p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="fc687f88c922ed841214675c85fb9a56"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"Sometimes life throws you curveballs. Sometimes it's just a bore. Not my life. There are a lot of people in the world who say their life is a living Hell. They don't even know the meaning of the damn phrase as far as I care. I know the /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"real/spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Hell./em/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="81e81c39a63d0908f2959fb5f66558d2""Vincent Armstrong?" The young man simply raised his hand, continuing to tap his pencil on the paper in front of him. He was going to draw something for the school band, but he was struggling to do something original. He didn't even acknowledge when their teacher had announced the school play. He had other things to focus on anyway. Vince sighed as he thought of going for something comical, with several deities and religious figures ranging from Jesus to Quetzalcoatl to Izanagi playing instruments native to their countries of origins./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="42f31227ea8942e9d0e67e9b435cd560""I think Vincent should have the lead role. I've heard his voice before and he's perfect for the character." His head shot up, looking around as everyone stared at him./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="408afca810128237f21cb5567884d016""I-I'm not- no I couldn't possibly-" he stuttered, his "tormentor" giggling a bit./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="04e6dbf36c01b29a6620c46555e62e1c"Valerie Graves. Every girl's dream body and every guy's dream girl. Curves in all the right places with short, wild hair. Her cute face isn't the only thing that had guys tripping over themselves for her. She was a sweet girl if a little cold at times. Valerie also had a way with words that usually left one at her beck and call. Capping off/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6a12072ba766206e79c38f9a6f64a09f"The one thing that stood out most to Vince, however, was her eyes. They were red, almost unnaturally so, and put him on edge./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="d08ce3cade558504d93bf9a7aec7b8e9""Are you sure? I've heard you yelling in voices all the way down the hall. It's really impressive," she added, causing Vince's cheeks to turn beet red and put his head down. One of her friends laughed a bit./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="c54aa90953b240832f757d9b34de78a6""Don't tease him too much, he might get the wrong idea," she laughed./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="89837ff7459602e4789fa9a76e44339a""Besides, he doesn't have the body for Macbeth. Dude was some kind of solider, yeah?" one of the guys scoffed. Vincent just put his other earbud in and began working on the banner design for the school band, ignoring the rest of the class given the topic. The ravenette just took a deep breath to force the blush down and focused. He added some traditional cherubs with trumpets and imps with electric guitars on the opposite diagonal corners. With some music notes that looked like letters to form the words, it felt like he was making some progress. Finally, he added the faces of famous musicians in flowers to fill in a lot of the dead space. He popped his knuckles and stretched, sighing as he put away the sketch and got ready for his other classes. The young man felt rather uncomfortable as he left, his hair standing on end as he quickly made his way off to class. The feeling seemed to follow him despite nothing being abnormal. The whole atmosphere of the school felt like it was being choked out by something in the background. The whole time he couldn't shake the idea someone had been watching him throughout his classes./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="d094d21917ce297f8d642637c4f89314"It started in math, which made the usually boring hour seem to drag on even further and unnerve him every second. History helped him relax a little, since whoever was watching him either picked up on his distress and eased back or was absurdly interested in WW2 history. A horrified part of him got the idea it was the latter as they were discussing the atrocities endured by the Jewish people during the war. Art class was at least better as the feeling seemed to continue being little more than an inconvenience. Sitting next to Valerie, Vincent was borderline forced to draw her. Had she begged him any louder, Vince might have found himself on the wrong end of a beat down or some judging stares. Still, this behavior was weirding him out. Usually, she'd just catch his eye as she glanced around, barely giving him any attention. Yet suddenly, she was drowning Vincent in it. This odd behavior didn't go unnoticed but Vincent couldn't form the words to ask why she was so interested. Something wasn't right but the strangeness didn't stop at Valerie. One of his old friends who had come with him left in the middle of class and said he would rather study somewhere else. Seeing as it was their junior year, Vincent thought he was enjoying the school and had even talked about it all summer, the nerd having been obnoxiously excited to start again. At the end of the day, he grabbed his backpack and just rubbed his eyes./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="b834cfe85f7df132e293dd86b3fdb109"On his way to the dorms, he saw the outdoor food court further up ahead and remembered it was a good place to do his homework. Right as he was about to jog on ahead, Vince heard an ear-piercing scream and time felt as if it had come to a crashing halt. He hesitated for a moment before rushing in as he heard another scream begging for help. He was in the middle of dialing 9-1-1 when he saw what was happening. Some... thing- he could barely call it human- dressed in a black cloak, was stabbing the girl he had been paired with from his last class... Whatever it was had jet black bat wings and bloody red eyes that widened surprise at his sudden appearance. The temperature dropped noticeably as it spoke in a strange tongue that he vaguely understood./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;" data-p-id="fe5f66933b3ed9665ce49c94c26ec3b6"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"˙̴̧̹͇͍̫̱͔͍̗͌́́̈͜p̸͖͈̭͋͝ǝ̶̡̫͚͍̝̩͍̎̾̄̄̈͜͠ͅủ̶̧̡̬̗̳̹̺̘̰̐̀͜͝u̶̮̠̓̌͛̿͝ı̷̥͕͈̱͓͉͕͎̖̐͝ͅs̸̞̬̣͙͙͇̼̳͐͗͛̉͆͐̉̇̀̚ͅ ̷̡̡̨̛̼͙̗̩̀̓͒́̾̽̊͝ǝ̸͙̮͔̝̂̓ͅʌ̵̨̫͎̥̗̉̃̈́ɐ̷̖̌ɥ̷̺́̐̌͋͗͗̔͝͠ ̶͉̀̈́̊̀Į̸̖̬̪̺̊̈́͂̏̐̍̏̿ ̸̙̟̹̬̠͍̤̳̌̓̀̅͌͛̌̀͘ɹ̴̟͕̮͇̺̓̓́͂̅̐̇̑̅̚ͅǫ̶̯̥̤̱̪̀̔̿͜ɟ̸̘̻̘͍̫̠͚̦̑ ̸̡͖͙̭̰̯̰̜̰͗̃́̃̽̾͠'̸̢̰̯̟̓̊͒̕ǝ̶̨̧̢̥̤̉̽͝͠ʌ̴̧̛̯͇̥̯͖͓̜͔̉̾̈̍͘͘ọ̵͚̜̳̖͔͈͑̌̄̓̾͝ͅl̸̛̟̈́̈́̾͊͛̑̐͠ ̶̧̱̥̣̹̭͖̤̪̠̈̑͝͝ʎ̴̞̱̔̌ɯ̸̡̣͎͉̳̪̙̫̮̉̔̌̐ ̴͚̪̽̚'̵̟̳̬̖̖́ͅǝ̵̨̱͍̩̻̫̳͙͎̮̂̎͛̅̄̓͌͝͠ɯ̷͍̜̫̤͙̫́̆̉͐ ̷̢͖͖̖̘̭͒̀͐̾̒ǝ̸̢̢̛̻̺̙̦̠̥̬͂́̀͝ʌ̷̡̊͒̄̌̄̾ı̶̫̺͇̉ɓ̶̥̗̰͔̐̐͋͒̂̇͛͑ɹ̷͔̫͇͙̍͗̾͗̓͐͘͘͝͠ö̴̥̺̣͎̻̝͛̂͋͐̌̃͜͝Ⅎ̴̛̼̋̒̒̋̀̾͘͝/em/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="f95bd63b9d86f8dd9ffa7f08da90d20d""S-Stay back! I-I'll rock your shit!" Vincent yelled, trying to sound at least somewhat intimidating. The thing let out feminine laughter before replying./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="86b51fbf51e75fb06dc37d39c41151f0""That's cute, Darling, but you couldn't even scratch me if I let you! Try if you must, but I warn you-" it said, getting cut off as Vincent landed a solid hit in its cheek, only to find it did fuck all. He could em style="box-sizing: border-box;"feel/em the monster frown a bit before grinning seductively at him. It was nothing short of revolting that this thing could so brutally maim someone and then try to flirt with their attacker./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="0169bfbf64b0430331049bc06ab673d1""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"I /emam em style="box-sizing: border-box;"truly sorry for this... /emOooh, feisty! As cute as you are, you might be a bit too em style="box-sizing: border-box;"hot /emfor me as you are," it cooed, leaving him to question if he was just in some sort of horrific nightmare before his arms burst into flames. It felt like he was freezing from his fingertips to his elbows. His upper arms and shoulders felt like he had forgotten to put on sunscreen on them and laid out in the sun for several days. Finally, em style="box-sizing: border-box;"finally/em, he could hear the police sirens, throwing up from the pain./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="ae04e83102e0a8b0ce07492a0ac41981""Six minutes and fourteen seconds. Quicker than I expected. Much quicker than average. Oh well, I did what I needed to. Later, em style="box-sizing: border-box;"handsome/em." The police were horrified as they arrived on the scene, watching as the young man scrambled to pull his clothes off and screaming for someone to make it stop. After nearly fourteen minutes of dumping water and smothering the flames, Vincent was finally able to be safely loaded into an ambulance and taken to the E.R. The man had passed out after only two minutes of trying to put out the fire and as doctors spoke with officers about what had happened and were baffled by the conflicting stories. The wounds appeared to be far more destructive than the tests would have you think. His hands up to the middle of his forearm were charred black, like wood logs. His upper arms and shoulders looked like they were starting to blister. Yet the man still had his sense of touch. He could still feel it when the doctors put the cooling burn cream on his hands and arms. The officers who had helped him each said the fire was a pale pink, which wouldn't make sense as pink by itself, especially as vibrant as the one the officers described is virtually impossible to get./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="89ac12fbed2068d4d080230c6233662b"Vincent woke up with a start, yelling at someone to stop. When he saw the nurses and doctors coming in, he stopped and immediately began stuttering as he tried to speak./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="326c6bb42fb639315bc35169b8135964""W-wh-what abo-out the g-girl-" he began, trailing off as he was injected with anesthetics./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="997dac8c5d750c869b0484d2123840b0"Several days later Vince woke up again, though was incredibly sluggish. He tried to get up but was instantly pushed back down, looking up and barely able to make out the nurse's face. She looked vaguely familiar but her face was too obscured by light and shadows./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="0f92a1ebd91a138f0f044280d3f76808""Calm down, you've been through a lot. You still need to heal before you can start moving too much. Besides, your muscles have atrophied quite a bit in the last few days and might not be able to handle being pushed half as far as they used to. Honestly, it was a little worrying..." the woman trailed off as she started taking out the IVs./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6cc0a11a01111cecc57bc6d907be19f8""W-What do you me-mean l-last few d-days?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="f815f1b279e03f5f6c91813b36751c4a""We had to keep you in a medically induced coma because you would constantly start thrashing about, hurting yourself and the doctors trying to restrain you," she explained./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="f06828279cb76dee7463e2769507d18a""What... w-what abo-out the-the girl?" Vincent asked, starting to catch up with being awake./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="5ce205d03299fc401aa3860a541509fd""She was dead before she even got in the ambulance." The woman sighed and sat in the chair next to him. Finally able to see her face, it was indeed a familiar face./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="922375d266afb4e1e18bb792df4f2808""Where d-d-do I recogni-nize you from?" he asked quietly./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="5f4615ce5508c8c355cac037acc30046""I don't blame you for not recognizing me." The woman giggled before trying to compose herself./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="79c239ab8e58f03699884a0f8b4c2d62""When we first met, you said I wasn't strong enough to play soccer with you. And then I kicked you in the shin. You said that since I was so quick to hit you that you had no choice but to be friends with me. It was kind of cute, not that I would have ever admitted it back then." Vincent chuckled./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e9ed7cd1464bd2221dd39b34077824a0""I wa-wa-was a 3-foot menace b-back the-then huh?" He smiled as he ran over the memory. The moment he did, something felt... strange. Like he was remembering things wrong. Something was missing from it. A face, someone he thought he had met once./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="7d619d71f503d9d761988e5453da126c""Di-didn't y-y-you have a friend? She w-was kinda shy a-and stuck t-to the shade?" Vincent asked, causing the nurse to nod./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="97e510cfbf745f3b7cab05247c28c85e""Sister more like. She was adopted, but she was still family. Riri always seemed to get so nervous going to that park. Well, enough reminiscing. I'm still on the clock. We should hang out, properly. It'll be nice catching up." With that, the woman walked off. Vincent was almost immediately dragged back into sleep, having been slammed by a sudden feeling of fatigue. Sleep brought on the worst part of having experienced a traumatic event./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e33042c459d70eb392da793af55df00d""HELP ME!" The voice screamed over and over, only making Vincent shake further. He tried running, full sprint towards that dreaded alleyway. Despite knowing what he would find, the young man couldn't stop himself. The distance never seemed to close with each step, like the cobblestone walkway continued to stretch out under his feet. The voice just continued to strain as each second felt drawn out and time felt thick as molasses./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="185a8a3c14c54527e8d87187b7bf91e2""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Begone, damn temptress." /emThe voice he heard sounded horrifying, like something you would get if someone took drowning gurgles and spliced them with some cheap demon voice changer. Vincent had damn near collapsed upon hearing the sound. His legs felt like they were frozen, while his arms were suddenly melting off at the elbows. The right leg suddenly stuck in place, the appendage shattering from the attempt to move and forced him to faceplant. Vincent looked down at his arms and began screaming as his fingers had begun to rot and melt down to the bone. Each second only caused increasing pain and there was no possible way to slow or halt the-/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="eadb90634f0bbbefd47e08bd93d39abb""AAAAAAAAAAAHHH- AAAAAAAAHHHHGGGGHHHH!" Opening his eyes, the pain vanished and he was being held down by several doctors and nurses. Each one had horrified looks on their faces and attempted to calm him down without resorting to using chemical sedation./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="91bc22cb45f2067b45bd6bb267f1d3d6""Are you alright?" the doctor on his right asked, holding Vincent's shoulder./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;" data-p-id="af4d04b459245ee94a3dede72485945f"-/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="5977706d8e8c07087e25eb0ab517db75"2015 words/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="8dfeaf7c2cf44bf2290b61fbdca06875"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"Fucking hell! (pun intended there) This has been a bit of a passion project I've been working off and on with for several YEARS now. Between life getting in the way, just over all lack of motivation, and trying to make it the best I possibly could, I'd been picking at it like a vulture to a carcass. Please let me know what you think of this and comment your critiques in a kind manner. You're not going to change anyone's mind by being rude. Anyway, I might not be active but this has been something I've been working on almost ad nauseum. If there's enough support (literally I only need 10 people to like my things to want to keep going with them, I'm not difficult) then the next chapter will be much more timely than this one. Anyways, ciao for now!/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="81e81c39a63d0908f2959fb5f66558d2""Vincent Armstrong?" The young man simply raised his hand, continuing to tap his pencil on the paper in front of him. He was going to draw something for the school band, but he was struggling to do something original. He didn't even acknowledge when their teacher had announced the school play. He had other things to focus on anyway. Vince sighed as he thought of going for something comical, with several deities and religious figures ranging from Jesus to Quetzalcoatl to Izanagi playing instruments native to their countries of origins./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="42f31227ea8942e9d0e67e9b435cd560""I think Vincent should have the lead role. I've heard his voice before and he's perfect for the character." His head shot up, looking around as everyone stared at him./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="408afca810128237f21cb5567884d016""I-I'm not- no I couldn't possibly-" he stuttered, his "tormentor" giggling a bit./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="04e6dbf36c01b29a6620c46555e62e1c"Valerie Graves. Every girl's dream body and every guy's dream girl. Curves in all the right places with short, wild hair. Her cute face isn't the only thing that had guys tripping over themselves for her. She was a sweet girl if a little cold at times. Valerie also had a way with words that usually left one at her beck and call. Capping off/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6a12072ba766206e79c38f9a6f64a09f"The one thing that stood out most to Vince, however, was her eyes. They were red, almost unnaturally so, and put him on edge./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="d08ce3cade558504d93bf9a7aec7b8e9""Are you sure? I've heard you yelling in voices all the way down the hall. It's really impressive," she added, causing Vince's cheeks to turn beet red and put his head down. One of her friends laughed a bit./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="c54aa90953b240832f757d9b34de78a6""Don't tease him too much, he might get the wrong idea," she laughed./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="89837ff7459602e4789fa9a76e44339a""Besides, he doesn't have the body for Macbeth. Dude was some kind of solider, yeah?" one of the guys scoffed. Vincent just put his other earbud in and began working on the banner design for the school band, ignoring the rest of the class given the topic. The ravenette just took a deep breath to force the blush down and focused. He added some traditional cherubs with trumpets and imps with electric guitars on the opposite diagonal corners. With some music notes that looked like letters to form the words, it felt like he was making some progress. Finally, he added the faces of famous musicians in flowers to fill in a lot of the dead space. He popped his knuckles and stretched, sighing as he put away the sketch and got ready for his other classes. The young man felt rather uncomfortable as he left, his hair standing on end as he quickly made his way off to class. The feeling seemed to follow him despite nothing being abnormal. The whole atmosphere of the school felt like it was being choked out by something in the background. The whole time he couldn't shake the idea someone had been watching him throughout his classes./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="d094d21917ce297f8d642637c4f89314"It started in math, which made the usually boring hour seem to drag on even further and unnerve him every second. History helped him relax a little, since whoever was watching him either picked up on his distress and eased back or was absurdly interested in WW2 history. A horrified part of him got the idea it was the latter as they were discussing the atrocities endured by the Jewish people during the war. Art class was at least better as the feeling seemed to continue being little more than an inconvenience. Sitting next to Valerie, Vincent was borderline forced to draw her. Had she begged him any louder, Vince might have found himself on the wrong end of a beat down or some judging stares. Still, this behavior was weirding him out. Usually, she'd just catch his eye as she glanced around, barely giving him any attention. Yet suddenly, she was drowning Vincent in it. This odd behavior didn't go unnoticed but Vincent couldn't form the words to ask why she was so interested. Something wasn't right but the strangeness didn't stop at Valerie. One of his old friends who had come with him left in the middle of class and said he would rather study somewhere else. Seeing as it was their junior year, Vincent thought he was enjoying the school and had even talked about it all summer, the nerd having been obnoxiously excited to start again. At the end of the day, he grabbed his backpack and just rubbed his eyes./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="b834cfe85f7df132e293dd86b3fdb109"On his way to the dorms, he saw the outdoor food court further up ahead and remembered it was a good place to do his homework. Right as he was about to jog on ahead, Vince heard an ear-piercing scream and time felt as if it had come to a crashing halt. He hesitated for a moment before rushing in as he heard another scream begging for help. He was in the middle of dialing 9-1-1 when he saw what was happening. Some... thing- he could barely call it human- dressed in a black cloak, was stabbing the girl he had been paired with from his last class... Whatever it was had jet black bat wings and bloody red eyes that widened surprise at his sudden appearance. The temperature dropped noticeably as it spoke in a strange tongue that he vaguely understood./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;" data-p-id="fe5f66933b3ed9665ce49c94c26ec3b6"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"˙̴̧̹͇͍̫̱͔͍̗͌́́̈͜p̸͖͈̭͋͝ǝ̶̡̫͚͍̝̩͍̎̾̄̄̈͜͠ͅủ̶̧̡̬̗̳̹̺̘̰̐̀͜͝u̶̮̠̓̌͛̿͝ı̷̥͕͈̱͓͉͕͎̖̐͝ͅs̸̞̬̣͙͙͇̼̳͐͗͛̉͆͐̉̇̀̚ͅ ̷̡̡̨̛̼͙̗̩̀̓͒́̾̽̊͝ǝ̸͙̮͔̝̂̓ͅʌ̵̨̫͎̥̗̉̃̈́ɐ̷̖̌ɥ̷̺́̐̌͋͗͗̔͝͠ ̶͉̀̈́̊̀Į̸̖̬̪̺̊̈́͂̏̐̍̏̿ ̸̙̟̹̬̠͍̤̳̌̓̀̅͌͛̌̀͘ɹ̴̟͕̮͇̺̓̓́͂̅̐̇̑̅̚ͅǫ̶̯̥̤̱̪̀̔̿͜ɟ̸̘̻̘͍̫̠͚̦̑ ̸̡͖͙̭̰̯̰̜̰͗̃́̃̽̾͠'̸̢̰̯̟̓̊͒̕ǝ̶̨̧̢̥̤̉̽͝͠ʌ̴̧̛̯͇̥̯͖͓̜͔̉̾̈̍͘͘ọ̵͚̜̳̖͔͈͑̌̄̓̾͝ͅl̸̛̟̈́̈́̾͊͛̑̐͠ ̶̧̱̥̣̹̭͖̤̪̠̈̑͝͝ʎ̴̞̱̔̌ɯ̸̡̣͎͉̳̪̙̫̮̉̔̌̐ ̴͚̪̽̚'̵̟̳̬̖̖́ͅǝ̵̨̱͍̩̻̫̳͙͎̮̂̎͛̅̄̓͌͝͠ɯ̷͍̜̫̤͙̫́̆̉͐ ̷̢͖͖̖̘̭͒̀͐̾̒ǝ̸̢̢̛̻̺̙̦̠̥̬͂́̀͝ʌ̷̡̊͒̄̌̄̾ı̶̫̺͇̉ɓ̶̥̗̰͔̐̐͋͒̂̇͛͑ɹ̷͔̫͇͙̍͗̾͗̓͐͘͘͝͠ö̴̥̺̣͎̻̝͛̂͋͐̌̃͜͝Ⅎ̴̛̼̋̒̒̋̀̾͘͝/em/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="f95bd63b9d86f8dd9ffa7f08da90d20d""S-Stay back! I-I'll rock your shit!" Vincent yelled, trying to sound at least somewhat intimidating. The thing let out feminine laughter before replying./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="86b51fbf51e75fb06dc37d39c41151f0""That's cute, Darling, but you couldn't even scratch me if I let you! Try if you must, but I warn you-" it said, getting cut off as Vincent landed a solid hit in its cheek, only to find it did fuck all. He could em style="box-sizing: border-box;"feel/em the monster frown a bit before grinning seductively at him. It was nothing short of revolting that this thing could so brutally maim someone and then try to flirt with their attacker./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="0169bfbf64b0430331049bc06ab673d1""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"I /emam em style="box-sizing: border-box;"truly sorry for this... /emOooh, feisty! As cute as you are, you might be a bit too em style="box-sizing: border-box;"hot /emfor me as you are," it cooed, leaving him to question if he was just in some sort of horrific nightmare before his arms burst into flames. It felt like he was freezing from his fingertips to his elbows. His upper arms and shoulders felt like he had forgotten to put on sunscreen on them and laid out in the sun for several days. Finally, em style="box-sizing: border-box;"finally/em, he could hear the police sirens, throwing up from the pain./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="ae04e83102e0a8b0ce07492a0ac41981""Six minutes and fourteen seconds. Quicker than I expected. Much quicker than average. Oh well, I did what I needed to. Later, em style="box-sizing: border-box;"handsome/em." The police were horrified as they arrived on the scene, watching as the young man scrambled to pull his clothes off and screaming for someone to make it stop. After nearly fourteen minutes of dumping water and smothering the flames, Vincent was finally able to be safely loaded into an ambulance and taken to the E.R. The man had passed out after only two minutes of trying to put out the fire and as doctors spoke with officers about what had happened and were baffled by the conflicting stories. The wounds appeared to be far more destructive than the tests would have you think. His hands up to the middle of his forearm were charred black, like wood logs. His upper arms and shoulders looked like they were starting to blister. Yet the man still had his sense of touch. He could still feel it when the doctors put the cooling burn cream on his hands and arms. The officers who had helped him each said the fire was a pale pink, which wouldn't make sense as pink by itself, especially as vibrant as the one the officers described is virtually impossible to get./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="89ac12fbed2068d4d080230c6233662b"Vincent woke up with a start, yelling at someone to stop. When he saw the nurses and doctors coming in, he stopped and immediately began stuttering as he tried to speak./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="326c6bb42fb639315bc35169b8135964""W-wh-what abo-out the g-girl-" he began, trailing off as he was injected with anesthetics./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="997dac8c5d750c869b0484d2123840b0"Several days later Vince woke up again, though was incredibly sluggish. He tried to get up but was instantly pushed back down, looking up and barely able to make out the nurse's face. She looked vaguely familiar but her face was too obscured by light and shadows./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="0f92a1ebd91a138f0f044280d3f76808""Calm down, you've been through a lot. You still need to heal before you can start moving too much. Besides, your muscles have atrophied quite a bit in the last few days and might not be able to handle being pushed half as far as they used to. Honestly, it was a little worrying..." the woman trailed off as she started taking out the IVs./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6cc0a11a01111cecc57bc6d907be19f8""W-What do you me-mean l-last few d-days?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="f815f1b279e03f5f6c91813b36751c4a""We had to keep you in a medically induced coma because you would constantly start thrashing about, hurting yourself and the doctors trying to restrain you," she explained./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="f06828279cb76dee7463e2769507d18a""What... w-what abo-out the-the girl?" Vincent asked, starting to catch up with being awake./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="5ce205d03299fc401aa3860a541509fd""She was dead before she even got in the ambulance." The woman sighed and sat in the chair next to him. Finally able to see her face, it was indeed a familiar face./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="922375d266afb4e1e18bb792df4f2808""Where d-d-do I recogni-nize you from?" he asked quietly./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="5f4615ce5508c8c355cac037acc30046""I don't blame you for not recognizing me." The woman giggled before trying to compose herself./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="79c239ab8e58f03699884a0f8b4c2d62""When we first met, you said I wasn't strong enough to play soccer with you. And then I kicked you in the shin. You said that since I was so quick to hit you that you had no choice but to be friends with me. It was kind of cute, not that I would have ever admitted it back then." Vincent chuckled./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e9ed7cd1464bd2221dd39b34077824a0""I wa-wa-was a 3-foot menace b-back the-then huh?" He smiled as he ran over the memory. The moment he did, something felt... strange. Like he was remembering things wrong. Something was missing from it. A face, someone he thought he had met once./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="7d619d71f503d9d761988e5453da126c""Di-didn't y-y-you have a friend? She w-was kinda shy a-and stuck t-to the shade?" Vincent asked, causing the nurse to nod./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="97e510cfbf745f3b7cab05247c28c85e""Sister more like. She was adopted, but she was still family. Riri always seemed to get so nervous going to that park. Well, enough reminiscing. I'm still on the clock. We should hang out, properly. It'll be nice catching up." With that, the woman walked off. Vincent was almost immediately dragged back into sleep, having been slammed by a sudden feeling of fatigue. Sleep brought on the worst part of having experienced a traumatic event./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e33042c459d70eb392da793af55df00d""HELP ME!" The voice screamed over and over, only making Vincent shake further. He tried running, full sprint towards that dreaded alleyway. Despite knowing what he would find, the young man couldn't stop himself. The distance never seemed to close with each step, like the cobblestone walkway continued to stretch out under his feet. The voice just continued to strain as each second felt drawn out and time felt thick as molasses./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="185a8a3c14c54527e8d87187b7bf91e2""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Begone, damn temptress." /emThe voice he heard sounded horrifying, like something you would get if someone took drowning gurgles and spliced them with some cheap demon voice changer. Vincent had damn near collapsed upon hearing the sound. His legs felt like they were frozen, while his arms were suddenly melting off at the elbows. The right leg suddenly stuck in place, the appendage shattering from the attempt to move and forced him to faceplant. Vincent looked down at his arms and began screaming as his fingers had begun to rot and melt down to the bone. Each second only caused increasing pain and there was no possible way to slow or halt the-/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="eadb90634f0bbbefd47e08bd93d39abb""AAAAAAAAAAAHHH- AAAAAAAAHHHHGGGGHHHH!" Opening his eyes, the pain vanished and he was being held down by several doctors and nurses. Each one had horrified looks on their faces and attempted to calm him down without resorting to using chemical sedation./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="91bc22cb45f2067b45bd6bb267f1d3d6""Are you alright?" the doctor on his right asked, holding Vincent's shoulder./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;" data-p-id="af4d04b459245ee94a3dede72485945f"-/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="5977706d8e8c07087e25eb0ab517db75"2015 words/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="8dfeaf7c2cf44bf2290b61fbdca06875"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"Fucking hell! (pun intended there) This has been a bit of a passion project I've been working off and on with for several YEARS now. Between life getting in the way, just over all lack of motivation, and trying to make it the best I possibly could, I'd been picking at it like a vulture to a carcass. Please let me know what you think of this and comment your critiques in a kind manner. You're not going to change anyone's mind by being rude. Anyway, I might not be active but this has been something I've been working on almost ad nauseum. If there's enough support (literally I only need 10 people to like my things to want to keep going with them, I'm not difficult) then the next chapter will be much more timely than this one. Anyways, ciao for now!/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p
