outside. Daddy liked being outside ever since Asher was a baby. According to Rosalyn, he was outside before Asher was born.

Mommy said that being outside was “safe” for Daddy the way writing in a diary was safe for Rosalyn or the way playing video games was safe for Asher.

But one time, when Asher was playing tag with James and Ryan in the backyard at the old house, Asher heard creepy noises in the garden shed. It was a strangled slurping noise, the kind that reminded Asher of the monster animatronics that were in people’s yards on Halloween.

But Daddy told him then that he was just fighting an animal. Asher believed him then, only because Mommy said so.

Yet right at that moment, he was thinking about it again, questioning what the sound really was.

“GAME OVER”

It was the very first time in years that Asher lost the race car game, the very first time the words in black that were coated in finality blared at him on a red screen.

Contrary to what his friends said about losing, Asher didn’t care. A race car game wasn’t going to change the fact that Mommy was dead.

Chapter Four-A loved one’s visit

It was nighttime. Daddy was outside, the strangled slurping noises louder than they were during the day.

If Daddy wasn’t outside, then maybe the slurping noises would stop. At least, that was what Asher thought. It didn’t make any sense, since Daddy had nothing to do with the noises.

Or did he? Was Asher even sure of his own family anymore? Why did the TV fall on Mommy, anyway? It wasn’t like it was loose or anything.

What was that in the corner of his room? It looked a little bit like a woman, but she was glowing white. There were no other colors on her but white on her body and black in her eyes.

The woman had no mouth, but then, the place where her mouth should have been began to open, a black smile spreading across her poorly detailed face.

“Asher, get out of this house. Right now. Pack your things. Rosalyn is waiting outside.” The woman said in Mommy’s voice.

But she couldn’t be Mommy, right? Mommy wasn’t a monster. Mommy wouldn’t tell him strange things.

“I wasn’t able to say much in life, but I can say it now: Get out before Daddy finds you. I’ll help you and Rosalyn. You’re going to be okay. The change will hurt, but I know that you’ll get through it. Both of you are strong.” The woman said.

Asher was starting to think that she was Mommy. There was something in her words that made Asher trust her, that made him think that she was right.

Just to be sure, Asher asked:

“You are Mommy, right?”

Mommy nodded.

Just like the clapping of hands, Mommy disappeared in a flash, and his room began to feel too big to keep him in it.

Chapter Five-Caught in a spiral

Asher held the handle of his suitcase tightly as he walked out the front door. Underneath the moonlight, he could see Rosalyn standing outside with her suitcase, waiting for him.

“Don’t just stand there! Come on!” Rosalyn called out, waving him over.

Asher recollected himself and walked towards her, still clutching his suitcase. He wanted to close the distance even faster, but he couldn’t run when he was holding a suitcase. Besides, he was in his pajamas and slippers, and the slippers did nothing to protect him from the pavement below.

Behind him, Asher could hear the slurping noises. That was alright. Rosalyn wasn’t too far.

He was going to be okay. He just had to run with Rosalyn and everything would be okay. Mommy said so. Nothing was going to happen. Why was he so scared? He would be away from the noises soon-

Rosalyn was gone. Everything was gone. All that surrounded him was infinite darkness and the noises.

Chapter Six-Tears will never blot it out

“Asher, you have to trust me on this. You were made for something more. You were made to be more.”

It was Daddy’s voice. Daddy was speaking to him in the void. The slurping noises had stopped, but he still felt the seconds stretched as he sat in that nothingness.

“What are you talking about? Where am I? Where’s Rosalyn?” Asher asked.

The tears were starting to fall out of his eyes, the same tears that tumbled out at the funeral.

The funeral…Rosalyn cried. Everyone cried. Everyone but Daddy and Aunt Eleanor. Asher didn’t think anything of it then, but in that moment, it flickered in his mind.

Why?

“You and I are in a special place. This is where we’ll feed. We need to eat souls, Asher. We’re not like Mommy and Rosalyn. We’re better than them. You’re at that age where it’s time for you to realize your full potential. Mommy was trying to warn you about me. Mommy was trying to stop you from seeing me.” Daddy’s voice sneered.

Asher screamed, jumping back a little, for the face that had popped out of the darkness was not the bearded face of Daddy but a blue-clawed, black-feather winged demon with an iron blindfold covering its eyes.

“But I took care of that.” The demon cackled in Daddy’s voice.

In his mind, Asher got a flash of Daddy pushing the TV down on Mommy with only the tip of his finger. Her screams were silenced by the crushing, the blood spilled out on the walls.

“You killed Mommy?” Asher asked, his voice on the edge of cracking with sobs.

He knew that Daddy was a little weird, but Asher never once thought that Daddy would kill Mommy.

Asher was only met with shrill, mocking laughter, like the sirens that screeched on the ambulance that took Mommy away.

Daddy killed Mommy Daddy killed Mommy Daddy killed Mommy Daddy killed Mommy Daddy killed Mommy Daddy killed Mommy Daddy killed Mommy Daddy killed Mommy Daddy killed Mommy Daddy KILLED Mommy

The tears blurred the darkness, almost made it go away.

Almost.

Chapter Seven-Auntie came along

“Stop crying, will you? We’re going to be a happy family. Just calm down and eat the souls.” Aunt Eleanor’s voice said.

In front of him, Asher could see Daddy and Aunt Eleanor. Daddy in his true form, Aunt Eleanor in a black bridal veil and dress.

“Look at you, Asher. You don’t even realize what you truly are. You still think that you’re human. That’s alright, I’ll help you.” Daddy said, giving Aunt Eleanor a kiss on the cheek after he spoke.

Asher clenched his hands into fists. Daddy never loved Mommy. He just wanted her dead.

“You’re mad? What are you going to do about it? You still have much to learn. Aunt Eleanor so graciously gave Mommy over to help in the creation of you. You should be thanking her.” Daddy snarled.

Daddy lied to him…Aunt Eleanor lied to him…He was going to get out…he had to get out…somehow, he’d get out of the darkness…

But nothing budged. He was still trapped with Aunt Eleanor and Daddy.

Chapter Eight-Growing pains

“You’re going to be just fine.” Daddy said.

No, no he wasn’t. He was trapped in the darkness with Daddy and Aunt Eleanor. Rosalyn was probably hurt, and he couldn’t even find her. He-

An electric-hot pain began to shoot throughout his body, flowing from his head, to his hands, to his back. It burned throughout him, it twisted his insides.

His body was starting to feel wrong…so terribly wrong…he was growing…growing…

“Look at you now. You’re so much better now.” Daddy said.

A mirror appeared beneath Asher, reflecting back a gray, sharp-toothed demon with black wings and ragged clothes, loose clothes that seemed to have grown bigger than his body did.

No. No, no, no. Asher smashed the mirror with a claw, but he was still trapped.

And he was so, so, so ugly. So ugly that he looked like he belonged in the darkness.

Again, Asher felt the tears rise up. What was he going to do about it? He was a big, scary monster, and he was going to hide in the darkness until the day he died. Nobody would want him around but Daddy and Aunt Eleanor.

He didn’t deserve to be free.

Chapter Nine-To hold such love

Asher heard a different noise other than his own sobs. He heard screaming from many voices. Some of them sounded old, some of them sounded young.

Just like the slurping noises, they were getting louder and louder, closer and closer.

“Get up. Eat. The souls are waiting for you. Eat the souls that I worked so hard on giving you!” Daddy cried out.

Aunt Eleanor cackled as though she had heard the greatest joke in the entire planet. The souls continued to scream, each giving off a new wave of fear. They latched into Asher, his magical energy bringing them closer.

He was supposed to eat them. To take them. They were already dead, but it still felt like killing to him. The mere thought of having to eat them just so that he would live…

Asher got up. He faced Daddy and Aunt Eleanor. He wiped the tears away with the back of his claw.

Daddy never spoke to him. Daddy always threw out anything that Asher drew him. Daddy killed Mommy, and just then, in the void, Daddy wanted Asher to listen? Why? Why would Asher listen to Daddy and Aunt Eleanor bossing him around? Aunt Eleanor always said rude things about Mommy, Daddy never said anything about her at all.

With all of the sorrow from the funeral and the fury from the lies ingrained in his heart, Asher leapt towards Daddy and Aunt Eleanor, claws outstretched, prepared to slash them both.

“You’ve got some strength, ki-“

“Shut up.” Asher said, silencing Daddy with a slash of his claw.

He never lost focus on them, relishing the terror in their eyes, the fact that he, Asher Laurence, was the one in power. That he was teaching them a lesson.

The blood on their faces grew and grew until all he could were smatterings of red on flesh bodies.

Red that tasted just like chocolate.

He licked a bit of the blood off his claws. He couldn’t eat them entirely. The souls were screaming. The souls needed to be saved.

Asher felt it in his heart that he had to reach up and open the darkness, let the light in.

His claws tore out a hole revealing a sky that glowed with the benevolent moon and stars. He felt the souls begin to rise up to Heaven, the extra weights on his body falling away as they let go of him.

Though he knew not who they were, he was glad to have at least saved others that night.

Chapter Ten-And after everything, they still cared

Asher wasn’t in the darkness anymore. He was outside in the forest. A cabin with windows that lit up with golden lamplight awaited him.

But what was even brighter than the cabin lights was Mommy, glowing with white light. Rosalyn stood beside her, tears in her eyes.

Before Asher could move, Rosalyn ran up to him and squeezed him in a constricting hug, as though nothing had changed at all.

“Mom said that this would happen, that you would become a monster. But oh my god, I did not expect Dad to take you away. Are you okay?” Rosalyn asked, her voice a little cracked from sobs.

“Yeah. I’m okay.” Asher said.

He felt like he was going to break apart. In one night, everything changed. Would he ever see his friends again? Would he ever go outside again?

Mommy walked up to him and joined in on the hug.

“You don’t have to be okay right now. It’s an adjustment. I know that you don’t like the way you look like right now. I know that you’re tired. Daddy and Aunt Eleanor have been hurt, but they’re going to come back. When they do, we’ll all be ready. We’ll be there to help you. You’re not in on this alone. You can still turn into a human, but that takes a lot of energy, and I don’t want you to do that right now.” Mommy said.

She floated up so that she was face-to-face with Asher and planted a kiss on his forehead.

He felt himself relax a little on the inside, but all the same, wondered why Mommy even bothered.

“I know it’s hard. But no matter what happens to you, you will always be my little boy.” Mommy said, resting a warm, glowing hand on his face.

Asher grinned, memories of going on a picnic with Mommy and Rosalyn resurfacing in his brain. Daddy never came along, but the three of them always had a good time together.

He pulled Mommy back into the hug with Rosalyn and wrapped them both in his black, feathery wings. They loved him! He loved them! He was going to keep them safe from Daddy and Aunt Eleanor, and they were all going to be alright very soon. Mommy said that she and Rosalyn would always be there. It was going to be okay.

“We can hug a little more but then I want you two kids to go to bed in the cabin. Asher, you can play video games tomorrow. We’re not in the upstate woods, we’ve got some internet access. You can bring your friends here too. James and Ryan are more than what you think they are.” Mommy said.

Asher only hugged them tighter. He would go to bed soon, but first, he wanted to be with his family.

He was so lonely the entire time in the darkness. It was nice to know that people still cared about him, that his world wasn’t entirely turned upside down.

Just like in the race car game, they wouldn’t back out of a child. They would make it to the finish line.

All of them.