Well, three days to Christmas over here in the UK; I'm posting this now as I know that I'll probably not get the opportunity to over the next week or so, anyway, I hope you all enjoy it! Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
And a very 'scary' Christmas from Michael, Luna and Chris down in Riverton.
As I lunged for Luna a red haze of anger covered my eyes, I couldn't control my actions nor my emotions, I reached my arms around Luna and collided with her, throwing the weight of my body into her. As I collided with Luna, I knocked the air out of her lungs and she gasped in shock as I knocked her down to the ground, I was still holding her as we hit the floor; we shattered through the decaying wood and tumbled through the air for several feet before landing on the cold, hard ground below us. I landed on my back, leaving Luna to land softly on my chest, but I had hit the ground with enough force to refrain my body from movement. "Luna?" I whispered into the girl's ear, she didn't reply, "Luna, are you okay?" I spoke louder this time, trying to rouse her but it was of no use, her eyes kept shut and her body was limp; she seemed lifeless to me. I rolled Luna off me, laying her down, I rose to my feet and removed my jacket as I had planned on using it to make a pillow for her, to comfort her. After slowly raising her head and placing the folded jacket underneath, I raised myself back to my feet and turned my head from left to right attempting to scope out my surroundings.
After scanning from left to right, right to left and back again for the fifth time I concluded that I was officially lost: the area surrendering Luna and I was black, dark and judging my the horrible smell, damp. The floor may have been cold, but the air around me was warm. I tried to reach out in front of me, attempting to touch something that perhaps I may not have been able to see; however, as I had expected, I felt nothing. "Hello?" I called, hoping for a friendly reply, but again, nothing. "We need a way out of here" I said to myself quietly as I thought of how to escape the black abyss that I now lay in, with Luna, passed out or maybe even dead, by my side. Suddenly a faint orange glow shone in the corner of my eye, it left as soon as it had arrived; I turned my head towards the origin of the glow and decided to check it out, I began to walk towards it, but I decided I couldn't leave Luna behind. I sighed as I kneeled down beside her body, lifting her up on to my shoulders before turning back to face the glow, it had returned, but again it fled in a blink of an eye. "Here we go again" I mumbled to myself as I slowly began to make my way towards the faint glow,the only sound I heard was my breathing and the tapping of my feet on the floor beneath me.
Soon enough the glow had returned, but it seemed different, it seemed more like a reflection; the glow, however, did not retreat this time but instead flickered. I continued to walk towards it, the sound of dripping water and hissing steam filled the air as I approached, soon I realised what the glow I had seen was, it was the reflection on a brass pipe. I turned my head to the left and to my shock I saw, "A boiler..." I said to myself as I slowly approached the brass beast that stood before my eyes, its flames licking around the grill and it's coals glowing red-hot. Beside the boiler sat another of the black clouds, but this one had orange eyes, "Shit!" I swore to myself as I noticed its gaze staring into me, but before I could take a step back to hide from it, it rose and formed the shape of a black humanoid, it reminded me of when I saw Chris as a spirit, only this time, the orange eyes glared into me; it approached, limping slowly, reaching out towards me, no, towards Luna!
As I turned to begin running my foot hit a pipe that ran along the floor and I tripped, falling towards the ground before me I released Luna and placed my hands in front of me, steadying myself for the impact. But to my surprise there was no impact, a black shroud of an arm wrapped itself around my torso and to my right another around Luna's. "Hold it right there, little ones" a deep yet soothing voice echoed around me and I turned my head to see the shroud of holding us, he set me down on my feet slowly before laying Luna down unto the ground in front of the boiler, I stared at the spirit in shock, "Are you one of Chris's friends?" I asked as I approached Luna's body, she was still out cold. The cloud chuckled and disappeared before returning as a young man in a torn boiler suit, he smiled at me and pulled a shovel out of a nearby pile of coal, "You could say that, Kid, but I'm more of an acquaintance. You see I'm the lead technician around this place, or I was... Once upon a time, but when those damnable military personal moved in I they threw me down here to shovel coal and keep the building warm, and to this day I'm still shoving coal into the jaws of this brass monstrosity!" with a growl of aggression the man kicked the side of the boiler, knocking hot coals out on to the floor. "Careful!" I yelled as I jumped over to shield Luna from the coals as they clattered across the floor, the man chuckled and I looked up to see the coals were gone. "Maybe you haven't noticed Kid, but we all have our own little powers, they link to our past lives in the facility... That is assuming the others are still alive, I guess Chris told you about how we're all linked to the facility? Even, the military..." the man growled, I nodded in reply and the man opened his mouth to continue, "I, as you can see, can control fire, coals, ashes... You name it! If it's related to this thing here, I have power over it" I tilted my head as I gazed into the boiler, inspecting the flames with in. Suddenly I remembered the burnt remains of the asylum that lay above us, "What do you know about the fire up stairs?" I asked, the man stopped shovelling his coal and turned to me, dropping his shovel, "I noticed that it was a gas fire, but you only have coal down here" I added.
Oops, did I forget to mention Christmas cliff hangers? Oh well, Merry Christmas!