Hello, everyone, and welcome to my newest story!
This is an idea I've had in my head for quite a while, and finally decided to go ahead and give it a try. The ghost characters have always fascinated me- since of all the characters, they are actual people who've lived and died- and I decided to present my take on each of them, their personalities, and how they ended up the way they are.
As a little disclaimer: this is going to go against some canon. For example, the ages the characters are listed as are the ages they were as of their deaths, not their actual chronological age (since this allows me to take some liberties).
General Warning: There's going to be mature content in these chapters, namely character death (obviously) and mild depictions of violence, to warn any of you who may be queasy at those.
And just so there's no confusion, this first chapter and the last will be in first person. However the rest of them will be third.
And in the naked light I saw,
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
And no one dared disturb the sound of silence
For Those Left Behind
Prologue: Twyla
Monster High has many secrets.
Everyone with their own skeleton in their closet, their own demons they want to keep hidden, their own little horrors locked deeply away in the dark cage of their minds, hoping that they'll never see the light of day, that no one will ever find out the true horror that lies beneath the surface.
The ghost students, especially.
They keep their whole lives as tightly chained up as the ones they wear draped across their bodies. The keys to their iron chambers kept under the tight guards of their hearts with a strong hope, as well as a desperation to escape the past, that no one will ever know. Considering our lifespans are almost infinite compared to that of mortal man, you almost completely forget that everyone has a beginning. That there's only one way to become a ghost. But it's so normal for us, people don't notice. No one thinks about it, so no one will ever ask, and that way they can move on with their unlives in peace.
But I know the truth.
All of it.
I can see it in their dreams.
Their nightmares.
Where the past comes back to- no pun intended- haunt them, where they're forced to relive every second, every gory detail, every emotion present at the time.
Forced to relive their human lives.
Forced to relive their deaths.
They all float around here, wearing smiles on their faces, but in the night they come back to the pain and terror. I've seen it firsthand: Screams echoing like church bells in the haze; smells of blood, saltwater, smoke, and gunpowder a thick, suffocating perfume in the air; phantom pain so intense it wraps around like a second skin, bringing every nerve to life and squeezing the air from lungs, the familiar sensation of fire in one's chest as their hearts pound all over again in a cocktail of fear and adrenaline, feeling like it's going to burst right out, before it suddenly slows to a terrifying thump, the seconds between every beat growing bigger and bigger until it stops all together. Over and over again, night after night.
It's a wonder none of them have gone mad yet.
But underneath the horror, it's really quite tragic.
To know what they all had ahead of them in their short lives, and how the unfortunate circumstances changed all that. To see little remnants of who they used to be, and that now only a shadow of their former selves remain. To know that your entire life can change forever, and before you know it, it becomes your unlife.
None of them ever talk about it, of course. There are some things that you just keep under wraps, even from your closest friends.
They don't know that I've seen their dreams.
Or if they do, they've never said anything. Maybe they prefer to keep it that way. I can respect that. Either way, I've come to understand all of them in more ways that I never thought possible.
And I learn.
Partially, that even out of tragedy can you move forward.
But most importantly, to cherish the life you have and those in it.
Because like the ghosts know far too well, it can all be taken away.
Happy Halloween everybody. ~SO