Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with the fourteenth chapter from VOiD. Just for the record, I would have posted it earlier this morning, but my old-as-dirt computer took a half hour to reboot and stuff, so it just took forever. Anywho, how about some more replies to reviews?
Replies To Reviews
Kyle McShade: What first paragraph? The first few sentences don't really count as a paragraph, so what are you referring to, exactly? Actually, I'll just PM you later. ;)
YoshiEmblem: Oh yeah, it was great! Lots of engineering stuff—which is EXACTLY what I love. :D
Enderdude: Nah, I just wanted Rexum and Vanessa to have a sorta tag-team magic battle, and that's what I got.
CSICreeper: I can understand that. I'll be honest, I don't have anything against squids, but it seemed like that was the perfect monster to be in Whirlpool Alley.
Volcanic the hedgehog: Really? What a coincidence! :D
Somebody10101: I'll just say that the visions that both Rexum and Mark get NEVER lie, but the way they play out isn't always exactly how they are watched. Does that make sense?
Nwinds: I'll just answer your questions in order... 1. I was SO waiting for her to get in a mallet, it was ideal for me to just throw that in. XD 2. I did fix that, I guess I didn't realize I was putting both of their names in there. It was Rexum who jumped from platform to platform, but he was actually watching Mark inside the vision. 3. Should I take that as a compliment or an insult? :/ 4. I don't always break the fourth wall, but when I do I make sure the characters know they're doing it. That it? No more questions? Alright then.
Enderwolf: No, I've never actually seen a Skydoesminecraft video (although I still know all about Skydoesminecraft and his obsession over budder and being hateful towards squids) because my PARENTS are super-ultra protective over everything that I do on the computer. Like, I don't even get through to YouTube anymore! It sucks buckets... I have seen some of his videos, actually, at my best friend's house, though.
Right-o! Now then, let us get on with the story!
Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with another chapter from VOiD. Last time on VOiD we watched from Vanessa's point of view as she went off on a secret walk that only was spoiled by Mark, who found out that she had been trying to sneak off to have fun, which was the last thing he ever expected from her. But, while on the walk, the two of them ran into three familiar hooded figures: Brizarg, Eragariss and Jenx. After flattening all three of them in under a half hour, Mark and Vanessa went back to the house. The next day, we watched from Rexum's point of view as he received five very strange and mysterious visions, the final one resulting in him running off to the beach and into the water towards Whirlpool Alley. There he and Vanessa battled a colossal squid, entered its cave, and then beat it up a second time. They saved the others from a terribly slimy death that day, but due to their disobedience, Rexum kept them in the house for the rest of the day. On the bright side, the next day was their last day of rest, so they'd be having a HUGE party! You want to see the party? Then READ ON!
Now, let the story commence!
Chapter 14: Just One Week (Day 7)
Day 7-7: A Bittersweet Symphony (Back To Mark's POV)
Then it came: the final day of their week of rest. The entire week was so full of exhausting activity, so nobody really got that much rest. It was basically just a break from walking...
But now it was the final day, and they only had 24 hours to cram in as much fun as possible. Mark—after watching SpongeBob's House Party over and over—knew exactly what kind of party it would have to be. There'd be awesome food, contests, MUSIC—that was a given—and lots of other random stuff. Plus, Mark was planning something else as well. It would break the fourth wall for sure, and the fourth wall repairman would have to appear, but if it meant winning Kelsey, he was eager to do it.
The whole morning was basically for him to set up a checklist of things they'd be doing, not in any particular order, though.
Stuff To Do
1. Porkchop eating contest
2. Dance like crazy to EPICSAUCE music
3. Rant on about how dumb some things are (like kid shows, for instance)
4. Swimming
5. Roasting cocoa pods over campfire
6. Movie
7. For me: bring out "secret weapon" to Kelsey
After writing several other things on his list, Mark was finished. Although, he felt his spirits dampen when he realized that some of these things would require Rexum's powers to summon, like the music and the movie. It's not like he could find those things in the real world of Minecraft anyway, not unless he wanted to find a mod somewhere.
So, he took a deep breath and stood up from his bed. Everyone else was milling around in the cabin looking restless. Mark approached Rexum who was meditating on his Eyestone. Even as he approached, Mark could feel the freezing air pulsing from the Eyestone. He shivered at the thought of how cold it must've been to sit on it like that. He cleared his throat, and Rexum instantly opened his eyes.
"Er, Rexum?" the old wizard just looked at him, staff balanced atop his head. "Well, I was, um, I was wondering, uh, if you'd, if, um, if you'd lend us some of, er, uh, your magic. Yeah."
Rexum raised an eyebrow and said,
"If you wish to summon other things besides the normal elements of the world of Minecraft, why don't you ask Vanessa? Every magic being in Minecraftia, whether possessing Light or Dark magic, has a special connection with the Spirits In Between, the supreme beings that control all dimensions."
Mark felt like he'd just thrown a weight from his shoulders. He sighed with relief and said,
"Oh, thanks! I totally forgot!"
He rushed off to find Vanessa sitting on her bed. She was reading Cantatis at the moment. He noticed that she still had that severe look when she read, but he figured she'd never be able to get rid of it. She looked up when he approached.
"Hey Vanessa,"
And he explained about her magic connection with the Spirits In Between.
"So, you want me to summon a bunch of stuff for the party?" she asked when he was finished.
Mark nodded and added,
"Yeah, and it just wouldn't be much fun if you didn't..."
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
"Fine, whatever you say."
Mark clapped her on the back and said,
"Thanks, you da man... Girl."
Then he walked away and began to pace the room. He was wondering mainly about Kelsey. If he could just get in a moment alone with her, maybe he could win her. But how would he be able to sneak off with her without anybody noticing? Would she even want to cooperate?
Unfortunately for Mark, he'd have to wait until six o'clock for the REAL party to start. In the meantime, everyone was just wandering around wondering what the heck to do. The entire day moved sluggishly, and in what seemed like years it was still only a quarter past three. Most of the day, Mark just sat and dreamt of all the different ways they could have fun, but then all the different ways he could be refused by Kelsey. It was like "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve was constantly playing in his head.
And then it happened. It happened right on the dot at five o'clock. Mark had closed his eyes to try and get a dream about Kelsey, but instead what he got was another one of those black and white visions.
He saw himself sitting with Kelsey on a couch of wool. She was close to him, her arms around his torso. They were looking at a large screen, but they constantly were looking back at each other. It was clear that they cared squat about whatever they were watching. Their eyes met, and she smiled. Mark could feel her warmth so well. She was practically on fire...
But she was! She was glowing. Tongues of flame were covering every inch of her body. Kelsey screamed out in pain and fell off the couch into the sand, flailing her arms and legs to try and get the flames off. Mark watched in horror as her flesh burned up, covering her in black, and then she went still. Smoke was wafting up from her dead corpse, and Mark saw every detail. He looked to his side in slow-motion to see a huge fireball in the distance. He saw two figures by it, and then he heard laughter, creepy, metallic laughter that could only belong to the Glitch. Suddenly, a searing pain flew through the three-scratch scar on Mark's forehead and the vision faded.
Mark's eyes opened and he found himself panting and sweating profusely. Kelsey was standing over him looking concerned.
"Mark, you ok? You're, like, drenched in sweat. Did you have a dream?"
Mark was shivering when he sat up on his bed. Other people were starting to stare, so he had to get out of there. Mark didn't answer her; he just stood up and strode towards the door, shaking his head to free himself of that horrible feeling. Once outside he sat down in the grass, taking deep breaths. He had to stop this vision. They had never been wrong before, so how couldn't it be real now?
Mark sat outside in his own little world of misery for another forty minutes. Then Adrian came around the corner and he jumped a little. Adrian sat down next to him and said,
"You ok, partner?"
Mark shook his head. He could be honest with Adrian. Then he turned to face Adrian and told him the whole vision. He also talked about how he was afraid of what would happen between him and Kelsey. He talked about all the bad things that could happen. Finally, when he was finished ten minutes later, Adrian just grinned and said,
"Well, fer one thing, I think tha' yer visions er faulty. Also, Kelsey really seems ter like ya in the first place."
Mark felt a bit more confident after that and tried to put on a smile. Then Adrian stood up and said,
"C'mon, we're all going over ta the beach now. Ten more minutes 'til the partyin' starts."
He grabbed Mark's hand and pulled him to his feet. As they were walking back around to quick get everyone back inside, Mark felt a lot better than he had before. Even if the vision was real, he'd stop it, and for now he would put all those thoughts from his mind and focus on having as much fun as humanly possible.
They stepped through the rickety front door together and stopped in the middle of the room. Mark stood up on one of their chests and raised his hands to get everyone's attention. Once their eyes were on him he said,
"Who wants to partaaaaaayyyyyy?"
There were whoops and cheers all around. People slapped hands for another ten seconds before they finally were able to get out the door. They walked in a big group, chatting about the upcoming night. Even Felix, Mickey and the pig family followed them, letting out their own little animal noises as they went. Mark noticed that Gabe and Lucas were looking sour towards each other for some reason. He'd noticed it before, too. But he tried to ignore it and just keep walking. Then they stopped on the beach and waited for the party to start. Since the sun was setting, Rexum walked over and placed the Eyestone on the sand and created a HUGE golden force field stretching thirty blocks in every direction. Plenty of room...
Mark found Vanessa nearby, who was talking animatedly with Adrian.
"Ready?" he asked, grinning widely.
Vanessa smiled and nodded. She lifted Cantatis into the air and imagined a gigantic dance floor, a surround-sound system, and a DJ stand. Vanessa, despite all the distance she's come from being stiff to being a fun-loving gal, still hated dancing in front of others. So instead she walked up into the DJ stand and put on some Beats. Mark knew that all his friends—with the exception of Lucas—were from Earth, so he was confident they knew some of the more popular songs besides Minecraft parodies. So, he had Vanessa put on the first song that came to his mind: "Last Friday Night". ((By the way, all of the songs that come on are the ones that I am listening to on Pandora as I type.))
Mark didn't knew dance moves, but he just felt like doing some free-style. He danced and laughed, and soon others were joining him. People were singing along, and a chorus of voices echoed through the air...
"There's a stranger in my bed,
There's a pounding in my head
Glitter all over the room
Pink flamingos in the pool
I smell like a minibar
DJ's passed out in the yard
Barbie's on the barbeque
This a hickie or a bruise" they sang.
The next song to come on was "We Are Young". Mark tried to dance his way over to Kelsey, but there were so many people in the cluster it was hard to do that unnoticeably. So they continued to laugh and rock their bodies from side to side. Then after that song was done, Mark was glad to hear "Sexy And I Know It" come on. Long story short, Mark knew the greatest dance of them all: break dancing. Every time one of the more dubstep-sounding sequences came on Mark would bust a move. He did handstands, backflips, and so on. He really got his friends cheering when he flipped onto his head and spun in circles.
They danced for hours on end, and Mark could definitely agree that it was one of the most enjoyable parties he'd ever been to. Finally, after two whole hours Mark's favorite song came on. It was "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay. The music just flowed through him like streams of water, silky and smooth and flawless. There was no way he could dance properly... Without a partner, that is... Things just happened in a blur. Mark danced swiftly to Kelsey and grabbed her hand, taking her into a dance. But instead of struggling against him, Kelsey seemed to have been waiting for this moment.
Their moves matched each others as they danced through the raging seas of cellos and the dramatic rings of Jerusalem bells. Mark danced with her, their hands clasped together. It seemed as though she knew exactly where to move as Mark moved. The only thought inside Mark's head was a thought of pure joy. He was dancing with Kelsey to his favorite song, the most dramatic song in the world, and she liked it. She liked HIM.
"I hear Jerusalem bells ringing,
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
And for some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter will call my name
Never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world."
And it ended. "Viva La Vida" ended after those last words, and the instruments came to a dull, signaling its true end.
Mark and Kelsey stared at each other, both of their hearts beating rapidly. Cheers were coming from their friends. The cheers lasted for another two minutes, and in that two minutes Mark felt like he was flying. Flying with Kelsey...
It was clear that after THAT amazingly dramatic display, nobody felt like dancing anymore—it's not like it could've gotten better than what they'd just experienced. So, as Mark and Kelsey let go of each other, both of them red in the face a considerable amount, Adrian declared that they would now be holding a porkchop-eating contest. He must've seen Mark's list beforehand.
As Adrian set down two wooden planks and laid out a pile of ten gigantic porkchops on each of them he stood up straight with a look of pride/determination.
"Alright, everybody! Ah'll have ya know tha' I've been the champion o' several food-eatin' contests back in Texas, and I'd also like to say tha' EVERYTHIN' in Texas is BIGGER! So, who 'ere wants ta challenge me?
Nobody raised their hand. It was obvious that Adrian wasn't lying, that was a given. But then, someone did lift their hand, and it was the person they least expected: Gabe. When Gabe lifted his hand into the air and said, "I'll take you on", everyone was stunned. Mark whirled around and watched as he walked towards one of the porkchop-buried tables.
"Gabe, I thought you were supposed to be a gentleman!" he blurted out.
He caught Gabe giving a small smile as he said,
"Well, I guess I can make an exception."
To himself Mark thought,
"I didn't Mr. Sparta here would budge, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe everyone has some kind of fun side to them deep inside themselves, just like Vanessa had; only sometimes they're just buried and take a little time to bring back to life... I dunno, who gives a Twinkie about poetic stuff anyway, I certainly don't."
Adrian and Gabe approached their starting lines. Vanessa turned Cantatis into a small stopwatch and said,
"Aaaaaaand, on your mark, get set... GO!"
Both of them started shoveling porkchops into their mouths. Adrian had a big mouth and huge appetite, but both Gabe's mouth and appetite were bigger than his by a long shot. It was only ten seconds before Gabe just took the pile of porkchops and shoved the remaining seven down his throat at once. Everyone "oohed" as he chewed the wad of meat in his mouth. He was slowing down and Adrian was almost catching up. Then, Gabe miraculously took a huge swallow just as Adrian was biting into his last porkchop. Vanessa clicked her stopwatch and said,
"Twenty-two seconds! Nice!"
Then Adrian finished the next moment, and she clicked her stopwatch again and said,
"Twenty-five seconds! Gabe is the winner!"
At that moment Gabe turned to face everyone and let out a deafening belch that nearly knocked them over. It lasted for about ten seconds before stopping. He deeply inhaled and then blew the air out, wiping his sweaty forehead with his "THIS IS SPARTA" T-shirt. Everyone—with the exception of the sour-faced Lucas—rushed over to him and surrounded him with whoops and cheers of the most epic kind.
It was as though Gabe remembered something he wanted to do, because he shushed them all and continued to smile.
"Excuse me, but if you think that is impressive, I must show you something even greater than the scene you just witnessed."
Gabe parted through the group and stopped next to the glowing red DJ stand six blocks away. He looked back at them and said,
"Did I ever tell you what my last name was?" everyone shook their heads. "I was known as Gabe Maxwell during my time on Earth. But, do you know what my Minecraftian last name was, what Block power I received after my final exam during my time in school?" again they shook their heads.
Then Gabe looked down at the beach sand and thrust his empty hand. To everyone's surprise, a noteblock appeared. Mark clapped his hand over his mouth. Gabe, the toughest, beefiest, most gorilla-ish dude he'd ever met, had the Block power of NOTEBLOCK? Gabe placed a line of five noteblocks in front of him and stood behind the middle one. Then he grinned, glanced back up and said,
"Watch closely as Gabe Noteblock demonstrates the true soul of rhythm."
He hit a noteblock lightly. Then he hit another one slowly again, and hit some of the other ones in order, forming a calming tune that turned out to be Mary Had A Little Lamb. Then he paused after the last note, looked back up, and then back down at the noteblocks.
And then, WHAM! His fists flew across the line of noteblocks, turning the notes from light bell rings to the sounds of drums. His hands were blurs as they smashed the noteblocks in a rapid pattern, and immediately he was deep into an epic drum solo. Now everyone was either laughing or trying to contain it. Gabe was absolutely right; this was far more impressive than the whole porkchop deal. Thirty or so seconds of drumming later Gabe ended his solo and bowed for them all. They clapped and cheered.
Thankfully, the "wait-an-hour-after-eating-before-you-swim" policy didn't affect people in the world of Minecraft, so they dove into the water a few minutes later. As Mark was swimming with the rest of his friends, he felt something grab him from behind and whirled around to see Kelsey grinning playfully.
"This is for that time a few weeks ago when you cheated!"
Mark was wondering what the heck she was talking about, but it dawned on him as she tackled him through the water. She was referring to that time those few weeks ago when they were wrestling in the water and he cheated by tickling her. He was attempting to get out of her grasp, but the week must've made Kelsey stronger, because she maintained a tight grip as they tumbled through the water. Adrian eventually spared him from the embarassing moment by, well, just making it more embarassing. He approached them in the water and shouted,
"Ladies, ladies! Yer both pretty, so play nice!"
Adrian received a tag-team noogie from Mark and Kelsey, but in retaliation he splashed them both with a huge wave. In no time the three of them were in an all-out splash war. Vanessa just had to be a cheater herself and turn Cantatis into a gigantic red hand, which she used to create a successful tidal wave that nearly drowned them all. She just meant to hit the three of them, but she managed to catch both Gabe and Lucas as well.
After that, everyone was so tried that swimming seemed too hard, so that's when Mark decided that they'd put on the movie. He told Vanessa to go searching for the most popular movie on Earth at the moment, and to his surprise, she started looking extremely excited as the movie title came up. Mark walked over to her—Cantatis was now a glowing red laptop that she was using to search movies—to see what she was looking at. She practically jumped up and down with feverish excitement and squealed,
"Look! Look it's mom and dad as teenagers!"
Mark's jaw dropped to the ground when he saw the movie screen that she'd pulled up. On the cover it showed who he recognized to be his dad as a teenager and his mom too. His dad was standing looking grim, gripping hard onto a gleaming diamond shovel. His mom had her small hand on his shoulder and her other on her hip, and there was a gleaming diamond sickle hanging from around her arm. On either side of them were mostly teenagers with the exception of one adult.
And then he felt himself shiver when he looked above everyone's heads. Looming over them was the large plasma creature with the red slit-eyes that he saw when he first landed in Minecraft. It brought back cold thought, but he quickly pushed them back. The title hung directly below all of the characters' feet, and it read: "The Glitch".
Mark looked back up at Vanessa and said,
"They made a movie about their adventure?"
Vanessa grinned and nodded vigorously.
"Oh yeah!" she pointed to the computer screen and said, "It says here it was made in 2418, and that was roughly twenty years ago! It makes sense, doesn't it? 2415 must've been when this all happened, and it would've taken a while to create a production like that, especially with all the huge sets they probably needed."
Mark just grinned, and then he said,
"Oh man, I gotta tell everyone else! You summon some wool couches or something, not made of magic or magic-crafted though (that wouldn't be comfortable)."
So as Vanessa waved Cantatis to form to summon several wool couches up from the sand, Mark stepped out in front of everyone—they were all still soaking wet from the tidal wave that happened earlier. He got their attention and then explained all about the movie they'd be watching and about how it's basically all about his parents' adventures. Everybody seemed pretty interested, so they were in a hurry to get themselves seated. Mark almost forgot that he had to bring out his "secret weapon" to Kelsey. As she was sitting down he approached her and held out his hand.
"Kelsey, you gotta come with me."
Lucas stood up and crouched behind the couch.
"Alone, Lucas."
Knowing it was obvious he could be seen, Lucas sulked disappointingly back to his seat next to Adrian. Mark was so relieved when Kelsey took his hand and stood up. With his stomach churning with anticipation, Mark led Kelsey away from the beach as quietly as possible. Everyone was busy watching the movie previews to notice them sneaking away, so the coast was clear.
Mark led her by the hand into the forest, and knowing that the mutated mobs would soon be upon them he made it quick.
"Kelsey," he said nervously as a smile creeped across his mouth. "Oh, wait, I just gotta say, this'll be breaking the fourth wall so hard, but... Er, you already know that we're just inside a book. We're main characters in a book; you've grasped that, right?"
Kelsey nodded and said,
"I still is kinda confusing, but yeah, I knew that. I mean, we do get transported into the Author's mind whenever we're not getting scene-time. Plus, people reading our, um, story are asking us questions and stuff, like that one jerky guy named Jhon who told me that you... Never mind." her face was reddening with either anger or embarrassment; Mark wasn't sure what this Jhon guy asked her, but he didn't want to push her any farther. She looked back at him and said,
"Anyway, just tell me what you want to tell me."
Mark was now bouncing restlessly on the balls of his feet.
"Well, you see, in one of my Character Questions I got from an audience member they gave me a gleaming white stallion that I named Elmer, and they said I should give it to you... So, I, er, will."
Mark walked about twenty blocks into the trees and found the gleaming white horse with large blue eyes named, who was Elmer tethered to the same place Mark had been keeping him. He couldn't remember the exact name of which fan had given it to him, but whoever it was he thanked from the bottom of his heart. He brought Elmer back through the trees, and Mark saw Kelsey's eyes light up with joy when she first saw her new horse. She ran to Elmer and pet his muzzle, and he snorted affectionately towards her. She looked back at Mark with a flushed but joyous face.
"Thank you so much! I love him!"
Mark patted Elmer's saddle and said,
"Well, why don't we ride Elmer here back to the beach?"
Kelsey nodded excitedly and jumped up onto the front. Mark jumped on the back, right behind her, and closed his arms around her waist. As they zoomed gracefully out of the forest and across the small stretch of plains Mark could feel the happiness just bursting from Kelsey, who was laughing and screaming with delight. In no time they came to a halt next to the DJ stand, where Vanessa yelped at the sudden approach the huge horse.
Mark and Kelsey got down off the saddle, and at that time everyone else had turned around to see Elmer. Gabe immediately stood up and rushed over to the horse.
"Where did you find such a large horse? And this mane, it's beautiful!" he looked at Mark's expression and said,
"Wait, did you... Get it from... One of the fans reading this story that we're in? Wow, our story must be quite popular, quite popular indeed, to attract such a massive quantity of fans. I guess I never really grasped the aspect of how many eyes could be watching our life's story at this very moment, it's almost as though—"
"ALRIGHT, STOP! JUST STOP THERE!"
It was the fourth wall repairman. There was a sharp fragment of the fourth wall stuck in his arm, and he looked ready to blow.
"Listen, I don't care if I'm intruding on an important part of this stupid book, I'm just coming to demand that you STOP BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL SO MUCH!"
Everyone was quiet. This was probably the last thing they expected to happen. The fourth wall repairman was never supposed to come into the story itself...
And then Lucas had the most brilliant idea to calm him down.
"Why don't you stay here for a bit? You know, just relax and stuff. We're about to watch "The Glitch"."
To their surprise, the fourth wall repairman sighed with relief and said,
"Alright! My kids love that movie, and so do I. I recommend you buy it, it's one of the best Minecraft movies I've ever seen."
After THAT unexpected turn of events, now the fourth wall repairman was sitting with his work boots kicked off on the wool couch, munching on some peanuts he got from who-knows-where.
Once everyone was seated, Vanessa started the movie. Mark couldn't stop smiling; he was watching his dad go through life. In the very beginning when his dad's mom and dad made an appearance he pointed and said,
"Hey, there's my grandparents!"
The best part of watching the movie wasn't actually watching the thing itself, but the fact that Kelsey was sitting right next to him. He and Kelsey laughed for a good minute when they got to the part near the beginning where his dad was being intimidated by Danny and he poked him in both eyes. They continued to laugh together at all the jokes for a while.
But then things got even better when Mark noticed that Kelsey was slowly scotching closer to him. Mark gave a concealed grin and decided to pull Kelsey to him instead. He did the yawn trick and stretched out his arms during a fake yawn, and then rested his arm around her shoulder when he brought it back down. She looked up at him and grinned, one eyebrow raised.
"Really?"
Mark's cheeks burned and he just stared away to the screen.
"Yep." he muttered.
But instead of pushing his arm off, Kelsey swung her smooth, tan legs over his lap, and curled her arms around him so that they were close together. His heartbeat could be heard echoing rapidly. Mark couldn't feel any breath coming into his lungs and his palms were getting sweaty. He knew that this was the moment he'd been waiting for, and finally, oh finally, it was here. Mark grinned at the moment and decided to flirt with her a little, just to keep things in the right mood.
He caressed her bare legs softly, and he could feel her shivering with pleasure. He caught her smiling. Then he traced his fingers down her leg, drawing a long heart that only he could see. She twitched a little, the smile still creeping across her pale lips. Next, he turned his index finger and middle finger into something like legs, and walked them across her skin, making them dance. And that's when she reached over and took his hand in hers. She brought it to her stomach and put it there.
Mark knew what she wanted, and slid his hand beneath her tank top, rubbing her bare stomach slowly. She just sighed with pleasure, the relaxed smile across her face, her eyes closed as though she was experiencing a pleasant dream. He continued onto scratching her tummy lightly, and through a closed mouth she let out quiet, airy giggles. So they sat there, close together, sharing their heat, the movie completely forgotten. Somewhere in there as they fell asleep hugged together, Mark heard her whisper this: "Mark... I love you...". He might have replied with, "I love you too.", but he wasn't sure, it was all just so blurry in his emotion.
It was Vanessa who woke them up when the movie was over. When Mark opened his eyes he saw that his hand was still on Kelsey's stomach, and that she was fast asleep. Vanessa was grinning mischievously in front of them, her teeth gleaming and her arms crossed. Mark, making sure to keep from waking her up, said,
"Vanessa, she's asleep, give me break..." he whispered.
Vanessa rolled her eyes and muttered,
"Adrian, Gabe and Lucas are starting on a huge sandcastle, so you can join when you two are ready."
And then she walked away, leaving Mark alone with Kelsey. She woke up a few minutes later. She looked up at Mark and clung to him tight.
"Is it still nighttime? Is the party still on?"
Mark smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, it's probably only a bit past eleven o'clock. C'mon, the other guys are building a huge sandcastle."
Kelsey clung tighter to him and pleaded,
"Massage my tummy again, please. I like it a lot."
So she and Mark sat there for another ten minutes, his hand rubbing and scratching her flat stomach. But then he said that they'd miss the sandcastle if they didn't hurry, so she agreed to get up again. As they walked back towards the water where the huge in-progress sand castle was being built, their hands were still clasped together.
And then Kelsey let go, looked away and said,
"Oh wait! I just remembered that I wanted to stop at the house for something."
Mark suddenly remembered the vision he had of her being set on fire, and he wasn't sure what would happen if she walked away, so he stopped her from going and said,
"That's ok, you can get it after the party, I'm sure. C'mon, let's check out the sandcastle."
Mark started walking on his own around and took in every bit of the sandcastle. There was a ladder leading up to where they were building a sandstone roof. Adrian was there, filling in the empty space with fresh sandstone. He looked up at Mark with a grin and stopped what he was doing.
"Hey, Mark! During the movie I couldn't help notice tha' you an' Kelsey were snuggling! You two look reeeeeeaaaaaal cute together." he said, tipping his hat in that one little motion.
Mark smiled and shook his head.
"Dude, you have NO idea! I found out that she loves having her stomach rubbed and scratched, and after I was part of that action she was curling up to me like a puppy! She's just so cute, it's absolutely adorable! I love her so much!"
Adrian looked down the edge of the sand castle at someone and added,
"Hey, by the way, ya know tha' fourth wall repairman? Tha' guy's still here. He offered ta help us build the sandcastle. I said we didn't need any help, but boy, was I wrong. He is, like, super fast at building with that hammer of his. I think it's called a Wall Hammer or something, that thing he uses to repair the fourth wall all the time."
Mark looked down at the ceiling that Adrian was building and then up into the sky past the golden force field.
"Hey, why don't you leave the ceiling out? Then there'll be more light coming in." he suggested.
Adrian looked down at the ceiling he stood on and said,
"Good idea."
As he was removing the half-finished ceiling, Mark climbed back down the ladder to the sand of the beach. He walked around the side to the wide doorway in front and entered. It was kind of like Patrick Star's house. There were sand couches lined along the walls with several small sand tables. Mark sat down on the couch and looked above him. The ceiling had already been removed and about twelve seconds later Adrian came inside. He sat down next to Mark on the couch and took out two buckets of milk. He took one in hand and gave the other to Mark. He raised his and said,
"To Mark: the greatest party-planner in the world!"
They bonked milk buckets with a little clink sound and Mark took a deep gulp of the sweet, creamy milk. Suddenly, Adrian burst out in song for no apparent reason.
"OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH...
99 buckets of milk on the wall,
99 buckets of milk!
Take one down and pass it around
98 buckets of milk on the wall!" he sang.
Mark joined him in singing his chant, and for every bucket of milk they sang of they'd each chug another bucket the Adrian always seemed to have. Kelsey walked in on them about ten minutes later, and both of them were swaying back and forth, milk sloshing around as they rowdily sang,
"68 *hic!* buckets of milk on the wall,
68 buckets of milk! *hic!*
Take one down *hic!* and pass it around
67 buckets of milk on the wall! ... *HIC!*"
By that time they were left singing to a slow funeral march. Kelsey quickly confiscated all their milk to keep them from getting possibly dangerous. Everyone else trickled inside their sandcastle/house in the following minutes that came.
All of them sat in a circle, and Mark knew that it was the opportune time to rant on about all the stupid things in life. He started off with the perfect conversation-starter...
"What do you guys think of kid shows they have these days?"
That definitely got the discussion started. Adrian immediately went off with,
"Oh, man! I remember when kid shows used ter be the classics with lots of dropping anvils an' ducks who had speech impediments!"
Everyone nodded in agreement. Then Kelsey spoke to Mark's right.
"I remember those years when I had to deal with my little brother watching Super Why ever day. I recall one time—actually several, but this one stood out—where that Super Why kid was trying to teach his baby brother how to read and he couldn't figure out how to do it. So, he's all like, "I know! I have to look in a book!". What kind of crap is that?! His "superpower" is the power to read! Just let that marinate for a second..."
Everyone laughed, and then it was Gabe piped in.
"Yes, I admit that I have also been annoyed by bothersome shows for children. I can remember one time when my younger sister was watching Dora The Explorer, and Dora was trying to find a special kind of tree in a stretch of valley. There was one tree, the one tree that she was searching for, and it was directly behind her. Over and over she would ask where the tree was, and every time she either looked left, right, over at the floor—if that makes any sense at all. I think to myself, What on Earth is she getting at? She's bilingual, brave and strong enough to walk through forests, mountains, canyons and swamps for hours upon hours of screen time, but she can't manage to ever turn 180 degrees to see what she's looking for!"
They continued to laugh a ton; Adrian actually slapped his knee. Then, once again to their surprise, the fourth wall repairman spoke from the other end of the room—nobody noticed that he'd been standing there the whole time, just tossing his Wall Hammer into the air and catching it in a slow rhythm.
"Oh yeah? Want to hear something worse?" everyone was now watching him as he tossed the magic hammer.
"I had to watch a show called Bananas In Pajamas. It was about the magical adventures of these bananas that were constantly hugging living teddy bears while never wearing anything else but pajamas..."
Everybody went quiet. It was Vanessa who cracked first, and she let out a laugh that worked like the Domino Effect, because everybody cracked up after that. Mark was pleased to see Vanessa constantly giggling, her glass slightly askew.
They joked and talked for a long time, and soon it was already fifteen minutes to midnight. Rexum had mentioned briefly that they would have to be done at midnight; otherwise they'd never get enough sleep. For the last fifteen minutes of their time they set up a campfire in the middle of the sand. Vanessa had already taken down all her magic-crafted sets and screens and the whole DJ stand/surround sound system. They roasted cocoa pods over the fire, and to Mark's delight they actually turned out pretty darn good.
Surprisingly, Adrian had a banjo with him the whole time and nobody knew it, because he took one out of his hotbar as the fire was being lit so they could sing campfire songs. Fifteen minutes of laughter, singing, banjo-plucking, and chocolate-roasting later, it was midnight, so they had to all head back to the cabin.
But of course, with every good thing, there is always something bad lurking around the corner, because just as they were leaving, Rexum was taking a headcount and noticed that one was missing. Lucas! Then there was a scream coming from the distance, which definitely belonged to him. Mark peered closely through the dark and his stomach twisted when he saw something glowing fiercely in the distance.
Mark couldn't stop himself from running towards the glowing ball, and Rexum tried to grab him, but missed narrowly. As Mark ran closer, he felt himself become sick to the point where he had to stop, his breathing becoming shallow. Their entire cabin, which once sat peacefully on the stretch of plains, had erupted in a ball of flame, every block of wood burning before him. And that scream... Lucas must be inside the building!
Mark ran as fast as he could to rescue his friend. As the flames got closer he saw Bonbon lying either dead or unconscious on the ground next to their burning home. She looked severely burned, her normally green skin charred black and smoldering. Mark punched the flames, expecting them to go out on contact like they usually did in Minecraft, but all it did was spread onto his hand, burning him. Mark scream and shook his fist to put it out. Then he looked back at the burning door and just kicked it open, sending it falling open from its melting hinges. Mark ran through the flames, coughing in the smoke, searching blindly for Lucas.
And then he felt his hand close around what felt like an arm. He grasped whatever it was and tugged, and he dragged that something all the way out the door, dodging the flames as best he could.
They burst through the door outside, and Mark landed in the grass next to the charcoal-black form of Lucas, who had his eyes shut with soot covering his face, clogged in his nostrils. In his fogged mind he pondered angrily about why he was so damaged in there when in the real game of Minecraft nothing like that would've happened.
For a moment, while he was on the ground he thought he saw a shadow come over him, but in the haziness coming from his lack of air, Mark couldn't tell. Then there was a metallic scream, and he heard an unearthly voice echo through the air.
"YOU'LL ALL DIE!"
He didn't even have enough strength to stay awake, because the next instant he found himself blacking out, his vision darkening... Darker... D...A...R...K...
*sniffle* *sniffle* I'm sorry, but I can't help it. It was perfect, and then... Then it was all for nothing...
But, putting those thoughts from our minds... *sniffle* Let's get on with some QAA...
To the Glitch: I before E, except after C, and when rhyming with A as in 'neighbor' or 'way'.
The Glitch: What does THAT have to do with anything?! Is that the lowest thing you can think of to say to me?! Is it! Of course, because the Glitch knows ALLLLL! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
To the Glitch: I will kill you. Your black plasma is gonna go down my toilet.
The Glitch: So, you use a toilet to flush evil beings down? Please, tell me how that would compare to the black hole that it MY MOUTH! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
To Danny: You suck, don't try to be as cool as Norman, but here's something that'll help you be a little "cooler". *gives him a gift that will blow a magical snow storm towards him and will freeze him when he opens it* I did say "cooler".
Danny: *opens box before you finish talking, expecting a nice big cake or something, and instead becomes frozen in a block of ice*
To the fourth wall repairman (real name Phil Drake): What is happening to the fourth wall this time? ;3
Phil: Well, considering I was just staying with the characters just now, I'd say it's probably exploding in billions of pieces even AFTER it breaks. I don't care anymore, I know that this Author loves to break the fourth wall, so why complain about fixing it? *goes off to fix the fourth wall for the millionth time with his Wall Hammer*
To Bonbon:Agent C4: Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to gather as much Intel as possible on Lucas and steal a piece of Vanessa's book and then give Void (the enderwolf) the info. If successful you will be rewarded with a bucket of gunpowder milk and 3 cookies. -This message will not self-destruct so just get rid of it.
Bonbon: *is still charred and smoldering from the house-fire* I... *COUGH!* I can't... I can't... Do that much... I *HACCKCCCCGGGGK!* don't... Want to... It hurts too much...
To Mark: Here is a bedrock sword.
Mark: I can't accept it, I... I couldn't leave my diamond sword, I've kinda grown attached to it, y'know?
Oh man, what a bittersweet chapter! First there was the epic party when Mark got to snuggle with Kelsey! The love triangle between Kelsey, Mark and Gabe has FINALLY been shattered! As a bonus, the fourth wall repairman (A.K.A. Phil Drake) got some well-deserved screen time. But then again, after a great party like that, nobody had expected to come home to find their house burning in a great ball of fire. Lucas and Bonbon could easily be dead, and for all Mark could tell, HE was going to die. How will the following morning play out? Will ANYONE be able to shake the burning image of their home? But for now, this is Pastrinator64, and I'll see you later with chapter numbah fifteen!
*throws sugar bomb, disappears in a cloud of fine white sugar*
Byyyyyeeeeee...
~Pastrinator64 [~]