Chapter 1: Fiery, red hair
Preliminary A/N: Alright, Chapter 1 is up and noooooo revieeeewwwwwsssss yeeeeettttt…..
Ah well, that's not a big deal, I've still got my inspiration to keep the chapters coming.
I suppose the Prologue of a story isn't something to bank upon, so we'll see from this chapter onwards.
Please let me know if my writing style is too verbose or too 'frilly' to your liking.
Oh, and since the guys at FanFiction haven't yet responded to my email concerning the difficulty of inserting paragraphs, I will use a combination of symbols to announce the end and beginning of a new one.
I LOVE my adjectives, colloquialisms and metaphors. It's a bad habit, I know
Enjoy!
…
6 months earlier
Heldedaad Boys School
Bloemfontein
South Africa
The Firstborn World
Bernard Viljoen woke up with a start.
It wasn't much, just a quick jolt and eyes that jumped open, which heralded his arrival at the gates of consciousness.
But it was enough to keep him from slipping back into sleep.
/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
The familiar image of his nightmare was still fresh in his mind and for a moment he let out a small gasp as he saw a shadow move across his bed.
But then he realized that it was only a tree directly outside the window that was waving with a rather strong gust of wind.
He sighed with relief and sank back into his bed, but didn't go back to sleep.
It had been a week.
A week filled with the same nightmare every night.
Bernard didn't know what it meant; the recurrence was possibly a result of some inner conflict. Mandy, the school counselor, told him that.
But Mandy didn't understand. She already told him things that he knew and didn't quite explain to him how to overcome them. She understood the guilt he was going through but didn't demonstrate how to suppress it.
Bernard sighed once again and sat up. He reached for his phone that was lying under his pillow and switched it on.
After waiting 5 minutes for the phone to start up, he peered at the top-left corner on which the time was displayed.
It was 3 am.
/\\\\\\\\\\\
He wanted to groan but didn't for fear of waking the other boys he was sharing the dormitory with.
And he knew how irate boarders could become if they were robbed of their precious sleep.
/\\\\\\\
Suddenly he felt an urge to relieve his bladder, so he quietly slipped out of bed and padded across the room.
However, his voyage was stopped short by a pair of odd sneakers, obscured by darkness, that were lying in his path.
Cursing quietly, he stumbled and made an acquaintance with the floor with a loud thud.
He sat up and spun his head to see if this moment's small cacophony provoked a sleeping dog to wake up.
Not one did, so he quietly stood up and brushed himself off. Taking care not to trip over any more bits and bobs, he tread quietly to the door.
/\\\\\\
The corridors of Rothmann House, the boarding house he was staying in on the school's premises, was extremely creepy and desolate at times like these. Some of the younger boarders, in the same position as he was at that moment, said they had seen white specters dancing on the first landing of the stairs leading up to the senior dorms.
He had lived in Rothmann House (or Rotties, as it was known amongst the boarders) long enough to know that it was simply the white curtains that the wind annoyed.
However, at that time, they contained certain…animosity. As if the 'ghosts' were real and dancing a rough langarm to the beat of inaudible music.
Bernard stood at the foot of the stairs, looking up to the window and contemplating the reality of the strange state of the curtains. All the while a childish fear of the dark built up in him.
He shuddered, shook the feeling off and walked towards the bathrooms.
/\\\\\\\
Again, he felt a strange aversion to the dark seeping through his skull as he reached the bathroom.
The door was open, but as black as pitch inside.
Like a gaping mouth, housing untold terrors.
Bernard stalled a bit; the light switch was just around the right jamb and he so desperately needed to relieve himself. All he could do was just reach around and switch the light on; he need not even take a step inside.
But he so needed to go.
Carefully, he wound his arm around the corner and searched the smooth plaster surface. There.
/\\\\\\
The almost blindingly bright light banished what used to be a somewhat viscous darkness into nonexistent corners.
And what childish fear of unknown monstrosities that lurked in the darkness which Bernard possessed vanished with it.
So he took a deep breath and strode bravely into the bathrooms.
He opened one of the toilet stalls and answered the call of nature.
/\\\\\\\\\\\
Afterwards, he flushed, pulled up his boxers and walked to one of the 13 basins lined up in front of each other.
Turning on the tap and plugging the drain, he let hot water flow in the basin until it was halfway full.
He lifted up his head to take a quick glance at his reflection in the mirror hanging above the basin before opening the cold water tap a tad and closing it again.
He dipped his finger in the then full basin and confirmed its thermal suitability.
Bernard cupped his hands and filled it up. Bringing it to his face, he splashed some of the liquid on to his face and looked up at his reflection again.
/\\\\\\\
His dark, auburn hair was even more darkened with wetness, and some droplets of water ran down a matted, stray lock on his small forehead.
Two red rimmed, brilliant brown wide-set eyes stared back critically at their owner before scanning his other aspects.
A well defined, handsome aquiline nose populated the centre of his face and sloped down to a pair of small, pale pink lips.
He then looked down at his bare torso, since he never slept with a shirt.
It was scrawny, but at the same time also rather athletic owing to some hours of intense working out at the gym.
It was rather strange for him, he thought, to continue with his workout schedule, since he had left his rugby two months prior. When….it happened.
He shuddered at the thought of that cataclysmic incident responsible for all his guilt, nightmares and all the painful emotions in between.
Bernard pulled the plug and switched off the bathroom's light.
Darkness reigned supreme once more.
/ /\\\\\\
He walked the corridors back to his dormitory. The dancing apparitions on the landing didn't bother him anymore, he just ignored them.
Entering the room, he padded back to his bed and crept under the covers.
And began to weep until his pillow was sodden with tears.
/\\\\\\
Fire, yes fire.
Alone alone. Must run. Must escape.
Fire!
People are running. People are escaping.
From what?
I must run, I must hide.
It will kill me.
What's that?
An aquarium.
He's inside.
HE'S FLOATING INSIDE!
HE'S DROWNING!
I must help him!
He's trying to SCREAm! But only bubbles come out.
I MUST help him!
The darkness underneath him is growing.
What's that?
It looks like…hands.
Hands made out of shadow!
It's grabbing him by the ankles and dragging him under.
DRAGGI NG HIM INTO THE DARKNESS!
NO! I must SAVE him! Oh no! Oh NO!...I must…NO! REGARDT!
He's gone.
Run, yes run.
Run into guilt, misery and self-loathing.
You are hopeless.
You could've saved him!
No I couldn't!
Yes!
No!
RUN!
What's that?
It's a hooded figure.
Who are you?
/\\\\\\
He removes his hood.
Darkness yes, darkness.
Black eyes, black heart.
He has no heart.
Who are you?
I am you he says.
No you're not. I have a heart.
I am what you are. Don't fight fate.
He punches. OUCH THAT HURTS!
He takes something in his hand.
Keyblade.
Whose memories are these?
Keyblade
Keyblade
KEY!
/\\\\\\
Falling.
Falling.
Static.
/\\\\\
"Yes, let your anger grow."
/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
A/N: Chapter 1 done. Again, I'd really appreciate criticism of any kind.