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Ves had never wished to return to their secret base in such a way. He had purchased snacks, for himself, his little sister Kali and their two friends Moxee and Evan. They were going to make blueprints for their awesome pirate ship this afternoon. Seeing as he was the oldest and toughest, he said he'd be the one to go pick and buy their snacks, so he had gone.
He never thought he would ever have to see so much blood in one place. Something had entered their base while he was gone, something that caught them all off guard. He was so young, what did he do to ever have to see something as revolting as this. He was so undeserving. He was a good kid, he even had gold stars from his teacher to prove it. But apparently that wasn't enough. It was definitely a monster. He hated monsters, he could feel his hatred burning passionately inside him. He could see claw marks and… no human could do something like this.
Well, Moxee and Evan were monsters. But they were different, weren't they? They weren't like those monsters that his parents told him and his little sister about. They didn't have giant teeth and claws, and they most certainly didn't eat people. Ever. Moxee said that she didn't even like meat, so that was reassuring. Moxee had one eye, she was a cyclops. A really nice one. She was only eleven.
Evan was part lizard. He was a bit more scary, mostly because he could climb up to places that no one should be able to. Ves kind of wished he had been born half lizard, but both of his parents were humans. Nevertheless, Evan and Moxee were not bad monsters. Ves didn't even consider them monsters, they were just like… weird humans. That's how he saw them.
Ves dropped the bag of snacks on the floor, treading carefully, no longer interested in them. He thought that he might vomit, as he felt bile rising in his throat. His arms shook, young eyes welling with salty tears of rage, fear and sadness. He glanced at Evan's wide opened eyes, that were now glazed over. He dug his fingernails into his palm, and leant down to close Evan's eyes for him.
"Stupid… I know you're a lizard, but that's just… it's gross Evan… you might scare Kali." he grunted, ignoring the tears that were making his cheeks wet and his eyes sting. He gently rested his hand on his forehead, gently brushing Evan's now bloodied hair away so he could look at him properly one more time, just so he wouldn't forget. He then stood and looked at Moxee.
She looked so frightened. He closed her eye for her, and tried to make her look more relaxed. She should never looked scared. It was so hard to see through tears. Its not like he could even look at her for very long anyway. "That's not a very nice place to sleep," he mumbled to himself and looked towards his sister, who looked like she had been thrown against the wall. He didn't even have the heart to go over there and see her pained face and blood.
He bit his lip so hard that it bled, and his fingernails had returned to his palm, drawing blood. He was shaking so awfully, it was hard to see and think straight anymore. And then he took in a deep, shaky breath and spoke - no, he shouted his words. To anyone, to whoever would listen to his cries.
"Why would someone do this!" he cried at the roof, tears streaming down his cheeks, eyes squeezed shut. "Kali was eight! She didn't deserve this! None of them deserved this! It was a monster, wasn't it?! A freakish, sick monster?! Beyond any humanity! Am I right? Someone tell me, I'm right! No human would be able to do this and leave so much behind!" he wept pathetically. "Bring them back! I...I demand that you return them! Give back Kali! I need to take her home otherwise I'll get in trouble-"
"Why do you hate monsters so much?"
An unfamiliar voice. Ves opened his eyes fearfully only to be greeted with darkness and probably a neverending number red eyes, all staring at him. He just froze now, unable to form words in his pathetic, childlike mind.
"They...They're monsters! Its in their names!" he barked, desperately looking around for a spot lacking in those awful, crimson eyes. "Where the hell am I?!"
"Somewhere. A place where the dead go."
He looked around for whoever was speaking, but there was no-one to see or yell at. He felt so alone and vulnerable. He wanted to go back in time and say to them: 'Hey, let's all go to the shop together.' That way, there's no way they could have possibly all died today. There is no way. Did the voice say this is where the dead go?
"Can I bring them back?" he stuttered, directing the question at no one in particular.
"I don't know. Can you?"
"Don't do that! Just tell me!" he cried, getting angry.
"Perhaps," there was a hint of a laugh in the voice. Ves frowned.
"Perhaps?" he asked nervously, looking at his shoes.
"Why should I return them to you?"
"Because I said so! They didn't deserve to die!" Ves huffed, wiping his eyes. "None of them.. we were going to build a pirate ship! I can't do it alone!" he mumbled.
"A pirate ship?"
"Yeah. You know, the ones that pirates conquer the seas in? We were going to be a pirate crew." Ves replied, his childish nature giving him hope that somehow whoever he was speaking to would give in.
There was a long silence, as if everything in the universe was mocking Ves.
"Amusing. You humans are so funny. Apologies, I was lying to you. I can't give anyone back, even if I did find your reasoning amusing somewhat."
Ves felt his blood run cold and his heart sank. So… what now? How was he supposed to get out of here? Would he be swallowed up too? Or had he died too? He kinda wished he had.
"You hate monsters, don't you? Wouldn't it be ironic if you were to become one?"
Ves swore he could hear more than this voice cackling at him, as if he was just some joke to them.
"You're joking. You don't have that power." he muttered, trying to stay tough in front of all the peering, red eyes.
"We are the void." so many voices were heard in that single sentence, so many that made his headache. God, he was so frightened. What was it or what were they going to do to him? "We can do anything. Including… joking with human children. It was just a joke, we can't you believe that you thought we'd let you have your companions back."
He felt something grip his right leg and something reach at his left arm. And then he felt so much pain. He looked down in terror, seeing the darkness pressing into his skin, becoming apart of him. He nearly gagged when he saw smaller red eyes start to open wide all over the black bits. It was horrifying, he just wanted to wake up from what was probably a nightmare. Yeah, that's got to be it, he told himself. But he was lying.
This was so real, the darkness was pressing into his chest and his neck, and finding its way into half of its face. He screamed, because now it hurt so much more as it covered his face. He felt it somehow going into his eye. It was doing something to it. He didn't want to know. At all. He passed out from the trauma and pain.
When he awoke, he knew something was even more wrong than before. He got up slowly, and he stumbled towards a mirror he knew was in the secret base. He almost screamed at the sight of himself. His entire right arm was black and covered in red eyes, that seemed to stare back at him through the mirror. The worst sight was his face and right eye. Half his face was darkness, and his right eye was just like the red eyes that plagued half of his body.
He was a monster. Something he feared and hated. He could see Moxee's body in the reflection of the mirror, and he knew he could no longer stay here. Ves trembled and tried not to look at himself or those he cared for as he slowly walked toward the exit. He didn't know where he could go. He couldn't go home. He was so scared. Ves was just a kid. He didn't deserve this.
And so, he stepped out into the warm afternoon air and ran far away from that town, fearful of everything that occurred there. The fear of his parents no longer loving him, the fear of being there when they found the bodies of his sister and friends, and the fear of people seeing him as a monster. He didn't know if there was anywhere for him. But he didn't care. If he was like this, if all that stuff had just really happened.. he just wanted to disappear and hope that everyone just thought that he was eaten by whatever killed them. That he died too.
He wish he had died. Anything would be better than becoming a monster.