Hey readers. I know I promised that I'd write I Hope It Rains, but I'm having major trouble writing it. I'm going to keep working with it, though.
But in the meantime, I've had a new idea. And this idea was piecing together random little MBC ideas I've had for a long time that I haven't known what to do with. Now that I know what to do with them, I don't just want to let this idea pass.
So I'm going to attempt writing two stories at once. Your thoughts are very much appreciated.
The name was inspired by the song of the same name by Skillet. But to be honest, some of the story was inspired by Taylor Swift's Haunted. And another part by Skillet's Awake and Alive. Just a random fact.
And without any further ado, here's chapter one of Hero.
Danny's POV
"You, Noah, and Connie are going to come over to my house tomorrow so we can film our commercial for language arts," Wendy said as the two of us walked home together. And it definitely felt like November. The sun was shining above us, but the air felt cold and I didn't want to take my hands out of my pockets.
"Sounds good," I replied with a nod. "What's our project on again?"
"Aeaea," Wendy answered.
"That's the place with the lady that turns people into pigs, right?" I asked. All of these Odyssey places keep getting mixed up in my head.
"Circe, right," Wendy said with a nod. We didn't say anything for a minute. But it didn't feel awkward. It felt… right. The wind blew through the trees, knocking a few a few orange leaves off the branches. They went flying away with the wind.
"I love fall," Wendy said as she watched the leaves disappear into the sky. "It's so nice. Not too hot, not too cold." I watched the sun shine reflect in her emerald green eyes. I smiled.
"Fall's nice. But I have to admit that I like spring better," I replied. "It's more on the warm side." Wendy nodded as if contemplating my thought.
"I think we're both agreeing there that winter's too cold and summer's to hot," she stated, looking me straight in the eye. "Similarity number fifteen." I smiled again.
"I can't believe you're still keeping track," I said, shaking my head slightly. "I though you would've given up after a day or two."
"Honestly, so did I. But it's kind of fun," Wendy replied.
"Never knew how alike we really were, huh?" I asked, staring into her green eyes again. The sun was illuminating the color, making her eyes pop even more than usual.
"Nope. I always thought we were too different," Wendy admitted with a small smile. "But ever since I found out that you prefer mysteries to science fiction…"
"Oh please, book preference was not your deciding factor," I cut her off with a sarcastic side-glance.
"How do you know?" she asked, giving me a playfully suspicious look.
"Because I have way more interesting qualities than that," I explained. "And I find your tally method cute." Wendy laughed, laying her head on my shoulder.
"I'm glad you find my method cute," she said, almost whispering.
"I'm glad you finally said yes," I replied, pulling my hand from my pocket so I could wrap my arm around her shoulders. Now this felt right.
I'd wanted to ask Wendy out for years; I'd been trying to get her to notice me since at least fifth grade. Maybe it was even before that. I don't know. But I'd finally worked up the courage to ask her out two weeks ago, after we'd found some common ground to talk about. And she'd said yes. Wendy actually said yes to being my girlfriend.
But of course, the wonderful warm feelings couldn't last nearly as long as I wanted them too. A chill reached the back of my neck, sending a shiver down my spine; the kind of chill that didn't come from the weather. Something was watching us. Correction, something was physically following us. I turned my head to the side slightly, surveying the land behind us. Nothing out of the ordinary.
"Are you okay?" Wendy's soft voice asked, snapping me back to reality and my head back to her pretty face.
"Yeah," I said, shaking off what my better judgment was telling me to follow. After fighting monsters for so long, one tends to get a little paranoid. I remember a time when Sam thought that every bird that sang was an alien attacking. Paranoia. It happened to the best of us. And now it was simply my turn.
"So what are you up to on Friday?" I asked, figuring it was my turn to start a conversation.
"I don't think I have anything planned yet, but I'll have to check," Wendy answered, staring straight ahead as if trying to remember. "Why?"
"Well I was just thinking we could hang out," I said in reply. "You know, the whole boyfriend girlfriend thing." Wendy rolled her eye as a smile crept onto her lips.
"Are you always going to call our relationship that?" she asked
"Depends," I said with a shrug. "Do you find it annoying or charming?"
"I'd say it's more of a comical statement than anything," Wendy responded.
"I can live with that," I said and she giggled again.
I felt it again. The same chill as before. A shiver ran down my spine again. I was starting to think this wasn't just paranoia. The MBC alert had gone off a little bit ago, hadn't it? Right when school had let out. The others said they'd get to the monster and hold it off as best they could till I got there. That was today, right?
I looked back again, harder this time. Something had to be there. It just had too! But I saw nothing unusual. Just trees. And some light posts. And our shadows. That weren't in the same positions as…
My shadow's head snapped into the same position as mine after I looked at it. Well that's not normal. Bingo…
"What is it?" Wendy asked, looking back too.
"Nothing," I said with one last look at the shadows. They weren't moving voluntarily anymore. "Just, thought I heard something. Nothing to worry about though." Wendy nodded and looked forwards again. We were about three blocks from her house.
"So on Friday," she began again. "How about we…" And of course that's when our new friends decided to make their move.
An icy hand that looked like it had the claws of a dragon reached out and grabbed my shoulder. But they didn't hurt. In fact, they went right through me, but I could still feel the presence of something holding onto me.
"HEY! Let me go!" I shouted, struggling against whatever it was. I couldn't get a good look at it; it was holding me forward. But it must've looked scary because Wendy started screaming. I had to do something. And I couldn't spill the MBC secret so…
"Get out of here! Run home!" I called, looking Wendy straight in the eye.
"But what about…" she began to protest.
"I'll be fine. Please, just save yourself," I interrupted her, trying to sound as urgent as possible. Wendy nodded and ran away. The shadow didn't follow her. Good, it wanted me. Wait… was that a good thing?
"MBC! HELP!" I shouted into my v-com, hoping that the others were nearby.
"Already here!" Cathy shouted from the opposite end of street as she, Sam, and Chris appeared from behind a building, already suited up and armed to fight. I felt relieved to have help, but the creature's grip tightened on me. Its fingers were cold, like they were made of ice.
"Let him go!" Sam cried as she shot her blaster at the things holding me. With a hissing like scream, the thing let go as the shot came into contact with it. I stumbled forward, catching myself with a tuck and roll out of the fall. I suited up and looked at my opponents. Yeah, I wasn't expecting this.
The creature looked like a floating pile of transparent black and purple sheets that had been torn all over the ends. Black hands with silver claws protruded where the hands would be, and a phantom like face appeared to sit as a mask on it's face. The mouth was open, revealing sharp teeth, and the eyes looked empty. But it was a creepy emptiness. Like that of a real live ghost looking for a soul to steal. And there were four of these creatures.
"What are those things?" I called, giving a quick glance to the others.
"Tarragon Phantoms," Chris answered. "Good news is, they aren't that dangerous." One of the Phantoms heard his voice and started to float towards Chris in a faster pace then I thought possible for such a creature. "Bad news is that they're resistant to pretty much anything."
"Then why did Sam's shot…?"
"It can feel things, but it doesn't necessarily weaken them," Chris clarified before I could finish. He was a little busy trying to deal with the Phantom coming at him.
"Then how do we beat them?" Cathy asked, as one of them was closing in on her too. In fact, one was closing in on each of us. Mine currently had his claws outstretched, just waiting to grab hold of me. And I had no clue what he would do with me after that.
"Tire them out. They have high immunity, but low stamina," Chris answered, quickly running to the left of his first spot. He then ran left again, made a sharp turn to the right and then looped back left. The creature followed him every step of the way, becoming slightly confused. "Fast movement and long movement confuse and weaken them. Then we'll be able to vacuvate them."
"Sounds good to me," Sam replied, running away from her Phantom. Naturally, it followed her. Cathy and I followed suit. I took another look at my opponent then made a mad dash to its left. I sprinted to the end of the street, then looked at my Phantom again. It was hot on my tail. So I took off again, eventually creating a large triangle. The creature didn't seem tired yet.
"Still got it in ya to chase me, eh?" I asked. "Well good. Cause I'm just getting started." I started running again, planning a much cooler route this time.
I ran through the middle of my previous triangle. Then, I added in a few quick turns and even another tuck and roll. A few more sprint lengths back and forth across the street seemed to do it for my foe. I took out the vacuvator and sucked up the monster. I looked at the creature, floating inside the little glass container. Even small, the Tarragon Phantom still looked creepy. I shuddered and ran over to help the others.
Sam seemed about finished with hers, so I aimed and fired at the creature. It got sucked in with its buddy.
"Thanks Danny," Sam called to me. I nodded, and turned to Chris and Cathy. Their Phantoms had teamed up against the two of them. Cathy was on the ground. I ran over at about the same time Sam did.
"Leave them alone!" she shouted, blasting the creature nearest her. It hissed at her, revealing its fangs. Sam flinched but didn't drawback. She doesn't show fear in battle. I admire that about her.
"Halloween was last month. You're a little late, guys," I said before firing the vacuvator at the two creatures. The hissing one got sucked up right away, but the other one fought the blast. It looked different too. There was a red glow about it. I wondered if that was just a trick of the fading sun. It had to be. The glow was the same color as the sky.
The creature lunged at all four of us, stretching enough so that we all felt it fly through us. It was like being submerged in ice water. But it was gone in a second, flying away towards the fast approaching night. The days were so short now.
"Well that was an interesting battle," Sam said in the short silence that followed as we all recovered from the wave of the Phantom.
"Never seen something like that before," I said, looking at my friends. "Chris, had did you know so much about them?"
"I do my research," Chris answered with a shrug.
"Grandpa's been encouraging him to read all these old books on the different planets with alien life and what kind of creatures live there," Cathy explained. "Because it could be useful and Chris likes to read more than the rest of us."
"And his memory's better," I added. "I can't remember how they taught us in first grade and he can remember the exact way it was taught to us."
"But you do remember what was taught to you, right?" Sam asked, her tone joking.
"Um, about that…" I replied, continuing the joke. The others laughed and I smiled. I like making other people laugh. Especially these three. And Wendy.
"We should probably get home. It'll be dark in a little bit," Cathy said. "Wouldn't want anyone's parents to freak out about homework."
"True point. I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow then," I said. We all agreed and said goodbye before heading our separate ways home. I was off to do my homework!
Not really. I was actually going to call Wendy and see if she was alright and make up some phony story about what those things were. That sounded way more rewarding than solving equations.
End chapter one.
I'm going to go into chapter two.
Please review. I'd appreciate your thoughts and opinions!
Read on!