Tuesday, September 24, 2013

She got me and contacts told me to get used to them so that I never had to wear my glasses. The next day I came to school and all eyes were glued to me. There were a bunch of whispers, "Hey who's that?" "Oooh, he's pretty cute..." "Man, how am I going to compete with that?" "Wait a minute he looks kinda familiar," "I'd like to meet him in an alleyway!" "I wonder if he likes my kind of type..."

I got to class and sat down on my seat. "Excuse me, that seat is already taken." Lavi told me.

"Lavi, you idiot, can't you see who it is?" Selene told him "It's a really handsome guy," she looked dazed by looking at me.

"What are you guys talking about, it's me! Allen!" I tried to tell them.

They both stared at me with wide eyes and looked in amazement. "Ooooooooooooh," they both realized at the same time.

"Allen, you looked just fine befo- pfft I can't say that with a straight face sorry," Lavi laughed.

Selene flicked Lavi in the forehead, "Lavi, how can you be so rude like that. At least lie better so that Allen doesn't feel bad. You're such an idiot."

School went by very slowly with a bunch of people trying to talk to me. Escaping them was exhausting. On the walk home I ended up covering my head with the leather Laviet auntie gave me before that she gave me before class because I had "forgotten it."

"Okay guys so we know what to do tonight. Selene and handsome Allen, we are going to watch the stars tonight at midnight. Let's meet up at the big, old tree in the center of the park. Got it?" Lavi explained.

"I still think it's bogus," Selene restated.

"No harm in it," I told them "I'll have to check with my aunt, though."

"Hey auntie I mean Diane, can I go with two of my new friends to watch the stars at midnight tonight?" I immediately asked.

"Okay," she replied without hesitation.

"That's it? Ok? Aren't you worried I might get in trouble or get hurt or something?"

"Not particularly. You're a big boy now, you can take care of yourself." She complimented me. "Plus, you're with Selene and Lavi right? They're trustworthy- especially Selene. You're fine."

Near midnight, Diane was buried with papers and student's homework that she was trying very hard to finish. "Hey Diane, I'm leaving now." All she did was tap her pen twice on her table to say okay. "Also, I'm going to a party and get drunk."

"Okay that's nice," she replied carelessly as I left the house.

I made my way through the dark town, trying to follow a piece of paper with directions to the park Selene wrote for me.

"Allen over here!" I heard Lavi say through the shadows of the trees around me.

Selene and Lavi were gathered around a very large tree with obvious marks and scars showing how old it was. Selene came in a blue scarf, a pink shirt with a black leather Laviet, and yellow pants. Lavi came with black jeans, a blue button up shirt, and a gray overcoat going down to his ankles. The tree was blooming with pink cherry blossoms and the petals were falling rapidly.

"Midnight is about to come in 5…4…3…2..." Lavi announced "ONE!"

From one moment to the next, all the stars blinked out leaving a dark, blank sky. We all looked up towards the sky with astonished looks on our faces and saw eight shooting stars blazing across the empty sky. Suddenly all the shooting stars changed course and headed straight down towards us.

"That's weird. Why does it look like those stars are heading directly for us?" Lavi exclaimed.

"Oh please that's impossible, you're probably just hallucinating. That's not unnatural." Selene tried to say.

"But they're heading straight for us look!" Lavi yelled.

Three of the stars crashed down on each of us, but it didn't hurt. It was just a very bright light. I seemed to disappear and suddenly I was in some sort of blue room with a lot of darkness. I could tell it was a big room, but I couldn't see anything because of the darkness. I was sitting in a blue chair with a blue desk facing towards me. (As you can see here the color scheme must be yellow) As suddenly as the next moment there was a man sitting on the other end of the desk. A woman with long blue-ish green hair in pigtails, black boots, a mini-skirt, and a white shirt with a green short Laviet was standing right next to him. The man sitting down wore a gentleman's suit with thin white gloves and also had a (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT) really long nose! He stared at me with his unnaturally circular eyes for a second or two.

"Greetings," he started "My name is Igor."

"And my name is Alex Lee," the woman smiled and bounced over to my side. She literally hopped right over the desk and landed next to me. "You're so young." She said peculiarly. "I bet you're about fifteen or sixteen, and in, uhh... what is it called again?" she turned towards the mysterious Igor with a look of confusion.

"It's called a high school my dear." He answered. "It's an institute in which others of the same age set gather to learn."

She turned back to me and leaned her face very close to mine. "So you're what's called a high schooler." She said with hints of suspicion in her face. Alex poked my forehead and then my cheek. She kept poking lower and lower.

"Whoa, I think you're going a bit too low there!" I exclaimed. She giggled and back flipped over the desk back to Igor's side. "Where am I and why am I here?" I yelled.

"I shall answer your questions one at a time," the mysterious Igor said. "This place you see here is called the Velvet Room. This room exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. We are nowhere, but at the same time we are everywhere. This room is unaffected by time and space of the outside world. Have I answered your question?"

"No, not really," I replied.

"You shall learn in due time." He explained. "We have simply called you here to welcome you, and to tell you that when you leave, many mysterious things will start happening to you and the people around you. You must prepare for that. I shall send you on your way now. Best of luck to you and your friends." Igor tapped his nose and a bright light engulfed me like before.

"Bye bye!" Alex said cheerfully with a smile on her face.

I opened my eyes and sat up. I had been laying on a polished marble floor with Lavi and Selene lying in front of me. They were still unconscious so I nudged them and told them to wake up.

"Huh wuh? What's going on?" Selene yawned and stretched her arms towards the sky as she looked around. "Wait a minute where the hell are we?" she yelled.

"We're in the middle of nowheresville." Lavi said. He stood up and arched his back.

It was true. We were in a very dark place, but I could tell we were standing on polished marble from my clearly visible reflection on the floor. We couldn't see anything but us like cut-outs of us glued onto a pitch black paper. Was this what that man Igor meant when he told me mysterious things were going to happen? If this isn't mysterious than I don't know what is.

"Wait, do you two hear that?" I could hear a large bell off in the distance. "I think I can hear a bell."

"You must be going crazy, I don't hear anything." Lavi told me.

I began running towards the direction of the noise, my curiosity boiling over.

"Allen! When you're lost you have to stay put until someone finds you!" Selene yelled.

Lavi rolled his eyes "Wait for me Allen!" Lavi began running after me "We don't even know where we are! Who's going to find us?" he shouted back. Reluctantly, Selene began sprinting to catch up with us through the darkness.

I could barely make out a tall silhouette through the dark. As we grew closer, we could make out a very tall and dark tower looming over us. Sounds from the bell rang from the top of the tower and echoed throughout the darkness. The tower spiraled and twisted high into the sky and radiated an ominous aura.

"No way am I going in that place," Lavi complained "I'll wait out here, you guys go on ahead."

Selene dragged Lavi towards the tower "so now you want to stay put. If there is a bell ringing, that means that someone has to be ringing it, which also means that they might know where we are and how to get out."

I agreed with her and we all started walking towards the creepy building. A set of dark stairs led up to the entrance of the tower. We came upon two grand doors that were twenty feet high with a picture a lion in the center, an eagle to its right, and a shark on its left. I hesitantly reached for the handles of the door and grabbed onto them. They were rings, golden in color and connected to the door by small lion heads. I pulled on both of the rings at the same time and the doors slowly began opening. Suddenly, a brilliant light appeared right above us and we all turned our heads. A huge rectangle with the head of a jester in the center appeared in the center of the doors. The picture then shattered into a million pieces and the doors swung open wide. A huge gust of dark wind rushed out of the entrance and blew us all away and right off the stairs, gushing out endlessly.

Lavi began floating off the "ground" and was being sent in another direction. "Whoa whoa whoa!" he yelled. I grabbed his wrist before he was sent flying the other way.

Selene also began flying off the "ground" so she shouted out loud "Catch me! Catch me!"

I also caught Selene's wrist so I ended up holding both of them so that they wouldn't go hurtling through the dark. I used all of my strength to hold on tight because it felt like my arms were being pulled off. The wind seemed like it would never, and my arms were sore and exhausted but i wasn't about to let go of them. I held on tightly for my friends.

The gust suddenly stopped and we all fell to the ground tired and exhausted. "You both *huff *puff owe me one *huff *puff" We lied there for a few minutes to regain our strength.

"Guys? Are we really going to go in there?" Lavi whimpered. "We're exhausted from just opening the door, who knows what else is in there."

I sat up and looked over to the tower "Where else would we go? No one may ever find us in this darkness, so our only hope is to go into the tower to look for help."

"Allen's right. Who knows there might be more dangerous things out here than in there" Selene made a point. We all agreed to go into the tower unsure of all the things that could have possibly awaited us.