Disclaimer: You know the deal. Not mine. They belong to Marathon. Sad, isn't it?
Chapter 2
Martin leaned against his locker, half awake, half asleep. Man, he was tired and the day wasn't even over with yet. He still had to check out Diana's room for any signs of a ghost taking up residence there.
"Martin look tired," Java said, appearing around the corner with his trusty mop. "Martin okay?"
"Martin is tired, Jav," Martin yawned, forcing himself to stand up without the support of the locker. "Diana had a little encounter with a ghost last night, choosing yours truly to wake up at two in the morning." Martin slowly opened his locker. Wait a minute. He smiled and closed it back. He didn't know where his books were. The last time he saw them was... Ah, forget it. Thinking was not a good idea right now..
"Diana okay?" Java asked, concern filled his tone for her.
Java adored Diana, Martin knew. Almost everyone adored Diana it seemed. Even his dad considered her to be his real kid and him the step kid. Martin could never see her as his real sister no matter how much he tried. He just couldn't bring himself to think like that and he didn't know why. She's just too hot to be his sister. Man, was he sleep deprived big time. What kind of person thought their stepsister was, is, hot?
"Martin?" Java waved a hand in front of him, bringing him back down to earth.
"Wha..? Sorry, Jav," Martin chuckled slightly, blushing a little at the random thoughts in his head. Better put those thoughts away where they couldn't be brought up again."I'm sure she's fine. She's probably in the library doing the same boring thing she does every afternoon. Reading her little books and chatting with her little book-y friends."
"Martin probably right," Java nodded in agreement, putting on a huge smile. "Martin always right!" He embraced his friend, picking him about a foot or two off the ground.
"I don't think I can breathe, Java," Martin laughed, beaming. He could always count on good ol' Java. So Java was a caveman and not that big of a conversationalist, but he had never let him down. "I really can't breathe." Martin squirmed to no avail. He swore his face was turning blue from lack of oxygen.
From over Java's shoulders, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Jenny, Diana's best friend. He watched her for a minute, chatting with an unfamiliar girl and laughing. Hmm, playtime.
"Hey! Jenny! Put me down, Java. Looks like a certain beautiful lady needs some special attention from me." Martin squirmed some more, trying to get loose.
Java let him go, turning around to see the reason why Martin was running a hand through his blonde hair and straightening out his long sleeve black shirt.
"Watch and learn, Java. You're about to see the master at work."
Java covered his eyes with both hands, watching as his pal immediately fell hard to the floor.
"Ouch," Java stated the obvious, unable to hold back a gigantic laughing roar escaping his mouth.
"Ooooh!" Martin growled as he raised his head up off the cold floor. Of course, he had to fall in a crowded hallway, in front of everyone.
He shot a death glare at Java who was still trying to control his laughter. Not that Java was to blame for him making a scene in the middle of the hallway. He wasn't watching where he was going and now out of all times, he had to trip over his own feet. Brillant, Martin. Just brillant.
He managed to get to his feet, dusting off his clothes with no help from his laughing caveman friend who was rolling on the ground, laughing at his expense. Yeah, thanks a lot, Java. Now where did Jenny go? Ah ha!
"Hiya, Jenny!" he said, panting as he caught up with her. Good thing she didn't see the entire incident. Talk about embarrassing. "Where you off to?"
"Anywhere, as long as you're not there," she replied, holding her head up high as she normally did when he spoke to her. "Get lost, Martin."
"Jenny, Jenny, Jenny," Martin tsked her, waving a finger in front of her. "When are you going to stop hiding your true feelings for me? Everyone knows you have the hots for me." She stopped walking to look at him with wide eyes. "Admit it. You're madly in love with me."
"Martin, the only feelings I have for you are the ones of wishing," she said, pushing on his shoulder. "Like wishing you would get lost!" She stalked off, swaying her hips as if to tell show him what he could never have.
Martin stopped, blinking at her, feeling himself melting into a puddle in the floor. Why did he even bother with her? She wouldn't even give him the time of the day. And she wasn't even that pretty. But what could he say? He liked the chase. Now, what was he going to do before Jenny showed up? Oh yeah. Diana. Right, he needed to look for Diana.
"Women," he sighed dramatically, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sheesh."
Diana stood in the middle of her dorm room, clutching the book "101 Ghosts" tightly to her chest. The sun broke through the window, illuminating the entire room in a bright white light, so why did the room feel so... creepy and ominous?
As if to answer her thoughts, the door to the her room slammed shut, sealing her away from the outside. An eerie silence fell over the room Her emerald eyes searched every corner, watching in horror as the brightness suddenly disappeared only to be replaced by darkness. Every couple of seconds, the darkness was illuminated by a bright flash of light. Could it be lightning? But that would be impossible. It was a nice sunny day outside!
"Diana..."
"No... Not again!" she exclaimed, covering her ears with her hands and closing her eyes tightly. This was not happening again! The voice, the footsteps, the darkness. "Go away!"
"Diana..."
It was no use. Even with her hands blocking her hearing, the voice still echoed around her. The sound of it saying her name sent shivers up and down her spine, forging into her mind.
"What do you want from me!" she screamed at the ghostly voice, on the verge of tears.
She had seen some scary stuff on the missions from the center, but this was much worse and much scarier. Maybe because she was alone on this one. Martin and Java weren't here this time.. It was just her.
"Come on, Diana," she said to herself, desperate to get a grip. Her hands formed into fists as she sucked in a deep gulp of air. "Get a hold on yourself. You can do this."
She opened her eyes and screamed. Her eyes caught a glimpse of something above her, something moving. There, walking on the ceiling above, defying gravity, was a woman in a long black dress. She walked in slow, almost mechanical motion. Long, wavy blonde hair cascaded down her back, even though she was upside down.
"Oh my--" Diana whispered, letting tears fall from her eyes. Those same eyes were mesmerized on the figure, unable to close them or even glance away.
Then it was gone. Just like that, she was gone. Diana remained where she was, still surrounded by darkness. She was afraid to move and fear wouldn't let her. It held her feet like super glue to the wooden floor. Her mind couldn't process her thoughts. Her heart felt like it was going to beat straight out of her chest. Her breathing was so rapid, she felt she would faint at any minute from taking in too much oxygen.
The woman's face appeared inches from her own face, still upside down. Diana's scream was held in her throat from fear. She could only stare in the black eyes of the woman as they pierced into her own. This woman was definitely dead. Her skin was rotting off of her cheeks and nose and she didn't even have a chin and lower lip. All that was there was her skeleton. Her old, rotting skeleton... The smell that surrounded her ghostly figure was unbearable. The smell you'd smell when something nearby died.
"MARTIN!" She didn't even hear herself scream his name, much less know where it came from. She had somehow forced his name out of her shivering lips.
The woman attempted to smile a hideous smile that made her look even more horrifying than she was.
"Jack! YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM!" The ghost shrieked out in anger. "Seven days and I shall spend eternity with him like it was planned."She took a step back, or rather floated back, and cackled. "Like it was before you came along! You shall suffer as I have... forever, Diana. Forever."
The door was kicked open and a sudden ray of light lit the room. The lightning ceased and the darkness faded. The ghost was gone. Her room was back to normal. Diana fell to her knees, feeling weak from fear, her whole body shaking. A hand touched her shoulder, and she jumped about a mile high, letting out a high pitched scream.
"No more... Please... No more," she sobbed, hugging her chest in a vain attempt to protect herself from what she feared was the woman.
"Diana."
She quickly looked at the source of the person who gently said her name. Martin, panic and concern written all over his face. Before he could even ask what was wrong, she was in his arms, clawing at his shoulders, crying into his chest. She had never been more happier to see him, more happier to be in his arms. He embraced her, pulling her closer to him, doing his best to offer her all the protection she would ever need.
"Diana!" Java ran into the room, panting, yet ready to pound anyone or anything to dust. He dropped his defensive mode, letting out a huge sigh of relief when he found her safe in Martin's arms. "Java hear Diana scream. Java come as fast as he could."
"She was here..." Diana whispered, as Martin and Java exchanged a curious look.
"Ah ha! Got it!" Martin jumped up out of his seat, knocking it over as he did. He gave it a long look as it lay helpless on the floor turning back to his legendex. "1989. Students at the famed Torrington Academy are kept up at night by the wailing of a young girl who jumped to her death from the roof of the building. School records confirm the legend of the ghost in the halls stating that the girl, 17 year old Natalie Hayes, did indeed commit suicide by jumping off the building," Martin read, pouting. This was news to him. "That's not in the student pamphlet."
He scrolled down, remaining silent for a moment as he searched. Java sat at one of the library tables, trying to build a house of the books, only to have it fall down and he'd have to start over.
"Listen to this. Natalie and her boyfriend, desperate to be together forever, formed a lover's pact, planning to jump together. Her boyfriend, Jack Mitchell, never made that appointment. Determined to do this with only Jack, she went to look for him, finding him with another girl. Whew, talk about heartbreak."
"She still wants to be with Jack," Diana said absently, staring out the window of the library. Martin and Java looked up at her. "She said in seven days she'll spend eternity with him like they planned and that there was nothing I could do to stop it." She exhaled deeply. "But what do I have to do with that?"
"Seven days?" Martin repeated, rubbing his chin in thought. He walked over beside her inquiringly. "There wouldn't happen to be a video tape involved, would there? You know, like in that movie where if you watch the tape, you die seven days later?"
"Gee, thanks for the cheering up, Martin!" she scoffed, walking away from him to sit next to Java. Sometimes Martin could be so childish and immature. Now being one of those times.
"What? What did I say?" he asked, innocence in his expression and tone as he held up his hands.
"Java scared for Diana." Java glanced over at her, placing a huge, gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Oh, Java," Diana smiled sweetly, laying her head on his shoulder. "I'll be fine."
"Don't worry, Jav," Martin said with a lazy smile. "With me there to protect her, not even a single piece of hair on her head will be missing."
"If you think I'm going back to that room, Martin Mystery, you can--"
"No, no, no, Diana. You're gonna stay with me. Last time I checked, my room was ghost free." He thought about that for a minute, then nodded. "No ghosts there."
"You don't sound so sure about that." Diana looked at him, eyebrow arched.
"Oh come on, Di. It'll be fun."
"The last time I had to pay you my entire stash of chocolate just to let me stay there!" She grabbed his shirt, pulling him to her. "What's the price this time, Martin? Clean your room? Do your homework?"
"Now that you mention it, that's not a bad deal," he joked.
Okay, bad joke. A joke that got him sent to floor, her foot on his chest, threatening to squish the life out of him.
"Relax, Di!" He laughed hysterically. Feisty little thing, isn't she? "There's no catch. Mi casa es su casa."
This chapter didn't turn out like I wanted it to when I began. I wanted to imagine the ghost as a mix between the Fatal Frame series and Resident Evil. Scary like Fatal Frame and ugly like those zombie guys from Resident Evil. Diana's also vulnerable so far, weak. She's not going to be like that always. I just gotthe DVD of Martin Mystery and I'm working on watchingall the episodesto try to get a better understanding so hopefully, the next couple of chapters will be better. So hang in there, ppl!