Chapter 0: A Beautiful Lie in Paradise
I woke up.
Wow, that's pretty cliche, huh? Isn't that how all stories start? With the protagonist waking up? I guess that's why I'm not the author.
Instead, I'd like to paint a beautiful sunrise. The kind you only see once in your life. That kind of sunrise that inspires you to keep going. It just speaks of beautiful new beginnings. New beginnings where we can have a new life, a new hope, a new...
...what did that have to do with waking up?
Sorry, I'm rambling a lot, aren't I? That's just how I am. I've been thinking a lot recently. About the things I couldn't do with my life, and about the things I can't do now. About life, I guess.
...I just rambled about rambling.
At any rate, it was a normal morning. I woke up to my sheets in disarray and set about making my bed. My sheets had little cats on them- a friend had recommended them, I believe. It was a long time ago. Actually, I can't believe how long it's been. Probably five years or so.
Isn't that so cool? When you know a friend so long, and they are just sort of there! You can't even remember when you met them or anything!
...just like I can't remember to stay on track.
I patted the little cat sheets with some satisfaction. I forget where the cats come from, but they're a reference to something or the other. I looked around my room.
Sketchbooks were piled up everywhere. Some were almost as old as I was. They had drawings on every page- all really terrible, by the way. No, seriously. Stay out of those. I can't stand to look at my old work. I won't even describe them, they're so god awful. Oh gosh, how embarrassing. Let me distract you from this mess of a room with an introduction!
My name is Toxic! Or at least, the name I'll give you. I'm a completely normal girl who's just trying to make it through life. It's pretty hard, you know! I'm going to be in university soon!
...eheh, that's the old me talking. I'm almost a woman now.
I gave up on tidying my dreadful room and headed out the door. It was time for breakfast. I walked through the expansive, magenta hallways that housed the doors to the rooms. The walk to the cafeteria was insufferably long, so I quickened my pace. I was hesitant to run around- a habit from my schoolgirl days, I'm certain- but it seemed horribly rude. My friends would certainly be there ahead of me, as usual.
Finally, I reached the large doors of the cafeteria. They had at first been entirely made of boring wood, so I had busted out some paint and drawn a cheerful pink hedgehog on it.
...oh god.
It was so old. So, so old. Oh god. I regretted so hard. I needed to redraw that immediately!
"I'm getting my paint..." I murmured aloud, turning to hurry back to my room.
"Toxic?" A voice called, stopping me in my tracks. The doors opened, hiding my monstrosity from my view.
And just like that, the thought fled from my mind. My bestest friend, Danyalle, was standing in the door.
"Dani~!"
My legs scrunched up, and then I was flying through the air, right into her arms.
"Stop doing that, Toxic! I'm not that strong!" Danyalle, who most certainly was strong enough to hold my weight, complained.
"Good morrow~! I could draw your smiling face any day, Dani! Or maybe a caricature, eheh!"
Dani lived there with me, in that place. She always made it to breakfast before me because I'm so slow. Everyday, I tried to clean that squalid room, but to no avail!
I think Dani waited for me to get there, because she hadn't eaten yet. We sat down and began to dine together.
On my plate were a few scones- probably far too many, but who cares about that?- and an omelette. Dani eyed my scones jealously every now and then. She had a condition such that she couldn't eat any gluten, and I felt horribly bad for her. If it wasn't deathly bad for her, I would have given her my scones. Instead, she ate a small plate of potatoes. The poor girl doesn't ever eat much- I've been getting on myself about fixing that, but it's terribly hard to think of ways to.
Today, we were jovial. We usually were, actually. We had gotten much done in our stay here, and it was a happy time. I was drawing a fun little comic series, and-
"Did you want to spend some time together later, Toxic? I won't be writing after about three," Danyalle said offhandedly. "We've been a bit buried in work lately, haven't we? I'd like to have some fun!"
"Of course!" I chirped immediately. "How about we meet at the game room? We can play on the wii!"
"I'd like that," Danyalle said, smiling that fleeting smile of hers before returning to her own quarters.
I wish I had drawn a picture of her at that time.
Anyway, it was ten in the morning then. I'd need to be ready for Darky at fifteen o' clock. I had plenty of time to roam as I pleased. My first order of business was to push through the gate that lay across from the cafeteria. This gate led to the gardens, which I helped Darky tend. And, more generally, it led to the outside.
I put my hands firmly on either side of the gate and gave it a push.
As the doors swung open, the gentle morning sun slipped its heavenly rays through. I'm certain that the hallway behind me was bathed in bright, golden light. And the door, even with that crude drawing on it, had transcended in my imagination to a door made of pure gold. It was everything good in this world; all the happiness incarnate had been melted into that gold door.
And it was with this in mind that I viewed Paradise that day. I stared out the door, my eyes adjusting to the sunlight. Danyalle's gardens sprawled around the building. She refused to plant any flowers, only plants that would bear fruits. So we had rows upon rows of apple trees, cherry trees, pear trees, peach trees, blueberry and blackberry bushes... all manner of plants bearing all manner of fruit, from pineapples to kiwis to mangoes to currents to quinces. They all were near the building, which was colored a bright, shining white. It seemed picture-perfect- entirely flawless in every way imaginable. And the glass dome seemed to complete our impenetrable fortress- our Paradise- with its glistening, nearly completely see-through, bubble-like appearance. It was like we were in a dream. A floating, never-ending, happy dream.
I wanted to paint a picture of that dream. A beautiful, beautiful painting, spread over a room of canvases. I wanted to see that sight forever, but I knew my time was coming to an end. Every second chases away the last second, and every moment draws farther and farther away from me. That beautiful moment in Paradise was already gone, but it's still with me right now, in my heart. That sight of my Paradise...
I spent the afternoon frolicking merrily in the gardens. We had a bright red toolshed with all the garden implements stowed away, and I decided to do a little work to help Danyalle. She was always working on something or the other, and the garden was just extra. I knew how to weed well enough, so I wouldn't mess anything up. I also saw some ripe fruit, which I was quick to pull off.
By the time I finished, hours had passed. I had a few baskets full of fruit. I was certain Danyalle could make a good dessert out of them. Like a parfait, or a shortcake, or a pie...
Whatever the case, it would be delicious. Danyalle would eat hers slowly while I sketched mine into my napkin, and we would chat, and then go to sleep. It seems simple, but that was what we wanted. We loved it there, in Paradise.
Seeing that it was nearly fifteen o' clock, I headed into the building once more. I checked in on all the rooms on the way to make sure there were no problems, as I usually did every day.
The storage room, filled with all our supplies, was secure.
Next I checked the common room. It was a surprisingly large room with many comfortable chairs and sofas. Danyalle and I found it much too large, and the sense of loneliness it created guaranteed its abandonment. It also had a large computer and some decorative plants in the corners. While there were light fixtures in the room, it had also been set up with a bunch of lanterns and candles in case we wanted dim light. I think I've spotted it in use at night, but never checked what Danyalle was doing in there. There was a laptop on the room's sole desk. I didn't use it ever, but I never saw it dust over.
Finally, I checked in on the little study we had. It was completely soundproofed, and had a collection of books lining oaken shelves. I had organized them carefully by title one time when I had artist's block. Other than the shelves, the room had three little desks in its corners.
I moved to the game room, where a bunch of board games were messily piled against the wall. We hardly ever used them. In fact, the last game we had played was monopoly, and we still hadn't finished it. I couldn't even list off any other of the board games. Most of the games we actually used were video games that we had carefully organized on three birch shelves in the back of the room. There was also that weird black and white bear that always laughed maniacally as I entered the room.
Ah, I loved the game room. It was where Danyalle and I spent most of our downtime. We had a lot of good times together there! We always played on the same team, or played two player mode.
I would've loved to have painted a picture of our time tog-
"Something strange. Something strange was just there. Something really strange. As I was entering the room, I saw..." I murmured.
Board games. Video games. Shelves. Black and white bear laughing.
"Something really strange... Something that wasn't supposed to be there... Something that couldn't be there..."
I turned around to look at the entrance. On top of the shelf nearest to it, a black and white teddy bear was laughing his head off.
"Good afternoon, you bastard! Upupupupupupupupupupupu! Upupupupupupupupu!"
"Well, that's just impossible. We don't have anything like that here. And nothing can get through our bubble," I mumbled to myself, turning back around. "I'm just tired, that's all. If I ignore the problem, it'll go away. Yes. Ignore that strange, imaginary thing."
I walked over to the wii. Darky and I would probably play Mario kart double dash. That way we could play in a single kart and work together. It would be really fun. Yes, truly-
"DON'T IGNORE ME!" The bear yelled, popping up in front of me unexpectedly.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I THOUGHT YOU WERE A HALLUCINATION! HOW DID YOU GET HERE?!" I screamed.
Now that I finally believed in its existence, I got a good look at the bear. It was a weird looking teddy bear with a pronounced belly button. It's eye on the black side of its face was marked with a red lightning bolt, and it had a strange, asymmetrical mouth.
"I'm no hallucination! I'm the one, the only, the majestic, the aesthetically pleasing, the one who all the fangirls yearn for, the despair-inducingly amazing... MONOKUMA!" The bear yelled.
"Monokuma?" I asked meekly. "Is that a surname, or a first name? And anyway, um... how did you break through our impenetrable fortress...?"
I'm bad at this kind of situation, to be honest. I'm just horrible. Talking to loud people just isn't for me, I guess! All of that bear's yelling just made me dizzy. In fact, at that time, I felt I could keel over at any time.
"Upupupupupupu!" Monokuma giggled, covering his mouth like a naughty child might. "Silly, silly artist! If it's hard for you to call me Monokuma, then call me headmaster... The headmaster of your new life of mutual killing!"
With that sentence, Monokuma shattered everything we built. Everything we worked for. Everything we dreamed of.
He ended my beautiful lie...
My life in Paradise.
Chapter 0: A Beautiful Lie in Paradise- end.