Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Manga/Anime Yu-gi-oh, that is for the copyright owners.
Note: I don't mind if anything is used in other stories, just mention that it's from me.
Note: This is a frame-story, so chapter 1 is a flashback from the person in the prologue.
Note: Please review.
Prologue
I've been laying here for a while now. I've lost all track of time and space, so I can't tell where I am, when or for how long. I won't move. I'm sure that if I make the slightest move, I will feel the pain again. That infinite pain. For now, I can do nothing but lay here. It's outside, I know that much. I can feel the wind. I believe it's a stone I'm laying on. Whatever it is, it feels hard and smooth. It's night. I can hear the oohoo of an owl hunting. I've always loved animals. I'm alone, I cannot hear any human noises. They left me here, and I've been laying here for a while now.
How I ended up here? What they did to me? Why they left me here? Who they are? I remember. I remember very, very well.
I'll start at the beginning. I really need to sort things out. Make some order in this chaos, this raging storm inside my head. Other than outside, where it's a peaceful night. They did this to me. I can't name it. I need to sort things out.
1.
Sunday afternoon. A rather regular one, I might add. Just chilling, taking it easy at home. The cat lazy in the sun, on the edge of the balcony. My mum was hanging up the laundry, outside. She hummed a song, from the Carpenters. Postman, if I remember correctly. I was doing nothing, trying to take a nap on my mathematics book. Dull homework. I had a test coming up on Tuesday, and our teacher wanted to check our homework on Monday. The problem was that I hadn't done anything this entire semester. Not to worry too much, I could finish it now, if I could find the energy.
"Meow"
Something hugged my legs. Wet nose against my left foot.
"Hey Artemis, how is my girl doing?"
"Purrrrrrr"
"Okay, I'll get you some milk when I'm done with this letter. Why don't you go and play with Athena?"
Athena is my owl. A white snow-owl. I don't know how old she is, but I found her three years ago. Or, Artemis found her, on one of her hunting trips. It scared the hell out of me when she came back with an adult owl in her beak. She really was a poor thing, as she laid there on the kitchen table. Luckily my mother called Doctor Bly and he cured Athena.
She and Artemis have been friends ever since.
Like I said before, I love animals. I can talk to them. I don't know where it comes from, but I can understand them. Maybe that's why they were after me.
"Silandra, Gareth, tea!"
'Four 'o clock already? I really need to do something about myself' I thought. But I needed to go downstairs to have tea with my brother (13, and very annoying) and mum.
"Behold, beware of the ruler of the undead, Pumpking! And his most feared henchmen, the Skull Servants! But do not fear, o, milady, for I will save thou with the help of my bold friend, the King of Yamimakai!"
That was my brother. He just discovered Duel Monsters, and now you almost couldn't tell the difference between him and any other fan of it. I thought it was a great game too, but he overacted it. Though it was nice when he came up with an article about the origin of the game, which Pegasus had created it from some old Egyptian tablets. It was because of that my mum had planned a trip to Egypt in two weeks. He totally freaked out when he heard. But back to the present now.
"Hey Gar, stop and be still for a moment!" I whispered.
"What's up, Sil?"
"Mum called us by our whole names."
"So?"
"She only does that when dad's around."
"Dad's here? You've got to be kidding! I am not going anywhere near him!"
"We have to! Or else mum will start to suspect us, like we know, and we're not supposed to!"
"I don't care!"
"Do you want Patty to be fired? Or me to be sued?"
"No, but I don't want to see him"
"Let's just try to make it as brief as we can. We can use our homework as an excuse."
"Okay. If I must."
And we headed downstairs. What happened? My mum and father are divorced. And not in a nice way.
It all happened a year ago. My father worked around the clock, or so he said. And my mum started to suspect some things. My brother and I as well. So when term ended the two of us started to follow him to his office, and back. Taking turns to watch his car. And he really was at the office all the time. So we gave up. Until our cook/former nanny stumbled across one or two of his paychecks. Great amounts of money were paid to a certain lady called Gabrielle Server. Much more than any reasonable salary could be. She told us after we had sworn to keep it a secret. I worked on the information, I even hacked the heavily secured computer of his company, security ltd. And the one from the office of justice. 2 hits.
1. She was an assistant at my fathers company, but she didn't seem to do anything useful, no projects had ever been assigned to her
2. She had been sued for multiple murders thrice, but she got away with it all those times, due to lack of evidence.
Okay, that had to mean something. Either my father was a criminal, or he was being abused by a criminal. So again we went on a spy-tour. This time also when he wasn't going to work.
He turned out to cover her up. And to have sex with her.
At that same time my mum had found out as well. That he was cheating, that is. She had once answered a call on his cell phone, when he wasn't around. And it was dear Gabrielle calling. Next day my father was out on the streets, and my mum calling a lawyer for alimony and custody. She got it right away, luckily.
And now she even let the freak in her own house! O, well, we'll see.
"Hello, miss Landra, Mr. Reth."
"Hi Patty, how is mum?"
Patty was the person we trusted most, next to each other. She was just part of the family.
"Very tense, miss, very tense indeed. The two gasts are not very welcome, but you know ma'am."
"Two?" Gar asked.
"Yes sir, Mr. Owen and an almost-not-dressed woman."
"Woman? That sounds like an insult from you"
"It is, sir"
Gar grinned "okay, let's meet Gabrielle"
"I thought you didn't want to?" I teased.
"I always want to meet someone who can make Patty insult her, so I can think of a few good insults myself."
Now I grinned "Let's go"
And my worst dreams came true. In the living room my mother sat shaking and white in her favorite chair, while my father sat relaxed and sagged on the red-and-white couch with a whore in his lap. I don't know how else to describe her. She had an unnatural brown skin, like there was sand all over it. And blond hair, painted, almost white. And the ugliest cheap make-up I had ever seen. And that perfume! Ugh! At least it matched with her make-up, but I could smell it at the other side of the room, and it was a big room. And the skirt and the top she was wearing were little more than a bikini. Not that I had anything against it, some classmates of mine preferred this type of clothing. It's just not a good thing when people over 35 with a body that looks like it is a hundred years old try it. Especially not leather, black leather. And there were scars all over her body. Probably leftovers from the lot of cosmetic surgery that was needed to let her look like she came from earth.
"W-w-w-w-would you l-l-like sssome t-t-tea, Owen?"
Poor mum. You could really tell she was having a hard time. And to my disgust they were adding to it.
"Gladly, Gladys, and give me and Gaby some gin with it. Right, my dear?"
"Giggle"
What a brainless, worthless piece of shit. Or not, if you consider the amount of money she probably earned with a little sex and giggling.
My brother and I entered the room.
"Hi mum, you called us for tea?" we asked.
"Ahhhh- yes children. Please say hi to your father and his fiancée, Miss Server"
O-oh, we were going to have to deal with "Gaby" a lot longer than expected.
"O, don't be so formal, Gladys, I did live in this house for over eighteen years, and I want my children to know their future stepmother by her first name, so let's introduce each other properly. Children, meet my wife-to-be, Gabrielle Server. Gaby, meet Silandra and Gareth, my children."
"Hi" we all three said, as cold as we could.
She looked at us, first at Gar, then at me. She had the blackest eyes I had ever seen. Cold and hard as steel, yet vicious and alive. A thrill went down my back, and made my feet cold.
"W-w-w-well, let's all have tea, then."
My cell phone rang.
"Sorry mum, I have to answer this call"
Mum looked shocked, she could never handle that much when father was around. Gar gave me an angry look for leaving him and mum alone like that. I ignored it and went to the hall. It was Shana, she wanted to know something about math. I helped her and ended the call. Just as I hung up, a girl walked up the stairs towards the open front door, probably my age, 17. I was a little taller then her, she is about 1.70 m. But she had very long black hair, in a braid of a meter! She had a bronzed skin. I thought she came from India.
"Hi"
"Hello, uh..."
"My name is Gwen, I'm a niece from the neighbors. I'm staying there for the next two weeks, and uncle told me I could find some kids my age here. So I thought 'let's be rude and just hop by'"
I smiled "It's not rude at all, and I just wondered who you are. And your uncle is right, it seems. My name is Silandra, Sil, and I am 17, my birthday is in 3 weeks, so you'll probably miss it, and I have a younger brother, called Gareth, he is 13, he is in the living room, and an older brother, and his name is Quint, he is at Oxford at the moment, but he will spend his vacation here, so he will probably be home in a week. Do you want to come in?"
"Sure, if I'm not a disturbance, 'cause it looks like you have guests."
"Yes, my parents are divorced, and my father and his fiancée are 'honoring' us with their presence"
"Is he nice? You sound like you hate them"
"I do, but let's go, I'll introduce you to Patty, our cook and friend. Maybe she'll give us some scones"
"Okay"
When we entered the kitchen Patty was not alone.
"Hey, Gar, what are you doing here?"
My brother was sitting on a kitchen chair, a little shaky, and white in the face.
"Sil, he's so terrible, he's just so damn terrible"
"Okay tell me what happened. But first, this is Gwen, the niece of Jenny and Scott. Gwen, this is Gar, I told you about him, and this is Patty, Patty, do you have some scones?"
Patty smiled "Yes miss, but they need to cool a little. And welcome to you Gwen, nice to meet you. I hope you like it here"
"Yeah, thanks, great to meet you, and you too, Gar"
Gar looked up "Oh, I'm sorry, yes, it's really nice to meet you"
We all sat down at the table, Patty after having given us some coke
"So, what happened back in the living room?"
"Gabrielle, you know, the fiancée, spoke. She said some really freaky stuff to mum, and I just couldn't take it anymore, so I left. Patty helped me get over it a little"
"And mum?"
Gar shrugged "It looks like she has been turned into a zombie-slave, do this Gladys, Yes sir, Do that Gladys, Yes sir"
"But..."
Patty patted on my shoulder "not to worry miss, I send Artemis to watch over her" she could also talk to animals
"Okay"
That was a relief. Artemis would certainly look after mum, and do something if mum was hurt. We sat there for a while in silence, sipping from our cokes.
"Where are you from, Gwen?"
I looked up. Gwen looked surprised at the question, maybe she thought we had forgotten her. It had been Patty who asked the question.
"Well, that depends. My father travels a lot."
"Wow, cool!" that was Gar "In which countries do you live?"
"Well, autumns are mostly spend in Japan or China, touring around the Country, in the winter we live on a ship sailing on the Caribbean Sea, and in March we leave for New York, and in two weeks I will be joining my parents in Egypt."
That was new to me "Great! Maybe we can spend some more time together then, because we are going on a two-month vacation there when term ends, so in two weeks. Will you be staying in Luxor?"
She laughed "actually, yes, marvelous."
We cheered. And I was truly happy, because for the next vacation I would have a friend to explore a country with. Gar seemed to think it would be a great thing, having two girls look after him. He started to ask all sorts of questions, of which she could answer few, since it would be her first time there. And eventually he came to Duel-Monsters.
"Oh, you should play it sometime! It is such a great game!"
I nodded, because it was.
"I already play it."
"Really" Gar jumped to his feet "How well?"
"Not very, but I like it very much"
We laughed. We had found a common hobby, so it promised to be fun for the next upcoming weeks.
To be continued...
Note: I know there is not much from Yu-gi-oh in here, that will come in the forthcoming episodes.
Note: I don't mind if anything is used in other stories, just mention that it's from me.
Note: This is a frame-story, so chapter 1 is a flashback from the person in the prologue.
Note: Please review.
Prologue
I've been laying here for a while now. I've lost all track of time and space, so I can't tell where I am, when or for how long. I won't move. I'm sure that if I make the slightest move, I will feel the pain again. That infinite pain. For now, I can do nothing but lay here. It's outside, I know that much. I can feel the wind. I believe it's a stone I'm laying on. Whatever it is, it feels hard and smooth. It's night. I can hear the oohoo of an owl hunting. I've always loved animals. I'm alone, I cannot hear any human noises. They left me here, and I've been laying here for a while now.
How I ended up here? What they did to me? Why they left me here? Who they are? I remember. I remember very, very well.
I'll start at the beginning. I really need to sort things out. Make some order in this chaos, this raging storm inside my head. Other than outside, where it's a peaceful night. They did this to me. I can't name it. I need to sort things out.
1.
Sunday afternoon. A rather regular one, I might add. Just chilling, taking it easy at home. The cat lazy in the sun, on the edge of the balcony. My mum was hanging up the laundry, outside. She hummed a song, from the Carpenters. Postman, if I remember correctly. I was doing nothing, trying to take a nap on my mathematics book. Dull homework. I had a test coming up on Tuesday, and our teacher wanted to check our homework on Monday. The problem was that I hadn't done anything this entire semester. Not to worry too much, I could finish it now, if I could find the energy.
"Meow"
Something hugged my legs. Wet nose against my left foot.
"Hey Artemis, how is my girl doing?"
"Purrrrrrr"
"Okay, I'll get you some milk when I'm done with this letter. Why don't you go and play with Athena?"
Athena is my owl. A white snow-owl. I don't know how old she is, but I found her three years ago. Or, Artemis found her, on one of her hunting trips. It scared the hell out of me when she came back with an adult owl in her beak. She really was a poor thing, as she laid there on the kitchen table. Luckily my mother called Doctor Bly and he cured Athena.
She and Artemis have been friends ever since.
Like I said before, I love animals. I can talk to them. I don't know where it comes from, but I can understand them. Maybe that's why they were after me.
"Silandra, Gareth, tea!"
'Four 'o clock already? I really need to do something about myself' I thought. But I needed to go downstairs to have tea with my brother (13, and very annoying) and mum.
"Behold, beware of the ruler of the undead, Pumpking! And his most feared henchmen, the Skull Servants! But do not fear, o, milady, for I will save thou with the help of my bold friend, the King of Yamimakai!"
That was my brother. He just discovered Duel Monsters, and now you almost couldn't tell the difference between him and any other fan of it. I thought it was a great game too, but he overacted it. Though it was nice when he came up with an article about the origin of the game, which Pegasus had created it from some old Egyptian tablets. It was because of that my mum had planned a trip to Egypt in two weeks. He totally freaked out when he heard. But back to the present now.
"Hey Gar, stop and be still for a moment!" I whispered.
"What's up, Sil?"
"Mum called us by our whole names."
"So?"
"She only does that when dad's around."
"Dad's here? You've got to be kidding! I am not going anywhere near him!"
"We have to! Or else mum will start to suspect us, like we know, and we're not supposed to!"
"I don't care!"
"Do you want Patty to be fired? Or me to be sued?"
"No, but I don't want to see him"
"Let's just try to make it as brief as we can. We can use our homework as an excuse."
"Okay. If I must."
And we headed downstairs. What happened? My mum and father are divorced. And not in a nice way.
It all happened a year ago. My father worked around the clock, or so he said. And my mum started to suspect some things. My brother and I as well. So when term ended the two of us started to follow him to his office, and back. Taking turns to watch his car. And he really was at the office all the time. So we gave up. Until our cook/former nanny stumbled across one or two of his paychecks. Great amounts of money were paid to a certain lady called Gabrielle Server. Much more than any reasonable salary could be. She told us after we had sworn to keep it a secret. I worked on the information, I even hacked the heavily secured computer of his company, security ltd. And the one from the office of justice. 2 hits.
1. She was an assistant at my fathers company, but she didn't seem to do anything useful, no projects had ever been assigned to her
2. She had been sued for multiple murders thrice, but she got away with it all those times, due to lack of evidence.
Okay, that had to mean something. Either my father was a criminal, or he was being abused by a criminal. So again we went on a spy-tour. This time also when he wasn't going to work.
He turned out to cover her up. And to have sex with her.
At that same time my mum had found out as well. That he was cheating, that is. She had once answered a call on his cell phone, when he wasn't around. And it was dear Gabrielle calling. Next day my father was out on the streets, and my mum calling a lawyer for alimony and custody. She got it right away, luckily.
And now she even let the freak in her own house! O, well, we'll see.
"Hello, miss Landra, Mr. Reth."
"Hi Patty, how is mum?"
Patty was the person we trusted most, next to each other. She was just part of the family.
"Very tense, miss, very tense indeed. The two gasts are not very welcome, but you know ma'am."
"Two?" Gar asked.
"Yes sir, Mr. Owen and an almost-not-dressed woman."
"Woman? That sounds like an insult from you"
"It is, sir"
Gar grinned "okay, let's meet Gabrielle"
"I thought you didn't want to?" I teased.
"I always want to meet someone who can make Patty insult her, so I can think of a few good insults myself."
Now I grinned "Let's go"
And my worst dreams came true. In the living room my mother sat shaking and white in her favorite chair, while my father sat relaxed and sagged on the red-and-white couch with a whore in his lap. I don't know how else to describe her. She had an unnatural brown skin, like there was sand all over it. And blond hair, painted, almost white. And the ugliest cheap make-up I had ever seen. And that perfume! Ugh! At least it matched with her make-up, but I could smell it at the other side of the room, and it was a big room. And the skirt and the top she was wearing were little more than a bikini. Not that I had anything against it, some classmates of mine preferred this type of clothing. It's just not a good thing when people over 35 with a body that looks like it is a hundred years old try it. Especially not leather, black leather. And there were scars all over her body. Probably leftovers from the lot of cosmetic surgery that was needed to let her look like she came from earth.
"W-w-w-w-would you l-l-like sssome t-t-tea, Owen?"
Poor mum. You could really tell she was having a hard time. And to my disgust they were adding to it.
"Gladly, Gladys, and give me and Gaby some gin with it. Right, my dear?"
"Giggle"
What a brainless, worthless piece of shit. Or not, if you consider the amount of money she probably earned with a little sex and giggling.
My brother and I entered the room.
"Hi mum, you called us for tea?" we asked.
"Ahhhh- yes children. Please say hi to your father and his fiancée, Miss Server"
O-oh, we were going to have to deal with "Gaby" a lot longer than expected.
"O, don't be so formal, Gladys, I did live in this house for over eighteen years, and I want my children to know their future stepmother by her first name, so let's introduce each other properly. Children, meet my wife-to-be, Gabrielle Server. Gaby, meet Silandra and Gareth, my children."
"Hi" we all three said, as cold as we could.
She looked at us, first at Gar, then at me. She had the blackest eyes I had ever seen. Cold and hard as steel, yet vicious and alive. A thrill went down my back, and made my feet cold.
"W-w-w-well, let's all have tea, then."
My cell phone rang.
"Sorry mum, I have to answer this call"
Mum looked shocked, she could never handle that much when father was around. Gar gave me an angry look for leaving him and mum alone like that. I ignored it and went to the hall. It was Shana, she wanted to know something about math. I helped her and ended the call. Just as I hung up, a girl walked up the stairs towards the open front door, probably my age, 17. I was a little taller then her, she is about 1.70 m. But she had very long black hair, in a braid of a meter! She had a bronzed skin. I thought she came from India.
"Hi"
"Hello, uh..."
"My name is Gwen, I'm a niece from the neighbors. I'm staying there for the next two weeks, and uncle told me I could find some kids my age here. So I thought 'let's be rude and just hop by'"
I smiled "It's not rude at all, and I just wondered who you are. And your uncle is right, it seems. My name is Silandra, Sil, and I am 17, my birthday is in 3 weeks, so you'll probably miss it, and I have a younger brother, called Gareth, he is 13, he is in the living room, and an older brother, and his name is Quint, he is at Oxford at the moment, but he will spend his vacation here, so he will probably be home in a week. Do you want to come in?"
"Sure, if I'm not a disturbance, 'cause it looks like you have guests."
"Yes, my parents are divorced, and my father and his fiancée are 'honoring' us with their presence"
"Is he nice? You sound like you hate them"
"I do, but let's go, I'll introduce you to Patty, our cook and friend. Maybe she'll give us some scones"
"Okay"
When we entered the kitchen Patty was not alone.
"Hey, Gar, what are you doing here?"
My brother was sitting on a kitchen chair, a little shaky, and white in the face.
"Sil, he's so terrible, he's just so damn terrible"
"Okay tell me what happened. But first, this is Gwen, the niece of Jenny and Scott. Gwen, this is Gar, I told you about him, and this is Patty, Patty, do you have some scones?"
Patty smiled "Yes miss, but they need to cool a little. And welcome to you Gwen, nice to meet you. I hope you like it here"
"Yeah, thanks, great to meet you, and you too, Gar"
Gar looked up "Oh, I'm sorry, yes, it's really nice to meet you"
We all sat down at the table, Patty after having given us some coke
"So, what happened back in the living room?"
"Gabrielle, you know, the fiancée, spoke. She said some really freaky stuff to mum, and I just couldn't take it anymore, so I left. Patty helped me get over it a little"
"And mum?"
Gar shrugged "It looks like she has been turned into a zombie-slave, do this Gladys, Yes sir, Do that Gladys, Yes sir"
"But..."
Patty patted on my shoulder "not to worry miss, I send Artemis to watch over her" she could also talk to animals
"Okay"
That was a relief. Artemis would certainly look after mum, and do something if mum was hurt. We sat there for a while in silence, sipping from our cokes.
"Where are you from, Gwen?"
I looked up. Gwen looked surprised at the question, maybe she thought we had forgotten her. It had been Patty who asked the question.
"Well, that depends. My father travels a lot."
"Wow, cool!" that was Gar "In which countries do you live?"
"Well, autumns are mostly spend in Japan or China, touring around the Country, in the winter we live on a ship sailing on the Caribbean Sea, and in March we leave for New York, and in two weeks I will be joining my parents in Egypt."
That was new to me "Great! Maybe we can spend some more time together then, because we are going on a two-month vacation there when term ends, so in two weeks. Will you be staying in Luxor?"
She laughed "actually, yes, marvelous."
We cheered. And I was truly happy, because for the next vacation I would have a friend to explore a country with. Gar seemed to think it would be a great thing, having two girls look after him. He started to ask all sorts of questions, of which she could answer few, since it would be her first time there. And eventually he came to Duel-Monsters.
"Oh, you should play it sometime! It is such a great game!"
I nodded, because it was.
"I already play it."
"Really" Gar jumped to his feet "How well?"
"Not very, but I like it very much"
We laughed. We had found a common hobby, so it promised to be fun for the next upcoming weeks.
To be continued...
Note: I know there is not much from Yu-gi-oh in here, that will come in the forthcoming episodes.