A Bright World Has Turned Out Its Lights WINNERS

Will you do it?

No!	18.8%	[ 12 ]
Yes	81.2%	[ 52 ]
Total Votes:			[ 64 ]

[crash nebula is a zombie]

Mokomonko

i can still enter right?

Yup c:

[crash nebula is a zombie]

Seductive Lullaby

I'll join, I have nothing else to do in my spare time sometimes, so yeah... Why not?
But be warned, my stories tend to get really long.

P.S. In the cluster we choose to use, we can put them in any order we want right?

Yes, as long as they are in there.

[trogdizard]

Hey, I'm definitely gonna give this a shot. I could use the gold, and some spontaneous writing practice.

[Kitti Meere]

Can we use all three prompts in three different entries?

[RAWRitsAnime]

Cluster #3
+"You're in safe hands, I promise."
+"Outside, bombs screeched like horror movie victims."
+"He hoped to see the ice cream truck, but saw nothing."
+"I can't remember, are we in New York?"

YAY THIS WAS FUN TO WRITE! biggrin I hope you like it ^^
_____________________________________________________________________
It was a dark, cold, mysterious night. The moon was hovering over the abandoned asylum as wanderers began approaching it. There was an ominous wind surrounding the place and it looked like a haunted mansion.

“Here we are, Hellingly Asylum or now known as Hellingly Hospital,” Flare said.

Flare was a girl that was 18 years old and had an interest in abandoned places, she and her friend Mark and Roy had formed a group called “The Asylum Explorers” and went from state to state or country to country to explore these places. Flare was a high-spirited girl and had flaming red hair and deep penetrating blue-green eyes. She was very brave and liked to get into trouble on purpose just for the fun of it. Her friends Mark and Roy were similar to her. Mark was 16 and had short brown hair. He was a very friendly guy and liked to have fun. He had ocean blue eyes and liked adventure just as much as having fun. Roy was 19 years old, the oldest in the pack, he to had flaming red hair that reached up to his shoulders.

“We’ve traveled so much that I forgot where we are,” Roy said in a sarcastic manner. He liked to joke a lot about their destinations.

“Me too!” Mark piped in. “I can’t remember, are we in New York?”
Flare sighed. She liked to joke around but this was a serious case. She had heard that this place was dangerous and might have fugitives hiding inside. She had also heard some ghost stories.

“Were in England you dummies!” Flare said seriously.

Mark and Roy stopped joking around when they heard Flare’s serious tone.

When they had first arrived in England they had heard of this place, Hellingly Asylum and were quickly attracted to it. Now here they were staring at the huge creepy looking asylum waiting for it to get a bit darker to go in. Flare had always liked things to be its scariest when first entering.

After a few minutes the moonlight started fading away as clouds covered it.

“Time to move out!” Flare cheered as she ran into the asylum.

Mark and Roy followed her quickly. They did not want to loose each other already.

When they entered the asylum, the first thing they noticed was that it was dilapidated and dangerous to walk around. Flare had almost fell into a hole already.
Mark and Roy were getting scared. Even though they had experience with places like this, they had never been to an asylum like this one. This one had creepy shadows in every corner and weird sounds echoing through the halls. It sent shivers up their spines and the rumors scared them even more. Flare noticed this.

“You're in safe hands, I promise." Flare said smiling. Boy would she regret saying that later.

Mark and Roy nodded and continued walking into the asylum. All that could be seen was rubble and debris everywhere you walked. All of a sudden a loud noise pierced the silence of the halls.

“What was that?” Mark screamed.

“I don’t know!” Roy said nervously.

“Bombs will pierce the air once you enter..” Flare said.

“What!?” Mark and Roy screamed in unison.

“It’s a curse from the asylum, I read about it but didn’t want to tell you guys cause I thought you might chicken out,” Flare said.

As Flare and the others ran deeper into the asylum outside, bombs screeched like horror movie victims. They cringed at the sound but kept on going. They then heard a large boom and jumped for it. Once the debris and smoke cleared up they saw they were one head short.

“WHERES MARK?!” Roy said nervously.

“Oh no,” Flare said as she broke down crying and went on her knees.

Under a huge pile of rock and rubble lay a body, mangled and still.

“NO IT CAN’T BE!” Roy said as he too broke down crying.

“Remember when we first arrived in England? He had wanted ice cream,” Flare said crying.

"He hoped to see the ice cream truck, but saw nothing.”

_____________________________________________________________________


Oh cliffy 8D

[trogdizard]

Cluster #3
+"You're in safe hands, I promise."
+"Outside, bombs screeched like horror movie victims."
+"He hoped to see the ice cream truck, but saw nothing."
+"I can't remember, are we in New York?"

Finality

Daniel ran out the front door, hoping he wasn't too late. It was about that time of day again, he knew it. He heard the faint chimes signaling its arrival, that siren's song that drew children from every house during hot summer afternoons. He frowned. The sound was coming from his street, but there was something wrong. He hoped to see the ice cream truck, but saw nothing. Then came the familiar glowing that chilled his bones. Everything went black except a spot of ghastly green light, blotting everything else from his vision. The shadowed figure walked toward him, its hand outstretched. Daniel screamed, trying to run back into the house, but his feet were fastened tightly to the pavement by some invisible force. A voice resonated through his entire being, saying the same words it did every night.
"Your world is now ours. There is no point in screaming, for you belong to us." The voice was calm and unwavering. It hurt his head, causing him to scream louder. The figure spoke again. "Wake up little one. It's all a bad dream."

Daniel whipped upright, sweat pouring down his face. Nightmares again. It had been the same dream every night for two weeks now, since Lacy had been taken. She was all he had left in this world, and those creatures had taken her. He feared he would never see her again, just like everyone else he had called a friend for the past year. Daniel began to reminisce of the day it all began, the day everything changed, the day he first met Lacy...

The sky was a lovely blue, dotted with clouds. Daniel was walking to the mall to meet some friends, the weak breeze tossing his curly brown hair about. He had his hands shoved tightly in his pants pockets, playing with his lighter. Pulling it out of his pocket, he grabbed the cigarette tucked above his ear and lit it, puffing a few times. Ah, sweet nicotine. I know I promised Sara I'd quit, but she doesn't have to know about this one. The mall was just a few hundred feet ahead of him, already crawling with activity. Why were there so many people at the mall on a weekday? He didn't skip school to hang out with half the city at a crowded mall.

Daniel entered the food court, immediately spotting his friends at a table in front of Taco Bell. Always Taco Bell, Randolph had said. I always get here first, and I eat when I'm bored. So meet in front of Taco Bell. Mm, spicy chicken quesadillas...
He walked up to join his friends mid-conversation.

"...and then the guy was like, 'You fools, the world is ending soon!! You don't have time to waste! The end is coming, and we must prepare a sacrifice to appease the Guardians!!' I laughed so hard I almost pissed myself," Derek said.

Rachel laughed. "I've seen one of them around town. They call themselves the Chosen or something like that. 'We've been called upon by the Guardians to warn man of their impending doom'. I beat the guy up and took his shoes. They smelt funny."

"Holy crap, I know who you're talking about! I was with you that day!" Daniel jumped into the conversation. "He was the big guy with the red sock-hat thing, right?"

"Yeah!" Rachel replied. "So much for size. He would have been crying like a baby if he was conscious. Randolph swallowed a bite of quesadilla and then began to speak.

"You shouldn't mess with people like that, no matter how crazy they look. What if it was you trying to tell people that Hitler killed Jews and they beat the crap out of you? Not so funny, huh?"

"Twice as funny. Cause then I could run around and beat jews to make my point." Rachel laughed again. Her long black hair fell in front of her face as she laughed. Daniel joined her. Derek was too busy stuffing himself with cheese fries to notice. Daniel tipped his chair back, stretching his arms out. He noticed a girl at a table not too far away staring at him. When their eyes met, she looked down and blushed, the other girls at her table giggling.

"Great, got another one gawking at me." Daniel nodded his head in the girl's direction. Derek looked at her, then made a disgusted face.

"Oh, boohoo. Mr. Fantastic looks is getting checked out by another 8. Shut up, you man whore."

"Hey, being a man whore isn't as easy as it looks," Rachel added in his defense. "You have to brush your teeth like 15 times a day, and always look fantastic. It's a lot of hard work for one teenage boy." Daniel gave her a dirty look.

"Both of you, shut up." He was almost blushing. "And you're wrong, Derek. She's a 10." Daniel smiled, then looked back at the girl. She had a small, round face, with flawless skin and little freckles on her cheeks. Her hair was light brown, hanging down to just above her shoulders. Her eyes were a fantastic blue, almost glowing. She looked up again, then turned to the girl next to her and whispered in her ear. But Daniel didn't see the other girl. He only saw the blue eyed one. She was gorgeous.

"So..?" Randolph said.

"So what?" Daniel said, not breaking his gaze.

"So are you going to talk to her, or just stare? Cause if you keep staring, she'll get up and leave." Rachel smacked Daniel upside the head with the back of her hand.

"You're still with Sara, remember? Ya know, my sister? The one you're dating?" Daniel looked her in the eye and smiled. He had texted her the fatal words earlier that day, and Sara hadn't replied yet. We need to talk about us.

"I told her we need to talk about us. So it's practically over anyways. Which makes me a free man." He smiled again and got up.

"You're such a terrible guy, Dan." Rachel looked pissed.

"And I love every minute of it." He walked over to the girl's table, regaining his composure. He had done this a thousand times before, and this girl was no different. Except that she was a ten, not a 6 or 7 like usual. He'd bagged a couple eights, and a nine on a lucky streak, but never a ten. Daniel looked the girl up and down quickly as he approached. She was wearing blue t-shirt with a band name and logo on it, and a short white skirt. Her legs were smooth and incredible looking, like the rest of her skin. The girl had an amazing tan, not too dark, but not a pale color either. He smiled inside.

"I couldn't help notice you looking over at me. My name's Dan." He smiled and extended a hand. The girl looked up, blushing, and took it.

"I'm Lacy."

"Nice to meet you. Now, I'm not gonna try and impress you, or be clever or witty. I'm just gonna be honest. I want to buy you lunch, just me and you. Interested?" Lacy smiled, looking over at her friends for an answer. One widened her eyes in an 'are you stupid!?' look and nodded. She looked back up at Dan.

"Okay." She spoke quietly, and he could tell she was nervous. Dan bowed to the girls.

"Good day, ladies." He smiled and turned to Lacy. "Shall we?" He headed off in the direction of the mall exit, Lacy bobbing close behind. Dan smiled again. This was going to be a good day. He smirked at Derek as he walked by, and Rachel gave him a bone-chilling glare from behind her wall of hair. He would have been afraid if his head wasn't in the clouds.

Two hours later, he was walking Lacy back to the mall. They had walked over to Red Robin for burgers and ice cream. Dan had finally gotten her nervous shell to crack, and now they were chatting and flirting back and forth. As they neared the mall door, he spotted her friends just inside. She turned and looked at him, smiling. He was about 6 foot tall, and she was only a little shorter than him.

"I had fun today." She smiled from ear to ear.

"Me too. Can I get your number so we can hang out again?"

"Yeah. Got a pen?" He pulled one out of his pocket and handed it to her. She scribbled her name and number on his palm with a little heart next to it. She handed the pen back, and then jumped as a car horn blared out of nowhere. It was Derek in his Camry. He rolled down the window and shouted at Daniel.

"You gonna hurry up, lover boy? We'll be late for the concert and never get a ticket if you don't hurry the hell up!"

"Hold on a minute, captain jealousy!" Daniel looked back at Lacy. "I gotta go. But I'll call you tomorrow." He turned to go, then spun around quickly and kissed her. Her face was frozen in shock, then melted as he pulled her closer. Daniel gave her a huge hug, and then saluted and darted towards Derek's car. He smiled to himself as he hopped into the passenger seat. The last thing he saw of Lacy that day was a huge grin and flush red cheeks as she waved. Daniel pumped his fist after they were out of sight. "I just bagged myself a ten."

Two weeks later came the day the sky fell. It didn't literally fall, like the Chicken Little fable told. But that was the only word anyone could think of to describe it. One minute, everything was fine. Dan sat with Lacy inside an ice cream shop, admiring the beautiful day. Then a bright green light flashed across the sky, and a shockwave shot through the streets. The windows shattered, and Dan and Lacy flew backwards across the floor of the shop. Then came the explosions that shook the ground with the force of an earthquake. Daniel grabbed Lacy by the arm and pulled her behind the counter.

Outside, bombs screeched like horror movie victims. People were shouting and running for cover as the ground disintegrated around them. The air was hot, and smelled of smoke and rotting flesh. Dan peeked above the counter, watching a green flash hit a car, and a moment later a black crater sat where the car used to. It was chaos in every meaning of the word. Dan looked down at Lacy and yelled over the noise.

"Stay here! I'll go find some help or something!" She nodded, and then ducked to the floor as another explosion rocked the building. Daniel ran out the door, looking immediately to the sky. It was horrific and beautiful at the same time.

A huge green vortex had torn a gash in the cloud-spotted blue sky, and everything was swirling towards it. All of the debris from the explosions drifted upwards, pulled into the maelstrom above. Daniel stood silent, staring into the green twisting hole's black depths. He thought immediately of the weird guy with the red hat. He sat in the alley on the next block. Breaking into a run, Dan ignored the destruction around him. He had to find that man, had to talk to him at least. He would be the only one that knew what was going on. This all sounded like something from one of his supposedly drunken rants.

Dan found the man right where he expected, dancing in the street in front of the alley, his head thrown back in laughter. He was laughing at a time like this. Dan knew he had been right.

"Hey! What's going on?"

"The Guardians have come for Earth. They're here to harvest mankind like stalks of wheat, one by one taking them to the Abyss!! And no one believed me, but look now!!" He laughed again.

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Not anymore, nothing but surrender to your fate. They take no prisoners, and hate those that did not heed the Chosen's warnings. You, and everyone are doomed to eternal pain in the Abyss." Another maniacal laugh. Daniel knew it was hopeless to try anymore answers from the man. He saw a military helicopter overhead, quickly followed by multiple more. Jets streamed across the sky, towards a foreign object now descending from the core of the maelstrom. It looked like a twisted castle on a lump of coal with greenish crystals growing from the bottom.

Another explosion knocked Daniel to the ground. He scrabbled to his feet and spotted one of the military helicopters landing on the next street over. He whipped out his phone and texted Lacy: Helicopter, now. I'll meet you there. Running as quickly as possible down the street, he saw many others flocking to the helicopter. Daniel sped up, his long legs carrying him faster than the other civilians. He would not get stuck here to die. As he rounded the corner, he saw Lacy run out of the ice cream shop and jump into the helicopter. The man standing in the open door of the chopper waved Daniel towards him, putting up two fingers to designate the number of remaining seats. He arrived and jumped in not 5 seconds later. The chopper lifted off immediately after another kid got on, racing away from the twisting hole in the sky.
After putting on a headset, Daniel heard the same lie as everyone, straight from the soldier's mouth.

"You're in safe hands, I promise."

For the next 8 weeks, the military moved the civilians from shelter to shelter, retreating further towards the north as more holes began to appear. Daniel and Lacy stayed together as much as possible, as she was the only of his friends that had made it out of the city, to his knowledge. 10 weeks into the chaos, Lacy fell sick. She became delusional, speaking nonsense in a fevered half-sleep.

"I can't remember, are we in New York?"

"No, Lacy, we were never in New York. We lived in Utah." Daniel was worried. A military doctor had diagnosed her with a strange disease the attacks had brought with them. They called it Space Flu, for lack of a better term. No one had survived it yet, and they didn't have the time or resources to find a cure. She was doomed to die, without ever knowing she had become sick.
The flu worked like a brain parasite, eating away at the brain matter, destroying the motor and sensory cortex, as well as the person's memory and cognitive thought centers.

A month later, Derek and Randolph showed up at Daniel's civilian camp. The three shared their stories of what had happened since the attack. Derek told of how Rachel had come face to face with whatever creatures were attacking. She had died fighting with both fists. Both Derek and Randolph contracted the Space Flu, dying a few weeks later. But Lacy held on.

It was a half year later that she finally passed. Daniel held her hand as she died, giving her one last kiss goodbye. Time had flown. It didn't even seem real. And now he had nothing left. They were moving the civilians again, and didn't have time to bury the dead. Daniel wouldn't have it. He snuck out of his shelter that night after waking from the nightmare. Hiding from the guards as they passed, he made his way to the gate surrounding the shelters and hopped it quickly, breaking into a run on the other side.

The camp was located on the edge of a city somewhere in Montana, now being evacuated because of the hole beginning to open above it. Daniel would go to the Maelstrom, to the core of the storm, and give himself up to these creatures. The creatures that had taken everything from him, killed his friends, his family, destroyed the world he had known his entire life. He jogged through the barren streets, heading towards the square above which the hole had opened. There were blackened spots everywhere, and the air stunk of stagnant death. Suddenly, a black figure appeared before Daniel, the familiar ghastly green light glowing from behind it.

"Surrender, earthling. Your time to fight has gone. Now you must face your fate."

"I face it gladly, you freak."

"You are not afraid to die?"

"No. I have nothing left to live for."

"You are still alive."

"But there is nothing for me to look forward to but death. I embrace death happily, because I know it is my fate. I understand that my life has constantly led toward this one moment. And now I am here, and we both know what must be done."

"You are a brave human. A wise human. Pity not all men are like you. Earth might have had a chance. Goodbye, brave one." Daniel disappeared in a flash of green light, and there was nothing left of him. The earth was gone a matter of weeks later.

[crash nebula is a zombie]

Thank you both for your stories.

[miss maugre]

Awesome! I think I'll try this contest! It's a neat
concept, perhaps I'll even finish an entry this time! XD

[Mokomonko]

I'm almost finished with the story but i really liked all the sentences in the clusters so i used all of them ,is that alright?

[reading_is_sexy]

I might enter, since i'm a bit bored at the moment and prompts are usually pretty interesting.

[crash nebula is a zombie]

Mokomonko

I'm almost finished with the story but i really liked all the sentences in the clusters so i used all of them ,is that alright?

Yep, as long you use them all.

[LordThingy]

Great idea! I loved all of the clusters so much! biggrin

Title: Tenor
Prompt: Cluster #2

‘It’s always raining in this stupid town’, Ruby thought as she got dressed.

That was not true, it wasn’t always raining in Dunesville, but the past week had been filled with drizzle. Of course, the fact that Ruby hated the town she lived in made even the smallest hint of clouds in the sky seem like a storm of Biblical proportions. As she studied her hair in the mirror, Ruby wished that it could have stayed the color of July’s gem. Instead, the dye had faded to a bubble-gum pink. She brushed it out of her eyes and studies herself before deciding that the stupid carnival celebrating Dunesville’s anniversary was probably going to get canceled because of the rain.

As Ruby walked around puddles and hide from the rain under the hood of her jacket, she thought of her best friend’s brother-in-law. His name was Logan Shoals and was only twenty-one, but he had a wife. This is her best friend’s eldest sister, Lissie. As a child, he used to pretend that she was his bride. Right after they graduated college, still children, they decided to be bride and groom for real. A little less than a year later, they had a daughter. Privately, Ruby stuck up her nose at them, because she thought it archaic to even consider marriage before a person is at least twenty.

The rain had become drizzle by the time she reached the carnival. It has not been shut down, but only a handful of people are milling about. Logan was there, because he had helped to plan the carnival. His daughter was babbling from her perch on top of his shoulders as he pointed out all the things Ruby can do. She nodded politely before wandering off, hoping to find someone who would rather catch a movie than tempt death on the rickety Ferris wheel.

Ruby wound up spending the next hour walking all through the carnival, which was surprisingly large for a small town like Dunesville. After all, it wasn’t even warm enough for tourists to come flocking to the beach like they do every summer. If the town managed to turn a profit on this anniversary thing, Ruby would be shocked. She could imagine a thousand things more interesting than celebrating the fact that some little beach town has been around for over a hundred years.

The only reason that Ruby was there was because it’s where her best friend is supposed to be. She thought that she caught a glimpse of her friend (Hazel) slipping into the line for the bumper cars. Ruby walked towards the ride and she hummed softly a tune that nobody remembers. At least, she thought nobody remembered it, until a sweet tenor joined in with, “So, how could I dance with another, ooh, when I saw her standing there?”

The girl with bubble-gum pink hair froze for a moment, then looked around to see who was singing. However, as soon as she had stopped humming, the tenor had stopped singing. More people had arrived, so it was harder to pinpoint the voice than it would have been an hour ago. Still, Ruby was an audiophile and the voice was the nicest that she had heard since moving to Dunesville. After several more seconds of looking around, she sighed and began to hum again.

Again, the tenor picked up. “Well, she looked at me. And I, I could see, that before to long I’d fall in love with her. She wouldn’t dance with another, ooh, and I saw her standing there. ”

The voice sounded closer now and Ruby spun around. Once again, as soon as she stopped providing the tune, the tenor abruptly halted. Annoyed, she walked up to where a boy about her age was passing out balloons of every color. He’d been there all day, so he must have seen whoever was singing. Tapping her foot, Ruby waited while cluster of children each got a balloon. When it was finally her turn, all Ruby could do was snap at the boy. “Have you seen someone singing?”

The boy only smiled and said, “I’m Michael. You’re Ruby, right?”

At that, Ruby made a face. The guy knew her name, which she could just chalk up to the fact that Dunesville was a small town. It stilled unnerved her though, along with the fact that Michael had completely ignored her question. Annoyed, she turned around, intending to ask the person at the next booth over about the mysterious singer. Though, she barely got a foot away before the voice she was looking for started up again, this time singing a cappella.

“Well, my heart went ‘boom’.”

She quickly looked over her shoulder. Michael, who looked like a classic emo was smiling at her still. From his striped shirt to the skinny jeans tucked into knee-high boots, he looked the type who listened to screamo and songs about ripping out a broken heart. Ruby must have looked skeptical, because the boy smiled wider and then opened his mouth. He was the smooth tenor she had been looking for and now he was walking closer, still singing.

“When I walked across the room…”

He leaned in close, smelling of mint gum and popcorn. Gently, he pressed the string of a red balloon into Ruby’s hand. Transfixed by his voice, she held onto it tight. Hesitantly, she decided to let her voice mingle with his. Ruby was slightly embarrassed by her mezzo-soprano singing, which sounded so plain compared to Michael’s.

“And held her hand in mine.”

Michael stopped singing abruptly again. Ruby felt both guilty, as if her voice had caused it and annoyed, because he hadn’t managed to finish the song. Instead, he grew self-conscious from his dirty jeans and tried to brush away whatever stains there were with his free hand. Michael also tried to smooth down his messy black hair. Ruby’s annoyance grew, because who cared about what he looked like when he had such a nice voice?

“I’m Michael,” he repeated, “Uhm, I really like you a lot. You were the director’s assistant at the musical last year. I ran tech.”

Ruby blinked and thought back to the previous spring. Faintly, she remembered that among the chaos of helping to organize ‘Footloose’, there was a lone techie who had saved her life when the microphones all decided to die fifteen minutes before the dress rehearsal was supposed to start. It had been Michael, but he was sporting sandy blonde hair then. Ruby felt stupid as she said, “I didn’t know you could sing.”

“I have stage fright, but I really do like you. And I remember you saying that there wouldn’t be enough tenors this year. So, I’ve been practicing, uhm, so you can do the play you want.”

Ruby stared at him for a while. She had been moaning about how badly she wanted to try and push for ‘Jesus Christ, Superstar’ as the spring musical, but the fact that her favorite male tenor had graduated the year before. Now, here was this boy, hair frizzled from the morning’s rain and the voice of an angel, willing to play the part. Ruby knew that he had seen people pass out from stage fright after their first performances, but he still wanted to do it because she liked her.

Flushing with sudden pleasure and embarrassment, Ruby leaned up to kiss his cheek. As she whispered a quick thank you into his ear, Michael turned bright red. The balloons slipped from his hand, looking like a rainbow-cluster explosion against the blue-gray sky. Logan ran over to see why fifty-seven balloons had suddenly been released, but when he saw the two teenagers blushing and glancing at each other, he let it go.

Michael offered to buy them both elephant ears from the snack stand, and maybe they could talk about the musical while they ate. Along the way, he made a grab for Ruby’s hand. The girl wanted badly to crack a joke about how the tenor’s face was the same shade of red as the balloon in Ruby’s opposite hand.

When Michael went to buy the food, Ruby sat on a nearby park bench, trying to tie the red balloon to her wrist. By the time she secured the knot, Hazel finally appeared and sat down next to her friend. She was looking more than a little green as she apologized, “I was waiting in line for that Twister ride, but some kid threw up all over. Some of it got on the girl next to me and- hey, are you listening? Huh, what’s with the dopey smile?”

Ruby toyed with the string on her wrist and looked glanced over to the food stand, where Michael was balancing two plates of food and one large drink. She felt her cheeks turn the same shade of her hair. “Oh, I don’t know. It is a bright world out there."

[Sabri2709]

Cluster #2
+"As a child, he used to pretend she was his bride."
+"She hummed softly to a tune nobody remembers."
+"He grew self-conscious from his dirty jeans."
+"It is a bright world out there."

"Tomorrow"
_____________________________________________________________________________________
As a child, he used to pretend she was his bride. He thought back to the good old days, eating popsicles in the summer heat. Laying in each other’s yards until their mother’s would call them in for the night. He remembered his old bedroom, when all he wished to do was go to outer space.

As he grew up he began to like new things. In middle school, all that mattered to him was his guitar and video games. He had loved the days she’d come over because she didn’t have anything better to do, then listen to him play a song on the guitar or play a video game along with him. He even wrote a song for her, he called it “Tomorrow”. Sometimes all of their friends would go to one of their houses and they just jam together. Those were the good old days before everything began to change.

When they got to high school she started to hang out with the ‘cool’ crowd. They sat around doing nothing, skipping class, staying out late, and going to parties. All he wanted was to see her sometimes, talk to her, take back to good days and never let them go.

He only ever had one other chance to see her. It was the night of their senior prom. She had been going out with the star of the football team.

David sat at home, reading the final book for his English class. He enjoyed when the blinds were open in his room. He could look out to the stars at night.

She had come home early that night. David had looked at his clock, it only read nine o’clock. She didn’t look to happy. David put down the book he had been reading. He walked down the stairs to the front door. When he got outside, she was sitting on her front steps. On the walk through his yard, to reach hers, he thought about what he was going to say to her.

“Um, a-a-are you okay?” David stumbled over his words. He reached into his pocket where he kept his handkerchief. He pulled it from his pocket. Sophie took the handkerchief, from him, blowing her nose. Tears were flowing down her face.

“I’m fine.” Sophie said in between sobs.

David looked at Sophie in her green strapless dress. There were sparkles everywhere on it. She looked so beautiful in it. He then looked down at what he was wearing. He grew self-conscious from his dirty jeans. He hadn’t even thought about changing his clothes before he went down stairs. He sat down on the stairs next to her. They hadn’t sat like this for at least four years. The rest of the night they just talked to each other about everything that had changed in their own lives. They laughed, cried, and remembered those good old days.

The next day at school Sophie walked right by David without even waving.

Next thing they knew they were graduating and went off to their different colleges. The last he had heard, she was a star of some sort making the big bucks, never to remember the good old days.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Sophie walked into her office. She sat down at the desk, pushed the button to turn on her computer. She was known for her love stories.

She wrote all day and all night, when the dry spells came she would sit and listen to music on her computer. She enjoyed listening to music; it had always been something she loved. She could never remember what started her on music, but she was glad that she got to know something that she will always cherish.

She hummed softly to a tune nobody remembers. She found herself doing this a lot. She remembered those good old days when she and David would sit in his room writing music and singing. The last thing she had heard about David was that he had finally accomplished his dream. He had been to space three times. The first time he went they put it all over the television, newspapers, and internet.

She opened a writing document on her computer. Clicked ‘files’ and then ‘open’ and found the file name “Tomorrow”. When she remembered the lyrics to the song, she hummed, she would type them up. She hoped one day soon she’d have the whole song again. She began to read out loud over the lyrics, “It is a bright world out there, and tomorrow you and I shall dare, to venture around its land, so come and take my hand.”

Sophie opened a new document and began to write, “As a child, he used to pretend she was his bride.”

[katrinakadabra]

Short story for Prompt 2

The world I grew up in was a dark one. I was an orphan at birth, and my parents had neither money nor social standing to bequeath me. The orphanage where I grew up, though run by kind-hearted souls, showed me that the world outside was a place where I had to fight to get anything, from respect, to food, to a place to sleep. I wasn't a fighter, and I often went hungry. But I'll spare you the details.

Magic doesn’t exist in your world, does it? It does in mine. Of course, many people say it doesn't exist, thinking themselves rather clever, but it really marks them as oblivious, not intelligent. In any case, mages were quite well-known in our area, although I daresay they were not commonplace. Most of those who had a certain power were either enlisted in the military, or putting their powers to practical uses, such as powering machinery or repairing buildings. Except, of course, for Adrielle.

Even in my younger years, Adrielle was my muse, my confidant, my best friend. As a child, I used to pretend she was my bride. Like the darkest sky, lighted with moonbeams, I could see the moving clouds reflected in her hair. She was always small in stature, but no weakling, whatever appearance she had. As an toddler, she had the curious ability to mold things around her to suit her ideas. She hummed softly to a tune nobody remembers. Then, without any other reason for it, things would change. Until they figured it out, the nursemaid would often wonder why the bed she had placed on the opposite side of the room was suddenly right next to the window. Or, for that matter, why the curtains that had been drawn neatly were now lying on the floor.

So it was decided at quite an early age that Adrielle's powers were to be the focus of extreme scrutinization. For the older she became, the more powerful she grew. Most mages we knew could only exhibit control over certain things, or perform specific feats. Adrielle could do everything. If she wanted it moved, she could move it. If she wanted to disappear and reappear somewhere else, she could do that too. And if she wanted to turn the gardener into a pickleberry tree, by justice, she could do that as well.

Of course, feats such as these do require concentration and focus, and an acute grasp of one's own powers. Unless she focused considerably, most of Adrielle's attempts to use her magic usually came out in a sort of blast of power, like the force of magnets repelling each other. This was another reason why she was kept under guard from such an early age. Too much excitement might cause her to send out a blast of energy to get away from whatever was exciting or upsetting her, the consequences of which could be lethal.

The first time I saw Adrielle, at the prime age of six years, she looked at me with a most peculiar face. (I'm sorry, my darling, but you really did.) It was as if she had never seen another child in her life before. She was dressed in a fine satin gown of blues, purples, and golds, which complimented her midnight hair marvelously. I grew self-conscious from my dirty jeans. Couldn't the orphanage have found something decent for me to wear?

"Who is this?" Adrielle asked the guard accompanying me.

"Why, this is Haren, your new playmate," he said, as if it must have been written on my forehead. Adrielle in her childish trustfulness took this to be as good an answer as any, although she didn't seem to understand what my purpose was to serve there. She walked up to me, leaning sideways to see me, for I was still partially hidden behind the guard, and looked at me for the first time with those deep mysterious eyes.

"Are you six years old too?" she asked. I gulped and was unable to answer right away. I was still looking at her eyes, I suppose. I cannot quite describe them except to say that they had a bit of an iridescent touch to them. Most of the time, they looked purple, but if I were to look in the next moment, they might be deep blue, or hazel, or a magnificent chestnut brown.

"I… I'm six, yes," I finally managed to squeak out. This was not entirely true. I was actually turning six the following evening, but when you are that age, being within a few days is quite close enough.
At this, she giggled. It was a cute, bubbly laugh that broke the solemnity her face had held before. Being kept under guard and hidden from everyone's view, she apparently treated anyone else she saw as a potential playmate, regardless of age or stature.

"Come on, Haren, I'll show you around!" she called, taking me by the hand and showing me out to the gardens that I would soon grow quite familiar with.

As a general rule, Adrielle's powers were banned from use unless she was instructed to use them. She still broke this rule on occasion, either to levitate something or teleport away, two tricks she had managed to master without endangering anyone. One day as we were sitting next to a small stream that ran through the garden, I asked her why she did not use them more often.

"They're my little problem," she responded, apparently a bit irritated that I had brought up the topic. "The guards are always afraid that if I get too upset, I'll hurt someone by accident. So I don't use them just to be safe." She sighed at looked back at the water running over her feet.

"That doesn't seem fair to say," I replied. "I think that makes you special." She looked at me oddly. "Really, I think it's amazing that you can do that. You should be really happy, Adrielle. No one can hurt you."

She cocked her head and looked at me. "I don't think anyone will hurt me."

"That's because you haven't lived where I have. There are mean people out there." I guess what I said must've really disturbed her. She stared at me with frozen eyes, but there was no fear in them. Surprise, maybe? Or pity?

"There might be mean people, that's true, but there are nice people as well. You can't be afraid of the world just because of a couple mean people."

I stared at her with equal intensity. I'd never heard such words before. I guess she was embarrassed by her own little speech, because she immediately began to blush, and turned to face the water. The distorted patterns of morning sunlight in the ripples dashed in and out of her eyes, causing her to squint.

"That's what I think, anyway."

I nodded, but said nothing. What was there to say? I merely sat back and listened to the silence pass between us.

"I hope you can stay with me for a long time," she whispered. "Then we can get out of this place and live somewhere together." I happened to think this was a fabulous idea and nodded eagerly in agreement. All the while, the guards watched over us in silence, admiring the innocence of our youth. It is a bright world out there. She showed me that, and I will forever be grateful.

[Mokomonko]

Okay I hope this isn't too long, it's not book length but it is quite long so prepare yourself.

I USED ALL CLUSTERS FOR THIS:

Now here's my story
__________________________________________________________________________________


As a child, he used to pretend she was his bride. In his imagination she would hug him as much as he wanted and hold his hand, she would always pay for the ice cream and when it got dark outside they would sleep outside under the big willow tree, their hands entwined as they dozed under the cloak of a million stars. He had already planned everything out; they would get married and have fifteen kids, all with black eyes like hers and light brown hair like his. Half of the kids would be named Luca like her and half would be named Gon like him.

The only problem was that she didn’t even know who he was. They went to the same elementary school, they were in the same class, they lived two doors down from each other, but not once did she glance his way. He would stare at her face for long periods of time, watching the way her mouth moved when she spoke and silently begging her to look his way. But she never looked, not even a quick glance, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get up enough guts to talk to her. So he spent most of his time with his friends, laughing, and every couple seconds glancing her way.

But today his best friend Mokki was sick so he had to sit by himself, he didn’t mind though. Now he could look at Luca all he wanted without being interrupted.

“Why are you always looking at Luca, Gon?”

It was Shelly, the weird girl. All the boys and even some of the girls said she had cooties. Although he wasn’t completely sure what cooties were he knew that they were highly contagious and that he didn’t want any. Gon scooted away a little and tried to ignore her, but she persisted.

“Do you like her or something?” She asked, crouching down so her big green eyes could stare at him directly. Gon bit his lip and looked away.

“So you do like her?” She asked. After a moment’s hesitation he nodded.

“Oh,” She said, and then she stood up and walked away. He watched her as she left, vaguely wondering why she had come over. After several minutes of thought he came up with no good answer and forgot about it.

When he got home that night the house was dark. He unlocked the door with the key his mama had given him and quickly slipped off his shoes. He ran into the kitchen at full speed, laughing hysterically as he slid across the tile in his socks.

“What’s for dinner mama!?” He yelled into the empty house.

“Spaghetti and meatballs.” An electronic voice answered and Gon made a face, he hated spaghetti sauce.

“Did mom leave me any money!?” He yelled again even though he didn’t have to. The house robot could hear him perfectly fine if he whispered, but he liked to listen to his voice echo off the walls.

“Your mother and father transferred ten Kiuns from her army base. She advised that you get some ice cream.”

“Thanks mama!” He yelled, running over to the door and reaching inside the dispenser where the money was.

He ran outside and stood at the very edge of the sidewalk; he leaned over as far as he could without falling over and stared blankly down the street. He hoped to see the ice cream truck, but saw nothing. After several minutes he began to hear a loud rumbling noise and wondered if it was the ice cream truck, but as the noise got louder he realized that the ice cream truck didn’t sound anything like that.

He sneezed as the wind began to pick up, and he could hear the noise get louder. As he stared up blankly at the sky he could see a huge plane come closer and closer. Suddenly he got scared, he had no idea what was going on but he knew that he shouldn’t stay outside.

Gon quickly ran into the house locked the door.

“Mama!” He yelled, but the computer didn’t answer. Gon started to shake; mama had never not answered him before.

Gon quickly remembered what his dad had told him before he left, he had told him that if mama ever didn’t answer him he had to open the floor and go into the secret room underneath the house.

With trembling hands the little boy pressed a button on the wall, making a small square of floor pull out. Quickly he climbed down the ladder and pressed another button on the wall which made the floor close up again. He bit his lip and sniffled, trying to hold back his tears, he wanted his mom and dad.

Suddenly he heard a loud bang. The house shook from the force and Gon cried out, snot dripping out of his nose and his hands covering his ears. Outside, bombs screeched like horror movie victims. One after another they landed, making the house shake and crumble above him, small chunks of plaster hit his head and he covered his head with his hands to protect him from the falling debris.

“Mom! Dad! Help!” Gon screamed over the noise, the tears spilling out of his eyes like two rivers.

Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity the bombs stopped falling and there was a deathly silence. Ten minutes of silence, twenty, thirty and still he didn’t move from his spot.

After two hours of being curled up into a ball on the floor Gon heard a voice from above.

“Anyone there?” The voice said and Gon swallowed.

“Daddy?” He yelled hoarsely, standing up on shaky legs and opening the hatch. But it wasn’t his dad; it was a strange man with glasses and blonde hair.

Gon froze in place and the man with glasses crouched down so they could see eye to eye. The man in glasses smiled.

“No need to worry, I’m here to help you.” He said, holding out his hand. After a moment’s hesitation Gon took it. The man slowly pulled Gon up so that he stood in the rubble that used to be his house.

“How old are you kid?” The man asked.

“Seven.” Gon replied. A pained expression flew across the man’s face, and then quickly disappeared.

“So young….” He said, mostly to himself. “Um, okay. Well your parents….. do you know where they are?”

“They’re at the base.” He sniffled.

“The ground base?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

The man shot another pained expression at the little boy.

“Well, um, everyone at the base where your mommy and daddy is they uh, went on a trip.”

“To where? Why didn’t they take me?” Gon asked. The man sighed, obviously having trouble expressing what he wanted to.

“The trip they went on, um, they’re staying there. Forever. They’ll never come back, do you understand?” The man said awkwardly.

“Not coming back?” Gon asked, and suddenly a thought pushed it’s way into his head.

For some reason he was reminded of the flowers in his yard, one year it got really cold and the flowers turned all black, when he had asked him mom what was wrong with them she said they had died. She had then proceeded to explain that all things die even humans, even mom and dad.

“Did mom and dad die?” He asked suddenly and the man jumped.

“Yes.” He said, unable to avoid it any longer.

“Oh.” Gon said quietly.

He must be going through shock, the man thought, poor thing.

“Well don’t worry, you can stay with me. You’re in safe hands, I promise. Oh and I’m Kirro by the way.” The man said, standing up.

Gon nodded, “I’m Gon.” he didn’t understand what was happening, but this man seemed nice so it would probably be okay.

ELEVEN YEARS LATER

“You sure you want to move out Gon?” Kirro said watching as the boy he had raised for the past eleven years packed up his bags.

“Yeah.” Gon replied, not looking at him.

“The war’s still on you know, it’s dangerous out there. Are you really going to be okay?”

Suddenly Gon smiled, “It is a bright world out there. I keep hearing about the rebuilding of the cities, I want to do something with my life dad, I can’t stay here. I don’t really know much about when the bombs hit but I know how devastating it was to everyone else, I want to help those people.”

Kirro sighed, Gon lost all of his memories from before he was eight, so his real parents and the bombing were completely gone from his memory. Perhaps it was for the best he forgot, but he still wished the kid would be more wary.

“Alright Gon, but please, come back if it gets too hard.”

Gon looked at the man who he thought was his father and smiled softly.

“I’ll be okay dad.”

They hugged and Kirro watched silently as Gon jumped into the hover taxi and rode off. All he could do now was hope that everything worked out.


“Hey mister are you coming or not?”

Gon looked up at the taxi android, every year they seemed to get more and more sarcastic and irritable.

“Yeah, I’m going to New York.” Gon replied. The robot gave a mechanical snort.

“New York? That hell hole?” The android said, grabbing Gon’s duffel bag and throwing it under a seat.

“That’s the one.” Gon replied, laughing a little.

“Okay then mister, whatever you want. I’ll take you directly to your place, where are you staying?” The android asked.

Gon handed him a piece of paper and the taxi driver chuckled, although it sounded more like pipe banging against a bucket than a laugh.

“Ah, the hell hole inside the hell hole. Wonderful taste you have mister.”

“I suppose so.” Gon replied, not paying much attention. The android sighed and started the cab, Gon quickly fell asleep and for the rest of the ride he dreamed about a beautiful girl with black eyes who never once looked at him, no matter how much he screamed.

“Hey mister, we’re here.”

Gon’s eyes snapped open and he sat up. He blinked a couple times and drearily looked out the window. What he saw caused him to wake up completely.

The city which had once been the most high tech, the most beautiful was now a rotting carcass. The metal frames of the skyscrapers now white and broken like the bleached bones of an animal long dead. The few lights that there were flickered on and off like a bug zapper. Gon felt a little sick.

“Told you it was a hell hole.” The android said, holding out his hand for the money, “That’ll be fifty Kiuns.”

Gon handed over the pink bills and stepped out of the cab, duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

He looked around for his room number and quickly found it, the numbers were rusting off and the button for the door opener was jammed, but after he kicked the door a few times it creaked open.

It was bright in the apartment, the light reflecting off the whitewashed walls. The walls had obviously been scrubbed clean and whitewashed not long before, but the rest of the apartment was as run down as the city itself.

There was no furniture and the windows had no glass and the only thing covering the floor was cement. There was a small bathroom with a working toilet, but no shower and there wasn’t a kitchen to be found.

Gon sighed and dropped his duffel bag on the floor.

“So this is where I’m going to live huh?” He said out loud as he walked over to the broken windows. But as he looked out into the backyard he saw something amazing.

A field of flowers, tulips and roses, violets and exotic flowers he had never seen or heard of bloomed in the dust of the rotting city. Slowly he opened the back door and stepped outside.

“Beautiful eh?” He heard a voice say and he turned around. There was a woman, about his age, leaning out of the window of the apartment next to his.

“Yeah.” He said, still in shock. She smiled at him and came outside to stand with him.

“What a waste of beauty. It seems pointless to have something so beautiful hiding behind these horrible things.” She said waving at the rotting buildings that surrounded the flowers.

“Well I dunno, I think it redeems the building’s a bit.” He said, shrugging.

Smiling softly, the woman began picking the flowers. As he watched her she hummed a tune that nobody remembers .

Watching her, he was reminded of something, a face from a long time ago. But he couldn’t remember; no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t remember. It was the first time he had ever realized that there was a gap in his memory.

“What’s that song?” He asked suddenly and she stood up, a large banquet of flowers in hand.

“My grandmother used to sing it to me when I was little. I think it’s called ‘Rock a Bye Baby’ or something. It’s really old though, like a hundred years, probably more.” She said.

“Oh.”

“Hey, I’m going to go put these flowers in a vase you want to come?” She asked; her big eyes boring into him. He had a feeling that ‘no’ wasn’t really an answer.

“Sure.”

She smiled and led him into her apartment; it was basically the same as his except it had a small mattress on the floor and a small cupboard with three or four plates. Gon went over to the cupboard and he picked up the expensive china, admiring the deep cracks.

“That was my grandmother’s, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t break it.” She said from behind him. Gon jumped a little and carefully put the china back, feeling a little guilty.

“Sorry.” He said.

“No it’s okay, since it’s you.” She said quietly. He shot her a confused look.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He replied, laughing a little, thinking that it must be a joke.

But her face was dead serious.

She didn’t say anything for the longest time, just looking at his face.

“It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember.” She said finally, looking away from him.

“Remember what? Who are you?” He said, starting to get tense. She looked at him; he had never seen such sad eyes.

“It doesn’t matter.” She said, smiling weakly, “Could you just leave?”

He did as he was told, and closed the door softly behind him.


After a long night of no sleep he was startled by the sound of a truck’s horn.

“Get out here would ya!” A voice screamed. Gon sat up and pulled on a brown T-shirt, stepping outside to see what was going on.

“What’s going on?” Gon asked groggily to the guy driving the truck. The truck driver snorted.

“It’s your first day of work buddy. I’m your carpool.” He said, pointing to a bunch of tired looking people in the back seat.

Gon reluctantly climbed into the back with all the other people. He ended up being smashed up against a huge guy who apparently had some problems with B.O.

“You wanna energy tablet man?” The big guy said, Gon nodded and took it. As he popped the small brown pill into his mouth he felt a rush of energy and smiled.

“Woah, this is great.”

“Just beware of the crash dude; you might want to prepare yourself a bit. It’s a brand new product, my sis made it, so all the bugs haven’t been taken out.” The guy said.

Gon’s eyes widened slightly, but he didn’t say anything.

“Okay we’re here!” The truck driver said and everyone slowly climbed out, their limbs creaking as they stood on solid ground for the first time in an hour.

“Hey, are you the new guy?” A woman came up to him and asked.

Gon froze. She was possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.

“Uh, y-yeah.” He replied and she nodded.

“Okay, Gon right? Well I’m the boss around here, so what I say goes. You do what you’re supposed to and we won’t have any problems.” She said briskly, “Go over there and start helping out someone, today we’re rebuilding this museum, we’ll probably be working on it for the next eight months so you should get comfortable.”

“Wait, what’s your name?” he asked suddenly as she began to walk away from him. She didn’t even turn her head to look at him.

“Don’t even think scum like you could have me. You call me boss.” She said.

Gon laughed, his heart feeling light.

“I think I love her.” He said out loud and he heard someone snort.

“You and every other man who’s ever met her. You don’t have a chance man, just give up.” It was the fat guy who said it.

Gon didn’t say anything.

After work everyone walked over to the local bar for a drink and Gon joined them hoping that
the boss would be there. She wasn’t of course.

Gon sighed and decided to sit over in the corner, away from the rest of the workers. He was starting to feel a little strange and wondered if this was the after effects of the coffee tablet. He decided not to drink anything, for fear that it would aggravate his symptoms.

There was a man sitting next to him, he steadily pounding down the shots and Gon watched him as he downed five in a row. Gon was amazed that he hadn’t hit the floor yet.

Suddenly the man stopped and turned to look at Gon, “I can’t remember, are we in New York?”

“Um, yeah.” Gon said, and the man nodded.

“It’s nothing like I imagined you know.” He said slowly, lifting another shot glass full of brown liquid to his lips, “I used to look at pictures when I was a kid around your age, sky scrapers, energy domes, and the center of space travel. Everything seemed to start and end here. When I was young I thought this was the center of the universe. And then when I came, all I find is the rotting carcass of my dreams. But I can’t leave, I don’t know why, but I can’t.”

Gon listened as the man talked and suddenly got a pounding headache.

“Argh!” He said, putting his hands over his ears, there was a loud screeching echoing through his head and ripping apart his insides. He clenched his eyes shut and behind his eyelids flickered thousands of images.

A robotic voice, an empty house, a strange little girl staring at him with big green eyes, a man with glasses and blond hair reaching out his hand, a woman with light brown hair kissing his forehead, a man with big hands showing him which button to push and a little girl in a black dress walking further in front of him than he could ever reach.
He snapped his eyes open when the images ended and he realized that he had fallen to the floor. All the people from work were standing around him with worried looks on their faces, except for the fat guy who had an ‘I told you so’ kind of look on his face.

“I-I’m okay now.” Gon said quietly and after helping him stand up, everyone went back to doing whatever they were doing. Except for the man drinking the shot glasses, he was staring at him.

“Hey Gon. Remember soon okay?” He said and then he turned back to his shot glass.

“Remember what!?” Gon said, but the man didn’t look at him again.


Gon went home late that night. The aftereffects of the coffee tablet was making him feel woozy and as he reached his door he stumbled and landed on the hard sidewalk instead.

“What are you doing?” A voice asked, Gon turned his head to see the same woman as the day before standing over him.

“Trying to go to bed obviously.” He replied, not moving from his position on the floor outside his door. She laughed a little.

“I guess I’ll help you then.” She said, grabbing his arm and pulling him up so he stood on his feet. She gave the door a little kick and it creaked it’s way open.

She pulled him inside and flung him down onto his sleeping bag. She threw a blanket over him and stood up.

“Tah-dah! Now go to sleep.” She said, laughing. But before she could go Gon’s hand reached out and grabbed her ankle.

She jumped a little at his touch and turned to look at him.

“Tell me. What am I forgetting?” He asked, and he was her face fall slightly, she looked like she wanted to cry. She crouched down so that her face was closer to his.

“Once upon a time there was a little girl, this little girl was in love with a little boy and everyday she would imagine what it would be like to be his wife. But alas, this little boy was in love with another little girl, the evil witch of the village. The evil witch never once looked at the little boy, but still he chased after her. And the little girl was left all alone; all she could do was watch him from afar. As the little boy grew however he moved away, but not being able to bear the thought of being away from the little boy the little girl followed him, running away from home just to be close to him. So the little girl came to live next door to the little boy for eleven years, but the little boy never even noticed her. After eleven years the little girl couldn’t take it anymore and moved to New York, hoping to escape him. But instead she finds that he has moved back into her life, and he doesn’t even recognize her. Not even a little.”

She was crying, silent little sobs heaving their way through her body. She stared down at him, and his eyes were closed. She cried a little harder, because she knew that he hadn’t heard a word.

The next morning when Gon hopped into the carpool he purposely sat next to the fat guy.

“Hey, can I have some more of those tablets?” Gon asked quietly. The man seemed surprised.

“Sure, but I thought the side effects would have put you off.”

“I remember things when I take them, things that I hadn’t even known I had forgotten.” Gon
replied. The fat guy didn’t seem to understand but he handed him the pill anyway.

That day as Gon was working, he heard a voice call for him and he turned around.

“Hey, you there! Come with me!” It was the boss.

Gon felt his heart skip a beat as he brought the hover pad back to the ground so he could talk to her. She was wearing a black dress today and as he looked at her he started to get a slight headache, but he ignored it.

“What is it boss?” He asked.

“I need to talk to you, follow me.” She said, turning her back towards him and walking away. He followed her, watching her back walking ten feet away from him at all times. He felt a sharper pain go through his skull, he was starting to recognize the symptoms of the after affects of the energy tablet but he knew it couldn’t be; it wasn’t supposed to wear off like this until a few more hours.

Eventually they reached a small house; it was white and stark, with a black door and black window panes. There wasn’t a flower, bush or tree to be found anywhere near the house, just the dry dirt that had caked New York ever since the bombing.

She opened the door and went inside and Gon followed her, wiping his feet before he stepped in. inside the house was white, the walls, the soft carpet, the luxurious looking bed, the long couch, everything. Except one thing, there was a single painting hanging on the wall.

Gon stared at it for a moment. It was a painting of a field of sunflowers and in the center were two little girls. They were holding hands, and both had their eyes closed. It seemed blurry to him, as though he was looking at it through water.

“What’s wrong with that painting? Isn’t it supposed to be clear?” Gon asked, pointing toward the painting.

The boss blushed deep red with anger and slapped him hard across the face.

“Yes, it’s supposed to be like that! You idiot! You’re rebuilding a museum and you don’t even know this much about real art!?” She screamed at him, he stared at her in complete shock.

“I-I’m so sorry.” He whispered and she seemed to calm down a little.

“Sit down, I didn’t ask you here so I could yell at you.” She said, sitting across from him, he sat down slowly. He grew self-conscious from his dirty jeans, as he looked at her. She sneered at him and he tried wiping off some of the dust but to no avail.

“As it turns out,” She said, “We aren’t strangers after all.”

Gon blinked, the pounding in his head had dissipated for a while but it was back with a vengeance now.

“What?” He said, starting to sweat. The side effects, he thought, oh God not now.

“We were in the same elementary school.” She said. She leaned over a little and he got a good long look into her face, it was the first time he had been able to look at her so directly. Black eyes.

“Argh!” He screamed, the pain suddenly shot through his head, and it was even worse than last time. He fell to the ground, clutching his head in the fear that if he didn’t it would split open.

Images flickered though his head like a slide show. A little girl with black eyes, holding hands with another little girl with blonde curls. The black eyed girl shying away from all boys. The black eyes girl getting scared and even screaming when a boy touched her. An older man touching the black eyes girl on the chest, caressing her back as she stood there helplessly. A close up on her mouth as it whispered words into her friend’s ear. The black dress walking away, her small feet tapping solemnly against the pavement.

Everything clashed together, black eyes to black dress to small pink lips to a dirty hairy hand on her thin back. And then suddenly, accompanying the images was a name, and it was the little girl with black eyes who said it.

“Luca.” She whispered and Gon’s eyes snapped open.

“Luca…..” Gon repeated, staring up at the woman standing above him. Same black eyes, same small pink lips, same sneer. Luca.

“Back from your drug trip I see. Well it’s good that you remember me, I sure don’t remember you.”
“I used to watch you a lot, we lived two doors away from each other, we walked to school at the same exact time. You didn’t look at me? Not even once?” Gon said quietly.

She shrugged.

“Nope. I guess you were just that insignificant.” She said.

“I suppose so.” Gon replied and he felt like crying.

“Okay let’s get back to what I called you here for. Do you remember the girl in the painting? The one holding my hand?” She said briskly, pointing towards the painting on the wall. Gin blinked at it, he hadn’t realized that it was Luca in the picture.

Gon looked down at his knees for a moment. He thought about his feelings, even though he hadn’t realized who she was he still felt the same way as he did as a child. And she still wouldn’t look at him.

“I can’t do this. I’m sorry. Can we do this another time please?” He said.

“No! You answer me right now!?” She was getting angry again, and Gon stood up. She stood up as well and they looked at each other eye to eye. He was surprised by the desperation and fear he found in her face. She was afraid, but she ignored it because she was desperate for something.

Suddenly he remembered something, something that seemed important. He reached out a hand and touched her shoulder. She flinched like he had slapped her and pulled away.

“Don’t touch me! Just answer the damn question!” She screamed.

“You were always afraid of boys huh Luca?” He said quietly.

“What?” She said, her eyes widening. He could almost smell her fear at this point.

“Your dad used to do things to you; I remember seeing him do it one time. It was in broad daylight and nobody said anything, nobody did anything. Not even me.” Gon said, he touched her hair and she slapped his hand away.

“Do you think that I’m so weak!?” She said, she wasn’t afraid anymore, now she was just angry. “Do you think that I hated boys just for that reason? I hate boys, I hate men, because they are rude and dirty and disgusting. They are never kind to you, never comfort you when you cry, never know how you’re feeling even if they pretend they do!”

Suddenly something occurred to him and he jerked his head to the side so he could look at the painting. The girl in the picture, holding Luca’s hand, it was the same girl in the memory. The girl with the curly blonde hair.

“You loved her.” Gon whispered, and Luca jumped a little.

“W-what are you talking about?” She said, completely out of her comfort zone.

“The little girl with the curly hair, the one you used to stare at and talk to all day. You never looked anywhere but at her face for the entire time that I knew you.”

Luca looked as though she was about to say something but suddenly another image ripped it’s way though his head.

He was holding onto the hand of the man with blonde hair and glasses. As he was walking away fro mteh debris of the fallen houses he heard a small cry. Underneath the rubble with a little girl, her blonde curls red with blood and her skin covered in deep bleeding gashes. She couldn’t stand so the man threw her over his shoulder and quickly brought them both back to a small grey apartment. The little girl didn’t eat anything for three days and eventually one day her eyes didn’t open.

Before the little girl died he had finally asked her a question, “You’re in my class right? But I don’t’ remember your name. What is it?”

She smiled weakly, “Jona.”

Gon’s eyes snapped open and the pain slowly faded, he had managed to remain standing but he was shaking and need to grab the wall for support.

He looked up at Luca and saw that she was crying.

“You remember her right? Jona. Please, tell me where she is. I just want to tell her….” She trailed off when she saw the expression on his face.

“She died a long time ago Luca.” He said. He watched as something seemed to shatter in her eyes, and her face crumbled and faded. It was as though she was drifting from sight, fading away until she would become invisible. Suddenly Gon was afraid that he’d lose her.

He grabbed onto her arm tightly.

“Don’t, please. Just, stay here with me. I’ll stay by you, I’ll comfort you, wipe away your tears. Please.” Now he was the one crying.

“Get your hands off me.” She said ripping her harm away from his grasp, “You’re sickening you know that? Are you really that willing to be a rebound? Would you accept my fake love? Are you that shallow?”

“What?”

“You don’t love me. If you’re that willing to settle just to have me, then you don’t love me. If you loved me you would fight for me, you would search the whole world and hunt me down, do everything in your power to make me yours! I know what it feels like to truly love someone! So don’t you dare say that! You’re disgusting.” She said; her face flashing through emotions so fast that Gon could barely keep up. She was angry, sad, angry, sad, hurt, heartbroken, devastated, angry and Gon was suddenly exhausted.

“Just go!” She yelled, she was crying again and Gon could see her knees shaking as though it took all her willpower just to stand up.

He couldn’t look at her anymore, so he did as he was told and left.

He couldn’t go back to work after that, so he went to the bar. He was already wobbly from the after effects of the energy tablet but he didn’t care.

He stumbled his way to the bar and landed on a stool, “Hey bartender, give me the strongest stuff you have.”

The bartender nodded and handed him a shot glass full of brown liquid. Gon stared at it for a moment, it probably wasn’t good to mix the tablet with alcohol….. He shook his head. It didn’t matter did it? He raised the liquid to his lips and sighed as it burned its way down his throat.

“Bad day?”

Gon turned groggily to the side, he hadn’t even realized that the guy from yesterday was there.

“You could say that.” Gon replied, the bartender handed him another shot glass and he took it.

“Did you remember?” The guy asked.

“Why do you keep asking that? I did remember something, but it has nothing to do with you.” Gon replied.

“It did once.” The man replied solemnly. Gon looked at him for a moment.

“Is there something else I’m missing? It seems as though everyone knows something about me that they’re not telling me.” Gon asked, starting to get irritated. The man chuckled.

“Well if we just told you, you wouldn’t understand anyway. All I can do is wait until it comes back to you, even though it pains me to do so.”

Gon drank down another shot glass, the headache was coming back. He closed his eyes, embracing the pain; the pain meant that he would remember something, something important.

The ripping pain began and Gon bit his lip to keep himself from crying out.

This time it wasn’t images that flashed through his mind, it was words.

A shaking voice whispering, ‘once upon a time there was a little girl’ cutting to a man’s voice saying, ‘It’ll be okay Gon, we’ll be back in a month.’ To another voice saying, ‘They’re dead.’ And finally the last voice that spoke was his, ‘Come back soon dad.”

But even after the voices stopped talking his eyes wouldn’t open, it was dark and everything was shaking around him. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, the tears and snot dripping down his face, but nobody answered.

Finally his eyes snapped open and Gon realized that he was crying the same way that he had then, hard desperate sobs.

“I guess you remember now huh?” The man said. Gon nodded, not moving from his place on the floor.

“Yeah dad, I remember.” He replied, wiping away his tears.

Gon’s father didn’t offer to help him up, so Gon managed to stand on his own.

“I thought you were dead.” Gon said.

“I should’ve died with your mother.” He replied.

“If you were alive why didn’t you come looking for me?”

“I did, you weren’t there.”

“So you gave up?”

“I thought you were dead.” Gon father said, Gon turned to look at the man he barely remembered. He was crying.

“That’s not good enough dad.”

“I know.” He said quietly.

“The day you stopped looking for me is the day you stopped being my father, you realize that right? You were gone for eleven years; you’re just an old acquaintance now. I already have a father.” Gon said coldly.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.” Gon said, standing up on shaky legs.

“Yeah, me too.”

“I won’t be seeing you again, and hopefully I’ll forget about you completely.” Gon said, walking towards the door.

Suddenly his father turned to look at him for the first time. The tears were coming hard and fast, making trails though his dirty face and disappearing into his beard.

“Please don’t forget me. Please, if you forget me again then I’ll disappear. You’re the only thing that keeps me from fading away completely.”

Gon looked away.

“Alright dad. I’ll remember you as you used to be.”

“Thank you.” He said, turning back to the bar.

Gon slowly walked out of the bar and called a cab. All throughout the cab ride he looked out the window, trying not to think about anything.

But when he reached his apartment he felt something break inside him and he crumbled to the ground.

He sobbed louder than he could remember doing in a long time.

“Why didn’t you come? Dad? Why did you die mom? Why was I left alone? Why didn’t anyone care?” He screamed, covering his face with his hands. He wished he hadn’t remembered, it was hard, so hard.

Finally he stood up and stumbled his way into his house. As he walked into the empty apartment he noticed a strange light through the window and decided to look closer.

Stepping outside he saw the neighbor girl lying in the flowers, the light of the sunset casting shadows on her thin face.

“Did I forget something about you too?” He asked suddenly, falling to the ground next to her. She didn’t open her eyes.

“No, you probably didn’t see me in the first place.”

“I’m sorry.” He said.

“It’s not your fault; I can’t make you love me.” She said quietly. He looked at her, and silent tears dripped down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry.” He repeated.

“Stop saying that!’ She said, sitting up and looking at him.

“I spent my whole life feeling sorry for myself, chasing after you, someone I couldn’t have. Someone who didn’t even know I existed! I’m sick of being sorry!” Her green eyes bored into him and he suddenly remembered something.

“Shelly,” He said, “ Everyone said you had cooties.”

She laughed, the tears still streaming down her face.

“You do remember me.”

“Yeah.”

“But you don’t love me.”
“
No.” he said, sadly, touching her hand. He felt nothing, when he looked at her all he did was feel sorry for her, feel sorry for himself.

“Could you learn to love me?” She asked.

“I’m sorry.” He said. And she nodded.

“Yeah, me too.”

They sat in silence for the longest time, watching the sun as it set. And then, finally, she stood up.
“
Have a nice life, okay Gon? Find someone you can love.” She said, smiling weakly down at him.

“You too Shelly.” He said, watching her walk away.

He slept in the flowers that night, and the next morning she was gone, only a note was left in her place. And only two words were written on it.

‘Something new’

And even though it was vague, he thought he understood. He called his father Kirro immediately after he found it.

“Hey Gon, what’s up?” Kirro said on the other line.

“I want to come back.” Gon said. There was a silence on the other line for a moment.

“That’s fine, did it get too hard?” Kirro asked carefully.

“No. I just think that it’s time to stop dwelling in the past and try to start something new.” Gon said, smiling to himself.

“Okay Gon. I’m glad I’ll be able to see you again. I love you.”


“Yeah, I love you too dad. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

THE END