Contest Entry
- Locked due to inactivity on Aug 4, '16 4:29pm
Thread Topic: Contest Entry
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Part 1 of 2
Darkness.
From everywhere it could look, all that was there was darkness. It wasn't sure what color it was for sure. The darkness could have been black, or blue, or any other color that someone could recognize. To it, however, all it could be identified as was darkness. It couldn't even tell itself aside from the darkness, no matter how much it wanted. It was a part of the darkness. It couldn't break free.
Nothing lived within the darkness. Nothing lived within it. It was totally empty, a useless thing in a useless part of some bigger useless thing.
However, as time passed by, it realized that miracles were happening- that new things were sprouting in this area of darkness. Things that looked odd to it were forming in the darkness, things that could grow tall and take up some space. When it pondered over what these things could be called, it decided that the things could be called plants. The plants that grew in the darkness kept it company. They were always ugly looking, horrid, boring. But it kept them around because it liked them.
And as more time passed by, new areas started to form around it and around the darkness. New territories were established, things with color appeared, and different moving things appeared. Things that it called animals and humans, bugs and insects. Still, it wasn't a part of that life. It moved with these new things, yes, and it was indeed in this world, but... It could only move when the big yellow ball in the sky moved. And that took forever when it was attached to a non-moving object. So with each passing hour, it would slowly move with everything, until the big grayish ball took control. Then it devoured the land in darkness until the big yellow ball took over once more. The cycle was endless.
Now that it had become attached to the things called "humans", it wanted to be a part of their world. It wanted to go through the cycle of being a "baby" and "kid", to grow up to a "teenager" and even an "adult". However, it decided that it did not want to die. It wanted to live long, and see everything to the end, to see everything be devoured by the darkness forever like it had been. But it needed to be a part of the world, it wanted it.
As it thought more about it, it realized that it was tired. It was so, so tired. It was lost. It was lonely. It was afraid. Afraid of always being called "darkness" by "humans". Afraid of never being able to be told apart. Its' only wish was to be something other than what it was. Why was it the only thing being stuck in darkness? Was it a punishment? Was its' existence a sin? Why was it here? Why? Why? WHY? As it thought more, it started to get too tired. It hid itself in darkness and lost its' old sight. Perhaps a change was needed...
The child awoke with a start, breathing heavily. Sweat covered his face as it dripped from his raven black hair, and he looked as if he was about to cry. Blinking back tears, he sat up, rubbing his silver colored eyes eyes. It was dark in the room, but lights were flickering in the corner of his eye. It took him a while to realize that someone was outside of his room flashing a light in. He crawled out of bed, silently walking to a good spot to be able to look through the crack in the door without being noticed.
A small group of children were outside, whispering to each other. "Alright, the freaky kid is sleeping. Tonight is the night we bag him and toss him into the river," A young girl with blonde hair whispered. "We have to make sure everyone else is in position, otherwise teacher will wake up and spank us to h-e-double hockey stick!" A little boy frowned, his face uncertain. "Melody, we'll become criminals. It's not Shadow's fault he has a weird name, or that he can control our shadows."
"What, so you want us to wait until we're dead!? That kid's a curse! He's a freak! Freaks don't belong here in OUR orphanage. Tom, if you don't want us to get our home back, you can leave. I'm gonna do what Melody says and that freak is going to never see the sun shine again," Another boy spoke up. Melody grinned, holding the flashlight up to her face. "Tommy boy's scaaaaared. Are you scared, Tommy boy? Are you afraid his ghost is going to kill you in your sleep?" She wriggled her fingers in his face, causing him to jump back. Tom looked away from her, blushing. "No.. I just.. It's not fair to him-" "Shut UP!" The boy that had spoken shoved Tom over, glaring. "We gotta be quiet or he'll wake up!"
Shadow backed away from the door, his little eyes open in horror. He didn't want to die, he didn't want to drown! But teacher was three floors up, so even if he did try to scream, he'd only alarm the other children that he was awake and had to be taken care of. Suddenly, he tripped over a toy and landed right on his back. The noise was enough to make the group fall silent. Then, Melody announced, "Let's get him!" They rushed into the room (tripping over each other as they squeezed through the doorway). Tom and the other boy went over to Shadow, seizing his arms and yanking him up.
"You've been awake all along, haven't you, freak?" Melody hissed at him. Shadow flinched, tears stinging his eyes. He didn't respond to her. With a wave of the little girl's hand, he was dragged out of the room. Outside of it, another girl put a big pillow case over his head. He yelped as someone picked up the open side and tied it with rope. He was trapped. He was going to die.
Through the bag, he could see several flashlights coming from different sides. Kids were whispering and laughing at him. Shadow didn't care. He had long since decided that struggling would get him in worse trouble than he already was. He remained silent as the laughter continued. After five minutes, a door was opened, and he felt cold air swooshing through the pillow case. He shuddered, closing his eyes. He could hear the river from wherever they were. The kid carrying him pushed him, making him sway. "We're not going to miss you, freak, so don't start crying and begging." The voice was quivering, and it sounded unsure. It was Tom. With some hope in his little heart, Shadow struggled to sit upright. In a scared and high pitched voice, he said, "Tom, please, don't do this! I never hurt anyone!"
For a moment, everything was still, and the wind was the only sound you could hear. Shadow thought that Tom was going to stop, that he was going to release him- "No! You hurt us, emotionally! People that would have adopted us didn't because you scared them away. You ruined things for all of us. If it wasn't for you, half of us would have real families.. We'd be warm. And teacher wouldn't be yelling at us. I've decided I'm going to go through with this so I can get a real family!" The pillow case started to fly around wildly as Tom raced to the river bed, leaves crunching underneath his feet. Shadow hid his fear as the river noise got louder and louder. His heart was ready to jump out of his chest. At last, the running stopped, and yet again Shadow thought that maybe he was going to be safe. What a lie. Tom whispered, "I'm sorry," before flinging the pillow case containing Shadow as hard as he could into the water.
Shadow gasped right before his body went under the water. He couldn't see, it was too dark, and he was wet. He struggled in the tied up pillow case. The water stung his eyes, and as he struggled more, his chest began to hurt from holding in his last final gasp. As he hit the bottom of the river, he imagined fake tears in his eyes. I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to scare them away. I want to be normal. I want to be just like everyone else. I want to be loved.. To stay alive another day. He closed his eyes, trying to keep his breath in. The more he waited, the closer he felt to death. He finally let out the air, water filling his lungs. With a final gurgled cry, he lost conscious, little bubbles floating up to the surface... -
Part 2 of 2
Wake up. WAKE UP.
Shadow woke up in a hospital room. His head hurt bad, and everything he thought he could see was fuzzy. He put a hand to his head, groaning. Someone from the corner stood, rushing over to his bed side. As his vision got better, he saw a tall male that was wrapped up in a blanket looking down at him. The male's green eyes were full of happiness, and as he removed the blanket, messy yellow hair poked out. "Teacher!" He exclaimed, a grin covering his face. "Teacher, how'd you get here? Where am I?"
Teacher smiled down at Shadow, reaching out a hand to pat the younger boy's shoulder. "You were rescued by the police. Luckily, I was able to get Tom to tell me what had happened, and I called 911 without hesitating." The smile faded, a dark cloud seeming to appear in the older male's eyes. "We had to lie to them to get them to listen, however. Tom told me four hours after you were thrown in. And since I didn't want you becoming.. Some zoo animal, I had to call them and say that one of the kids had threatened to shove you in. When they got to the river, we said it was an accident, and it had happened only a few minutes ago. But I know they think something's up. Shadow, you were pale- as if you were dead. But you were breathing, and you were almost dry. Which should have been impossible," Teacher ran a hand through his hair, his lips forming a frown. "I know that those abnormal powers of yours help a lot, but how are you able to stay alive after drowning? It wouldn't make sense, especially since everything has to die. I'm not saying I'm complaining, but..." He trailed off, looking at Shadow's face.
Shadow had no idea what to say. He hadn't expected to live like this, so he couldn't come up with a logical solution. Suddenly, the shadows in the corner started to slip across the floor over to them. They coiled around his arm, looking like a pitch black mist. "Teacher, could you grab a plastic cup and fill it with a little bit of water?" He stroked the shadows, closing his eyes. Teacher stood and did as he was asked. Although he didn't mention it out loud, the shadows disturbed him quite a bit, and he didn't like being around them. When he held out the cup, he made sure the shadows didn't touch him at all and he moved to the other side of Shadow.
With a curious face, the young boy poured the small amount of water onto the shadows. At first, it looked like the water was going through them to his skin, but then it dissolved. It amazed him. "I think I found out how I lived, Teacher. Isn't this cool?" Shadow smiled with new found happiness, looking up at his best adult friend. Teacher merely smiled back, nodding. "While that is cool, we have a problem. Before your shadowy friends got to you, you inhaled a lot of water. Your lungs are still battling to keep you alive. So while the shadows played their part with their sorcery, I'm afraid that you yourself could die. They can't get into your body to keep you safe. I'm sorry, Shadow..." Teacher sighed, reaching out a hand to stroke his hair. Shadow laid down on the bed, sending the shadows back to the corner. His heart was starting to beat wildly again. He hadn't thought about it like that. And it was true, he could potentially die. Again, the fear took him over and tears were at the sides of his eyes. He didn't want to die, not at all.
For a while, Shadow and Teacher sat in silence, both refusing to say another word out of respect for each other. It was then that a doctor opened the door, breaking the silence with the loud creak. "Shadow's due for surgery. We have to get the water out of his lungs, and unfortunately, he's got some damaged organs as well. He may not live to see another day, so finish up here so we can move him to a room." The doctor sounded displeased, almost bored, as if he couldn't care less about the kid. Teacher smiled sadly at Shadow, kissing his forehead. "If you survive this, kiddo, I promise I'll adopt you as my own son. I'm going to retire soon, and it'd be nice to have some company." He pulled away and walked out of the room.
Shadow stayed silent as he was transferred to another room. He couldn't contain his emotions. He was upset that he could die, but happy that Teacher promised to adopt him if he made it through alive. He wanted to survive- he wanted to see Teacher. He wanted to be with him for the rest of his life. When Shadow had been secured to a table, they put the gas mask over his mouth and turned it on. He smiled as he started to breathe in. Teacher, I'm going to get through this, just for you. I love you like a father, Teacher. I'm going to stay alive!
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