1 Madness By: Allyson Rowe The rain poured in sheets like bullets from the pitch black sky as the car slowly rolled to a screeching halt in front of the enormous two-story Victorian mansion. There was a soft top Runabout with no windows; closed coupe with a single front seat sitting in front of the mansion on a curved concrete driveway out and a brick mailbox on the grass in front of the driveway and car. Behind this was the mansion, which was tall, dark, and eerie. The sight made the girl shutter as the taxi stopped on the driveway, just in front of the vehicle parked on the concrete. "Alright," the driver said, "this is it!" The girl and her sister exchanged glances, "Y....you mean we have to walk all the up there in this?" she said unsurely. The driver scoffed, "How else do you expect to get there," he said, "I can't drive up on her lawn!" The girl thought about smarting off, but when she looked out of the corner of her eye and saw the concerned, disappointed and sad look on her sister's face, she sighed and instead put on her jacket and pulled up its hood, then nudged her sister and handed her her jacket and she did the same. The sky was pitch black with dark storm clouds lingering in it, almost touching the ground while bright white flashes of light filled it every few seconds. "Well," the girl said to her sister, "let's go." She pulled the door handle and pushed the door to her right and shoved it open, almost falling out of the car. She stepped out with her sister right behind her with their bags.
2 "Thanks again." the girl said happily, smiling and nodding to the driver as she crawled out of the car. Her sister slammed the door shut, snatched a bag from her hands, then hurried toward the house without speaking. The younger one glanced over her shoulder at the car as it pulled off, then she turned and hurried after the older girl. The eldest reached the door first. A circular fanlight window was above the door to draw the eye upward. The door was constructed of good quality hardwood like beech or oak. Pine might have also been used because, despite being a soft wood, it was quite dense and durable. The person living in the house couldn't afford a solid wood door, and so it had been painted black to try to hide this fact. The doorknob was round and flower-shaped, made of ceramic, coloredglass. There was a mortise lock on the door, which was popular because of the escutcheon (decorative metal plates that slide over the mortise lock opening and add further elegance to the door). "What," the girl's sister said, "no doorbell?" looking around for one as she spoke. The girl shot her sister a look, "What," her sister said, "I was just asking?" she said shrugging. The girl shook her head and laughed to herself as she reached for the doorknocker and used it to knock on the door as loudly as she could.
3 There was a long, awkward, pause as thunder rumbled low in the distance and lighting flashed and lit the entire place up like a flash from a camera. For a split second, time seemed to stop, and in a dull light, the girls saw the door slowly creak open. A tall, heavy-boned, stout, woman stood in front of and seemed to tower over them. Her skin was dark and reminded them both of leather. Her hair was long, jet black, and pulled back into a ponytail that went down almost past her waist. Her eyes were brown and dark. Her nose was medium-length. Her lips were full and pink, but didn't stick out or sink into her face. Her chin came down in an odd shape, like a jagged "V". Her attire was a solid black T-shirt that was loose on her, looking as if she weren't wearing a bra (the girls weren't sure), and jeans that were so tattered and torn that the girls couldn't believe the pants were even able to still be on her waist or legs, and her shoes were high-top, black, laced-up, Converse shoes that were also on their last thread with knee-high white socks with double black stripes on the tops of each of them. "Are you girls going to come in or aren't you?" the woman said suddenly, making the girls both jump, in a surprisingly friendly tone as she bent down and took their bags out of their hands. The girl and her sister glanced at each other again, the oldest stepped to one side, "After you." she said to her sister, smiling as she stuck one hand out and gesturing for her to go inside first.
4 The younger girl glanced nervously at her and hesitated before stepping into the house, glancing over her shoulder to make sure her sister wasn't far behind. "Your rooms will be upstairs," the woman said, "I hope you don't mind sharing." She looked up at the top of the staircase where two girls, who looked just like her and were several years younger than the two girls that stood just inside the door, stood looking at the girls who had entered their home. The woman looked back to the girls who had entered her home, "They don't," she said, referring to the girls at the top of the staircase, "and they would be more than happy to show you girls to your new room." She motioned with her left hand for the girls to come down to where her nieces stood. Her daughters hesitated, then reluctantly started down the staircase to where the woman and their cousins stood. The twin cousins that had stood at the top of the staircase came down and grabbed the other girls' bags, then started back for the staircase. The girls nervously followed their cousins up the staircase. As they went up the staircase, the lighting in the house seemed to grow dimmer and dimmer. The eldest of the sisters that had entered the house grabbed her sister by her wrist as they neared the top of the staircase that had a long narrow hallway starting at it and stretching into darkness. As the girls followed their cousins down to the other end of the hallway, the eldest of them was overcome with fear. She heard faint screams that she
5 thought were coming from somewhere inside of the house. She also heard screeching car tires and the sound of metal crunching and wrapping itself up in more metal and twisting together like a pretzel. She saw red and blue flashing lights, and darkness all around this, as two dark shadowy figures with lights in their hands hurried toward the twisted metal. "Are you alright?" one of the figures with the flashlight, a man, said faintly. "Th....they're all dead!" the girl shrieked. "Ma'am," one of the figures said, "could you please stay calm, we're going to get you out as soon as we...." he stopped as the vehicle exploded into a fiery oblivion and sent the two girls sailing through the air. Luckily though, however, the officers caught the girls and miraculously kept them from being severely injured. But the two adults inside disintegrated with the vehicle, becoming nothing more than charred blackened corpses. "No!" the youngest wailed as she bolted toward the wreckage. But the officer grabbed her and jerked her back just as the car burst into flames. The men in yellow with water hoses hurried toward it and turned their hoses on as fast as they could and hurried to put the fire out. Seeing the blackened corpses of her parents had stuck with the girl for the past month. She couldn't get over it, no matter how hard she tried, and she knew her sister couldn't either, especially since she was younger. "Here you guys are," their cousins said suddenly, snapping the girl back into reality, "your new room, it's not much, but we think you'll come to like it."
6 they said happily, dropping the girls' belongings in the middle of the room, then turning and leaving the room without saying anymore. The girl and her sister looked around the room, a tall dark wooden bookshelf was closest to the door, then a dresser that matched was next to that on their left against a light green wall and fill shelves with figurines, ornate pictures, glass bowls, and vases decorated the room for a more Victorian-style add to the room. Above them was a chandelier that had dimly lit candles in it and the beds were decorated with plenty of pillows in floral patterns and soft lace fabrics. All of this was dark blues, reds, greens, gold and chocolate brown colors, while the upholstery on the furnishings had a floral motif with matching carpet. "Not bad," her sister said, nodding and looking around the room, "not the style I would have chosen, but I still like it." The older girl glanced around the room and shrugged as she walked over to one of the beds and plopped down on the edge of it and bounced on it, testing its softness and comfortableness, she nodded with satisfaction, "True, I like this bed, it's really comfortable." she said, trying to sound happy and enthused, but she was too tired, emotionally, and spiritually, drained from the past several months since her parents had died before her eyes. her sister shook her head in disbelief, "Antoinette...." she started. "Ma-ri-na!" Antoinette said, smiling at her tiredly. The girl didn't respond, instead, she walked over to the bed next to the one her sister was on and sat down, "Whoa," she said, surprised, "you're right, these are comfortable!"
7 Antoinette giggled, "See, I told you, and so did the penguin!" "Penguin....oh, him, he's not real!" she said, laughing as well. "I know," Antoinette said, suddenly somber, "you're right, I was just kidding, I'm sorry." "I know." Marina said as she laid down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Antoinette did the same on her bed and the girls were soon fast asleep. But Antoinette's sleep wasn't a peaceful one. She tossed and turned and thrashed about violently in her bed. Images of the cars crashing into one another and instantly bursting into flames on both vehicles plagued the girl's mind. The flames engulfed her parents both as they screamed and pleaded for help. The firefighters and policemen hurried to the scene just as the car exploded and killed not only Antoinette and Marina's parents, but also the people that they had had their wreck with. "No!" Antoinette screamed, her eyes snapping open and she shot straight up in bed. Sweat poured from everywhere possible on her body and she trembled violently as she threw the blankets and sheets to the end of the bed and threw her legs over the edge and slowly stood. She looked curiously at the wardrobe, and wondered if it had anything inside of it. She slowly stood and started over to it. She placed her hands on its doors handles, and just as she was about to open it, she heard Marina behind her, "What are you doing?" she whispered loudly.
8 Antoinette flew up out of her skin and spun around and glared at her sister for several seconds, "Why are you awake," she said demandingly, "go back to bed, now!" "No," Marina shot back, "not until you tell me what you're doing!" Antoinette turned and looked at the wardrobe, then back at her sister, "I just want to see what's in there's all." she said, motioning with her head to the wardrobe. "Why," Marina asked, "it's probably just full of Aunt Jenna's old clothes or mom and dad's old...." she stopped when she realized she had not only lost her sister to interest in the wardrobe, but also to her curiosity as she had disappeared into the wardrobe. Marina sighed, "Well, crap, I guess I better go in there after her, otherwise she'll never come out!" she muttered under her breath as she stepped up into the wardrobe, pushing coats and other various clothes hanging in the wardrobe to one side. The girls stepped through the wardrobe and into the other side, which was an enormous room, with white walls and a white tile floor. There were white cubbies of various shapes and sizes, filled with instruments that fit each one that was filled. These were on an elevated, grey-colored slab of concrete that had a lower level just under it with ten or so red chairs on it and an electric piano/keyboard down on the tile floor that was black with a matching bench. To the right was a white wooden door that was locked, a shelf that almost touched the ceiling and had books and papers scattered on it. There was another
9 shelf beside that that faced the door the girls had just come through, and it was scattered with instruments and other equipment that had been deemed lost, broken, and unusable. behind this was another wooden door that was open and led to a dimly lit, small room that was filled with marching band uniforms and shoes. Finally, directly in front of the girls was a closed double, metal, door that was white and had doorknobs on either side that were on their last thread it seemed like. "Hmmmm...." Marina said curiously as she started for the door on the other side of the room. But she stopped when she thought she saw someone standing on the other side of the door outside in the alley. She nudged her sister. "Antoinette!" she whispered loudly. "What?" her sister whispered back. "Who is that?" she asked, pointing across the room at the tall and thin, yet semi-muscular dark shadowy figure that was standing outside on the other side of the door. Antoinette shrugged as she and her sister looked curiously at the figure. He seemed to just be standing motionless on the other side of the door as if he were watching them both closely. "What do you want?" Antoinette said as loud as she could. The figure said nothing as it slowly reached for the door and placed its hand on the door's handle and slowly pulled it back. Antoinette and Marina
10 gasped and jumped backwards a few feet from the door as it slowly opened, creaking and groaning as it did. But when the door opened, the figure was gone, and so was the darkness on the other side of the open door. "Strange!" Antoinette muttered under her breath. Marina started for the open door as if she were in a trance. Antoinette reached for her and jerked her back into the room. "Are you crazy," she shrieked, "you don't know what's on the other side, it could be dangerous!" Marina wiggled herself free, "I'll be fine, Ann!" she insisted as she started for the open door again that shone a bright golden light that blinded the girls into the room. Antoinette had never seen her sister like this, and by 'this', she meant, she had never seen her sister so curious, so seemingly star-struck by anyone she didn't know. Antoinette had a bad feeling about the shadow figure. "Sis, are you sure about this....chasing after him I mean, maybe we can go around and catch up with...." she stopped when she watched as her sister step through the golden light that was in the doorway. Antoinette sighed as if she had been defeated, then reluctantly followed her sister through the bright golden light. But when the girl came through to the other side, she didn't see any sign or trace of her sister or the mysterious figure that her sister had followed. Instead, she found herself in an enormous open room with several hundred theatre seats on its floor and about twenty to forty or so
11 more up top on a balcony that was just above Antoinette's head. In front, was a medium-size stage with about sixty chairs in curved rows on it and tall, black, musical stands in front of them and drums and other percussion instruments in back. To the right, near the one wall, and in front of the stage, was a shiny polished black baby grand piano with "Baldwin" in big bold gold letters on its side. Before Antoinette could open her mouth to stop her sister from going to play on the piano, she looked up and saw that the girl was already over halfway to it. Antoinette crept further into the room after her as she sat down on the bench behind the piano and placed her hands on its white keys. The soft, beautiful, sound that came from the piano as her sister played gave Antoinette the chills as she walked up behind her slowly and put her arms around her and rested her chin on her shoulder as she listened to her as she continued to play. Marina abruptly stopped playing, with one hand still on the keys, she took the free one and patted her sister's hands that were on her stomach and just under her breasts. "I'm trying to play, Ann, please let go." her sister said somewhat sternly. "Okay," Antoinette said softly as if she were under a spell, "I'm sorry." she let go as she spoke and sat in one of the theatre-like auditorium seats that was right in front of the bench her sister sat on. The dark black hooded figure watched them from above on the balcony. More particularly, it kept its dark eyes specifically on the girl who was sitting at the piano playing. The figure leapt over the edge of the balcony and fell a short
12 distance down onto the floor silently between the rows of seats in the aisle. The figure adjusted its hood, then crept slowly down the dimly lit aisle toward the girls. As Marina played Antoinette smiled at her, never taking her eyes off her sister, she watched her play as if she were in a trance. The hooded figure reached the edge of the darkness where it met the dim white light that shown around the front of the auditorium and stopped. The figure knew the girls would see it eventually, but for now, all it wanted to do was look at her-the girl that had been sitting at the piano playing that beautiful music that was so soft and sweet like candy that it made the figure sick to its stomach and left it wanting more. He was hooked on her and wanted more, not of her music, but of her. Antoinette suddenly felt a strange presence in the room and slowly looked around the room. She looked over her shoulder, right at where the dark figure was standing, but saw nothing. Marina noticed the look on her sister's face and ceased playing, "What is it, what's wrong?" she asked her. "Nothing." Antoinette said, suddenly snapped out of the curiosity she had about the man she couldn't see. "Tell me," Marina said, "please, you know I hate it when you do that." "Shhhh," Antoinette whispered, "someone's in here!" "Who," Marina asked, "and where?" "I'm not sure," she replied in a low voice, "but they're..." she stopped when she heard something or someone behind her.
13 "Antoinette!" Marina shrieked. The girl spun around in time to see the hooded figure as it he lunged at her to grab her. Antoinette dodged and got out of its way. The figure started to fall forward, but grabbed and held onto Marina. The girl wrapped her arms around it as they fell to the floor with the thing on top of her, still holding on. Antoinette groaned as she slowly lifted her head and saw the blacked hooded figure on the floor with her sister still trapped underneath it. She gritted her teeth and stormed over to where they were and grabbed the figure's cloak and jerked him up off of Marina. She shoved him to one side and then started for him again. "Antoinette," Marina called after her as she hurried across the room to where her sister and the figure were, "wait!" The girl felt her sister behind her and as much as she loved and adored the girl, she turned and with one hand shoved her sister almost as hard as she could in the opposite direction of where she and the hooded person were. Antoinette then turned her attention back to the person and knelt down in front of it. "Antoinette," Marina said, slowly sitting up, she gasped when she saw the girl in front of the shadow figure, "ANTOINETTE, leave it alone!" she shrieked as she bolted across the auditorium over to where they were. Antoinette ignored her, "What are you doing here," she asked demandingly in a low and angry voice, "what do you want with my sister?" she said, this time louder and more outraged.
14 The figure said nothing as it slowly inched toward Marina. Antoinette grabbed it accidently by its cloak and ripped the cloak in half as she yanked it off of the figure's body. The girls gasped when they saw that the figure was a young man who was older than Marina, but younger than Antoinette. "Good God!" Marina gasped. Antoinette glanced at the cloak in her hand, then threw it down on the ground and lunged at the man. He vanished into thin air though, and the girls found themselves outside of a vaguely familiar high school. "Hmmmm...." Marina said as she looked around at where they were. The school was one big brick and stone building. The side the girls found themselves on had concrete pavement underneath their feet, and two broken-down gazebos in front of them and a plastic grey trashcan up against the brick building next to steps that led up to a double glass door. There was nothing around the girls or the school except pitch black. The girls made their way over to the gazebos and stopped and looked around again. Marina walked over to the steps and up to the glass door. She peered through the glass and into the school. Inside, she saw a long tiled floor, and a classroom door to the left, with a water fountain and bathroom next to it and pictures of graduates from the school above the water fountain. To the right, she saw lockers that were various colors, and a two chairs sitting just outside of a glass door. "This must be our high school." she said as she turned back to her sister, who had stepped up and now stood beside her.
15 "Only one way inside." Antoinette said as she made a fist with her right hand and reared back. Marina grabbed her hand, "Wait," she said, "don't you think there's probably another way inside or that we could possibly find something to break the door?" she said as she let go of Antoinette's hand. Antoinette lowered her hand and dropped her arm to her side and stared down at the ground for a moment, when she looked up again, "Wait a second," she said, glancing around, "if we were just in a high school band room and an auditorium, wouldn't this be....our school?" she said. The girls looked behind them and now saw a gravel parking lot with about twelve cars parked on it with a brick building behind them and a lot with grass and trees behind it and on the far side of the parking lot the girls saw a fenced in area with six or so yellow school buses parked inside of it. To their far left was a small metal bridge that went across the road that was blocked off at the end closest to them and across the street were residential houses. There was another road on the other side of the bridge that was a threeway stop. The girls started for the parking lot. Across the road, standing in the parking lot, was the hooded man, "Look!" Marina shrieked, pointing across the way at him. The girls could barely see him though, however, because there was a thick layer of fog lingering just above them. Antoinette started in a furious fit of rage toward him with Marina hot on her heels.
16 "Okay you son of a bitch," Antoinette said angrily, "what the hell do you want from us, who are you, where did you come from?" "Antoinette!" Marina said, frustrated. The hooded figure slowly raised one arm and pointed past the girl at her sister. Antoinette turned and looked at Marina over her shoulder for a brief moment, then back at the figure and shook her head, "No," she said, anger rising in her voice, "you can't have her, over my dead body will you have her!" The figure reached into its cloak then and pulled out what looked like a light saber. Antoinette almost laughed at the sight (almost), but when she saw the long, sharp, pointed blade, she lost all sense of feeling in her body. "What's your name," Marina asked, anger rising in her voice, not from the hooded thing in front of her and her sister, but from the fact that her sister was being extremely over-protective and not giving the figure a chance, "tell us now or else!" the girl taunted. Antoinette gritted her teeth and lunged at the dark figure. "Antoinette, NO!" Marina shrieked, but she was a few seconds too late. Antoinette was on top of the dark figure in a flash and had it pinned down on the floor. She grabbed it by its neck and started trying to choke it. The dark figure grabbed her firmly by her wrist with one hand and with the other, reached into its pocket and pulled out an extremely sharp dagger. Antoinette ignored the dagger and tightened her grip until the figure was coughing and sputtering, gasping for air as it slowly, with a shaking a hand, tried to move the dagger closer and closer to Antoinette's neck.
17 "Stop," Marina cried, "stop it, you're going to kill each other!" "Not....until....he tells me....who he is....and what he's doing here!" Antoinette said angrily, gritting her teeth as hard as she could and tightening her grip around the man's neck as hard as she could. Marina was suddenly overcome by anger, frustration, sadness, and worry for the man her sister was in the process of killing. She hurried over to where they were and reached for her sister's shirt and jerked her off of the man. The man let out a sigh of relief and dropped his arm and the dagger to one side, gasping for air. Marina glanced over her shoulder at her sister an noticed she was doing similar to what the man was doing. She walked over to him and knelt down beside him, "Tell me who you are, please." she said softly as she pried the dagger from his hand. The man panted so hard, the girls thought he was going to die from the struggle he had just encountered with Antoinette, "My....my name is...." but before he could finish, an aerodynamic projectile came from out of nowhere from behind him, landing in the back of his head and going all the way through to his eye. Antoinette rushed over to him and her sister and knelt down on beside him. Antoinette reached for the end of the arrow and gripped it tightly and started trying to pull it out. But the man grabbed her wrist firmly and stopped her, shaking his head, "M....my name is....Loveratrix," he stammered as he was dying, "I...I was just trying....to protect you....you must hurry through this place and bring peace and order to it before it completely....collapses." he loosened his grip
18 on the arrow as his limp, heavy, dead body sank to the floor. Its eyes were still open and Antoinette let go of the arrow and used her index and middle fingers of her right hand to close Loveratrix's eyes. The girls slowly stood and looked up to see another dark hooded figure standing on the other side of the double door that was all glass in front of them. The girls exchanged glances. "After you." Marina said in a low voice. Antoinette turned back to Loveratrix and jerked the arrow out of his eye, slid his actual eyeball off the end of it, cleaned the blood off with her shirt, then made a gesturing motion with her head for her sister to come with her to the glass door. "How do we open it?" Marina asked. "What do you mean," Antoinette said, "push it of course, duh!" "I just meant....I didn't know if it was locked or not!" Marina said sternly, but soon bursting into loud and happy laughter that boomed and echoed throughout the empty auditorium. Antoinette pushed on the door, "LOCKED!" "Now what?" Marina asked. Antoinette reached for her shirt and tore a piece of it off from the bottom. "Ummmm....sis?" Marina said as the girl wrapped the cloth around her hand. "What?" she said, turning and looking wide-eyed at her for a moment.
19 She motioned with one hand to the doors that were behind them on either side of the stage, "Why don't we try one of those first?" Marina suggested as she started down the aisle to the door closest to them. The door was wooden and white and had a bolted lock on it that was broken. Marina tried the door, but it seemed stuck. Antoinette pushed on the door with her hand, but it still wouldn't budge. She shrugged and started across the front of the auditorium, in front of its carpeted stage, and to the other door where the piano sat in front of it and close to the wall. "Okay," Antoinette said from across the room to her sister as she made her to her, "if this one's locked, I'm breaking out the glass." "Okay." Marina said as she leaned against the piano and watched her sister at the door. Antoinette tried the door, the knob was loose, she glanced over her shoulder at Marina, who stood up straighter with hope, and inched over to where her sister was at the door. After a few more jerks, pulls, and pushes, the door finally rattled open. The girls walked through a small room that led back up to the stage to their left. There was another door to their right. Marina walked up to the door on the right and turned the knob and slowly opened the door, listening to it creak and groan as she did. The girls opened the door and stepped into a room with a floor that was eighty-four feet long, fifty feet wide. The rims were ten feet tall at either end. The restricted arc radius was four feet. The center circle diameter was twelve feet, the
20 three-point distance from the basket was twenty-three point seventy-five feet, the width of the key was sixteen feet, and last but not least, the distance of the freethrow line from point on the floor directly below the background was fifteen feet. The girls walked out into the middle of the court. From where they stood in the center of the court on a large painting of a school mascot, which was a tiger, the girls could see all the way around the room. There were no air conditioners in the room, and so the air was thick, hot, and suffocating. "Hmmmm...." Marina said as she started across the court to one of the double doors that was behind a basketball goal. Antoinette started after her, but stopped when she heard footsteps behind her. She slowly started to turn, but stopped when she heard her sister shriek with fright and pain in the opposite direction. Antoinette spun around and saw a tall dark figure in a black cloak with the hood up. "Son of a bitch," she muttered angrily under her breath, gritting her teeth as she spoke, "I thought I just got rid of you!" she cried as she bolted in a dead run to where her sister and the dark figure stood. "Antoinette!" Marina shrieked as the tall dark figure had her pinned down on the floor where she couldn't move. Antoinette calmed herself and stopped. Closing her eyes, the girl imagined a polished metal hilt that projects a blade of plasma about 1.33 meters long. The handle on the blade fit perfectly in her right hand as she pressed the red button on it that shot out a yellow blade of the plasma. The dark hooded figure smiled as a
21 similar weapon fell from their robe and into their left hand. The blade on the weapon was red instead of yellow. "Who are you?" she said demandingly. The hooded figure didn't answer her though, however, but instead charged at her. Just as it reached her and her sister, Antoinette lifted the sword she was holding and blocked his attack. This angered him and he swung his sword at her as fast and as hard as he could while she continued to block his attacks. The experience felt strange to the girl. She had never fired a gun or swung a sword at anyone before as long as she could remember and yet here she was fighting this hooded thing like she knew what she was doing. "Tell me your name, NOW!" she demanded as she danced around on the gymnasium floor with the hooded being as they fought and light flashed from their swords and made buzzing and humming noises that were loud and echoed throughout the empty gymnasium in the school. As they fought, Marina, worried and concerned for her sister's safety, closed her eyes as tight as she could and tried to hurry and think of another place to imagine them in to get them to safety. But the hooded man notice her and abruptly stopped fighting her sister, whom he literally shoved into the wall, cracking her head against the concrete wall before hurrying over to Marina. Antoinette tried to lift herself up off of the floor, but was in so much pain from the force of the man's hand when he had shoved her, she could barely move.
22 Marina panicked and lifted her left leg and kicked the man as hard as she could in between his legs. The man hunched over in pain and fell to his knees as Antoinette and her sister crowded around him where he was trapped and could go nowhere. "My name," he said hoarsely, "i....is...." before he could finish, a gun fired and a bullet impaled him in his neck and killed him instantly. The girls spun around just in time to see another dark black hooded figure turn and fly running back into the auditorium and to the left, opposite the gravel parking lot outside. The girls bolted through the auditorium and out into what was supposed to have been the hallway, but instead, they found themselves ankle-deep in golden sand underneath a bright golden yellow sun that's rays beat down on them and were blazing hot like fire. "Okay...." Marina said, looking around curiously. Not only did they find themselves in a vast, barren, desert, and blazing hot heat that had to be at least a hundred degrees or hotter, but the girls felt like they knew where they were, even though they had never been here before. They soon saw a man that was a little above average in height, sturdy build with long muscular limbs and tapering fingers. His hair was long and thick with some waves. His forehead was large and prominent, his eyelashes were long and thick, his nose was sloping, his mouth was somewhat large and his teeth were well set. His cheeks were spare and he had a pleasant smile. His eyes were large and black with a touch of brown. His beard was thick and had seventeen grey hairs in it. He had a fine line of hair over his neck and chest. His gait was firm and
23 he walked so fast that the others found it difficult to follow him. His face was genial but at times, such as when he appeared to be deep in thought, there were long periods of silence, yet he was always busy with something. He didn't speak unnecessarily and he always spoke to the point and without any padding. There was an area of the desert before the girls, the man, and his army, that seemed to be inhabited. The girls continued to follow the man and his followers until they stopped just inside the walls, of where the people were, that had stands that looked like stores scattered here and there. The man that led the army spoke with the leader of the people inside of the walls, growing more and more frustrated by the second. After several hours, the man leading the army finally ordered his men to attack the people inside of the walls, this onslaught lasted for what seemed like only hours, but was really fifteen days. The man that had led the attack ordered his men to put the others in chains, and have them executed. But the girls had other plans for the man and his army. They decided to ambush them and save the tribe, creating as modern day of weapons as they could before starting for the people in front of them. "What are we doing exactly?" Marina asked as she and her sister advanced toward the army. "We're going to keep them from executing innocents just because they won't convert." Antoinette said, speeding up her walk the angrier she got. As the girl and her sister neared the tribe and the man and his army, Antoinette stopped and gasped, as did her sister, when they came to the shocking
24 realization that the man wasn't who they thought he was, but another dark, black, hooded figure that looked just like him. Enraged, Antoinette let out a loud battle cry and fired the assault rifle she had created at the man, filling him full of bullets and killing him instantly. One of the men in the army yelled something the girl couldn't understand, and charged at her and her sister. Marina hurried and created a sword and just before the army reached her sister, she stuck the tip of it out to kill him, but failed. Another man suddenly appeared, racing toward them on a jet black horse that looked so skinny and frail, the girls were surprised to see him even being able to ride it. The man that had tried to kill the girls only moments ago, turned and hurled the sword at the man on the horse. The man on the horse made a sound that sounded like he was choking to death as he died and slumped over and fell from the back of the horse. Someone in the distant then whistled at the girls. They turned and saw another hooded figure, who was waving frantically with both hands for them to come to him. The girls bolted over to him, the man that killed the other on the horse, followed close behind. "In here," the man said desperately, "hurry!" The girls dove through an orange and yellow swirl of oval-shaped light just as the army charged at them. The portal closed, trapping the army inside of it, the leader wiggled and squirmed as the man that had led them through the portal turned and shoved him the other way and the portal fully closed where the army couldn't enter.
25 "Thank you for that!" Marina said, relived. "Is there anyway we can repay you...." Antoinette said, stopping when she realized that she didn't know the hooded man's name. The man shook his head, "I ask not for anything of the sort!" he said. "Are you...." Marina said, looking strangely at him, "are you Egyptian?" she asked him. "How could you tell?" the man asked. "You have such a thick Arabic accent, it was pretty obvious! And your skin and hair are both pretty dark, your eyes are large and dark, your nose isn't small or large, you're extremely thin, but not sickly, and you're dressed similar to how an American male dresses." Marina said, chuckling to herself. "Who are you, what are we doing here, what is this place?" Antoinette said, demandingly. "My name...." the man started as if he were in pain and/or out of breath, "is....Sea Quasar, and you are both correct, I am Egyptian." he said as he removed his hood of his cloak and undid the rope that was around it and his waist. He was wearing a grey muscle shirt, though he had none, with a green, black-striped, jacket, blue jeans that had been made to look worn, with a black studded belt around his waist, and size eleven Suede, leather, Nubuck and canvas materials. One-piece vamp for durability, combination drop-in midsole/sockliner designed for maximum comfort and boardfeel. The outsole was rubber for durability for lightweight flexibility. Minimal upper with a low-profile vamp for a classic skate style.
26 He looked young, possibly older than Marina, but younger than Antoinette. The girl couldn't help but wonder who, or what, he was or what his purpose was for being here, but the girls knew they would soon find out. "Tell us where we are and what we're doing here." Antoinette said impatiently. "I don't know...." he said, shrugging, "you created this place, YOU tell ME what I'M DOING HERE!" "Wait, how could we have created this," Antoinette asked, looking around at where they were, which was part Coptic Christian church and part Islamic mosque, "we've never even seen, been in, or heard of this place!" Sea shook his head as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, then looked at the girls once more, "This place was perfect, and happy at one point in time when you two were." he said. The girls exchanged glances and then looked at Sea Quasar again, "What are you talking about?" Marina asked. He shook his head again, "I figured you guys wouldn't remember me, or this place, or the others for that matter...." he said disappointed, looking up at the girls again, "the only ones who can restore peace, freedom, justice, and security to this place and not only do either one of you realizes it," he looked down at the floor of the merged religious dwellings, then looked back up at the girls once more, "figures, Hare's Empire is crumbling to the ground, and has been for months and its creators don't even seem to care!" he muttered frustrated under his breath.
27 "What do you mean by crumbling to the ground, this place has looked fine to me so far?" Marina asked. "Yeah, and also, what do you mean by has been for months when we just discovered it?" Antoinette asked. "When your parents died," Sea started, "the eldest of you two went mad and created a place intended to act as an escape from the harsh reality of what really happened, but something has gone wrong since then!" Sea said, almost hysterically. Marina and Antoinette both opened their mouths to speak, but stopped when they saw another man, similar to the one, in fact identical to the one, that had been in the desert, straddling the crack that semi-divided the church/mosque. He was dressed in a black hooded cloak, sleeveless black shirt, black pants, black socks, and black shoes. But instead of a light saber as his weapon of choice, the man instead held a sword in his right hand, and a shield in his left. Even though his face was hidden. the girls could still see his rough brown hands and knew instantly that he was either Egyptian, or something of the sort. He started for them, charging at them. "Take these!" a voice said to the girls suddenly. Time seemed to stop, and two necklaces with crosses on them and letters that corresponded with the girls' names, floated down into each of their hands, "put them on, hurry!" the voice ordered. The girls exchanged glances and hesitated before putting the necklaces around their necks, "Who are you?" Antoinette asked, almost demanding.
28 "That's not important right now," the voice said, "just listen to and obey me right now, everything will make sense later, I promise." Once they had the necklaces on, time unfroze and the man charged at them again. The girls gasped and coward back away from him, but just as he reached them, he tried to skid to a halt, but failed. He got just a little too close to the girls and the crosses and soon burst into flames before their eyes. "What...." Antoinette said, "Who....was THAT?!" "His name was Slavemancer," the voice said, "he was a "hero" you girls created when you created this place." "If he was a hero," Marina said, "then why did he burst into flames when he got close to our necklaces?" "He, like many others before him, might have been a hero, which he was, and did good deeds in his life, which he did, but sin still ruled him and was his master and I was not in him." "I told you," Sea Quasar said suddenly, "this place, is of you two's own doing!" Antoinette gritted her teeth and spun around and glared at him, "My sister and I didn't do anything to deserve ANY of this!" she cried angrily. "We just want out of here!" Sea shouted back. "Out?" Antoinette and her sister said, suddenly stunned now. "We hate it here, just as much as your aunt and cousins!" he said as if he had been defeated.
29 "How do you know them, what have you done to them, where are they?" Marina asked, anger rising in her voice. Sea Quasar started to answer them, but a projectile fired from out of nowhere, silent, and deadly. It pierced him in his back and through his chest where his heart was. Sea Quasar slowly sank to his knees, the girls rushed over and caught him and went down with him to the beautifully decorated, tile floor of the mosque church. "I....I'm so sorry....I wasn't able to help them....forgive me!" he gasped with his last dying breath. Marina closed his eyes and said a prayer for him, then slowly stood with her sister in the center of the mosque church. Sure enough, they looked up to see a dark black hooded figure that was tall, thin, and lean muscled. Neither of the girls could make out his face as it was hidden underneath the hood of the black cloak he was wearing. Thinking he was another hero, the girls started for the door of the church mosque where the dark figure was standing, seemingly unarmed. As the girls neared him (still assuming that this dark figure was just like the others and was male), they realized something seemed "wrong" with the dark hooded figure. In an instant, the hooded figure vanished before their eyes and there was a flash of blinding white light that flooded the entire place where the hooded figure and the girls all stood. The girls suddenly found themselves still in the desert, but now there were objects twisted together. "What...." Marina said, "what is this place?"
30 Antoinette shook her head slowly as she inched toward the twisted objects. Marina followed her and was just as confused as her sister about the place. Everything they had been through so far in the creation of their own minds had somehow merged together, but as the girls looked closer, they noticed that while everything was together, it was all only holding on by thin thin threads. "This way....hurry!" someone whispered desperately to them. The girls looked at each other and then started walking straight toward the voice that spoke. The girls followed a path made of fairly rough, low grade limestone that was outlined with fine white limestone, pink granite, basalt and alabaster. The sky above them was maroon red with a full white moon and tiny burning white balls that were stars. Dark clouds hung low and lighting flashed all around them as they slowly walked down the long path. On either side of the path was golden sand and on top of the sand was, to their left, a baby grand Baldwin piano, clarinet, cubby holes, chairs, music stands, marching uniforms, and other objects that had some kind of relation to music and writing. There was school made from numerous types of bricks in shambles behind the musical instruments and equipment that was crumbling to the ground and in flames just like everything else around them. Behind the school was a house that looked much like the girls' aunt's house with a car in front of it that closely resembled the one the girls had arrived in at their aunt's house. To their left, the girls saw more golden sand, and people who looked like the Egyptian man they had seen earlier that had died, slaving away under the rule of a man who looked just like them, but wore a headdress and held a scepter in his
31 right hand and a long black whip that had glass and thorns in it in his left hand. The builders looked tired and sickly as they dragged enormous stones that looked like the path the girls were traveling on, up onto the top of a hill that loomed over them and looked more like a mountain. "Do not try to help them, keep traveling this path." The Voice said suddenly, scaring the girls and making them jump slightly. "But...." Marina started. "Keep traveling, trust me, you and them will be alright." The Voice insisted. As the girls continued down the path, drops of water started to drip here and there from the dark red sky, even though the sun sat on top of the mountains in front of them behind a castle that had many sharp pointed spires and was dark and grey and cold. As the girls neared the castle and saw that it was being heavily guarded by jackal-headed men that were wearing ribbons and holding flails in the crooks of their arms, the rain was pouring down from the dimly lit sky so fast and hard in sheets that neither one of the girls could see in front of them very well. The lighting continued to flash and thunder rumbled all around them as they pushed forward toward the castle and soon arrived at the door. "Halt!" one of the guards said suddenly in a loud and stern voice, startling the girls and making them jump backwards several inches. "Who goes there?" the other said in the same tone. "Antoinette and Marina," Antoinette said, somewhat offended, "who the hell wants to know?"
32 The guard only ignored her, "Only those with proper authorization are guaranteed access into the Castle of Salvation." The girls looked strangely at the guard, "What's that?" Marina asked. "A place which can only be entered with proper authorization, as I said earlier!" the guard said, louder and more angrily. "And how do we get that?" Marina asked. The guard sighed, frustrated, "If you had proper authorization into this place, you wouldn't have to ask that!" "You son of....LET US IN....NOW!" Antoinette cried, outraged. The guard shook his head, "I'm sorry, I can't do that unless you have proper authorization!" he insisted. "You're really starting to piss me off dude, like, seriously!" Antoinette said, still angrily. Marina sighed, frustrated, "Antoinette, please!" But Antoinette couldn't let go, "How do we get authorization into this place, tell me, or I swear I'll kill you!" she threatened and taunted to the man. He scoffed and shook his head, "You do that and you'll never be able to enter this place." Antoinette's anger suddenly vanished and she was now curious, "And why is that?" she asked. "This place," the guard said, "is only for those who truly believe, that is why you cannot enter, but your sister can!"
33 Antoinette slowly turned and looked at her sister, then back at the guard, "Why just her?" she asked. "Of the two of you, only she truly believes!" he replied, waving for Marina to come closer to him. Marina unconsciously started toward the guard and, still looking up at him, bent one knee to him and kneeled before him. But he shook his head and made a gesture with his right hand for her to stand, "I am not who you should kneel to." he said as the gate to the castle slowly opened by itself behind him. "Inside is what you're looking for," he continued, "the Gem of Fear, you must destroy it if you wish to bring balance back to this place and restore it." he said, hurriedly. Marina looked out of the corner of her eye at Antoinette, who had suddenly become stricken with an excruciatingly painful headache that had sent her to her knees. She had suddenly seemed to have forgotten everything that had happened to her and her sister recently, but at the same time, she seemed to vaguely remember it all. Her skin on her face turned grey and her eyes became crossed and uncontrollable. She was suddenly extremely tired and sleepy, like she hadn't slept in weeks. Her head pounded like someone was beating it in with a hammer while at the same time had a belt tied around it and was jerking on it as hard as they could. "Antoinette," she heard her sister say faintly, "are you alright?" "Leave me alone, please, I'm fine!" Antoinette snapped at her.
34 She suddenly had an uncontrollable urge to use the bathroom and soon wet all over herself without thinking. When the girl tried to stand, she almost lost her balance, but Marina managed to catch her in her arms before she toppled over onto the ground. Her muscles twitched and jerked suddenly as she laid in her sister's arms and held onto her with every ounce of strength she had left in her and Marina hugged her as tight and as close to her as she could. Antoinette suddenly let go of her sister and briefly pushed her away as she turned the opposite direction and ejected the contents of her stomach in the direction of the guard, who seemed pleased to see both of the girls in their state of so much agonizing fear, pain, and suffering. Marina looked up at him and realized that she and her sister weren't where they had originally thought. Marina lunged at her sister to wrap her arms around her and protect her as she knew she was now sick and unfit to function against an oppressor. But the guard reached for her and grabbed her by her long dark hair and dragged her across the coarse ground and then hurled her back behind the gate. Antoinette looked up at the man, her skin had turned as white as a bed sheet and her eyes were bloodshot red and dilated, she glanced down, her head pounded as if someone had a belt tied around her brain and was yanking and pulling on it as hard as they could. She looked back up at the man and her sister and saw double-visions of them both that seemed to be moving in and out of their bodies. She tried to call out to her sister as she was dragged behind the gate, kicking and screaming for Antoinette.
35 "MARINA!" Antoinette cried, reaching for her sister, knowing it was impossible for her to reach her. She laid flat on her face, breathing heavily as if she had just finished running a marathon, and considered dying right then and there where she laid. As the girl laid there motionless in front of the gate, she tried to concentrate and create herself a gun with which she intended to point at her right temple and pull the trigger. She felt she was at her wits end and saw no point in going on any further without her sister, the love of her life. Darkness suddenly fell all around Antoinette as she laid face down on the ground. The dark figures she and her sister had battled and allegedly killed earlier surrounded her in a circle. The good in the girl had seemed to die and she hated it, all she had wanted was to be with her parents, sister, aunt, and cousins and be happy and feel alive again. But now here she laid on the edges of heaven and hell with no clue as to which one would take her after what she and her sister had done up until this point. The dark figures formed a circle around the dying girl and reached out their skeleton-like hands for her. The girl panicked and curled herself up into a fetal-like ball where she laid in front of the gate. "This is it," she thought, "I'm going to die right here and now....God have your way with me and kill me, please, I beg you....it's what I deserve after what I just witnessed with and put my sister through!" she sobbed as the water on her brain soon started to seep out of her head and through her ears and eyes.
36 Everything around her went black and the emperor, ocean, sister, pursuer, and reptile surrounded her and prepared to brutally kill the girl and take her with them to their master who was underneath the paradise. But as they neared her, the group suddenly burst into flames and started to burn into blackened crisped corpses. "Oh no," the emperor shrieked, "what....what's happening to us?" The group huddled together and tried to put out the orange and gold colored flames, but were unable to do so. The Being that had spoken to Antoinette moments ago lifted the unconscious girl into the air and placed into her a ventricle catheter into her cerebral ventricles to drain the excessive amount of water that was on her head off of it and into her stomach. The swelling on her head soon went down and her head was no longer abnormally shaped. As The Being set her back down in front of the group, the girl remained motionless for several minutes. The group slowly started for her, but as they did, The Being sent down a large sapphire into the girl's hands. She slowly lifted her head, startling the group and making them jump back. The gem (the Forgotten Gem of Fear) started to shake violently in the girl's hands and caught fire, but she remained unharmed as the gem soon exploded and struck fear as it was supposed to into her enemies hearts and pierced them and killed them. A bright white light surrounded the girl as she hung in the air. There was then an explosion of bright yellow light and the girl fell onto a white tiled floor unconscious. The woman and two girls walked over to the unconscious Antoinette
37 and knelt down beside her and gently shook her and called her by name, but she couldn't see or hear them. Antoinette found herself in a place that had nothing but dark green grass on the ground and rolling hills. There were snow-capped mountains in the back ground and a fortified structure with motte, bailey and enceinte, keep, curtain wall, gatehouse, and moat in front of them. The sky was pitch black with no stars, only a half moon that seemed to grin at her, hanging in it with the tiny white balls of gas as white flakes gently fell from it. The girl shivered as it was below freezing in this place, and slowly started walking toward the castle, hoping to get something to eat and have a place to sleep for the night while she searched for her sister, cousins, and aunt. But as she neared the castle, she saw the woman and two girls crowded around something that was on the ground. "Hello," she called out to them as she neared them, "do you...." she stopped when she realized who the girls and woman were and what they were doing, "need....help, oh God, Marina, no!" she wailed as she rushed over to the girl that the woman and other two girls were crowded around laying on a stretcher that was also on the ground and knelt down beside her. The girl started to try to lift the stretcher herself and almost toppled over as she started for the mountain, but the woman and her girls joined her, one on the side she was on, and the others on the side opposite her. As they started for the mountain, the sleet fell harder and harder from the night sky until the temperature
38 became bitterly cold and the girl feared that she and the others wouldn't be able to arrive at the mountain fast enough to save her sister. "Hurry, hurry, hurry, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Antoinette cried desperately as she tried to walk faster. They stumbled again, frustrating the girl to the point where she turned and lunged at the woman and her girls and started to try to kill them. "Antoinette," The Voice said, "stop, please!" it begged and pleaded with her. "They're trying to kill her!" she cried as she sank to her knees. "No, no, they're trying to help," it insisted, "you have to keep going, you can't give up now, you've come too far!" They picked up the stretcher again that the girl's sister was on and started for the mountain again. As they headed down the path, the girl saw what she and her sister had been through all around them, broken, in flames, and crumbling to the ground. Something rumbled and shook the entire place like an earthquake. Antoinette glanced down and noticed that the ground was starting to crack and split. The slaves around her and the ones that were struggling to help her carry her sister to the top of the Mountain of Righteousness, the tallest mountain that had ever existed, and the closest to Heaven. As she and the people that helped her carry her sister neared it, Antoinette felt helpless, how could she just be giving her sister away like this? She wondered as she started up the side of the mountain. "Stop!" The Voice ordered.
39 Antoinette kept walking, as did the slaves. "Stop now!" The Voice ordered again. The slaves stopped, causing Antoinette to topple over and drop her sister's body. She gasped and started for her, but a flash of lighting that suddenly struck the ground in front of her and set her sister's body ablaze stopped her. "Marina," Antoinette shrieked, "No!" The woman and two girls tried to catch water that fell in rain from the sky in their hands to try to put out the fire that was burning their niece/cousin. Another flash of lighting struck them and set them on fire and killed them also. "Aunt Jenna, Tammi, Tamika, no!" Antoinette shrieked as she watched her sister, aunt, and cousins burn up in flames and die before her eyes. There was a long pause and the girl found herself completely alone and surrounded by complete and total darkness yet again. "Antoinette," someone whispered, "wake up!" The girl gasped and found herself in a small, solid white room. She was lying on her back on a metal frame bed that had a semi-comfortable mattress and pillow on it. There was a fluorescent beam light above her that blinded her. She groaned as she slowly sat upright on the bed. "Good morning!" someone, a man, said suddenly in a cheerful tone of voice that startled the girl. She looked to her left and saw a man who looked in age anywhere from about thirty-five to forty with semi-dark brown skin and black hair that was thinning on top of his head and thin silver rim glasses on his face. He was wearing
40 a V-neck, dark blue shirt with breast pocket, extra lower pockets, set-in-sleeves, all of which was brushed poplin fabric, and felling stitch and matching tri-color brushed poplin fabric back pocket, cargo, flare leg, felling stitch, Oscar nominated fabric with meticulous embroidery, matching shirt and pants with whitish-grey loafers on his feet. "Hello there," he said, "you probably don't know or recognize me....my name is Doctor Demetrius Reed Brady, Garcia's head physician." "Doctor....Garcia," Antoinette said, dazed and confused, "where am I.... what....is this place?" "This is just a hospital," the doctor replied as a younger man, somewhere between Marina and Antoinette's ages, stepped into the room, "this is my son, security guard Dillon Son Phillips....er, his mother and I are separated." Demetrius said, smiling and nodding to the young man. Demetrius turned his attention back to Antoinette, "Do you know why you're here?" he asked. Antoinette hesitated for a moment, then shook her head, "No," she said quietly, "no, I don't know why I'm here." Demetrius nodded as he wrote furiously on a piece of paper, he looked up at the girl, staring her dead in the eye, "You're here because of your sister." he said. "My sister," Antoinette said unsurely, "why, where is she, what happened to her, is she alright?" she asked.
41 Demetrius turned his head and nodded to his son. His son nodded and turned and walked out of the room, closing and locking the door behind him. Demetrius looked back at Antoinette, "Can you tell me the last place you remember seeing your sister?" he asked her. An image of her sister in the heaven-like place flashed before her eyes, "We were....in Heaven....she stayed there, I didn't....I should have." she said quietly, shaking her head in disappointment. Demetrius scoffed, "Your sister died, Antoinette....she died along with your parents in the car crash." he said. Antoinette shook her head, "No," she said, fighting back tears and going into a mad fit, "you're wrong....she's still alive...I've felt it!" the girl cried, almost hysterically. Demetrius shook his head, "No," he said, "that's what you want to believe because you loved and cared about her so much." he said as he turned and reached for a manila folder that was stuffed so full that it was barely shut. He handed it to Antoinette, who snatched it from his hands and slowly opened it. The first thing she saw inside was a newspaper clipping and her sister and parents' pictures on the front page with a heading above them that read "Family Dies Tragically in Accidental Fire, Only One Survived". Antoinette looked up at the man and was suddenly overcome with hatred, anger, and rage, and threw the paper at him and yelled and screamed and cursed him. The doctor and his son said nothing as they turned and left the insane young woman in the cell for good.
42 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, two years later.... "How have you been since, you know?" Dillon asked Antoinette as they walked down the street past Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Antoinette sighed, "I dunno," she said, shrugging, "fine....I guess....although I still feel like a total wreck." "Oh," Dillon said, "why's that?" "She's still a part of me, you know, I still love her dearly and unconditionally, no matter how many of those stupid counseling sessions I go to, I'll never forget her, our parents, aunt, or cousins." she said as she kicked at the ground. "And you shouldn't," Dillon said, "but, I think you do need to accept the fact that they're all dead and in a better place." Antoinette started to say something, anything to shut him up about the subject, that was, until she looked up and saw them, "Do you...." she said to Dillon, "do you see that?" He followed her gaze, "See what?" he asked. "My sister, parents, and aunt and cousins are all right there in front of us!" she said, almost over excitedly. "I think you're hallucinating, there's no one...." Dillon started. In a flash, the man vanished into thin air like vapor and was gone without a trace and the girl found herself all alone, surrounded in complete and total darkness, still trapped inside of her own mind with no way out.