Young Writers Society

*Priscilla’s story is underneath my folder titled “Marcia and Rush”. Gacha Club character designs are underneath my forum titled “My character designs <33”. Enjoy!*

“Focus on your magic, Rush! If we try hard enough, we can save them!” Priscilla cried out.

It couldn’t be happening, it had to be a nightmare. Yes, Priscilla knew how other monsters felt about Night Creatures. Her mother was a vampire, her father was a demon. They told her that they were looked down upon, that the union of different monsters was seen as “wrong” as an evil that deserved to whither away.

Yet still, they lived in Hell, peacefully enjoying their lives.

Until that one day, as Priscilla was restrained by her older brother, Rush. As their parents were being dragged to a bottomless pit by a hoard of screeching, screaming monsters, because they loved each other.

Rush reached out, spewing fire from his hands. Priscilla did the same, thinking only of saving their parents. Vampire and demon hybrids, or more formally, Night Creatures, had special powers of their own. Their fires could be ten times more dangerous than the average monsters’ flames. Night Creatures weren’t just vampire and demon hybrids, they could be a hybrid of anything. They could do anything…

If they set their minds to it. Though Rush and Priscilla’s love was pure, they were only ten and eight years old, wracked with deep panic.

Only spurts of flame came out of their hands, but still, Priscilla insisted that they try.

They had to keep trying, or else their parents would be gone forever…

…………………………………………………….

Nothing could save their parents. No fire came out of their hands. Priscilla could still remember the screams of her parents, even as a fourteen year old.

She also remembered when a white, glowing rope of light dipped from the sky. Rush and Priscilla thought that they’d have to start hiding once their parents died, but no, that rope saved their lives.

They both climbed on it, and as it turned out, the one holding the rope was a witch girl named Elestia who was around Rush’s age. She pitied them and decided to extend a helping hand.

All at once, it was like Rush forgot about their parents. Years went by as they spent their lives hiding in an abandoned house on Earth, Rush coming out to see Elestia, Priscilla only coming out for the food at the local diner, snatching away humans’ plates when they weren’t looking.

She didn’t have any money to pay for them, she just stole. She existed like a rat, a pest trying to survive in a world that would swallow her whole, just like the bottomless pit did to their parents many years ago.

How could she live normally when her parents were dead? How could she be happy when her parents weren’t around to comfort her, to give her advice, to simply be?

Rush seemed to ignore the terrible fate of their parents, he seemed to live blissfully in ignorance with every hour he spent with Elestia.

A knock came upon her bedroom door. Priscilla curled her knees up to her chest, burrowing herself further into a corner in her room.

“Pris? Are you alright? Do you want to come to the ball with me? You’re more than welcome to join.” Rush said.

Oh, right! Rush was going to a ball with his precious, pure Elestia! Why, Elestia saved them, but that didn’t mean that she actually cared about them! She probably only saw them as flies to be squashed, just as all the other monsters did.

“I’m fine. I’m doing the right thing. I’m remembering our parents. We can’t just act like they didn’t die right before our eyes, Rush. Leave me alone. Let me rest.” Priscilla said.

The fact that he wanted her to join in his ignorance made her want to laugh. How could he go to a ball, as though everything was blue skies and bright flowers?

It was like he didn’t care at all.

“Priscilla, I love them just as much as you do. But they’re gone, and they’re never coming back. We have to move on with our lives. Hiding away and waiting to rot isn’t healthy, they would have wanted us to thrive.” Rush said.

“Maybe not, but it’s the right thing to do.” Priscilla whispered.

How would he know what their parents would have wanted? They were dead! Even though the pit was bottomless, their skin would have peeled off, and their hearts would have ceased to beat. Their souls, forever damned.

He didn’t try hard enough to save them. He didn’t want to remember them.

He wanted to grow up and leave them behind, because why else would he spend his days with Elestia?

“I love you.” Rush said softly.

Priscilla listened to the sounds of his footsteps as he walked away, to live Happily Ever After with the girl he laid eyes on as a child, to grasp an ending of sunflower joy that Hell couldn’t give him.

Tears slipped gently from Priscilla’s eyes. He said that he loved her, but if he did, then he wouldn’t push away the horrors of their parents’ deaths.

He wouldn’t act like it never happened…

…………………………………………………….

Sunlight had dipped down. The sky was a blanket of black, speckles of stars sparkling in the cracks. The moon shone benignly on her window, but Priscilla didn’t feel its warmth.

Hours had passed since Rush left. Priscilla was walking to and fro her room, thinking of her parents, of Rush, of Elestia, and of Anthony, Elestia’s little brother, who was Priscilla’s age. Rush wanted her to fall in love with Anthony, as though that would fix her problems.

Anthony didn’t love her, and Elestia didn’t love Rush, but at least he didn’t go through the trouble of lying to Priscilla. They kept their distance, so that nothing too terrible would happen.

Why wouldn’t Rush understand? Why wouldn’t he learn that they only had each other, that the world was full of creatures that wanted to snuff the light out of anything with optimism?

The front door creaked opened.

Priscilla walked to the door of her room, her black wings trailing after her. The wings were a ticket back to Hell, but they couldn’t return, not with the treatment that they would receive.

She turned open the knob and walked down the hall to the living room, her boots echoing off the barren walls with every step that she took.

After a few minutes, Priscilla finally made it to the living room. Rush stood next to the front door, his murky green eyes wide with fright.

He took a deep breath and walked towards Priscilla. As he walked, she noticed a trail of blood pooling from his back.

What happened at the ball?

When he got to Priscilla, tears poured from his eyes. He couldn’t seem to hold whatever he was holding in anymore, and in between shaking sobs, he said:

“Priscilla…you were right…I told Elestia what I was…she hated me…I’m sure her entire family hates me…she took my wings…my wings! I have to…have to…I have to eat a soul in order to get my wings back!”

He wrapped Priscilla up in a sweeping hug, holding on as though he were afraid that the universe would take her away.

So Elestia didn’t know what Rush was at first? She assumed that everyone could sense it. That everyone could feel it.

But she wasn’t wrong about Elestia’s reaction.

Yet still, she didn’t feel triumphant about being right. In fact, it brought her heart and soul great despair to see her older brother reduced to tears, to see him bleed.

In that moment, Priscilla realized that he wasn’t forgetting their parents. Far from it. He only wanted to focus on the positives, to find the light in the dark.

“Is there another way for you to gain your wings back? Something that wouldn’t involve death?” Priscilla asked, for they never particularly enjoyed the idea of taking someone else’s life.

“No. She said that was the only way.” Rush said, choking on his sobs.

Priscilla wrapped her arms around him, careful not to touch the spot where his wings were torn off.

“We’ll figure it out, Rush. Together.” She said.

“You’re not going to say “I told you so”?” Rush asked hollowly, as though he expected to get a scolding.

“No. You were in love. You didn’t know any better. You see the good in everyone, Rush. That’s your problem. I assume that the world is a place of only darkness. That’s my problem. Perhaps there is a happy ending for us, we just need to keep trying.” Priscilla said.

“Hopefully we’ll find out sooner rather than later.” Rush said.

She’d let go of him soon, but for the time being, she wanted to hold her brother, to spend a quiet moment with the only person she knew to love her.

“I love you, Rush. I’m so sorry that this happened to you.”

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. I love you too, Priscilla. Like you said, we’ll figure this out together.”

He didn’t sound very convinced when he said it, but that was alright. Priscilla wouldn’t point it out.

She simply held him tighter and made sure to cherish the moment deep in her heart, because who knew what more the world would do to them for being alive?