Well, as I promised, chapter one is up! ^^
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Chapter one:
Never stay alone
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The heavy rain-drops beat against the roof and windows, making Ryou Bakura feel more trapped than sheltered inside his house. It was dark, about 10:00 at night, and the thunderstorm was still beating against the house, it had started about noon. The white-haired boy sat curled up on the coach, flipping through the TV channels, searching for something to keep his mind off of the storm.
He hated storms, almost as much as he hated the dark, or being alone.
But what he most feared would have to be the shadows.
Ever since he was little, Ryou would tell his father about the shadow faces, the faces that watch him during the night. His father would just pat his head and tell him what a wild imagination he had. His mother would just try to comfort him, when she was still alive, and tell him that as long as she was here, the shadow's would never get him.
Then there was Amane, his older sister, only by two years, but she was now dead as well. But when she was alive, and Ryou told her about the shadow faces, she didn't just brush him off like their father, or play along like their mother, she believed him. Because she could see them too.
It had been long since then, he was only five when Ryou had started to tell everyone about the Shadow Faces, but you would think that he would have grown out of it by then. But he never did, he just kept quite about it. Until he talked to Bakura about the faces he saw in the shadows, and Bakura determined that Ryou could see, hear, and feel souls or spirits around them, if they were strong.
I guess you could say Ryou had a very sharp sixth sense.
/No wonder/ Ryou thought to himself sarcastically. Bakura wouldn't hear him through their link, he probably blocked it off again. Ryou sighed and continued flipping through the TV channels.
'And we'll be right back after th-' *CLICK*
'Look at the size of tha-' *CLICK*
'So what do you think happened doct-' *CLICK*
'Now the baby orca will be-' *CLICK*
'And for the news tonight: Another Teen stroke!' Ryou stopped automatically, he had been watching these news updates a lot lately, all about these teens that mysteriously die during the night. There heart just stops, for no reason what so ever. And it had been happening more and more recently.
But what made Ryou interested was that all of these teens went to a school in the Domino District.
'Just last night 13-year-old Diane Azumiki was found dead in her house a little after 10:00 p.m. Officials say that her heart stopped for no reason, and that the girl had been a straight A student, with a good family life, social life, and excellent health record. Diane's case will be added to the long list of other teen strokes similar to this one, only this time it shall be different. Not only will her wealthy family press charges and search for answers more frantically, but she had a friend with her the night of the attack.'
"Diane Azumiki," Ryou muttered, pulling his knees to his chest and hugging them. "Wait! Isn't that Kaiba's cousin?"
'Unfortunately, her friend that was with her, Serenity Wheeler, is now in the Domino Insane Asylum-'
"What!" Ryou jumped from the coach and sat down right in front of the TV, turning it up as loud as it could go.
'She was also found in the Azumiki household, she had shut herself in the hallway closet after seeing her friend face. She is said to be in an unstable condition and kept under close watch, after she had regained herself we questioned Miss Wheeler to find out that what was causing these attacks was not drugs, which was most investigator's theories. After much more questioning this is what she had to say:'
Ryou gasped as a picture of Serenity sitting in a chair in the middle of a small white room flashed across the screen. Her attire was a faded deep blue robe and slippers, which Ryou remembered seeing her wear at Yugi's sleep over about two months ago. Serenity herself looked like something out of a nightmare, her auburn hair was ragged and messy, she was deathly pale and looked like she hadn't slept in about three months, or that someone gave her two black eyes.
"Now tell us again what happened to Diane, Serenity," came a man's voice. There was some mumbling heard from Serenity, very quietly.
"I'm sorry Serenity, I didn't catch that."
Serenity looked up, straight into the camera, which she probably didn't even know was there. Here eyes looked dull and lifeless, like she was about to die, and her reply was quiet and weak.
"She watched the tape."
'This was also said by many other people who knew the other cases of this Teen stroke effect, now. Investigators have been researching what has happened, but no evidence has been found as to a tape. I'm Sally Wonder, and now to John with the weather.' *CLICK*
Ryou shut off the TV. Shaking a little. How could she just go insane? This was Serenity, there was nothing wrong with her yesterday at school.
/But was this Diane really stupid enough to watch the tape?/ Ryou wondered. There had been rumors about a tape that kills you when you watch it, Ryou heard it at school . . .
~*~*~Earlier that Day~*~*~
"Man, I can't believe we have to do a 500 word report of 'Urban Legends," Joey complained. Burying his head in his arms.
"I don't even know what and urban legend is!" Tristan added. The gang sat around one of the pick-nick tables, it was lunch if you couldn't tell.
"It's more like a story, or a rumor, that many people believe in," Ryou had told them. "And it has to be able to happen to anyone."
"Example . . ."
"Uh, I don't know that many," Ryou admitted.
"Oh, Malik knows a whole bunch, don't you?" Yugi said, facing the blond haired Egyptian, who sighed and nodded. Malik sat on top of the pick-nick table, leaning against the tree right next to it.
"Well, lets hear it," Joey said, scowling at Malik. He still hadn't forgiven him from Battle City. Malik rolled his eyes, and sighed again.
"Okay, I've got one," he said admittingly, not really wanting to tell it, but would anyway. Every sat down to listen:
"This one has been going around many of the schools around here for a while. How about the tape that kills you when you watch it?" Everyone stared at him blankly.
"What kind of tape," Ryou finally asked.
"Just a tape," Marik said, shrugging. "People rent it, I don't know. But when you watch it, it's like someone's nightmare. There's this women, staring at you right? Seeing you through the screen, and when it ends, your phone rings. Someone knows you've watched it. And what they say is, 'You will die in seven days.' And exactly seven days later-"Malik made a fake choking sound a fell off the table.
"Is it true?" Ryou asked. Malik sprang up, dusting himself off.
"I dunno," he said quickly, shrugging again. "It's a legend, right."
~*~*~Back to Ryou~*~*~
"Right," he muttered, getting up and heading to the kitchen, but most of the lights were off. Making it uncomfortably dark for Ryou. Bakura had stolen the light bulbs for some 'experiment' that he, Marik, and Malik were doing over at the Ishtar's apartment.
What they were doing, Ryou didn't think he would want to know.
Ryou was about to open the refrigerator, when he say a note taped to the front of it:
[We had a poker game last night, and ate most of the food. There's a lot to drink left, but if you're really hungry, you can always have a nice refrigerator bulb! (Malik's laughing at you right now) Anyway, we 'borrowed' some tapes from Serenity's friend's older brother. You can watch them if you want, then tell me how they were!
-Bakura]
"Nice, you steal tapes and you don't even watch them. Good going Bakura." Ryou muttered, and opened up the refrigerator, to find it still dark and another note was inside next to the lemonade.
[Thanks for the refrigerator bulb!]
Ryou snorted, and took out a can of Sprite. Walking over to the counter Ryou saw the stack of tapes Bakura stole. He opened his drink and started to go through the stack.
"Let's see, Twister, The mummy, a recording of the super bowl THREE YEARS AGO! Oh, come on, there has to be something better than this." Ryou stopped himself. "Oh, great. You're talking to yourself again Ryou, first sign of insanity." He went through the rest of the tapes, nothing much more, until he came to the last one, which was blank.
/Hm, wonder what it is. . ./
Ryou took it into the living room and pushed it into the VCR. Sitting down on the coach again, he waited for it to start playing. There was a flickering light behind him. Ryou turned around, And then the kitchen went black. The only light came from the outside, making it a deep blue shade inside the house.
/Great, the light bulb burned out/
Turning back to the TV he saw static, the buzzing noise always annoyed him. Then the screen went blank.
/Did it stop?/
Apparently not.
There was a circle, of light, appearing on the screen. An eerie humming and whining sound came from the speakers, and the circle started to spread in depth, the walls of whatever it was were made of cobblestone. Maybe a well. The whining suddenly stopped, and the well disappeared, there was more static, and it was followed by a rushing red liquid, like blood, being churned over and over.
Ryou cocked his head to the side, what was this?
The tape soon flashed to a chair, a thick framed metal chair in a large white room. Like if someone was being questioned or something. Then streams of white light were being drawn across a black screen, reminding Ryou of a cartoon cat's claws ripping through something.
Suddenly, there was a women, in a mirror, brushing her long black hair and smiling at him, and humming softly to herself. That's when Ryou remembered what Malik had said.
"Then suddenly there's this women, smiling at you right. Seeing you through the screen." Ryou shuddered, was this the tape?
Then the mirror moved to the other side of the screen, and it showed a little girl with long black hair, but Ryou could only catch a glimpse of her before she faded back. Then the mirror moved back to the other side of the screen in a flash, and the women was shown again, looking over to where the girl was before, still smiling. Everything looked like it was being fast-forward.
The images suddenly flashed to something long and pointy with blood running down it, but only for a split second, Ryou didn't have time to even make out what it was. Then turned to a house, and on the second floor was man looking out of the window.
There was an eerie rumbling and hissing, then the picture went to a shore line, and there looked like there was a fly on the lens at the time the clip was recorded, because the fly was running across the screen.
But Ryou's stomach churned as soon as the gurgling sound was heard, and it showed someone's mouth with what looked like their intestine being pulled out of it. Ryou covered his mouth as it continued being pulled.
Thankfully, the picture flashed to the circle of light, only now it looked more like an opening, and it was being mostly covered with something circular. Before he knew it, the picture then quickly flashed to a burning tree, then to a finger. But the nail was just broken off. Giving Ryou's stomach another short churn, not a big as the previous, but it still wasn't' a good thing.
Ryou quickly covered his ears when a piercing whine came form the speakers as the tape showed thousands, maybe millions of larva.
Ryou shuddered. /I hate bugs, or worms of any time!/
But then they changed, to body's and faces in shadows, all squirming abound. Ryou's eyes widened as a realization hit him. /Shadow Faces/
The TV made a crackling sound, before switching to a table with a glass of water on it, and a chair pulling itself out. /That's weird/ But then a giant centipede came out from under the table. Ryou jumped slightly, like he said, he was afraid of bugs.
/This is just wrong!/
Then the tape flashed to a barn, with a three legged goat limping to get behind the door. Then to a horses eye, then back to the opening of light which was being covered even more. Then to a box, with wriggling fingers inside, twitching, moving. Making Ryou feel like he couldn't keep the contents in his stomach in any longer. But the scenes on the tape were switching so fast Ryou could barley keep track!
It started to whine again, and now they were back to the burning tree. But as soon as that was over, a static sound was heard, and every clip was barley over two seconds. First, a rushing of a black substance covered the screen. Then the whining and static faded as it showed the lady from the mirror, only she's not inside it any more.
She's looking at herself in the mirror, putting up her hair, then she turned around to face the screen, and smiled at Ryou. "Smiling at you." Malik's words kept echoing through his head.
The screen flashes back to the window, only the man was gone. Then back to the chair, only it's spinning and its upside down. Then to a latter leaning against a building. Then to a shore line, with the body of a horse on it, the tides coming in and out, even when the body is in the way, and a flute played softly in the background. Ryou's heart tightened, the horse was dead.
That clip lasted longer, before it showed the women, on a cliff facing the ocean. The camera closed in on her, then she spread out her arms and fell forward off the cliff, an eerie rumbling and hissing was made as this clip was shown.
Then it flashed to the ladder, only it's a view from the top, as it fell backwards off the building. But flashed again, more quickly, to the opening of light again, only it was being closed before Ryou's very eyes. Then back to the ladder as it clattered to the ground.
Then back to the opening, with just a thin ring of light around the edge. Suddenly it all slowed down, and the tape showed a well in a meadow. This clip lasted longer for a reason. Then, for a moment, Ryou though he saw the girl, start to climb out of the well, but the screen went blank and the static came back.
Rou was breathing heavily, it was like he had just had a nightmare, only it had more of an effect on him. But that wasn't what he was worried about.
/It was the tape, the one Malik had told us about/ Ryou felt his heart race quicken, and his breath shorten, like his life was being drained away very slowly. And to make matters worse, he was alone, in the dark, at night.
It was too quiet, the sound of rain hitting everything outside just made the silence more intensifying.
RRRRRING!
Ryou jumped at the sound of the phone.
"And as soon as it's over, your phone rings. Someone knows you've watched it. And what they say is, 'You will die in Seven Days.' And exactly seven days later-"
/Seven days, it can't be true, can it?/
The phone rang, endlessly, the same single note sounding off repeatedly.
RRRRRING!
RRRRRING!
RRRRRING!
Ryou finally snatched it up, bringing the phone up to his ear, shaking like mad. He noticed he had gone even more pale than he already was.
"H-Hello?" Ryou held his breath as he waited for the other line to answer, but it took a few minutes. A few long, dreadful minutes, before-
"Is this the residence of Mr. Ryou Bakura?" Came an all too familiar voice. Ryou breathed a sigh, it was his dad's secretary over in England.
"Yes Hannah, it's me."
"Your father wishes me to inform you that he won't be home for another month, the dig is taking longer than he thought."
"Oh, okay," Ryou said sadly. "Thank you." He then hung up the phone, breathing another sigh. Another month alone . . .
Well, he could at least look on the bright side, the kids at school were wrong. Nothing bad was about to happen to him. He wasn't about to die because of some tape . . .
RRRRRING!
Ryou jerked his head towards the phone, what if? /This is so stupid, what could go wrong?/
RRRRRING!
Ryou picked up the phone again, surprised by his own boldness, of course, he was pretty much already calmed down about the whole thing, at least not worried any more.
"Hello, this is Ryou Bakura speaking," he said almost cheerfully, staring out the window at the pouring rain. No one answered on the other line.
"Hello?" Still no answer. Ryou pulled the phone away and stared at it for a moment. /It could be Bakura trying to play a joke, or he broke the Ishtar's phone too. But wouldn't there be a signal if that were true?/ Ryou then brought the phone back to his ear. "Hello, is anyone there?" He asked. But who answered him, was not the person he was expecting. It was an unearthly voice, but sounded strangely like a little girl whispering.
"Seven days."
Ryou froze, and the other line went dead. Ryou's mouth hung open, gasping for air, though his brain felt dead. The phone slipped from his hands and fell to the wooden floor.
~*~*~ About three hours later~*~*~
"I swear I heard him say something," Bakura argued as he shoved batteries into a flashlight. They just HAD to take ALL of the light bulbs. He turned it on, and led the two blonde Egyptians through the house. The three entered the kitchen to find all of their tapes scattered over the counter.
"I think he's okay Bakura," Malik said, crossing his arms.
"He did go through the tapes though," Marik added, skimming through the titles.
"I mean it," Bakura yelled. "I checked on him through the mind link and he was thinking some weird things. Something about hating bugs and a video tape." Bakura walked out of the kitchen, practically dragging the other two behind him.
"Maybe he watched the tape," Malik said to Marik, nudging his yami in the side. Both smirking widely.
"Don't even start that crap," Bakura hissed. "A tape that kills you, please." He shook his head and searched the upstairs.
"He might have gone to bed," Malik pointed out. "It is after one in the morning."
"He's not there," Bakura muttered. "I shouldn't have left him alone." The three then went back downstairs and entered the living room to see the TV on, and static hissing through out the room. Bakura checked the room, Marik went to see what Ryou last watched, and Malik sat on the coach. Bakura was starting to panic, Marik was about to go to sleep on the floor, and Malik was just bored out of his mind.
But then he heard something, it was coming from the hallway. Malik got up, listening as best as he could, but Bakura was rummaging through things way to fast, and making a hell lot of noise.
"Bakura! Stop it!" Malik hissed, Bakura froze, and Marik opened one eye from his spot on the floor. "I hear something." Malik walked out of the room, and to the hallway, the sound becoming more distinct. He stopped where it was as loud as it would get, and found himself in front of the hallway closet.
"Bakura? Isn't this a walk-in closet?" Bakura came up from behind him, and nodded curtly. Then hesitantly opened the door to see none other than his hikari.
"Ryou?"
Ryou was whimpering softly, his eyes wide with terror, his skin deathly pale, and was shaking like mad. The three froze, staring at the white- haired boy. While Ryou's gaze never wavered from Bakura's feet. The Egyptian Spirit looked down to see the phone lying on the ground, he bent over and picked it up, looking it over. There was nothing wrong with it. Malik knelt next to Ryou, shaking him a little, trying to get his attention.
"Ryou? Ryou what's wrong?" Malik's voice was soft, and calming. Trying to sooth Ryou, who sat with his back to the closet wall, hugging his knees and rocking slightly. He stopped whimpering and started to mutter nonstop.
"Ryou, get a hold of yourself!" Malik practically yelled, but Ryou wouldn't calm down. Growing fed up with his hikari's behavior, Bakura grabbed Ryou by the shirt collar and lifted him to his feet.
"Snap out of it!" He yelled, Ryou's eyes widened and he blinked a couple times, looking around at everyone. Bakura dropped him, and Ryou stumbled, before leaning against the wall for support. His eyes were still filled with terror, and his gaze searched all around the room frantically.
"Ryou, what happened?" Malik asked. Ryou snapped his attention to Malik, and he started to stutter out of pure fear.
"I . . . . . . I . . . . I wat- . . . . . " he couldn't seem to get the words out. Bakura stared at Ryou, something had obviously scared the shit out of him. And it had to do with the phone, Bakura looked back at it, then up to Ryou, who was staring at the phone as well.
"Ryou, someone called you. Who was it?" Ryou shook his head frantically, whimpering again, and then slid back down to the floor. Bakura blinked, then said," Okay, you don't know. What did they say?"
Ryou slowly lifted his head, looking straight into Bakura's eyes, his gaze not shifting to either side. Bakura then noticed that his hikari's pupils were gone, his eyes were just brown. Ryou's mouth opened to respond, but he couldn't get the words out. He held on to his words, till he found the courage to speak them.
"Seven days," he whispered, a whisper so soft the three barley caught it. A lone tear fell from Ryou's eye, and he looked back at the ground before he started sobbing uncontrollably.
Bakura knelt next to his hikari, Marik stayed still, but Malik slowly backed out of the closet. His wide-eyes staring at Ryou, the one person that everyone thought was completely innocent, and was the last person that deserved to die at a young age.
"Malik," came Bakura's voice, making the sane one of the Egyptians jump. "What does this mean?" Malik looked from Ryou to the living room, where a tape lay. The tape that Marik had taken out of the VCR and left on the floor.
"He watched the tape."
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Wow, that was long. Well, that's chapter one! ^^ Please review people! Please!
Well, preview for chapter 2! ^^
I love sneak peeks, people should do this more often . . . . .
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Preview:
Chapter 2
What's real and what's not
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"Seto-"
"Mr. Kaiba," Kaiba interrupted. "I may still be in school, but I'm also Mokuba's guardian."
Mokuba's teacher, Ms. Ushimte, smiled a little, then reached back for a file on her desk. "I want to show you something," she told Kaiba. Ms. Ushimte pulled out what looked like some of Mokuba's pictures. They were all of a girl, buried in the ground.
"That's out cousin," Kaiba pointed out, skimming trough the pictures, all of them were pretty much the same. "That's Diane."
"Mr. Kaiba, I'm bothered by these drawings," Ms. Ushimte said. Kaiba looked up at her for a moment, then back at the drawings.
"Ms. Ushimte, I appreciate your concern, but my little brother just lost his best friend two nights ago."
"But these drawings-"
"Are Mokuba's way of working things out," Kaiba interrupted again. "Of expressing himself, like you said." Kaiba stood up, picking up his briefcase. "He'll be okay." With that Kaiba turned around and was almost out the door when Ms. Ushimte stopped him.
"You said that your cousin died two nights ago," she asked. Kaiba turned around, facing Ms. Ushimte.
"Yes." A worried look crossed Ms. Ushimte's face.
"Mokuba drew these last week."
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PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!
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Chapter one:
Never stay alone
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The heavy rain-drops beat against the roof and windows, making Ryou Bakura feel more trapped than sheltered inside his house. It was dark, about 10:00 at night, and the thunderstorm was still beating against the house, it had started about noon. The white-haired boy sat curled up on the coach, flipping through the TV channels, searching for something to keep his mind off of the storm.
He hated storms, almost as much as he hated the dark, or being alone.
But what he most feared would have to be the shadows.
Ever since he was little, Ryou would tell his father about the shadow faces, the faces that watch him during the night. His father would just pat his head and tell him what a wild imagination he had. His mother would just try to comfort him, when she was still alive, and tell him that as long as she was here, the shadow's would never get him.
Then there was Amane, his older sister, only by two years, but she was now dead as well. But when she was alive, and Ryou told her about the shadow faces, she didn't just brush him off like their father, or play along like their mother, she believed him. Because she could see them too.
It had been long since then, he was only five when Ryou had started to tell everyone about the Shadow Faces, but you would think that he would have grown out of it by then. But he never did, he just kept quite about it. Until he talked to Bakura about the faces he saw in the shadows, and Bakura determined that Ryou could see, hear, and feel souls or spirits around them, if they were strong.
I guess you could say Ryou had a very sharp sixth sense.
/No wonder/ Ryou thought to himself sarcastically. Bakura wouldn't hear him through their link, he probably blocked it off again. Ryou sighed and continued flipping through the TV channels.
'And we'll be right back after th-' *CLICK*
'Look at the size of tha-' *CLICK*
'So what do you think happened doct-' *CLICK*
'Now the baby orca will be-' *CLICK*
'And for the news tonight: Another Teen stroke!' Ryou stopped automatically, he had been watching these news updates a lot lately, all about these teens that mysteriously die during the night. There heart just stops, for no reason what so ever. And it had been happening more and more recently.
But what made Ryou interested was that all of these teens went to a school in the Domino District.
'Just last night 13-year-old Diane Azumiki was found dead in her house a little after 10:00 p.m. Officials say that her heart stopped for no reason, and that the girl had been a straight A student, with a good family life, social life, and excellent health record. Diane's case will be added to the long list of other teen strokes similar to this one, only this time it shall be different. Not only will her wealthy family press charges and search for answers more frantically, but she had a friend with her the night of the attack.'
"Diane Azumiki," Ryou muttered, pulling his knees to his chest and hugging them. "Wait! Isn't that Kaiba's cousin?"
'Unfortunately, her friend that was with her, Serenity Wheeler, is now in the Domino Insane Asylum-'
"What!" Ryou jumped from the coach and sat down right in front of the TV, turning it up as loud as it could go.
'She was also found in the Azumiki household, she had shut herself in the hallway closet after seeing her friend face. She is said to be in an unstable condition and kept under close watch, after she had regained herself we questioned Miss Wheeler to find out that what was causing these attacks was not drugs, which was most investigator's theories. After much more questioning this is what she had to say:'
Ryou gasped as a picture of Serenity sitting in a chair in the middle of a small white room flashed across the screen. Her attire was a faded deep blue robe and slippers, which Ryou remembered seeing her wear at Yugi's sleep over about two months ago. Serenity herself looked like something out of a nightmare, her auburn hair was ragged and messy, she was deathly pale and looked like she hadn't slept in about three months, or that someone gave her two black eyes.
"Now tell us again what happened to Diane, Serenity," came a man's voice. There was some mumbling heard from Serenity, very quietly.
"I'm sorry Serenity, I didn't catch that."
Serenity looked up, straight into the camera, which she probably didn't even know was there. Here eyes looked dull and lifeless, like she was about to die, and her reply was quiet and weak.
"She watched the tape."
'This was also said by many other people who knew the other cases of this Teen stroke effect, now. Investigators have been researching what has happened, but no evidence has been found as to a tape. I'm Sally Wonder, and now to John with the weather.' *CLICK*
Ryou shut off the TV. Shaking a little. How could she just go insane? This was Serenity, there was nothing wrong with her yesterday at school.
/But was this Diane really stupid enough to watch the tape?/ Ryou wondered. There had been rumors about a tape that kills you when you watch it, Ryou heard it at school . . .
~*~*~Earlier that Day~*~*~
"Man, I can't believe we have to do a 500 word report of 'Urban Legends," Joey complained. Burying his head in his arms.
"I don't even know what and urban legend is!" Tristan added. The gang sat around one of the pick-nick tables, it was lunch if you couldn't tell.
"It's more like a story, or a rumor, that many people believe in," Ryou had told them. "And it has to be able to happen to anyone."
"Example . . ."
"Uh, I don't know that many," Ryou admitted.
"Oh, Malik knows a whole bunch, don't you?" Yugi said, facing the blond haired Egyptian, who sighed and nodded. Malik sat on top of the pick-nick table, leaning against the tree right next to it.
"Well, lets hear it," Joey said, scowling at Malik. He still hadn't forgiven him from Battle City. Malik rolled his eyes, and sighed again.
"Okay, I've got one," he said admittingly, not really wanting to tell it, but would anyway. Every sat down to listen:
"This one has been going around many of the schools around here for a while. How about the tape that kills you when you watch it?" Everyone stared at him blankly.
"What kind of tape," Ryou finally asked.
"Just a tape," Marik said, shrugging. "People rent it, I don't know. But when you watch it, it's like someone's nightmare. There's this women, staring at you right? Seeing you through the screen, and when it ends, your phone rings. Someone knows you've watched it. And what they say is, 'You will die in seven days.' And exactly seven days later-"Malik made a fake choking sound a fell off the table.
"Is it true?" Ryou asked. Malik sprang up, dusting himself off.
"I dunno," he said quickly, shrugging again. "It's a legend, right."
~*~*~Back to Ryou~*~*~
"Right," he muttered, getting up and heading to the kitchen, but most of the lights were off. Making it uncomfortably dark for Ryou. Bakura had stolen the light bulbs for some 'experiment' that he, Marik, and Malik were doing over at the Ishtar's apartment.
What they were doing, Ryou didn't think he would want to know.
Ryou was about to open the refrigerator, when he say a note taped to the front of it:
[We had a poker game last night, and ate most of the food. There's a lot to drink left, but if you're really hungry, you can always have a nice refrigerator bulb! (Malik's laughing at you right now) Anyway, we 'borrowed' some tapes from Serenity's friend's older brother. You can watch them if you want, then tell me how they were!
-Bakura]
"Nice, you steal tapes and you don't even watch them. Good going Bakura." Ryou muttered, and opened up the refrigerator, to find it still dark and another note was inside next to the lemonade.
[Thanks for the refrigerator bulb!]
Ryou snorted, and took out a can of Sprite. Walking over to the counter Ryou saw the stack of tapes Bakura stole. He opened his drink and started to go through the stack.
"Let's see, Twister, The mummy, a recording of the super bowl THREE YEARS AGO! Oh, come on, there has to be something better than this." Ryou stopped himself. "Oh, great. You're talking to yourself again Ryou, first sign of insanity." He went through the rest of the tapes, nothing much more, until he came to the last one, which was blank.
/Hm, wonder what it is. . ./
Ryou took it into the living room and pushed it into the VCR. Sitting down on the coach again, he waited for it to start playing. There was a flickering light behind him. Ryou turned around, And then the kitchen went black. The only light came from the outside, making it a deep blue shade inside the house.
/Great, the light bulb burned out/
Turning back to the TV he saw static, the buzzing noise always annoyed him. Then the screen went blank.
/Did it stop?/
Apparently not.
There was a circle, of light, appearing on the screen. An eerie humming and whining sound came from the speakers, and the circle started to spread in depth, the walls of whatever it was were made of cobblestone. Maybe a well. The whining suddenly stopped, and the well disappeared, there was more static, and it was followed by a rushing red liquid, like blood, being churned over and over.
Ryou cocked his head to the side, what was this?
The tape soon flashed to a chair, a thick framed metal chair in a large white room. Like if someone was being questioned or something. Then streams of white light were being drawn across a black screen, reminding Ryou of a cartoon cat's claws ripping through something.
Suddenly, there was a women, in a mirror, brushing her long black hair and smiling at him, and humming softly to herself. That's when Ryou remembered what Malik had said.
"Then suddenly there's this women, smiling at you right. Seeing you through the screen." Ryou shuddered, was this the tape?
Then the mirror moved to the other side of the screen, and it showed a little girl with long black hair, but Ryou could only catch a glimpse of her before she faded back. Then the mirror moved back to the other side of the screen in a flash, and the women was shown again, looking over to where the girl was before, still smiling. Everything looked like it was being fast-forward.
The images suddenly flashed to something long and pointy with blood running down it, but only for a split second, Ryou didn't have time to even make out what it was. Then turned to a house, and on the second floor was man looking out of the window.
There was an eerie rumbling and hissing, then the picture went to a shore line, and there looked like there was a fly on the lens at the time the clip was recorded, because the fly was running across the screen.
But Ryou's stomach churned as soon as the gurgling sound was heard, and it showed someone's mouth with what looked like their intestine being pulled out of it. Ryou covered his mouth as it continued being pulled.
Thankfully, the picture flashed to the circle of light, only now it looked more like an opening, and it was being mostly covered with something circular. Before he knew it, the picture then quickly flashed to a burning tree, then to a finger. But the nail was just broken off. Giving Ryou's stomach another short churn, not a big as the previous, but it still wasn't' a good thing.
Ryou quickly covered his ears when a piercing whine came form the speakers as the tape showed thousands, maybe millions of larva.
Ryou shuddered. /I hate bugs, or worms of any time!/
But then they changed, to body's and faces in shadows, all squirming abound. Ryou's eyes widened as a realization hit him. /Shadow Faces/
The TV made a crackling sound, before switching to a table with a glass of water on it, and a chair pulling itself out. /That's weird/ But then a giant centipede came out from under the table. Ryou jumped slightly, like he said, he was afraid of bugs.
/This is just wrong!/
Then the tape flashed to a barn, with a three legged goat limping to get behind the door. Then to a horses eye, then back to the opening of light which was being covered even more. Then to a box, with wriggling fingers inside, twitching, moving. Making Ryou feel like he couldn't keep the contents in his stomach in any longer. But the scenes on the tape were switching so fast Ryou could barley keep track!
It started to whine again, and now they were back to the burning tree. But as soon as that was over, a static sound was heard, and every clip was barley over two seconds. First, a rushing of a black substance covered the screen. Then the whining and static faded as it showed the lady from the mirror, only she's not inside it any more.
She's looking at herself in the mirror, putting up her hair, then she turned around to face the screen, and smiled at Ryou. "Smiling at you." Malik's words kept echoing through his head.
The screen flashes back to the window, only the man was gone. Then back to the chair, only it's spinning and its upside down. Then to a latter leaning against a building. Then to a shore line, with the body of a horse on it, the tides coming in and out, even when the body is in the way, and a flute played softly in the background. Ryou's heart tightened, the horse was dead.
That clip lasted longer, before it showed the women, on a cliff facing the ocean. The camera closed in on her, then she spread out her arms and fell forward off the cliff, an eerie rumbling and hissing was made as this clip was shown.
Then it flashed to the ladder, only it's a view from the top, as it fell backwards off the building. But flashed again, more quickly, to the opening of light again, only it was being closed before Ryou's very eyes. Then back to the ladder as it clattered to the ground.
Then back to the opening, with just a thin ring of light around the edge. Suddenly it all slowed down, and the tape showed a well in a meadow. This clip lasted longer for a reason. Then, for a moment, Ryou though he saw the girl, start to climb out of the well, but the screen went blank and the static came back.
Rou was breathing heavily, it was like he had just had a nightmare, only it had more of an effect on him. But that wasn't what he was worried about.
/It was the tape, the one Malik had told us about/ Ryou felt his heart race quicken, and his breath shorten, like his life was being drained away very slowly. And to make matters worse, he was alone, in the dark, at night.
It was too quiet, the sound of rain hitting everything outside just made the silence more intensifying.
RRRRRING!
Ryou jumped at the sound of the phone.
"And as soon as it's over, your phone rings. Someone knows you've watched it. And what they say is, 'You will die in Seven Days.' And exactly seven days later-"
/Seven days, it can't be true, can it?/
The phone rang, endlessly, the same single note sounding off repeatedly.
RRRRRING!
RRRRRING!
RRRRRING!
Ryou finally snatched it up, bringing the phone up to his ear, shaking like mad. He noticed he had gone even more pale than he already was.
"H-Hello?" Ryou held his breath as he waited for the other line to answer, but it took a few minutes. A few long, dreadful minutes, before-
"Is this the residence of Mr. Ryou Bakura?" Came an all too familiar voice. Ryou breathed a sigh, it was his dad's secretary over in England.
"Yes Hannah, it's me."
"Your father wishes me to inform you that he won't be home for another month, the dig is taking longer than he thought."
"Oh, okay," Ryou said sadly. "Thank you." He then hung up the phone, breathing another sigh. Another month alone . . .
Well, he could at least look on the bright side, the kids at school were wrong. Nothing bad was about to happen to him. He wasn't about to die because of some tape . . .
RRRRRING!
Ryou jerked his head towards the phone, what if? /This is so stupid, what could go wrong?/
RRRRRING!
Ryou picked up the phone again, surprised by his own boldness, of course, he was pretty much already calmed down about the whole thing, at least not worried any more.
"Hello, this is Ryou Bakura speaking," he said almost cheerfully, staring out the window at the pouring rain. No one answered on the other line.
"Hello?" Still no answer. Ryou pulled the phone away and stared at it for a moment. /It could be Bakura trying to play a joke, or he broke the Ishtar's phone too. But wouldn't there be a signal if that were true?/ Ryou then brought the phone back to his ear. "Hello, is anyone there?" He asked. But who answered him, was not the person he was expecting. It was an unearthly voice, but sounded strangely like a little girl whispering.
"Seven days."
Ryou froze, and the other line went dead. Ryou's mouth hung open, gasping for air, though his brain felt dead. The phone slipped from his hands and fell to the wooden floor.
~*~*~ About three hours later~*~*~
"I swear I heard him say something," Bakura argued as he shoved batteries into a flashlight. They just HAD to take ALL of the light bulbs. He turned it on, and led the two blonde Egyptians through the house. The three entered the kitchen to find all of their tapes scattered over the counter.
"I think he's okay Bakura," Malik said, crossing his arms.
"He did go through the tapes though," Marik added, skimming through the titles.
"I mean it," Bakura yelled. "I checked on him through the mind link and he was thinking some weird things. Something about hating bugs and a video tape." Bakura walked out of the kitchen, practically dragging the other two behind him.
"Maybe he watched the tape," Malik said to Marik, nudging his yami in the side. Both smirking widely.
"Don't even start that crap," Bakura hissed. "A tape that kills you, please." He shook his head and searched the upstairs.
"He might have gone to bed," Malik pointed out. "It is after one in the morning."
"He's not there," Bakura muttered. "I shouldn't have left him alone." The three then went back downstairs and entered the living room to see the TV on, and static hissing through out the room. Bakura checked the room, Marik went to see what Ryou last watched, and Malik sat on the coach. Bakura was starting to panic, Marik was about to go to sleep on the floor, and Malik was just bored out of his mind.
But then he heard something, it was coming from the hallway. Malik got up, listening as best as he could, but Bakura was rummaging through things way to fast, and making a hell lot of noise.
"Bakura! Stop it!" Malik hissed, Bakura froze, and Marik opened one eye from his spot on the floor. "I hear something." Malik walked out of the room, and to the hallway, the sound becoming more distinct. He stopped where it was as loud as it would get, and found himself in front of the hallway closet.
"Bakura? Isn't this a walk-in closet?" Bakura came up from behind him, and nodded curtly. Then hesitantly opened the door to see none other than his hikari.
"Ryou?"
Ryou was whimpering softly, his eyes wide with terror, his skin deathly pale, and was shaking like mad. The three froze, staring at the white- haired boy. While Ryou's gaze never wavered from Bakura's feet. The Egyptian Spirit looked down to see the phone lying on the ground, he bent over and picked it up, looking it over. There was nothing wrong with it. Malik knelt next to Ryou, shaking him a little, trying to get his attention.
"Ryou? Ryou what's wrong?" Malik's voice was soft, and calming. Trying to sooth Ryou, who sat with his back to the closet wall, hugging his knees and rocking slightly. He stopped whimpering and started to mutter nonstop.
"Ryou, get a hold of yourself!" Malik practically yelled, but Ryou wouldn't calm down. Growing fed up with his hikari's behavior, Bakura grabbed Ryou by the shirt collar and lifted him to his feet.
"Snap out of it!" He yelled, Ryou's eyes widened and he blinked a couple times, looking around at everyone. Bakura dropped him, and Ryou stumbled, before leaning against the wall for support. His eyes were still filled with terror, and his gaze searched all around the room frantically.
"Ryou, what happened?" Malik asked. Ryou snapped his attention to Malik, and he started to stutter out of pure fear.
"I . . . . . . I . . . . I wat- . . . . . " he couldn't seem to get the words out. Bakura stared at Ryou, something had obviously scared the shit out of him. And it had to do with the phone, Bakura looked back at it, then up to Ryou, who was staring at the phone as well.
"Ryou, someone called you. Who was it?" Ryou shook his head frantically, whimpering again, and then slid back down to the floor. Bakura blinked, then said," Okay, you don't know. What did they say?"
Ryou slowly lifted his head, looking straight into Bakura's eyes, his gaze not shifting to either side. Bakura then noticed that his hikari's pupils were gone, his eyes were just brown. Ryou's mouth opened to respond, but he couldn't get the words out. He held on to his words, till he found the courage to speak them.
"Seven days," he whispered, a whisper so soft the three barley caught it. A lone tear fell from Ryou's eye, and he looked back at the ground before he started sobbing uncontrollably.
Bakura knelt next to his hikari, Marik stayed still, but Malik slowly backed out of the closet. His wide-eyes staring at Ryou, the one person that everyone thought was completely innocent, and was the last person that deserved to die at a young age.
"Malik," came Bakura's voice, making the sane one of the Egyptians jump. "What does this mean?" Malik looked from Ryou to the living room, where a tape lay. The tape that Marik had taken out of the VCR and left on the floor.
"He watched the tape."
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Wow, that was long. Well, that's chapter one! ^^ Please review people! Please!
Well, preview for chapter 2! ^^
I love sneak peeks, people should do this more often . . . . .
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Preview:
Chapter 2
What's real and what's not
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"Seto-"
"Mr. Kaiba," Kaiba interrupted. "I may still be in school, but I'm also Mokuba's guardian."
Mokuba's teacher, Ms. Ushimte, smiled a little, then reached back for a file on her desk. "I want to show you something," she told Kaiba. Ms. Ushimte pulled out what looked like some of Mokuba's pictures. They were all of a girl, buried in the ground.
"That's out cousin," Kaiba pointed out, skimming trough the pictures, all of them were pretty much the same. "That's Diane."
"Mr. Kaiba, I'm bothered by these drawings," Ms. Ushimte said. Kaiba looked up at her for a moment, then back at the drawings.
"Ms. Ushimte, I appreciate your concern, but my little brother just lost his best friend two nights ago."
"But these drawings-"
"Are Mokuba's way of working things out," Kaiba interrupted again. "Of expressing himself, like you said." Kaiba stood up, picking up his briefcase. "He'll be okay." With that Kaiba turned around and was almost out the door when Ms. Ushimte stopped him.
"You said that your cousin died two nights ago," she asked. Kaiba turned around, facing Ms. Ushimte.
"Yes." A worried look crossed Ms. Ushimte's face.
"Mokuba drew these last week."
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PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!