Phew...okay, here's chapter two. Hehe, I remembered I was still reading The Host while I was writing this. XD Good times, good times.
I was gonna make it longer, but Chazz got me confused so...yeah.
Okay, down to business!
1. ELEVATOR SHAFT
Jaden Yuki
My eyes soared open the second I heard the nauseating strike in my dream, a muted gasp following them. I sat up abruptly, hoping I could stay focused long enough to make sure I couldn't returned to my slumped position in the seat. I would have to make sure to remember what I experienced in order to force myself conscious. What time was it anyways? My alerted eyes whipped themselves to the nearest clock.
Eleven fifty am. Five minutes until the class got out. It would be a small window of time, but I could probably bear it long enough to keep myself wide awake.
I had never experienced a dream like that while I slept in class. Dueling was my passion, it was like a solace to escape the pain one experienced from the death of a pet, so I often had a few dreams of me dueling and often defeating my opponent. But this was like no other. This was the kind of dream that would be a scene in a horror story. The dark, narrow channel that was there lingered in my mind, as if to remind me not to return to the dream world. The wind that had been erupting below me during that time was another sign to not succumb back to sleep.
Two minutes passed quickly. Another three, and we'd be free for the lunch break. Either Syrus or Hassleberry, who were both right next to me, probably saw me arouse hurriedly, so if they asked me what happened, I would have to tell them. I wasn't about to keep secrets from two of my closest friends. I considered writing it down, but with a dream like that, it wasn't promising to disregard.
So I replayed the images in my head, over and over again for the next three minutes. I shuddered each time I reached the ending, where I heard the thud. It was only then I remembered something else that came along at the end, before I awoke.
Pain. I remembered wondering when it would end, before the place became even blacker.
The nasal buzzing sound finally broke me away from that horrifying sequence of images as I rushed out of the classroom, being the twenty first out of thirty nine students to get out the door. The halls were filled with the medley of voices of conversing students and their footsteps. It seemed much more hushed outside, perhaps because there weren't that many people. The route to the dorm's cafeteria had become a permanent fixture in my brain; I didn't need a map to guide me. My breath was diminutive by the time I slowed to a walk. I contently opened the door and walked in slowly, settling in on a table close to the back.
The room was beginning to partially fill up with all of the Slifers, only eleven-now twelve-of them occupying the room. Syrus and Hassleberry would be coming in any minute now. Normally, I would have been walking here, but I was in a hurry to relinquish a premature persistence. The door slid open again after five minutes faded with time, and like I believed, Hassleberry and Syrus both walked into the room, detecting me in the back, and then zeroing in to join me.
I was so lost in thought I didn't even notice the very second when our serving was set at our table. When I rejoined the world, I took a quick glance on what would permanently become devoured. It was a pretty simple meal, a few sushi rolls accompanied with a fingerprint sized piece of wasabi, three gyoza, and miso. The chopsticks in my hand were raising a piece of gyoza when words escaped out of nowhere, but in a tone I recognized as Syrus' voice.
"Hey Jay," Syrus said. "What was up in class today? One minute you were completely out, and then the next you just snapped out of it!"
"Looked like you were hit by a surprise attack, too," Hassleberry said.
A surprise attack. I would have described it like being stabbed with a pencil, but that was a sweet correspondence too. I hesitated for the shortest half second before the words flooded from my lips.
"Weird dream," I replied. "It wasn't like anything I dreamt about before. It was more like a short story that one guy would write if he were still alive...what was it…? Something Poe…wrote a poem about ravens…"
"Edgar Allan Poe?" Syrus asked.
"That's the name," I replied with a slight smile. "'Quote the raven, Nevermore' right?"
Syrus and Hassleberry looked at each other questioningly, as if they were asking each other if they really wanted to know what was in my trance. It took them five seconds to glance back at me.
"A soldier who writes about birds, huh?" Hassleberry said. "So what was in your dream that would compare it to that?"
And I told them the tale the rapid eye movement in my sleep had composed.
*******
"Sam Hill!" Hassleberry exclaimed, dropping his sushi roll. "They pushed you into an elevator shaft?!"
"Actually, I threw myself in," I replied.
"And you died?" Syrus looked at me, astonishment and repulsion written in those silver irises, as I grabbed the last of my gyoza and popped it into my mouth.
"I think I did, but I'm not sure. I just remember there was so much pain I came close to screaming. And I really did try to grab something, I just couldn't get my hands on anything."
"Well, all be…" Hassleberry came close to never saying another word. "With those monsters chasin' ya throughout that base and you given the choice to surrender, I can see why you compared that to this bird soldier!"
"Um, his name's Edgar Allan Poe, Sarge," Syrus looked at him, rose-colored cheeks suppressed. But the embarrassed smile on his face couldn't be shackled.
Our conversation was cut off as the door slid open again, and our attentions were arrested. Although December's gray clouds soared and fog from an oncoming rain lingered, they couldn't hide Chazz, who stood in the doorway, his spiky ebony hair making him impossible to miss in his dark attire. Although it was kept quiet, his Ojamas, often weak in battle, but eccentric in personality, had thrown a celebration for his eighteenth birthday, which was nine days ago on the tenth, although he kept that day to himself. Tomorrow, half of the students would go home for winter break.
He strode in casually, not saying a word, and seated himself at an uninhabited table, two rows away from us on the left. He was a lone wolf, overseeing an undomesticated pack. However, something in him had been modified. Something wasn't quite precise about him, as if he were deeply affected by a sequence of traumas. Not the hyperventilating or lamenting kind of trauma, but the type that left him wordless. Chazz wasn't boasting, or being unreasonable about the value of our dorm. Maybe he was submerged in consideration? Whatever it was, there was a fire of yearning within me, burning wildly as if it were raging in a woodland area.
Before I could even think, I perceived sound from him.
Sounds like Chazz has got something important on his mind. :D Given that Jaden's dream isn't entirely relevant to the plot, I guess it won't hurt to explain what he experienced.
Okay, so Jaden dreamt he was being chased in a condemned building and a few monsters were chasing him. Then he comes to an elevator shaft and he realizes he's been cornered. The monsters then catch up and they try to convince him to join their side. Jaden, who doesn't have a Duel Disk but doesn't want to, then throws himself into the elevator shaft and dies.
So yeah. ;D
T__________T Gomenesai. I just realized I failed to do a proper Syrus or Jaden.
Venom Amaranth out. WHEW! Three text bodies submitted at once!
