So this has been sitting on my hard drive collecting dust since sometime last year. (I got the idea after reading the story The Mist by Stephen King, obviously XD)
It's by no means my best work; I'm just posting for the hell of it XDD
I don't own Tokio Hotel, Stephen King, anything to do with the story The Mist, yadda yadda yadda.
The Mist
"That was some storm last night," the dreadlocked youth states, as he and his twin brother stand on the driveway of their house, surveying the damage done by the reckless storm the previous evening that lasted throughout the night. Bill, the younger twin, thrusts his hands in the pockets of his tight black jeans and gingerly kicks at a thick tree branch that had snapped off a huge oak tree in the middle of the yard.
"No kidding. I'm not gonna lie; it was pretty scary," Bill says with a breathless laugh, running a hand through his shoulder length black hair. Tom thinks back to last night and feels an uncomfortable sensation in the pit of his stomach. Bill definitely was scared, and last night he had curled up next to his brother, beginning to tremble violently every time a huge crash of thunder sounded. They were twins, they had always been close, but those weird, scary feelings were developing again. The older man blinked and gave his head a small shake, trying to clear the awkward thoughts clouding his head.
"Hey, Tom?"
Bill pokes his brother gently on the arm and Tom wordlessly looks over at him.
"Mum wants us to go to the grocery store to get a few things."
"Yeah," Tom replies absently, "let's go."
The two of them walk side-by-side to the car, and Tom gets in the drivers side, Bill in the passengers seat.
***
Bill hums along gently to the song playing on the radio, tapping his black and white manicured nails on the dashboard.
"Tom, you just…" Bill trails off and looks out the window, "…missed the road to the store." Tom curses softly under his breath and, after several minutes, pulls the car into the nearest road to turn it around.
"Holy shit," Bill sits up in the seat, pulling his huge designer sunglasses off. "What the hell is that?" He motions to the lake in the distance. A huge, thick white cloud of fog is slowly rolling along the lake; the bright sunlight seems to make it glow and shine as the mist swallows everything in its path.
"I don't know. Probably just a heavy fog because of the storm last night, temperature change and all that shit," Tom replies, trying to sound casual, but the sight of the unusual fog is a bit unnerving. It definitely doesn't look right to him.
"I don't think so," Bill states in a soft voice, "It looks too thick to be fog. It almost looks like clouds are floating on the lake." Tom shrugs indifferently as he turns the car into the right road this time. Bill glances at him out of the corner of his eye. Tom has been cold towards him lately, and he can tell something isn't right. Tom is his twin; he can simply sense these things.
"Tom, what's up with you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, please," Bill replies with a frown, "I can tell something's wrong with you. What is it?"
'Its nothing, I've just been a bit stressed lately. It's nothing, Bill, really," Tom says firmly, dismissing the question. Bill looks away from his twin and bites his lip distractedly.
"Did I do something?" He dares to question in a tiny voice. Tom pauses for a few seconds, fingers tightening around the steering wheel.
"No, it's nothing to do with you. Don't worry about it, I'm fine."
The younger twin sighs as Tom parks the car in front of the large grocery store. He unclips his seatbelt and gets out of the car, pulling a small shopping list from his pocket.
"Let's be quick," Tom says and looks up at the sky. Several fluffy grey clouds were beginning to gather. "It looks like it's going to storm again," he finishes, adjusting his hat as the two of them walk through the sliding glass doors, being welcomed by a gust of air-conditioned air. It was a nice change from the stale, hot summer air outside. Bill spots a cooler of frozen pizzas on sale and quickly runs towards them, squealing with delight. Tom pulls a shopping cart from the stack of them near the door and follows his twin with a shake of his head, suppressing a small smile. Bill happily dumps four flat pizza boxes into the cart and Tom laughs softly. He then proceeds to the hair product aisle, of course, Tom still following him. Over the bustle and noise of the store, they can both hear a small rumble of thunder in the distance.
***
A half hour later, the twins seem to be enjoying themselves a bit too much, going overboard with an almost full cart of un-needed things, and the crashes of thunder begin to come quicker and louder.
Bill hovers over the latest fashion magazines, a fed-up Tom standing behind him with his arms folded across his chest.
"Bill, c'mon, we've been here forever," Tom sighs, exasperated.
"Yeah, yeah," Bill mutters, dismissing his twin with a careless wave of his hand. One particularly loud crash of thunder seems to shake the building, the bright fluorescent lights of the building flicker, and then go out completely. Bill inhales sharply in fear and darts to his brother's side, both of their hearts pounding hard against their chests. They can hear other people shout out in fear, and several small children begin to cry. Dim emergency lights begin to flicker on.
"Jesus Christ, what is that?!" Some unknown man screams from the front of the store, and the twins begin to make their way towards the check outs, Bill holding on tightly to his older brother's arm. They both crane their necks up to look out the large plate glass windows in the front of the store, and gasp. The entire sky is filled with almost black clouds, lightening flashing steadily. But that's not what everyone is staring at.
The strange fog that had been slowly rolling over the lake was now creeping up the road, a solid wall of white that dissolves everything in front of it.
"Holy shit," Tom breathes, and he feels the other mans long nails bite into his skin as his grip tightens. The fog continues to roll hypnotically over everything in its way, until nothing but a thick, solid white wall is visible through the windows, swallowing up the light and seeming to wash a huge, dark shadow over everything.
"Tomi," Bill croaks, his voice trembling, "what's going on?"
"I-I don't know."
Somewhere in the store, a woman screams.
"What is that? What's going on?" An older woman, that appears to be in her late forties or so, asks in a panicked voice, looking around desperately for answers.
"It's nothing," a teen replies rudely; he's tall and lanky, and looks to be the same age as the twins, maybe a year or two older. He approaches the OUT door and everyone watches him intently. "Obviously it's just a thunderhead or something from that huge storm last night." He exits the grocery store, and when the door opens, Tom notices the air flooding in smells electric somehow. After only seconds, the teen disappears completely into the mist. Everyone in the store continues to watch silently, barely daring to breath. Suddenly an ear splitting shriek erupts from outside. Bill whimpers in fear and Tom puts an arm around his twins shoulder. The shriek is suddenly cut short, still echoing throughout the building. A murmur of voices breaks out at once, most of them scared, hushed whispers. All of a sudden, the teen comes flying from the mist, his limp body bouncing off the glass with a dull thud. It lands on the ground, his limbs spread out at odd angles, and then Tom notices his eyes. They're gone; gauged out, leaving only two gaping, raw holes in the teens head. He feels light headed and about to throw up. This all had to be some fucked up dream. There was something vicious and un-human out there, but this couldn't be real.
Bill, along with many others, lets out a strangled cry and begins to weep against Toms shoulder.
Tom wishes that this was all just some sick, messed up joke.
***
It's been an hour. No one else has dared to go outside, and the swirling mist refuses to budge.
Tom and Bill are sitting in the middle of aisle four, holding each other tightly. Bill lets out the occasional whimper, and Tom just stares through the large glass windows. Sometimes he thinks he can see dark shapes moving in the mist, like a bruise against the pure white. He hopes it's just his eyes playing tricks on him. Bill pulls his cell phone from his pocket for what must be the tenth time, and punches his mother's number in with desperation. When he holds the phone to his ear and gets nothing but a dead line, he snaps it shut and begins to cry silently.
There are only about ten other people trapped in the store, all of them scattered throughout the aisles, huddled up together. Some of them cry out hysterically. Tom looks down at his brother, whose leaning against him, eyes half closed. He feels his insides clench uncomfortably and fights the urge to break down in tears. Not because they're trapped in this place, but because this might be the last time he's with his brother, the last chance he has to tell Bill what he really feels. The last chance to tell Bill he loves him.
"Tomi, are we going to die here?" Bill asks, his voice tired and monotone.
"I don't know, Billa." He's almost positive they will.
"I hope mum and Gordon are okay."
"Me too."
The younger twin yawns widely and buries his face in his hands. The two of them, physically and emotionally exhausted, finally end up drifting into a restless sleep, their minds swirling with horrific nightmares of what might be lurking outside.
Bills eyes flutter open and he sits up drowsily. He shifts gently, trying not to wake Tom, who's still asleep and leaning against him. The nineteen year old looks at the illuminated screen on his cell phone. It reads a little after three p.m. They've been here for almost four hours. Bill approaches the tall glass windows, his dark brown eyes staring vacantly into the fog. A blonde haired teen silently appears at his side.
"What do you thinks out there?" He asks in an emotionless voice.
"I don't know," Bill replies, never turning to look at the young man. His eyes never leave the dream-like mist swirling outside. "Something unnatural, something that shouldn't exist, but does." After several long seconds that seem to drag on forever, Bill turns to face the blonde youth, studying him.
"I'm Andreas."
"Bill."
They wordlessly venture back to the aisle where Tom is. Bill wishes he and Andreas could have met under different circumstances. Maybe when their lives weren't doomed.
Bill folds his legs and sits next to his brother, who looks up confusedly at the blonde haired youth and rubs his eyes tiredly.
"Andreas, Tom, Tom, Andreas," Bill nods towards the two of them and leans against his older-by-ten-minutes brother again. Andreas sits in front of them.
"I wish we could go home…" he says in a soft voice. Tom and Bill nod, each of them choking back tears. Neither of the twins wants to prove themselves to be weak in front of their new acquaintance. Andreas begins to tremble, tightly wrapping his arms around himself as tears squeeze themselves from under his eyelids. Bill looks at his brother and feels his emotions flaring up again.
"I can't believe I'm going to die alone here. I'm never going to see my friends or family again." Bill silently watches Andreas, and the realization begins to dawn on him. He, too, is going to die alone. He's going to be trapped in this store until one of those… things, or whatever's outside breaks in and slaughters everyone, or until he finally cracks from the fear and goes insane. The only person he has left is Tom.
"I-I… I'm sorry," Andreas apologizes shakily. He then rises and wordlessly walks away. The twins silently watch him go.
"He's right, Tomi," Bill whispers, "We're going to die here, with no one but each other."
"I wouldn't want to spend my last day with anybody else," Tom replies in a whisper. His looks into his brothers identical chocolate eyes, and feels a stab of pain through his heart.
***
Almost half an hour passes. Andreas still hasn't come back.
"Do you think we should go find him?" Bill questions. Tom nods and they both stand up, their limbs stiff from being immobile for so long.
"Andreas?" Tom calls out uncertainly. A few people decorating the floor watch the twins, but they don't receive an answer. The two of them finally reach the dark aisles near the back of the store. They turn a corner, and Bill holds onto his brother's arm. He'd never admit it; but he was afraid of the dark. Hell, he was afraid of everything at the moment. The toe of Toms shoe nudges something on the ground and he looks down, eyes adjusting to the dark.
"Oh, fuck," he practically whispers, "Bill, turn away, don't look."
"Why, Tomi, what is it?"
Tom turns to face his brother, and the younger twin manages to steal a glance over Toms shoulder. When he see's Andreas' lifeless body, the floor around him littered with empty non-prescription pill containers and a packet of razors ripped open, he tries to scream, but he's too scared to make a sound.
"Oh, God, Tomi," he finally begins to sob uncontrollably, turning away from his twin and burying his face in his hands. "Oh, God, he killed himself." Tom approaches Bill and wraps his arms around him from behind.
"I shouldn't have asked you to come with me," Bill turns towards Tom and buries his face in his brothers chest, "if I didn't make you come grocery shopping for Mom with me, you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't be left here to die; it would have been only me. You could've been safe at home."
"Bill, don't," Tom cuts him off, feeling his own eyes tear up, "if you go, I go. I can't live without you." Bill looks at Tom helplessly and collapses against his brother yet again. Tom holds him close and gently shushes him, sniffing lightly. He inhales deeply and finally decides its time.
"Billa, I love you."
"I love you too, Tomi," the younger twin wipes at his tear-swollen eyes, looking oddly childish. Tom sighs and looks away.
"No, Bill, I mean… I'm in love with you. I love you more than I'm supposed too," Tom mutters and bites at his lip ring, mentally cursing himself for doing something so stupid. The last thing he ever wanted to do was make Bills last few hours horribly awkward and even more painful than they already were.
Bill stares at his brother, wondering if this is really real. He finally decides that this is reality, and he wants to spend the last of his life showing Tom just how much he really loves him back. He doesn't seem to care about anything anymore. Bill pushes his lips against his brothers in a full-on kiss.
And Tom almost forgets to breathe.
***
It's been several hours, and night has begun to set in. The fog and mist is still swirling thickly outside, showing no signs of ever lifting. Bill pulls his knees up to his chin and gazes out the big glass windows, mesmerized by the fog. It's hauntingly beautiful in a way. He sighs and leans his chin against his hand. Tom watches his brother from the corner of his eye, feeling an odd swooping sensation in the pit of his stomach. He feels tears prick at the back of his eyes and blinks them away, annoyed. Tom doesn't care whether he lives or dies anymore; but he desperately wants Bill to somehow be safe, to be okay. He doesn't want anything bad to happen to his baby brother ever again. Tom's stomach emits a loud growl, and he suddenly realizes it's been hours since he's last eaten, and he was absolutely starving.
Since they're all practically doomed anyways, Tom reaches onto one of the nearby shelves and grabs a bag of chips, hastily ripping it open and shoving a handful into his mouth. Bill turns to look at him with sad eyes. The older man holds the bag out to him.
"Eat," he prods his twin in a gentle voice, "you haven't had anything to eat all day." Bill turns away from his brother and shakes his head wordlessly.
"Please, Billa?"
"I'm not hungry, Tomi," Bill replies, his voice no more than a whisper.
"Hold on, I'll be back in two seconds," Tom states, suddenly getting an idea. He rises, but Bill automatically grabs onto the pant leg of his twins baggy jeans.
"Don't leave me here by myself," Bill pleads, and Tom feels his heart crack in two. He kneels down and places a quick kiss against Bills lips.
"I'll be back in a second, Bill, I swear." Tom cups Bills face in his hands and kisses him again, then rises and walks away. He returns only minutes later, holding several pieces of pizza in his hands. Tom remembered the heated containers in the Deli that he noticed earlier, and even though they were cold, they were still edible. And he knew that pizza was his brother's all-time favourite food.
The nineteen year old sits Indian-style next to Bill and hands him a piece of pizza on a napkin. Bill hesitantly takes it, avoiding looking into his brothers eyes. He takes a small bite of the ham and pineapple pizza, and then places it on the ground in front of him. He feels like throwing up.
"Billa, please, eat something. I know you're hungry," Tom pleads, but Bill just shakes his head, looking like a little boy.
"I want to go home," Bill whispers in a wavering voice.
"I do too, Bill, but we will soon. I promise," Tom reassures his twin, although he knows that the two of them may never see their home again. The younger man turns away from his brother once again.
"Don't lie to me, Tom."
Tom frowns at the cold tone of his twins' voice.
"I'm just trying to have hope, Bill."
"Hope doesn't help when our lives are fucked," Bill spits, shooting a quick glare at Tom. Tom feels a spurt of anger flare inside him. Why was Bill acting like this all of a sudden?
"Why are you being like this to me?" Tom questions, his voice a small whimper, "I was just… t-trying to make you feel better…"
"Feel better, Tom?" The younger twin turns to fully face his brother, eyes narrowed in anger. "Are you seriously fucking telling me to feel better? I'm going to die, how can I feel any better about it?"
"Bill, what the fuck, you're acting like this is my fault or something!" Tom snaps back. Bill quickly rises from his position on the floor and storms away from his brother. Tom groans and buries his head in his hands, rubbing roughly at his temples. He wishes they would just die already; he's sick of all this.
***
It's been almost fifteen minutes and Bill still hadn't come back to Tom. Tom wants to go find his brother, but he's almost too scared; what if Bill ended up doing the same thing as Andreas had done? At this thought, the nineteen year old feels that familiar pain of heartache in his chest. He suddenly jumps up and rushes through the aisles, calling out for Bill. Several people glare at him, as if he had somehow done something wrong. He ignores them and keeps searching for his twin.
Finally, Tom finds his brother in a dark corner at the back of the store, his knees pulled up to his chin and his face buried in his arms.
"I'm sorry," Bill mumbles, without looking up.
"Don't be," Tom whispers and kneels down in front of Bill. The younger man sniffs and wipes at his red, tear stained eyes.
"I swear I'm going insane here, Tom."
Tom finally decides he doesn't want to see his twin suffer like this, and he doesn't want either of them to spend any more time in this god forsaken grocery store. He decides that they're going to try and escape.
"Bill, we're getting out of here," Tom tells his brother, placing his hands on Bills shoulder. Bill looks up at him as if he's crazy.
"Tom, we'll be killed," he protests weakly.
"If we stay here we'll eventually be killed, Bill," Tom replies as Bill wordlessly put his arms around Tom and buries his face against the older mans chest. "The car is parked in the second spot from the entrance doors, there's a good chance we can make it before… wh-whatever's out there gets us; it took a few minutes for it to get that kid that went out there yesterday. We can do it, Bill, we can get out of here, I know we can," he finishes with false confidence. He knows there isn't that good of a chance of escaping. But it's worth a try; they'll eventually die either way.
"Okay," Bill agrees, hugging his brother even closer to him, if that's possible. Eventually, they drift into an uneasy slumber in each others embrace, their minds creating frightening images of what could really be out there.
Tom's eyes flutter open, and he looks around blurrily, taking several long seconds to realize where he is and what's going on. He groans and sits upright, adjusting the cap jammed onto his head. Bill yawns and sits up, curling his body closer to Toms side. Tom smiles down at his little brother and takes Bills hand in his own, lacing their fingers together tightly. His gaze shifts to the windows, the white fog swirling outside as thick as ever.
"Tom…" Bill tilts his head up to look his twin in the eyes.
"Hmm?"
"I'm scared." The black haired mans voice is barely audible, and he tightens his grip on Tom's hand.
"I know," Tom replies, "so am I."
Bill inhales deeply as the two of them weave through the aisles to the front of the store, still gripping each others hands tightly. They don't care who sees anymore; they're going to get out of here, while everyone else stays to meet their fate.
The twins approach the exit door, the people around them beginning to murmur in protest.
"Are you two insane?" A elderly man approaches them. "You can't go out there; didn't you see what happened to the other kid?"
"What difference does it make?" Tom asks. "If we stay here, we'll eventually be killed. It doesn't matter to us anymore; we're getting out of here." A young woman standing behind the man shakes her head, covering her mouth with one hand as Tom pushes the exit door open.
Tom pulls Bill close to him and plants a rough, passionate kiss against his brothers lips, ignoring the staring eyes of the crowd, watching them in a hushed silence. Bill goes limp in his brothers arms, almost forgetting about what's really going on, until the dreadlocked man pulls away.
"We'll make it, Tomi," Bill says softly, a ghost of a smile playing across his lips. "I love you." Tom smiles in reply and pushes open the exit door, his little brothers hand still grasped tightly in his own. Tom looks over his shoulder, smiling humourlessly at the crowd in the store, all silently watching them with wide, scared eyes. Anxiously waiting to see what happens.
Without another word or backward glance, the two young men step out side, almost immediately engulfed by the thick fog. And then there's nothing but silence; no scream of agony, no nothing.
Just silence.
Reviews ftw!
And don't tell me it's shit; I'm already aware hahaha.