Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.
The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.
Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.
Friday
Jeremie closed the book and set it on his desk, next to the keyboard of his computer. He had finished the book Wednesday night, but since then had been flipping back through the book, rereading certain scenes. Some of the parts he reread frightened him with the violence described therein. Other parts almost made him want to weep, for their sadness, or their joy.
Then there were other parts...
There were parts of Jeremie's mind that didn't quite understand what was going on when he read those portions of the story. There were other parts of him that did. And, deep inside, was a small part that seemed to understand everything, and longed to participate.
He was really beginning to regret his choice of books to obsess on. He vowed to return it to the library first thing on Monday, and not touch it again until he returned it.
Jeremie took off his glasses, set them on the desk, climbed into his bed, and fell asleep.
Jeremie was standing on a dirt road in the night. The full moon was shining directly over head. On both sides of the road, were rows of corn, that stretched off into the distance. Up the road from where he was standing was a small house. It was dark except for a small speck of light.
Jeremie looked around, trying to get his bearings, when he heard something.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."
That sound seemed to resonate inside of him. A thrill like a jot of electricity ran down his spine and into his hips and groin in timing with it.
"Ooooohhhhh... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh..."
Again the sensation seared thought him. It almost seemed like parts of his brain were switching off, and other parts were switching on.
"Oooohhh... Aaaaahhh... Oooohhh... Uuuuggghhh... Uuuggghhh... Uuuggghhh..."
He was totally captured by the sound now. Each note that entered his ears streaked down his spine directly into his groin. It seemed that the sound was picking up, becoming faster, louder. And more familiar.
"Oooohhh... Aaaaahhh... Oooohhh... Uuuuggghhh... Uuuggghhh... Uuuggghhh..."
"Aelita?"
"Uuugghh... Uuugghh... Oooohhh... Oh... Oh... OH! OH! AAAAAHHHHHHH!"
With the last sound, Jeremie's mind exploded. The circuit down his back was a channel of fire, and his groin erupted with heat. Waves and waves of sensation traveled down that path, and his body convulsed with each one. It continued for a few moments, then subsided. There was silence again.
Jeremie stumbled and almost collapsed, like he had been held in a vice. He shook his head to clear it. He heard something in the cornfield, just beyond where he could see. Something compelled him to go look.
He walked a short ways into the corn, and quickly came to a clearing. There was a man and woman in the clearing, lying on the ground. Both of them were naked.
Jeremie tried to back into the corn and leave, but found he couldn't move. He tried to turn away from the scene, to give the two some iota of privacy, but couldn't turn away.
"I'm sorry to intrude on you," he called out the the couple.
The man raised his head up from her groin. He had long brown hair. Something dark was covering his mouth and chin.
"No problem, little man, come closer if you want," he called back to Jeremie.
"No, I really think I need to leave you alone," Jeremie replied.
"So, you don't mind listening, but you don't want to watch. Your choice. But I have to tell you Jeremie, she is the finest piece of ass I've tasted in a long time. And I've got you to thank for it. So, I arranged all of this to initiate you into manhood."
"Initiate me?"
"Sure. Look down."
Jeremie looked down at himself. The pants of his pajamas had a wet stain on them, like he had peed himself. But the stain was not caused by urine.
"You're loaded for bear now, my man. All you got to do is point and shoot."
Jeremie was stunned. Processes in his mind clicked, like tumblers falling into place.
"You sure you don't want to come over and take a turn? I certainly don't mind. Get your first notch on the ol' pistol."
Jeremie's head was spinning.
"No, well, I think I'll have a little more." With that, he lowered his head back down.
Sounds started coming from the woman again. Jeremie thought is was going to be a repeat of what happened a little while ago, but it wasn't.
The woman started screaming. And screaming.
For the first time, Jeremie looked at the woman the man was with. He gagged with what he saw.
The woman was torn open from chest to crotch, like some carcass on a jungle plain somewhere. He could see where ribs had been snapped out so something could get at the soft meat underneath. Her arms looked wrong. They had been broken in several places so it looked like she had twice the number of joints that an arm should have. Her legs looked like a turkey's wishbone that someone tried to snap in two, they were splayed so far apart.
And her face...
"Oh, God, NO!" Jeremie cried.
Her face was so matted with blood and other fluids, he could hardly make out any features. Her eyes were missing, great scratches all around them. A look at her hands showed that she had clawed them out herself. Then, there was her hair...
Her pink hair.
"AELITA!"
Jeremie thought that Aelita surely had been killed by what had been done to her, but that wasn't the case. Her head moved, her arms and legs twitched. Even though her throat was ripped out and her jaw was broken, she began screaming again.
The man raised his head back up, but it was different now. Jeremie's own face, mouth and chin covered with what he knew now was Aelita's blood and gore, looked up and smiled.
"You sure you don't want a taste now?" Jeremie's voice said, "of course, you'll have to settle for sloppy seconds."
Jeremie somehow broke free of the paralysis that held him and ran back into the cornfield. He stumbled when he got back to the road, fell to his hands and knees and vomited. Behind him he could hear the man's voice above Aelita's screaming.
"Don't worry, little man! The next time we meet, I'll do the same to you! And you'll be able to scream just as loud as you want to!"
Jeremie jumped up and ran towards the house on the hill.
When he reached the house, he tripped and fell on to the front porch of the house, then curled up into a ball and started crying.
"OhGodOhGodOhGodOhGod!"
The old woman sitting in the rocking chair looked down at the sobbing boy. Quickly, she got up, took the boy into her arms, and sat back down again.
She then started rocking slowly back and forth, stoking Jeremie's hair slowly. From deep within her, a tuneless melody arose. She spoke softly, reassuring him that Aelita was alright, was safely asleep in her bed.
With each stoke of her hand, Jeremie calmed himself. The music and words soothed even more. Presently, Jeremie sobbed one last time, then slowly sat up in the woman's lap.
"What happened? Who are you? What is next?" Jeremie asked, ready to cry again.
"My name is Mother Abagail, and I'm sorry for what happened to you down there," the woman replied.
"Mother Abagail, like in the book?"
"Yes, somewhat like the book. Your choice of 'The Stand' was an unfortunate one, Jeremie. A Healing and a Testing needs to be done to you and your friends, and that selection made the Healing and Testing much harsher than it would be otherwise."
"I didn't know..."
"I know, child. Chance led your eye and guided your hand. If I had known of the change in your life happening tonight, I would have stopped this, necessary or not."
"What happened..."
"Is part of the cycle of life. Boys can have a hard enough time coming to terms with it, and what that thing did down there didn't help any. You've suffered a grievous wound to your heart tonight, Jeremie, one that will be a long time healing, regardless of the outcome of the Test. But I promise you, if you have Faith, True Love will heal you in the end."
Jeremie slid off of the old woman's lap, and stood before her.
"What Test?" he asked.
"You and your friends were broken when XANA escaped," Mother Abagail said, "and you have been feeling the effects of it ever since. It has been set upon you all to defeat XANA, as a way of preparation for battles to come, but now, if something is not done, you will fail."
"But why this?" Jeremie asked, "why, that?"
"Each of you boys has something that is preventing you from receiving something that needs to be given to you. This is an attempt to Heal you of that. It was decided that you, Jeremie, would choose the template in which that healing took place. You chose 'The Stand' as the template, and as a result, drew forth a powerful demon, a demon tuned to adults."
"I'm, sorry, Mother Abagail, I never realized..."
"I know, child. Like I said, Chance guided your eye and hand, and there's nothing to be done about it now. But you need to listen very carefully to me now, Jeremie, for time is growing short."
"Next Saturday night, you and your friends, and one more will be called forth to do battle with that thing in the cornfield. And, unlike your battles in Lyoko, the losers won't just be de-virtualized, they'll be killed. The stakes will be your lives and souls."
"What can we do to defeat that?" Jeremie asked.
"What else, Stand. You need to head back home now."
With that Jeremie disappeared.
"Alright! Who really picked this template! What just happened here was totally unnecessary!" the Teacher roared to the heavens. She got no answer.
Saturday
Jeremie screamed, and woke up. He jumped out of bed and noticed the stain on his pajama pants from his dream. He quickly removed them, rolled the into a ball, then later in the morning found a trashcan well away from the dormitory and threw them away.