Hey guys, Shadow here. I'm so sorry that I haven't written since last April, and I hope I can write more often because, well, it's fun. :) Sorry to keep you guys waiting, so without further ado, here is Chapter 4!
I emerged from the manhole, and almost immediately the dog ran towards the building before me. I took my time taking in my surroundings, and I realized we were deep within one of the forbidden areas of the city, surrounded by towering trees and dusty grime. I turned my attention to what loomed before me.
The building was enormous. Its walls were coated in a thick layer of ivy, sprawling every which way so that it almost covered the building. Miraculously, however, the entrance was left free of plants, which I found both odd and spooky. A river of grime ran below me and around this building, isolating it like a little island.
The dog barked twice and lead me towards the entrance of the building. I did not understand why it lead me here; didn't the animal know that this was forbidden territory; that nobody that came in alive ever came back out?
I imagined what he would say to all of this. He would punish me as he would punish everyone else, he made that clear. But I had not known, I was lead here, I was innocent; certainly, he would make an excuse for his only daughter?
I decided to follow the creature into the building. I did not recognize it, and as I ventured into the rusty, old place I realized that there was not a stairwell that lead towards the bottom floor, but ropes that seemed far too fragile to carry anything but a human. The dog barked again and jumped into my bag.
"What?" I asked, quited confused, "You want me to go down there?"
The dog barked twice.
I was already doing many stupid things at once, so I decided to do one more and give it a try. I took a running start and held onto the rope, shaking horribly, and slid down to the bottom floor.
The ground was coated with dust, and I landed with a distant thump, sending dust particles flying into the air. The dog hopped out of my bag, trailing paw prints in the dust, and ran towards what looked like a large metal box. It propped itself up on its hind legs, and pressed what seemed to be a large red button.
Suddenly, a long, grinding groan issued out of the box, and it opened. I had never before seen something like this, and I was absolutely fascinated. The dog hopped into the box, and I followed with astonishment. Once in the metal box, the animal once again propped itself on its hinds legs and hit some buttons. The box closed - I was scared stiff - and suddenly began to descend.
I had never before been in one of these, and I half expected this to be some kind of deathtrap. But, a few terrifying moments later, the doors opened once again, and I was standing in the middle of a room with an odd machine in the middle of it. The dog ran ahead of me, and hopped on a strange lever. It bounded back towards me, and I caught a slight view of the huge machine suddenly whirring to life before the box closed and descended once again.
This time, I entered a larger room. There was lots of empty space in the this one, and bars spanned the ceiling. I focused my attention to what was in the middle of the room.
It looked like a huge arm from a distance connected to the ceiling. At the end of the arm were three screens, and a keyboard for typing. A chair was propped up in front of these screens, and it was connected to a metal rod that seemed could revolve around some sort of holographic projector.
I stared in awe. The holographic projector was projecting something like a 3D earth. However, when I looked closely, I realized it was not Earth at all, but some mysterious, foreign planet.
The dog barked again and sped towards the foot of the chair. There it sat obediently, waiting for me to come towards it.
I proceeded cautiously, but once I realized there was nothing to be feared I sat contently in the chair, stiff with rust and dust, and pressed a button the keyboard just for the fun of it.
A sudden creaking sound issued from below me, and I squeaked and sat up abruptly from my chair. The screen had suddenly lit - all three of them - and simultaneously a light came from a small trapdoor I had not noticed before.
The dog ran over to the trapdoor and began to bark hysterically.
"Stop!" I cried, "Stop! You're being far too loud!"
The dog continued to bark.
I had no choice; what could I do? I coaxed the dog into the grocery bag, opened up the trapdoor and descended the stairwell.
I was shocked to find four kids, no older than myself, sprawled on the ground. The dog leapt out of my bag with earnest and ran towards a boy with an odd - and strangely familiar - triangle of blonde hair. It began barking again.
The blonde boy stirred. "Hey, Kiwi, nice to see you, buddy," he mumbled, sitting up. He sensed my presence, then nodded curtly in my direction.
I did not understand. This boy seemed to know who I was, and yet, I knew I had not ever met him before.
"Odd, would you please tell your dog to quiet down a little bit?" a pink-haired girl sighed and sat up as well.
My heart was beating very fast. Where had I heard a tale about five kids in an abandoned factory, once of which had dazzling pink hair?
"What am I doing down here?" another blonde boy inquired, adjusting his glasses, "One moment I was at my computer, the next moment..." His voice trailed off when he saw me. "All was well then?" he asked. I looked back at him in fear.
I suddenly realized where this story was from...
The brown-haired boy stirred, and confirmed my deepest fear.
"Yumi?" he asked drowsily, "Is that you, Yumi?"
"No," I said very quietly, "I am Rose. Rose ... Dunbar."
...it was the story of my dead mother.
Yumi Ishiyama.
Woohoo! What a cliffy! I really liked the ending to that one, didn't you? Well, only one way to tell me... REVEIW TIME! Thank you, by the way, to all who take the time to review, I greatly appriciate it. :)
Well, until next time! ~ShadowedTear~